Asthma is the most common chronic condition in children under 18. In Alabama, 11% of children report a diagnosis of asthma compared to the United States with 9.5%. Childhood asthma is the leading cause of school absenteeism due to a chronic disease, and Alabama children with asthma miss approximately 10 days of school each year for uncontrolled…

The World Health Organization (WHO) has made the assessment that COVID-19 (coronavirus) can be characterised as a pandemic and the virus has now spread to many countries and territories. While a lot is still unknown about the virus that causes COVID-19, we do know that it is transmitted through direct contact with respiratory droplets of an…

Since the initial closure of schools to most children on 20th March 2020, mainstream education has been disrupted as a result of COVID-19. When most pupils returned to school in March 2021, they regained some of their usual routines, but schooling was far from 'back to normal'. Building on the National Foundation for Educational Research's…

The COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect all levels and forms of education, impacting the lives of millions of learners and teachers across the globe. UNESCO in the Asia and Pacific region is adopting different measures to support its Member States in mitigating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Such measures have focused on ensuring…

School districts across the United States have had to make many difficult decisions to prepare for the 2020-2021 school year amid the ongoing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. A seemingly impossible dilemma dominated planning: Should schools reopen buildings to provide much-needed in-person instruction but potentially risk the health…

Dravet syndrome, or as it was called in the past "severe myoclonic epilepsy in infancy", is a drug-resistant epilepsy first described by Charlotte Dravet in 1978. Besides the well-known and well-described therapy resistance, Dravet syndrome dramatically impacts the development and behaviour of the affected children. As it is still not a curable…

The stress of a spelling bee or a challenging science project can enhance a student's focus and promote learning. But the stress of a dysfunctional or unstable home life can poison a child's cognitive ability for a lifetime, according to new research. Those studies show that stress forms the link between childhood adversity and poor academic…

Risk behaviors were compared between sexually abused and nonabused youth living with HIV (YLH). Abused YLH were significantly more likely to have attempted suicide, to have been admitted into an alcohol and/or drug treatment program, and to have engaged in crack cocaine use than were nonabused YLH and had a greater number of sexual partners. A…

The purpose of this descriptive study was to pilot test an Asthma Assessment Interview (AAI) and to determine the approximate age a child with asthma is capable to self-carry an inhaler. A random sample of 34 students with asthma (Grades K through 10) from a midwestern school district were interviewed by the school nurse using the AAI, which…