Daily Rounds: Military Suicide and Fish Oil; Low HPV Vaccination Rate; Risk-Shifting Landscape; Health Trumps Hair

Military suicides linked to low Omega-3 levels - latimes.com "In a finding suggesting powerful psychiatric benefits for a component of fish oil, a study published Wednesday has linked military suicides to low levels of docosahexaenoic acid and found that service personnel with higher levels of DHA in their blood were less likely to take their own lives." (Los Angeles Times)

Rate Of Teen Vaccination For HPV Lagging : NPR "Only about half of the teenage girls in the U.S. have rolled up their sleeves for a controversial vaccine against cervical cancer — a rate well below those for two other vaccinations aimed at adolescents." (npr.org)

Risk-Shifting In Health Care And Its Implications: Part Two – Health Affairs Blog "As providers realize that the combination of fiscal austerity and the impulses of the PPACA are changing the familiar rules of private insurer negotiating and cross-subsidy of government programs, their interest in accountable health care organizations (ACO’s) grows.  That dynamic is surely manifest in Massachusetts, where the rate of movement in this direction in commercial contracts has been surprisingly fast.  Now, that movement may be accelerated even more by the federal government’s efforts. The PPACA endorsed the ACO concept and required CMS to develop a national program for ACO’s by January, 2012." (healthaffairs.org) Surgeon General Calls for Health Over Hair - NYTimes.com "When researchers at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in North Carolina sampled 103 black women from the area, they found that about a third exercised less because they were concerned it would jeopardize their hair. Of those women, 88 percent did not meet the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for physical activity, which is 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise each week, or about 20 minutes a day...Dr. Benjamin, whose mother was a hairstylist, has visited the Bronner Brothers show two years in a row. She notes that studies have shown that black men and women are more likely to see a doctor and pay attention to their health when prodded by their barbers and hairdressers, and she sees hair stylists as health ambassadors of sorts." (ell.blogs.nytimes.com)