Radboudumc researchers and international collaborators analyzed cerebrospinal fluid from over 1,000 tuberculous meningitis patients in Vietnam and Indonesia, identifying metabolic markers linked to mortality. They found that ten metabolites, especially hydroxylated fatty acids, predicted poor outcomes regardless of HIV status or disease severity. The findings highlight dysregulated β-oxidation as a key factor in disease progression, pointing to new directions for targeted therapies.

A National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded study by researchers from Johns Hopkins Medicine, the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and The Johns Hopkins University Whiting School of Engineering finds that neutrophils — the most abundant type of white blood cells in humans — may be altered by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, to cease their normal function of destroying pathogens in the body and, instead, significantly inhibit other immune cells critical for fighting the virus. 

Mongolia’s vast landscape, coupled with a Soviet-era healthcare legacy, has created sharp contrasts in healthcare between cities and rural areas. In a recent study, researchers from Japan explored the challenges and strengths of Mongolia’s healthcare, including topics, such as universal coverage, traditional medicine, and professional development. They also pointed to gaps in rural access and disease prevention strategies and proposed culturally aware, partnership-based solutions to help improve care across the country.

Mass General Brigham-led randomized trial suggests vitamin D can protect against telomere shortening, which is linked to risk of age-related disease  

The smallest grooves on the brain's surface, unique to humans, have largely been ignored by anatomists, but recent studies show that they're related to cognitive performance, including face recognition and reasoning ability. A new UC Berkeley study shows that the depths of these tertiary sulci are also linked to increased interconnectedness between areas of the brain associated with reasoning and high-level cognitive functions. The sulci may decrease the length of neural connections, improving communication efficiency.