Tirzepatide is one of the drugs that has revolutionized the treatment of obesity and other conditions such as diabetes in recent years. Despite its clinical success, its precise molecular and cellular mechanisms are still not fully understood. A study in mice shows that the drug has a direct impact on improving metabolism by activating brown adipose tissue, a type of fat specialized in energy expenditure. According to the researchers, these results help to better understand the mechanisms of action of tirzepatide and open up new avenues for developing more comprehensive treatments for obesity and other metabolic diseases.

American reports of individual well-being have remained relatively stable over decades, but confidence in the nation has sharply declined. James N. Druckman and colleagues analyzed long-term survey data from two National Science Foundation-supported infrastructure projects: the General Social Survey and the American National Election Studies. The analysis examined trends in economic satisfaction, health, happiness, satisfaction with democracy, affective polarization, political efficacy, and institutional confidence. 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping medicine, yet how future doctors feel about AI remain poorly understood in Japan. The newly developed 12-item attitudes towards artificial intelligence (ATTARI-12) scale has shown good validity and reliability, prompting researchers to create a Japanese version, J-ATTARI-12. Validated among medical students and residents across Japan, J-ATTARI-12 offers a structured way to understand readiness, concerns, and acceptance of AI in medical training and practice.

So-called “yo-yo dieting” confers long-term health benefits, according to a new study by Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers.

Artificial intelligence can be used to provide a more precise time of death, which can be crucial in e.g. murder investigations. The method was developed by researchers at Linköping University and the Swedish National Board of Forensic Medicine who have trained the AI model on so-called metabolites in thousands of blood samples from real deaths.

Deep in our cells, a wide range of processes are occurring constantly. These cellular processes rely on enzymes to act as catalysts and set off a series of molecular interactions. There are still many processes within the body that are not fully understood. Discovering exactly how these cellular pathways work can help researchers better understand how some diseases proliferate and develop new treatments that target part of these processes.

A research team led by the University of Waterloo is developing a novel tool to treat cancer by engineering hungry bacteria to literally eat tumours from the inside out. Bacteria spores enter the tumour, finding an environment where there are lots of nutrients and no oxygen, which this organism prefers, and so it starts eating those nutrients and growing in size.