The HPV vaccination rate among girls in the U.S. has been low: Just 11 percent now get all three doses of the vaccine. Some experts suggest that also immunizing boys could enhance the vaccine\'s effectiveness. But others say there\'s not much benefit in giving the shot to boys.

A new study finds that more young girls are entering puberty earlier, prompting researchers to wonder how early it can get

Scientists figure out why alcohol makes others look more attractive.

Yankee great Lou Gehrig may not have had the motor-neuron disorder that was famously named after him

The next blow in the fight over the activity of the putative SIRT1 activators

The CNN (8/5, Hagan) "The Chart" blog reported, "News from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that 26.7 percent of the American population, or 72.5 million people, are now obese has resulted in a closer look at anticipated new cancer cases over the next several years." According to the American Institute for Cancer Research, "there will be more than 103,000 new cancer cases caused by

The Los Angeles Times (8/5, Bernstein) reports, "Heart health depends in no small part on diet and exercise, but genes are also crucial." Now, after conducting "a massive genetic study," scientists at Cambridge, Harvard, and elsewhere are "a step closer to understanding the role of the latter, identifying 95 DNA regions associated with cholesterol and triglyceride levels." Notably, "of those regio

U.S. patients of doctors who went to medical school outside the country and weren’t American citizens had a 9 percent lower death rate on average than those whose doctors trained at home, a study showed.

Rising pressure to find new products is prompting big pharmaceutical companies to license or acquire biotechnology companies' experimental medicines when they've barely been tested in human trials.

UT Southwestern’s cancer center earned a designation from the National Cancer Institute, making it one of 65 cancer centers in the nation and one of three in the state with the distinction.

Scientists hope to prove whether common environmental chemicals, such as those used to make plastics, are to blame for rising testicular cancer rates.

HealthDay (7/28, Gordon) reported that, according to a study published in the July 28 issue of Science Translational Medicine, UCSD scientists tested the new device "for more than a year in pigs, and it effectively monitored their blood sugar without the need for daily recalibration."

Two studies published Wednesday bolster a shift in thinking about how to revive many cardiac-arrest patients: Don't do mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Instead, bystanders can help most victims as effectively by doing chest compressions alone.

Bloomberg News (7/28, Randall) reported, "Dendreon Corp.'s prostate cancer vaccine, Provenge, extended lives by 4.1 months," a discovery that "led to the drug's US approval in April." Even though the scientific community still doesn't "know precisely how the vaccine works or who is most likely to benefit," Harvard researchers explained that "Provenge is the first drug designed to train the body's

An updated edition of a mental health bible for doctors may include diagnoses for "disorders" such as toddler tantrums and binge eating, experts say, and could mean that soon no-one will be classed as normal.