New perspective in magnesium-containing materials for brain repair
Peer-Reviewed Publication
Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Jun-2026 23:16 ET (24-Jun-2026 03:16 GMT/UTC)
Neurological disorders, including traumatic brain injury, cerebral palsy, Alzheimer’s disease, epilepsy, and depression, have emerged as major global health challenges, affecting hundreds of millions of individuals worldwide. Recently, magnesium-containing materials have attracted growing interest in neuroscience research owing to their favorable biocompatibility, biodegradability, and neuroprotective properties.
In a study published in Journal of the American Heart Association, Prof. ZHANG Na's team from the Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the collaborators from Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, by combining [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET) and MR-VWI, built an integrated PET/MRI model to identify high-risk carotid plaques.
Health monitoring is becoming increasingly critical for disease prevention, early diagnosis, and high-quality living. Polymeric materials, with their mechanical flexibility, biocompatibility, and tunable biochemical properties, offer unique advantages for creating next-generation personalized devices. In recent years, flexible polymer-based platforms have shown remarkable potential to capture diverse physiological signals in both daily and clinical contexts, including electrophysiological, biochemical, mechanical, and thermal indicators. In this review, we introduce a safety-level-oriented framework to evaluate material and device strategies for health monitoring, spanning the continuum from noninvasive wearables to deeply embedded implants. Physiological signals are systematically classified by use case, and application-specific requirements such as stability, comfort, and long-term compatibility are highlighted as critical factors guiding the selection of polymers, interfacial designs, and device architectures. Special emphasis is placed on mapping material types—including hydrogels, elastomers, and conductive composites—to their most suitable applications. Finally, we propose design principles for developing safe, functional, and adaptive polymer-based systems, aiming at reliable integration with the human body and enabling personalized, preventive healthcare.
Researchers may have discovered a new way to diagnose and treat major depression at the earliest stage of the condition, giving patients the best opportunity for recovery.
A randomized controlled trial (RCT) published today in Psychological Medicine demonstrates a significant and clinically relevant reduction in ADHD symptoms in adults using the digital therapy "attexis". Researchers from GAIA in Hamburg, in collaboration with the Saarland University Medical Center, the University Medical Center Mainz, the University Hospital Bonn, the University of Lübeck, and Kiel University, investigated the efficacy of the digital intervention, which is already permanently listed in the DiGA (Digital Health Applications) directory. The results are of particular relevance since access to care is often limited for adults with ADHD in Germany and Europe. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033291726103390
A paper published in the journal Proceedings B of the Royal Society describes the discovery of a new species of magic mushroom – Psilocybe ochraceocentrata – from the grasslands of South Africa and Zimbabwe. So named because of the ochre-yellow colour at the center of the mushroom cap, P. ochraceocentrata last shared a common ancestor with P. cubensis approximately 1.5 million years ago.
A woman’s suicide risk may be influenced by the suicidal intention of her female first degree relatives, with sex specific effects of a shared familial environment and possibly other social factors having a key role, finds a large population study published in the online journal BMJ Mental Health. While genetic factors strongly influence a person’s risk of suicide, they don’t fully explain the observed sex differences in suicidal behaviours, whereby males die by suicide more often than females, but females attempt suicide around twice as often as males, say the researchers.