Drones, DNA, and weather: A phase-oriented hybrid engine to predict sugar beet disease

American Phytopathological Society

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A fungus that can wipe out up to 50% of a sugar beet crop may soon meet its match in a new generation of smart disease forecasting. A new study published in Phytopathology shows how combining drone imagery, weather data, and qPCR-based airborne spore monitoring can reveal where disease is present and what the pathogen is likely to do next—giving growers a critical edge in timing control measures.

Led by Facundo R. Ispizua Yamati of the Institute of Sugar Beet Research (IfZ) in Göttingen, Germany, the research focuses on Cercospora leaf spot, caused by Cercospora beticola. In field trials from 2020 to 2022, the team structured the epidemic into four biological phases—incubation, fructification, dissemination, and yield impact—to track the disease’s hidden life cycle.

“What excites me most is the seamless interlocking of high-tech sensors and the fundamental biology of how diseases develop,” said Ispizua Yamati. “We have demonstrated that pixels are not processes; by grounding machine learning in biological phases, our models move beyond seeing ‘spots’ on a leaf to actually interpreting the pathogenesis of the fungus.”

The study integrates mechanistic disease models, meteorological data, uncrewed aerial vehicle imagery, and molecular diagnostics into a single predictive framework. By combining these data streams into phase-specific hybrid models, the researchers reduced prediction error by up to 39%. Disease severity was best predicted using climate variables and drone-derived crop indices, while spore production and dispersal were linked to humidity, temperature thresholds, and wind variability.

“We built a smart system that works like a hybrid engine,” Ispizua Yamati said. “By combining these technologies, we can forecast risk much more accurately, moving us toward ‘precision medicine’ for crops.”

The findings also clarify how environmental conditions shape epidemics. “One of the key things we discovered is that the disease does not behave the same way all the time,” Ispizua Yamati said. Spore spread was favored by light, variable winds under conducive microclimates. Yield and sugar content declined with earlier disease onset and higher final severity, with losses reaching up to 0.0123 kg of root fresh weight per plant per severity point.

For plant pathologists and growers, the work highlights a shift toward data-driven, biology-informed disease management. By aligning fungicide applications with the actual life stages of the pathogen, this approach could reduce costs and limit unnecessary environmental impact. Read “Hybrid Modeling of Cercospora Leaf Spot Epidemiology: Integrating Mechanistic and Machine Learning Approaches Using Remote-Sensing and Environmental Data” to learn more—available open access in Phytopathology.

For over 100 years Phytopathology®, published by The American Phytopathological Society, has been the premier international journal for publication of articles on fundamental research that advances understanding of the nature of plant diseases, the agents that cause them, their spread, the losses they cause, and measures used to control them.

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Journal

Phytopathology

DOI

10.1094/PHYTO-03-25-0113-R 

Article Title

Hybrid Modeling of Cercospora Leaf Spot Epidemiology: Integrating Mechanistic and Machine Learning Approaches Using Remote-Sensing and Environmental Data

 

Mizzou expands virtual fencing for cattle in Missouri and Nebraska

A $3.7 million grant is helping Mizzou’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture put GPS-enabled collars on the cattle of 200 livestock producers, saving time and labor.

University of Missouri-Columbia

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Virtual fencing 

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Credit: University of Missouri

The University of Missouri is scaling up the use of virtual fencing, a cutting-edge agricultural technology that’s gaining attention among livestock producers and state officials.

Thanks to a $3.7 million grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), Mizzou’s Center for Regenerative Agriculture will help hundreds of livestock producers in Missouri and Nebraska save time and labor with GPS-enabled collars for their cattle.

Virtual fencing collars guide cattle to fresh grazing fields with a variety of cues. Once their cattle are collared with the new technology, producers simply draw their virtual boundaries on a mobile app or computer and activate their interior “fences” with the press of a button. That reduces the time producers need to spend tearing down and rebuilding physical fences to move cattle to different pastures.

“Not only are we giving producers time back in their day by eliminating the time- and labor-intensive process of constantly moving interior fences, but we are also helping them be good stewards of the land by improving the sustainability and profitability of beef production,” Rob Myers, the center’s director, said. “I heard from one producer who is getting nearly double the value from each acre of land after switching to virtual fencing because his cattle are now eating all the cover crops in one field before moving on to the next field. He loves redrawing the boundaries on his phone.”

