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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-Oct-2026 10:16 ET (31-Oct-2026 14:16 GMT/UTC)

New $2.4 million NIH study will explore exposures of e-cigarettes before birth and future health implications

Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research
Grant and Award Announcement

Researchers at the Wayne State University School of Medicine’s C.S. Mott Center for Human Growth and Development st have been awarded a five-year, $2.4 million grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences of the National Institutes of Health to study how exposure to e-cigarette components and flavors during pregnancy affect fetal respiratory immune development and the risk of respiratory viral infections in offspring.

A study in Nature sheds new light on DNA repair in early human embryos, with implications for future gene correction

Institute of Organic Chemistry and Biochemistry of the Czech Academy of Sciences (IOCB Prague)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Treating inherited diseases is one of the greatest challenges in modern medicine. In the future, targeted gene corrections at the earliest stages of embryonic development could help prevent certain inherited diseases from developing and being passed on to future generations. However, the safety of such approaches depends on how human embryos repair the DNA damage caused during gene editing and on the limitations of available technologies. These questions are addressed in a study published in the journal Nature, led by first author Štěpán Jeřábek, who is affiliated with both Columbia University and IOCB Prague. The research also involved two other IOCB Prague scientists, Iva Pichová and Michal Doležal.

Journal: Nature

VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center researchers receive $2.5M NIH grant to inform breast, pancreatic cancer care

Virginia Commonwealth University
Grant and Award Announcement

Researchers at VCU Massey Comprehensive Cancer Center were recently awarded a $2.5 million R01 grant from the National Cancer Institute. The five-year grant will allow Massey to evaluate the efficacy of TROP2 targeted antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) to further enhance therapeutic benefits in both breast and pancreatic cancer care.

Massey researchers, led by principal investigator Chuck Harrell, Ph.D., member of the Cancer Biology research program at Massey and professor in the Department of Pathology at the VCU School of Medicine, will look to define what enables responses and resistance to ADCs in order to identify predictive biomarkers and establish therapeutic strategies to optimize TROP2-targeted ADC efficacy in both triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).

Mathematical framework could improve transparency of AI in clinical settings

King's College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers at King’s College London have developed a new mathematical framework to test whether AI systems that appear to explain their decisions are genuinely transparent.

Journal: Journal of Machine Learning Research

Pancreatic cancer uses blood-clotting system to evade immune attack; targeting may improve immunotherapy

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

Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have found that small populations of pancreatic cancer cells can create localized immune-protective niches that shield tumors from immune attack. The finding could open new avenues for making immunotherapy more effective against one of the deadliest forms of cancer.

Journal: Nature

Restoring MHC-I expression could strengthen immune responses against CNS cancers

Impact Journals LLC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BUFFALO, NY – September 9, 2026 – A new review was published in Volume 17 of Oncotarget on September 8, 2026, titled “Re-expression of MHC-I to treat CNS cancers.”

Journal: Oncotarget

Improved health should guide obesity treatment, not weight loss alone

The Endocrine Society
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new Scientific Statement released today by the Endocrine Society highlights the benefits of obesity treatment beyond weight loss, including improvements in overall health and reducing the risk of conditions such as heart disease, sleep apnea and liver disease.

Journal: Endocrine Reviews

Mental health care before, after surgery improves recovery in older adults

WashU Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A clinical trial led by WashU Medicine researchers found that combining mental health coaching with medication optimization reduced post-surgery anxiety and depression in older adults.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Physicians’ experiences with life-threatening illness and return to work

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This qualitative study found that physicians with life-threatening illness often experienced clashes in their professional and personal identities. This study’s results suggest that health care institutions should consider shifting from procedural to relationship-centered return-to-work policies and interactions during this critical time of transition to better support and retain physicians in the workforce.

Journal: JAMA Network Open