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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 23-Dec-2025 20:11 ET (24-Dec-2025 01:11 GMT/UTC)

17-Sep-2025

Hidden brain waves as triggers for post-seizure wandering

Universitatsklinikum Bonn
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People with temporal lobe epilepsy in particular often wander around aimlessly and unconsciously after a seizure. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB), the University of Bonn, and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) have identified a neurobiological mechanism that could be responsible for this so-called post-ictal wandering and potentially other postictal symptoms. According to their hypothesis, epileptic seizures are not directly responsible for post-ictal symptoms, but rather seizure-associated depolarization waves, also known as spreading depolarization (SD). The results of the studies have now been published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine

17-Sep-2025

Researchers reveal how autism-linked mutation triggers PTSD-like fear

Institute for Basic Science
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Until now, most evidence for PTSD-like symptoms in ASD has relied on self-reports, leaving the underlying brain mechanisms unclear. In a new study, researchers led by Professor KIM Eunjoon at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) have uncovered how an ASD-related mutation in the Grin2b gene, which encodes the GluN2B subunit of NMDA receptors, disrupts brain circuits that normally extinguish fear. Their findings, published in Science Advances, provide the first detailed mechanistic explanation for why ASD increases PTSD risk.

Journal: Science Advances
Funder: Institute for Basic Science

17-Sep-2025

Getting a puppy poses mental health challenges alongside benefits for U.K. families

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A survey study of families with puppies in the U.K. has identified multiple mental health challenges alongside benefits of ownership for adults and kids alike, suggesting that a mental health boost should not be the main motivator behind getting a puppy. Rowena Packer of the Royal Veterinary College, U.K., and colleagues present these findings in the open-access journal PLOS One on September 17, 2025.

Journal: PLOS One

17-Sep-2025

Children who experienced an "accelerated growth trajectory" as fetuses during pregnancy are more than 4 times more likely to be overweight or obese as two-year-olds, with maternal metabolic factors being associated with this fetal growth trajectory

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Children who experienced an "accelerated growth trajectory" as fetuses during pregnancy are more than 4 times more likely to be overweight or obese as two-year-olds, with maternal metabolic factors being associated with this fetal growth trajectory

Journal: PLOS One

17-Sep-2025

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Temporary medical centers in Gaza known as "Medical Points" (MPs) treat an average of 117 people daily with only about 7 staff per MP, filling a critical role despite severe staffing and supply shortages (with insulin and cancer treatments unavailable in over 90% of cases, for instance).

Journal: PLOS Global Public Health

17-Sep-2025

Rates of alcohol-induced deaths among the general population nearly doubled from 1999 to 2024

PLOS
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In an analysis by race, sex, age, and geography, alcohol-induced death rates in 2024 are nearly double those in 1999, with a sharp increase at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Although rates are higher for men, the largest increase in alcohol-induced deaths over the full 25-year period occurred in females aged 25-34, according to a study published on September 17 by Dr. Tony Wong and colleagues at UCLA in the open-access journal PLOS Global Public Health.

Journal: PLOS Global Public Health

17-Sep-2025

PLOS One study: In adolescent lab animals exposed to cocaine, High-Intensity Interval Training boosts aversion to the drug

University at Buffalo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In a new study published today in PLOS One, Thanos, PhD, senior research scientist in the Clinical and Research Institute on Addictions in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and co-authors reveal that high-intensity interval training (HIIT) was more effective than moderate exercise in making adolescent lab animals avoid cocaine.

Journal: PLOS One
Funder: SUNY Research Foundation