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Professor urges better prevention and care of liver disease to reduce burden

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-professor-urges-liver-disease-burden.html

Published: April 29, 2026 07:00

A University of Houston College of Pharmacy professor has published two studies offering a comprehensive look at chronic liver disease in the era of modern antiviral therapies. One study is the first analysis of its economic and human toll; the other…

Rethinking mRNA vaccines: Liver targeting can suppress immunity, while muscle boosts it

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-rethinking-mrna-vaccines-liver-suppress.html

Published: April 29, 2026 05:00

A new study by researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai overturns a longstanding assumption about how mRNA vaccines generate immunity, revealing that certain non-immune cells help determine vaccine effectiveness.

Bariatric surgery is associated with greater long-term heart risk reduction than weight-loss medications

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-bariatric-surgery-greater-term-heart.html

Published: April 28, 2026 18:00

A Mayo Clinic study has found that both metabolic and bariatric surgery and GLP-1 medications improve cardiovascular health in people with obesity, but surgery was associated with significantly greater reductions in long-term cardiovascular risk. The study…

Digital twin can reveal alcohol consumption in crime cases

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-digital-twin-reveal-alcohol-consumption.html

Published: April 28, 2026 17:40

Using a so-called digital twin, it is possible to predict with greater precision than at present how much alcohol a person has consumed and at what time. The study was conducted by researchers at Linköping University and the Swedish National Board of…

Bile duct cells reveal key pathway that may shape personalized fibrosis treatment

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-bile-duct-cells-reveal-key.html

Published: April 28, 2026 16:40

Many liver diseases share a common characteristic: fibrosis, the progressive accumulation of scarring in the liver tissue. Those scars—the liver's response to persistent injuries or attacks—can prevent the organ from functioning properly. Fibrosis affects…

From gut to brain: Scientists engineer bacteria to treat severe liver-related brain dysfunction

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-gut-brain-scientists-bacteria-severe.html

Published: April 28, 2026 16:00

When the liver fails, toxins—such as ammonia—that should be filtered from the blood build up and reach the brain. The result is hepatic encephalopathy (HE), a devastating neurological complication of liver disease that can cause anxiety, confusion, memory…

Experimental drug may restore movement after stroke

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-experimental-drug-movement.html

Published: April 28, 2026 15:00

Every stroke begins with a sudden interruption of blood flow in the brain. But what happens afterward—why neurons continue to lose function and die over the following days—has remained one of the most important unanswered questions in neuroscience.

Why lithium is still the gold standard in treating bipolar disorder

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-lithium-gold-standard-bipolar-disorder.html

Published: April 28, 2026 15:00

According to recent data from the Global Bipolar Cohort, only 29% of people with bipolar disorder are prescribed lithium. Despite being the "gold standard" for treating this mental health condition, we often prioritize perceptions over scientific reality,…

Half of older patients with dementia remain on psychotropic drugs a year after starting on them, study finds

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-older-patients-dementia-psychotropic-drugs.html

Published: April 28, 2026 11:00

Initial prescriptions for medications affecting cognition, such as antipsychotics, are disproportionately likelier to come from acute and post-acute settings such as emergency rooms, hospitals, and skilled nursing facilities than they are from doctors'…

Koala vaccine offers clues to solving human health challenge

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-koala-vaccine-clues-human-health.html

Published: April 28, 2026 09:40

A vaccine first developed to protect koalas from a devastating disease is now offering rare insights that could help accelerate human vaccine development for one of the world's most common sexually transmitted infections.

Study identifies new treatment targets for vascular dementia

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-treatment-vascular-dementia.html

Published: April 28, 2026 09:40

A new study led by researchers at UNSW Sydney's Center for Healthy Brain Aging (CHeBA) has identified potential biological targets that could help guide future research into treatments for vascular dementia—a common and serious yet currently untreatable…

Drugging the undruggable: Cancer's slipperiest targets finally meet their match

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-drugging-undruggable-cancer-slipperiest.html

Published: April 27, 2026 20:00

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and BC Cancer have developed a new way to target proteins long considered "undruggable," opening the door to new treatments for prostate cancer and other serious diseases. Known as intrinsically disordered…

