Bullying Presents Ongoing Danger; Efforts to Educate Intensify As Incidents Continue

"From a young age, we teach children to say, 'Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me.' But this isn't true. Bullying hurts so much not because one individual is rejecting us but because we tend to believe that the bully speaks for others that if we are being singled out by the bully, then we are probably unliked and unwanted by most. Otherwise, why would all those others watch the bully tease us rather than stepping in to help support us? Absence of support is taken as a sign of mass rejection.”

That observation, in Social: Why Our Brains Are Wired to Connect, a new book by Matthew D. Lieberman, Director of the UCLA Social Cognitive Neuroscience laboratory, published by Random House, provides insight into why bullying has such dramatic impacts, including incidents in Connecticut.

A Hartford Courant review of state education records, published this fall, found more than 1,250 incidents of school bullying were reported to the state from 2005 to 2012. The state's largest cities — Hartford, Bridgeport and New Haven — reported the most incidents, with Hartford reporting 91 verified incidents.

A quarter of the state's high school students — and 35 percent of the state's ninth-graders — report having been bullied or harassed on school property, according to the state Commission on Children. The Connecticut School Health Survey shows that state high school students who report being bullied are more likely to get less sleep, miss school because they feel unsafe, feel depressed, or attempt suicide, the Courant reported.

New Recommendations Anticipated

The state Department of Education plans to make a series of recommendations to the 2014 General Assembly “to address current conditions in Connecticut.”  Those recommendations may include an examination of the terminology regarding bullying and climate in an attempt to signal increased and focused attention on improving school climate in addition to, or rather than, exclusively reacting to bullying incidents, as well as addressing the relationship between the definitions of bullying and harassment and the implications for actions that the district or state should take regarding reported incidents.

The Department prepared “Bullying and Harassment in Connecticut:  A Guide for Parents and Guardians” a year ago, in December2012.

Programs Respond and Teach

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) is one of the leading organizations providing information and training for individuals who work with students on a daily basis, and anti-bias and anti-bullying programs for students ranging in age from fourth grade through seniors in high school. Such programs include “Names Can Really Hurt Us,” “Step Up!” and “Becoming an Ally.” The Connecticut ADL hosted two parent workshops in Greenwich this fall, just weeks after a 15-year-old Greenwich student took his own life on the first day of school this fall, and friends said bullying may have been a factor in the death.

The programs, which had been planned since the spring, sought to give parents strategies for bullying prevention and intervention. As part of the program, Greenwich High School students who had been trained by ADL talked to those in attendance about their experiences with bullying and cyber-bullying, Greenwich Time reported. “We offered strategies and resources that the parents found very valuable. It was a unique opportunity for parents and high school students to have an open and honest dialogue about bullying and cyber-bullying issues that face today’s youth,” said Marji Lipshez-Shapiro, ADL Connecticut’s Director of Education.

The ADL programs explore stereotyping, prejudice, discrimination and scapegoating through the lens of students' experiences, and include student testimony, skits, videos and discussion groups. The ADL’s Names Can Really Hurt Us is described as a powerful, student-centered assembly program designed to give a voice to the targets of bullying and prejudice, build empathy in the perpetrators and inspire bystanders to become allies. ADL works with a team of students and school staff who participate in six hours of training and assist ADL in putting on a full-day program consisting of a morning assembly, break-out groups and a closing assembly.  During the morning assembly, student participants share their personal experiences with bullying, name-calling and prejudice in a safe forum. Students then participate in small group discussions led by student-teacher teams. The program culminates with a report of “next step” ideas, generated by students, to help create a welcoming and supportive school community.

Incidents Continue Despite Law

Stamford police arrested a 12-year-old girl and charged her with disorderly conduct for bullying another girl this fall. Police said an investigation began in September when the target's parents contacted police and said another student had repeatedly bullied the 13-year-old at school. When the bullying worsened and the targeted girl made comments about committing suicide, police said they immediately got involved. School administrators in Manchester last month suspended four Manchester High School students suspected of creating and posting degrading descriptions of female students, The Hartford Courant reported.

In Connecticut, the state legislature unanimously passed an anti-bullying law in 2011 that speeds school response, expands staff training, makes all school employees mandated reporters of bullying, addresses cyber bullying and launches statewide school climate assessments.  Under the state legislation, schools must report acts of bullying to the state. The state's definition of bullying includes "the repeated use by one or more students of communication, a gesture or a physical act directed at or referring to another student in the same district that causes physical or emotional harm or fear of such harm."

