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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 12-Jun-2026 19:16 ET (12-Jun-2026 23:16 GMT/UTC)

HKUMed study reveals low immunity against H3N2 strain in Hong Kong; early vaccination urged

The University of Hong Kong
Reports and Proceedings

Flu activity has surged in many parts of the Northern Hemisphere, driven primarily by a newly emerged H3N2 strain known as ‘subclade K’. A research team led by the Department of Microbiology and the Department of Medicine, both under the School of Clinical Medicine at the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed), has found that most hospital patients in Hong Kong have little to undetectable levels of neutralising antibodies against this mutated strain. HKUMed researchers strongly advise the public to get vaccinated as soon as possible.

HKU lecturer wins Gold Award in QS Reimagine Education Awards 2025

The University of Hong Kong
Grant and Award Announcement

An innovative teaching project led by Mr Ki Sum Samson Wong, Assistant Lecturer in the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit of the School of Clinical Medicine, LKS Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong (HKU), has recently won a Gold Award in the Nurturing Wellbeing and Purpose category at QS (Quacquarelli Symonds) Reimagine Education Awards 2025. Mr Wong’s teaching initiative was the only Hong Kong-based entry to receive a Gold-level Award at this year’s QS Reimagine Education Awards and Conference held in London on December 1-3, 2025.

Study finds SGLT-2 inhibitors linked to lower risk of diabetic foot nerve damage

American College of Physicians
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A large population-based study found that adults with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who start treatment with sodium–glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT-2) inhibitors have a slightly lower risk of developing diabetic foot problems compared to those taking glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists.

Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine

Anorexia nervosa may result in long-term skeletal muscle impairment

University of Arkansas
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A study published in the Journal of Nutritional Physiology suggests that muscle impairment persists even after weight recovery from anorexia nervosa.

Journal: The Journal of Nutritional Physiology

Study examines how the last two respiratory pandemics rapidly spread through cities

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Public health researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health used computer modeling to reconstruct how the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic and the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic unfolded in the U.S. The findings highlight the rapid spread of pandemic respiratory pathogens and the challenges of early outbreak containment. The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, is the first to comprehensively compare the spatial transmission of the last two respiratory pandemics in the U.S. at the metropolitan scale.

Journal: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Princeton Catalysis Initiative, Princeton Precision Health, High Meadows Environmental Institute

Bats identified as origin of unexplained acute respiratory illness and encephalitis in Bangladesh

Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Infectious disease researchers have identified Pteropine orthoreovirus (PRV), an emerging bat-borne orthoreovirus, in archived throat swab samples and virus cultures from five patients in Bangladesh who were initially suspected to have Nipah virus infection but tested negative. This adds PRV to the list of zoonotic viruses detected in humans in Bangladesh and suggests that it should be considered in the differential diagnosis of Nipah-like illnesses.

Journal: Emerging Infectious Diseases
Funder: U.S. Department of Agriculture

Orgasm-related laughing, crying, nosebleeds and more are normal, albeit rare

Northwestern University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

When some women orgasm, they experience unusual physical and emotional responses such as laughing, crying, headaches, tingling, foot pain, nosebleeds and more. Known as peri-orgasmic phenomena, the responses are not related to the normal physiology of an orgasm.

A new survey-based Northwestern University study is the first to break down how frequently and consistently women experience these responses, and when they’re more likely to occur (i.e. with a partner or during masturbation).

While the study found these responses are rare — only 2.3% of the sample — the findings are necessary to raise awareness and help reassure women these responses are within the realm of a normal sexual response, the study authors said.

Journal: Journal of Women s Health

As flu cases surge, why don’t more people vaccinate?

Cornell University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

As flu outbreaks increase, why are people getting vaccinated at lower rates, seemingly against their self-interest? A Cornell University psychology professor argues in new research that scholars of rational decision-making and many public health professionals have misunderstood how people make such decisions: based less on raw facts than intuition about them, and how that “gist” aligns with their core values.

Journal: Behavioral Sciences

RNA splicing and processing emerge as central features of human aging across tissues

Impact Journals LLC
Peer-Reviewed Publication

BUFFALO, NY — January 5, 2026 — A new research paper featured as the cover of Volume 17, Issue 12 of Aging-US was published on December 22, 2025, titled “A combination of differential expression and network connectivity analyses identifies a common set of RNA splicing and processing genes altered with age across human tissues.”

Journal: Aging-US