Sometimes in ministry in North Africa it's the small acts of obedience that make the biggest difference.

God uses a new believer in North Africa to release legal paperwork for the first missions training centre in the district.

While praying for her dad to have a spiritual dream, one Muslim background believer dreams of Jesus and surrenders her own life to Him.

Couple prepares for mission field by working with international students at home, and shares how God’s love impacts Muslims.

God answers a long-term worker’s prayer for an outreach day in Spain, connecting her with people from her host country in North Africa.

Ethnomusicologists visited a North African country to help local singers and a Sudanese Nubian believer write a worship song in his language and style.

The Bible in the local Arabic dialect is shared via smartphone app in North Africa.

Short-term participant uses Transform trip to confirm God’s call for long-term work in North Africa.

By offering a creative class for women, an OM worker finds ways to transform broken tiles into art and make relationships where she can share God’s truth.

A long-term OM worker in North Africa has the opportunity to study the Bible with local friends.

A long term worker in North Africa is discovering that being ready for opportunities when they arise is a key element in sharing the truth.

An English teacher, who has lived in North Africa for many years, has the opportunity to share with students about Easter and what it means.

Two therapists in North Africa discover how a family tries to bring healing to a beloved daughter.

The Director of Public Ministries aboard Logos Hope on leading a multicultural team and the inspiration that shapes his life

OM Ships partners with Christian ministries and celebrates four years of service for Logos Hope.

Name: Lynchee Buakham Home: Chaing Rai,Thailand Born in: April 1983 Joined OM Ships: January 2013 Previous employment: Marketing assistant Current job on board: Hotel Services team member

From 21 July - 19 August, Logos Hope brought the hope of the Gospel to over 50,000 people who visited the ship in Incheon, South Korea.

Four Nigerian marine engineering students studying in Cebu, Philippines, receive practical training and spiritual encouragement through a Logos Hope engineer.

In the 1980s, two babies were named after OM’s second ship. Both young men are now living out the ethos of the ministry, as servants of Christ.

Nassau, Bahamas :: The Esposito family from Argentina enjoys serving God together on board Logos Hope, bringing professional skills and supporting each other.

Forty women climb Machu Picchu to raise awareness about human trafficking during a five-day Freedom Challenge trek in Peru.

Adobe targets the consumer and enthusiast photography audience with this version of its Lightroom professional photo workflow program. It's slick and nimble, and now boasts most of Lightroom Classic's photo-editing tools, but still lacks some workflow features, local printing, and plug-in support.

If the coronavirus breaks as bad we fear, a lot more people are going to be working from home. These business messaging apps can help teams stay in touch, and stay productive, even if they can't come in to the office.

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 11:45 am (CNA).- Modern society is formulating an “anti-Christian creed” and punishing those who resist it with “social excommunication,” Benedict XVI has said in a new biography, published in Germany May 4.

In a wide-ranging interview at the end of the 1,184-page book, written by German author Peter Seewald, the pope emeritus said the greatest threat facing the Church was a “worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanistic ideologies.”

Benedict XVI, who resigned as pope in 2013, made the comment in response to a question about what he had meant at his 2005 inauguration, when he urged Catholics to pray for him “that I may not flee for fear of the wolves.”

He told Seewald that he was not referring to internal Church matters, such as the "Vatileaks" scandal, which led to the conviction of his personal butler, Paolo Gabriele, for stealing confidential Vatican documents. 

In an advanced copy of “Benedikt XVI - Ein Leben” (A Life), seen by CNA, the pope emeritus said: “Of course, issues such as ‘Vatileaks’ are exasperating and, above all, incomprehensible and highly disturbing to people in the world at large.”

“But the real threat to the Church and thus to the ministry of St. Peter consists not in these things, but in the worldwide dictatorship of seemingly humanistic ideologies, and to contradict them constitutes exclusion from the basic social consensus.”

He continued: “A hundred years ago, everyone would have thought it absurd to speak of homosexual marriage. Today whoever opposes it is socially excommunicated. The same applies to abortion and the production of human beings in the laboratory.”

“Modern society is in the process of formulating an ‘anti-Christian creed,’ and resisting it is punishable by social excommunication. The fear of this spiritual power of the Antichrist is therefore only too natural, and it truly takes the prayers of a whole diocese and the universal Church to resist it.”

