Although Merck’s HPV vaccine Gardasil “makes sense as an option” for many girls and young women, the “unseemly haste to require inoculations for all young girls” seems “especially precipitous” in light of a new study questioning “how effective the vaccine ultimately will prove,” a [click link for full article]

Resistin is a small protein secreted by the immune cells monocytes and macrophages, and has been linked to insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, and inflammation. Recently, studies in mice have shown that resistin is present in the mouse hypothalamus and that it is capable of activating specific neurons. These and other studies have highlighted the importance of a brain-liver circuit in controlling glucose and insulin handling in the body. [click link for full article]

The molecule known as PPARgamma is required for the development of fat cells and is the target of antidiabetic drugs known as thiazolidinediones (TZDs). [click link for full article]

Naprapathy works better on back and neck trouble than recommended and proven effective advice from doctors, according to a new study from Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet. The study is the first major investigation into naprapathy - and opens up possibilities for its integration into regular treatments.Naprapathy is a special system for restoring functionality and reducing pain in muscles and joints. [click link for full article]

Eighty-nine percent of California parents — regardless of their political and religious views, level of education and residence — support comprehensive sex education programs in schools, according to the first statewide survey on the subject released on Thursday, the McClatchy/San Jose Mercury News reports. [click link for full article]

Coca-Cola recently announced that it plans to distribute about 100,000 decks of playing cards with information about HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria prevention to Chinese migrant workers in July, Xinhua/People’s Daily reports. [click link for full article]

Mental health can take a serious blow among mothers with young children if they lack some basic daily support. Researchers found that poor maternal mental health can result if women lack emotional or hands-on support with parenting, spend what they feel is too much time with a child or have difficulty paying for childcare. Facing one of those obstacles tripled a woman’s risk for poor mental health, while struggling with two or more such obstacles increased the risk 12-fold. [click link for full article]

Securing its place as an indispensable defence against the development and spread of drug-resistant tuberculosis (TB), the Stop TB Partnership announced today that its drug supply arm, the Global Drug Facility, has provided anti-TB drug treatments for 10 million people to 78 countries in the past six years. [click link for full article]

A position paper on the diagnosis of aspirin hypersensitivity by a team of European scientists from the Global Allergy and Asthma European Network (GA²LEN) has just been published on the Allergy Journal website. Designed for health professionals, the guidelines propose detailed protocols for challenge tests. The paper is endorsed by the European Academy of Allergology and Clinical Immunology (EAACI) and GA²LEN partners. [click link for full article]

H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute’s Dr. Lodovico Balducci will receive the B. J. Kennedy Award and Lecture for Scientific Excellence in Geriatric Oncology at the 6th Annual American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Conference June 1-5 in Chicago. Balducci is the Program Leader of Moffitt’s Senior Adult Oncology Program and Chief of the Division of Geriatric Oncology. “I feel proud to have my name associated with B. J. Kennedy,” said Balducci. [click link for full article]