EurekAlert! National Institutes of Health

Latest news releases from NIH-funded organizations

Funded Research News

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 6-Dec-2025 16:11 ET (6-Dec-2025 21:11 GMT/UTC)

2-Dec-2025

Iron-deficient diet prevents lung cells from fighting the flu

Columbia University Irving Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Columbia researchers found that iron-deficient mice with influenza were unable to produce a key immune protein in the lungs that helps fight infections, even when iron levels returned to normal.

Journal: Journal of Immunology
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

2-Dec-2025

Your pain meds' side effects may be masquerading as heart failure

University of California - San Francisco
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Clinicians may fail to recognize common side effects of drugs like gabapentin — which are frequently prescribed for nerve pain — leading them to prescribe unnecessary medications that cause yet more side effects. This phenomenon, known as a “prescribing cascade,” is increasingly seen as a danger to older patients.

Journal: JAMA Network Open
Funder: NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Institute on Aging, NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS), VA Center for Medication Safety in Aging, VA National Center for Patient Safety

2-Dec-2025

Language mixing has no negative effect on toddlers’ vocabulary development, Concordia research shows

Concordia University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Research by the Concordia Infant Research Lab finds that toddlers raised in bilingual or multilingual homes show no negative effect on vocabulary development from language mixing.

Even when parents switch languages mid-sentence, children learn words equally well as those exposed to a single language.

The study, based on data from nearly 400 Montreal children, concludes mixing can be a neutral or even helpful communicative tool — not a barrier — for early vocabulary growth.

Journal: Behavioral Science
Funder: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, NIH/National Institutes of Health

2-Dec-2025

New technique maps genetic variants driving neurodegenerative disease risk

Penn State
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine developed a new method that better maps genetic variants that can lead to brain diseases. The approach identified 75% more relevant genes and uncovered new therapeutic targets for conditions like Alzheimer’s and ALS.

Journal: Nature Communications
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health

2-Dec-2025

An overlooked hormone eyed as deadly driver of postmenopausal breast cancer in women with obesity

Georgetown University Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new analysis of research into the most common type of breast cancer has zeroed in on an overlooked hormone that may be responsible for the increased risk of breast cancer death in post-menopausal women with obesity. It also raises the possibility that treatment of these aggressive breast cancers could be improved with addition of weight-loss drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Journal: Nature Reviews Endocrinology
Funder: NIH/National Cancer Institute, Breast Cancer Research Foundation