EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Dec-2025 09:11 ET (26-Dec-2025 14:11 GMT/UTC)

Psychological comorbidity in patients presenting to the emergency department with low-risk chest pain and anxiety

Regenstrief Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Chest pain ranks as 2nd most common reason for ED visits. However, 80 percent of these cases are considered low-risk and not related to heart disease. For these patients, anxiety and panic disorders are frequent diagnoses. A new study shows that many patients who visit the ED with low-risk chest pain might benefit more from treatment for underlying psychological conditions than from extensive cardiac testing. Anxiety is not only common among low-risk chest pain patients, but is often accompanied by other treatable comorbidities.

Journal: Academic Emergency Medicine
Funder: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute

NFL mascots inspire kids to PLAY 60 daily for better health

American Heart Association
Business Announcement

Six NFL (National Football League) club mascots are stepping up to inspire kids to move more to support mental and physical health.

Emory BioFoundry Institute invests in startups to accelerate life-changing innovations

Emory Health Sciences
Business Announcement

Emory University launched the Emory BioFoundry Institute (EBFI), an initiative designed to empower researchers, entrepreneurs, and investors to transform groundbreaking ideas into real-world solutions that improve patient care and public health.

Penn State to co-lead national brain health and dementia prevention initiative

Penn State
Grant and Award Announcement

A new research network co-led by researchers at Penn State seeks to detect the earliest signs of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias years before symptoms emerge so that brain-protecting treatments can be administered to reduce the personal and financial impacts of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. The network, named the Open Measures Network Initiative for Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementia Research and Prevention, has been made possible by a $39 million grant from the National Institute on Aging.

Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging

Large study from University Hospitals Connor Whole Health finds certain music therapy interventions may be more beneficial for pain

University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study has found that music therapy interventions involving singing, active instrument play, and relaxation/imagery may be more effective for reducing pain intensity than receptive interventions only involving live or recorded music listening among hospitalized patients with moderate-to-severe pain.

Journal: Journal of Pain

FAU awarded US EPA grant to integrate genetics in Florida bay sponge restoration

Florida Atlantic University
Grant and Award Announcement

The project will transform sponge restoration in Florida Bay using advanced genetic tools to build ecological resilience. By analyzing genetic diversity in four key sponge species, the research aims to strengthen restoration efforts that currently rely on clonal transplants with limited adaptive potential. This marks the first genetic assessment of sponge recovery in the region, with broad implications for ecosystem health and fisheries. Sponges are essential to water quality, habitat structure, and the survival of economically important species like the spiny lobster.

Funder: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Adding a lookup step makes AI better at assigning medical diagnosis codes

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

A new study from researchers at the Mount Sinai Health System suggests that a simple tweak to how artificial intelligence (AI) assigns diagnostic codes could significantly improve accuracy, even outperforming physicians. The findings, reported in the September 25 online issue of NEJM AI [DOI: 10.1056/AIcs2401161], could help reduce the time doctors spend on paperwork, cut billing errors, and improve the quality of patient records.

Journal: NEJM AI
Funder: NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), NIH/Office of Research Infrastructure