More than seven million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease, and two-thirds of them are women, according to the Alzheimer’s Association. The O’Banion Lab at the Del Monte Institute for Neuroscience at the University of Rochester has long been studying this disease and is looking more closely at the differences between male and female brains. “It is well documented that males and females are diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease at different rates,” said M. Kerry O’Banion, MD, PhD, professor of Neuroscience and Neurology. “But we still do ...

PITTSBURGH, Dec. 29, 2025 – For the first time, clinicians have access to a clear, evidence-based roadmap for adjusting antiseizure medication doses during pregnancy and after childbirth.   The strategies, practiced by a group of leading women’s neurology experts in the nationwide landmark Maternal Outcomes and Neurodevelopmental Effects of Antiepileptic Drugs (MONEAD) study, were published today in Neurology. They are expected to inform clinical ...

Spruce bark is rich in phenolic compounds that protect trees from pathogenic fungi. A research team at the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Ecology in Jena investigated how these plant defenses function within the food web, particularly in spruce bark beetles (Ips typographus), which ingest the compounds through their diet. Could the beetles use substances from the spruce's defenses to protect themselves against pathogenic fungi? Beetles convert plant defenses into even more toxic forms Using state-of-the-art analytical methods such ...

At a glance:   Study uncovers key insights about how a new class of antiviral drugs works. Cryo-EM images showed the drugs bound to herpes simplex virus (HSV) protein at nearly atomic detail, while optical tweezers experiments showed how the drug-bound protein behaved in real time. Findings could open doors to additional drugs for herpesviruses and other DNA viruses.   Harvard Medical School researchers have uncovered crucial insights into how an emerging class of antiviral drugs works. The discovery sheds light on an important tool for fighting drug-resistant strains of herpes simplex virus, or HSV, and points to new pathways for treating herpesviruses ...

The fungal species Candida auris is spreading across the globe, and gaining in virulence, according to a new review by a Hackensack Meridian Center for Discovery and Innovation (CDI) scientist and colleagues.    But there are strategies available and underway to combat the invasive and drug resistant germ, according to the new review in the American Society of Microbiology journal Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews.    The paper summarizes and analyzes the latest developments - and needs - in mycology in 2025. Neeraj Chauhan, Ph.D., of ...

Following stroke, some people experience a language disorder that hinders their ability to process speech sounds. How do their brains change from stroke? Researchers led by Laura Gwilliams, faculty scholar at the Wu Tsai Neuroscience Institute and Stanford Data Science and assistant professor at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences, and Maaike Vandermosten, associate professor at the Department of Neurosciences at KU Leuven, compared the brains of 39 patients following stroke and ...

Immune cells called B cells make antibodies that fight off invading bacteria, viruses and other foreign substances. During their preparation for this battle, B cells transiently revert to a more flexible, or plastic, stem-cell-like state in the lymph nodes, according to a new preclinical study from Weill Cornell Medicine investigators. The results could help explain how many lymphomas develop from mature B cells rather than from stem cells, as many other cancers do, and guide researchers in developing better treatments. The study, published Dec. 29 in Nature Cell Biology, reveals a paradox: as mature B cells get prepped to make antibodies, a highly specialized ...

AI model using deep transfer learning – the most advanced form of machine learning – predicted with 92% accuracy spoken language outcomes at one-to-three years after cochlear implants (implanted electronic hearing device), according to a large international study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. Although cochlear implantation is the only effective treatment to improve hearing and enable spoken language for children with severe to profound hearing loss, spoken language development after early implantation is more variable in comparison to children born with typical hearing. If children who are likely to have more ...

“Maintaining adequate CBF is crucial for astronauts’ cognitive function during long-duration microgravity, but real-time monitoring in space is constrained by MRI’s complexity and payload limits,” explained study corresponding author Lijun Yuan from Air Force Medical University. The core innovations include (a) using −6° head-down tilt bed rest (HDTBR) to simulate microgravity, (b) integrating carotid ultrasound and brain MRI data to establish ML-based CBF prediction models, and (c) developing an interpretable web application for in-orbit ...

Graphs are widely used to represent complex relationships in everyday applications such as social networks, bioinformatics, and recommendation systems, where they model how people or things (nodes) are connected through interactions (edges). Subgraph matching—the task of finding a smaller pattern, or query subgraph, within a larger graph—is crucial for detecting fraud, recognizing patterns, and performing semantic searches. However, current research on streaming subgraph, a similar task where timing is important, matching faces major challenges in scalability and latency, including difficulties in handling large graphs, low cache efficiency, limited query result reuse, and ...

Gestational diabetes raises health risks for both mother and baby From 2016 to 2024, rates rose in every racial and ethnic group Highest rates seen in American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian and Pacific Islander women CHICAGO --- Gestational diabetes rose every single year in the U.S. from 2016 through 2024, according to a new Northwestern Medicine analysis of more than 12 million U.S. births. The condition, which raises health risks for both mother and baby, shot up 36% over the nine-year period (from 58 to 79 cases per 1,000 births) and increased across every racial and ethnic group. “Gestational diabetes ...

A research team at Oregon Health & Science University has discovered a promising new drug combination that may help people with acute myeloid leukemia overcome resistance to one of the most common frontline therapies. In a study published today in Cell Reports Medicine, researchers analyzed more than 300 acute myeloid leukemia, or AML, patient samples and found that pairing venetoclax, a standard AML drug, with palbociclib, a cell-cycle inhibitor currently approved for breast cancer, produced significantly stronger and more durable ...