The biography, issued by Munich-based publisher Droemer Knaur, is available only in German. An English translation, “Benedict XVI, The Biography: Volume One,” will be published in the U.S. on Nov. 17.

In the interview, the 93-year-old former pope confirmed that he had written a spiritual testament, which could be published after his death, as did Pope St. John Paul II.

Benedict said that he had fast-tracked the cause of John Paul II because of “the obvious desire of the faithful” as well as the example of the Polish pope, with whom he had worked closely for more than two decades in Rome.

He insisted that his resignation had “absolutely nothing” to do with the episode involving Paolo Gabriele, and explained that his 2010 visit to the tomb of Celestine V, the last pope to resign before Benedict XVI, was “rather coincidental.” He also defended the title “emeritus” for a retired pope.

Benedict XVI lamented the reaction to his various public comments since his resignation, citing criticism of his tribute read at the funeral of Cardinal Joachim Meisner in 2017, in which he said that God would prevent the ship of the Church from capsizing. He explained that his words were “taken almost literally from the sermons of St. Gregory the Great.”

Seewald asked the pope emeritus to comment on the “dubia” submitted by four cardinals, including Cardinal Meisner, to Pope Francis in 2016 regarding the interpretation of his apostolic exhortation Amoris laetitia.

Benedict said that he did not want to comment directly, but referred to his last general audience, on Feb. 27, 2013.

Summing up his message that day, he  said: “In the Church, amid all the toils of humanity and the confusing power of the evil spirit, one will always be able to discern the subtle power of God's goodness.”

“But the darkness of successive historical periods will never allow the unadulterated joy of being a Christian ... There are always moments in the Church and in the life of the individual Christian in which one feels profoundly that the Lord loves us, and this love is joy, is ‘happiness’.”

Benedict said that he treasured the memory of his first meeting with the newly elected Pope Francis at Castel Gandolfo and that his personal friendship with his successor has continued to grow.

Author Peter Seewald has conducted four book-length interviews with Benedict XVI. The first, “Salt of the Earth,” was published in 1997, when the future pope was prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. It was followed by “God and the World” in 2002, and “Light of the World” in 2010.

In 2016, Seewald published “Last Testament,” in which Benedict XVI reflected on his decision to step down as pope.

Publisher Droemer Knaur said that Seewald had spent many hours talking to Benedict for the new book, as well as speaking to his brother, Msgr. Georg Ratzinger and his personal secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein.

In an interview with Die Tagespost April 30, Seewald said that he had shown the Pope Emeritus a few chapters of the book before publication. Benedict XVI, he added, had praised the chapter on Pope Pius XI’s 1937 encyclical Mit brennender Sorge.
 

 

CNA Staff, May 4, 2020 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has ordered 15 psychiatric hospitals in Belgium which belong to the Brothers of Charity to cease identifying as Catholic institutions after they allowed the euthanization of patients in 2017.

The hospitals are managed by a civil non-profit corporation with the same name as the Brothers of Charity religious congregation which owns them.

The CDF decision was communicated in a letter dated March 30, stating that "with deep sadness" the "psychiatric hospitals managed by the Provincialate of the Brothers of Charity association in Belgium will no longer be able to consider themselves Catholic institutions."

In a statement responding to the CDF's decision, the superior general of the Brothers of Charity, Br. René Stockman, said that "with a heavy heart" the religious congregation "must let go of its psychiatric centers in Belgium."

Br. Stockman pointed out that it is "painful" that the psychiatric centers of the Brothers of Charity in Belgium have lost their Catholic status, considering also that the brothers "were among the pioneers in the field of mental health care in Belgium."

At the same time, Stockman said he recognizes that "the congregation [the Brothers of Charity] has no choice but to remain faithful to the charism of charity, which cannot be reconciled with the practice of euthanasia on psychiatric patients."

The decision by the Vatican's doctrinal office ends three years of disputes between the Brothers of Charity and the corporation which manages their hospitals in Belgium.

In 2017, the board decided to allow euthanasia to be carried out in its hospitals in Belgium, where the euthanasia law is among the most broad.

At the time of the decision, the board of the corporation was composed of 15 members, with only three of them religious brothers of the congregation. 

