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

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 15-Nov-2025 23:11 ET (16-Nov-2025 04:11 GMT/UTC)

Feeding smarter: mannanase improves broiler growth even with less soy and energy

Maximum Academic Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team has revealed that mannanase supplementation can significantly enhance growth performance, energy utilization, and intestinal health in broiler chickens—even when fed diets with reduced soybean meal (SBM) and energy levels.

Journal: Animal Advances

Exposure to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water linked to lower birthweight, preterm birth

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Babies born to mothers potentially exposed to low levels of arsenic in public drinking water—even at levels below the federal safety standard—were more likely to be born preterm, with lower birthweight, or be smaller than expected.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Immune tolerance to gut microbes is initiated by a key bacterial sensor

Weill Cornell Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Thousands of bacterial and other microbial species live in the human gut, supporting healthy digestion, immunity, metabolism and other functions. Precisely how these microbes are protected from immune attack has been unclear, but now a study led by Weill Cornell Medicine investigators has found that this immune “tolerance” to gut microbes depends on an ancient bacterial-sensing protein called STING—normally considered a trigger for inflammation. The surprising result could lead to new treatments for inflammatory bowel disease and other conditions involving gut inflammation.

Journal: Immunity

Official US records underestimate Native Americans deaths and life expectancy

Boston University School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new, nationally representative study published in JAMA found that death certificates for at least 41 percent of AI/AN decedents failed to identify them as AI/AN, in most cases misreporting their race as “White.” As a result of these death certificate errors, official vital statistics greatly underestimate AI/AN mortality, overestimate AI/AN life expectancy, and understate the mortality disparities between AI/AN and other Americans.

Journal: JAMA
Funder: Commonwealth Fund

Father’s mental health plays key role in child development, research shows

Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Experts from Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago affirm the need to screen new fathers for mental distress, recognizing the mounting research that underscores the importance of fathers in child development. Their invited commentary, published in JAMA Pediatrics, accompanies a systematic review, which found that paternal depression, anxiety and stress in the perinatal period are associated with poorer child development in social, emotional, cognitive and language domains.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

Public water arsenic and birth outcomes in the Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes Cohort

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cohort study of birthing parent–infant dyads across the U.S., arsenic measured in public water systems was associated with birth outcomes at levels below the current U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant level. The findings suggest that further reducing the maximum contaminant level for arsenic may decrease the number of infants with low birth weight in the U.S.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Paternal perinatal depression, anxiety, and stress and child development

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: Evidence from this systematic review and meta-analysis indicates that paternal mental distress is a potentially modifiable predictor of child development. Reducing mental distress in fathers perinatally is thus an important target for preventative interventions aiming to support fathers during the transition to parenthood and promote the health and well-being of next-generation offspring.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics