Parental influences on children's eating behaviour and characteristics of successful parent-focussed interventions

Parental reports suggest that difficulties related to child-feeding and children's eating behaviour are extremely common. While 'fussy eating' does not pose an immediate threat to health, over the long-term, consumption of a poor diet can contribute to the development of a range of otherwise preventable diseases. In addition, the stress and anxiety that can surround difficult mealtimes can have a detrimental impact upon both child and parental psychological wellbeing. Since parents have a great influence over what, when, and how much food is offered, feeding difficulties may be preventable by better parental awareness. The aim of this review is to describe how parental factors contribute to the development of common feeding problems, and to discuss the merits of existing interventions aimed at parents/primary caregivers to improve child-feeding and children's eating behaviour. The potential for different technologies to be harnessed in order to deliver interventions in new ways will also be discussed

Single-dose BNT162b2 vaccine protects against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection

The BNT162b2 mRNA COVID-19 vaccine (Pfizer-BioNTech) is being utilised internationally for mass COVID-19 vaccination. Evidence of single-dose protection against symptomatic disease has encouraged some countries to opt for delayed booster doses of BNT162b2, but the effect of this strategy on rates of asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection remains unknown. We previously demonstrated frequent pauci- and asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection amongst healthcare workers (HCWs) during the UK’s first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, using a comprehensive PCR-based HCW screening programme (Rivett et al., 2020; Jones et al., 2020). Here, we evaluate the effect of first-dose BNT162b2 vaccination on test positivity rates and find a fourfold reduction in asymptomatic infection amongst HCWs ≥12 days post-vaccination. These data provide real-world evidence of short-term protection against asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection following a single dose of BNT162b2 vaccine, suggesting that mass first-dose vaccination will reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission, as well as the burden of COVID-19 disease

Nonfatal Injuries Sustained in Mass Shootings in the US, 2012-2019: Injury Diagnosis Matrix, Incident Context, and Public Health Considerations

Introduction: The epidemic of gun violence in the United States (US) is exacerbated by frequent mass shootings. In 2021, there were 698 mass shootings in the US, resulting in 705 deaths and 2,830 injuries. This is a companion paper to a publication in JAMA Network Open, in which the nonfatal outcomes of victims of mass shootings have been only partially described.Methods: We gathered clinical and logistic information from 31 hospitals in the US about 403 survivors of 13 mass shootings, each event involving greater than 10 injuries, from 2012-19. Local champions in emergency medicine and trauma surgery provided clinical data from electronic health records within 24 hours of a mass shooting. We organized descriptive statistics of individual-level diagnoses recorded in medical records using International Classification of Diseases codes, according to the Barell Injury Diagnosis Matrix (BIDM), a standardized tool that classifies 12 types of injuries within 36 body regions.Results: Of the 403 patients who were evaluated at a hospital, 364 sustained physical injuries—252 by gunshot wound (GSW) and 112 by non-ballistic trauma—and 39 were uninjured. Fifty patients had 75 psychiatric diagnoses. Nearly 10% of victims came to the hospital for symptoms triggered by, but not directly related to, the shooting, or for exacerbations of underlying conditions. There were 362 gunshot wounds recorded in the Barell Matrix (1.44 per patient). The Emergency Severity Index (ESI) distribution was skewed toward higher acuity than typical for an emergency department (ED), with 15.1% ESI 1 and 17.6% ESI 2 patients. Semi-automatic firearms were used in 100% of these civilian public mass shootings, with 50 total weapons for 13 shootings (Route 91 Harvest Festival, Las Vegas. 24).  Assailant motivations were reported to be associated with hate crimes in 23.1%.Conclusion: Survivors of mass shootings have substantial morbidity and characteristic injury distribution, but 37% of victims had no GSW. Law enforcement, emergency medical systems, and hospital and ED disaster planners can use this information for injury mitigation and public policy planning. The BIDM is useful to organize data regarding gun violence injuries. We call for additional research funding to prevent and mitigate interpersonal firearm injuries, and for the National Violent Death Reporting System to expand tracking of injuries, their sequelae, complications, and societal costs

Injury Characteristics, Outcomes, and Health Care Services Use Associated With Nonfatal Injuries Sustained in Mass Shootings in the US, 2012-2019.

ImportanceCivilian public mass shootings (CPMSs) in the US result in substantial injuries. However, the types and consequences of these injuries have not been systematically described.ObjectiveTo describe the injury characteristics, outcomes, and health care burden associated with nonfatal injuries sustained during CPMSs and to better understand the consequences to patients, hospitals, and society at large.Design, setting, and participantsThis retrospective case series of nonfatal injuries from 13 consecutive CPMSs (defined as ≥10 injured individuals) from 31 hospitals in the US from July 20, 2012, to August 31, 2019, used data from trauma logs and medical records to capture injuries, procedures, lengths of stay, functional impairment, disposition, and charges. A total of 403 individuals treated in hospitals within 24 hours of the CPMSs were included in the analysis. Data were analyzed from October 27 to December 5, 2021.ExposuresNonfatal injuries sustained during CPMSs.Main outcomes and measuresInjuries and diagnoses, treating services, procedures, hospital care, and monetary charges.ResultsAmong the 403 individuals included in the study, the median age was 33.0 (IQR, 24.5-48.0 [range, 1 to >89]) years, and 209 (51.9%) were women. Among the 386 patients with race and ethnicity data available, 13 (3.4%) were Asian; 44 (11.4%), Black or African American; 59 (15.3), Hispanic/Latinx; and 270 (69.9%), White. Injuries included 252 gunshot wounds (62.5%) and 112 other injuries (27.8%), and 39 patients (9.7%) had no physical injuries. One hundred seventy-eight individuals (53.1%) arrived by ambulance. Of 494 body regions injured (mean [SD], 1.35 [0.68] per patient), most common included an extremity (282 [57.1%]), abdomen and/or pelvis (66 [13.4%]), head and/or neck (65 [13.2%]), and chest (50 [10.1%]). Overall, 147 individuals (36.5%) were admitted to a hospital, 95 (23.6%) underwent 1 surgical procedure, and 42 (10.4%) underwent multiple procedures (1.82 per patient). Among the 252 patients with gunshot wounds, the most common initial procedures were general and trauma surgery (41 [16.3%]) and orthopedic surgery (36 [14.3%]). In the emergency department, 148 of 364 injured individuals (40.7%) had 199 procedures (1.34 per patient). Median hospital length of stay was 4.0 (IQR, 2.0-7.5) days; for 50 patients in the intensive care unit, 3.0 (IQR, 2.0-8.0) days (13.7% of injuries and 34.0% of admissions). Among 364 injured patients, 160 (44.0%) had functional disability at discharge, with 19 (13.3%) sent to long-term care. The mean (SD) charges per patient were $64 976 ($160 083).Conclusions and relevanceCivilian public mass shootings cause substantial morbidity. For every death, 5.8 individuals are injured. These results suggest that including nonfatal injuries in the overall burden of CPMSs may help inform public policy to prevent and mitigate the harm caused by such events