Cancer diagnoses directly affect treatment decisions and prognosis and can even have life-altering consequences. Traditional pathological diagnosis primarily relies on pathologists examining and analysing tissue slides under a microscope and making judgements based on their professional experience. In recent years, the application of artificial intelligence (AI) in pathology diagnosis (pathology AI) has advanced rapidly, helping to improve diagnostic efficiency and support clinical decision-making. However, many existing AI models still lack a complete and verifiable mechanism to ensure the reliability of diagnostic outcomes, limiting the application of such technology in high-stakes clinical settings.

The first days after childbirth are emotionally and physically demanding, yet not all mothers feel equally prepared to care for their newborns. Researchers from Wroclaw Medical University studied 200 women during the first 48–72 hours after delivery and found that maternal anxiety and psychological flexibility were much stronger predictors of perceived readiness for newborn care than postpartum pain or routine physiological changes. The study also showed that readiness to breastfeed does not necessarily mean readiness for around-the-clock newborn care. The findings suggest that a brief assessment of maternal anxiety and perceived readiness could help healthcare professionals identify women who may benefit from additional support during the early postpartum period.

In a rare pair of papers published back-to-back in the journal Genes & Development, research teams led by senior author Anindya Bagchi, PhD, associate professor in the Cancer Genome and Epigenetics Program at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, establish a unified framework that governs one of cancer’s most powerful master regulators.

A nearly $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation will allow University of Houston researchers to investigate how mutation rates evolve across species — work that could offer critical insights into cancer progression and antibiotic resistance.

Researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center found that, in preclinical models of colorectal cancer, tumors can start damaging peripheral nerves before chemotherapy begins. These findings suggest tumor-related inflammation and changes to fat metabolism could damage the protective coating around nerves, disrupting signals and potentially making them more vulnerable to treatment-induced peripheral neuropathy, or nerve damage.

In a study published on August 19 in Science Translational Medicine, Columbia Engineering professor Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic and her team report the development of a multi-organ chip that mimics how cancer cells spread from vascular flow to distant organs, the first model of cancer metastasis of its kind.

Researchers at Nagoya University in Japan in collaboration with FUJIFILM have developed a novel way of delivering circular RNA (cirRNA) into cells, paving way for longer-lasting mRNA-based therapeutics including cancer vaccines and GLP-1 obesity treatments.