EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Jun-2026 08:15 ET (26-Jun-2026 12:15 GMT/UTC)

8-Apr-2026

US trends in long-term opioid therapy

About The Study: From 2015 to 2023, the number of U.S. patients who were prescribed long-term opioid therapy declined, potentially owing to national opioid stewardship efforts and growing awareness of the risks. However, approximately 4 million to 5 million patients were prescribed long-term opioid therapy in 2023, depending on the definition used. Moreover, there were demographic shifts in the patients prescribed long-term opioid therapy over this period in that patients were older and the largest proportion now had opioid therapy covered by Medicare. Because older adults are at higher risk of adverse events from polypharmacy, the increased rates of coprescribing, particularly with gabapentinoids, raises additional safety concerns.

Journal: JAMA

8-Apr-2026

New 23andMe research institute study identifies genetic predictors for GLP-1 weight loss efficacy and side effects

23andMe Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New 23andMe Research Institute study, published in Nature, identifies genetic predictors for GLP-1 weight loss efficacy and side effects. 23andMe turns research into useful genetic insights, now offering a new GLP-1 report and interactive tool through 23andMe Total Health.

Journal: Nature

8-Apr-2026

Five University of Tennessee faculty teams receive Chancellor’s Innovation Fund Awards

University of Tennessee at Knoxville
Grant and Award Announcement

Five teams led by faculty members at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, each received $50,000 at an April 7 award ceremony for the Chancellor’s Innovation Fund. This year’s awards span the fields of agricultural technology, architectural design and building technology, biomanufacturing, electrochemical energy systems and regenerative medicine.

8-Apr-2026

Largest-ever study of psychedelics could help advance their use in treating mental health disorders

McGill University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Scientists have demonstrated, for the first time, that several psychedelic drugs – including psilocybin, LSD, mescaline, DMT and ayahuasca – produce a common pattern of brain activity despite their distinct chemistries.

An international consortium led by a McGill University researcher pooled brain imaging data from labs across five countries, creating the largest study of its kind to date.

Journal: Nature Medicine

8-Apr-2026

EMBARGOED: Cancer risk is significantly higher for adults who never married, large study finds

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study of more than 4 million cases finds that adults who never married face nearly double the cancer risk—especially for preventable cancers tied to smoking, infection and reproductive factors. These findings suggest that marital status could help target screening and prevention efforts.

Journal: Cancer Research Communications

8-Apr-2026

ASH and ISTH publish new clinical practice guidelines on anticoagulant prophylaxis in pediatric patients at risk of blood clots

American Society of Hematology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

(WASHINGTON, Apr. 8, 2026) — The American Society of Hematology (ASH) and the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis (ISTH) released comprehensive clinical practice guidelines on anticoagulant prophylaxis in non-cardiac pediatric patients at risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE). The guidelines were developed by an expert panel following a rigorous review process and published in ASH’s peer-reviewed journal, Blood Advances.

Journal: Blood Advances

8-Apr-2026

Study links PFAS exposure to weaker immune response, underscoring need for water protections

Michigan State University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

New research finds that exposure to PFAS may weaken the immune system in adults, raising new concerns about the long-term health effects of these widely used chemicals.

Journal: Environmental Research

8-Apr-2026

RST2G: residual-guided spatiotemporal transformer graph fusion enhancement for breast cancer segmentation in DCE-MRI

Beijing Institute of Technology Press Co., Ltd
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research paper by scientists from Suining Central Hospital proposed a novel residual-guided spatiotemporal transformer with graph fusion enhancement (RST2G) framework for precise breast tumor segmentation in ynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

The new research paper, published on Mar. 23 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems, developed a groundbreaking deep learning framework for precise breast tumor segmentation in DCE-MRI.

Journal: Cyborg and Bionic Systems

8-Apr-2026

Unions play key role in keeping direct care workers in the workforce

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Unionization and working for a public employer are associated with significantly lower turnover among direct care workers (DCW), a group that provides daily care for older adults and those who are disabled and unable to care for themselves.

Journal: JAMA Network Open