https://medicalxpress.com/ en-us Medical Xpress internet news portal provides the latest news on science including: Physics, Nanotechnology, Life Sciences, Space Science, Earth Science, Environment, Health and Medicine. A new prospective cohort study by investigators from Mass General Brigham, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard analyzed 131,821 participants from the Nurses' Health Study (NHS) and Health Professionals Follow-Up Study (HPFS), finding that moderate consumption of caffeinated coffee (two to three cups a day) or tea (one to two cups a day) reduced dementia risk, slowed cognitive decline, and preserved cognitive function. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-consuming-cups-coffee-daily-dementia.html Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:03 EST news689592541 A UBC research team has revealed substantial, ongoing inequities in how sex and gender are represented in exercise physiology—both in who is studied and who is conducting that research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-physiology-women.html Tue, 27 Jan 2026 12:35:46 EST news688739701 Having an ischemic stroke during pregnancy or three months after pregnancy is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular events like heart attack or second stroke, heart disease and depression later in life, according to a new study published on January 21, 2026, in Neurology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-pregnancy-linked-higher-heart-disease.html Wed, 21 Jan 2026 16:00:01 EST news688231500 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 Regularly doing a mix of different types of physical activity may be best for prolonging the lifespan, but the associations aren't linear, pointing to a possible optimal threshold effect, suggests research published in the journal BMJ Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-physical-longer-life.html Tue, 20 Jan 2026 18:30:06 EST news688055941 Opioid addiction, or opioid use disorder (OUD), is a major global health issue, and recovery from OUD is marked with high relapse rates. During withdrawal, patients experience severe symptoms, which are partly due to dysregulation of the nervous system, or autonomic dysregulation. However, a new study, published in JAMA Psychiatry, has found that yoga can assist in addressing this autonomic imbalance and speed up recovery, when combined with standard care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-yoga-opioid-recovery-combined-standard.html Sat, 10 Jan 2026 12:50:03 EST news687187775 A decline in religious participation among middle-aged, less educated white Americans may have played a role in the widely noted increases in "deaths of despair," a new study finds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-decline-churchgoing-linked-deaths-despair.html Thu, 18 Dec 2025 09:13:30 EST news685271582 When examining recovery during the first year after an ischemic stroke, a new study has found for daily tasks such as eating, dressing and driving, female participants experienced slightly worse recovery than male participants. The study was published in Neurology. Ischemic stroke, the most common type of stroke, is when blood flow is blocked to part of the brain. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-women-greater-men-daily-task.html Wed, 17 Dec 2025 16:00:03 EST news685182301 More than 75% of recreational cannabis users aged 19 to 30 crashed in a driving simulation after consuming edibles, a new University of Saskatchewan (USask) study shows. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-cannabis-edibles-pose-major.html Thu, 11 Dec 2025 14:00:07 EST news684683411 According to recent figures, about 250,000 children under the age of 15 participate in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). But a new scoping review out of the University of Adelaide has highlighted gaps in literature and research around the needs of children and adolescents. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-children-cognitive-disabilities-ndis.html Thu, 11 Dec 2025 07:41:12 EST news684661261 Humans and most other animals are known to be strongly driven by expected rewards or adverse consequences. The process of acquiring new skills or adjusting behaviors in response to positive outcomes is known as reinforcement learning (RL). https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-human-context-memory-habits.html Tue, 09 Dec 2025 09:50:01 EST news684421642 Women who report high levels of psychosocial stress, such as from caregiving and lack of emotional support, show signs of early heart tissue changes associated with cardiovascular disease—an association not observed in men, a new study reveals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-12-psychosocial-stress-linked-early-heart.html Thu, 04 Dec 2025 12:20:56 EST news684073201 A study published in Nature and Science of Sleep reveals a strong connection between social media addiction and poor sleep quality among high school graduates in Bangladesh, offering fresh insights into the mental health and digital habits of young people. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-links-social-media-addiction-poor.html Thu, 13 Nov 2025 16:01:37 EST news682272093 A new study suggests that even low levels of physical activity could protect the brain from Alzheimer's disease—but not in the way scientists expected. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-day-linked-alzheimer-older-adults.html Sun, 09 Nov 2025 09:10:02 EST news681728555 Females have a higher odds of chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS) without nasal polyps than men, according to a study published online Oct. 23 in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-women-higher-odds-chronic-rhinosinusitis.html Wed, 29 Oct 2025 12:00:03 EDT news680957478 A research team from the University of Cologne conducted one of the most comprehensive studies on dopamine and decision-making in humans so far, providing evidence for effects of the former on the latter. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter involved in several functions, including motivation and reward. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-dopamine-willingness-rewards-humans.html Tue, 28 Oct 2025 12:11:03 EDT news680872261 Female individuals may experience a three-fold reduction in mortality risk from coronary heart disease when following recommended exercise guidelines, compared to male individuals. These findings, published in Nature Cardiovascular Research, suggest that sex-specific recommendations could improve coronary heart disease prevention and management. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-women-gain-greater-heart-benefits.html Tue, 28 Oct 2025 11:51:03 EDT news680871062 A randomized clinical trial has found that the Mediterranean diet is superior to traditional diet advice in managing irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) symptoms, suggesting that it could be considered a viable first-line dietary intervention for IBS. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-mediterranean-diet-tackling-ibs.html Tue, 28 Oct 2025 08:50:03 EDT news680860201 Researchers at the Korey Stringer Institute (KSI) in the College of Agriculture, Health and Natural Resources (CAHNR) have created an open-access document to help athletes, coaches, and parents understand the latest research on hydration's impact on athletic performance and recovery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-hydration-tool-athletes.html Fri, 24 Oct 2025 09:58:46 EDT news680518716 Spatial attention enhances the processing of specific regions within a visual scene as people view their surroundings, much like a spotlight. Do people orient spatial attention the same way when processing mental images from memory? https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-people-mental-images-real-life.html Mon, 20 Oct 2025 13:00:04 EDT news680168041 A major QIMR Berghofer-led study has found that Australians living with Parkinson's disease are nearly three times more likely to suffer from chronic pain compared to the general community, with two-thirds of patients experiencing the debilitating symptom. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-burden-pain-significantly-higher-parkinson.html Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:55:04 EDT news680183702 A new multi-site study, published in JAMA, and co-led by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center and Wake Forest University School of Medicine, has demonstrated that a direct-to-patient digital health program can significantly increase recommended lung cancer screening for high-risk individuals. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-digital-health-outreach-lung-cancer.html Mon, 20 Oct 2025 12:42:03 EDT news680182921 University of North Carolina at Charlotte's School of Nursing, collaborating with Harvard's Human Flourishing Program, reports that adolescents who report transformative religious or spiritual experiences show both greater volunteering and voting in early adulthood alongside elevated loneliness and PTSD. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-spiritual-adolescence-linked-adult-loneliness.html Mon, 20 Oct 2025 09:00:34 EDT news680169628 Researchers at the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital conducted one of the largest qualitative studies with stroke survivors and care partners within the United States to better understand what well-being means in recovery. Through the lived experiences of the participants, the team identified key factors that shape physical and emotional well-being after stroke. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-overlooked-recovery.html Fri, 17 Oct 2025 11:00:06 EDT news679823864 New research from the University of Adelaide has found almost 60% of adolescent invasive meningococcal disease (IMD) survivors have long-term psychological conditions in subsequent years. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-meningococcal-disease-term-impact-adolescent.html Tue, 07 Oct 2025 05:24:04 EDT news679033441 A study conducted by The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has demonstrated that a genetic variant, TREM2 H157Y, significantly increases the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD) in individuals of ethnic Chinese descent. The research reveals that this variant confers a risk level comparable to that of the strongest known genetic risk factor for AD, APOE-ε4, and is associated with more rapid clinical progression and more severe neurodegeneration. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-10-scientists-reveal-critical-impacts-chinese.html Thu, 02 Oct 2025 16:47:04 EDT news678642421 Screening women with dense breasts with both molecular breast imaging (MBI) and digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) increased overall invasive cancer detection while modestly increasing the recall rate compared with screening only with DBT, according to a new study published in Radiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-molecular-breast-imaging-benefit-women.html Tue, 23 Sep 2025 10:00:01 EDT news677738167 Nonadherence to cervical cancer screening in the United States increased after the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a study published online Sept. 10 in PLOS Global Public Health. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-nonadherence-cervical-cancer-screening-covid.html Thu, 18 Sep 2025 13:20:01 EDT news677420024 For patients with nonambulatory type 2 or type 3 spinal muscular atrophy, apitegromab, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits myostatin activation, improves motor function versus placebo, according to a study published online Aug. 13 in the Lancet Neurology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-apitegromab-motor-function-spinal-muscular.html Mon, 25 Aug 2025 14:20:01 EDT news675348079 A cardiac device trial published in eClinicalMedicine shows that improving enrollment of females in such trials can better guide care for all patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-females-cardiac-device-trials-benefit.html Mon, 25 Aug 2025 13:10:06 EDT news675345604