Researchers have identified a neurochemical signature that sets Parkinson’s disease apart from essential tremor — two of the most common movement disorders, but each linked to distinct changes in the brain. In a new study in Nature Communications, scientists from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC and the Virginia Tech College of Science identified unique chemical signaling patterns of two key neurotransmitters — dopamine and serotonin — that distinguish these two disorders.  “This study builds on decades of work,” ...

PHILADELPHIA – A first-of-its-kind, federally funded clinical trial has shown it’s possible to identify breast cancer survivors who are at higher risk of their cancer coming back due to the presence of dormant cancer cells and to effectively treat these cells with repurposed, existing drugs. The research, led by scientists from the Abramson Cancer Center of the University of Pennsylvania and Penn’s Perelman School of Medicine was published today in Nature Medicine. While breast cancer survival continues to improve, thanks to advances in detection and treatment, when breast cancer relapses—or returns after initial treatment—it is still ...

One of the first parts of the brain affected by Alzheimer’s disease is the entorhinal cortex — a region that plays a big role in memory, spatial navigation, and the brain’s internal mapping system. With support from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Alzheimer’s and Related Diseases Research Award Fund (ARDRAF), Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC scientists Sharon Swanger and Shannon Farris are working to understand why this area is especially vulnerable.  Swanger studies how brain cells communicate across synapses in disease-susceptible brain circuits, while ...

VILLARS-SUR-GLÂNE, SWITZERLAND, 2 September 2025 -- In a revealing Genomic Press Interview published today in Psychedelics, Professor Gregor Hasler unveils transformative discoveries that are fundamentally reshaping international approaches to mental health treatment through psychedelic research. As Chair of Psychiatry at the University of Fribourg and Director of the Molecular Psychiatry Lab, Professor Hasler stands at the vanguard of a scientific revolution that promises to alleviate suffering for millions worldwide who struggle with treatment-resistant psychiatric conditions. The interview, part of the Innovators ...

VIENNA, AUSTRIA, 2 September 2025 -- In a compelling Genomic Press Interview published today in Brain Medicine, Professor Siegfried Kasper shares extraordinary insights from his distinguished career that has transformed global understanding of psychiatric disorders and their treatment. The interview reveals how this internationally renowned psychiatrist revolutionized approaches to treatment-resistant depression while establishing biological psychiatry as a cornerstone of modern medicine worldwide. Professor Kasper, who serves as Professor Emeritus at the Medical University of ...

Looking for the perfect vacation? Do you crave late-night fun? PSO J318.5−22, the planet with no star where nightlife never ends, is perfect for you! Prefer some peace and a chance to catch some rays? Kepler-16b, the land of two suns—where your shadow always has company—is waiting! In 2015, NASA launched an unusual and brilliant exoplanet outreach campaign, offering retro-style posters, virtual guided tours, and even coloring books. The project quickly went viral worldwide. What explains the success of a campaign about a relatively young field of science that—unlike other areas of space research—lacks spectacular imagery? Ceridwen Dovey, science communicator, ...

Researchers at the University of Southampton examining worldwide variations in funding for cancer research say there’s a pressing need to invest more in lower income countries. They also reveal research into certain treatments urgently need more money, in particular surgery and radiotherapy, and that overall annual research investment has largely decreased, globally, since 2016. The team’s study, due for publication in the journal The Lancet Oncology, shows most research income is concentrated in higher income countries, leaving others struggling to keep pace ...

University of Cambridge media release   England’s forgotten first king deserves to be famous, says Æthelstan biographer as anniversaries approach   UNDER STRICT EMBARGO UNTIL 19:01 (US ET) ON MONDAY 1ST SEPTEMBER 2025 / 00:01AM (UK TIME) ON TUESDAY 2ND SEPTEMBER 2025   A groundbreaking new biography of Æthelstan marks 1,100 years since his coronation in 925AD, reasserts his right to be called the first king of England, explains why he isn’t better known and highlights his many overlooked achievements. The book’s author, Professor David Woodman, is campaigning for greater public recognition ...

As the UK and other NATO nations dramatically increase defence spending to counter growing global aggressions, one under-recognised aspect of security debates is the role of the arms industry.  And as London prepares to host the world’s largest arms fair next week, health professionals must do more to counterbalance the arms industry’s influence on government agendas and its damaging effects on human and planetary health, say experts in The BMJ. In a series of articles published today, Mark Bellis at Liverpool John Moores University and international colleagues lay out the direct and wider harms ...

Embargoed for release until 5:00 p.m. ET on Monday 1 September 2025    Follow @Annalsofim on X, Facebook, Instagram, Bluesky, and Linkedin              Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization ...

In 1951, physicist Julian Schwinger theorized that by applying a uniform electrical field to a vacuum, electron-positron pairs would be spontaneously created out of nothing, through a phenomenon called quantum tunnelling. The problem with turning the matter-out-of-nowhere theory into Star Trek replicators or transporters? Enormously high electric fields would be required—far beyond the limits of any direct physical experiments.  As a result, the aptly named Schwinger effect has never been seen.  Now theoretical physicists at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have described a parallel effect in a more manageable system. In their model, ...

With the power to rewrite the genetic code underlying countless diseases, CRISPR holds immense promise to revolutionize medicine. But until scientists can deliver its gene-editing machinery safely and efficiently into relevant cells and tissues, that promise will remain out of reach. Now, Northwestern University chemists have unveiled a new type of nanostructure that dramatically improves CRISPR delivery and potentially extends its scope of utility. Called lipid nanoparticle spherical nucleic acids (LNP-SNAs), these tiny structures carry the full set of CRISPR editing tools — Cas9 enzymes, ...

During the dry season in Central America (generally between December and April), northern trade winds generate upwelling events in the ocean waters of the Gulf of Panama. Upwelling is a process that allows cold, nutrient-rich waters from the depths of the ocean to rise to the surface. This dynamic supports highly productive fisheries and helps protect coral reefs from thermal stress. Thanks to this movement of water, the sea along Panama’s Pacific beaches remains cooler during the "summer" vacation season. Scientists from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) have studied this phenomenon and their records show that this seasonal upwelling, ...

Depression alters how people pursue rewards, but, conversely, whether depressive symptoms influence how people learn to avoid nonrewarding, unpleasant events is less clear. Ryan Tomm and colleagues, from the University of British Colombia, addressed this question in their eNeuro paper to shed more light on the relationship between depression and learning. This work brought together researchers from preclinical, cognitive, and clinical backgrounds, building stronger connections across fields to better understand the mechanisms of depression.    The researchers developed a behavioral task for study volunteers based off rodent research ...

The most common type of brain tumor in children, pilocytic astrocytoma (PA), accounts for about 15% of all pediatric brain tumors. Although this type of tumor is usually not life-threatening, the unchecked growth of tumor cells can disrupt normal brain development and function. Current treatments focus mainly on removing the tumor cells, but recent studies have shown that non-cancerous cells, such as nerve cells, also play a role in brain tumor formation and growth, suggesting novel approaches to treating these cancers. Scientists have long known that a nerve cell signaling chemical called glutamate can increase growth of cancers throughout the body, but despite ...

Common shrews are one of only a handful of mammals known to flexibly shrink and regrow their brains. This rare seasonal cycle, known as Dehnel’s phenomenon, has puzzled scientists for decades. How can a brain lose volume and regrow months later without sustaining permanent damage? A study using non-invasive MRI has scanned the brains of shrews undergoing shrinkage, identifying a key molecule involved in the phenomenon: water. “Our shrews lost nine percent of their brains during shrinkage, but the cells did not die,” says first author Dr. Cecilia Baldoni, a postdoctoral researcher from the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior ...