Beefing up impact

Myers and his team initially tested the technology in partnership with five Missouri producers. The latest grant will allow the center to expand the project by collaring the cattle of 200 livestock producers in Missouri and Nebraska who collectively manage around 150,000 acres. The award is part of $32.8 million in initial grants announced by NFWF as part of the new Grassland Resilience and Conservation Initiative, supported by funding from McDonald’s USA, the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and several key McDonald’s USA beef and beverage suppliers.

The grant provides incentive payments directly to producers who adopt the virtual fencing technology, which can also be used to protect streams, rivers and other sensitive landscapes. Additionally, Myers and his team will help producers improve their watering systems and plant native forages, boosting sustainability and profitability.

“The grass in most Missouri pastures is tall fescue, which is not native to the U.S.,” Myers, an extension professor in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, said. “So, by having native plants also be part of livestock grazing, that extends the grazing season, and it’s great for soil health and wildlife.”

Stewards of the land

The center’s goals — to build more integrated approaches to regenerative farming and develop more resilient food systems — are deeply personal to Myers.

He grew up on a farm in Illinois, seeing firsthand the downsides of soil erosion and the benefits cover crops — plants that enrich soil and hold it in place — had on the farm’s corn and soybeans.

“As a boy, I remember seeing the positive impact cover crops had on soil health, which sparked my interest in regenerative agriculture,” Myers said. “That’s something I’ve been passionate about ever since.”

Myers added that the virtual fencing project is an example of Mizzou’s efforts to improve rural communities by prioritizing engagement.

“At Mizzou, we’re not only doing research; we’re helping society directly benefit from the research through our extension, education and community outreach efforts, and that is what a flagship university is all about,” Myers said. “One of the major challenges in agriculture today, particularly in the Midwest, is how to keep the soil as productive and resilient as possible. I’m very motivated to help producers adopt best practices in regenerative agriculture so they and the next generation of producers will be successful in the long run. And we think virtual fencing can play a big role in that.”

 

Many patients with firearm injuries are treated at hospitals with violence intervention programs, but few ultimately receive these services

Violence intervention programs are reaching at-risk trauma patients, but only about 1 in 5 eligible patients receive these services when available

American College of Surgeons

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Key Takeaways

• Violence intervention programs identify patients at risk of repeat violent injury and connect them with hospital and community-based resources to address underlying risk factors for violence.
• A national analysis found that although nearly two-thirds of patients with firearm injuries are treated at trauma centers with violence intervention programs, only about 1 in 5 of eligible patients ultimately receive services.
• Patients with assault-related injuries were the most likely to participate in violence intervention programs. Participation was also higher among Black patients, those with Medicaid coverage, individuals with documented mental illness, and those with more severe injuries.

CHICAGO — Many patients with firearm injuries are treated at hospitals with violence intervention programs, but only about 1 in 5 ultimately receive these services, according to a national analysis published in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

The study is the first national, multicenter analysis of patient characteristics and participation in violence intervention programs among trauma patients with firearm injuries.

Developed largely in the 1990s, violence intervention programs identify patients who have sustained traumatic injuries and are at risk of repeat violence, connecting them with hospital- and community-based resources to address underlying risk factors. Prior research shows these programs can improve patient outcomes, including reducing the risk of re-injury and post-traumatic stress, but their use across trauma systems remains unclear.

To better understand who these programs reach, researchers analyzed data from patients with firearm injuries using the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Committee on Trauma (COT) Firearm Study Research Dataset, which includes data from Level I-III trauma centers.

Study Results

• Of 15,455 patients included in the study, 64% were treated at trauma centers with a violence intervention program. Among those treated at hospitals with violence prevention programs, only 18.5% received services based on an analysis of their discharge records.

• Patients treated at trauma centers with these programs were more likely to be younger (median age 29.8 vs. 30.3), Hispanic, unemployed (47.5% vs. 42.4%), and to have histories of incarceration and prior assault-related injury (41% vs. 28.5%; 33.8% vs. 24.1%). They also experienced longer hospital stays (7.1 vs. 6.2 days) and were more likely to receive post-discharge rehabilitation and psychosocial support.

