geoffrey modest medical blogs

  The trial   in adolescents  of the  Pfizer   mRNA vaccine found that it was very safe and elicited an even greater immune response than in young adults ( see  covid pfizer vac in adolescents nejm2021  in dropbox, or DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2107456 )     Details:  -- 2260 adolescents aged 12 to 15 received 2 injections, 21 days apart; more than 97% had two doses  -- multinational, observer blinded trial  -- 51% male, 86% white/12% Latinx, mean age at vaccination 13.6 +/- 1.1 yrs  -- study excluded those who had previous clinical or virologic Covid-19 diagnoses, or any immunocompromising/immunodeficiency syndromes. Those who were healthy or had stable infections with HIV or hepatitis were included (though 5% of the participants actually were SARS-CoV-2 positive at baseline, likely because they had prior asymptomatic infection)  -- outcomes: safety (reactogenicity and adverse events); and efficacy against confirme...

SAMHSA (substance abuse and mental health services administration) just released a 2014 report on where we are at in the US regarding substance abuse and mental health issues  (see  http://store.samhsa.gov/shin/content//SMA15-4895/National_BHBarometer_2014.pdf ​ ). a pretty brief summary: youth substance use/mental health  (note: there are different surveys used for these data):     --past month marijuana use, 2002-2013              --slight decrease in adolescents 12-17  to 7.1% (pe ak in 2011 at 7.9 %)             --9th-12th graders without much change, at 23%. 8th-10th graders at 12.5% (sl increase)     --past-year nonmedical pain reliever use, 2002-2013             --12th grade males: significant decrease, was up to 1...