UCLA engineers have developed a wearable, noninvasive brain-computer interface system that utilizes artificial intelligence as a co-pilot to help infer user intent and complete tasks by moving a robotic arm or a computer cursor. Published in Nature Machine Intelligence, the study shows that the interface demonstrates a new level of performance in noninvasive brain-computer interface, or BCI, systems. This could lead to a range of technologies to help people with limited physical capabilities, such as those with paralysis or neurological conditions, handle and move objects more easily and precisely. The team developed custom algorithms to decode electroencephalography, or EEG — ...

Black adults first hospitalized for heart failure in the U.S. at age 60.1, vs. 73.6 for white adults Hispanic patients first hospitalized at 65.4; Asian American patients at 70.6 CHICAGO --- Black adults in the U.S. are first hospitalized for heart failure nearly 14 years earlier than white adults, reports a Northwestern Medicine study that analyzed data from more than 42,000 patients across hundreds of hospitals nationwide. The study also found that Hispanic patients were hospitalized about eight years earlier than white patients, and Asian patients about three years earlier. On average, white patients were first hospitalized ...

A team of Chilean researchers has identified, for the first time in the country, the presence of KPC-type carbapenemase-producing bacteria in wastewater samples from the Greater Concepción Metropolitan Area. The finding, published in the journal Biological Research, raises concerns about the environmental circulation of microorganisms with high levels of resistance to critical clinically used antibiotics and reinforces the need for surveillance within the framework of "One Health." The research, which was part of Franco Ilabaca's Master's thesis in Microbiology, was led by Dr. ...

Conference: “Late Breaking Science” presentation at the European Society of Cardiology - AI driven cardiovascular biomarkers and clinical decisions Title: Graph Neural Network Automation of Anticoagulation Decision-Making Date: Embargo lifts Monday, September 1, 4:00 pm EDT Bottom Line: Mount Sinai researchers developed an AI model to make individualized treatment recommendations for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients—helping clinicians accurately decide whether or not to treat them with anticoagulants (blood thinner medications) to prevent stroke, which is currently the standard treatment course in this patient population. This model presents a completely ...

About The Study: In this secondary analysis of the AZALEA-TIMI 71 randomized clinical trial, abelacimab consistently reduced the risk of bleeding relative to rivaroxaban irrespective of kidney function. These findings suggest that abelacimab may offer a particularly favorable safety profile among those with chronic kidney disease; however, larger studies are necessary to characterize the efficacy of abelacimab for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Siddharth M. Patel, MD, MPH, email spatel@bwh.harvard.edu.  To access the embargoed study: Visit our For ...

Measurements with a miniature camera inside the coronary arteries can accurately predict whether someone will suffer a recurrent heart attack. Until now, interpreting these images was so complex that only specialized laboratories could perform it. A new study from Radboud university medical center shows that AI can reliably take over this analysis and rapidly assess arteries for weak spots. A heart attack occurs when a coronary artery, which supplies the heart with blood, is blocked by a blood clot. This can occur when atherosclerosis causes artery narrowing, resulting in the heart receiving too little oxygen. Treatment typically ...

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) have heightened innate immune responses to bacteria, viruses and fungi. While these responses are essential to fight infection, they can cause damage when unchecked. Led by researchers at the Center for Infection and Immunity (CII) at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health with a multicenter team of leading ME/CFS researchers, the new study reveals molecular-level details into the syndrome’s lasting effects on inflammation and immune response that could inform the development of targeted therapeutic interventions to ...

SAN ANTONIO, Sept. 1, 2025 – UTSA and The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) today merged to form The University of Texas at San Antonio (UT San Antonio), a premier global university that is deeply committed to making lives better for the communities it serves. As a merged institution, UT San Antonio now ranks as the third-largest public research university in Texas according to annual research expenditures, behind only Texas A&M University and the University of Texas at Austin. UT San Antonio’s comprehensive enterprise now includes approximately 40,000 students, 17,000 employees and more than $486 million in annual ...

About The Study: Among unselected patients with acute myocardial infarction, routine H pylori screening did not significantly reduce the risk of upper gastrointestinal bleeding. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Robin Hofmann, MD, PhD, email robin.hofmann@ki.se. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, conflict of interest and financial disclosures, and funding and support. Embed this link to provide your readers ...