EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-May-2025 15:09 ET (6-May-2025 19:09 GMT/UTC)

Using age, sex, and race-specific standards could reclassify many thyroid disease diagnoses

American College of Physicians
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A cross-sectional analysis of adults examined how newly identified age-, sex-, and race-specific reference intervals for thyroid function diagnostic tests reclassify people into different disease categories compared with current reference intervals.

Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine

Pharmacies excluded from preferred networks face much higher risk of closure

University of Southern California
Peer-Reviewed Publication

The study is the first to examine how substantial growth of preferred pharmacy networks maintained by PBMs may have contributed to the struggles of retail pharmacies.

Journal: Health Affairs
Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging

New health assessment tool gauges body’s biological age

University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A novel health-assessment tool uses eight metrics derived from people's physical exam and routine lab tests to characterize their biological ages as well as the age of their individual organ systems. It may be able to predict a person’s risk of disability and death better than current health predictors. The method, called the Health Octo Tool, might make it possible to identify new factors that affect aging, and to design interventions that prolong life.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging

New study highlights mental health challenges among Ecuadorian healthcare providers during COVID-19

Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc.
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A recent study conducted by researchers from Universidad San Francisco de Quito and Johns Hopkins University has revealed critical insights into the mental health of healthcare providers in Ecuador during the COVID-19 pandemic. Published in journal Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, this research examines the balance between compassion satisfaction, burnout, and secondary traumatic stress among healthcare professionals working in public institutions across Ecuador, a low-and middle-income country.

Journal: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Biological ‘clocks’ key to muscle health and accelerated ageing in shift workers

King's College London
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Muscle cells contain their own circadian clocks and disrupting them with shift work can have a profound impact on ageing, according to new research.

New molecular label could lead to simpler, faster tuberculosis tests

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Peer-Reviewed Publication

MIT chemists found a way to identify a complex sugar molecule in the cell walls of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the world’s deadliest pathogen. This labeling could lead to simpler, faster TB tests.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, National Science Foundation, Croucher Fellowship

Certain traits in romantic partners can amplify the impact of a person’s genetic risk for alcohol problems

Virginia Commonwealth University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research led by VCU and Rutgers University provides new insights into how the people we love affect our health.

Journal: Clinical Psychological Science

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