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Weekly News Roundup
February 8, 2016
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Dennis J. Barbour, JD, Editor
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COMMENTARY: What's Love Got to Do With It?
Why are the Canadians and even the Germans in 2015 nicer than we are?
The answers most likely lie with America's obsession with the self and individual rights to the exclusion of the community and human rights and to the stereotypes we perpetuate of each other. We tell our children not to listen to others and focus on themselves. We tell them, according to a Harvard University Research Study of parents across the United States, that academic achievement is more important than caring for one another. We define maturity and manhood as being self-sufficient and independent rather than being able to have and maintain healthy relationships. We flood the internet and our daily interactions with dehumanizing stereotypes about gender, race, religion, sexuality, and social class that disconnect us from each other and lead to more hate and violence.
The World Post, February 5, 2015
Editor's Note" The author, Niobe Way, is a board member of the Partnership. She is also Professor of Applied Psychology at New York University's Steinhardt School, the Founder of the Project for the Advancement of Our Common Humanity (PACH) and the author of, 'Deep Secrets: Boys' Friendships and the Crisis of Connection'. |
Vaccine Update: Child and Adolescent Immunization Schedule, 2016
On February 2, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), along with the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP), the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), released the 2016 recommended childhood and adolescent immunization schedule.
Vaccination against meningococcus serogroup B has been added to the schedule; high-risk patients ages 10 and older
should
receive the vaccine. High risk patients are those with persistent complement component deficiencies, anatomic or functional asplenia, microbiologists working with
Neisseria meningitidis, and individuals at risk during an outbreak of serogroup B disease. MenB vaccines
may
be given to all persons aged 16-23 years, but the vaccines are not expressly recommended. The ideal age for administering MenB vaccines is 16-18 years.
The new vaccination schedule includes the recommendation that 11- or 12-year-old boys and girls receive the 9vHPV vaccine, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2014. The new vaccine is an improvement over the previous one, medical experts say, because it covers nine strains of HPV, offering protection against at least 80 percent of the cervical, vulvar and anal cancers caused by HPV, compared with 65 percent covered by earlier vaccines.
It also recommends that children as young as 9 years old who have been exposed to sexual abuse or sexual trauma begin the three-dose HPV immunization.
Like last year, the graphical charts that clinicians are used to seeing will be provided online only . Once again, the online charts include
decision tools
to help clinicians determine the need for vaccines.
Medscape Multispecialty, February 2, 2016
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Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices Recommended Immunization Schedule for Adults Aged 19 Years or Older - United States, 2016
On February 2 the CDC also announced the 2016 adult immunization schedule.Changes in the 2016 adult immunization schedule from the 2015 schedule include the following new ACIP recommendations:
- Serogroup B meningococcal (MenB) vaccine series should be administered to certain groups of persons aged ≥10 years who are at increased risk for serogroup B meningococcal disease.
- Men B vaccine series may be administered to adolescents and young adults aged 16 through 23 years (preferred age is 16 through 18 years) to provide short-term protection against most strains of serogroup B meningococcal disease.
- Nine-valent human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine (9vHPV) has been added to the schedule and can be used for routine vaccination of females and males against HPV.
MMWR, February 2, 2016
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ADHD diagnosis among males ages 3-17 is 2.5 times that of females the same Age
The skyrocketing number of children with attention deficit disorders has led some pediatricians to question whether the diagnostic criteria for them - which is necessary for medication prescriptions and disability accommodations - is too subjective. Some children may be over-diagnosed and over-medicated, while others who fall short of the diagnosis go unsupported. Are attention deficit diagnoses helping or hurting kids?
New York Times, February 2, 2016
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Who Is Diagnosing All These Kids With ADHD?
Approximately 11% of US children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and the prevalence of the condition has been increasing in recent decades. The extent to which diagnostic criteria are followed when making a new diagnosis and who diagnoses ADHD in children are not clear.
Medscape Multispecialty, January 2, 2016
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Adolescent male teen suicide: ADHD medication as prevention
In the past decade, the medical treatment of ADHD increased three-fold in Quebec, reaching 9% of boys aged 10 years and 4% of boys aged 15 years. However, suicide rates in Quebec's adolescents decreased by nearly 50% during that period among 15-19 year olds, which contradicts the warnings issued by Health Canada.
"Clearly, the increased use of ADHD drugs indicates that they might actually reduce rather than augment the risk of suicide," says Edouard Kouassi, pharmacist and researcher at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (CIUSSS de l'Est-de-l'Île-de-Montréal) and co-author of the study appearing in the December 2015 issue of Lancet Psychiatry.
AAAS, February 1, 2016
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| Follow-up Care Poor for Adolescents With Depression
More than three-fourths of adolescent suicide deaths are associated with mental illness. Adolescent males are four times as likely as adolescent females to complete suicide.
Follow-up care for adolescents diagnosed with depression is low among primary care physicians, according to a new study published online February 1 in JAMA Pediatrics. "These findings raise concerns that many adolescents with depression receive an unacceptable level of care, particularly striking because more than half of adolescent suicide completers have chronic, unremitted depression."
