A study of nearly 30,000 children finds that unpredictable, inconsistent childhood environments are a significant but often overlooked form of adversity linked to depression, anxiety, sleep disorders and other mental health challenges.

Building on years of neuroscience research by UC Irvine’s Dr. Tallie Z. Baram, the research shows that measuring the unpredictability of a child’s life can identify at-risk individuals not flagged by childhood adversity screenings alone.

The California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine, the National Institutes of Health and others funded the work.

The collaboration among UC Irvine, Laura Glynn, Ph.D., at Chapman University, Dr. Michael Weiss and Dr. Charles Golden at Rady Children’s Health, demonstrates how discoveries about brain development can be translated into practical tools that help pediatricians better support children and families.

Study of 460 US patients with type 2 diabetes shows healthy grocery deliveries to the home boost blood sugar control and food security 

Traditional and Indigenous knowledge could play a vital role in addressing some of the world's most pressing challenges, including climate change, biodiversity loss, and poor health and nutrition, according to a new review of current research.

Scientists have found that the ‘sudden’ cardiac death condition related to high profile deaths or major medical episodes of sports stars has numerous linked gene variations, or “spelling mistakes”, which highlights a potentially treatable vulnerability, according to a new study published in Nature Communications.

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of USC have identified a thymus‑derived hormone, thymulin, as a key regulator of “inflammaging,” the chronic, low‑grade inflammation that increases with age and fuels cancer and other diseases. In animal models and human blood samples, the team showed that thymulin helps keep inflammatory cytokines in check; as thymulin levels decline with age, cytokines rise, promoting tumor growth and weakening cancer immunity. Restoring thymulin in older mice reduced age‑related inflammation, improved survival, and enhanced response to anti‑PD‑1/PD‑L1 immunotherapy, pointing to a potential new strategy to boost cancer treatment in older patients. The findings, published in Nature Communications, suggest that targeting the thymus and thymulin could open new avenues for treating cancer and other age‑related diseases and underscore the importance of studying older animals to better understand diseases of aging.

Individuals with psychiatric conditions show reduced flexibility in their brain network dynamics, according to a new Rutgers study.

In an intracranial EEG study of 20 patients with drug-resistant epilepsy performing an N-back working memory task, researchers found that human white matter exhibits tract- and frequency-specific, load-dependent functional activity as well as selective cross-frequency coupling during working memory. These findings support the physiological relevance of white matter functional signals and their potential link to cognitive impairment in neurological and psychiatric disorders.