New Orleans, LA, (January 21, 2026) - A research team led by Dr. Rinku Majumder from LSU Health New Orleans has published a groundbreaking study in the prestigious Journal of Clinical Investigation showing how obesity and estrogen-based medications (including hormonal therapies and oral contraceptives) act together to dramatically increase the thrombotic risk in premenopausal women.

Nitric oxide is a therapeutic gas that researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital, a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system, helped establish as a life-saving therapy for hundreds of thousands of newborns with congenital heart disease. Nearly 30 years later, investigators from the same laboratory at Mass General Brigham report that high-dose inhaled nitric oxide (iNO) demonstrates potential antimicrobial activity in preclinical models and is safe and feasible in early human studies, supporting further clinical investigation. The findings are published in Science Translational Medicine.

A unique study exploring popular ways to “self‑gift” has found that ordering a takeaway, or takeout, meal is a preferred treat regardless of whether people have had a good or a bad day at work.

Published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology and led by Dr Suzanna Forwood and Dr Annelie Harvey of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) in the United Kingdom, the research is the first to compare how likely people are to choose a range of food and non-food options for both self-reward and self-consolation.