Flap’s Links and Comments for June 6th on 11:24

These are my links for June 6th from 11:24 to 11:39:

• Vitamin D levels should be higher in people taking certain osteoporosis drugs, experts say – Vitamin D works with calcium to strengthen bones. But adequate levels of vitamin D in the bloodstream also appear to boost the power of bisphosphonates, medications used to treat osteoporosis, according to research presented Monday.

  The study adds to the evidence that the current recommendations for vitamin D may be too low. Late last year, the Institute of Medicine issued a report that declined to make changes to the recommendation — despite many new studies supporting the need for more vitamin D than is typically consumed.

  In the new study, presented at the annual meeting of the Endocrine Society, researchers found that having a circulating vitamin D level greater than 33 nanograms per milliliter was linked to a seven times greater likelihood of having a good response to bisphosphonates.

  Bisphosphonates include medications such as Fosamax, Boniva and Actonel. The standard vitamin D blood test measures a component called 25-hydroxy vitamin D.

  According to the IOM report, levels of 20 ng/ml to 30 ng/ml are adequate for most normal, healthy adults.

• Illegal immigrants: Supreme Court allows California tuition policy for immigrants – The Supreme Court on Monday rejected a challenge to California's policy of granting reduced, in-state tuition at its colleges and universities to graduates of its high schools who are illegal immigrants.

  The justices turned down an appeal from lawyers for a conservative immigration-law group that contended "preferential treatment" for illegal immigrants violated federal immigration law. They cited a little-known provision in a 1986 law that barred states from giving "any postsecondary benefit" to an "alien who is not lawfully present in the United States ? on the basis of residence within a state."

  But last year, in the first ruling of its kind, the California Supreme Court said the state's policy did not conflict with federal law because the tuition benefit turned on a student's high school graduation, not his or her residency. In the 2001 law, the state said it would give in-state tuition to a qualified student who attended a high school in California for three years and graduated.

  Under this interpretation, a student from Oregon who graduates from a high school in California could obtain in-state tuition in the University of California system. In defense of its law, California education officials said that many of those who took advantage of its in-state tuition policy were U.S. citizens who hailed from other states.

  Overall, the state said about 41,000 students last year took advantage of this special tuition rule, but the vast majority of those were students at a community college. In 2009, the 10-campus UC system said 2,019 students paid in-state tuition under the terms of the state law. Of these, about 600 were believed to be illegal immigrants.