A commentary coauthored by IIASA experts and senior representatives from the UN and the international statistics community discusses the implications of recent changes to the Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS) program and highlights the importance of integrating citizen science more fully into official data systems.

The Mount Sinai Tisch Cancer Center (TCC) has launched a new artificial intelligence (AI) platform to help connect more cancer patients across the Mount Sinai Health System to life-saving clinical trials. The platform, which was created by the AI company Triomics, is called PRISM, and is powered by Triomics’ OncoLLM, a large language model-based pipeline built especially for cancer care. As an early adopter of this new technology, Mount Sinai becomes the first National Cancer Institute (NCI)-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in New York City to deploy this oncology-specific AI tool for systemwide clinical trial matching.

Air pollution poses a widespread threat to human health, particularly due to its strong link to respiratory diseases. Airborne microbes, including bacteria, fungi, viruses, and cellular debris, are estimated to account for approximately 25% of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), some of which are pathogenic to humans. Researchers at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University have conducted a groundbreaking investigation into the sources, composition and health-related toxicity of these microbial particles, revealing concerning connections between air pollution and its impact on human health. 

Caregivers of individuals diagnosed with acute leukemia face a difficult balancing act: meeting the urgent demands of cancer care while managing their daily responsibilities. A new qualitative study highlights the profound toll of this dual role and underscores the need for caregiver support as an essential part of cancer care.

Warming temperatures are connected to increases in violence-related hospital visits—including both interpersonal and self-inflicted violence—according to a new analysis of 14 years of Medicaid claims data. The study is led by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The findings are published in the journal Communications Sustainability(link is external and opens in a new window).