A 2011 U.S. Department of Justice survey shows that 54 percent of Asian-American teenagers, 38.4 percent of black students and 34.3 percent of Hispanics reported being bullied in the classroom. The survey found that 31.3 percent of white students reported being bullied.

In September, Michelle Pincince, Project Director of the Connecticut ADL’s A World of Difference Institute met with about 25 school resource officers from throughout Connecticut. The program, which took place at Redding Elementary School, was organized by Redding Police Chief Doug Fuchs, according to published reports.  A school resource officer is a law enforcement officer who is assigned to a school in his town, and who protects the students in the school and works to promote positive relationships between students and law enforcement. ADL runs 200 education programs and reaches over 20,000 individuals in Connecticut annually.  Since the school year began this fall, 31 Connecticut schools have participated in ADL programs. 

Nation of Coffee Drinkers, Across Every Demographic

Thanksgiving may be all about turkey, but odds are that most people around the table will wash it down with a cup of coffee.  According to the latest National Coffee Drinking Trends (NCDT) market research study, 63 percent of adults age 25-39 report drinking coffee every day, an increase of five percent from 2012 and a sizable jump from 44 percent who reported drinking coffee daily during 2010.  The study also found that just over 83 percent of U.S. adults drink coffee, and those who drink coffee at least once per week grew slightly to 75 percent of the population.

Coffee drinkers outnumber tea drinkers in the U.S.: 183 million coffee drinkers to 173.5 million tea drinkers.

Young people are drinking more coffee than in recent years, according to the data compiled by the National Coffee Association:  41 percent of 18-24 year olds are drinking coffee each day —up from the 31 percent of this age group who said they had a daily cup of coffee during 2010. Overall daily consumption of coffee among those 60+ rose to 76 percent from 71 percent last year, and for those 40-59 to 69 percent from 65 percent in 2012.

Most adult coffee drinkers said their lifelong habit began during their teenage years. In fact, 54 percent said they began drinking coffee between 13 and 19.  Another 22 percent reported their coffee cravings started between the ages of 20 and 24. This means that 76 percent of adult coffee drinkers began drinking coffee by the time they were 24, the report pointed out.

Analysts indicate that U.S. Coffee consumption is expected to increase through 2015 at an average annual rate of 2.7 percent, while tea consumption is expected to increase through 2015 at an average annual rate of 3.1 percent, the organization reported.

In a breakdown of ethnic groups, the National Coffee Association data indicates that 76 percent of adult Hispanic-Americans said they drank coffee yesterday, 13 percentage points ahead of the total population. By comparison, 47 percent of African-Americans and 64 percent of Caucasian-Americans said they drank coffee yesterday.

With holiday gift giving now in full swing, the data regarding single-cup brewing systems is of note.  The data, from earlier this year, indicates that 13 percent of the U.S. population drank a coffee made in a single-cup brewer yesterday - up from just 4 percent in 2010.  That number is expected to climb when 2013 year-end numbers are compiled.

So-called “gourmet coffee” is also heating up. Nearly one third (31 percent) of the population say they drink gourmet coffee every day. At the same time, consumption of traditional coffee declined by seven percentage points to 49 percent.

NCA's National Coffee Drinking Trends (NCDT) study has been conducted annually by NCA since 1950. It is the longest available statistical series of consumer drinking patterns in the U.S. The study engaged a nationally representative sample of 2,840 people 18 and older.  The 2014 report is due to be issued early next year. The National Coffee Association of U.S.A, Inc. (NCA), established in 1911, is the leading trade organization for the coffee industry in the United States.

Worldwide consumption of coffee in calendar year 2012 was estimated at around 142 million bags by the International Coffee Organization, an increase of 2.1 percent from 2011.  The U.S. remains the largest consuming country, although consumption in non-traditional markets has increased 50 percent since 2003, according to the report issued in August.

Earlier this year, USA Today reported that a study published online in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings, indicated that men younger than 55 who drank more than 28 cups of coffee a week (four cups a day) were 56% more likely to have died from any cause. Women in that age range had a twofold greater risk of dying than other women. The study looked at 43,727 men and women ages 20-87 from 1971 to 2002.  However the publication also noted a 2012 study that found that coffee drinkers ages 50-71 had a lower risk of death than their peers who did not consume coffee. In that study, researchers from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health, and AARP found that the more coffee consumed, the more a person's death risk declined.

Connecticut Residents Are Extroverts, Neurotic and Open, National Study Finds

Connecticut ranks 47th among the states in conscientiousness, but #12 in extroversion and #16 in neuroticism, according to a new study published in a scientific journal and reported in TIME magazine.  Overall the state falls into the “temperamental and uninhibited” category, as does much of the Northeast, led by Vermont, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania.

Using personality test data from over one million people compiled over a decade, researchers identified three distinct personality regions in the country, and the degree to which each state reflected those characteristics.  The study was conducted by a multinational team of researchers led by psychologist and American expatriate Jason Rentfrow of the University of Cambridge in Great Britain. 

The study, which maps the American mood state-by state, found that West Virginia is the most neurotic state, Utah is the most agreeable (Washington D.C. – not surprisingly – is the least agreeable) and the Wisconsin has the country's most extroverted residents. The most conscientious state in the nation?  That would be South Carolina.

The Connecticut Scoreboard indicates that state residents are above the national average in three characteristics - extroversion, neuroticism and openness, but lag in agreeableness and conscientiousness. (rank among states in parentheses; a score of 50 is the national average in each category:

• Extroversion (12)  57.6
• Neuroticism (16)  53.4
• Openness (21)  53.9
• Agreeableness (43)  38.6
• Conscientiousness (47)  34.2

(sample size was 17,769)

The study, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, spanned 13 years and including nearly 1.6 million survey respondents from the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C.. (Alaska and Hawaii were excluded because not enough people responded to the researchers’ questionnaires.)

The subjects, recruited via websites and advertisements in the academic community as well as through platforms like Facebook, were asked to take one of three different personality surveys, though the most relevant one was what’s known as the Big Five Inventory, TIME reported. The survey measures personality along five different spectra: Openness, Conscientiousness, Extroversion, Agreeableness and Neuroticism.

(If you’d like to take the test, it is available online from TIME.)

Each of those categories is defined by more-specific personality descriptors, such as curiosity and a preference for novelty (openness); self-discipline and dependability (conscientiousness); sociability and gregariousness (extroversion); compassion and cooperativeness (agreeableness); and anxiety and anger (neuroticism). The inventory gets at the precise mix of those qualities in any one person by asking subjects to respond on a 1-to-5 scale, from strongly disagree to strongly agree, with 44 varied statements.

When the returns were tallied, TIME reported, the country broke down into three macro regions: New England and the Mid-Atlantic states, which the researchers termed “temperamental and uninhibited”; the South and Midwest, which were labeled “friendly and conventional”; and the West Coast, Rocky Mountains and Sun Belt, described as “relaxed and creative.”

One Month, Many Causes: Health & Wellness Lead the Way in November

If supporting a cause – whether with time, energy or resources - is on your to-do list, November is a great month to start if you’d like to focus on health and wellness efforts.

November is American Diabetes Month (American Diabetes Association), Diabetic Eye Disease Month (Prevent Blindness America), National Alzheimer’s Disease Awareness Month (Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association) and National Epilepsy Awareness Month (Epilepsy Foundation of America).  In addition, it is National Child Mental Health Month, National Family Caregivers Month (National Family Caregivers Association), and National Healthy Skin Month (American Academy of Dermatology).

November is also National Home Care Month (National Association for Home Care & Hospice) and National Hospice Month (National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization), as well as Great American Smokeout Month.  November 21 is designated by the American Cancer Society as the Great American Smokeout Day.

The week before Thanksgiving, November 17-23, is American Education Week, as designated by the National Education Association.

The previous week features World Kindness Day on November 13, World Diabetes Day on November 14, and National Philanthropy Day (Association of Fundraising Professionals) and America Recycles Day (National Recycling Coalition), both on November 15.  November 22 is National Family Health History Day, set by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and November 23 is International Survivors of Suicide Day (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention).

Mothers Against Drunk Driving will highlight their Tie One On For Safety Campaign, between November 21 and January 1, coinciding with the holiday season.

