https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Researchers from LSU's Pennington Biomedical Research Center and collaborating institutions have found that Americans with the highest levels of obesity are undergoing fewer surgical procedures overall. These procedures include common operations like knee or hip replacement, hernia surgery, and surgery of the breast, prostate and colon—operations that are frequently done for cancer. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-americans-severe-obesity-surgeries.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 15:40:01 EDT news700228021 A cancer researcher at the University of Houston is reporting what makes malignant soft tissue cancer grow in children, identifying key mechanisms and molecular targets to prevent tumor progression in patients in future therapies of the fatal rhabdomyosarcoma. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-uncovers-deadly-childhood-cancer-highlighting.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 14:40:08 EDT news700233945 You go to the hospital for treatment and to get better. But sometimes, you get something much less welcome: an infection. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-teeth-hospital-chance-pneumonia.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 13:00:09 EDT news700225928 A new study from the University of Kansas details how U.S. tobacco corporations expanded into global food markets from the mid-1980s to the mid-2000s, using strategies honed through cigarette sales to market ultra-processed foods, which are industrially processed and contain ingredients and additives that maximize their appeal. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-tobacco-firms-cigarette-tactics-globally.html Mon, 08 Jun 2026 13:40:10 EDT news700135214 A new UC San Francisco study reveals how Philip Morris Companies Inc. used cigarette research, flavor engineering, and behavioral science to turn Lunchables into one of America's most successful ultra-processed foods for children. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-big-tobacco-ultra-foods.html Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:20:01 EDT news699712650 People with celiac disease and dermatitis herpetiformis have a slightly increased risk of cardiovascular disease, certain types of blood cancer, and premature death. This is shown by a large U.S. registry study led by researchers at Karolinska Institutet. The results are published in the journal The Lancet Regional Health—Americas. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-celiac-disease-heart-early-death.html Fri, 29 May 2026 14:00:03 EDT news699279721 Drinking tomato-soy juice loaded with compounds shown in animal studies to promote health lowered pro-inflammatory proteins in healthy adults with obesity after four weeks, a new study found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-tomato-soy-juice-lowers-inflammation.html Tue, 26 May 2026 10:20:01 EDT news699006181 Six passengers from the hantavirus cruise ship have started their quarantine at Australia's purpose-built facility in Western Australia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-hantavirus-quarantine-infection-experts.html Wed, 20 May 2026 11:20:01 EDT news698494382 Final results from a landmark EORTC randomized trial with more than 20 years of follow-up show that irradiation of the internal mammary and medial supraclavicular lymph nodes reduces breast cancer mortality but does not improve overall survival. The findings highlight the importance of very long-term follow-up when evaluating cancer treatments, particularly in patients with an otherwise favorable prognosis. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-term-trial-assumptions-lymph-node.html Mon, 18 May 2026 19:00:03 EDT news698342401 U.S. teens report far less anabolic steroid use than they did two decades ago, but creatine use has risen rapidly in recent years, according to a new University of Michigan study. Combined with declining perceptions of steroid harm and slightly softer disapproval of steroid use, the findings suggest teens may be growing more accepting of muscle-enhancing products, including legal supplements and potentially steroids. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-steroid-falls-creatine-climbs-rapidly.html Thu, 14 May 2026 13:18:39 EDT news697983482 Fingerprinting transformed police investigations by making it possible to place a suspect at a crime scene with physical evidence. Similarly, genome sequencing has changed how disease detectives study outbreaks by allowing them to read a pathogen's genes as a biological record of where it came from and how it spread. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-genome-sequencing-rewriting-history-disease.html Tue, 12 May 2026 13:20:06 EDT news697808762 Researchers in the WashU Medicine Department of Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences have discovered key neuroprotective genes that could lead to the development of gene therapies to treat retinitis pigmentosa, an inherited form of retinal degeneration that causes blindness. The findings, published in Neuron, point to new therapeutic strategies to maintain retinal health and protect against degeneration. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-genome-wide-screen-yields-gene.html Mon, 11 May 2026 16:40:04 EDT news697733926 Wildfire smoke is no longer confined to distant regions. It is increasingly affecting communities throughout the United States, raising urgent questions about air quality, public health, and long-term risk. Researchers at Rutgers University are studying how wildfire smoke affects the body and how to reduce its impact. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-wildfire-health-threat.html Mon, 27 Apr 2026 10:20:09 EDT news696498482 A consistent, caring adult during childhood can make a profound difference for child survivors of physical or sexual abuse. That is the key finding of a new peer-reviewed study published in the Journal of Aggression, Maltreatment & Trauma, which examined health outcomes among more than 2,100 American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) adults in the United States. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-adult-childhood-mitigate-term-impact.html Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:40:03 EDT news695977316 Hospitals that score poorly on feedback from female patients could soon see their budget cut under a plan unveiled in April by Wes Streeting, the UK's health secretary. Branded "patient power payments," the scheme would tie a slice of hospital income to women's experiences of care, a measure designed to end what Streeting himself has called an "appalling culture of medical misogyny" in England's National Health Service. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-fining-hospitals-medical-misogyny-wont.html Tue, 21 Apr 2026 18:20:05 EDT news695998381 A new study led by researchers at Dartmouth Cancer Center pinpoints why many patients in rural areas experience delays in receiving critical follow-up treatment for head and neck cancer, and what can be done to address those gaps. Published in JAMA Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery, the study examines factors that influence whether patients begin postoperative radiotherapy within the recommended six-week window after surgery, the timeframe known to improve survival for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-barriers-neck-cancer-treatment-rural.html Sat, 18 Apr 2026 19:30:03 EDT news695572634 Our brains anticipate sensory signals—such as sight, sound, smell, or touch—by relying on past experiences. When we bite into an apple, for example, we expect a sweet crunch because of all the other times we have eaten one. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-music-symptoms-psychosis.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 12:20:01 EDT news695471402 A new analysis from UC San Francisco argues that diagnostics—medical tests that match patients to the appropriate treatment—are being overlooked both in the United States and around the world. This is slowing progress against major diseases, despite rapid advances in targeted therapies and precision health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-medicines-difference.html Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:00:05 EDT news694949275 New research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis adds to growing evidence that helping brain cells break down and eliminate their own cellular waste is a promising treatment strategy for a variety of neurodegenerative diseases. In lab experiments, the researchers found that exposure to a novel compound can clear a harmful protein from human neurons modeling frontotemporal dementia—a devastating and ultimately fatal condition—and prevent those neurons from dying. The study is published in Nature Communications. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-chemical-compound-misfolded-tau-neurons.html Tue, 31 Mar 2026 17:50:03 EDT news694195742 The dedicator of cytokinesis 10 (DOCK10) gene has been identified as a key driver of abnormal insulin secretion in insulinomas, as reported by researchers from Institute of Science Tokyo. Using surgical specimens and patient-derived organoids, the team performed comprehensive genetic and transcriptomic analyses, revealing that inhibiting a DOCK10-related pathway reduced excessive insulin release in cellular and animal models. These results pave the way for novel diagnostic biomarkers and treatment options for insulinomas. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-dock10-emerges-key-trigger-dangerous.html Thu, 26 Mar 2026 18:00:06 EDT news693760712 Monash University and Seaport Therapeutics have developed a new approach to delivering drug molecules that piggybacks onto natural fat absorption pathways to allow oral delivery of some drugs previously requiring injection. The research, published in Science Translational Medicine, describes the first clinical evidence that a fat (lipid) modified version of the naturally occurring neurosteroid allopregnanolone (GlyphAllo) can result in high enough levels of the substance in the human bloodstream to be potentially effective. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-medicine-piggybacks-fat-absorption-pathways.html Wed, 25 Mar 2026 14:40:01 EDT news693668161 In October 1948, a thick haze rolled into Donora, Pennsylvania, a steel town in the Monongahela Valley, south of Pittsburgh. For five days, toxic fumes from a zinc smelter—a plant that turns zinc ore into pure zinc metal—poured out of the factory's stacks, became trapped in the valley and thus blanketed Donora. The air was filled with sulfur oxides, heavy metal dust and airborne particulates. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-pittsburgh-air-pollution-year-epa.html Sat, 21 Mar 2026 08:30:04 EDT news693141139 Research has confirmed for the first time that people with active gambling accounts who receive regular "free bets" and other direct marketing offers place a lot more bets, spend far more, and suffer greater related harms than gamblers who have opted out of such offers. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-bombarding-gamblers-greatly-gambling.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 20:00:03 EDT news693044941 Two young people are dead and 20 are receiving treatment after a meningitis outbreak at the University of Kent. The students caught up in it belong to a generation that has never been routinely vaccinated against the strain responsible. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-kent-meningitis-outbreak-years.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 12:40:08 EDT news693055262 Humans evolved in an atmosphere containing roughly 200–300 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide (CO₂). Today, that figure sits above 420 ppm, higher than at any point in the history of our species. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-human-blood-scientists-dont.html Sat, 14 Mar 2026 19:30:01 EDT news692529463 A new study addresses the puzzle of why heavy drinking throughout pregnancy leads to widely varying outcomes for children. Even in the context of heavy and consistent prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), children may be severely affected, less affected, or seemingly not affected at all. Some of the variation can be explained by the quantity, frequency, and gestational timing of drinking during pregnancy, and genetic variations affecting mothers' alcohol metabolism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-inadequate-nutrition-linked-worse-outcomes.html Mon, 02 Feb 2026 10:02:02 EST news689248861 One in four U.S. adolescents is exposed to violence in their neighborhood, and those teens are more than twice as likely to use cigarettes, alcohol, or drugs to cope, according to a new study from the University of Texas at Arlington. Published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, the study was led by UT Arlington School of Social Work Professor Philip Baiden and drew on national data from the 2023 Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Researchers analyzed responses from 20,005 adolescents ages 12 to 18, offering new insights into early pathways to substance use, a persistent public health concern. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-neighborhood-violence-linked-higher-substance.html Sat, 31 Jan 2026 13:50:01 EST news688815992 Until recently, Aotearoa New Zealand led global tobacco control innovation. Evidence-based policies, including sustained tobacco excise tax increases, saw large reductions in smoking rates, which will save thousands of lives. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-duty-free-tobacco-sales-good.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 12:28:14 EST news688738682 Flavored nicotine pouches called Zyn could soon be legally advertised as a lower-risk option for adults who smoke, as federal regulators take a closer look at the popular product. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-fda-zyn-pouches-nicotine-option.html Fri, 23 Jan 2026 12:22:35 EST news688393321 For one in five people, losing a pet has been more distressing than losing a human loved one. New research has revealed that 21% of those who experienced both types of bereavement found their pet's death harder to bear. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-people-pet-worse-person.html Fri, 16 Jan 2026 08:26:35 EST news687774361