Two of the three religious brothers among the board members, Luc Lemmens, 61, and Veron Raes, 57, supported the euthanasia decision. Their terms on the board ended at the end of September 2018 and were not renewed.

The religious congregation, especially Stockman, protested the decision, reiterating the Brothers of Charity's rejection of euthanasia in their hospitals.

The brothers appealed to the Vatican, which asked the psychiatric hospitals to change their protocol allowing euthanasia as “a medical act” under certain conditions.

The hospital management responded with a long statement in September 2017, in which it contested a lack of dialogue and maintained the hospital was "perfectly consistent" with Christian doctrine.

The CDF's direction that the hospitals must no longer identify as Catholic was communicated in a letter signed by CDF prefect Cardinal Luis Francisco Ladaria Ferrer and secretary Archbishop Giacomo Morandi.

The letter retraced the developments of the story, recalling that the document allowing euthanasia in the brothers' hospitals "refers neither to God, nor to Holy Scripture, nor to the Christian vision of Man."

According to the letter, the CDF had spoken with the Brothers of Charity and had also informed Pope Francis of the gravity of the situation.

Other audiences had also taken place beginning June 2017, including with the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life, the Secretariat of State, the representatives of the Brothers of Charity and the managing corporation, as well as representatives of the Belgian bishops' conference.

The Holy See also sent Bishop Jan Hendriks, auxiliary of Amsterdam, as an apostolic visitor, but he did not register any steps forward nor a desire to find "a viable solution that avoids any form of responsibility of the institution for euthanasia."

The request of the CDF to the Brothers of Charity and to the managing corporation was clear: “affirm in writing and in an unequivocal way their adherence to the principles of the sacredness of human life and the unacceptability of euthanasia, and, as a consequence, the absolute refusal to carry it out in the institutions they depend on."

The corporation "did not give assurance on these points."

The CDF therefore reiterated that "euthanasia remains an inadmissible act, even in extreme cases," and strengthened the statement by citing St. John Paul II's 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae, and a Jan. 30 speech by Pope Francis to the CDF.

The CDF stressed that "Catholic teaching affirms the sacred value of human life," the "importance of caring for and accompanying the sick and disabled," as well as "the Christian value of suffering, the moral unacceptability of euthanasia" and "the impossibility of introducing this practice in Catholic hospitals, not even in extreme cases, as well as of collaborating in this regard with civil institutions."

The Brothers of Charity is a religious congregation of lay brothers founded in 1807 in Belgium, whose specialization is care for the sick and those with psychiatric diseases.

At the congregation's July 2018 general chapter the group stressed that the Brothers of Charity "believes in sacredness and absolute respect for every human life, from conception to natural death. The general chapter requires that each brother, associate member and others associated with the mission of the congregation adhere to the doctrine of the Catholic Church on ethical issues."

Vatican City, May 6, 2020 / 09:30 am (CNA).- Pope Francis Wednesday advanced the sainthood causes of five men and women, including an Italian teenager who died of a brain tumor in 2009, declaring them “venerable.”

After a May 5 meeting with Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope approved the heroic virtue of Italian priests Francesco Caruso (1879-1951) and Carmelo De Palma (1876-1961), as well as the Spanish Redemptorist priest Francisco Barrecheguren Montagut (1881-1957).

Before becoming a priest, Barrecheguren Montagut was married (he was later widowed) and had a daughter, Maria de la Concepción Barrecheguren García (1905-1927), who was also declared venerable by the pope May 6.

The fifth sainthood cause to move a step toward canonization was that of Italian teenager Matteo Farina, who lived from 1990 to 2009. 

Farina grew up in a strong Christian family in the southern Italian town of Brindisi. He was very close to his sister, Erika.

The parish where he received the sacraments was under the care of Capuchin friars, from whom he gained a devotion to St. Francis and St. Padre Pio. 

The postulator of Farina’s cause for sainthood said that from a young age Farina had the desire to learn new things, always undertaking his activities with diligence, whether it was school or sports or his passion for music.

Starting at eight years old, he would receive the sacrament of reconciliation often. He was also devoted to the Word of God. At nine years old, he read the entire Gospel of St. Matthew as a Lenten practice. Farina also prayed the rosary every day.

When he was nine years old, he had a dream in which he heard St. Padre Pio tell him that if he understood that “who is without sin is happy,” he must help others to understand this, “so that we can all go together, happy, to the kingdom of heaven.”

