EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - Home

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 22-Jun-2026 14:16 ET (22-Jun-2026 18:16 GMT/UTC)

Inborn DNA variation in taste and smell genes affect diet and health, a Monell Center-led research team finds

Monell Chemical Senses Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

By developing a powerful new tool to decode how the foods we crave may shape our health, scientists discovered that a genetic variant linked to onion preference is associated with lower blood pressure and reduced risk of type 2 diabetes.

Journal: BMC Medicine

Ebola virus hides in the central nervous system, according to new research led by microbiologists at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

International team uses cerebral organoids to better understand virus biology

Journal: Nature Microbiology

Microplastics may worsen fatty liver disease, new study suggests

University of Oklahoma
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Microplastics – minuscule pieces of plastic broken down from larger plastic waste – are a growing concern for human health, especially for the liver. A study from the University of Oklahoma, published today in Science Advances, demonstrates that a common type of microplastics is particularly harmful to the liver under high-fat dietary conditions.

Journal: Science Advances

UI Health named 2026 Recognized Leader in Caring for People Living with Diabetes by The Leapfrog Group and the American Diabetes Association

University of Illinois Chicago
Business Announcement

The Leapfrog Group and the American Diabetes Association® (ADA) announced that UI Health has received national designation as a Recognized Leader in Caring for People Living with Diabetes

Machine-learning how to overcome antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard
Peer-Reviewed Publication

With tens of millions of annual cases, gonorrhea is the second most frequently reported sexually transmitted infection (STI). Alone in the U.S., over 600,000 cases are reported each year. If left untreated, gonorrhea can result in a plethora of serious health issues. The major challenge in more effectively controlling the disease lies in the ability of the responsible pathogen to rapidly develop resistance against newly available antibiotics.

Now, a new study published in Science Translational Medicine led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member James Collins, Ph.D. at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, MIT, and Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard offers an exciting new AI-enabled strategy to identify new chemical compounds that could be further developed into antibiotic therapies for N. gonorrhoeae.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine

Screen time, BMI, and mental health may be linked to sleep quality in Chinese adolescents

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A teen’s mental health, as well as their body mass index (BMI) and screen time, are significantly associated with their sleep quality, according to a new paper published June 10, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Jianying Li of Shanxi University, China, and colleagues. The study also found that girls and adolescents living in more rural areas tend to have lower sleep quality.

Journal: PLOS One

Instagram Reels about Crohn’s disease are moderate in quality – with medical‑advice videos often containing misinformation – per study highlighting need for critical evaluation of social media health content

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Instagram Reels about Crohn’s disease are moderate in quality – with medical‑advice videos often containing misinformation – per study highlighting need for critical evaluation of social media health content

Journal: PLOS One

Teen contact with the legal system is associated with mental health symptoms

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Youth who have contact with the US legal system may be at increased risk of mental health symptoms including anxiety, depression, hostility, and psychoticism, according to a study published June 17, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Raquel V. Oliveira and Elizabeth Culatta from Augusta University, US.

Journal: PLOS One

Post-disaster financial and social toll on mothers linked to poorer mental health in their children

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Children’s mental health may be indirectly harmed by their mothers’ experience of a major disaster, through the financial and social losses the disaster causes, according to a new study published June 17, 2026 in the open access journal PLOS One by Ariane Lisann Rung of the University of Nebraska Medical Center, US, and colleagues.

Journal: PLOS One

8
9
10
11
12