Severe infections increase the risk of dementia independently of other coexisting illnesses, according to a new study published March 24th in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Pyry Sipilä of the University of Helsinki, Finland, and colleagues. Severe infections have been linked to an increased risk of dementia. However, it has been unclear whether this association is explained by other coexisting, non-infectious diseases that predispose people to both infections and dementia. In the new study, researchers used nationwide Finnish health registry data covering more than 62,000 individuals aged 65 or older who were diagnosed ...

Psychosocial stress is a major contributor to hypertension and cardiovascular disease, according to a new commentary published in Nature Reviews Cardiology. The article reviews decades of scientific evidence showing how chronic stress affects cardiovascular biology and examines research on the Transcendental Meditation technique as a potential strategy for reducing stress-related cardiovascular risk. The commentary was authored by Robert H. Schneider, MD, FACC, of Maharishi International University; Keith ...

Researchers led by Guilio Bernardi at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca in Italy have discovered a key relationship between dreaming and the feeling of having had a good night’s sleep. Published in PLOS Biology on March 24th, the study shows that the feeling of deep sleep is not determined solely by slow-wave brain activity. Rather, immersive dreaming that comes with increases in wake-like brain activity leads to a greater feeling of deep sleep. Why is it that sometimes we sleep 8 hours and don’t feel rested, while other times we feel like we had a great night’s sleep after only 5 hours? Research ...

The feeling of having had “a good night’s sleep” lies not only in how much we slept, but also in the subjective impression of having slept deeply and without interruption. But what constitutes the neural base of this perception is not very well understood. Now, a new study by researchers at the IMT School for Advanced Studies Lucca, appeared in Plos Biology, suggests that the dreams, especially the most vivid and immersive ones, rather than disrupting sleep, could help it feel deeper and restoring. For years, we thought deep sleep meant a "switched off" brain: slow brain waves, ...

In the U.S., youth with disabilities make up 32% of the foster care population. Youth in foster care ages 16-21 who are transitioning into adulthood with disabilities face an increased risk of unemployment, low self-esteem, homelessness, and incarceration compared to those without disabilities.  While some federal and state services are available to help youth in foster care transition successfully to adulthood, youth in foster care with disabilities have a complex array of needs that require additional services and support.    Previously, there was ...

You probably heard it from your mom a thousand times – fresh air and sunshine; it’s the cure for most anything. Now scientists at the University of Houston concur, measuring the impact of mother’s advice on mother nature to find that exposure to nature is associated with reductions in negative emotions.  Given that nearly 90% of the U.S. population is projected to reside in urban areas by 2050, researchers say integrating nature into urban design and public health initiatives is an increasingly recognized national public health and economic priority for improving emotional wellbeing.   "Findings ...

A new study finds overconfident CEOs are less likely to delegate responsibilities to underlings, particularly in settings that involve complex transactions – such as hammering out the details of high-stakes deals. “Organizations have only gotten more complex over time, often operating in multiple countries across many different sectors,” says Jared Smith, co-author of a paper on the work and a professor of finance in North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management. “As a result, it is important for modern companies to bring more voices to the table. Involving more people who have more ...

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., (March 24, 2026) — Insilico Medicine (3696.HK) is proud to have been named to Fast Company’s prestigious list of the World’s Most Innovative Companies and the #3 Most Innovative Biotech Company of 2026. This year’s list shines a spotlight on businesses that are shaping industry and culture through their innovations. Alongside the World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies, Fast Company recognizes 720 honorees across 59 sectors and regions. Insilico Medicine was recognized for demonstrating real-world clinical impact from its generative AI platform while achieving significant ...

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas that is second only to carbon dioxide in driving up global temperatures. But it doesn’t linger in the atmosphere for long thanks to molecules called hydroxyl radicals, which are known as the “atmosphere’s detergent” for their ability to break down methane. As the planet warms, however, it’s unclear how the air-cleaning agents will respond.  MIT scientists are now shedding some light on this. The team has developed a new model to study different processes that control ...

The resource waste and ecological pressure caused by waste polymeric materials have made exploring sustainable development pathways a global consensus. In a opinion article titled “Pathways Toward the Sustainable Development of Polymeric Materials” published in Engineering, Prof. Yu-Zhong Wang from Sichuan University systematically outlines multiple routes for the green development of polymeric materials and provides strategic recommendations for establishing a circular system covering the entire material lifecycle. The article discusses the topic from two dimensions: resources and the ...

A recent study published in Current Molecular Pharmacology highlights the potential of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 (IGFBP1) as a monitoring biomarker for disease activity in elderly patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). As the global population ages, the prevalence of IBD in individuals over 60 is rising, yet diagnosis and monitoring remain challenging due to the invasive nature of current methods like endoscopy. The study, led by Shuting Yang and Tingwang Jiang, used both mouse models and clinical samples to investigate ...

In emergency medicine, triage differentiates patients who require immediate attention from those who can safely wait for care. When it comes to children’s mental or behavioral health, however, triage scores were found to be inaccurate in two-thirds of the cases when compared to the level of care the child actually received during their emergency visit, according to a new study published in JAMA Network Open. Under-triage, or assignment of a lower severity score than the level of care that was needed, was more likely for children who were Black, Hispanic, and those who preferred Spanish compared to English. “Our study was the first to examine ...

