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Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 27-Oct-2026 06:16 ET (27-Oct-2026 10:16 GMT/UTC)

HKU unveils innovative portable AI optical sensing device for rapid, non-invasive cancer risk detection

The University of Hong Kong
Grant and Award Announcement

Professor Chi Ming Che, Zhou Guangzhao Professor in Natural Sciences and Chair Professor of Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, The University of Hong Kong (HKU), and the Laboratory for Synthetic Chemistry and Chemical Biology Limited (LSCCB), and Dr Wei Liu, Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, HKU, and LSCCB, have developed an innovative portable AI-enabled optical sensing device that enables rapid, non-invasive cancer risk detection using just a saliva sample. This innovative technology integrates advanced chemical sensing with artificial intelligence and was awarded a Gold Medal with Congratulations of the Jury at the 51st International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva (2026), recognising its scientific excellence and strong potential for practical application.

AI-assisted MRI workflow enables real-time spine positioning and analysis in multicenter study

Research
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new study published in Research describes a deep-learning system designed to assist lumbar spine MRI at the point of image acquisition rather than only after scanning. The system, named Lumbar VNet Pro (LVP), was embedded directly into the MRI workflow and evaluated in a multicenter clinical setting. According to the study, the platform supports automated anatomical localization, scan-plane optimization, and real-time structural analysis during MRI scanning, offering a possible route toward more standardized and intelligent imaging workflows.

Journal: Research
Funder: National Natural Science Foundation of China, Guangdong Provincial People’s Hospital Full-time High-level Talent Introduction Foundation, Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou, Science and Technology Program of Guangzhou—Key Project, Guangdong Natural Science Foundation, Scientific Research Fund of the Medical Equipment Society of Guangdong Province, Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation, Presidential Foundation of Zhujiang Hospital, Southern Medical University, Clinical Medicine Special Fund Project of the Zhejiang Medical Association, President’s fund of Nanfang Hospital, Science and Technology Projects of Guangzhou, Provincial Training Program of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for Undergraduates

Refugees reveal hidden trauma of life in the UK

University of East Anglia
Peer-Reviewed Publication

From relentless cycles of intrusive memories to loneliness and physical pain - a new study reveals the struggles of refugees who entered the UK as unaccompanied minors. Researchers interviewed refugees who fled Afghanistan as children and endured family separation, human rights abuses, and violence. Their stories show years of silent suffering, human resilience, and the need for social connection.

Journal: Transcultural Psychiatry

New drug approval pathway benefits industry over patients, argues expert

BMJ Group
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new UK drug approval pathway, designed to speed up the availability of new medicines, benefits industry over patients and the NHS, argues an expert in The BMJ today.

Journal: The BMJ

Semaglutide effective for severe obesity even in young people who have been treatment resistant for many years, finds randomised controlled trial

European Association for the Study of Obesity
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A weekly dose of semaglutide (2.4 mg) leads to a clinically significant reduction in body mass index (BMI) and related health outcomes in young adults with severe obesity who are treatment resistant following hospital-based non-pharmacological obesity care during childhood, according to a randomised controlled trial being presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO) in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May).

Meeting: European Congress on Obesity 2026 (ECO2026)

Study shows that people who gain the most weight are at more than double the risk of certain cancers

European Association for the Study of Obesity
Reports and Proceedings

New research presented at this year’s European Congress on Obesity (ECO 2026) in Istanbul, Turkey (12-15 May) shows that people who gain the highest amount of weight across adulthood are at greatly increased risk of certain obesity related cancers. The study is by Associate Professor Anton Nilsson and Associate Professor Tanja Stocks, Department of Translational Medicine, Lund University, Malmö, Sweden, and colleagues.

Meeting: European Congress on Obesity 2026 (ECO2026)

Global hypertension study finds fight against high blood pressure falling short

Tulane University
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new global analysis by Tulane University found that high blood pressure remains a stubborn and deadly silent epidemic whose burden on public health systems has only increased in the past 20 years, particularly in countries least equipped to address it. Hypertension — the world’s leading preventable cause of premature death — now affects about 1.7 billion adults. Nearly 90% of the increase in adults with hypertension has occurred in low- and middle-income countries.

Journal: Journal of the American College of Cardiology

Red meat: Evolution’s double-edged sword

University of Chicago Press Journals
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A new interdisciplinary review published in The Quarterly Review of Biology argues that red meat, once an essential component of human evolution, has become a significant threat to human health and planetary sustainability. Juston Jaco, Kalyan Banda, Ajit Varki, and Pascal Gagneux, synthesize roughly three million years of hominin dietary history alongside modern epidemiological and molecular data to posit that the food source that likely shaped our species is now contributing to its undoing.

Journal: The Quarterly Review of Biology

Even at low concentrations in the air, particulate matter increases hospitalizations for kidney disease

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Peer-Reviewed Publication

In ten years, levels of this type of pollution in São Paulo, Brazil, reached more than four times the limit recommended by the World Health Organization.

Journal: Scientific Reports
Funder: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo