(COLUMBUS, Ohio) – A new study reveals that ingestions of nicotine pouches by young children have surged in recent years. Researchers at the Center for Injury Research and Policy of the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the Central Ohio Poison Center analyzed calls to U.S. poison centers and found an alarming 763% increase in the rate of reported nicotine pouch ingestions among children younger than 6 years old from 2020 to 2023. Nicotine pouches were also more ...

The LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA (LVK) Collaboration has detected the merger of the most massive black holes ever observed with gravitational waves using the US National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded LIGO observatories. The powerful merger produced a final black hole approximately 225 times the mass of our Sun. The signal, designated GW231123, was detected during the fourth observing run of the LVK network on November 23, 2023. LIGO, the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory, made history in 2015 when it made the first-ever direct detection of gravitational waves, ripples in space-time. In that case, the waves emanated from a black ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Socially isolated older adults are at increased risk of developing diabetes and high blood sugar, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “Social isolation and loneliness have been increasingly recognized as important health risk factors after the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings underscore the importance for clinicians to recognize social isolation as a critical social determinant of health when ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Intermittent energy restriction, time-restricted eating and continuous energy restriction can all improve blood sugar levels and body weight in people with obesity and type 2 diabetes, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “This study is the first to compare the effects of three different dietary interventions intermittent energy restriction (IER), time-restricted eating (TRE) and continuous energy restriction (CER) in managing type 2 diabetes with obesity,” said Haohao Zhang, Ph.D., chief physician ...

SAN FRANCISCO—A grandfather’s exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals may impact the age when his granddaughter starts her first period, according to preliminary data being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “Girls are starting puberty earlier than ever before, which can raise their risk for health problems later in life,” said lead researcher Xin Hu, PhD, of Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, Ga. “We wanted to explore why this might be happening by looking at how environmental exposures from grandparents can influence when girls ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in early life, including during gestation and infancy, results in a higher preference for sugary and fatty foods later in life, according to an animal study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Endocrine-disrupting chemicals are substances in the environment (air, soil or water supply), food sources, personal care products and manufactured products that interfere with the normal function ...

SAN FRANCISCO—The age at which a woman has her first period can offer valuable clues about her long-term risk for conditions like obesity, diabetes, heart disease and reproductive health issues, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The Brazilian study found that both early and late menarche—the age when women first get their period—are linked to different health risks. Women who had their first period before age 10 were more ...

SAN FRANCISCO—A novel artificial intelligence (AI) application capable of diagnosing endocrine cancers with speed and accuracy is being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The research, presented by Jansi Rani Sethuraj, B.S.N., R.N., C.C.R.N., from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, introduces a universally accessible and computationally efficient AI application. This AI application aims to democratize expert-level cancer diagnostics, ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Cancer deaths linked to obesity have tripled in the United States over the past two decades, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The study, which examined more than 33,000 deaths from obesity-associated cancers, revealed sharp increases in cancer deaths, especially among women, older adults, Native Americans and Black Americans. “Obesity is a significant risk factor for multiple cancers, contributing ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Consuming certain sweeteners commonly found in foods and beverages may increase the risk of early puberty in children, particularly among those who are genetically predisposed, according to a study being presented Sunday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The researchers found that consuming aspartame, sucralose, glycyrrhizin and added sugars was significantly associated with a higher risk of early puberty, especially in children with certain genetic traits. The more of these sweeteners the ...

SAN FRANCISCO—A joint guideline released today from the Endocrine Society and the European Society of Endocrinology (ESE) recommends women with diabetes receive proper preconception care and access to emerging diabetes technology and therapeutics to manage their blood sugar before, during and after pregnancy. Adverse pregnancy outcomes such as miscarriages or birth defects are common in individuals with pre-existing diabetes and are often related to modifiable factors such as maternal high blood sugar and body mass index (BMI). Screening women of reproductive age who have diabetes for intent to conceive at ...

SAN FRANCISCO—People who are older than 80 should be considered for osteoporosis treatment after a fracture to avoid further risk, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “The burden of osteoporosis is rising as the global population ages rapidly,” said Gianina Flocco, M.D., a resident at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio. “Our study supports the initiation of osteoporosis treatment after a fracture ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Women and older adults taking the anti-obesity drug semaglutide may be at higher risk for muscle loss, but higher protein intake may help prevent muscle loss in these patients, according to a small study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Losing muscle (or lean mass) is a common side effect of weight loss in adults with obesity and may negatively affect metabolism and bone health. This is because muscle helps control blood sugar after meals and plays an important role in keeping bones strong, according to study lead researcher Melanie Haines, M.D., of Massachusetts ...

SAN FRANCISCO—People with an underactive thyroid may have an increased risk of developing small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), a risk that may be reduced with thyroid hormone treatment, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “We now know that people with hypothyroidism, especially those with autoimmune thyroiditis, are more likely to develop SIBO, but this risk appear to be mitigated in those taking thyroid medications,” said Ruchi Mathur, M.D., Director of the Diabetes Outpatient ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Using tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy at the same time leads to increased weight loss in postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity compared to use of tirzepatide treatment alone, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “These data are the first to show the combined use of tirzepatide and menopause hormone therapy significantly increases treatment effectiveness in postmenopausal women,” said Regina Castaneda, ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Metabolic health factors, including small increases in blood sugar, are the main drivers of change in the reproductive systems and sexual functioning of aging men, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. “Although age and testosterone levels have long been considered an impetus for men’s declining sexual health, our research indicates that these changes more closely correlate with modest increases in blood sugar and other metabolic changes,” said Michael Zitzmann, ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Strong emotional links between children with chronic conditions and their family caregivers suggest that improving parent well-being may directly benefit a child’s overall health and coping mechanisms, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. The study observed children with growth hormone deficiency and their caregivers to better understand the impact that physical or emotional distress can have. Findings suggest that when parents or caregivers of children with growth hormone deficiency report symptoms of stress, anxiety and depression, so does the child they ...

SAN FRANCISCO—Oxytocin, often called “the love hormone,” may play a protective role in mood disturbances triggered by sleep loss and hormonal shifts during key reproductive transitions like postpartum and menopause, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. Researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School studied the combined impact of sleep interruption and estrogen suppression on mood and oxytocin levels in healthy premenopausal women. Their findings suggest that oxytocin may help reduce the negative mood effects brought on by fragmented sleep, which ...

SAN FRANCISCO—The anti-obesity medication tirzepatide, marketed as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity, reduced obesity-associated breast cancer growth in a mouse model, according to a study being presented Saturday at ENDO 2025, the Endocrine Society’s annual meeting in San Francisco, Calif. "Obesity is a significant risk factor for breast cancer, and while it is very preliminary data, our studies in mice suggest that these new anti-obesity drugs may be a way to reduce obesity-associated breast cancer risk or improve outcomes,” said study author Amanda Kucinskas, ...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2025.05.003 This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses how a CMD-OPT model enables the discovery of a potent and selective RIPK2 inhibitor as preclinical candidate for the treatment of acute liver injury.   Acute liver injury (ALI) serves as a critical precursor and major etiological factor in the progression and ultimate manifestation of various hepatic disorders. The prevention and treatment of ALI is still a serious global challenge. Given the limited therapeutic options for ALI, exploring novel targeted therapeutic agents becomes imperative. The potential therapeutic ...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2025.05.018 This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses how melatonin receptor 1a alleviates sleep fragmentation-aggravated testicular injury in T2DM by suppression of TAB1/TAK1 complex through FGFR1.   A major obstacle in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is sleep fragmentation (SF), which negatively affects testicular function. However, the underlying mechanisms remain to be elucidated. This study demonstrated that SF induces testicular damage through a mechanism involving lipid metabolism, ...

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apsb.2025.05.013 This new article publication from Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B, discusses how single-cell RNA sequencing reveals that Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction retards colorectal tumorigenesis by regulating the TMEM131–TNF signaling pathway-mediated differentiation of immunosuppressive dendritic cells.   Colorectal tumorigenesis generally progresses from adenoma to adenocarcinoma, accompanied by dynamic changes in the tumor microenvironment (TME). A randomized controlled trial has confirmed the efficacy and safety of Shen-Bai-Jie-Du decoction (SBJDD) in preventing colorectal ...

https://www.sciencedirect.com/journal/acta-pharmaceutica-sinica-b/vol/15/issue/7 Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B (APSB) was founded with the goal of creating a global high-level forum centred around drug discovery and pharmaceutical research/application. APSB was included by Chemical Abstracts in 2011, accepted by PubMed Central in 2015, indexed by Science Citation Index in 2017 and has evolved to become one of the most important international journals in the field of pharmaceutical sciences. APSB is a monthly journal, in English, which publishes ...

In a first for the field, researchers from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign have reported a photopumped lasing from a buried dielectric photonic-crystal surface-emitting laser emitting at room temperature and an eye-safe wavelength. Their findings, published in IEEE Photonics Journal, improve upon current laser design and open new avenues for defense applications. For decades, the lab of Kent Choquette, professor of electrical and computer engineering, have explored VCSELs, a type of surface-emitting laser used in common technology like smartphones, laser printers, barcode scanners, and even vehicles. But ...

A new study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham trialed stereotactic (targeted) brain-directed radiation in 100 patients with small cell lung cancer and brain metastases, finding they experienced positive outcomes that support use of targeted radiation in the future for such patients. Results are published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. “Despite being the historical standard, whole brain radiation might not be necessary for all patients,” said first author Ayal Aizer, MD, MHS, director of Central Nervous System Radiation Oncology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a founding member of the ...