A new study from the Keck School of Medicine of USC reveals subtle but widespread differences in the brain's communication networks in people with bipolar disorder — and how those differences relate to illness severity and treatment. In the largest diffusion MRI network analysis of bipolar disorder to date, researchers analyzed brain scans from 449 people with bipolar disorder and 510 healthy controls across 16 international research sites through the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group. Using a network-based approach, they found that people with bipolar disorder had less densely connected brain networks, lower communication efficiency, and longer routes for information exchange compared to healthy controls. The most pronounced differences appeared in circuits involved in emotion regulation, reward processing, and self-reflection. The study also found that longer illness duration, history of psychosis, and number of manic episodes were each linked to distinct patterns of network disruption. Published in Biological Psychiatry, the findings provide a framework for understanding bipolar disorder at the level of brain systems rather than isolated regions — an essential step toward more personalized, biologically informed approaches to care.

New historical research has found that early stagecoach passengers were as concerned with motion sickness as they were with the risk of being robbed by highwaymen.

People who wore a cooling cap for 30 minutes experienced reduced depressive symptoms and increases in alpha brain waves, according to a new study by Penn State researchers.

New research found that extreme heat is already influencing how people with cancer manage daily life, access care, and make treatment-related decisions. The study highlights the need to integrate environmental risk into cancer care planning, from clinical conversations and appointment planning to caregiver guidance and community support.

A common concern for accepting immigrants is their effect on the host country’s welfare system. In a redistributive welfare system, where immigrants participate in the healthcare system, natives are inclined towards accepting high-income immigrants. A new study explores this question through a novel survey experiment, establishing a causal link between the perception of immigrants’ participation in the healthcare system and preferences towards different types of immigrants.

Nanjing University researchers report a breakthrough siRNA delivery strategy that transforms the liver into a "biopharmaceutical factory" for targeted cancer therapy. The team developed an In Vivo Self-Assembled (IVSA) system that uses intravenously injected plasmid DNA to program hepatocytes to produce and package EGFR-targeting siRNA into GE11-tagged small extracellular vesicles. These "biomissiles" selectively deliver therapeutic siRNA to EGFR-positive tumors, overcoming the long-standing siRNA delivery challenge without complex in vitro encapsulation. The system demonstrated potent efficacy across EGFR-mutant lung cancer, gastric cancer, and breast cancer models, outperforming traditional targeted drugs while showing minimal off-target toxicity. This plug-and-play platform represents a paradigm shift from conventional drug manufacturing to in vivo biopharmaceutical production, offering a modular, cost-effective approach for personalized cancer gene therapy.