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Is your teenager skipping breakfast? Why is that happening and what can you do? As per the data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which surveyed adolescent health and well-being found that 1 in 4 students in high school ate breakfast, which means 3 in 4 high school students are not eating their breakfast. This data is as per the 2023 survey.
The report describes a 10-year long trend and also recent changes among the two years. The study delved deeper into adolescents' dietary, physical activity and sleep behaviors. The study is also based on a national youth risk behavior survey of a representative sample of students from grade nine to 12.
The study found that while high school students drank slightly less soda and sports drinks and consumed more water, other healthy eating habits declined. In 2023, only 27% of students ate breakfast every day in the past week. The numbers were even lower for female students, with just 22% eating breakfast daily, compared to 32% of male students. Boys were also more likely to eat fruits and vegetables daily and drink water at least three times a day. Poor mental health and lack of physical activity have also been linked to skipping breakfast.
The other findings included a survey across 10-year period, where a decrease in the percentage of students eating fruits from 65% to 55%, eating vegetables, from 61% to 58%, and having breakfast daily from 38% to 27% was noted.
However, there was a positive trend among this, which was in children drinking plain water at least three times a day, which increased from 49% to 54% from when the survey began in 2015.. There were fewer students who also said that they drank soda in 2023 than in 2013. On an average, in 2013, around 22% students avoided soda, whereas in 2023, 31% students avoided it.
The report also emphasized that a healthy diet, along with daily physical activity and sufficient sleep further contributes to a healthy lifestyle. “The 10-year trends from 2013 to 2023 also show a decline in healthy dietary, physical activity, and sleep behaviors,” the survey reported.
While there is no one straightforward answer to it, psychologists and those who study children, believe that for many high school going kids, it is the easiest time to skip a meal. This is because they are caught between rushing to school, or not just that hungry in the morning. So for them, to sit down to have a breakfast may seem hassle and something they would have to take time out from their busy schedule. They at this age also prioritize their extra-curricular activities.
There has also been a shift in their circadian rhythm, and most teens cannot fall asleep before 11 pm, or even at midnight. Which means they wake up tired and struggle to do things right in the morning, which is why they choose to skip breakfast or give extra minutes to any other activities.
There is of course another, more popular reason, to lose weight. While experts and studies, like the one published in the Journal of Nutrition that found skipping breakfast leads to higher levels of hunger hormones, the students still feel the need to do this. However, it could lead to a slow metabolism, prompt the body to conserve energy and burn fewer calories, weight gain and deprive yo off the essential nutrients like calcium, iron, and vitamin D.
Without a morning breakfast, your blood sugar might drop too, which can increase irritability and stress, along with including the risk of depression in teenage.
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The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved Rasonque (daraxonrasib), a once-daily pill, for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma, offering a new treatment option for patients with advanced pancreatic cancer.
Rasonque is a once-daily tablet that targets multiple forms of a protein called RAS, a key driver of tumor growth in most patients with pancreatic adenocarcinoma, which arises from cells lining the ducts of the pancreas.
The approval is for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma who have received at least one prior systemic therapy or are not candidates for multiagent systemic therapy.
“Today’s approval provides a critical new option for patients facing an extraordinarily difficult and historically hard-to-treat cancer. It is our fundamental duty to deliver more cures and meaningful treatments to patients as quickly as possible,” said Acting FDA Commissioner Kyle Diamantas, JD.
Also read: Former US Senator Ben Sasse Opens Up About Battle With Terminal Stage 4 Pancreatic Cancer
Pancreatic cancer has long been one of the toughest challenges in oncology. The five-year survival rate is around 13%, while recurrence rates approach 80% after treatment.
Approximately 90% to 95% of the 67,000 new pancreatic cancer cases diagnosed in the US each year are pancreatic adenocarcinoma, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Although pancreatic cancer represents roughly 3.2% of all cancer diagnoses, pancreatic adenocarcinoma accounts for a disproportionately high share of cancer deaths because of its typically late detection, aggressive disease course and historically limited treatment options.
However, daraxonrasib, developed by US-based late-stage clinical oncology company Revolution Medicines, has shown promise in improving survival among patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer.
Daraxonrasib is a once-daily oral pill that demonstrated statistically significant and clinically meaningful improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) compared with standard intravenous chemotherapy.
The drug is described as a multi-selective inhibitor of RAS(ON) proteins and is the first approved drug in this new class of RAS inhibitors designed to target a broad spectrum of cancer-causing RAS mutations.
Daraxonrasib works by blocking KRAS signaling proteins that drive tumour growth. Pancreatic cancer is considered one of the most RAS-driven cancers, with more than 90% of patients carrying tumo\rs driven by RAS protein mutations.
Read More: New Pancreatic Cancer Drug Daxaronrasib May Benefit Patients With Lung And Ovarian Tumors Too
The FDA approval is specifically for adults with metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma in two situations:
In the Phase 3 clinical trial, including 500 adults, daraxonrasib led to a median overall survival of 13.2 months, compared
with 6.7 months with chemotherapy.
Daraxonrasib also significantly improved progression-free survival compared with chemotherapy. Similar RAS-targeting drugs are now being developed by other companies for pancreatic, lung and colon cancers.
According to the company, daraxonrasib was generally well tolerated, with a manageable safety profile and no new safety signals. Prior studies with daraxonrasib have shown that rash is the most common side effect. Mouth sores, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting have also been reported.
Pancreatic cancer typically begins in the ducts of the organ and can rapidly spread to other parts of the body. Early-stage pancreatic tumours may not show up on imaging tests, making the disease difficult to diagnose until it has spread to other organs.