• Patients with assault-related injuries were the most likely to participate in violence intervention programs. Participation was also higher among Black patients, those with Medicaid coverage, individuals with documented mental illness, and those with more severe injuries.

• The findings suggest that referral and participation may be concentrated among patients with more visible clinical or psychosocial complexity, and that high-risk individuals without these markers may be missed, the authors wrote.

“Violence intervention programs are reaching the patients they are designed to serve, but not at a consistent level,” said lead author Sara Larosiliere, a fourth-year medical student at The Frank H. Netter M.D. School of Medicine at Quinnipiac University in North Haven, Connecticut. “Improving access and integration of these programs could have a meaningful impact on recovery and outcomes after injury.”

Despite the availability of these programs, inconsistent uptake may reflect barriers such as limited capacity or other hospital- and patient-level factors, including patient refusal, the authors said. The dataset, which includes only participating trauma centers, does not capture differences in program structure, delivery, or other factors that may influence participation levels. The authors also noted that participation in violence intervention program services is usually reflected in patient discharge records, which may underestimate engagement initiated or completed after discharge.

Firearm-related injuries are among the leading causes of death for people ages 1-44 in the U.S., and the number one cause of death among children and teens ages 1–19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Improving Social Determinants to Attenuate Violence (ISAVE) Workgroup of the ACS COT recognized violence intervention programs as one important strategy that can help trauma centers better address the root causes of violence and incorporate social care into trauma care. 

“Violence intervention programs play an integral role in connecting patients disproportionately affected by violence with long-term recovery services and preventing re-injury among high-risk individuals,” said Jeffrey D. Kerby, MD, PhD, FACS, Medical Director, ACS Trauma Education, who was not involved with the JACS study. “These programs are rooted in evidence showing that structured medical, social, and educational support can address survivors’ needs across multiple domains. Future studies should examine gaps in use and assess long-term outcomes for participants.”

Study co-authors are Amir Ebadinejad, MD; Vincent Parise, MD; Jonathan Gates, MD, MBA, FACS; and Jane Keating, MD, FACS.

The study is published as an article in press on the JACS website.

Citation: Larosiliere S, Ebadinejad A, Parise V, et al. Access to and Utilization of Violence Intervention Programs: A Retrospective Analysis of the National ACS COT Firearm Study Research Dataset. Journal of the American College of Surgeons, 2026. DOI: 10.1097/XCS.0000000000001826

# # #
About the American College of Surgeons
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) is a scientific and educational organization of surgeons that was founded in 1913 to raise the standards of surgical practice and improve the quality of care for all surgical patients. The ACS is dedicated to the ethical and competent practice of surgery. Its achievements have significantly influenced the course of scientific surgery in America and have established it as an important advocate for all surgical patients. The ACS has more than 95,000 members and is the largest organization of surgeons in the world. “FACS” designates that a surgeon is a Fellow of the ACS.   

Follow the ACS on social media: X | Instagram | YouTube | LinkedIn | Facebook 

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Journal

Journal of the American College of Surgeons

DOI

10.1097/XCS.0000000000001826 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Access to and Utilization of Violence Intervention Programs: A Retrospective Analysis of the National ACS COT Firearm Study Research Dataset

Article Publication Date

7-Apr-2026

Loneliness is a critical step on the road to suicide: Study

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Loneliness plays an important role in the development of suicidal ideation, thoughts of ending one’s life, which precedes nearly every suicidal death, according to a study by researchers at Vanderbilt Health.

Their findings, published March 4 in the journal JAMA Network Open, suggest that reducing loneliness could “arrest some of the progression from anxiety and depressive symptoms toward suicidal ideation,” and thus help prevent suicide, which claims more than 48,000 lives in the United States every year.

The study analyzed survey data collected from 633,000 participants in the National Institutes of Health All of Us Research Program, an effort to advance precision medicine by collecting and evaluating health information, including genomic data, from 1 million U.S. residents.

While depressive symptoms held the strongest correlation with suicidal ideation, followed by anxiety symptoms and then loneliness, the researchers discovered that loneliness “mediated,” or was a factor in much of the association between depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts.

