Coordinated Approach: Comprehensive Policy and Action Planning.

BACKGROUND: Schools play a vital role in student health, and a collaborative approach may affect health factors such as physical activity (PA) and nutrition. There is a lack of recent literature synthesizing collaborative approaches in K-12 settings. We present updated evidence about interventions that used a coordinated school health approach to support K-12 student PA and nutrition in the United States. METHODS: A 2-phase literature review search included a search of systematic reviews for individual qualifying studies (2010-2018), followed by a search for individual articles (2010-2020) that evaluated a coordinated approach or use of school wellness councils, committees, or teams to address PA and/or nutrition. RESULTS: We identified 35 articles describing 30 studies and grouped them by intervention type. Interventions demonstrated promising findings for environmental changes and student dietary and PA behaviors. IMPLICATIONS: Coordinated and multicomponent interventions demonstrated significant improvements or null results, indicating that implementation of programs and/or policies to promote healthier eating and PA practices may support and do not appear to hinder environmental or behavioral outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Schools can use a coordinated approach to implement opportunities for PA and nutrition; this may influence students' PA and dietary behaviors.

The School Environment and Physical and Social-Emotional Well-Being: Implications for Students and School Employees.

BACKGROUND: The school environment, consisting of the physical environment and social-emotional climate (SEC), plays a crucial role in both student and employee health; however, there is a lack of recent literature synthesizing school environment interventions in K-12 settings. We describe updated evidence about school environment interventions to support K-12 student and employee health in the United States. METHODS: A 2-phase search included a review of reviews (2010-2018), followed by a search for individual articles (2010-2020) that targeted school physical environment and/or SEC to address physical activity (PA) and/or nutrition. We also investigated how nutrition and PA interventions with an SEC component improves social-emotional and/or mental health outcomes. Because research on dietary and PA behaviors for school employees is limited; we included studies on other worksites (eg, hospitals and offices) to provide insight for school employees. FINDINGS: We identified 40 articles describing 40 unique studies and 45 interventions and grouped them by intervention type. Physical environment interventions demonstrated significant and positive nutrition and PA behavioral outcomes for students; outcomes among employees were mixed. Interventions with SEC components reported improvements in some mental health outcomes. IMPLICATIONS: The school environment can affect dietary and PA behaviors as well as mental health for students and employees. CONCLUSIONS: Establishing healthy school environments can support student and employee PA, dietary behaviors, and mental health.

Assessing the impact of aircraft arrival on ambient ultrafine particle number concentrations in near-airport communities in Boston, Massachusetts.

Aircraft emissions contribute to overall ambient air pollution, including ultrafine particle (UFP) concentrations. However, accurately ascertaining aviation contributions to UFP is challenging due to high spatiotemporal variability along with intermittent aviation emissions. The objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of arrival aircraft on particle number concentration (PNC), a proxy for UFP, across six study sites 3-17 km from a major arrival aircraft flight path into Boston Logan International Airport by utilizing real-time aircraft activity and meteorological data. Ambient PNC at all monitoring sites was similar at the median but had greater variation at the 95th and 99th percentiles with more than two-fold increases in PNC observed at sites closer to the airport. PNC was elevated during the hours with high aircraft activity with sites closest to the airport exhibiting stronger signals when downwind from the airport. Regression models indicated that the number of arrival aircraft per hour was associated with measured PNC at all six sites, with a maximum contribution of 50% of total PNC at a monitor 3 km from the airport during hours with arrival activity on the flight path of interest (26% across all hours). Our findings suggest strong but intermittent contributions from arrival aircraft to ambient PNC in communities near airports.