But a professor from the University of New Mexico says there is no evidence linking the girl’s disorder to the HPV shots. “People develop seizure disorders out of thin air,” said Cossette Wheeler. • A study from the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Hospital found that obese children are more likely to be bullied than their thinner peers. The link between obesity and bullying was found even when other factors, like race, gender, socioeconomic status and academic achievement, were controlled for. Previous studies have shown that gay and lesbian teens are another at risk group; they are two to three times more likely to be bullied than heterosexual teenagers. • More women identify themselves as wine-drinkers than men, says a survey from the Boston Brigham and Women’s Hospital of 20,000 women. Women now make up 53% of the U.S. wine drinking population, but according to sommeliers, men are still calling the shots when it comes to the wine list. • HIV-positive women have a more difficult time finding work in Spain than HIV-positive men, says Juan Oliva, main author of a study on the relationship between HIV and socioeconomic status. “Gender is a statistically significant variable when predicting employment status. In this sense, women are 13.4% less likely than men to be in employment,” Oliva states. • A federal judge dismissed a lawsuit today against a Michigan judge accused of ordering a Muslim woman to remove her “hat.” Judge Marianne O. Battani says that there is no evidence that the Wayne county judge knew her hijab had religious significance. The woman complied with his request, but she says she was “terrified and scared.” But after watching tapes of the hearing, Battani wasn’t buying it. • Researchers from the University of North Carolina found that women living in food-insecure households during pregnancy run the risk of gaining more weight, and thus falling prey to weight-related health complications, than women who know exactly where their next meal is coming from. Food insecurity had previously been linked to an increased risk of obesity. Women living in these households are more likely to be black, single, have fewer years of education, less income, and be overweight or obese. • Many parents are unable to believe that their children might be sexually active, even though they have no problem thinking everyone else is doing the nasty. Dr. Sinikka Elliot interviewed parents about the behavior of their children, and found that many tend to view their teens’ peers as highly sexual, but their own children as virtual saints. •
