Individuals who engaged in spirituality were significantly less likely to exhibit hazardous use of alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and illicit drugs, according to a new meta-analysis led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The meta-analysis is the first of its kind to synthesize and comprehensively estimate associations between harmful or hazardous substance use and spirituality—considered any practice, religious or otherwise, through which an individual finds ultimate meaning, purpose, and connection to something greater than themselves. 

A novel vaccination approach developed by Vanderbilt Health researchers cleared the harmful gut bacterium Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) in an animal model of infection. 

An experimental vaccine administered to the mucosal lining of the colon protected against illness, death, tissue damage and infection recurrence. The findings, reported Feb. 18 in the journal Nature, represent a major step forward for vaccine development for C. diff, the leading cause of health care- and antibiotic-associated infection.

About The Study: This meta-analysis synthesized data from 55 published longitudinal studies on spirituality and harmful or hazardous alcohol and other drug use risk and documented a significant protective association. The results of this study have implications for clinicians and communities regarding future strategies for alcohol and other drug use prevention and recovery. 

A new study, published today in JAMA Network Open and led by Cynthia Fontanella, PhD, principal investigator for the Center for Suicide Prevention and Research at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, is the first large-scale study to examine multi-level risk and protective factors for suicide among Medicaid-enrolled Black youth with a lifetime mental health diagnosis.

Why can the human immune system often remember a vaccination for a whole lifetime? Researchers at Friedrich-Alexander-Universität Erlangen-Nürnberg (FAU) and Universitätsklinikum Erlangen have now investigated this question. Their study provides a surprisingly clear answer: The immune cells responsible for immunological memory seem to switch to a type of standby mode at an early stage. They can survive for many decades in this state. The findings have now been published in the journal Nature Immunology.

(WASHINGTON – Feb. 18, 2026) – Extreme endurance running damages red blood cells in ways that may affect their ability to function properly, according to a study published in the American Society of Hematology’s journal Blood Red Cells & Iron. Although the duration and long-term implications of the damage are unclear, the study adds to a growing body of evidence that extreme forms of exercise may harm, rather than support, overall health.