The Oak Creek School Mountain Bike Skills Park is set to break ground in the spring and will include both a bike track and an integrated fitness track with stations for activities such as pull-ups, sit-ups and other fitness challenges. The skills park will be built “by students for students” — by kids enrolled in the Verde Academy for Career Technical Education. The project will cost just over $100,000 to complete at no cost to the school district, thanks to grants and donations from the UArizona Center for Rural Health and other non-profit and private donors.

Continuing coverage: Women on hormone replacement therapy for menopause go on to have a 58% lower risk of Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative conditions, a new study finds. "This is not the first study on the impact of hormone therapies on neurodegenerative disease reduction," said study senior author Roberta Diaz Brinton, director of the University of Arizona Center for Innovation in Brain Science. "But what is important about this study is that it advances the use of precision hormone therapies in the prevention of neurodegenerative disease, including Alzheimer's."

Ahead of this school year, the American Academy of Pediatrics published new guidance recommending students of all ages continue to use masks this fall, regardless of vaccination status. Ricardo Correa, MD, an endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, was frustrated by the Arizona legislature's move to ban masks and COVID-19 testing in public schools. "That was not an evidence-based policy," he said. "If you don't know who is vaccinated and not vaccinated, then you cannot ban the mandate of having a mask in schools."

Health experts agree more needs to be done to combat misinformation online. Ricardo Correa, MD, associate professor at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, who helps lead a Spanish-language vaccine campaign called “¡Vacúnate ya!” responds to the biggest myths about the COVID-19 vaccine circulating on social media and why they’re false.

Medical students, 120 each in the Class of 2025 and Class of 2024, will receive the frocks of their future profession at Centennial Hall events.

Providing information while combating misinformation made the Arizona Poison and Drug Information Center vital to slowing the spread of the virus.

The highest-rated television program in recent weeks has been the NBA Finals, featuring thousands of often mask-free fans crowding indoor arenas in Phoenix and Milwaukee to cheer on the teams — a visual that induced complicated emotions in at least one expert. “I cringe every time I see it,” said Shad Marvasti, MD, a family medicine physician at the College of Medicine – Phoenix, who added he’s rooting for Phoenix to win the NBA Finals — but wishes fans were required to wear masks. “You can’t leave this one to the honor system. It just doesn’t work that way.”

Researchers at the University of Arizona Health Sciences found that Cannabis terpenes, when used alone, mimic the effects of cannabinoids, including a reduction in pain sensation. When terpenes were combined with a synthetic cannabinoid, the pain-relieving effects were amplified – an “entourage effect” – that reduced pain levels without an increase in euphoria and other side effects.

Dana Chase, MD, an assistant professor at the College of Medicine – Phoenix and gynecologic oncologist at Arizona Oncology, discusses the importance of genetic testing to guide treatment decisions for patients with ovarian cancer.

Uncertainty about how many vaccinated people previously were infected with COVID-19 makes it hard to gauge the population’s total immunity and predict the potential duration and severity of the recent “brisk acceleration” in new cases, said Joe Gerald, MD, PhD, an associate professor of public health policy at the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Given that uncertainty, policymakers and individuals “should take immediate steps to adopt evidence-based mitigation practices to reduce transmission,” Gerald wrote Friday in an assessment of COVID-19 conditions in Arizona.