EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 19-Jun-2026 13:16 ET (19-Jun-2026 17:16 GMT/UTC)

17-Jun-2026

When health matters, status doesn't

University of East London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People become much less concerned about being better off than other people when health enters the picture, according to new research.

Journal: Review of Behavioral Economics

17-Jun-2026

Movement of infants when sleeping provides insight into sleep cycles

University of Surrey
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Infants’ activity whilst sleeping is rhythmic, according to a new study from the University of Surrey. Findings provide crucial insight into sleep cycles of infants in the first year of life.

Journal: SLEEP

17-Jun-2026

Research Alert: UC San Diego study tracks shifting US smoking norms over 30 years

University of California - San Diego
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Using data from 1.5 million respondents in the Tobacco Use Supplement to the Current Population Survey, researchers created a “Willingness to Restrict Smoking” (WTRS) scale that captures how strongly people believe smoking should be restricted in public settings.

Journal: BMJ Public Health

17-Jun-2026

Individual lipid transporters under the microscope

Ruhr-University Bochum
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Conventional methods generally analyze many proteins simultaneously. The specific traits of individual protein molecules are thus often unclear. A research team led by Dr. Sarina Veit and Professor Thomas Günther-Pomorski at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, in collaboration with researchers from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York and the University of Toronto, Canada, has developed a new microscopy platform that overcomes this limitation. The method allows the simultaneous examination of hundreds of tiny membrane spheres each with a diameter of only about 200 nanometers. Each of these synthetic membrane spheres contains just one lipid transport protein. Using this method, the researchers can conduct measurements at the level of individual protein molecules. At the same time, the platform is flexible enough to be used to examine other proteins as well. The researchers report their results in the journal Nature Structural & Molecular Biology from June 15, 2026.

Journal: Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
Funder: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft

17-Jun-2026

Researchers link use of GLP-1 medications to lower risk of violence

Rutgers University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The use of GLP-1 medications commonly prescribed for weight loss or managing diabetes may have effects that extend beyond metabolic health, including on behaviors linked to violence, according to Rutgers researchers.

Their study, published in Criminology, examined whether the use of GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, influences violent criminal behavior among adults by moderating the effects of impulsivity and alcohol intake.

Journal: Criminology

17-Jun-2026

Are there rural-urban differences in use of mental health care for Veterans with serious mental illness?

Wiley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An analysis published in The Journal of Rural Health found that among US Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI), rural Veterans were somewhat more likely to have co-occurring mental health conditions than urban Veterans but were less likely to receive SMI care.

Journal: The Journal of Rural Health

17-Jun-2026

Like a miniature lunar rocket: Researchers develop modular nanorobot

University of Basel
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A team at the University of Basel, Switzerland, has developed a versatile nanorobot with propulsion and payload modules. The two reusable modules autonomously self-assemble and could be used in medicine or industry.

Journal: Advanced Functional Materials

17-Jun-2026

Finding the right target: Personalizing treatment for an aggressive asbestos-linked cancer

University of Leicester
Reports and Proceedings

A new clinical trial, led by researchers in Leicester, is investigating a new personalised treatment for patients with a rare and aggressive form of cancer, potentially giving them more time with their loved ones.

Funder: NIHR Leicester Biomedical Research Centre

17-Jun-2026

Microbes frozen in ancient rubbish heaps help reconstruct ancient Greenlanders’ farms, seal hunts, and toilets

Frontiers
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers studied the microbes associated with historical middens conserved in Greenland’s permafrost, left behind by Paleo-Inuit, ancient Norse, and early modern Inuit. These middens harbored biodiverse bacterial communities – including many unknown taxa – that were especially rich in human- and animal-associated groups. The authors concluded that microbial traces of human activities such as defecation, livestock farming, and seal hunting can linger for centuries in Arctic middens. They also found a wide range of antimicrobial resistance genes in the bacterial genomes. However, the limited outward spread of potential pathogens away from the frozen core of the middens means that they currently pose little risk to public health.

Journal: Frontiers in Microbiology