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Although human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines are best known for preventing cervical cancer, a new study from Sweden finds that women and girls who received the immunizations are also less likely to develop precancerous lesions of the vulva and vagina. The rate of precancerous vulvar or vaginal lesions was 37% lower in women and girls who received at least one dose of HPV vaccine than among study participants who did not, according to a study from Sweden’s Karolinska Institute published yesterday in JAMA Oncology. (Szabo, 12/19)

Proton beam radiation therapy performed 10% better at stopping cancer of the throat compared to traditional X-ray radiation, a new study shows, with 15% fewer side effects. (Hille, 12/19)

Oncologists have been moving away from the notoriously unpopular neutropenic diet. It requires nearly all food to be cooked to high temperatures — or, as some have described it, “boiled to death” — to reduce the risk of food-borne illnesses. But since evidence in recent years suggested the diet didn’t actually help ward off infections, doctors started leaning away from a strict neutropenic diet. (Chen, 12/22)

The U.S. military will stop its practice of shooting pigs and goats to help prepare medics for treating wounded troops in a combat zone, ending an exercise made obsolete by simulators that mimic battlefield injuries. The prohibition on “live fire” training that includes animals is part of this year’s annual defense bill, although other uses of animals for wartime training will continue The ban was championed by Rep. Vern Buchanan, a Florida Republican who often focuses on animal rights issues. (Finley, 12/19)

In a study published yesterday in Eurosurveillance, a team led by Johns Hopkins University researchers describe an mpox clade 1b outbreak in Uvira, a densely populated city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where transmission was driven primarily by household contact rather than sexual exposure. A second report in the same journal details sexual, household, and health care spread of clade 1b in Ireland’s first documented outbreak. (Bergeson, 12/19)

A multistage malaria vaccine showed encouraging levels of protection against controlled human malaria infection (CHMI) in Malian adults with lifelong exposure to the causative parasite, according to a new phase 2 randomized controlled trial published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases. The investigational vaccine, ProC6C-AlOH/Matrix-M, targets multiple stages in the life cycle of Plasmodium falciparum, a protozoan that causes the most severe form of malaria in people. (Bergeson, 12/19)

Also —

The holidays are here, which means you’re probably thinking about gifts — what to buy, whom to give to and how much to spend. Gift-giving is often framed as a source of stress and obligation, but a growing body of research suggests there may also be something beneficial about giving itself. (Hetter, 12/21)