Apixaban linked to fewer blood clot complications in older adults than other blood thinners

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-apixaban-linked-blood-clot-complications.html

Published: April 27, 2026 17:00

Older adults recovering from serious blood clots often face long periods of hospitalization or rehabilitation due to a higher rate of recurrence. But a new study suggests that the choice of blood thinner may influence how well patients recover and how much…

Sustained changes in postoperative pain management after parotidectomy linked to AAO-HNSF opioid prescribing guideline

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-sustained-postoperative-pain-parotidectomy-linked.html

Published: April 27, 2026 16:40

A new retrospective study published in OTO Open, the open-access journal of the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF), demonstrates that the Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) Opioid Prescribing for Analgesia After…

TBI survivors turn to psychedelics for symptom relief

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-tbi-survivors-psychedelics-symptom-relief.html

Published: April 27, 2026 16:00

A new study from the University of Victoria (UVic) has identified a segment of traumatic brain injury survivors who are using psychedelics to self-medicate for cognitive, mood and somatic symptoms such as headaches. In a first-of-its-kind study, clinical…

Tea tree oil may affect fertility, the EU says—a pharmacologist explains why that's so misleading

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-tea-tree-oil-affect-fertility.html

Published: April 27, 2026 12:20

The heady scent of tea tree is one of the iconic smells of the Australian bush. And the essential oils derived from tea trees have been used as medicines, first by Indigenous people, then by colonists.

Semaglutide improves vascular responsiveness to insulin

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-semaglutide-vascular-responsiveness-insulin.html

Published: April 27, 2026 08:20

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, known as GLP-1 drugs, are highly effective at helping people lose weight and substantially lower the risk of heart attacks, strokes, and death from heart disease. A new study conducted in mice suggests that the…

Repurposed drugs may improve treatment for infant leukemia

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-repurposed-drugs-treatment-infant-leukemia.html

Published: April 27, 2026 07:40

Three clinically available drugs could pave the way for safer and more effective treatments for one of the most aggressive forms of childhood leukemia, a new study published in the journal HemaSphere suggests.

Combination treatment could be safer, more effective for drug overdoses involving severe agitation

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-combination-treatment-safer-effective-drug.html

Published: April 26, 2026 20:00

A team of Marshall University researchers has published a new study suggesting a potential breakthrough in how doctors manage severe agitation caused by methamphetamine and/or cocaine use, particularly in cases in which opioids have also been used. Michael…

Taking the guesswork out of drug development for Chagas disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-guesswork-drug-chagas-disease.html

Published: April 26, 2026 16:00

Researchers at Kent have established a computational protocol that could accelerate the development of more effective treatments for life-threatening parasitic infections such as Chagas disease, by enabling scientists to accurately identify reactions that…

Weight-loss drugs could tackle Alzheimer's—study

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-weight-loss-drugs-tackle-alzheimer.html

Published: April 26, 2026 12:30

A new study has found comprehensive evidence that "weight-loss" GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide are effective in tackling the biological drivers of Alzheimer's disease. The study, published in the journal Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience,…

Depression treatment is shifting, and this mushroom-derived compound is driving one of psychiatry's biggest new tests

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-depression-treatment-shifting-mushroom-derived.html

Published: April 25, 2026 14:00

Depression is a debilitating mental health disorder that is estimated to affect approximately 5% of people worldwide. It is characterized by persistent feelings of sadness and hopelessness, a lack of interest in everyday activities, sleep disturbances, and…

WHO approves first malaria treatment for infants

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-malaria-treatment-infants.html

Published: April 25, 2026 03:31

The World Health Organization announced Friday that it had given prequalification approval to a malaria treatment for newborns and infants for the first time.

About one-third of children and adolescents use dietary supplements in the US

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-children-adolescents-dietary-supplements.html

Published: April 24, 2026 14:40

About one-third of children and adolescents use dietary supplements in the United States, according to a study published online April 24 in Pediatrics Open Science.