Subway Reaches 40,000 Locations; Growth Continues for World’s #1 Fast Food Chain

The Connecticut-headquartered SUBWAY® restaurant chain, which has been providing franchising opportunities to entrepreneurs since 1965 and is approaching its 48th year in business, has opened its 40,000th location at an Apple Green petrol station in Ipswich, England.

The opening reflects the consistent growth of the Subway brand, which has opened nearly 2,000 new locations around the world since the start of the year. In 1965, Subway was founded by 17 year-old Connecticut high school graduate Fred DeLuca, along with family friend Dr. Peter Buck. The first restaurant opened in Bridgeport in 1965 and was called Pete’s Super Submarines. The first franchised Subway unit opened in 1974 in Wallingford.

“This is certainly a testament to the dedication and hard work of the entire Subway team, who I often refer to as The Greatest Team in Franchising History,” said DeLuca. “I am proud to be part of a team that provides thousands of jobs for people at our restaurants, field, offices, headquarters and partner offices around the world.  Our franchisees are a diverse group of small business owners who take a great deal of pride in serving their customers.”

CNN Money has reported that the “home of the $5 foot-long sub” is the most popular franchise (ahead of Quiznos, the UPS Store and Cold Stone Creamery) and biggest fast-food chain in the world, with an initial franchise fee startup is $15,000, a fairly low sum compared to other brands. With fewer than 8% of SBA-backed borrowers defaulting on their loans, Subway has a better track record than similar brands -- rival sub shop Blimpie has a 46% loan failure rate, and Quiznos is also well into the double digits, according to CNN Money.

This latest milestone puts the Subway brand far ahead of its competitors in the Quick Service Restaurant industry. Of the top restaurant chains, the next closest is more than 5,500 locations behind. Beyond that, the next three are between 21,000 and 33,000 behind, the company reported.

The combination of global branding, minimal upfront outlay of cash, and low loan default rates have made Subway the most popular brand in the last decade for entrepreneurs looking to open a franchise, the CNN website reported, based on the SBA's lending data.

The U.K. is the brand’s third largest market, behind the U.S. and Canada, with more than 1,500 locations.  In all, there are 14,000 International locations in 102 countries outside the U.S.  The Eastern European nation of Estonia recently witnessed the opening its first Subway franchise.

The company headquarters remains in Milford, with additional regional and country offices in Amsterdam, Beirut, Brisbane, Miami and Singapore, employing about 1,000 people in total. Worldwide, its franchisees provide more than 300,000 jobs in the communities where they are located. With a robust social community of over 25 million, Subway engages daily with consumers from around the world.

In 2012, Subway became the first quick service restaurant to meet the American Heart Association's Heart Check Meal Certification Program nutritional criteria.  Earlier this year, the Connecticut Post reported that DeLuca plans to reach 50,000 sandwich shops in four years. The chain, which has attracted customers with lower-calorie and reduced-sodium sandwiches, is competing with Yum! Brands in India, China and Japan, as it proceeds with plans to open 300 stores in each nation in the next three years, DeLuca told the Post.

Mental Health and Community Well-Being Is Focus of Initiative Honoring Memory of Ana Grace Márquez-Greene

The  parents of Ana Marquez-Greene, one of the students whose life was tragically ended at Sandy Hook Elementary School nearly a year ago, have announced plans to convene "Love Wins,"  a day-long conference for those concerned with mental health and community well-being to help build connections that prevent and cope with trauma.

 To be held on December 2 at the University of Hartford, the conference is the inaugural initiative of The Ana Grace Project, and is designed to “promote love, community and connection for every child and family,” and a day dedicated to honoring Ana Grace.

Nelba Márquez-Greene and Jimmy Greene have dedicated themselves to creating real solutions to the kind of violence that took their daughter’s life.  They have developed The Center for Community and Connection in partnership with the Klingberg Family Centers as a transformational initiative of The Ana Grace Project to identify the most effective ways to build community and interpersonal connection to prevent violence and promote recovery. The Center aims to accomplish this objective through research, practical tools, professional development and public policy.

The Center was inspired by the heart and soul of Ana Grace’s mother, Nelba Márquez-Greene, LMFT, a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist employed by Klingberg Family Centers. Nelba Márquez-Greene and Jimmy Greene “believe that love and community are the antidotes for violence and are spurred on not only by their loss but by their faith and the belief that it is always best to “Overcome Evil with Good,” according to the organization’s website.

