https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on Health and Medicine. A study examined the brains of children at increased risk of developing schizophrenia to determine whether signs of vulnerability can be detected during childhood. The findings suggest that subtle brain differences may emerge before the onset of symptoms. Understanding these changes could help identify early warning signs and support the development of more effective interventions. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-schizophrenia-years-symptoms.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 13:10:01 EDT news705844730 Being diagnosed with a severe mental illness such as schizophrenia or bipolar disorder can reduce a person's life expectancy by up to 20 years compared with the general population, University of Queensland researchers have found. The research was published in Lancet Psychiatry. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-severe-mental-illness-linked-physical.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 12:20:02 EDT news705839267 For decades, neuroscientists have been trying to determine whether different neuropsychiatric conditions are linked to specific variations in brain structure and neural connections. While past studies identified possible signatures of various conditions, most findings have been inconsistent and do not conclusively delineate brain structural patterns associated with specific mental health disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-brain-imaging-struggles-psychiatric-disorder.html Thu, 13 Aug 2026 09:20:01 EDT news705830615 A study led by the Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH) provides initial evidence that large language models can identify complex psychopathological findings in transcripts of psychiatric interviews with accuracy comparable to that of predominantly young clinicians. The study examined 10 language models and 108 practicing clinicians from three psychiatric clinics. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-language-psychiatric-symptoms-accurately-early.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 15:40:02 EDT news705160741 Four in 10 children who attend Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland go on to attend specialist psychiatric services as adults, according to new research. This figure increases for teenagers, with half of those attending CAMHS as teens going on to access adult mental health services by their early 30s—far more than previous research has suggested. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-child-mental-health-patients-adult.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 20:00:01 EDT news705048507 As the use of artificial intelligence for mental health conditions grows among both patients seeking support and psychiatrists treating them, West Virginia University researchers put ChatGPT-5 Pro to the test to determine its abilities in psychiatry education. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-psychiatry-cases-human-oversight.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 18:00:03 EDT news705077161 Schizophrenia affects approximately 23 million people worldwide, with onset usually occurring during a person's late adolescence or 20s. Impairments associated with schizophrenia include hallucinations, delusions, and disorganized thinking and behavior. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-genetic-deletions-differences-schizophrenia-severity.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 19:20:01 EDT news704477582 Scientists at Virginia Tech's Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC have discovered how an experimental therapy can help brain cells overcome the effects of a disease-causing genetic deletion. Instead of repairing the deletion and its immediate consequences, the therapy redirects brain development by helping at-risk neurons grow and connect more normally. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-cells-healthy-growth-disease.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 17:40:01 EDT news704469422 Clinical biobanks that combine genomic data with electronic health records (EHRs) have become powerful resources for discovering genetic variants associated with disease. These biobanks may also be used to identify individuals carrying clinically relevant genetic variants for participation in clinical research focusing on brain health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-recall-genotype-scalable-path-precision.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 11:40:20 EDT news704110081 Many people feel that the worst part of surgery happens after they wake up. Countless patients who undergo general anesthesia worry about nausea and vomiting, common side effects after surgery. A clinical trial by Yale School of Medicine's Department of Anesthesiology finds that a small dose of olanzapine, an inexpensive antipsychotic medication, could curb those symptoms. The treatment could also ensure a smoother postsurgical recovery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-clinical-trial-dose-olanzapine-nausea.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:02 EDT news704100722 Every cell in the human body carries the same 3 billion letters of DNA, yet a neuron, a heart muscle cell and a pancreatic beta cell each use that shared code to do entirely different jobs. How cells pull off this trick comes down to epigenetics—chemical tags and three-dimensional structures that govern which genes are active and which stay silent. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ways-genome-body-wide-cell.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 16:00:04 EDT news704034782 Motor issues—such as coordination problems, motor slowing or sudden, uncontrolled movements—have been recognized as signs of psychological disorders since the 1800s. How they map to mental health conditions, however, remains unknown. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-motor-abnormalities-mental-illness-general.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 07:00:01 EDT news704002262 The ability to adapt behavior flexibly to changing environments is a hallmark of intelligence. However, the biological mechanisms in the brain that are responsible for this cognitive flexibility remain poorly understood. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dendrites-gatekeeper-cells-flexible-mice.html Wed, 22 Jul 2026 12:20:01 EDT news703940282 People with dementia, mild cognitive impairment, alcohol addiction or psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia show increased brain aging, each in specific patterns within the brain, according to a study published in PLOS Medicine by Shile Qi from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China, and colleagues. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-scans-reveal-aging-signatures.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 14:00:01 EDT news703756261 For millennia, people have used the psychedelic mescaline as a spiritual and religious tool. Mescaline is a naturally occurring chemical found in cacti, mainly peyote cacti, that are located in the Southwest United States and Mexico. The drug has been used for 5,700 years, according to archaeological evidence, making it one of the oldest hallucinogens. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-oldest-psychedelics-modern-brain-imaging.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news703845722 The human brain continuously makes predictions about future events. This process helps humans process familiar stimuli while also allowing them to direct particular attention to unexpected or unfamiliar events and derive important new information. While various past studies explored how the brain predicts familiar occurrences, fewer have tried to uncover the mechanisms that prepare it for surprising events. One region known to play a role in experience-informed future predictions is the hippocampus, the brain's primary long-term memory center. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ripples-hippocampus-brain-events.html Tue, 21 Jul 2026 08:20:01 EDT news703772207 An international team led by the Central Institute of Mental Health in Mannheim has presented the largest genome-wide association study on borderline personality disorder to date. Data from about 13,000 affected people and more than 1.1 million controls from 14 countries were analyzed. The study identified 11 independent risk regions and nine genes that could contribute to the development of the disorder. The findings, published in Nature Genetics, show clear genetic overlaps with other mental and physical illnesses and open new perspectives for research and care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-largest-genetic-analysis-borderline-personality.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 14:20:07 EDT news703774454 Hal Blumenfeld, MD, Ph.D., the Mark Loughridge and Michele Williams Professor of Neurology at Yale School of Medicine (YSM), got out of the pool one afternoon and couldn't find his watch. He was certain he'd left it at the side of the pool where he entered. He found it on the opposite end. He'd moved it himself while swimming, with no memory of doing so. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-unaware-actions.html Mon, 20 Jul 2026 09:20:05 EDT news703756623 Social connections are known to contribute greatly to people's psychological and emotional well-being. In fact, difficulties socializing and bonding with others have been linked to various psychiatric conditions, including depression, social anxiety disorder (SAD), schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-sports-boosts-oxytocin-synchronizes-heartbeats.html Sun, 19 Jul 2026 08:20:01 EDT news703496346 Scientists have long known that the human brain continues developing well beyond the teenage years, with important changes involving decision-making and emotional regulation extending into the mid- to late 20s. Now, for the first time, researchers at Albert Einstein College of Medicine have identified a biological process in mice that offers new insight into how memory circuits mature during this extended period of brain development. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-remodeling-adolescence-memory.html Sat, 18 Jul 2026 05:00:04 EDT news703566957 A study by the University of Barcelona has identified nearly 20 genes that could contribute to some people being more susceptible to depression, anxiety and traits such as irritability and neuroticism. These genes are regulated by the RBFOX1 gene, which acts as the central hub of a genetic network linked to several key processes in brain function. According to the researchers, this genetic overlap between different disorders and traits could help explain why they often appear together in the same person. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-genes-people-susceptible-depression-psychiatric.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 10:40:06 EDT news703497095 A research team at Fujita Health University led by Professor Tsuyoshi Miyakawa has uncovered a novel mechanism of cellular plasticity in which repeated neuronal stimulation can durably alter the identity of mature neurons. Using a neural stimulation pattern termed "Repetitive Optogenetic Stimulation (REPOPS)," the researchers found that granule cells of the hippocampal dentate gyrus undergo long-lasting changes in nuclear structure and gene expression, revealing a novel process which the team terms "nuclear reprogramming." https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ect-immature-state-adult-mouse.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 05:00:04 EDT news703402967 A study using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has found that patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower muscarinic acetylcholine M1 receptor availability (about 13%–19%) across multiple brain regions than healthy individuals. Reduced M1 receptor availability affects several brain regions involved in cognition, learning, memory and executive function. The findings in Biological Psychiatry provide the first in vivo evidence supporting widespread M1 receptor deficits in schizophrenia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-imaging-reveals-receptor-dysfunction.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:00:06 EDT news703427743 Long before a baby's ears are functional, the brain is already building the circuitry needed for hearing, according to new research from Johns Hopkins University. Published in the journal Science Advances, the study in mice identifies a previously unknown neural "shortcut" that organizes the auditory system before birth, offering new insight into how the auditory system prepares to process sound and eventually learn language. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-babies-brains-wiring.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 14:30:02 EDT news703427394 People with disabilities are diagnosed with alcohol use disorder at much higher rates than nondisabled people https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-people-disabilities-alcohol-disorder-higher.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 18:20:02 EDT news703253821 Research involving a Rutgers professor sheds new light on the biological basis of schizophrenia by directly measuring synaptic connections in the human brain using specialized positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-imaging-reveals-widespread-brain-loss.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703257918 Scientists at Newcastle University's Neural Circuits Laboratory, in collaboration with researchers at the Blue Brain Project (EPFL, Switzerland) and leading institutions in Spain, have published a study that advances understanding of the brain's chemical messengers—acetylcholine, dopamine and serotonin—known as neuromodulators. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-chemical-messengers-consciousness.html Mon, 13 Jul 2026 09:20:07 EDT news703149123 The ongoing legalization of cannabis in the United States has elicited cheers, boos and a host of questions. How much is safe? Isn't it just a plant? What are the long-term effects of chronic use? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-adolescents-cannabis-disorder-higher-psychiatric.html Fri, 10 Jul 2026 10:00:01 EDT news702895502 Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor use is associated with a lower risk for dementia in older adults with mood and psychotic disorders, according to a study published online June 30 in JAMA Network Open. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-dementia-sodium-glucose-cotransporter-seniors.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 19:00:02 EDT news702823758 Large language models (LLMs) are only as good as the data they learn from. If their training data contains social biases, the models may unintentionally repeat those biases in their responses. As their use increases with the rise of generative AI, it has become evident that they contain biases that reinforce stereotypes based on factors like ethnicity, gender or geography. This is concerning because LLM-based chatbots have become an integral part of the health care system, where health-related stigma can negatively affect one's diagnosis and care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-medical-ai-biased-paper.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 08:20:05 EDT news702801724