Exploiting a new vulnerability that targets 'zombie' cells as an anticancer therapy

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-exploiting-vulnerability-zombie-cells-anticancer.html

Published: April 24, 2026 12:00

A new set of drugs exploit a recently revealed weakness in "zombie-like"—or senescent—cells that could lead to new treatments for cancer and age-associated diseases. The study from the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) and Imperial College London…

Clopidogrel seems to outperform aspirin for secondary chronic maintenance therapy

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-clopidogrel-outperform-aspirin-secondary-chronic.html

Published: April 24, 2026 11:00

New findings show that switching to clopidogrel, a blood thinner, alone after one year of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) leads to better outcomes than aspirin, even in patients at high risk of bleeding and those who had complex percutaneous coronary…

US dentists still prescribe far more opioids for pain than peer nations

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dentists-opioids-pain-peer-nations.html

Published: April 24, 2026 10:40

People getting their teeth pulled or drilled by dentists in the United States are still much more likely to get powerful opioid medications than dental patients in other developed countries or even the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico, a new study finds.

US approves first gene therapy for rare form of hearing loss

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-gene-therapy-rare-loss.html

Published: April 24, 2026 04:40

US health officials on Thursday greenlit a first-of-its-kind gene therapy to treat a rare form of hereditary hearing loss, a breakthrough that could pave the way for other such hearing impairment treatments.

New cellular target prevents hepatitis E infection

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-cellular-hepatitis-infection.html

Published: April 23, 2026 18:00

An international team of researchers has identified a promising new approach for treating infections with the Hepatitis E virus (HEV). At the center of the study is the drug Apilimod, which specifically blocks the entry of the virus into human liver cells,…

Freeze-dried platelet product slows swelling and bleeding in traumatic brain injuries

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dried-platelet-product-traumatic-brain.html

Published: April 23, 2026 17:10

A freeze-dried blood product that could be stored for years on ambulances or in remote emergency departments is showing promise at treating traumatic brain injuries. The news comes from a mouse study done by researchers at UC San Francisco. If it pans out…

Paxlovid looked like a COVID game-changer, but in vaccinated adults the real story is far more complicated

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-paxlovid-covid-game-changer-vaccinated.html

Published: April 23, 2026 16:50

The results of two clinical trials—led by the Upstream Lab at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto and Oxford University, published in the New England Journal of Medicine—provide new evidence to consider when funding, prescribing, or taking Paxlovid to treat…

US eases access to marijuana for medical use

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-eases-access-marijuana-medical.html

Published: April 23, 2026 15:00

The US government on Thursday made it easier for Americans to use cannabis for medical reasons by reclassifying the drug and enabling more research into its safety and efficacy.

Supplements for menopause: Here's what the evidence actually says

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-supplements-menopause-evidence.html

Published: April 23, 2026 14:00

Social media is saturated with menopause solutions: powders for brain fog, gummies for sleep or capsules promising hormonal balance. Supplements such as magnesium, lion's mane, creatine and collagen are being marketed as must-haves for perimenopause and…

Finding the best dietary supplements for cycling performance—and recovery

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-dietary-supplements-recovery.html

Published: April 23, 2026 12:00

Focusing on the rigors of elite cycling, Flinders University experts have put performance-enhancing and other dietary supplements under the microscope, rating some more highly than others. From carbs, beetroot juice and the latest sports gels, the new…

Researchers explore new approach to multivirus drug development

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-explore-approach-multivirus-drug.html

Published: April 22, 2026 19:40

Wanted: a cheap, multipotent treatment for viral infections. Must be able to handle new or unfamiliar strains, or (even better) a broad range of viruses—whatever comes along, in other words. Must be impervious to viral attempts to evolve resistance to it.

'Frankenproteins' offer hope in fighting cancer

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-frankenproteins-cancer.html

Published: April 22, 2026 13:40

Lab-created "frankenproteins" developed by a team of scientists at the University of Toronto Mississauga offer hope for safer and more effective cancer treatments in the future. The protein-based drugs being developed by UTM's Jumi Shin and her students…

ADHD treatment despite a history of psychosis: Research finds no increased risk of relapse

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-adhd-treatment-history-psychosis-relapse.html

Published: April 22, 2026 13:00

People with a history of psychosis often also have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, treating this condition presents doctors with a clinical dilemma: Psychostimulants are considered effective for ADHD, but are suspected of…

Do drugs that similarly combat a disease have differing effects on quality of life?