WASHINGTON, March 24, 2026 — Following the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, lateral flow assays (LFAs) — the category of test strips in which the presence or lack of a pink line indicates whether a specific molecule, like a drug or a virus, has been detected — became household items. Yet despite their ubiquity and decades of development, there has not been a quantitative, physics-grounded method for explaining the sensitivity and limits of LFAs to help guide their design. In Biophysics Reviews, by AIP Publishing, researchers from the University of California, San Diego developed a physics-based ...

Snow flies might be undergoing an identity crisis. In a new study, Northwestern University scientists explored how snow flies — small, wingless insects that crawl across snow to find mates and lay eggs — survive in freezing cold temperatures. They discovered this snow-dwelling fly uses a surprising combination of strategies: it generates its own body heat like a mammal and produces antifreeze proteins like an Arctic fish. While sub-zero temperatures are a death sentence for most other insects, these adaptations allow snow flies to remain active at temperatures as low as -6 degrees Celsius (or 21.2 degrees Fahrenheit). The ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of Medicare decedents with advanced cancers, continuous Medicare Advantage (MA) enrollees were most likely to receive hospice at home, while those who switched from MA to traditional Medicare more frequently received hospice care in nursing homes. Plan switching near the end-of-life (EOL) may reflect access barriers, highlighting the importance of addressing care coordination to improve EOL care. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Xin Hu, PhD, email xin.hu@emory.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.0755) Editor’s ...

A new study coordinated by researchers at UMC Utrecht and Amsterdam UMC shows that antibodies from Long COVID patients can induce persistent pain-like symptoms in mice. This provides evidence for a potential causal role of autoantibodies in Long Covid. These findings open the door to the development of targeted antibody-based therapies for Long COVID in the future. A growing body of evidence suggests that Long COVID (or post-COVID syndrome), a condition affecting more than 10 percent of people after a SARS-CoV-2 infection, may be driven by the immune system turning against the body. Now, new research coordinated by ...

About The Study: In this cohort study of 515 children followed from kindergarten through grades 1 and 4, distinct patterns of cognitive-linguistic deficits in kindergarten were associated with 2- to 5-fold increased risk for early- and late-emerging dyslexia. These findings provide a foundational evidence base to support the integration of developmentally sensitive screening into pediatric surveillance frameworks, facilitating early identification and a shift from reactive to preventive care, including for children at risk of late-emerging dyslexia. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Avi Karni, MD, PhD, (avi.karni@yahoo.com) and Rotem Yinon, PhD, ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — Patients continuously monitored after surgery experienced significantly less time with dangerously low oxygen levels compared to those monitored using routine spot checks, a new study from Wake Forest University School of Medicine found.   The study, which took place at Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center, was published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open.  The research represents the first large, randomized crossover trial and largest dataset ...

Q: What challenges or unmet needs make this study important? Progressive supranuclear palsy, or PSP, is a rare brain disease that causes problems with balance, eye movements and thinking. Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson recently passed away after living with the disease for more than a decade. Most individuals with PSP, like Jackson, are initially misdiagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and correct diagnosis can be delayed by several years. Until now, scientists have known very little about what raises a person’s chances of getting PSP, so there was a significant need for a large study that tracked healthy people over time to look for early ...

Tsinghua University Press has launched Health Engineering, a new international open-access journal designed to unite engineering, biotechnology, and medical science in addressing some of the most pressing global health challenges. The journal aims to accelerate research that applies engineering principles to improve health outcomes, enable earlier disease intervention, and support the transition from treatment-focused medicine toward proactive health management. As populations age and chronic diseases continue to rise worldwide, researchers ...

In recent years, lithium disilicate glass-ceramics have attracted considerable attention from dental ceramics researchers owing to their exceptional semi-translucency, mechanical strength, and biocompatibility. Nevertheless, insufficient printing precision may result in clinical complications such as restoration misfit and secondary caries. Currently, strategies for improving the printing accuracy of highly transparent ceramic materials primarily focus on optimizing process parameters, modifying ceramic slurry rheology, and tailoring powder refractive index; however, these approaches ...

With the rapid development of the Internet of Things (IoT) and intelligent sensing technologies, high-sensitivity sensing materials have become critical for next-generation electronic systems. However, conventional piezoelectric ceramics face a long-standing challenge: the strong intrinsic coupling between the piezoelectric charge coefficient (d₃₃) and the dielectric constant (εᵣ). Although various strategies can enhance d₃₃, they are typically accompanied by a simultaneous increase in εᵣ, thereby limiting improvements in the piezoelectric voltage coefficient (g₃₃) and overall sensing sensitivity. This fundamental ...

Stress is a constant companion in the oncologist’s office. It appears at the time of diagnosis, increases with each stage of treatment, and often does not resolve even after therapy formally ends. It accompanies therapeutic decisions, waiting for test results, fear of recurrence, and changes in daily functioning. Studies show that chronic stress can trigger biological processes that promote disease progression and weaken the body’s defenses. This perspective is presented in a systematic review prepared by researchers from Wroclaw Medical University, ...

“We determined that CREB5 is a key regulator of basal and SCL transcriptional programs and tumor-forming phenotypes in PC.” BUFFALO, NY – March 24, 2026 – A new research paper was published in Volume 17 of Oncotarget on March 17, 2026, titled “CREB5 regulates stem cell-like transcriptional programs to enhance tumor progression in prostate cancer.” Led by corresponding authors Emmanuel S. Antonarakis and Justin Hwang from the Department of Medicine and ...