Long COVID and recovery among US adults
2026-03-02
About The Study: In 2024, 8.3% of U.S. adults—an estimated 21.3 million—reported ever having long COVID (LC), among whom nearly 6 in 10 reported recovery, consistent with RECOVER initiative findings showing similar LC prevalence in 2023 and 2024 and longitudinal Veterans Affairs data demonstrating declining LC prevalence. Yet many adults, particularly those 35 years or older, continue to experience lasting symptoms. With no LC treatment demonstrating clear efficacy, greater investment in understanding biological mechanisms, including immunotypic differences between those who recover and those who do not, may provide insights ...
Trends in poverty and birth outcomes in the US
2026-03-02
About The Study: This study found stark disparities in birth outcomes by poverty status, with inequities growing for low birth weight in recent years. These disparities point to the need for more support during pregnancy and birth for low-income families. Antipoverty policies can provide needed resources to promote better maternal and child health, although the availability and generosity of these programs vary across states.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Emily C. Dore, PhD, MPH, MSW, email edore@hsph.harvard.edu.
To ...
Heterogeneity of treatment effects of GLP-1 RAs for weight loss in adults
2026-03-02
About The Study: In this systematic review and meta-analysis, glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) produced greater weight loss among women than men; however, their efficacy was consistent across other important subpopulations. These findings may inform clinical decision-making.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, G. Caleb Alexander, MD, MS, email galexan9@jhmi.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2025.8222)
Editor’s ...
Within-person association between daily screen use and sleep in youth
2026-03-02
About The Study: Per the results of this systematic review and meta-analysis, daily screen time has a small but significant within-person correlation with later sleep onset; however, short-term daily fluctuations in screen time appear to have minimal impact on sleep duration, efficiency, or quality. Screen time may delay bedtime but is not inherently detrimental to other aspects of sleep health in youth, contrasting with between-person studies showing stronger adverse associations.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Matthew Bourke, PhD, email matthew.bourke1@deakin.edu.au.
To access the embargoed study: Visit ...
Low-dose lithium for mild cognitive impairment
2026-03-02
About The Study: This pilot randomized clinical trial established feasibility, confirmed safety and tolerability, and generated effect size estimates for future trials of low-dose lithium in mild cognitive impairment. None of the coprimary outcomes met the prespecified significance threshold.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Ariel G. Gildengers, MD, email ariel.gildengers@pitt.edu.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2026.0072)
Editor’s Note: Please see ...
Catheter ablation and oral anticoagulation for secondary stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation
2026-03-02
About The Study: In patients with atrial fibrillation and a recent stroke history, standard therapy plus catheter ablation did not significantly reduce the risk of the primary composite end point. The observed event rate was lower than anticipated, suggesting that the study was underpowered to detect clinically meaningful differences.
Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Kazumi Kimura, MD, PhD, email k-kimura@nms.ac.jp.
To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/
(doi:10.1001/jamaneurol.2026.0155)
Editor’s Note: Please see ...
A new theory of brain development
2026-03-02
Your brain begins as a single cell. When all is said and done, it will house an incredibly complex and powerful network of some 170 billion cells. How does it organize itself along the way? Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory neuroscientists have come up with a surprisingly simple answer that could have far-reaching implications for biology and artificial intelligence.
Stan Kerstjens, a postdoc in Professor Anthony Zador’s lab, frames the question in terms of positional information. “The ...
Pilot clinical trial suggests low dose lithium may slow verbal memory decline
2026-03-02
Lithium—a decades-old treatment for bipolar disorder—may hold potential neuroprotective benefits beyond mood stabilization.
An exploratory clinical trial from the University of Pittsburgh suggests that low‑dose oral lithium may help slow the decline of verbal memory, or ability to remember and recall words and sentences, in older adults with mild cognitive impairment, particularly among those with evidence of amyloid beta—one of the hallmark biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease.
The study, ...
Bioprinting muscle that knows how to align its cells just as in the human body
2026-03-02
Building functional human muscle in the laboratory has long been a goal of regenerative medicine, but one stubborn obstacle remains: real muscle is not just a mass of cells. Its strength and function depend on exquisitely ordered myofibers, all aligned in precise directions that vary from one muscle to another. Reproducing that internal order has proved far harder than shaping muscle tissue into the right external form.
Published in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, a research team from Xi'an Jiaotong University has now found a way to solve both problems at once. By using electric forces during the ...
