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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 31-May-2026 16:15 ET (31-May-2026 20:15 GMT/UTC)

Feeling the urge: Motor and emotional crosstalk for tic generation

Kobe University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While tics have been considered to result from an aberrant function of the brain’s motor cortex, a Kobe University mouse study has now discovered a connection to the brain’s emotional functions. The result promises a new avenue of research on treatments for Tourette syndrome.

Journal: Cell Reports
Funder: Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Taiju Life Social Welfare Foundation, Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development

Unraveling the genomic roots of Indigenous peoples

Spanish National Research Council (CSIC)
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Published in Nature, the study includes 128 complete genomes and reveals over one million new genetic variants, uncovering a unique genetic diversity with implications for evolution and health.

For the first time, the team has characterized the final migratory wave to South America, 1,300 years ago, and revealed the origin of these populations, with Y-chromosomal ancestry (“Ypykuéra”).

Journal: Nature

Physicians pay the price for taking parental leave, increasing their workload in early pregnancy and returning soon after childbirth

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Physicians experiencing pregnancy often maintained or increased their workload in the first and second trimesters, then reduced it in the third. The study also found that surgeons returned to work sooner than other specialties after childbirth—typically within about 19 weeks.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Digital reminiscence app could reduce grief and improve relationships between dementia patients and caregivers

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A web tool designed to spark reminiscence could help people with dementia and their caregivers feel more connected to each other and less impacted by feelings of pre-death grief, according to a clinical trial co-led by USC and Weill Cornell Medicine published in JAMA Network Open.

With features such as photo albums, autobiographical questions, and journaling prompts, the Living Memory Home for Dementia Care Pairs (LMH-4-DCP) website is a customizable virtual space that facilitates collaborative and interactive reminiscence therapy for both dementia patients and caregivers, said lead author Francesca Falzarano, assistant professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Patients with higher markers of marginalization more likely to rely on emergency departments for concussion care, study finds

Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Patients experiencing higher levels of socioeconomic marginalization and without established family physicians were more likely to seek initial concussion care in hospital emergency departments (EDs) rather than outpatient settings. These patients, particularly those without family physicians, were also significantly less likely to receive follow-up care within 30 days of their first visit.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Cascade of care for opioid use disorder among Medicaid beneficiaries

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This cross-sectional study found a substantial increase in the percentage of individuals with opioid use disorder who received medications for opioid use disorder among almost all states. The increase in medications for opioid use disorder use may have contributed to reductions in overdose deaths, but more research is needed.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Midlife fitness linked to longer, healthier lives

American College of Cardiology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

How fit you are in midlife may help determine not just how long you live, but how many of those years are spent in good health, according to a new study published today in the JACC, the flagship journal of the American College of Cardiology.

Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Shriners Children’s names world-renowned pediatric surgeon Scott H. Kozin M.D. as Chief Medical Officer

Shriners Hospitals for Children
Business Announcement

Shriners Children’s has named internationally renowned pediatric hand surgeon Scott H. Kozin, M.D. as its Chief Medical Officer, tapping a globally recognized innovator to lead the nonprofit healthcare system through its next phase of growth and medical advancement.

New understanding of heart regeneration

Universitatsklinikum Bonn
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Bonn, 22 April 2026 – Until now, there have been few therapeutic options for children with severely reduced heart pump function. Recently, surgical constriction of the pulmonary artery has been introduced as an innovative approach to deliberately “train” the heart. Researchers at the University Hospital Bonn (UKB) and the University of Bonn investigated the underlying biological mechanisms of this approach. Using a mouse model, they demonstrated that pressure overload in the early neonatal heart triggers regenerative mechanisms in both ventricles, which increases the number of heart muscle and vascular cells. The results of the study have now been published in the American Heart Association journal "Circulation."

Journal: Circulation