De-stigmatizing self-reported data in health care research

A new analysis of 471 U.S. counties has found that, for everyday travel, people from counties with particularly strong political leanings—whether liberal or conservative—are more likely to visit like-minded destinations. Zhengyi Liang and Jaeho Cho of the University of California, Davis, U.S., present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on January 28, 2026. Prior research has shown that U.S. residents increasingly live in areas where their neighbors share similar political leanings. This clustering can limit how often people of differing political views cross paths with each other, further deepening political polarization. In ...

The cycling of water within Earth's interior regulates plate tectonics, volcanism, ocean volume, and climate stability, making it central to the planet's long-term evolution and habitability and a key scientific question. While subducting slabs are known to transport water into the mantle, scientists have long assumed that most hydrous minerals dehydrate at high temperatures, releasing fluids as they descend. Whether water can survive the extreme conditions of the deep lower mantle, however, has remained an open question. To fill this knowledge gap, a research team from the Institute of Geochemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences ...

Cardiovascular disease continues to be the leading cause of death worldwide. To save lives, constantly improving diagnostic and risk assessments is vital. One researcher from the University of Missouri School of Medicine is exploring ways to do just that by using machine learning, which is a type of artificial intelligence (AI). Some assessments use traditional statistical analysis to predict a patient’s risk. These predictive models have already been implemented across ...

While current clinical trials for cardiac regeneration using induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (iPSC-CMs) employ immunosuppressive regimens used in heart transplants, the precise immunosuppressive regimen needed remains elusive. Now, researchers have identified optimized immunosuppressive strategies that allow transplanted iPSC-CMs to survive without immune rejection in non-human primates. These findings advance the clinical potential of regenerative therapies for severe heart failure, addressing a major challenge in translating stem cell science into effective human treatments. Heart failure remains one of the most pressing global health challenges, ...

UBC researchers have engineered gut bacteria that dim their fluorescent glow in the presence of illness.  Their findings, published in Cell today, could improve how we diagnose problems in the gut by using bacteria that already live there.  “Our biosensors could improve the ability to predict how diseases in the gut progress, identifying early changes that could aid preventative interventions,” said co-first author Juan Camilo Burckhardt (he/him), a doctoral candidate in the department ...

About The Study: In this nationwide cohort study of patients with diabetes and prior major adverse limb events, treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) was associated with significantly lower risks of recurrent limb events, cardiovascular events, all-cause mortality, and kidney disease progression compared with dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors. These findings support the preferential use of GLP-1 RAs for secondary prevention in this high-risk population. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, exposure to adverse experiences throughout life was associated with increased risks of dementia and stroke, with depression mediating these associations. These findings highlight the importance of implementing life-course interventions that address both psychological trauma and mental health to reduce the burden of neurovascular diseases. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Jianhui Zhao, MPH, PhD, (jzhao40@mgh.harvard.edu) and Shan Liu, PhD, (graystar92@163.com). To ...

For almost 60 years, scientists have tried to understand why DNA doesn’t replicate wildly and uncontrollably every time a cell divides – which they need to do constantly. Without this process, we would die. These essential, ongoing cell divisions involve a cell copying its unique genetic material, DNA, and then forming new cells. Cells know exactly when and how to do this during the roughly 24 hours it takes to complete a division, and they also know what type of cell they should become: a liver cell, a brain cell, or a skin cell. If cells were to launch into random DNA replication, they would quickly run out of resources, and the timing ...

Young adults with complex chronic childhood-onset conditions such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis experience longer hospital stays, higher readmission rates and greater use of resources in adult hospitals, according to a new study in JAMA Network Open.  More children with medically complex conditions are surviving into adulthood, but researchers have had limited visibility into how these conditions influence adult hospital care.   Led by a team at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), the study shows that while this group represents 6.7 ...

UCLA Health researchers have created a comprehensive map showing how eight different genetic mutations associated with autism spectrum disorder affect early brain development, providing new insights into the ways diverse genetic causes may lead to shared features and symptoms of the disorder. Genetic studies performed over the past two decades have identified more than 100 genes harboring rare mutations linked to autism. This genetic heterogeneity has raised a fundamental question: if autism can be caused by so many different ...