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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 3-May-2026 12:15 ET (3-May-2026 16:15 GMT/UTC)

The Lancet: GLP-1 reduces heavy drinking days in treatment seeking people with alcohol use disorder and obesity, finds small trial

The Lancet
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A trial of 108 adults with obesity seeking treatment for alcohol use finds a once-weekly semaglutide injection reduced heavy drinking days in the past 30 days by an average of roughly 12 days, 50% higher than the eight day reduction seen in the placebo group. The study is published in The Lancet.

Journal: The Lancet
Funder: The Research Foundation, Mental Health Services (Capital Region of Denmark), Novo Nordisk Foundation, Novavi Foundation, Hartmann Foundation, Augustinus Foundation

Cervical cancer: A growing gap between high- and low-income countries

Université Laval
Peer-Reviewed Publication

While high-income countries like Canada could eliminate cervical cancer by 2048 through human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccination and screening, the gap with lower-income countries is widening. A study published in The Lancet by a team from Université Laval and the CHU de Québec – Université Laval Research Center shows that these inequalities could skyrocket within a few decades if nothing changes in terms of prevention.

Journal: The Lancet

Health care costs reach a breaking point

American Heart Association
Business Announcement

New American Heart Association Presidential Advisory outlines contributors to and consequences of the current health care affordability crisis, proposes five guiding principles for action by lawmakers and policymakers.

Mount Sinai experts present on PCOS and disparities in hypertensive disorders of pregnancy at 2026 ACOG Annual Clinical and Scientific Meeting

The Mount Sinai Hospital / Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Women’s health physicians and researchers share new insights on OBGYN care

Journal: Obstetrics and Gynecology

Long-term study of COVID lockdown and family life shows unexpected, lasting effects on fatherhood

University of Notre Dame
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, an ideal vision of family life would have shown that parents are continuing to share in caregiving responsibilities and spending quality time with their children — dads, in particular. Many people hoped that the behavioral changes caused by lockdowns would persist, allowing dads more time and flexibility in the long term and ultimately reshaping how we view fatherhood in general. However, according to new research from University of Notre Dame anthropologist and fatherhood expert Lee Gettler, those fathering benefits have not outlasted the pandemic itself.

Journal: PLOS One
Funder: National Science Foundation Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences, National Institute on Aging, Wenner-Gren Foundation

Novel theranostic approach for radioimmunotherapy achieves curative responses in colorectal cancer tumors

Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new pretargeted radioimmunotherapy (PRIT) technique has been shown to be safe and effective in eradicating tumors from a preclinical colorectal cancer model. The multi-step theranostic approach delivers alpha-emitting radiation directly to tumors while limiting exposure to healthy tissues. This research was published in the May issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine.

Journal: Journal of Nuclear Medicine

UT San Antonio awarded $44 million NIH contract to advance landmark RURAL Cohort Study

The University of Texas at San Antonio Health Science Center
Grant and Award Announcement

The University of Texas at San Antonio has been awarded a five-year, $44 million contract from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health for a landmark Risk Underlying Rural Areas Longitudinal (RURAL) Cohort Study focused on persistent health challenges in the rural South.

Liquid biopsy predicts response to breast cancer immunotherapy

Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Peer-Reviewed Publication

This minimally invasive and cost-effective alternative to tissue biopsy offers “an accessible tool for tailoring treatment strategies in breast cancer,” researchers reported in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

Journal: Science Translational Medicine
Funder: Department of Defense Era of Hope Award, Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Breast Cancer Research — Atwater Trust, Stand Up To Cancer, California Breast Cancer Research Program, Give Breast Cancer the Boot

Severe narcolepsy found to damage a second brain region

University of California - Los Angeles Health Sciences
Peer-Reviewed Publication

For nearly 25 years, scientists believed they knew what caused the most severe form of narcolepsy. A new UCLA Health study now suggests they were only half correct. In a study published in Nature Communications, UCLA Health researchers discovered that narcolepsy with sudden loss of muscle strength, known as cataplexy, involves degeneration of neurons in not one, but two regions of the brain. Using a combination of postmortem brains and animal models, UCLA researchers found degeneration of neurons in a second critical region located on the brainstem known as the locus coeruleus. This small but important cluster of cells produces norepinephrine, a neurotransmitter involved in arousal and the regulation of muscle tone.

Journal: Nature Communications

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