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Weekly News Roundup
April 4, 2016
Dennis J. Barbour, JD, Editor
Stereotypes still silencing some young male victims of sexual assault
 
Based on statistics from the National Center for Victims of Crime, perpetrators of sexual crimes against children are most commonly male. The center estimates that only 14 percent of the cases reported by male victims have female offenders. But, that could be an indication that not all cases are being reported, according to Stephen Braveman, the founder and director of the   Intimacy, Sexuality, and Gender Center of Monterey in California , which provides services and help to victims of sexual abuse, with particular attention to male survivors. Braveman said that stereotypes and gender-typing can keep victims from opening up about their experiences, as "a lot of people believe that boys cannot be molested or raped." "Even though we've got the word out and made great strides in educating society that abuse is abuse, society still falls prey to these ideas," Braveman added.
New Haven Register, April 2, 2016

Unknown to many parents, the deadly strain of meningitis Sheffield contracted is different from the strains that are prevented by the typical meningitis vaccination that is part of most students' standard immunization records. So it's up to doctors to talk about the other, newer vaccine with patients and their parents to help counteract the meningitis B strain of the disease. Many teens have not received the meningococcal serogroup B vaccine since it was "permissively recommended" by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015. That means it's up to doctors to talk about the vaccine with patients and their parents, but the vaccine isn't routinely administered along with the standard meningitis shot, which covers four other strains of the disease.   About 600 to 1,000 people contract meningococcal disease in the U.S. every year. Of those, 10-15 percent will die.  About 1 in 5 will live with permanent disabilities, such as brain damage, hearing loss, loss of kidney function or amputated limbs. Twenty-one percent of all meningococcal disease cases occur in preteens, teens and young adults.
Mercury News, April 2, 2016
Pediatricians Vary Widely in Diagnosing ADHD, Depression
In The US, the ADHD Diagnosis Rate Among Males ages 5-17 is 2.5 Times the Diagnosis Rate of Their Female Peers 

Researchers found that among children seen at pediatricians' offices in over a dozen U.S. states, 15 percent were diagnosed with a mental health condition over five years. Most often, that meant ADHD -- which accounted for close to two-thirds of all of those cases. Just over 3 percent of kids were diagnosed with an anxiety disorder, and 2 percent with depression, the findings showed. However, there were large differences from one pediatrician's office to the next, the study found. The proportion of kids diagnosed with ADHD at each practice ran anywhere from 1 percent to 16 percent -- making it the disorder with the greatest variability. In the United States, ADHD is usually managed by primary care doctors rather than psychiatrists, Fiks pointed out. Plus, he said, there are national guidelines for pediatricians to follow in diagnosing the disorder. To Dr. Rahil Jummani, a child psychiatrist who was not involved in the study, the findings may partly reflect a lack of mental health training for pediatricians. "In medical school and during training, they have little exposure to the bread-and-butter of what child psychiatrists do," said Jummani. So even though there are guidelines to help pediatricians manage mental health conditions, they may not necessarily be comfortable with them, Jummani said.
Healthfinder, April 1, 2016
34 Health Groups Urge MLB Players to Set Right Example for Kids By Making Baseball Tobacco-Free, Once and for All

With the start of the 2016 Major League Baseball season just three days away, 34 leading public health and medical groups today urged MLB and its players to set the right example for kids and end smokeless tobacco use at all major league ballparks once and for all. At the urging of the   Knock Tobacco Out of the Park campaign ,   San Francisco ,   Boston ,   Los Angeles ,   Chicago  and   New York City recently passed ordinances prohibiting smokeless tobacco use at sporting venues, including their major league stadiums. A statewide law in   California  will take effect before the 2017 season. Once all of these laws are implemented, one-third of major league stadiums will be tobacco-free, and other MLB cities are considering similar measures.
PR Newswire, March 31, 2016
Boys were 4.5 times more likely to be identified with ASD than girls, an established trend. The rate is one in 42 among boys and one in 189 among girls

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health contributed to a new U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report that finds the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) largely unchanged from two years ago, at one in 68 children (or 1.46 percent). 
AAAS, March 31, 2016

University Health Services (UHS) has launched the "Guard your Goods" campaign to raise awareness of human papillomavirus (HPV), the most common sexually transmitted infection. The mission of the campaign, which was developed in collaboration with Plan II senior Connor Hughes, is to educate and inform students not only about how common and serious HPV is, but also how preventable it is. One misconception the campaign hopes to dispel is that HPV is only a women's disease. Although women are more likely to get cancer as a result of HPV, over 7,000 U.S. men also develop cancer as a result of the STI each year, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. The campaign, which will end on April 8, reaches out to students through tabling, informative talks at organization meetings, display of promotional materials around campus and a screening of the documentary "Someone You Love," which follows families affected by HPV. Hughes said he encourages students to learn about HPV and the benefits of the vaccine and then talk to their friends about the issue. "I personally have been affected by cancer, and I know a ton of my friends have been as well," Hughes said. "This [campaign] is a very tangible way to fight that disease and to prevent cancer in a friend or a family member's life."
Daily Texan, March 30, 2016
What it's like to be a male survivor of sexual assault

Researchers have found that  one in six men  have experienced abusive sexual experiences before age 18, and one in 59 men in the United States have been raped in their lifetime,  according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention . The  Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network  is sponsoring a campaign during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. The series, funded by a Getty Images Creative Grant, features stories from two men and five women, showing that sexual violence does not discriminate by sex or age. "Feelings of self-blame can be elevated for some male survivors who have a sense of shame for not stopping abuse and feeling like less of a man because they don't have control over their bodies, leading to additional withdrawal or isolation from friends and family."
CNN, March 29, 2016

Despite the fact that testicular cancer is the most common cancer in young men, testicular self-examination (TSE) is discouraged based on a review of its benefits vs. harms by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, originally in 2004, and updated with an affirmation of its decision in 2010. That recommendation stands today. Here, in an interview for UroToday, male health behaviorist Michael J. Rovito, PhD, CHES, FMHI, Assistant Professor of Health Sciences from the University of Central Florida and Founder/Chairman of Men's Health Initiative, Inc., explains why TSE should be standard of care for the young men at greatest risk for testicular cancer, an argument he and his co-authors made in a recent article in the American Journal of Men's Health. 
URO Today, March 26, 2016
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 dbarbour@partnershipformaleyouth.org.

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The  Partnership for Male Youth is a collaboration among 23 national organizations and representation from six federal agencies. It is led by a multidisciplinary and multispecialty steering committee and advisory council. The Partnerships's flagship effort, released in January 2014, is  The Health Provider Toolkit for Adolescent and Young Adult Males.
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