From that point onward, Farina felt a strong desire to evangelize, especially among his peers, which he did politely and without presumption.

He once wrote about this desire, saying “I hope to succeed in my mission to ‘infiltrate’ among young people, speaking to them about God (illuminated by God himself); I observe those around me, to enter among them as silent as a virus and infect them with an incurable disease, Love!”

In September 2003, a month before his 13th birthday, Farina began to have symptoms of what would later be diagnosed as a brain tumor. As he was undergoing medical tests, he began to keep a journal. He called the experience of the bad headaches and pain “one of those adventures that change your life and that of others. It helps you to be stronger and to grow, above all in faith.”

Over the next six years, Farina would experience several brain operations and undergo chemotherapy and other treatments for the tumor.

His love for Mary strengthened during this time and he consecrated himself to the Immaculate Heart of Mary.

In between hospitalizations, he continued to live the ordinary life of a teenager: he attended school, hung out with his friends, formed a band, and fell in love with a girl. 

He later called the chaste relationship he had with Serena during his last two years of life “the most beautiful gift" the Lord could give him.

When he was 15, he reflected on friendship, saying “I would like to be able to integrate with my peers without being forced to imitate them in mistakes. I would like to feel more involved in the group, without having to renounce my Christian principles. It’s difficult. Difficult but not impossible.”

Eventually, the teenager’s condition worsened and after a third surgery he became paralyzed in his left arm and leg. He would often repeat that “we must live every day as if it were the last, but not in the sadness of death, but rather in the joy of being ready to meet the Lord!”

Farina died surrounded by his friends and family on April 24, 2009. 

Francesca Consolini, the postulator of Farina’s cause, wrote on a website dedicated to the young venerable that in him emerged “a deep inner commitment oriented toward purifying his heart from every sin” and he experienced this spirituality “not with heaviness, effort or pessimism; indeed, from his words there emerges constant trust in God, a tenacious, determined and serene gaze turned to the future...”

Farina often thought about the faith and the “difficulty of going against the current.” Concerned about a lack of good faith education for young people, he undertook this task among his own peers. 

He once wrote in his journal: “When you feel that you can’t do it, when the world falls on you, when every choice is a critical decision, when every action is a failure ... and you would like to throw everything away, when intense work reduces you to the limit of strength ... take time to take care of your soul, love God with your whole being and reflect his love for others.”

Vatican City, May 8, 2020 / 04:00 am (CNA).- We must learn to let ourselves be consoled by Jesus when we are suffering, Pope Francis said at his morning Mass Friday.

In his homily in the chapel at Casa Santa Marta, May 8, the pope noted it was difficult to accept Christ’s consolation in times of distress. 

Reflecting on the day's Gospel reading, John 14:1-6, which records Jesus’ words to his disciples at the Last Supper, the pope said the Lord recognizes their sadness and seeks to console them.

"It is not easy to allow ourselves to be consoled by the Lord,” he said. “Many times, in bad moments, we are angry with the Lord and we do not let Him come and speak to us like this, with this sweetness, with this closeness, with this meekness, with this truth and with this hope.”

He noted that Jesus’ way of consoling was quite different to telegrams of condolence, which are too formal to console anyone. 

“In this passage of the Gospel we see that the Lord consoles us always in closeness, with the truth and in hope,” he said. “These are the three marks of the Lord's consolation.”

The pope observed that Jesus is always close to us in times of sorrow.

“The Lord consoles in closeness. And He does not use empty words, on the contrary: He prefers silence,” he said, according to a transcript by Vatican News.

He added that Jesus does not offer false comfort:  

“Jesus is true. He doesn't say formal things that are lies: ‘No, don’t worry, everything will pass, nothing will happen, it will pass, things will pass…’ No, it won’t. He is telling the truth. He doesn’t hide the truth.”

The pope explained that Jesus’ consolation always brings hope. 

He said: “He will come and take us by the hand and carry us. He does not say: ‘No, you will not suffer: it is nothing…’ No. He says the truth: ‘I am close to you, this is the truth: it is a bad time, of danger, of death. But do not let your heart be troubled, remain in that peace, that peace which is the basis of all consolation, because I will come and by the hand I will take you where I will be’.”