About The Study: In this survey study of patients with breast cancer, exposure to medical misinformation was common, underscoring the need for better survivorship communication with patients; fear of recurrence was not associated with exposure to misinformation. Further research on how patients process medical misinformation is essential, especially in populations at highest risk for misinformation spread. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kaitlyn Lapen, MD, email lapenk@mskcc.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.49809) Editor’s ...

About The Study: This study found an association between glucagonlike peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) use and a lower risk of acute asthma exacerbations in adolescents with overweight or obesity. The findings suggest a potential dual benefit for this population, where a single class of medication could address both weight management and lower risk for asthma exacerbation, thereby potentially reducing the burden of 2 common and interconnected chronic conditions. Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding ...

MMWs, a form of non-ionizing, non-thermal electromagnetic radiation, have emerged as a promising solution. Operating at a frequency of 35 GHz with an energy density of ≤10 mW/cm², MMWs do not raise tissue temperatures or cause cellular damage. Instead, they interact with biological macromolecules (e.g., proteins, DNA) through resonance absorption, inducing conformational changes that modulate their function. In preclinical studies using 4T1 breast cancer and CT26 colorectal cancer models—both classic "cold tumors"—researchers found that MMW irradiation alone inhibited ...

In recent years, several serious traffic accidents have exposed the shortcomings of current autonomous driving systems in making safe decisions. Traditional decision-making methods, due to functional deficiencies or machine performance limitations, struggle to address potential risky behaviors, leading to a continued need for human intervention in complex driving scenarios. To address this, researchers have begun exploring the use of human physiological states as an information source to improve the safety decision-making of autonomous vehicles. “Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), as a non-invasive real-time brain activity monitoring method, can provide cognitive ...

As fires burn the landscape, they spew airborne gases and particles, though their impact on air pollution might be underestimated. A study in ACS’ Environmental Science & Technology reports that, around the world, wildfires and prescribed burns (i.e., wildland fires) could emit substantially more gases, including ones that contribute to air pollution, than previously thought. The researchers identified several regions with high wildland fire and human activity emissions, which may pose complex air-quality challenges. “Our new estimates increase the organic compound emissions from ...

Fukuoka, Japan—Researchers from Kyushu University have developed an innovative computational method, called ddHodge, that can reconstruct the complex dynamics of how cells decide their fate. As reported in Nature Communications, this approach paves the way for a deeper understanding of the biological processes involved in development, regeneration, and disease. Understanding how a developing cell chooses its destiny, such as differentiating into a nerve cell or a muscle cell, is a central challenge in biology and medicine. To study ...

Tokyo, Japan – Researchers from Tokyo Metropolitan University have studied the relationship between numerical information in our vision, and how it affects our perception of space. Volunteers were asked to identify the center of lines and squares filled with numbers; how far they were from the true center revealed unexpected biases. Crucially, their work with squares showed how our perception of space is a complex interplay between “object-based” processing and our processing of numerical ...

The Society of Inorganic Materials, Japan (SIMJ) has announced a prestigious international book initiative entitled “Sustainable Materials for a Better Environment: Advances in Gypsum, Lime, Cement, and Other Inorganic Materials” to commemorate the 75th anniversary of its founding. The initiative was officially announced at the Board of Directors’ executive meeting held on November 26th, 2025. The project aims to bring together leading researchers and experts from Japan and around the world within industry and academia ...

About The Study: In this cohort study, higher fine particulate matter (PM2.5) exposure was associated with lower birth weight for gestational age z score, with critical windows identified during early pregnancy to mid-pregnancy; however, findings varied by sex and region. Understanding windows of susceptibility to environmental exposures can help guide research on underlying biological processes and can inform strategies for limiting exposure during certain periods of pregnancy. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Whitney Cowell, PhD, email whitney.cowell@nyulangone.org. To ...

About The Study: In this national longitudinal cohort study, middle-aged and older adults at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea had consistently worse mental health outcomes. These findings bridge knowledge gaps on the association between obstructive sleep apnea and mental health, highlighting the need for integrated screening and intervention strategies. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Tetyana Kendzerska, MD, PhD, email tkendzerska@toh.ca. To access the embargoed study: ...

Talking while driving is widely recognized as a major source of distraction, but the specific ways conversation interferes with the earliest stages of visual processing have remained largely unclear. While previous research has shown that cognitive distraction can slow braking or reduce situational awareness, the question of whether talking disrupts the foundational gaze processes that precede physical reactions has remained unanswered. Now, researchers from Fujita Health University have demonstrated that talking imposes cognitive load strong enough to delay essential eye-movement ...

The Ceramic Society of Japan’s Oxoate Ceramics Research Association is delighted to announce the launch of a major international book project titled “Functional Oxoate Ceramics and Glasses: Current Progress and Future Perspectives” to be published by Jenny Stanford Publishing. The scholarly endeavor was officially announced at The 38th Fall Meeting held at Gunma University. The forthcoming edited volume aims to curate high-quality contributions from leading researchers in Japan and abroad who specialize in glass science and functional oxoate ceramics. After three years leading up to the ...

The secret to a healthier and “younger” heart lies in the vagus nerve. A recent study coordinated by the Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies in Pisa and published in Science Translational Medicine has shown that preserving bilateral cardiac vagal innervation is an anti-aging factor. In particular, the right cardiac vagus nerve emerges as a true guardian of cardiomyocyte health, helping to preserve the longevity of the heart independently of heart rate. The study is characterised by a strongly multidisciplinary approach, integrating experimental medicine and bioengineering applied to cardiovascular research. Specifically, the research was led ...