https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. Does a depressive mood inevitably lead to more pessimistic thinking or overanalyzing? A global meta-analysis, the largest of its kind to examine the relationship between a depressive mood and reality judgment, co-conducted by the Department of Psychology at Lingnan University, has found that the key lies in the nature of the judgment. The paper was published in Clinical Psychology Review. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-depressive-mood-sharpen-judgment-blur.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 17:00:05 EDT news700232004 Smartphones have been connected to a host of modern problems including loneliness, decreased physical activity, sleep problems and all the mental and physical health issues associated with those conditions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-qa-screen-healthy.html Mon, 08 Jun 2026 23:00:01 EDT news700126081 Even while listening, the brain attempts to anticipate the next words. This is the conclusion reached by a current study conducted by an interdisciplinary team of researchers led by PD Dr. Patrick Krauss, Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU), and PD Dr. Achim Schilling, Heidelberg University. The researchers combined three methods: a natural listening situation, high resolution measurements of brain activity, and an AI language model as reference. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-brain-words-milliseconds-mirroring-ai.html Mon, 01 Jun 2026 17:50:02 EDT news699551101 We have high fidelity vinyl and home audio systems that rival the quality of the sound systems at the local movie theater and we even have high-quality recordings that we can listen to on our preferred personal music device. But there's just something about hearing live music as it's being played in real time. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-concert-brain-music-tightly-tempo.html Thu, 28 May 2026 12:00:10 EDT news699183822 Scientists at Columbia University's Zuckerman Institute have the first direct evidence from human studies that brain-controlled hearing technology can help people single out a voice in a crowd. These early findings suggest that researchers may one day develop a hearing augmentation device that can, among other feats, overcome the problems that conventional hearing aids have with noisy surroundings. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-brain-isolates-speaker-noisy-human.html Mon, 11 May 2026 11:00:01 EDT news697361941 Long before the telltale signs of Parkinson's disease appear, including tremors and muscle stiffness, there are other, more subtle signs of the disease. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-body-alzheimer-parkinson-symptoms.html Sun, 10 May 2026 11:30:01 EDT news697377868 As we go through life, our brains run different processing modes. Some—the attention and sensory systems—result in very similar experiences of the world: what color the sky is, how warm the day feels. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-individual-consciousness-unique.html Fri, 01 May 2026 10:20:05 EDT news696849362 Notes generated by artificial intelligence (AI) have lower-quality scores than those generated by humans across five standardized care cases, according to a study published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine to coincide with the Internal Medicine Meeting, the annual meeting of the American College of Physicians, held from April 16 to 18 in San Francisco. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-quality-scores-ai-human-generated.html Mon, 20 Apr 2026 16:40:05 EDT news695894694 New research led by a scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign suggests that watching and creating videography of scenic locations cultivates nature-based mindfulness—conveying the same cognitive and emotional benefits as outdoor activities and fostering a deep sense of connection with nature. The findings are published in the Journal of Sustainable Tourism. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-nature-videos-calm-mind-mood.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 15:00:10 EDT news695564070 Imagine you and your partner are sitting in the waiting room of your doctor's office, waiting for your appointment to get birth control—and instead of calculating how many other people will be called before you, or perusing old magazines, a nurse hands you a digital tablet and encourages you to play a game. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-health-video-game-bridge-communication.html Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:20:07 EDT news695561102 Neither radiologists nor multimodal large language models (LLMs) are able to easily distinguish artificial intelligence (AI)-generated "deepfake" X-ray images from authentic ones, according to a study published in Radiology. The findings highlight the potential risks associated with AI-generated X-ray images, along with the need for tools and training to protect the integrity of medical images and prepare health care professionals to detect deepfakes. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-deepfake-rays-radiologists-ai.html Tue, 24 Mar 2026 10:00:02 EDT news693473221 Sign-language technology promises to "make your content available to millions" by using artificial intelligence to translate videos or even audio announcements into sign language. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-survey-skepticism-language-tech-deaf.html Sat, 21 Mar 2026 17:00:08 EDT news693212925 The introduction of vision-enabled artificial intelligence (AI) to medical scribes—the recording devices used by doctors to document meetings with patients in real-time—could increase the accuracy of patient notes and save valuable time for clinicians. A Flinders University study, published in npj Digital Medicine, has found that AI medical scribes already reduce some administrative work that takes time away from patients, but these devices have the capacity to do more when fitted with visual recording apparatus. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-ai-scribes-eyes-clinic.html Wed, 18 Mar 2026 17:20:03 EDT news693071701 Most people will close their eyes when trying to concentrate on a faint sound. Many of us have been told that keeping our eyes closed helps us hear better—that it frees up our brains' processing abilities and increases our auditory sensitivity. However, that strategy may sometimes backfire, particularly in environments with a lot of loud background noise. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-eyes.html Tue, 17 Mar 2026 11:00:04 EDT news692877253 With exams looming and a lot potentially riding on their future, many university students suffer from anxiety. This pressure can often create a cycle of worry that is difficult to break without the right tools. A new study published in the journal Behaviour Research and Therapy reports that self-guided mental imagery can reduce anxiety levels in university students. