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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 30-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (30-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

E-cigarettes help smokers quit even without specialist support

Queen Mary University of London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Major UK study shows e-cigarettes can help people stop smoking without ongoing counselling, while adding telephone support almost doubles quit rates.

Journal: NEJM Evidence
Funder: National Institute for Health Research

Mount Sinai receives $4 million NIH grant to address risk of acute kidney injury after surgery

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Grant and Award Announcement

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have received a five-year National Institutes of Health grant of approximately $4 million to improve prediction and prevention of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI), a potentially serious complication after surgery. Approximately 50 million major noncardiac surgeries are performed annually in the United States, and an estimated 12 percent of them are complicated by postoperative acute kidney injury. Postoperative acute kidney injury can lengthen hospital stays and, as previous Mount Sinai-led research has shown, increase the risk of chronic kidney disease and death. Because there is currently no direct treatment for the condition, predicting risk and preventing kidney injury are especially important.

Funder: National Institutes of Health

Initial treatment for lower back pain is associated with subsequent risk of opioid use disorder and overdose

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Adults on Medicaid who began treatment for a new bout of low back pain with a higher-dose opioid prescription were about two and a half times as likely to later show signs of opioid use disorder or overdose, according to a study conducted at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and NYU Grossman School of Medicine. The researchers reported a 147 percent higher relative risk for patients whose first-month treatment included opioids above 50 milligrams of morphine equivalent per day.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Silk-based materials for regeneration

Chinese Medical Journals Publishing House Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Tendon and tendon-bone interface injuries affect millions worldwide, yet surgical treatments using autografts and allografts face limitations, including donor site morbidity and insufficient regeneration of native tissue architecture. Researchers from Zhejiang University School of Medicine examine how silk fibroin-based biomaterials can address these challenges. The article details the silk’s structural properties, fabrication into various scaffold formats, and therapeutic potential across tendon repair, enthesis regeneration, and beyond, while outlining

Journal: Chinese Medical Journal
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Zhejiang Provincial Department of Science and Technology

How to care for caregivers? NCCN debuts essential guide for supporting loved ones with cancer

National Comprehensive Cancer Network
Book Announcement

NCCN publishes its first-ever NCCN Guidelines for Patients focused specifically on how to support loved ones with cancer. The new NCCN Guidelines for Patients: Caregiving for People with Cancer provides an easy-to-understand guide for what to do in difficult situations and offers some much-needed lifelines.

New collaboration announced between United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health and PLOS Water

PLOS
Business Announcement

PLOS is delighted to announce a new collaboration between United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health (UNU-INWEH) and PLOS Water: a collection of papers focusing on policy-relevant, science-based solutions.

Burden of chronic kidney disease in China: trends, etiological shifts and key risk factors based on GBD 2023 data

Chinese Medical Journals Publishing House Co., Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Based on GBD 2023 data, this study evaluates China’s chronic kidney disease (CKD) burden. An estimated 156 million Chinese patients live with CKD. Though age‑standardized rates declined, crude rates rose due to population ageing. Diabetes, hypertension and obesity are dominant risk factors, with high BMI still poorly controlled.

Journal: Chinese Medical Journal

Faster brain tau buildup linked to faster progression of rare neurological disease

The National Institutes for Quantum Science and Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at QST have demonstrated for the first time that patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) whose brain tau protein accumulates more rapidly also experience faster clinical decline. Using a highly sensitive PET imaging technology developed by QST, the team tracked changes in tau accumulation over one year. The findings suggest that slowing tau buildup could slow disease progression and provide a valuable biomarker for future therapeutic trials.

Journal: Movement Disorders
Funder: Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, Japan Science and Technology Agency, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

A Chinese Neurosurgical Journal study reveals the anticonvulsant effects of non-invasive linear accelerator-based radiosurgery

Chinese Neurosurgical Journal
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Drug-resistant epilepsy types, such as mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), are surgically managed through anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL). However, a significant proportion of patients with MTLE do not qualify for ATL owing to the risk of severe side effects, warranting the need for alternatives. Now, Mexican researchers have examined the therapeutic efficacy of non-invasive linear accelerator (LINAC)-based radiosurgery in MTLE. LINAC-based radiosurgery effectively decreased epilepsy and aura frequency but was associated with several side effects.

Journal: Chinese Neurosurgical Journal

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