Odds and Ends

The few points I have for today all come from my classes this week or my work related to my professors interests, except the last one...

Teen Pregnancy and Birth:   Teen pregnancy is not my area of interest or study so the statistics that were presented in one of my classes this week rather surprised me.  Our guest speaker noted that 1 out of 3 teen aged girls become pregnant each year and that 1 out of 6 give birth.  I actually stopped and asked her if she meant that when they interview women who have had children that they say they had their first child during their teens, but no - 30% of girls aged 15 to 19 become pregnant each year.  I believe the number has gone down just a bit as the CDC number for 2009 is 3 in 10 which is a bit less than 1 in 3 (our guest also said that the ages were 15 to 20, and I would want to know the age breakdown). Wow either way.  Still, the bigger debate among some in academia is whether teen pregnancy is a problem or the fact that young mothers drop out of school and that their children become teen mothers - in other words, if the system was more supportive of the mothers the "problem" may not manifest as it does.  Glad this is not my area of study :)

Truckers and Disease:  I heard a presentation and read an article involving the spread of disease with and through truckers.  The transmission is  based on several factors associated with a culture of sex and drugs that is perpetuated through social networks both on line (Internet contacts and then meet ups) and through physical channels at truck stops.  Truckers also expose their partners to the germs or viruses they encounter and are often traveling coast to coast and transporting goods.  The researcher who spoke with us had studied sexually transmitted diseases and blood borne infections but is now looking at chronic diseases in truckers, specifically associated with the work environment - fast food, sedentary behavior = obesity.  I just found the article - or book chapter - that the professor who spoke with us has written.  It is available on line here.  This whole truck chaser and truck subculture is fascinating.  It goes way beyond the stereotype of truck stops and hitch hikers.

Bicycle Related Injury/Death and Helmet Use:  I am going to link the two resources from which I learned most of this information.  As I mentioned before, one of my professors has conducted research in Greensboro on helmet use prevalence - who is wearing helmets.  I am helping to write the paper and doing additional research for this purpose.  The reports that I review consistently show that people do not wear helmets, and  that men, specifically those 45 to 54, are more often  than women or children to be killed in pedalcyclist accidents and that the most common age for death and injury is 41 and 31.  I would consider as a hypothesis that the children, who suffer more injury but less death, are being protected by helmet laws.  Only 13 states do NOT have helmet laws, though no state has an all age state law, some states have city laws that cover all ages.  With regard to fatalities, they are most always from head injury.  The rate of death is declining, and again, I imagine that is from the helmet laws.  In 2009, there were just over 600 deaths in the country.  The highest number of fatalities was in Florida with 107.   These statistics can be found on the National Highway Traffic Administration website.  The state helmet laws are described on the Bicycle Helmet Safety Institutes's website.

Cyclist Near Miss:  This afternoon, I turned onto the street where I live which also hosts a beautiful arboretum.  As I passed the entrance, on my right, a cyclist came up the little hill and turned left - into the facing traffic lane - in other words, right in front of me.  I almost hit him.  He was wearing a helmet, and he was a man about 50 years old.

RRI:  When looking at a journal for bicycle articles, I saw a study about running injuries.  The researchers wanted to see if novice runners would have more RRI than more seasoned runners.  They made many comparisons beyond length of time running.  They also analyzed the possible effects of duration of event, exertion or effort, age, gender etc.  They did find that people who had been running less than 3 months had more injuries but it was related to training error, not running itself.  They did not find any significant predictors of injury nor high rates of injury.  It was cool that they reported their results even though they did not find what they expected.  From this article I learned the term - RRI.  Running related injury.

Pancakes!:  I made butternut squash pancakes TWICE this week and I had not made them prior to this.  They were so very good - I made a video for my You Tube channel so that I could share this super low calorie alternative to potato pancakes, but I have not posted it yet.  I think I will make them for my Mom when I visit next month.  MMMM Good.