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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 26-Oct-2026 03:16 ET (26-Oct-2026 07:16 GMT/UTC)

HKUMed finds video-based peer support boosts breastfeeding rates and maternal confidence

The University of Hong Kong
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A research team from the School of Nursing at the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) has found that video-call support from trained peer mothers helped first-time mothers breastfeed more successfully. Among mothers who received this support, the study revealed a 42.6% relative increase in the number of mothers exclusively breastfeeding their babies at two months after birth, along with greater confidence in breastfeeding. This is the first-of-its-kind randomised clinical trial in Hong Kong to evaluate video-call-based peer support for breastfeeding and is also one of the first trials globally to rigorously examine the effectiveness of this digital approach in improving breastfeeding outcomes. The research findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

HKUMed discovers new glioblastoma targets through landmark brain cancer research with Hong Kong Genome Institute

The University of Hong Kong
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Researchers from the Clinical Neuroscience Consortium (CNC), a collaborative platform jointly established by the LKS Faculty of Medicine of the University of Hong Kong (HKUMed) and Queen Mary Hospital, in collaboration with the Hong Kong Genome Institute (HKGI), have achieved a major breakthrough in brain cancer research by developing the most comprehensive map to date of isoform diversity in glioblastoma, the most common and aggressive form of brain cancer in adults. Using advanced long-read single-cell sequencing, the team uncovered thousands of previously unknown tumour-specific genetic isoforms that had remained invisible to conventional approaches. The discovery reveals a new source of potential therapeutic targets, including candidates that could be harnessed for future personalised cancer vaccines and immunotherapies. The findings were published in Nature Communications.

Journal: Nature Communications

Cai Zhigang/Xie Shang/Shan Xiaofeng Team: Decoding the “cellular disguise” of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma metastasis through precision omics.

Science China Press
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma often progresses through metastasis, yet its cellular basis remains unclear. This study maps the pan-metastatic landscape of HNSCC and identifies a WDR54-driven cell identity reshaping axis. WDR54 epigenetically activates TGF-β-mediated pEMT, enhancing invasion, immune evasion and metastatic potential, offering new insight into prognosis and precision therapy.

Journal: Science Bulletin

Act now on microplastic risks, businesses urged

University of Technology Sydney
Reports and Proceedings

Businesses must prepare for the wave of consumer concern around microplastics pollution amid the global push for increased regulation, disclosure and change.

Why life's hardships may make conspiracy theories more appealing

University of Nottingham
Peer-Reviewed Publication

People who experience greater hardship throughout their lives may become more susceptible to conspiracy theories when those experiences lead them to see the world as fundamentally unfair, according to new research.

Journal: British Journal of Psychology

Almost half of child mental health patients need adult care too

University of Edinburgh
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Four in ten children who attend Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) in Scotland go on to attend specialist psychiatric services as adults, according to new research.

Journal: European Child & Adolescent Psychiatry

Dementia after age 90

University of California - Davis Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study of people over 90 years old finds significant dementia risk disparities between genders and racial and ethnic groups

Journal: The Lancet Healthy Longevity

Workers’ pesticide exposure linked to 60-70% heightened motor neuron disease risk

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Workplace exposure to pesticides (herbicides and insecticides) is linked to a 60-70% heightened risk of the most common form of motor neuron disease—amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS for short, finds a synthesis of the available evidence, published online in Occupational & Environmental Medicine.

Journal: Occupational and Environmental Medicine

Erectile dysfunction drug used to treat enlarged prostate symptoms may raise glaucoma risk

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

An erectile dysfunction drug that is also used to treat symptoms like sudden urgency and frequency, which are associated with an enlarged prostate in men, may heighten the risk of the serious eye condition, glaucoma, finds a large comparative study published online in the British Journal of Ophthalmology.

Journal: British Journal of Ophthalmology