A hair-thin fiber can read the chemistry of a single drop of body fluid
2026-03-02
Some of the most revealing signals about human health are carried in fluids that are almost impossible to measure. Tears, cerebrospinal fluid, and prostate fluid appear only in tiny volumes, yet their chemical composition can reflect inflammation, hydration, or disease. For decades, engineers have struggled to analyze these fluids in real time, because most sensors require far more liquid than the body can easily provide.
Researchers at Jilin University now report a way to measure the electrical conductivity of such fluids using volumes as small as 50 nanoliters. The device, reported in the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, is an optical fiber probe no thicker than a human ...
SwRI develops magnetostrictive probe for safer, more cost-effective storage tank inspections
2026-03-02
SAN ANTONIO — March 2, 2026 — Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) has created a magnetostrictive transducer (MST) probe that uses ultrasonic guided wave technology to detect corrosion in storage tanks, a process that normally requires emptying the tank and checking for corrosion manually. SwRI’s probe attaches to the outside of a storage tank, resulting in a more cost-effective and efficient method of corrosion detection.
The SwRI MST 8x8 is a flexible strip of eight ultrasonic sensors that generate acoustic waves along a structure. The technique identifies anomalies when the waves are ...
National report supports measurement innovation to aid commercial fusion energy and enable new plasma technologies
2026-03-02
To operate fusion systems safely and reliably, scientists need to monitor plasma fuel conditions and measure properties like temperature and density that can affect fusion reactions. Making these measurements requires specialized sensors known as diagnostics.
A new report sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recommends increased investment in America’s fusion diagnostic capabilities, a critical new technology that could provide DOE and Congress with information to speed up the delivery of commercial fusion power plants.
The report was produced as part of the DOE’s ...
Mount Sinai, Uniformed Services University join forces to predict and prevent diseases before they start
2026-03-02
NEW YORK, NY (March 2, 2026)—What if doctors could tell you a disease was coming years before you felt a single symptom—and stop it in its tracks? That is the goal of a sweeping new research initiative launched by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in collaboration with the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USU) and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF).
The project, called “ORIGIN: Omics to Characterize Preclinical Stages of Non-Infectious Diseases,” brings together 10 specialties across Mount Sinai Health ...
Science of fitting in: Do best friends or popular peers shape teen behavior?
2026-03-02
As children enter adolescence, peers become a dominant force in their lives. With adult supervision waning, teens look to agemates for guidance on how to act, think and fit in. But who matters most –friends or the popular classmates? A groundbreaking longitudinal study from Florida Atlantic University reveals that peer influence is not a monolithic process. Instead, different types of peers exert influence over entirely different domains of a child’s life.
Researchers at FAU and collaborators at Mykolas Romeris University (Lithuania) conducted a long-term study to directly compare these two sources of influence. The study, published in the journal Development ...
USF study: Gag grouper are overfished in the Gulf; this new tool could help
2026-03-02
Anglers along the Gulf Coast have long prized the hard-fighting, mild-tasting gag grouper (Mycteroperca microlepis), but some may have been surprised over the past few years by shortened seasons for this desirable reef fish. Due to concerns about the population of the species, the gag season lasted just 41 days in 2023, 15 days in 2024, and 14 days in 2025 — far shorter than the six-month seasons in previous years.
A new paper by researchers from the University of South Florida (USF) and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) may assist resource managers who make tough decisions about the lengths of fishing ...
New study from Jeonbuk National University finds current climate pledges may miss Paris targets
2026-03-02
International efforts to tackle climate change reached a major milestone with the Paris Agreement, adopted by more than 190 countries. The agreement aims to limit the average global temperature rise to well below 2 °C, preferably to 1.5 °C. However, questions remain as to whether current national climate pledges are sufficient to meet these goals.
Against this backdrop, a new collaborative study by Assistant Professor Taeyoung Jin of Jeonbuk National University and researchers from Pusan National ...
Theoretical principles of band structure manipulation in strongly correlated insulators with spin and charge perturbations
2026-03-02
Imagine an electronic material whose fundamental properties could be changed not by replacing atoms or fabricating new structures, but by applying light, a magnetic field, or an electric signal. A solar cell, for example, could temporarily reshape its energy bands under illumination to harvest light more efficiently.
Such flexibility is not usually possible in conventional semiconductors, where external controls can only change how electrons occupy energy levels rather than the energy band structure itself. Now, a study published in Physical ...
