EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - Home

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Jun-2026 19:15 ET (20-Jun-2026 23:15 GMT/UTC)

Study finds major gaps in dementia care across Mississippi

University of Mississippi
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Some 80% of Mississippi counties have no adult day service centers, and even counties that do have centers cannot meet the needs of people with dementia and their caregivers, a new University of Mississippi-led study indicates.

Journal: Journal of Applied Gerontology

New study finds low-dose eye drops successful in managing adult myopia for 24 hours

University of Houston
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Groundbreaking research from the University of Houston shows that a single low-dose atropine eye drop can produce daylong effects in managing myopia, or nearsightedness, which affects roughly one-third of U.S. adults.

Journal: Eye and Vision

Climate change increases spillover risk of rodent-borne arenaviruses

University of California - Davis
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Climate change is likely to drive rodent-borne arenaviruses into parts of South America that have never faced these diseases, putting new communities at risk, finds a UC Davis study.

Journal: npj Viruses
Funder: Wellcome Trust

Grant backs early-career research on metabolism and food choices

Virginia Tech
Grant and Award Announcement

A Virginia Tech research scientists with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, has been awarded a National Institutes of Health Mentored Research Scientist Development Award to study how metabolic health influences the brain systems that shape what and how we eat. The four-year award will support her research into how obesity and insulin resistance affect reward learning and decision-making in the human brain.

Jonathan H. Whiteson, MD, named chair of NYU Langone Health’s Rusk Rehabilitation

NYU Langone Health / NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Business Announcement

NYU Langone Health has appointed Jonathan H. Whiteson, MD, a nationally recognized leader in physical medicine and rehabilitation, as chair of Rusk Rehabilitation, one of the top-ranked centers of its kind in the nation.

UC Santa Cruz receives California Department of Fish and Wildlife funding to assess health of state’s streams

University of California - Santa Cruz
Grant and Award Announcement

* The project will use environmental DNA (eDNA)—traces of genetic material left behind by organisms—to understand the health of streams throughout California and assess impacts from land use and climate change.

* This work will combine advanced machine learning and geospatial data with the on-the-ground efforts of hundreds of volunteer community scientists.

* The project will launch an open-source, low-cost cloud platform so that Indigenous tribes, land managers, watershed groups, and local agencies have the tools to evaluate stream conditions and monitor biodiversity.

Funder: California Department of Fish and Wildlife

Dads are dying after their kids are born, and no one is tracking it

Northwestern University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While maternal deaths are closely tracked, paternal mortality is rarely examined. Research shows fathers — particularly men in their 20s through early 40s — die disproportionately from preventable causes such as suicide, overdose, homicide and accidental injury. Yet paternal mortality is rarely examined in connection to the transition to parenthood. A new Northwestern University study examined paternal mortality data in Georgia and found 60% of deaths were from potentially preventable causes like homicide, accidental injury, suicide, which the study authors call a "huge missed opportunity." The study includes Georgia data only, and the reason is because studying these trends nationally is difficult because of how data is collected and de-identified. The study authors hope the findings will prompt other states to analyze their own data to better understand paternal mortality at a state level and work collectively to create a system to analyze this important national trend.

Journal: JAMA Pediatrics

Cognitive decline and household firearm storage among older adults

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: This study found that unsecure firearm storage was more common among those with subjective cognitive decline than among those without, although this observation may be driven by differences in storage status by sex, age, veteran status, and presence of children in the home. Existing clinical guidance recommends assessing firearm access and promoting secure storage for patients with cognitive symptoms; the results of this study suggest these recommendations are not yet reflected in household practices.

Journal: JAMA Internal Medicine

Treatment of anxiety for adults in primary care settings

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: Clinicians should recognize common anxiety presentations and understand how to differentiate between anxiety and other psychiatric or medical conditions. Referring patients to behavioral health specialists for cognitive-behavioral therapy and/or prescribing recommended pharmacotherapy with Collaborative Care Management can help to reduce patient morbidity and improve functioning.

Journal: JAMA Internal Medicine