Drinking any amount of alcohol likely increases the risk of dementia, suggests the largest combined observational and genetic study to date, published online in BMJ Evidence Based Medicine. Even light drinking—generally thought to be protective, based on observational studies—is unlikely to lower the risk, which rises in tandem with the quantity of alcohol consumed, the research indicates.

BMJ Group has retracted research suggesting that small daily quantities of apple cider vinegar might help people who are overweight or obese to lose weight. The small clinical trial was published in the open access journal BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health in March 2024 and its findings press released. The study findings generated widespread international attention at the time, and continue to be frequently referred to in media coverage.

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Nuria Assa-Munt, of the Center for Scientific Review, National Institutes of Health (retired), USA has been named the recipient of the Society’s 2026 Rosalba Kampman Distinguished Service Award. Assa-Munt will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026.

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Jie Xiao, of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, USA, will receive the 2026 Carolyn Cohen Innovation Award. Xiao will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026.

BETHESDA, MD – The Biophysical Society is pleased to announce that Wonhwa Cho, of the University of Illinois Chicago, USA, has been named the recipient of the 2026 BPS Award in the Biophysics of Health and Disease. Cho will be honored at the Society’s 70th Annual Meeting, being held in San Francisco, California from February 21-25, 2026.

Researchers from USC and Duke report that the persistent “know-do gap” — where clinicians know guidelines but practice differently — is the primary driver of antibiotic overprescribing for pediatric diarrhea in India’s private sector, not lack of knowledge, point-of-sale profits, or stockouts of clinically recommended treatments such as oral rehydration salts (ORS).