Nelba Márquez-Greene and Jimmy Greene are both alumni of the University of Hartford.

The program on Dec. 2 will feature Bruce Perry, MD, Ph.D., as its keynote speaker and is a collaboration of the resources of Western Connecticut State University, Central Connecticut State University, the University of Hartford, Klingberg Family Centers and Stanley Black and Decker.  Perry is the Senior Fellow of The Child Trauma Academy, a not-for-profit organization based in Houston, TX, and adjunct Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago.

A workshop on Creating Compassionate Communities by Christopher Kukk will address weaving compassion into the fabric of learning (schools) and living (cities and towns) communities, drawing upon ideas from neuroscience, psychology, evolutionary biology, economics and other social sciences. Dr. Kukk is Professor of Political Science at Western Connecticut State University and founding Director of the Center for Compassion, Creativity and Innovation.

A session to be led by Alice Forrester will describe New Haven's efforts to reduce the impact of adverse childhood experiences using a two-generational approach.  Participants will discuss how collaboration and grass roots activism can impact children and families facing mental health challenges.  Dr. Forrester is the Executive Director of the Clifford Beers Child Guidance Clinic in New Haven, a community-based, mental health center for excellence for the treatment of children and families.  She was appointed by Governor Malloy to sit on the Sandy Hook Commission and has served as the Project Director of two National Child Traumatic Stress Network grants.

“For anyone whose child has been the victim of senseless violence it can seem almost impossible to go on. Grappling with anger and despair, you search for a way to redeem what has been lost, said Nelba Márquez-Greene on the organization’s website.  “And here we stand, knowing we must do something, something meaningful, to help all of us turn the page and begin the next chapter. Our hope as a family is to invest in creating solutions that will draw these individuals away from violence and replace it with the powerful love and connection that can only be found in a healthy community of caring.”

Additional session topics include the human cost of unmet mental needs in our cities, Mental Health First Aid, Circle of Security Parenting and Teaching and Learning with Compassion.

Conference participants will learn about and contribute to best practices in building community and interpersonal connections to prevent violence and promote recovery. Organizers anticipate that conference outcomes will contribute to a shared body of knowledge for community members, parents, and professionals to create their own roles in building connections that “will enable love to win.”

The program will also include presentations by Steven Girelli, Ph.D., President & CEO, Klingberg Family Centers; Bryan Gibb, M.B.A., National Council of Behavioral Health; Deborah McCarthy, O.T., Mindfullness Collaborative for Youth and Schools; Adi Flesher, M.Ed., Garrison Institute; Isabel Pacheco Logan, L.C.S.W., Office of the Public Defender;  Keith Gaston, M.S.W.,  Village for  Families and Children;  Charlie Slaughter, M.P.H., R.D., Department of Children and Families; Geoffry Scales, Hartford Juvenile Probation;  Karl Koistein, L.C.S.W., DCF;  and Iran Nazarrio, COMPASS Youth Collaborative.

There will also be a performance piece about gun violence by Janis Astor del Valle and Lara Herscovitch, and a performance by the Connecticut Children’s Chorus.  CEUs will be available for teachers.  Registration and additional information is available at

http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=kdmy5ioab&oeidk=a07e8bf8e4yaa208d5f

Founded in 1903, Klingberg Family Centers is a private nonprofit charitable organization offering an array of treatment programs. The organization’s programs are designed to serve children and families whose lives have been affected by trauma in its various forms, family difficulties, and mental health issues.

Connecticut “Ideas Worth Spreading” Resonate in Massachusetts in TED Talks

TED came to Springfield, Massachusetts this month with a decidedly Connecticut flavor, as a quarter of the featured speakers offering “ideas worth spreading,” hailed from the “still revolutionary” state.

Of the 16 “TED talks” on the agenda during a day-long program sponsored by and held at the headquarters of Mass Mutual, four of the speakers were from Connecticut, and left the specially selected audience intrigued, impressed and inspired.

Well known worldwide, TED is a nonprofit which began decades ago with a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design. Since then its scope has become considerably broader, and “TED Talks” – widely available on the web – have become a global phenomenon, watched by tens of millions.