“This study shows us that by treating loneliness we might be able to buffer some of the impacts that anxiety and depression have on suicidal ideation,” said the paper’s first author, Katherine Musacchio Schafer, PhD, MS, MEd, assistant professor of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt Health.

Treating depression and anxiety with cognitive behavioral therapy and medication has for decades been a primary approach to reducing suicidal thoughts and preventing suicide. But for many Americans, access to mental health care is limited.

Because of a nationwide shortage of qualified clinicians, the cost of these interventions, and the social stigma associated with receiving care, mental health treatment is often out of reach. A person-centered approach to reducing loneliness that helps people engage with others might be more feasible.

“There is a nationwide shortage in mental health providers, and because of that, findings from our study have very real relevance for everyday Americans,” said Schafer, who is a clinical psychologist with expertise in the intersection of suicide prevention and informatics.

“People struggling with anxiety and depression might be able to reduce their risk of developing suicidal ideation by reducing loneliness,” she said. “That could look like connecting with the people in their community … (and) their loved ones or finding ways to engage in shared enjoyable experiences and activities.

“People might be able to improve their mental health by reducing loneliness and building connections with the people around them,” Schafer continued. “Even if people cannot access evidence-based mental health care that treats their underlying anxiety and depression, reducing their loneliness may help them feel better.”

The paper’s co-authors in the Department of Biomedical Informatics were Peter Embí, MD, MS, Jacob Franklin, MD, and Colin Walsh, MD, MA.

The research was supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (grant P30HS029767) and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute through a research collaboration.

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.0596 

Article Title

Loneliness, Anxiety Symptoms, Depressive Symptoms, and Suicidal Ideation in the All of Us Dataset

 

UT Health San Antonio researchers report breakthrough findings significantly reducing symptoms for combat PTSD victims

Adding navigated TMS to psychotherapy can ‘greatly improve’ quality of life

The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center

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SAN ANTONIO, April 7, 2026 – An advanced version of a procedure using magnetic fields to stimulate brain nerve cells in treating depression was significantly effective for 85% of active military and veterans suffering from combat post-traumatic stress disorder enrolled in a recent study, when added to psychotherapy.

The breakthrough study led by UT Health San Antonio researchers used their patented MRI-guided, robotic-controlled form of transcranial magnetic stimulation, or TMS, which they termed “navigated TMS.” They added navigated TMS to the treatment plan for one of two groups of a total 119 active-duty military and veteran participants with combat PTSD – 92% with severe or extremely severe conditions – during a 30-day residential program at Laurel Ridge Treatment Center in San Antonio.

Those who received the navigated TMS treatment in addition to the highest level of psychotherapy for PTSD had more clinically significant symptom reductions a month after completion – enough to greatly improve their quality of life – compared with those receiving a “sham” TMS resembling the procedure but not delivering the treatment. Also, those receiving the TMS add-on were more likely to maintain their treatment gains over time.

“These are exciting findings for the hundreds of thousands of U.S. service members and veterans suffering from combat-related PTSD, including many here in Military City USA and throughout South Texas,” said Peter T. Fox, MD, director of the Research Imaging Institute at UT Health San Antonio, the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio, and a professor of radiology, and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences. “This randomized clinical trial demonstrates that navigated TMS can effectively reduce PTSD symptoms when added to behavioral therapy.”

Fox was the leader and principal investigator of the study, titled, “Residential Therapy with Navigated TMS for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial,” published today in the journal JAMA Network Open. He created and patented the navigated method of TMS which, using MRI and a robot, guides the placement of the TMS device to the exact spot that should be targeted based on the person’s unique anatomy and brain structure. It’s the first known report of a registered clinical trial using image-guided, robotic delivery of TMS for any disorder.

The study was part of the work of the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD (CAP), a multi-institutional network established in 2013 and jointly funded by the Department of Defense and Department of Veterans Affairs to launch a group of studies on PTSD and related conditions to aid in prevention, diagnosis and successful treatment. The CAP was led by UT Health San Antonio and VA’s National Center for PTSD.

“As we continue to strive for additional ways to improve PTSD care and help more people recover, these study findings give us another valuable tool in the clinician’s toolbox,” said Alan Peterson, PhD, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at UT Health San Antonio, and director of the CAP, and of the STRONG STAR research consortium housed at the university.