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-digital-imagery-students-anxiety.html Mon, 16 Mar 2026 14:08:28 EDT news692888822 For most of human existence, listening was closely tied to moments that carried meaning, emotion or survival. Nature supplied the backdrop—wind, water, animals—and music surfaced in hunting rituals, healing ceremonies and communal celebrations. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-constant-modern-life-minds.html Thu, 26 Feb 2026 20:30:01 EST news691335935 Pregnant women react more positively than non-pregnant women when exposed to audio recordings, videos, and images of infants. This suggests that pregnancy mentally prepares women to process infant signals, according to a new study from the University of Copenhagen and the Psychiatric Center Copenhagen published in Infant Mental Health Journal: Infancy and Early Childhood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-pregnancy-tune-women-brains-infant.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 14:20:01 EST news689867947 A new medical large language model (LLM) achieved over 91% accuracy in identifying female participants diagnosed with major depressive disorder after analyzing a short WhatsApp audio recording where participants described their week, according to a study published in PLOS Mental Health by Victor H. O. Otani, from Santa Casa de São Paulo School of Medical Sciences and Infinity Doctors Inc., Brazil, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-llms-major-depressive-disorder-voice.html Wed, 21 Jan 2026 14:00:09 EST news688216441 Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania have launched Observer, the first multimodal medical dataset to capture anonymized, real-time interactions between patients and clinicians. Much like the medical drama The Pitt, which portrays life in the emergency room, Observer lets outsiders peer inside primary care clinics—only, in this case, none of the filmed interactions are fictional. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-video-dataset-captures-human-dynamics.html Tue, 16 Dec 2025 09:38:53 EST news685100221 Our bodies send us signals throughout the day to prompt us into action. Our stomachs growl to indicate we're hungry, so we eat. We shiver, so we put on a sweater. And when we feel pain, we may take medications to alleviate it. This is called interoceptive awareness. Our interoceptive awareness, the ability to recognize and interpret our body's signals, is imperative to addressing our bodies' needs and maintaining our health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-bodies-chronic-pain-opioid-misuse.html Mon, 24 Nov 2025 13:30:01 EST news683212988 Researchers have improved the ability of wearable health devices to accurately detect when a patient is coughing, making it easier to monitor chronic health conditions and predict health risks such as asthma attacks. The advance is significant because cough-detection technologies have historically struggled to distinguish the sound of coughing from the sound of speech and nonverbal human noises. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-tech-health.html Mon, 13 Oct 2025 08:53:04 EDT news679564382 Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental health disorder triggered by traumatic experiences such as accidents, disasters, or violence. Exposure therapy, a scientifically validated treatment for PTSD, involves the gradual re-exposure of patients to trauma-related cues to reduce anxiety and avoidance behaviors. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-soundscapes-text-vr-personalizes-ptsd.html Mon, 08 Sep 2025 11:52:03 EDT news676551121 It has long been understood that experiencing two senses simultaneously, like seeing and hearing, can lead to improved responses relative to those seen when only one sensory input is experienced by itself. For example, a potential prey that gets visual and auditory clues that it is about to be attacked by a snake in the grass has a better chance of survival. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-scientists-reveal-brain.html Fri, 15 Aug 2025 05:00:04 EDT news674380981 Artificial intelligence-powered glasses developed by a University of Stirling researcher could dramatically improve how people with hearing loss experience sound. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-ai-glasses-loss.html Wed, 13 Aug 2025 13:11:47 EDT news674309504 Recent headlines in the United Kingdom earlier this year attributed noise-canceling headphones as a possible culprit in rising rates of auditory processing disorder (APD) and hearing problems in younger populations. While the APD theory is interesting, it's speculation that's not backed up by the data, according to a campus audiologist. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-audio-expert-noise-cancelling-headphones.html Thu, 10 Jul 2025 14:20:02 EDT news671374413 Hypnosis could play a significant role in at least three areas of dental care: managing acute pain during dental procedures, reducing the anxiety associated with visiting the dentist, and alleviating chronic orofacial pain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-hypnosis-pain-stress-experienced-dental.html Mon, 26 May 2025 12:13:04 EDT news667480381 Exposure to junk food advertisements (relative to non-food) results in children and adolescents consuming significantly more calories during the day, regardless of the type of media advertising, according to a randomized crossover trial being presented at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Malaga, Spain (11–14 May). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-minutes-exposure-junk-food-results.html Sat, 10 May 2025 18:10:18 EDT news665998981 With legacy media cutting staff in the face of unprecedented financial challenges and critical science and health information scattered among unfamiliar digital platforms, how can people keep up with medical issues that might affect them? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-advantages-podcasts-infectious-diseases.html Tue, 26 Nov 2024 12:36:08 EST news651846961 Depression is one of the most common mental illnesses. As many as 280 million people worldwide are affected by this disease, which is why researchers at Kaunas University of Technology (KTU) have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) model that helps to identify depression based on both speech and brain neural activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-ai-depression-speech-brain-neural.html Wed, 20 Nov 2024 11:06:04 EST news651323161 Something to ponder as we welcome the extra hour of sleep from the return to standard time: If we're looking into sleep hacks—things like the "sleepy girl mocktail," mouth taping, or something called "chronoworking"—does that mean we're getting better at prioritizing sleep in our lives? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-11-expert-trending-topics-health.html Fri, 01 Nov 2024 13:03:04 EDT news649684981