TED conferences “bring together the world's most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives.”  That’s precisely what occurred at TEDx in Springfield, where in addition to speakers touting the possibilities for that post-industrial urban center, a wide array of innovative subjects were featured under the theme “Driving innovation through diversity and inclusion.”

The Connecticut quartet at TEDx Springfield:

• Keisha Ashe is co-founder and CEO of ManyMentors, a nonprofit science, technology, engineering and math STEM) mentoring organization that connects minority and female middle and high school students with encouraging and supporting near-age mentors in the STEM fields.  “If they never know, they’ll never go,” is the guiding phrase of the initiative, reflecting the fact that many women and minority students are not encouraged to pursue the STEM fields, and are often unaware of the career potential or their own aptitude for the STEM careers.  Ashe is a Ph.D. candidate in Chemical Engineering at UConn.
• Maureen Connolly is an event planning professional with extensive national and international experience across diverse markets, and a visionary and passionate leader skilled at creating high impact programs with measurable results.  She is the foremost advocate for utilizing public celebrations as a means of extending social capital by having the community, rather than the event, at the core of planning.  She has written on the enduring transformational potential of public celebrations, and offers that “now is the time to harness that collective energy and accumulated social capital as a catalyst for social change” that will develop collaborations with the potential to breathe new life into hard-pressed cities.
• David Ryan Polgar is a Connecticut-based writer/attorney/educator and highly regarded tech ethicist who speaks on the topics of information overload, digital diets, and creativity.  He is an award-winning columnist for Seasons magazine, and has been featured in national media. Polgar speaks and writes about the ethical, legal, sociological, and emotional issues surrounding our relationship to technology.  He has created a “Mental Food Plate” as an approach to achieving deeper levels of thinking, and explores the imperative for an industry to develop that will serve as a counterbalance to the burgeoning technologies that “we can’t stop consuming.”
• Jon Thomas is the founder of Tap Cancer Out, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu nonprofit and host of the most philanthropic martial arts events in the world.  Jon Thomas and his wife Becky run the Stratford-based nonprofit “in the slivers of spare time between their jobs in advertising.”  The nonprofit was founded out of a desire to respond to the devastation of cancer through a sport that Thomas was deeply involved with.  The organization raises funds – all donated to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society - through hosting fundraising tournaments, direct donations, merchandise sales and sponsorships.

The TED website points out that “TED is best thought of as a global community, welcoming people from every discipline and culture who seek a deeper understanding of the world.”  TEDx Springfield was organized by Jae Junkunc of Hartford, from Mass Mutual's Enterprise Risk Management Group, with support of a 15-member team that developed the program over six months.

TED includes the award-winning TED Talks video site, the Open Translation Project and TED Conversations, the inspiring TED Fellows and TEDx programs, and the annual TED Prize. The TEDx program gives communities, organizations and individuals the opportunity to stimulate dialogue through TED-like experiences at the local level. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are planned and coordinated independently.

A TEDx session in Hartford in June included talks by David Fink of Partnership for Strong Communities, Steven Mitchell of East Coast Greenway, Donna Berman of Charter Oak Cultural Center, and Rich Hollant of CO:LAB, among sixteen local speakers.

Concussions in NFL, Youth Sports Earn Attention from Media, Government, Coalition

A number of the nation’s most prominent youth sports organizations announced this week that they will be partnering with concussion specialists, sports medicine professionals and leaders at other levels of sports to create an unprecedented coalition to focused on concussions among young athletes.

The announcement comes the same week as a major report on the NFL’s two decades of denial of a connection between football and brain injury, aired on Public Broadcasting System (PBS) stations across the country, including in Connecticut, as part of the investigative “Frontline” series.

The National Sports Concussion Coalition expects to be "the most comprehensive alliance of its kind", with science and medical leaders in the fields of concussions, brain injury and sports medicine working directly with a cross-section of organizations and governing bodies that represent millions of athletes across major organized sports in the United States. The partnership aims to share data and identify best safety practices that can assist in coaching, playing and officiating across sports.

To help ensure the health and safety of young athletes, this past spring the federal government's Centers for Disease Control and Prevention developed the Heads Up: Concussion in Youth Sports initiative to offer information about concussions to coaches, parents, and athletes involved in youth sports. The  initiative provides important information on preventing, recognizing, and responding to a concussion.  A series of fact sheets and an informational video for players, coaches and families are available on the CDC website, www.cdc.gov/concussion.