Medscape Multispecialty, February 2, 2015
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Experts frustrated by low HPV vaccination rates
The federal government and several physicians associations Tuesday reiterated their support for vaccinating preteen boys and girls against a sexually transmitted infection that can cause cervical and other genital cancers. Meanwhile, experts in Southern California say providers' and parents' discomfort with the shot remains a major obstacle to improving chronically low vaccination rates.
Southern California Public Radio, February 2, 2016
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Why BC's new HPV coverage for gay boys isn't enough
'You'd have to come out to parents, school or a doctor and say 'I'm at risk,'' says MLA
After years of offering free HPV vaccines to all girls in Grade 6, the BC government finallyextended free coverage in September 2015 to gay and bisexual boys between the ages of 9 and 26 - "including those who may not yet be sexually active and are questioning their sexual orientation." Chandra Herbert says the HPV vaccine should be provided to all boys in the same way it's provided to all girls. "We want to ensure that boys have good quality health," he says. Providing the HPV vaccine free to all boys helps protect everyone from HPV transmission by increasing herd immunity, he notes.
Daily Xtra, February 4, 2016
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Pinterest Surprising Home For Anti-Vaccine Rhetoric; 75% Of Related Pins Against Vaccination
Many people search for health information online, (paging Dr. Google), including the visual, social media platform Pinterest. And a recent study published in Vaccine found 75 percent of select related pins do not favor vaccination. The study authors said that few studies of vaccination representation on social media have been done to date. But based on what's out there, data show negative HPV-vaccine videos are liked more on YouTube than positive or neutral ones, and general vaccine-themed videos are rated and liked more despite there being a greater amount of positive and ambiguous videos. The sole Twitter study conducted on representation found the majority of tweets about vaccination promoted "substantiated medical information."
Medical Daily, February 3, 2016
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| Worth The Wait: Many College Students Get The Meningococcal Disease Vaccine After Hours-Long Lines
Worth the wait: that is how many students feel about the hours-long lines to get the meningococcal vaccine. This comes after four people at two bay area universities have tested positive for the disease.
One of them, an employee at Argosy University in Alameda, died this week. As of Thursday, two Santa Clara University students were still in the hospital in fair condition, and a third student was home and in good condition.
All were infected with the Sero-Group B strain.
Not taking any chances, students at Santa Clara University lined up from the library to the Leavey Center for more than two hours today, trying to protect themselves from the potentially deadly strain of the disease.
National Daily Express, February 6, 2016
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Does body weight affect the onset of puberty in boys?
A study appearing in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics
examined whether overweight and obesity are associated with differences in the timing of puberty in US boys.
METHODS:
We reanalyzed recent community-based pubertal data from the American Academy of Pediatrics' Pediatric Research in Office Settings study in which trained clinicians assessed boys 6 to 16 years for height, weight, Tanner stages, testicular volume (TV), and other pubertal variables. We classified children based on BMI as normal weight, overweight, or obese and compared median age at a given Tanner stage or greater by weight class using probit and ordinal probit models and a Bayesian approach.
RESULTS:
Half of boys (49.9%, n = 1931) were white, 25.8% (n = 1000) were African American, and 24.3% (n = 941) were Hispanic. For genital development in white and African American boys across a variety of Tanner stages, we found earlier puberty in overweight compared with normal weight boys, and later puberty in obese compared with overweight, but no significant differences for Hispanics. For TV (≥3 mL or ≥4 mL), our findings support earlier puberty for overweight compared with normal weight white boys.
CONCLUSIONS:
In a large, racially diverse, community-based sample of US boys, we found evidence of earlier puberty for overweight compared with normal or obese, and later puberty for obese boys compared with normal and overweight boys. Additional studies are needed to understand the possible relationships among race/ethnicity, gender, BMI, and the timing of pubertal development.
AAP Gateway, February 2016
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| Resistance to HIV Drug Growing, Study Finds
Problem affects almost two-thirds of those taking tenofovir in sub-Sahara Africa
HIV resistance to the antiretroviral drug tenofovir (Viread) is increasingly common, a new study finds. The researchers said their finding is surprising and alarming because the drug plays a major role in treating and preventing infection with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. "Tenofovir is a critical part of our armamentarium against HIV, so it is extremely concerning to see such a high level of resistance to this drug," study author Dr. Ravi Gupta, from the department of infection and immunity at University College London in England, said in a university news release.
Findings from the study were published Jan. 28 in
The Lancet Infectious Diseases
.
HealthDay, January 29, 2016
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With male infertility on the rise and more cancer cases appearing among men, the government is pushing for a national health programme to tackle the growing problem.
The proposals for both an Integrated Men's Health National Programme and Male Genitourinary Disorder National Programme are currently at an early stage, but would include research, prevention, and control of male death and disease in India.
Daily Mail, January 27, 2016
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The Weekly News Roundup is produced by The Partnership for Male Youth and is released every Monday.
For more information contact Dennis J. Barbour, JD. News Roundup editor and President/CEO of the Partnership, at [email protected].
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