A debilitating disorder

The study paper notes that PTSD is a debilitating disorder afflicting 4% to 17% of nearly 3 million U.S. military personnel – up to roughly 500,000 – who deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan alone. The ongoing war in Ukraine has heightened international awareness of the impact of combat-related PTSD on military personnel and civilians and the need for more effective treatments.

Drug therapy is widely prescribed, but often is ineffective or has harmful side-effects, or both. Trauma-focused, cognitive-behavioral therapies, including “prolonged exposure,” or PE, are effective, but can have high dropout rates.

A compressed version of PE with sessions twice per week and at an intensive residential program, like that at Laurel Ridge, is considered the current highest standard of care. PE involves a safe, repeated “exposure” to the person’s trauma through the retelling of one’s traumatic experience in addition to conducting activities that might trigger memories or feelings related to the trauma.

Over time, as patients process the experience, they gain greater control over their emotional and physiological response to the memories, and their symptoms reduce.

Still, while this evidence-based psychotherapy is effective and can help the majority of people recover from PTSD, not everyone gets better, and those who do still may have some remaining symptoms. Also, combat PTSD has proven to be more difficult to treat than PTSD in civilians.

So, researchers have been looking for ways to augment treatment to improve efficacy rates. Combination therapies that add medication, or the use of medical devices in the case of the new study, are seen as promising.

Already FDA-approved for depression

TMS is a form of electric brain stimulation with an extremely mild side-effect profile. An electromagnet placed on the scalp generates pulsing magnetic fields that pass painlessly through the scalp and skull, inducing electrical currents in the underlying brain. The electrical currents engage and modify brain networks implicated in mental health disorders, much like a defibrillator is used to reset heart arrhythmias.
 

TMS therapy is Food and Drug Administration-approved for major depressive disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, but is not yet approved for PTSD. Several small-sample studies suggested that TMS might also work for PTSD, while other studies showed no benefit.
 

But conventional TMS does not take advantage of the targeting precision possible with magnetic resonance imaging. To make TMS as effective as possible, Fox and his research team developed their MRI-guided, robotic-controlled TMS delivery system. Both their navigated TMS system and the way MRI is used to target PTSD are patented.

“This personalized targeting strategy likely underlies the treatment effects seen in this study,” Fox said.

The study’s structure and findings

While all participants in the study at Laurel Ridge received the same standard of psychotherapy treatment, they were randomized into one of two treatment arms for the TMS portion. One group received the navigated TMS for 20 consecutive days while the other group received the sham version.

One month after treatment completion, 85% of those in the active TMS group showed significant symptom relief, both self-reported and clinically, compared to just less than 60% in the sham group. And at their three-month follow-up, 73% in the active TMS group still showed clinically significant improvement compared to less than 30% in the sham group.

The researchers note that more investigation with regular and navigated TMS needs to be done, and those studies already are being designed. Still, they see strong potential for similar success with other protocols that combine TMS with other cognitive-behavioral therapies, with other types of PTSD patients and in settings that do not require hospitalization. And if that’s the case and TMS is approved for PTSD treatment, it could become broadly accessible and make a big impact on PTSD care.

Other authors of the study are from the South Texas Veterans Health Care System, San Antonio; Texas Department of Information Resources; iKare Mood Trauma Recovery Clinic, San Antonio; FIRST-MD, San Antonio; Laurel Ridge Treatment Center, San Antonio; the Behavioral Science Division of the VA’s National Center for PTSD, Boston; VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston; Boston University School of Medicine, Boston; and the Department of Psychiatry, UT San Antonio.


Residential Therapy with Navigated TMS for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Peter T. Fox, Felipe S. Salinas, John D. Roache, Marlon Quinones, Phillip W. Vaughan, Crystal Franklin, Casey L. Straud, Larry Price, Mary Unzueta-Hernandez, Mary K. Woolsey, Angela M. Chavez, Deborah A. Hoselton, Antoinette R. Brundige, Brett T. Litz, Stacey Young-McCaughan, Terence M. Keane, Alan L. Peterson, for the Consortium to Alleviate PTSD

 

Published April 7, 2026, in JAMA Network Open
 

Link to full study: https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.5110

 

UT Health San Antonio is the academic health center of The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio), offering a comprehensive network of inpatient and outpatient care facilities staffed by medical, dental, nursing and allied health professionals who conduct more than 2.5 million patient visits each year. It is the region’s only academic health center and one of the nation’s leading health sciences institutions, supported by the schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, graduate biomedical sciences and public health that are leading change and advancing fields throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” visit UTHealthSA.org.

