June 18, 2025 - The highly anticipated 2024 Journal Citation Reports (JCR) were officially released today, marking a significant achievement for Current Molecular Pharmacology (CMP). The journal's 2024 Impact Factor has increased to 2.9, with a five-year Impact Factor of 3.1, successfully advancing to the Q2 zone in the PHARMACOLOGY & PHARMACY category. This accomplishment signifies a notable enhancement in CMP's academic influence and recognition. CMP is dedicated to publishing the latest advancements ...

For many patients, radioactive iodine treatment after thyroid cancer surgery means side effects like nausea and time in hospital isolated from loved ones. But new clinical trial results from researchers at UCL mean hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide could now safely be spared this treatment. Globally, around 820,000 people are diagnosed with thyroid cancer each year. Compared to most cancers, it affects a high proportion of younger people who are more likely to be parents to young children. It is also three times more common in women than men. The Iodine or Not (IoN) clinical ...

NEW YORK, NY (June 20, 2025)—A new laboratory method developed by researchers at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons may now help physicians more quickly diagnose patients with suspected genetic disorders of the immune system, many who have been trapped in diagnostic limbo for years.  The researchers, who published their findings June 20 in Cell, applied the method to one rare inborn error of immunity called activated-PI3Kδ syndrome (APDS) and found dozens of additional genetic variations that could cause the syndrome. “Our findings give physicians a resource that can help them rapidly diagnose and treat ...

(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – June 20, 2025) The relationship between genetic variants and the risk of late-onset cardiomyopathy remains poorly understood in survivors of childhood cancer despite being otherwise well established. Scientists from St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital have helped address this gap, assessing whether variant trends seen in the general population also apply to late-onset cardiomyopathy in five-year survivors of childhood cancer. The work revealed that, as in the general population, common variants in TTNand BAG3 are associated with reduced late-onset cardiomyopathy ...

The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) has released phenotypic and genetic data from the Autism Inpatient Collection (AIC), a cohort of more than 1,500 youth participants ages 4 to 20 years old who were hospitalized in one of six child psychiatry units in the United States. The AIC, supported by SFARI and the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, aimed to engage these individuals, many of whom meet recently proposed criteria for ‘profound autism’ (autism characterized by intellectual disability or minimal language that requires high ...

Scientists at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute today report the identification of a novel combination therapy approach to treat pediatric acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Standard treatment is often ineffective against AML, a cancer that commonly relapses with poor prognosis, particularly when the disease is fueled by fusion proteins involving NUP98. The researchers documented how these fusions drive disease, discovering a protein complex required to express cancer-promoting genes. When they targeted the complex alone or in combination with another anticancer drug, survival significantly ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Climbing the social ladder isn’t simply a matter of popularity. Rather, people in positions of influence are particularly adept at forming “maps” of their social connections, which they navigate to become prominent in their social network, new research shows.  It’s like having a “social superpower,” according to study author Oriel FeldmanHall, an associate professor of cognitive and psychological sciences at Brown University who is affiliated with the University’s Carney Institute for Brain Science.  “People vary ...

A new study reveals that when we experience short-term (acute) pain, the brain has a built-in way to dial down pain signals — like pressing the brakes — to keep them from going into overdrive. But in long-term (chronic) pain, this braking system fails, and the pain signals just keep firing. This discovery helps explain why some pain goes away while other pain lingers, and it opens the door to new treatments that could stop pain from becoming chronic in the first place. Why does some pain go away ...

The Earth is rapidly warming — but did you know? Similar climate upheavals over 300 million years ago once triggered massive fluctuations in marine life. Recently, a research team led by Prof. Shuzhong Shen of Nanjing University published a major finding in Science Advances, revealing for the first time — through high-precision big data — that during the Late Paleozoic (approximately 340 to 250 million years ago), global cooling promoted rapid evolution and diversification of marine life, while abrupt warming, especially that induced by volcanic eruptions, led to mass extinctions. The focus of the study is an ancient group of single-celled marine organisms ...

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A study led by researchers from Brown University finds that rainfall patterns across northern Africa remained largely stable between 3.5 and 2.5 million years ago — a pivotal period in Earth’s climate history when the Northern Hemisphere cooled, and places like Greenland became permanently glaciated. The new findings, published in Science Advances, challenge long-held interpretations of the climate history of northern Africa, which had suggested that the region dried out considerably during this period. The timing coincides with the appearance of the first known member of the genus Homo in the fossil record, leading ...

Scientists from Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago and colleagues identified several proteins from the umbilical cord blood of preterm newborns that signal acute systemic inflammation as an immune response to infection, providing objective and noninvasive means to diagnose early onset sepsis. This finding could spare infants from prolonged exposure to unnecessary antibiotics, which leaves them at risk for subsequent serious infections and dysregulation ...

A new perspective on the future development of artificial intelligence (AI) has been put forward by researchers Li Guo and Jinghai Li in their article titled “The Development of Artificial Intelligence: Toward Consistency in the Logical Structures of Datasets, AI Models, Model Building, and Hardware?” published in Engineering. The authors argue that while current AI systems have made significant strides in handling the statistical properties of complex systems, they still face challenges in effectively processing and fully representing the spatiotemporal complexity patterns of these systems.   The paper begins by highlighting the global interest in AI and its potential ...

Toronto, ON - Good sleep is vital for adolescents’ physical health, mental well-being, and academic success — yet many don’t get enough rest. Now, a new study reveals bedtime screen habits may be to blame. Published in Sleep Health, the study provides new insights into tweens’ bedtime screen use, as well as its associations with sleep disturbance and duration. Researchers found that over 70% of tweens had an Internet-connected device in their bedroom, with nearly 25% reporting they were woken up in the past week by notifications. If they woke up in the middle of the night, 28% went on their device before falling back asleep. “Getting ...