A CNIC study shows that the heart can be protected during chemotherapy without reducing antitumor efficacy
2026-03-02
Advances in cancer treatment mean that more people than ever are surviving the disease. However, some of the most effective anticancer drugs—a class of medicines called anthracyclines—can cause serious damage to the heart. In some patients, this cardiac damage appears months or even years after treatment and has a major impact on quality of life.
Protecting the heart without compromising the effectiveness of chemotherapy is a major challenge in the field of cardio-oncology. Now, a team at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares (CNIC), led by Dr. ...
Mayo Clinic study finds single dose of non-prescribed Adderall raises blood pressure and heart rate in healthy young adults
2026-03-02
ROCHESTER, Minn. — A Mayo Clinic study found that a single 25 mg dose of a combination of amphetamine-dextroamphetamine salts (Adderall) can have measurable cardiovascular effects in healthy young adults. The study aimed to better understand how the stimulant affects those who use it without a medical prescription.
"The primary objective of our study was to investigate how a single dose of Adderall acutely affects cardiovascular hemodynamics — blood pressure and heart rate — and sympathetic activity in young adults who do not have a medical indication for the medication," says Anna Svatikova, M.D., Ph.D., a Mayo Clinic cardiologist ...
Engineered immune cells show promise against brain metastases in preclinical study
2026-03-02
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — March 2, 2026 — A new study from researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine has identified a promising strategy to treat brain metastases, one of the most challenging and deadly complications of lung cancer.
The research team developed a highly specialized type of immune cell, called a CAR macrophage, or CARMA, designed to find and attack tumor cells that spread to the brain. These engineered macrophages were able to enter the brain, seek out cancer cells and slow tumor growth ...
Improved EV battery technology will outmatch degradation from climate change
2026-03-02
Climate change was poised to create an interesting catch-22 for electric vehicles. Electrifying transportation can go a long way to reducing carbon emissions that are driving up global temperatures. But warmer temperatures also accelerate the degradation of batteries, whose performance can be a make-or-break factor for people considering an EV purchase.
In a new study led by the University of Michigan, however, researchers have shown that batteries have gotten a lot better over the past several years. So much so, in fact, that their gains ...
AI cancer tools risk “shortcut learning” rather than detecting true biology
2026-03-02
New research warns that popular deep learning systems trained for cancer pathology may be relying on hidden shortcuts rather than genuine biological signals.
Artificial intelligence tools are increasingly being developed to predict cancer biology directly from microscope images, promising faster diagnoses, and cheaper testing. But new research from the University of Warwick, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, suggests that many of these systems may be using visual shortcuts rather than true biology — raising concerns that some AI pathology tools are currently too unreliable for real-world patient ...
Painless skin patch offers new way to monitor immune health
2026-03-02
Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory (JAX), in collaboration with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), have developed the first bandage-like microneedle patch that can sample the body’s immune responses painlessly from the skin. The device detects inflammatory signals within minutes and collects specialized immune cells within hours without the need for blood draws or surgical biopsies.
Already, the patch is helping researchers and clinicians study immune responses in aging and skin autoimmunity, including vitiligo and psoriasis. In the future, it could make it easier to track how people respond to vaccines, infections, and cancer therapies by complementing ...
Children with poor oral health more often develop cardiovascular disease as adults
2026-03-02
A tooth cavity and bleeding gums is a common scenario among Danish children – and one that researchers now connect to health problems long after the last baby tooth has left the mouth.
Children who have multiple tooth cavities or suffer from severe gingivitis show a markedly higher incidence of stroke, heart attack and coronary artery disease as adults. That’s the conclusion of a new study by researchers at the University of Copenhagen.
The researchers analysed data from 568,000 children born in the 1960s and 70s from the Danish Health ...
GLP-1 drugs associated with reduced need for emergency care for migraine
2026-03-01
EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL 4:00 P.M. ET, SUNDAY, MARCH 1, 2026
Highlights:
For people with chronic migraine, starting GLP-1 drugs for conditions like diabetes may be associated with fewer emergency department visits.
A preliminary study has found that people who started GLP-1 drugs were approximately 10% less likely than those who started topiramate to visit the emergency department over the following year.
They were also about 14% less likely to be hospitalized for any reason during the year.
This observational study does not prove that the drugs lower the need for emergency care for people with migraine. It only ...
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