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-drugs-similarly-combat-disease-differing.html

Published: April 22, 2026 03:00

A study published in Rheumatology & Autoimmunity challenges the assumption that achieving clinical remission in rheumatoid arthritis is sufficient, showing that patient-reported outcomes vary significantly by drug class even when disease activity is…

Kratom use is surging in the US, with life-changing consequences, study reveals

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-kratom-surging-life-consequences-reveals.html

Published: April 22, 2026 01:00

Kratom is a plant with psychoactive properties that, when taken at high doses, can produce effects similar to opioids. A new study published in Addiction has found that kratom use—measured as kratom exposures reported to US poison centers—and cases of…

340B drug discounts are drifting from patients to profit, and reform is now on the table

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-340b-drug-discounts-drifting-patients.html

Published: April 21, 2026 20:40

The 340B Drug Pricing Program must be reformed to better patient health and disincentivize institutional profit-seeking behaviors, says the American College of Physicians (ACP). In a new policy, "Reforming 340B to Promote Program Integrity and Better Serve…

Common drug fails to ease knee osteoarthritis pain in largest trial yet

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-common-drug-ease-knee-osteoarthritis.html

Published: April 21, 2026 19:20

The University of Tasmania's Menzies Institute for Medical Research has found that the commonly prescribed medication, Diacerein, does not improve knee osteoarthritis symptoms, following a national study. Diacerein, a medication derived from plants such as…

Alzheimer's drugs offer little benefit, major review finds. And the reasons go deeper than the science

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-alzheimer-drugs-benefit-major-deeper.html

Published: April 21, 2026 18:20

How is it possible to spend tens of billions of dollars developing drugs to treat a serious disease that affects millions of people, and yet end up with something that does not work? This is a mystery that has bedeviled Alzheimer's research for years.

Therapeutic potential of natural antioxidant expanded to kidney stone patients

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-therapeutic-potential-natural-antioxidant-kidney.html

Published: April 21, 2026 15:20

What began as research aimed at expanding the limited treatment options for cystinuria, a rare genetic disorder affecting 1 in every 7,000 people, characterized by the recurrent formation of cystine stones in the kidneys and urinary tract, could become a…

Molecular keyhole sheds light on pain and epilepsy

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-molecular-keyhole-pain-epilepsy.html

Published: April 21, 2026 13:40

Researchers at VIB, VUB, and KU Leuven have identified a tiny binding site, a molecular "keyhole," in the TRPM3 ion channel, a crucial sensor in pain signaling. TRPM3 is also linked to rare neurodevelopmental disorders and epilepsy. In a study published in…

Early myocarditis onset after immunotherapy may predict treatment-related fatality

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-early-myocarditis-onset-immunotherapy-treatment.html

Published: April 21, 2026 11:00

Patients who developed myocarditis within the first month of receiving immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy were more likely to die of myocarditis, and myocarditis-specific fatality was more common in patients who experienced co-occurring myositis and…

Combining cannabis with opioids offers no added pain relief for knee arthritis patients, study concludes

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-combining-cannabis-opioids-added-pain.html

Published: April 21, 2026 10:40

Combining cannabis with an opioid did not improve acute pain for people with knee arthritis, according to results of a study published in Anesthesiology.

Use of psychotropics increases in the early stages of Parkinson's disease

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-psychotropics-early-stages-parkinson-disease.html

Published: April 21, 2026 08:20

Up to 1 in 3 people with Parkinson's disease use at least one psychotropic medication, a recent study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. People with Parkinson's disease were using psychotropics more frequently than controls already before the…

What science says so far about ketones and health

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-science-ketones-health.html

Published: April 20, 2026 22:40

Google "what are the health benefits of ketones" and you'll get dozens of hits promising everything from epilepsy control to improved heart health to more effective muscle-building at the gym. Researchers at the University of Alberta are examining the…

Trump signs order backing psychedelic research

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-trump-psychedelic.html

Published: April 20, 2026 19:20

Psychedelic drugs could soon play a larger role in mental health care. Over the weekend, President Donald Trump signed an executive order aimed at boosting federal research into substances like psilocybin, LSD and MDMA and expanding their use in controlled…