A new study published in The Lancet has raised urgent concerns about the global health consequences of recent cuts to U.S. foreign aid. The study, coordinated by researchers from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), together with the Institute of Collective Health of the Federal University of Bahia (ISC-UFBA), the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), and the Manhiça Centre for Health Research (CISM), among others, estimates that 91 million deaths were prevented between 2001 and 2021 in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) thanks to programs supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the largest funding agency for humanitarian and development aid worldwide. However, recent U.S. foreign aid cuts could reverse this progress and lead to more than 14 million additional deaths by 2030, including over 4.5 million children under five.

A new study in the journal Lancet Diabetes and Endocrinology (Osinga et al “Association of gestational thyroid function and thyroid autoimmunity with gestational diabetes mellitus: a systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis”) investigated a potential association between maternal thyroid function in pregnancy and risk of gestational diabetes. The study, which used data from a large sample of patients from several different studies, found low free thyroxine (FT4) levels in pregnancy was associated with increased risk of gestational diabetes (6.5% vs 3.5% in those with normal FT4 levels). However, patients with mild subclinical hypothyroidism (high thyrotropin, or TSH, and normal FT4 level) were not at increased risk of gestational diabetes.

“Since TSH is used as the screening test for thyroid dysfunction, it is unclear whether these new findings should change the current practice of thyroid function screening in pregnancy,” says Sun Young Lee MD, MSc, assistant professor of medicine at Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine in an accompanying commentary,  (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landia/article/PIIS2213-8587(25)00126-3/fulltext).

Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have found that two common types of hormone therapy may alter breast cancer risk in women before age 55. Researchers discovered that women treated with unopposed estrogen hormone therapy (E-HT) were less likely to develop the disease than those who did not use hormone therapy. They also found that women treated with estrogen plus progestin hormone therapy (EP-HT) were more likely to develop breast cancer than women who did not use hormone therapy. Together, these results could help to guide clinical recommendations for hormone therapy use among younger women.

Preliminary data from the ESHRE European IVF Monitoring (EIM) Consortium reveals a steady and progressive rise in the use of Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). In 2022, a total of 960,347 ART treatment cycles were reported by 1,371 clinics across 39 European countries, a 15.6% reduction from the 1,137,177 cycles reported in 2021.

The research revealed widespread disruptions in the activity of genes responsible for early embryonic genome activation, metabolic processes, epigenetic regulation, and chromatin structure in embryos from women with PCOS.

The study highlights how ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and gender significantly influence a child's likelihood of receiving a transplant.