Prevention and early detection remain vital. Pancreatic cancer can often resemble common ailments, potentially delaying diagnosis.
Symptoms That Should Not Be Ignored
Malaria Alert in Germany: Frankfurt Airport Worker Dies After Suspected ‘Mosquito Arrives on Plane’; 5 Infected
In an unusual case, an employee at Germany’s Frankfurt Airport has died from malaria, while five others have contracted the potentially serious infection after mosquitoes suspected of arriving on an aircraft were found at the airport.
The airport operator, Fraport, confirmed the employee’s death and said the five other infected people are receiving medical treatment.
Authorities have installed mosquito traps at the airport. Captured mosquitoes will be analysed in laboratories to determine their species and, where possible, establish their origin.
Fraport said its focus is now on information and prevention. Employees have been advised to seek medical attention if they develop malaria-like symptoms and to inform doctors that they work at the airport.
“Sadly, we must confirm that one employee has died as a result of the infection,” a Fraport spokesperson told the BBC.
The company said it had provided information to employees and urged them to consult a doctor if they develop symptoms.
According to Germany's Robert Koch Institute (RKI), four airport employees developed malaria between 4 and 6 July. The institute said mosquitoes were brought to the airport by aircraft from a malaria-endemic region in July.
Malaria transmission within Germany is extremely rare. The RKI says malaria cases in the country almost exclusively occur among people who have travelled to malaria-endemic areas.
The absence of a travel history can make diagnosis more difficult. A delayed diagnosis can increase the risk of severe disease.
The RKI also noted that the last airport-associated malaria case in Germany occurred at Frankfurt Airport in 2023.
Malaria is a potentially life-threatening disease caused by Plasmodium parasites, which are transmitted to humans through the bites of infected female Anopheles mosquitoes.
Common symptoms include fever, chills and headache. More severe malaria can cause confusion, seizures, difficulty breathing and other life-threatening complications.
Symptoms generally begin around 10–15 days after the bite of an infected mosquito, although the timing can vary.
People at increased risk of severe malaria include young children, pregnant women, travellers without immunity and people with HIV/AIDS.
Malaria is not normally transmitted directly from person to person. However, transmission can occur through infected blood, including in rare circumstances through blood transfusion or contaminated needles.
According to the World Health Organization's World Malaria Report 2025, an estimated 282 million malaria cases and 610,000 deaths occurred worldwide in 2024 across 80 malaria-endemic countries.
The WHO African Region accounted for approximately 94% of global malaria cases and 95% of malaria deaths in 2024.
WHO estimates that malaria-prevention tools, including recommended vaccines and other interventions, helped avert approximately 170 million cases and 1 million deaths in 2024.
The report noted that WHO approved the world’s first malaria vaccines in 2021, and 24 countries have now added them to their regular immunisation schedules.
Despite the setbacks, there have been encouraging developments. So far, 47 countries and one territory have received malaria-free certification from WHO. Cabo Verde and Egypt were declared malaria-free in 2024, followed by Georgia, Suriname, and Timor-Leste in 2025.
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COVID-19 is rising across the US again. Doctors have been reporting an increase in patients testing positive through the summer. But some physicians are noticing a change in how the illness is presenting.
Reports have emerged stating that COVID is resurfacing with new symptoms including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
The CDC's latest respiratory illness data, updated August 21, shows that national and regional COVID-19 activity is increasing, although overall acute respiratory illness causing people to seek healthcare remains very low. COVID-19-related visits to the emergency room are also increasing.
Recent reports from doctors in Georgia describe patients arriving with gastrointestinal symptoms alongside, or sometimes instead of, the more familiar respiratory symptoms.
Although these symptoms may seem unusual compared with the classic COVID presentation, nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea are not new symptoms of COVID-19.
The CDC has included nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea among the possible symptoms of COVID-19 for years. What appears to be attracting attention now is that some doctors are seeing more patients presenting with these gastrointestinal symptoms during the current summer rise.
Dr James Black, medical director of emergency services at Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital in Albany, Georgia, said doctors are still seeing fever, cough and upper-respiratory symptoms, but added, “A lot of people are coming in with gastrointestinal symptoms - nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, sometimes to the point of mild dehydration.”
Also read: Exclusive With Leading Pulmonologist: When Should You Worry About H1N1 Symptoms?
The digestive system contains ACE2 receptors, which the virus can use to enter cells. Infection and the body's inflammatory response can therefore contribute to symptoms like nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.
Gastrointestinal symptoms can occur with respiratory symptoms or sometimes before them, which can make COVID harder to distinguish from stomach infections or food poisoning. That is why doctors say testing remains essential, especially when COVID is active in a certain area.
Also read: ‘Scromiting’: Cannabis-Linked Vomiting Cases Rising Again In US, Says CDC Report
Doctors say people should not focus only on gastrointestinal symptoms. Common COVID symptoms include:
Also read: US CDC Says COVID ‘Growing’ In Nearly Every State: What You Should Know
If nausea, vomiting or diarrhoea occur alongside fever, cough, sore throat, congestion, fatigue or body aches, COVID should be considered, particularly when infections are increasing in the community. Testing can be especially important for people at higher risk of severe disease because antiviral treatment works best when started early.
Dr Gurinder Singh Sidhu, US antiviral medical lead and senior director at Pfizer, said, "People at higher risk should seek medical advice promptly rather than waiting for symptoms to become severe."
Severe vomiting or diarrhoea can also cause dehydration, so people should seek medical care if they cannot keep fluids down, are becoming unusually weak or dizzy, are urinating much less than usual, or develop breathing difficulties.
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