risks

15Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

EDUCATION

Posing Potential Risks To Kids – Police Presence On School Grounds

In fall 2020, I got an email from the Phoenix Elementary School District #1, a K-8 school district, requesting feedback on whether to continue using school resource officers in seven of the district’s 14 elementary schools. As a researcher who specializes in the policing and development of children and adolescents, I responded by sharing a summary of the research on the subject of police in schools and offering my consultation. The school board president asked me to present research to the board on the effects school resource officers had on overall student well-being, school safety and school climate. The school board was under pressure to make a decision about a divisive issue with a pending deadline. Parents and teachers were split on the use of school resource officers. Youth were a ...

A New Study Finds Youth Largely Underestimate The Risks Of Contracting STIs Through Oral Sex

27Jan

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LGBTQ

A New Study Finds Youth Largely Underestimate The Risks Of Contracting STIs Through Oral Sex

Young people are largely unaware of the risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections, or STIs, through oral sex. That’s the finding of our recent study, published in Annals of Family Medicine. Research and education on oral sex are critical because it is a very common sexual practice. And many STIs are transmitted orally, including herpes, gonorrhea, chlamydia, syphilis, HIV and human papillomavirus (HPV). Why it matters The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 85% of sexually active people ages 18 to 44 have engaged in oral sex at least once. A separate survey found that 41% of adolescents ages 15 to 19 reported having oral sex. Historically, research on reducing STI transmission among young people has focused primarily on heterosexual vaginal intercourse rathe...

A Doctor Explains Why Benefits Far Outweigh Risks – Restart Of The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

COVID-19, VIDEO REELS

A Doctor Explains Why Benefits Far Outweigh Risks – Restart Of The Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 Vaccine

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration lifted the pause on the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine on April 23, 2021, but the labels and fact sheets given to patients will carry a warning about the exceedingly low risk of developing blood clots. Also, close monitoring of the J&J vaccine along with the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines that were given emergency use authorization will continue. Dr. William Petri, an infectious-disease physician and immunologist at the University of Virginia School of Medicine, explains this development and why the agencies decided that the benefits of the vaccine far outweigh the risks. What was the concern with the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine? The FDA and CDC paused the use of the J&J vaccine on...

Online Communities Are Important Sources Of Support, But They Also Pose Risks For Young People

4Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

HEALTH & WELLNESS

Online Communities Are Important Sources Of Support, But They Also Pose Risks For Young People

Aristotle called humans “the social animal,” and people have recognized for centuries that young people need to be in communities to develop into healthy adults. The ongoing pandemic has caused concern about the effects of isolation on children and teenagers’ social and psychological growth. But while young people today may not be able to gather in person as often as they’d like, they aren’t necessarily isolated. They have long used online communities to explore their identities and conduct their social lives. They’re involved in anonymous hip-hop discussion forums, ADHD support groups on Facebook, biology class group chats on Instagram and comments sections under popular YouTube videos. There are many of these online communities, and collectively they cover a wide range of subjects. The...

‘Myth Of The Founder’ Puts Tremendous Power In Hands Of Big Tech CEOs Like Zuckerberg – Posing Real Risks To Democracy

31Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

BUSINESS

‘Myth Of The Founder’ Puts Tremendous Power In Hands Of Big Tech CEOs Like Zuckerberg – Posing Real Risks To Democracy

Coinbase’s plan to go public in April highlights a troubling trend among tech companies: Its founding team will maintain voting control, making it mostly immune to the wishes of outside investors. The best-known U.S. cryptocurrency exchange is doing this by creating two classes of shares. One class will be available to the public. The other is reserved for the founders, insiders and early investors, and will wield 20 times the voting power of regular shares. That will ensure that after all is said and done, the insiders will control 53.5% of the votes. Coinbase will join dozens of other publicly traded tech companies – many with household names such as Google, Facebook, Doordash, Airbnb and Slack – that have issued two types of shares in an effort to retain control for founders and insid...

Hurricanes and wildfires are colliding with the COVID-19 pandemic – and compounding the risks

26Aug

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

ENVIRONMENT

Hurricanes and wildfires are colliding with the COVID-19 pandemic – and compounding the risks

With a major hurricane hitting Louisiana and Texas and wildfires menacing the western U.S., millions of Americans are facing the complex risks of a natural disaster striking in the middle of a pandemic. The steps people normally take to prepare for a severe storm or to evacuate can contradict the public health recommendations for protecting themselves and others from COVID-19. That’s what millions of people were facing as Hurricane Laura intensified to a dangerous Category 4 storm on Aug. 26. More than half a million were under evacuation orders, including the cities Galveston, Beaumont and Port Arthur, Texas. My urban resilience lab at Texas A&M University has been examining interactions between urban infrastructure, systems and people in disasters. At the onset of the COVID-19 pand...

Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, Trump: The risks and rewards of corporate activism

17Jul

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

Journalism

Black Lives Matter, LGBTQ rights, Trump: The risks and rewards of corporate activism

The big idea Companies and CEOs are increasingly wading into political issues. My latest research suggests that such corporate activism can come with high costs if it doesn’t align with the political values of a company’s customers, employees and local lawmakers — or big gains when it does. Dozens of companies have recently expressed support for Black Lives Matter. Jessica Felicio via unsplash, CC BY-SA The Research Brief is a short take about interesting academic work. In what we think is the first study to examine how corporate activism affects financial performance, three co-authors and I built a database of decisions by publicly traded companies that took a stand on polarizing issues such as LGBTQ rights, abortion, immigration and gun control over a five-year period. We then looked at...

First space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

3Apr

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY

First space tourists will face big risks, as private companies gear up for paid suborbital flights

On May 30, 2020, millions of Americans watched the inaugural SpaceX Crew Dragon launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. This mission marked two significant events: First, the return of launch to orbit capability for human spaceflight from the United States. Secondly, it successfully demonstrated private sector capability to build and operate a launch vehicle for human spaceflight. While SpaceX may be the first private space company to accomplish this, it is not alone. Boeing’s Starliner and Lockheed’s Orion capsule are also being developed for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, and training has begun for safety operations on the spacecraft. As an aerospace lawyer working and teaching on human spaceflight law and policy for over a decade, I have a professional and personal...

Pregnant in a time of coronavirus – the changing risks and what you need to know

30Mar

By THEIRL1ADMIN01No Comments

LIFESTYLE

Pregnant in a time of coronavirus – the changing risks and what you need to know

“So, being pregnant and delivering in a pandemic … what’s that gonna look like?” That question, sent to me by a colleague who is both a registered nurse and an expectant mother, stopped me in my tracks. As an OB-GYN physician, I naturally focus on the science of health care. Her email reminded me of the uncertainty expectant mothers now face as health risks and the health care system around them change amid this coronavirus pandemic. While knowledge about the new coronavirus disease, COVID-19, is rapidly evolving and there are still many unknowns, medical groups and studies are starting to provide advice and answers to questions many expecting families are asking. Do pregnant women face greater risk from COVID-19? So far, the data on COVID-19 does not suggest pregnant women are at higher...