https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. In 2022, about 149 million children younger than 5 worldwide suffered from childhood stunting. A critical marker of chronic undernutrition, stunting is more than a metric of physical height. It represents a lifelong constraint on human potential, carrying a heightened risk of mortality, chronic disease, impaired cognitive development and reduced economic opportunity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-human-linked-childhood-stunting-africa.html Wed, 10 Jun 2026 16:00:05 EDT news700322401 Wearing a cooling cap for 30 minutes may improve a person's sense of well-being, according to a new study by Penn State researchers. In a recent publication in Acta Psychologica, the researchers demonstrated that head cooling may reduce depressive symptoms and alter the types of brain waves people produce. While no medical recommendations can be derived from this small, exploratory study, the results indicate head cooling may provide mental health benefits for the general population. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-cooling-depression-symptoms-brain.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:20:03 EDT news700214582 Heat could pose a danger to workers at the upcoming FIFA World Cup, according to a new study from the University of Georgia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-pose-threat-world-cup-workers.html Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:20:02 EDT news700215745 Extreme heat and cold are growing cardiovascular risks that can trigger heart attacks, strokes, heart failure, and sudden cardiac death, according to a recent scientific statement by experts at Weill Cornell Medicine and other leading institutions. The statement from the American Heart Association, published in Circulation, outlines contributing factors that endanger health and recommendations to mitigate the rising cardiovascular risks posed by extreme temperatures. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-heart-health-era-temperature-extremes.html Mon, 08 Jun 2026 09:20:01 EDT news700128962 Mounting evidence links extreme heat to preterm (often called premature) birth, low birth weight, and stillbirth, indicating that rising temperatures are contributing to worse health outcomes for pregnant people and newborns. Preterm birth is already a leading cause of infant illness and death worldwide, with an estimated 12 to 15 million babies born too early each year, meaning even modest increases in heat-related risk could have substantial global consequences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-dose-aspirin-offset-premature-birth.html Fri, 05 Jun 2026 12:00:04 EDT news699878701 You have gone without food for days, and the temperature drops to near freezing. What do you do? For some animals, the answer is influenced by the brain's circadian clock. Hummingbirds, bats, and mice are among the animals that can enter torpor, which reduces body temperature and metabolism. Scientists suspected that the brain's circadian clock controls the timing of torpor, but until now the exact mechanism was not known. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-brain-circuit-state-metabolism-implications.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 16:20:05 EDT news699804241 Two specific weather patterns have been identified as capable of increasing the risk of headaches, thanks to physicians at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, along with researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, Errex Inc. and Teva Pharmaceuticals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-weather-patterns-headaches.html Thu, 04 Jun 2026 00:00:05 EDT news699687547 The most watched sporting event in the world kicks off on June 11, co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States. With 2026 already expected to be one of the hottest years on record, experts and players have warned that organizer FIFA is not doing enough to protect the players from extreme heat. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-06-fifa-soccer-players-world-cup.html Tue, 02 Jun 2026 13:20:11 EDT news699615721 A new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University, University Hospitals and the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center predicts rising temperatures driven by climate change will dramatically increase heat-related heart disease in the United States. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-triple-heart-disease-burden.html Thu, 28 May 2026 15:40:06 EDT news699199261 Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is mainly driven by the overuse and misuse of antibiotics, which allows resistant bacteria to survive and spread. However, rising temperatures and changing rainfall patterns can influence how bacteria survive, mutate, and spread, potentially increasing the exchange of antibiotic resistance genes. While previous studies have linked higher temperatures to greater levels of resistant bacteria, global quantitative studies on this relationship have been limited. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-climate-linked-antibiotic-resistance-salmonella.html Wed, 27 May 2026 09:40:07 EDT news699092701 Picture a sweltering summer's day. Now imagine enduring the heat while eight months pregnant. Uncomfortable, to say the absolute least. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-climate-changerelated-premature-birth-countries.html Tue, 26 May 2026 14:20:04 EDT news699019062 An Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to eastern South Kivu province in an area under the control of the Rwanda-backed M23 militia, the group's spokesman said Thursday, heightening fears of the deadly disease's growing reach. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-deadly-dr-congo-ebola-outbreak.html Fri, 22 May 2026 04:40:02 EDT news698642588 Older people, care home residents and those living in poor-quality housing are facing growing danger from extreme heat, as new research warns that the UK is failing to protect those most at risk. The work is published in the journal Energy Research & Social Science. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-uk-vulnerable-people-dangerously-exposed.html Thu, 21 May 2026 15:20:04 EDT news698586842 Men and women who appear hormonally "normal" may still have undetected disruptions in the timing and coordination of their reproductive hormones that could impair fertility, according to research presented at the 28th European Congress of Endocrinology in Prague. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-ai-driven-wearable-patches-undetected.html Sun, 17 May 2026 20:30:04 EDT news697717869 University of California, Irvine researchers have invented a wearable, wireless, battery-free, bioelectronic sensor to monitor users' health by analyzing molecular biomarkers in human sweat. The device is called the In-Situ Regeneratable, Environmentally Stable, Multimodal, Wireless, Wearable Molecular Sweat Sensing System, or IREM-W2MS3, and is described in a study published today in Nature Biomedical Engineering. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-wearable-sensor-multiple-biomarkers-days.html Wed, 13 May 2026 15:51:33 EDT news697906218 While some people can spring out of bed at six in the morning and go straight into their day, others prefer to wake up later as they're most productive in the afternoon or evening. This difference is due to your chronotype—the biological tendency to prefer certain times of day for sleep, waking and activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-wrong-body-clock-affect-workouts.html Tue, 12 May 2026 14:40:03 EDT news697809902 A study examined racial and ethnic disparities in rates of heat-related illness (HRI) hospitalizations among U.S. adults from 1998 to 2022. The findings showed that hospitalization rates for HRIs have increased overall in the U.S., with Black adults experiencing the highest rates and greatest increases. People residing in low-income ZIP codes were also disproportionately affected. The findings are published in the Annals of Internal Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-hospitalizations-rose-decades-black-adults.html Tue, 12 May 2026 11:20:01 EDT news697801013 Eighteen people are being monitored in US medical facilities for hantavirus, including one who tested positive for the rare disease, public health officials said Monday. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-people-hantavirus-positive.html Mon, 11 May 2026 15:00:01 EDT news697722418 Officials and experts in Argentina are scrambling to determine if their country is the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak that has gripped an Atlantic cruise. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-hantavirus-argentina-stricken-cruise-ship.html Thu, 07 May 2026 04:20:02 EDT news697344515 Following the rise in Mpox cases, particularly in countries where the disease had not traditionally been observed, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in June 2022 and again in August 2024. Accurate and timely diagnosis plays a critical role in controlling the infection. However, PCR-based methods—the gold standard for Mpox diagnosis—require complex laboratory infrastructure and trained personnel, making them less accessible in many settings. For this reason, the development of point-of-care diagnostic tools is of great importance. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-05-faster-easier-ways-mpox-approaches.html Fri, 01 May 2026 13:20:03 EDT news696859381 Between December 2024 and February 2025, 10 newborns with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury were treated with breast milk administered through the nasal passages using a special method at Semmelweis University in Budapest. A study on this novel and promising therapeutic approach was recently published in Pediatric Research. The procedure is expected to help mitigate the consequences of brain damage caused by oxygen deprivation, and breast milk delivered intranasally may become a safe therapeutic tool for long-term use even in controlled home environments. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-intranasal-breast-therapy-safety-brain.html Thu, 30 Apr 2026 17:10:07 EDT news696777331 The World Stroke Organization is warning that climate change poses an escalating threat to brain health, with extreme heat in particular increasing the risk of having a stroke and of patients dying from stroke. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-climate-global-threat-brain-health.html Thu, 30 Apr 2026 12:40:02 EDT news696767521 If it feels like everyone around you (physically and digitally) has taken up an affair with running in the past few years, you're not imagining it. Since 2023, running has been the most uploaded activity on the exercise app Strava, according to their annual Year in Sport reports from 2023, 2024 and 2025. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-hurdles-hobby-climate-runfluencer-culture.html Mon, 27 Apr 2026 12:40:03 EDT news696507062 Cancer treatments can take a toll on a person's body. A patient's treatment may cause nausea, changes in appetite, taste and smell, diarrhea, or constipation, making it harder to meet their nutritional needs. Fortunately, there are strategies that patients and caregivers can use to cope with these side effects. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-diet-cancer-treatment.html Sun, 19 Apr 2026 13:00:09 EDT news695572618 Air pollution is associated with increased migraine activity, according to a study published in Neurology. Both short-term and cumulative exposure to air pollution as well as climate factors such as heat and humidity were associated with increased migraine activity. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-air-pollution-migraine.html Wed, 15 Apr 2026 16:00:08 EDT news695463751 Instead of applying ointment and attaching a bandage, a "smart patch that regulates treatment intensity on its own just by being attached" has appeared. A research team has developed a "self-regulating OLED wound healing patch" that combines light and drugs to pull up the wound recovery speed by about twice. It is expected to develop into an intelligent treatment technology where light regulates drug release according to the patient's condition in the future. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-smart-oled-patch-automate-drug.html Mon, 13 Apr 2026 16:40:03 EDT news695305461 The health benefits of cold-water immersion have been closely studied in recent years, thanks to the growing popularity of cold-water swimming. Now new research from the University of Chichester has found that as little as five minutes immersed in cold water can have almost the same benefits as much longer stints, helping provide a quick mood-boosting solution for physically fit people with low mood. The resulting paper is published in the journal Lifestyle Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-minutes-cold-boost-mood.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 16:40:01 EDT news694362923 Exposure to extreme heat conditions is resulting in more babies being born with low birth weight, according to a new study involving Adelaide University researchers. The collaborative study, published in BMC Medicine, used health data from more than 85,000 mothers and babies in Pakistan to assess the impact of extreme heat on the size of infants. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-extreme-climate-linked-smaller-babies.html Thu, 02 Apr 2026 10:20:01 EDT news694337511 Many kids are scared of getting needles, and this can stop them getting vaccinations that protect that against the flu. Less than 1 in 4 Australian children were vaccinated against influenza in 2025. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-flumist-flu-vaccine-kids-sprayed.html Fri, 20 Mar 2026 21:00:02 EDT news693221991 Socioeconomic factors are widely recognized as potential modifiers of the relationship between air pollution and mortality, but the available evidence remains limited. In this context, a new study led by the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in collaboration with the Barcelona Supercomputing Center–Centro Nacional de Supercomputación (BSC-CNS), analyzed how socioeconomic conditions and the transition to renewable energy in Europe influence vulnerability to air pollution. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-european-regions-highest-poverty-vulnerable.html Thu, 19 Mar 2026 06:00:06 EDT news693047822