Growing up green: a systematic review of the influence of greenspace on youth development and health outcomes

Youth growing up in places with more greenspaces have better developmental outcomes. The literature on greenspace and youth development is largely cross-sectional, thus limited in terms of measuring development and establishing causal inference. We conducted a systematic review of prospective, longitudinal studies measuring the association between greenspace exposure and youth development outcomes measured between ages two and eighteen. We searched Cochrane, PubMed, CINAHL, Scopus, and Environment Complete, and included prospective cohort, quasi-experimental, and experimental studies on greenspace and youth development. Study quality was assessed using a 10-item checklist adapted from a previously published review on greenspace and health. Twenty-eight studies met criteria for review and were grouped into five thematic categories based on reported outcomes: cognitive and brain development, mental health and wellbeing, attention and behavior, allergy and respiratory, and obesity and weight. Seventy-nine percent of studies suggest an association between greenspace and improved youth development. Most studies were concentrated in wealthy, Western European countries, limiting generalizability of findings. Key opportunities for future research include: (1) improved uniformity of standards in measuring greenspace, (2) improved measures to account for large latency periods between greenspace exposure and developmental outcomes, and (3) more diverse study settings and populations.

Reactivation versus primary CMV infection after splenectomy in immunocompetent patients

Acute CMV infection in the immunocompetent host is usually asymptomatic or produces only mild symptoms. CMV infection in immunocompromized patients, especially transplant recipients and those infected with HIV, is a result of profound lymphopenia or dysfunction of CD4+/CD8+ cells and can cause substantial rates of complication and death. We present a case of CMV infection in a previously healthy man who just had splenectomy for blunt trauma: a short incubation of the CMV disease, a strongly positive CMV antigenemia, severity of the disease including prominent lymphocytosis, massive hepatic sinusoidal infiltration, and retinitis. Splenectomy changed the immunological defense against the virus and brought the infection to nearly fulminant scale.