About The Study: This cohort study found that cancer incidence rates were associated with environmental burden and with racial and ethnic composition, suggesting the need for sustained community interventions in minoritized census regions with high environmental burden.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jennifer Cullen, PhD, MPH, email jcullen@houstonmethodist.org. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.16740) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, author contributions and affiliations, ...

About The Study: This cohort study of breast cancer survivors found a lower risk of Alzheimer dementia (AD) compared with cancer-free controls, despite common concerns about cognitive decline after treatment. The findings suggest certain cancer treatments potentially have benefits for lower AD risk. Further research is needed to assess the long-term risk of AD in this population.  Corresponding Authors: To contact the corresponding authors, email Dong Wook Shin, MD, DrPH, MBA, (dwshin.md@gmail.com) and Kyungdo Han, PhD, (hkd917@naver.com). To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.16468) Editor’s ...

Chinese scientists have developed a breakthrough process that significantly improves the efficiency and environmental friendliness of beta-blocker production—with a focus on the widely used compound propranolol, which plays a vital role in managing cardiovascular conditions such as hypertension, arrhythmia, and angina. Led by Prof. ZHANG Xiqi at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the research team developed a novel amine-functionalized graphene oxide (NGO) membrane reactor that enables ultrafast, continuous-flow synthesis of propranolol, with nearly ...

New research has uncovered immune changes in cancer patients that could help identify which patients are most at risk of dangerous heart complications from cancer drugs, known as immune checkpoint inhibitors.  The study was led by Assistant Professor Pilar Martín, Head of the Regulatory Molecules of Inflammation Lab at the Spanish National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) and group leader at CIBER-CV, she explained, “Immune checkpoint inhibitors have revolutionised cancer treatment, but they can also damage the hearts of some patients. ...

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – June 20, 2025 – A new randomized clinical trial, led by a team of researchers from Wake Forest University School of Medicine and Wake Forest University, did not find evidence that wearing a weighted vest or engaging in resistance training prevented bone loss in older adults undergoing intentional weight loss. The study, published today in JAMA Network Open, underscores the persistent need for alternative strategies to protect skeletal health in aging populations with obesity. While weight loss is commonly advised to enhance cardiovascular ...

Scientists have developed a tool that can predict how bowel cancer adapts to treatment – helping researchers to design new personalised drugs that will keep patients living well for longer. A team from the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and Queen Mary University of London have designed a new technology that uses evolutionary biology to measure and predict how cancer cells will evolve when they are exposed to a new treatment. Bowel cancer is the fourth most common cancer in the UK. There are around 44,100 new bowel cancer cases in the UK every year, or around 120 every day.  Most bowel cancers are treated with chemotherapies and these treatments haven’t ...

New research suggests that a healthy microbiome before chemotherapy could help protect breast cancer patients against heart damage, or cardiotoxicity, as a result of cancer therapy.  Researchers found that specific bacteria in patients’ gut microbiome correlated with heart health biomarkers that suggest they are at greater risk of heart damage during chemotherapy.  “To allow cancer survivors healthier lives, we need to find new ways to protect them from the long-term side-effects of chemotherapy. This study is one of the first to ask whether the microbiome could play a role in how well patient’s hearts fare during chemotherapy,” ...

“Exercise is good for your health” is a well-known phrase, but few people can clearly explain how and why it benefits the human body.” A joint research team, led by Dr. Yong Ryoul Yang of the Aging Convergence Research Group at the Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology (KRIBB, President: Seok-Yoon Kwon) and Professor Nak-Sung Kim of Chonnam National University, has discovered a key protein, CLCF1 (cardiotrophin-like cytokine factor 1), that plays a central role in mediating the health benefits of physical activity. The team found that CLCF1 is secreted by muscles during exercise, where it helps strengthen both muscles and bones, thereby ...

The American College of Cardiology has issued a Concise Clinical Guidance (CCG) document to aid clinicians in the use of medication for weight management in patients where treatment may provide cardiovascular benefit. Obesity is a chronic, progressive disease that affects over 1 billion people worldwide. It can lead to devastating cardiovascular complications, including increased risk of heart failure, coronary artery disease and stroke. It is also associated with a significant reduction in life expectancy (9.1 years ...

The temperature of our sleeping environment has a major impact on the quality of our sleep, and good sleep is essential for our overall health and well-being. The bedding micro-environment is a key factor in maintaining thermally comfortable conditions for sleep. This includes the ambient temperature, humidity, the heat generated by the human body, and the thermal insulation provided by bedding like quilts, blankets, sheets, etc.   In particular, the total thermal insulation, or the ability of the bedding systems to resist heat flow, ...

Understanding how the universe transitioned from darkness to light with the formation of the first stars and galaxies is a key turning point in the universe’s development, known as the Cosmic Dawn. However, even with the most powerful telescopes, we can’t directly observe these earliest stars, so determining their properties is one of the biggest challenges in astronomy. Now, an international group of astronomers led by the University of Cambridge have shown that we will be able to learn about the masses ...

Highlights: H5N1 avian influenza virus has been found in mammals and birds, and 1 person in the U.S. has died from an infection. New work suggests that the virus is evolving new ways to evade human immune defenses. Using artificial intelligence and physics-based modeling, the researchers found weakening binding between defensive antibodies and viral proteins. The work shows how AI may help researchers understand how the virus is evolving and look for new antibodies or other therapeutic interventions. Los Angeles, Calif.—The H5N1 avian influenza virus has infected birds and mammals around ...