The pope concluded: “We ask for the grace to learn to let ourselves be consoled by the Lord. The Lord's consolation is true, not deceiving. It is not anesthesia, no. But it is near, it is true and it opens the doors of hope to us.”

After Mass, the pope presided at adoration and benediction of the Blessed Sacrament, before leading those watching via livestream in an act of spiritual communion.

The congregation then sang the Easter Marian antiphon “Regina caeli.”

At the start of Mass, the pope noted that World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day falls on May 8, the anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, founder of the International Committee of the Red Cross.  

Pope Francis said: “We pray for the people who work in these worthy institutions: may the Lord bless their work which does so much good.”

Stephen Brandon takes on the role of national director for OM New Zealand after serving as OM’s International Web Manager for six years.

About 110 men, women and children climbed five volcanoes in Auckland in the Freedom Climb New Zealand on Saturday, 16 August.

A French couple attended the Off The GRID discipleship programme in New Zealand, where they learned about missions and God.

After recognising that no training was available for lay leaders, particularly those in house churches, workers planed the launch of a Bible school.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES:

Systems of care emphasize parent-delivered intervention for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Meanwhile, multiple studies document psychological distress within these parents. This pilot longitudinal randomized controlled trial compared the parent-implemented Early Start Denver Model (P-ESDM) to P-ESDM plus mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) for parents. We evaluated changes in parent functioning during active treatment and at follow-up.

BACKGROUND:

Long delays between parents’ initial concerns about their children’s development and a subsequent autism spectrum disorder (ASD) diagnosis are common. Although discussions between parents and providers about early ASD concerns can be difficult, they are critical for initiating early, specialized services. The principles of shared decision-making can facilitate these discussions. This qualitative study was designed to gain insights from parents of young children with ASD about their experiences communicating with primary care providers with the goal of identifying strategies for improving conversations and decision-making regarding the early detection of ASD.

OBJECTIVES:

To summarize baseline data and lessons learned from the Autism Learning Health Network, designed to improve care and outcomes for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). We describe challenging behaviors, co-occurring medical conditions, quality of life (QoL), receipt of recommended health services, and next steps.

The Autism Treatment Network and Autism Intervention Research Network on Physical Health were established in 2008 with goals of improving understanding of the medical aspects of autism spectrum disorders. Over the past decade, the combined network has conducted >2 dozen clinical studies, established clinical pathways for best practice, developed tool kits for professionals and families to support better care, and disseminated these works through numerous presentations at scientific meetings and publications in medical journals. As the joint network enters its second decade continuing this work, it is undergoing a transformation to increase these activities and accelerate their incorporation into clinical care at the primary care and specialty care levels. In this article, we describe the past accomplishments and present activities. We also outline planned undertakings such as the establishment of the Autism Learning Health Network, the increasing role of family members as co-producers of the work of the network, the growth of clinical trials activities with funding from foundations and industry, and expansion of work with primary care practices and autism specialty centers. We also discuss the challenges of supporting network activities and potential solutions to sustain the network.

OBJECTIVES:

To provide an overview and quantitatively demonstrate the reach of the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Maternal and Child Health Bureau autism research program.

An adolescent girl with a history of frequent electronic cigarette use of nicotine was hospitalized with severe necrotizing pneumonia. Blood cultures obtained before the administration of empirical broad-spectrum intravenous antibiotics had positive results for the growth of Fusobacterium necrophorum. The pathogen is an uncommon but well-known cause of anaerobic pneumonia with unique features that are collectively referred to as Lemierre syndrome or postanginal sepsis. The syndrome begins as a pharyngeal infection. Untreated, the infection progresses to involve the ipsilateral internal jugular vein, resulting in septic thrombophlebitis with direct spread from the neck to the lungs causing multifocal necrotizing pneumonia. The teenager we present in this report had neither a preceding pharyngeal infection nor Doppler ultrasonographic evidence for the presence of deep neck vein thrombi, leading us to explore alternative mechanisms for her pneumonia. We propose the possibility that her behavior of frequent vaping led to sufficient pharyngeal irritation such that F necrophorum colonizing her oropharynx was inhaled directly into her lungs during electronic cigarette use. Preexisting, but not yet recognized, vaping-related lung injury may have also contributed to her risk of developing the infection. The patient was hospitalized for 10 days. At follow-up one month later, she still became short of breath with minimal exertion.

Idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia is a rare and potentially life-threatening condition that is defined by bilateral pulmonary infiltrates and fever in the presence of pulmonary eosinophilia. It often presents acutely in previously healthy individuals and can be difficult to distinguish from infectious pneumonia. Although the exact etiology of idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia remains unknown, an acute hypersensitivity reaction to an inhaled antigen is suggested, which is further supported by recent public health risks of vaping (electronic cigarette) use and the development of lung disease. In this case, a patient with a year-long history of vaping in conjunction with tetrahydrocannabinol cartridge use who was diagnosed with idiopathic acute eosinophilic pneumonia with associated bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy is described.

OBJECTIVES:

To determine if a multicomponent intervention was associated with increased use of first-line antibiotics (cephalexin or sulfamethoxazole and trimethoprim) among children with uncomplicated urinary tract infections (UTIs) in outpatient settings.

The American Academy of Neurology believes that doctors have the right to do tests to evaluate whether a patient is brain dead even if the family does not consent. They argue that physicians have "both the moral authority and professional responsibility" to do such evaluations, just as they have the authority and responsibility to declare someone dead by circulatory criteria. Not everyone agrees. Truog and Tasker argue that apnea testing to confirm brain death has risks and that, for some families, those risks may outweigh the benefits. So, what should doctors do when caring for a patient whom they believe to be brain dead but whose parents refuse to allow testing to confirm that the patient meets neurologic criteria for death? In this article, we analyze the issues that arise when parents refuse such testing.

Pediatric thrombocytopenia has a wide differential diagnosis, and recently, genetic testing to identify its etiology has become more common. We present a case of a 16-year-old boy with a history of chronic moderate thrombocytopenia, who later developed constitutional symptoms and bilateral hand edema with cold exposure. Laboratory evaluation revealed evidence both of inflammation and elevated muscle enzymes. These abnormalities persisted over months. His thrombocytopenia was determined to be immune mediated. Imaging revealed lymphadenopathy and asplenia, and a muscle biopsy was consistent with tubular aggregate myopathy. Ophthalmology evaluation noted photosensitivity, pupillary miosis, and iris hypoplasia. Genetic testing demonstrated a pathogenic variant in STIM1 consistent with autosomal dominant Stormorken syndrome. Our case is novel because of the overlap of phenotypes ascribed to both gain-of-function and loss-of-function pathogenic variants in STIM1, thereby blurring the distinctions between these previously described syndromes. Pediatricians should consider checking muscle enzymes when patients present with thrombocytopenia and arthralgia, myalgia, and/or muscle weakness. Our case highlights the importance of both multidisciplinary care and genetic testing in cases of chronic unexplained thrombocytopenia. By understanding the underlying genetic mechanism to a patient’s thrombocytopenia, providers are better equipped to make more precise medical management recommendations.

Almost 1 in 4 adolescents have a sexually transmitted infection (STI). These infections are preventable through safe sexual practices and routine screening. Pediatricians are the first line of clinical care for adolescents and are well positioned to offer sexual and reproductive health care counseling and services to their patients; yet, there is a paucity of sexual health screening provided at routine health supervision visits. This article addresses the epidemiology of STIs in adolescents, reviews the evidence of current clinical practice, presents recommended STI screening from government and medical agencies, and offers strategies to address barriers to providing care for adolescents and for sexual health screening in primary care.

Problematic Internet use (PIU) by adolescents is of growing concern among both parents and pediatricians. Early controversies may have contributed to challenges in defining and measuring PIU. A variety of screening tools have evolved, aligned with different constructs of PIU, although a validated screening tool does exist. Current data and American Academy of Pediatrics policy reflect evidence-driven screening for PIU for all youth.

Adolescent use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) has increased dramatically, with younger and nicotine-naive adolescents starting to use these devices and use them more frequently than combustible cigarettes. In emerging evidence, it is shown that e-cigarettes are not effective in helping adult smokers quit and that youth using e-cigarettes are at risk for becoming nicotine dependent and continuing to use as adults. Important gaps in our knowledge remain regarding the long-term health impact of e-cigarettes, effective strategies to prevent and reduce adolescent e-cigarette use, and the impact of provider screening and counseling to address this new method of nicotine use.