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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 12:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 16:16 GMT/UTC)

Lonely? Socially isolated? It may cost you six healthy years of life.

Tulane University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Loneliness and social isolation are linked to a range of serious health problems, but their overall toll on healthy life has been hard to quantify until now. In a first-of-its-kind study published in Nature Communications, Tulane University researchers analyzed data from 277,489 UK Biobank adults tracked for more than a decade. They found men experiencing both loneliness and social isolation lost up to six years free from depression and anxiety. Women, meanwhile, lost roughly four fewer years.

Journal: Nature Communications

Penn Medicine at the 2026 ASTRO Annual Meeting

University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine
Reports and Proceedings

Penn Medicine experts are participating in the ASTRO Annual Meeting, where Neha Vapiwala, MD, will wrap up her term as president of the organization.

Meeting: American Society for Radiation Oncology Annual Meeting

Strength training causes fat cells to shrink even before weight loss

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study with mice conducted at the State University of Campinas shows that seven days of strength training were sufficient to activate lipid breakdown mechanisms.

Journal: Life Sciences
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

From single PFAS molecules to microplastics

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

PFAS, otherwise known as forever chemicals, have become commonplace in numerous everyday and industrial products. At the same time, they are some of the most problematic pollutants of our times: They are extremely durable, accumulate in the environment and in organisms and can only be removed from water with difficulty. A team of researchers from FAU, Uniklinikum Erlangen and the Bavarian Health and Food Safety Authority led by Prof. Dr. Marcus Halik from the Chair of Polymer Materials at FAU have developed a procedure to efficiently remove a wide range of different PFAS from water using functionalized magnetic nanoparticles. They have now published their findings in the journal “Materials Today”.

Journal: Materials Today

Pregnancy after CAR T-cell therapy

Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Autoimmune diseases such as systemic lupus erythematosus mainly affect young women, often in a phase of their lives where they would like to have children. The diseases themselves or the immunosuppressive drugs required to treat them make pregnancy difficult or can even make it temporarily impossible to get pregnant. CAR T-cell therapy can provide a decisive advantage for these young women, since it can halt progression of the disease in the long term. An international study led by Prof. Dr. Georg Schett (Director of the Department of Medicine 3 – Rheumatology and Immunology at Uniklinikum Erlangen and Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg) shows for the first time that after successful CAR T-cell therapy, women with autoimmune diseases can experience normal pregnancies without complications and give birth to healthy babies. The findings have now been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Journal: New England Journal of Medicine

Insilico Medicine to present first-in-human data for AI-designed pan-TEAD inhibitor ISM6331 at ESMO 2026

InSilico Medicine
Meeting Announcement

Insilico Medicine will present the first clinical findings for ISM6331, its AI-designed pan-TEAD inhibitor, during a Rapid Oral session at the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) Congress 2026, taking place October 23–27 in Madrid. The presentation will report initial safety, pharmacokinetic and antitumor findings from a global, multicenter Phase I study in patients with mesothelioma and other advanced solid tumors.

Designed with support from Insilico’s generative chemistry platform Chemistry42, ISM6331 is an investigational oral small molecule that inhibits all four TEAD family transcription factors, disrupting tumor-promoting signals associated with Hippo pathway dysregulation. The program has received U.S. FDA Orphan Drug Designation and Fast Track Designation for mesothelioma.

ISM6331 reflects Insilico’s strategy of using AI to develop precisely designed medicines against difficult-to-treat, age-associated diseases. The presentation will take place Sunday, October 25, from 8:30–10:00 a.m. CEST in the Cordoba Auditorium – Hall 4.

Study reveals how repeated exposures may make allergies worse

Brigham and Women's Hospital
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new preclinical study led by investigators from Mass General Brigham offers a potential explanation for two longstanding questions in allergy: why do allergies often emerge only after repeated exposure, and why do people with one allergy frequently develop others? The findings are published in Immunity.

Journal: Immunity
Funder: Food Allergy Science Initiative, Massachusetts General Hospital Howard M. Goodman Fellowship, Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation, Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation Fellowship

DNL343 and disease progression in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About the Study: In this randomized clinical trial, despite the relevance of the eIF2b activation pathway in ALS disease biology and supporting evidence of proof of mechanism and optimal dose selection in a prior phase 1B ALS clinical trial, 200-mg/d DNL343 did not show evidence of slowing disease progression in ALS, highlighting the need for alternative therapeutic approaches.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Emory Goizueta Brain Health Institute part of nationwide NIH study on links between environmental factors and Alzheimer's disease

Emory Health Sciences
Grant and Award Announcement

Emory is helping lead a $30.9 million NIH-funded study examining how lifelong environmental and social exposures influence Alzheimer’s disease, unlocking new paths for prevention and brain health.