The founding youth sports and medical members of the newly formed coalition include the National Council of Youth Sports (NCYS), Pop Warner Little Scholars, Sports Concussion Institute (SCI), US Lacrosse, US Youth Soccer, USA Hockey, American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), Amateur Softball Association/USA Softball, USA Basketball, USA Football and the Datalys Center for Sports Injury Research and Prevention. Coalition partners at the professional, college and foundation levels include the NCAA, NFL, NFLPA and National Football Foundation.

Connecticut Law

Just two weeks ago, Connecticut Governor Dannel P. Malloy and Attorney General George Jepsen issued a news release reminding student athletes, parents and coaches that head injuries and concussions are serious and that Connecticut law requires students who suffer a blow to the head or receive a concussion diagnosis to sit out games and practices until cleared by a licensed medical professional.

“A concussion is a very serious injury, and an athlete who has suffered a concussion needs time to heal,” said Attorney General Jepsen. “While proper use of helmets and protective equipment is important, it’s critical to remember that no helmet can fully prevent a concussion. Preventing head injuries by limiting contact is key. Parents, athletes and coaches should educate themselves in order to recognize the signs of injury and prevent concussions in youth sports.”

Under Connecticut law, anyone who has a state-issued coaching permit and who coaches intramural or interscholastic athletics must be periodically trained in how to recognize and respond to head injuries and concussions. State law also requires coaches to take a student athlete out of any game or practice if the athlete shows signs of having suffered a concussion after an observed or suspected blow to the head or if the athlete is diagnosed with a concussion. Coaches must keep athletes out of games and practices until receiving written clearance from a licensed medical professional.  Connecticut's youth sports concussion safety law was signed on May 18, 2010 by Governor M. Jodi Rell, and the state was among the first in the nation to enact a comprehensive policy.

 “Sports have the power to change the lives of millions of young people in this country by encouraging a physically active lifestyle and by teaching lifelong lessons. We want to make sure no child loses that opportunity due to fear of injury,” said Jon Butler, executive director of Pop Warner Little Scholars. “By coming together in this very important fight against concussions we believe our collective efforts will transcend our individual sports and benefit everyone.”

"The NCAA is committed to broad concussion education outreach, and to research that will identify objective biomarkers and sound management guidelines. We are excited about our partnership in this important alliance," said Brian Hainline, M.D., chief medical officer of the NCAA.

Documentary Production

The PBS program “League in Denial” began as a joint effort between PBS and the ESPN program “Outside the Lines,” announced in 2012.  Earlier this year, ESPN removed itself from the collaborative endeavor.

In a statement at the time, the network said “Because ESPN is neither producing nor exercising editorial control over the Frontline documentaries, there will be no co-branding involving ESPN on the documentaries or their marketing materials. The use of ESPN's marks could incorrectly imply that we have editorial control. As we have in the past, we will continue to cover the concussion story through our own reporting.”

The Bristol-based sports network has initiated major stories on the concussion issue in recent years, and ESPN reporters Mark Fainaru-Wada and Steve Fainaru have written a book – published this week - about football and brain injuries -- "League of Denial: The NFL, Concussions and the Battle for Truth," and are prominently featured in the PBS program.

Jepson, Blumenthal Seek Federal Action to Limit Electronic Cigarettes As Concerns Grow

On September 6, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that the use of electronic cigarettes by middle and high school age children had doubled in the past year.  Less than three weeks later, the Attorneys General of 40 states – including Connecticut - announced that they are calling on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to issue regulations by October 31, 2013, addressing the advertising, ingredients and sale to minors of e-cigarettes.

The CDC survey noted that an estimated 1.78 million students reported having used e-cigarettes as of 2012. Additionally, an estimated 160,000 students who reported using e-cigarettes had never used conventional cigarettes. “This is a serious concern,” the CDC pointed out, “because the overall impact of e-cigarette use on public health remains uncertain. In youths, concerns include the potential negative impact of nicotine on adolescent brain development, as well as the risk for nicotine addiction and initiation of the use of conventional cigarettes or other tobacco products.”

In a bipartisan letter this week, the attorneys general asked the FDA to regulate e-cigarettes as “tobacco products” under the Tobacco Control Act and to prohibit their sale to minors. E-cigarettes – rapidly growing in popularity among both youth and adults – are battery-operated products that heat liquid nicotine, derived from tobacco plants, into a vapor that is inhaled by the user.

