The American College of Cardiology has issued Concise Clinical Guidance (CCG) recommending vaccines to protect adults with heart disease against respiratory illness, including influenza, COVID-19 and RSV, and other diseases where vaccination is shown to offer cardiovascular protective benefits.  The guidance also provides detailed evidence for each vaccine recommendation and answers to frequently asked questions to guide conversations between clinicians and patients.

UCLA research shows that mitochondria detect invading pathogen Toxoplasma gondii and ramp up competition for vitamin B9, also known as folate, depriving it of the nourishment it needs to grow. This new discovery came about when a researcher noticed that the amount of mitochondrial DNA in a mitochondrion increased during an infection. The new discovery raises the possibility that a vitamin regimen could rewire mitochondrial metabolism to make it even more effective at preventing infections, such as toxoplasmosis, in people.

While 42 states require public school students to take a sexual education course that covers at least one topic within this subject between kindergarten and high school, only 19 states mandate that this instruction be medically accurate—and 5 of those states only require medical accuracy for specific topics, according to a new study in the American Journal of Public Health. The study also found that 34 states that mandate sexual education in public schools require instruction on abstinence, a method that has consistently proven to be ineffective or harmful to adolescent sexual health, but continues to be embraced and funded by the federal government. Thirty-four states also allow parents to opt their children out of receiving any sexual education instruction, while five states require parents to opt in for their children to receive this instruction. 

The first global systematic review and meta-analysis of hepatitis B care has found critical patient losses at every step of care, calling for decentralised, integrated models to improve diagnosis, treatment, and patient retention.