Joav Merrick

Developmental disabilities or neurodevelopmental disabilities (includes intellectual disability) are a diverse group of chronic disorders that begin at anytime during the development process (including conception, birth, and growth) up to 22 years of age and last throughout an individual's lifetime. Major disabilities include intellectual disabilities, learning disabilities, communication disorders, autism spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, and neural tube defects. We provide an introduction and review epidemiology of major disabilities and have also gathered international research from United States, Australia, Ghana, Jordan, Ireland, Italy and India on various aspects of intellectual and developmental disability, which we hope will be of interest to our readers.

Break the Cycle of Children's Environmental Health Disparities (BTC) is an annual collaborative interdisciplinary research and training program involving university students in academic tracks that focus on the impact of adverse social, economic and environmental factors on children's health, development and education. The target populations are communities where environmental hazards are related to circumstances of social and economic disadvantage. Each student develops a project that focuses on preventing or reducing adverse environmental factors to benefit the children who live in these communities. At the end of the project, the students present their studies and findings at a national conference and write papers which are then published. The papers in this publication represent the work of students who participated in the 14th Annual Break the Cycle program. The phrase "Break the Cycle" in this context uses the ecological construct of the cycle of environmental health disparities and represents a framework for reducing health disparities and promoting health equity among children who are vulnerable as a consequence of adverse social, economic, environmental and political factors. The student projects are intended to break the cycle and liberate children from the intergenerational cycle of health disparities, so they can grow and develop to their full potential. Through this academic process, the students gain knowledge, insight and skills to enable them to advance in their careers and become future leaders.

Tobacco, alcohol, cannabis and adolescence are all issues that should be of a public health concern now that many states have legalized the sale and use of cannabis. More thought and research is needed to identify which programs and prevention strategies are most effective in reducing youth use and initiation of marijuana. In this book we have gathered work by international researchers and presented papers on infant mortality in Indiana, discussion of pediatric immunizations, medical cannabis for epilepsy, issues concerned with food insecurity, food additives, various aspects of adolescent health, cyberbullying and much more that we hope will be of interest to the reader.

It is estimated that 86 million adult Americans have prediabetes and with that, a risk of developing T2DM (type 2 diabetes) within one in ten patients. About 29 million people have actual diabetes, most with T2DM. It was estimated in 2012 that about 208,000 people under the age of 20 have diabetes in the United States, but there is little data available on the prevalence of diabetes in the adolescent population. A recent study looking at 12-19 year olds from 2005-2014 found the prevalence of diabetes at 0.8%, with 28.5% undiagnosed and the prevalence of prediabetes 17.7%, more common among boys (22%) than girls (13.2%). With about 9% of the total US population having diabetes, this a public health issue of considerable proportions. In this book, the reader embarks on a journey through the medical history of the discovery and treatment of diabetes mellitus. It is the story of the human mind steadfastly seeking to understand its world a story worth telling again and again that has saved millions of lives from a premature death of misery in the 20th and now 21st century.