“Nicotine in any form is highly addictive,” said Connecticut Attorney General George Jepsen. “While some marketing claims imply that e-cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking, the fact is that the health effects of e-cigarettes have not been adequately studied. Without sound research, we simply do not know whether the chemicals a user is inhaling are safe.”

At present, no federal age restrictions prevent children from obtaining e-cigarettes, and e-cigarettes are available in fruit and candy flavors – including bubble gum, gummy bear and chocolate – that appeal to youth and have been banned from cigarettes.

Earlier this week, U.S. News reported that Sen. Richard Blumenthal,  the state's former Attorney General, "is one of the most vehement advocates of restricting the sale of electronic cigarettes. "  The magazine reported that Blumenthal says the vapor-producing devices, which are booming in popularity, have become "gateway nicotine-delivery devices" for children and he advocates banning flavor options and online sales.

U.S sales are expected to double this year to $1.7 billion, according to a Wells Fargo Securities estimate published in August. Year-to-date retail sales were estimated at around $700 million and online sales were pegged at $500-625 million.  "I think flavors ought to be banned," Blumenthal told U.S. News. It's "completely disingenuous" to say adults are the primary users of popular flavor options, he said.  "There may be a handful of adults who like bubble gum-flavored e-cigarettes, but the overwhelming purpose," he said, "is to appeal to kids."

In addition to Connecticut, attorneys general from Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Delaware, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Washington and Wyoming signed the letter sent to the FDA today.

“Given the rapid increase in use and youths' susceptibility to social and environmental influences to use tobacco, developing strategies to prevent marketing, sales, and use of e-cigarettes among youths is critical,” the CDC report stated.

Vaccinating Babies: CT Ranks #6 in the Nation

Connecticut is ranked #6 in the nation in the percentage of children, between 19 months and 35 months old, who have been inoculated with the seven vaccines recommended by the nation’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The data, compiled by Bloomberg.com, indicates that 74.5 percent of Connecticut children have all seven vaccines.  The states with the highest overall percentage are Mississippi (76.0%), New Hampshire (75.8%), Kentucky (75.1%), Georgia (75.0%), and Tennessee (74.6%).  Rounding out the top ten behind Connecticut are North Dakota (74.3%), Wisconsin (73.3%), Virginia (72.8%) and Nebraska (72.5%).

The specific vaccinations, and the percentage of Connecticut children who have been inoculated, are: DTaP for Diptheria, Tetnus, and Pertussus, also known as Whooping Cough (90.4%), polio (96.4%), MMR for measles, mumps, and rubella, (95.3%), Hib for influenza type B (86.5%), PCV (95.2%) and hepatitis B (93.1%).

The CDC points out that vaccines contain the same germs that cause disease. (For example, measles vaccine contains measles virus, and Hib vaccine contains Hib bacteria.) But they have been either killed or weakened to the point that they don’t make individuals sick, according to the CDC. Some vaccines contain only a part of the disease germ.

A vaccine stimulates the immune system to produce antibodies, exactly like it would if an individual were exposed to the disease. After getting vaccinated, individuals  develop immunity to that disease, without having to get the disease first.  This is what makes vaccines such powerful medicine, the agency stresses --  unlike most medicines, which treat or cure diseases, vaccines prevent them.

Connecticut is #1 in the nation in the percentage of children, 95.2 percent, having been vaccinated for chickenpox, and also had the highest percentage of children taking the PCV vaccine which targets the most common cause of bacterial pneumonia.  The state also ranked #2 in the percentage of young children vaccinated with the MMR, #3 in DTap and Hib, #5 in the polio vaccine, and #9 in the percentage of hepatitis B vaccines administered.

The data utilized in the state-by-state rankings, which was published this month, are for the period July 2011 through June 2012, the latest available according to Bloomberg.com.  The CDC produces a vaccination schedule guide with age-specific vaccination information.  The rankings were compiled just ahead of Children's Health Month, which is observed throughout October led by the U.S. Office of Children's Health Protection and the Environment.a Protection Agency.

Among other states in the region, New York ranked #46, with 61.5 percent of children inoculated, Maine ranked #26, Rhode Island #24 and Massachusetts #20.