 

Stay connected with UT Health San Antonio on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and YouTube.

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Journal

JAMA Network Open

DOI

10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.5110 

Method of Research

Randomized controlled/clinical trial

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Residential Therapy with Navigated TMS for Combat-Related Posttraumatic Stress Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Article Publication Date

7-Apr-2026

 

Study finds rising rates of electric scooter injuries, with racial and ethnic disparities among those harmed

Johns Hopkins Medicine

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As electric scooters (e-scooters) become more available in cities and urban areas, injuries are becoming more common — especially among teenage boys. This is among the findings from a new study using a national database of e-scooter injuries, which also found racial and ethnic disparities among those injured. 

Led by childhood injury experts at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the study shows children accounted for more than 45% of e-scooter related injuries, including head injuries, traumatic brain injuries and broken bones. 

The study’s findings were published March 26 in the journal Injury. 

To examine whether factors including race or ethnicity were associated with injury, Johns Hopkins Children’s Center experts looked at data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS), a program overseen by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which captures data from a nationally representative sample of U.S. emergency departments. From 2020–24, there were 2,117 recorded pediatric e-scooter injuries in the dataset. Boys under the age of 18 made up 70.7% of cases. Children ages 11 to 14 accounted for 38.3% of cases. 

“Males are consistently at higher risk of both minor and major injuries, including head injuries and traumatic brain injuries. This likely reflects a mix of behavioral and social factors, including greater risk-taking and lower use of protective equipment like helmets,” says Mary Beth Howard, M.D., M.S., a pediatric emergency medicine physician at the Children’s Center. 

“Younger adolescents have less-developed motor skills, poorer judgment and limited experience with traffic and road safety, making them more susceptible to injuries,” adds Howard. 

Furthermore, she says, risk-taking behaviors and peer influence are heightened in early adolescence, further putting this age group at a particularly high risk of injury. 

The researchers found that Black and Hispanic children saw the highest rates of injury, at 16% and 15.7%, respectively, from 2020 to 2024. They also found that Black and Hispanic children represented a greater share of e-scooter injuries compared with their representation in other types of unintentional injuries, such as accidents involving electric bikes, conventional bikes, skateboards and hoverboards. 

Notably, the researchers report, their analysis found that Black and Hispanic children, while harmed more often, did not have a higher rate of severe injury or hospitalization compared with other racial and ethnic groups. Moreover, they said, most accidents resulted in musculoskeletal or soft tissue injuries including dislocations, fractures and abrasions. A smaller proportion involved internal organ injuries (13%) or head injuries, including concussions (4%). 

The research team cautions that their analysis did not account for injuries treated in urgent cares or non-emergency settings, but say their findings do advance understanding of the impact of e-scooters’ rising use. 

The findings, the investigators say, should also inform health care providers and policymakers about where to put additional educational and safety resources related to the use of e-scooters. They say preventing these injuries requires a combination of education, policy changes and environmental improvements. Among other recommendations, the researchers urge policies that require or recommend that all children, no matter the age, wear a helmet when operating or riding on an electric scooter. 

Howard notes that local speed limits on roads and paths shared by pedestrians and cyclists have been associated with reduced injury severity.Similarly, she says speed limit legislation specifically for e-scooters could lead to a significant reduction in injury incidence, according to results of previous international studies. 

Creating safe, dedicated spaces for riding, such as protected lanes or recreational paths separate from street traffic, may further reduce injury risk, she says, especially in lower-income neighborhoods, where limited access to safe play areas and well-maintained streets may contribute to higher rates of e-scooter injuries. 

Other authors in this study include Joanna Cohen and Laura Pritchett with Johns Hopkins.

This study was funded by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. 

No authors declared conflicts of interest under Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine policies.  

For more information about Johns Hopkins Children’s Center research and how it saves lives, visit the Johns Hopkins Medicine Research Saves Children website.  

DOI:  10.1016/j.injury.2026.113175

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Journal

Injury