Public Health Roundup: Parents Push For HPV Vaccine Opt-Out; Blood Donation Rules For Gay Men Examined

ABC News: Parents Want 'Opt-Out' Option For HPV Vaccine, Study Finds
The HPV, or Human Papilloma Virus, vaccine has continued to be seen as controversial. Despite years of recommendations and support from leading medical institutions, parents remain wary about requiring children to receive an HPV vaccination for school admissions, according to a new study. While just 21 percent of parents thought laws requiring the vaccine for school were a "good idea," that number rose significantly -- to 57 percent -- if there was an "opt-out" provision offered, according to the study published today in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention. (Chevinsky, 8/19)

PBS NewsHour: Why So Many Gay And Bisexual Men Can’t Donate Blood In The U.S.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is asking for new scientific research as it reevaluates a controversial policy banning men from donating blood if they admit to having had sex with another man in the past year. Gay rights advocates say the rules are not based in science, but on decades of stigma regarding gay men and AIDS. (Feliciano and Green, 8/20)

Kaiser Health News: ‘More At Peace’: Interpreters Key To Easing Patients Final Days
Interpreters routinely help people who speak limited English — close to 9 percent of the U.S. population, and growing — understand what’s happening in the hospital. They become even more indispensable during patients’ dying days. But specialists say interpreters need extra training to capture the nuances of language around death.Many doctors and nurses need the assistance of interpreters not only to overcome language barriers but also to navigate cultural differences. Opportunities for miscommunication with patients abound. Words don’t always mean the same thing in every language. (Brown, 8/22)

The Philadelphia Inquirer: An Academic Knowledge Of Elder Care Becomes A Harsh, Real Lesson
Laura Katz Olson taught health-care policy for decades at Lehigh University and could rattle off the ins and outs of Medicare and Social Security. But none of that prepared her for caring for her mother, Dorothy Katz, a Senior Olympics medal winner who developed Parkinson's disease. Thrust into a long-distance caregiving role, Olson, 71, began grueling travel between Pennsylvania and Florida. Her mother's health failed with each passing visit. (Arvedlund, 8/21)

San Francisco Chronicle: How Fitbit And Others Have The Pulse Of Health Research
Consumer activity trackers like Fitbit are increasing becoming a tool used by researchers in clinical trials like [Joe] Casserly’s, which look at activities that could stop diseases from progressing or recurring. More than 100 studies listed on the federal government’s trial-tracking website feature Fitbits, with smaller numbers relying on the Apple Watch or Jawbone, Garmin, Pebble and other devices. Wearables have made their way into the precision-oriented world of clinical trials in part because patients like them, they’re easy to use and more convenient for participants than coming to a clinic to be monitored. While the devices may lack clinical-grade accuracy, particularly when it comes to heart-rate technology and tracking calorie burning, they are considered far more accurate that self-reported data. (Colliver, 8/21)

The Boston Globe: An Innovative Way To Reduce Player Injuries
If a general manager could decrease his team’s man-games lost to injury by 20 percent, he would sell his owner’s personal jet to make sure such a scenario became reality. Injuries, especially the preventable groin strains, keep GMs up at night as they call up reinforcements, pursue help on the trade market, and perform hourly check-ins with their medical staff. The only barrier between teams and better health is acceptance. Catapult, an Australian company specializing in data to maximize athlete performance, believes it can help teams minimize injuries. Part of Catapult’s injury solution lies within its technology. (Shinzawa, 8/20)

The New York Times: Whose Lives Should Be Saved? To Help Shape Policy, Researchers In Maryland Ask The Public
For the past several years, Dr. Lee Daugherty Biddison, a critical care physician at Johns Hopkins, and colleagues have led an unusual public debate around Maryland, from Zion Baptist Church in East Baltimore to a wellness center in wealthy Howard County to a hospital on the rural Eastern Shore. Preparing to make recommendations for state officials that could serve as a national model, the researchers heard hundreds of citizens discuss whether a doctor could remove one patient from lifesaving equipment, like a ventilator, to make way for another who might have a better chance of recovering, or take age into consideration in setting priorities. (Fink, 8/21)