EurekAlert! News by Subject: Medicine & Health - News by Subject: Medicine & Health

Medicine & Health

Updates every hour. Last Updated: 20-Dec-2025 11:11 ET (20-Dec-2025 16:11 GMT/UTC)

Fire smoke exposure may alter the immune system, even in healthy individuals

Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Exposure to fire smoke—which can be composed of particulate matter, gases, materials from buildings such as perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), toxic metals, and carcinogenic compounds—may alter the immune system on a cellular level, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study is the first to examine the specific cellular changes associated with fire smoke exposure, documenting how smoke can damage the body through the immune system.

Journal: Nature Medicine
Funder: NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, NIH/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the San Francisco Cancer Prevention Foundation, the Asthma and Allergic Diseases Cooperative Research Center, Keck Foundation

A nutritional epigenetics study protocol indicates changes in prenatal ultra-processed food intake may reduce lead and mercury exposures to prevent autism and ADHD

Food Ingredient and Health Research Institute
Peer-Reviewed Publication

Increasing evidence supports the nutritional epigenetics model for autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders that explains how unhealthy diet contributes to the epigenetic inheritance of these disorders. An unhealthy diet characterized by excessive intake of ultra-processed foods results in heavy metal exposures and deficits in zinc that may impact metallothionein gene function. Metallothionein gene malfunction may result in the bioaccumulation of mercury and/or lead in the blood depending on diet. Nutritional epigenetics education may be used as an intervention to reduce the intake of ultra-processed foods and heavy metals in expectant mothers and prevent the development of autism and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders in children.

Journal: World Journal of Experimental Medicine

Technology and data will save lives: Analytics can help deliver improved healthcare - new book

Carnegie Mellon University
Book Announcement

Lives could be saved and treatment times cut, with data-driven decision-making, according to the book, written by an international team.

Availability of medications for opioid use disorder in opioid treatment programs

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cross-sectional study of opioid treatment programs (OTPs), although the availability of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) beyond methadone increased over time, most OTPs still did not offer all 3 forms of MOUD as of 2023. Specific organizational characteristics, such as being government operated and accepting Medicare, were associated with more comprehensive MOUD offerings. Future research should evaluate why OTPs vary in their MOUD offerings.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Receipt of buprenorphine and naltrexone for opioid use disorder by race and ethnicity and insurance type

JAMA Network
Peer-Reviewed Publication

About The Study: In this cohort study of opioid-related index health care events, race and ethnicity–based and insurance-based disparities in access to medications for opioid use disorder persisted despite efforts to expand treatment availability. These findings underscore the need for targeted interventions, including culturally tailored care, expanded access points, and policy reforms to address structural barriers and reduce inequities contributing to the overdose crisis.

Journal: JAMA Network Open

Scientists complete the most thorough analysis yet of India's genetic diversity

University of California - Berkeley
Peer-Reviewed Publication

A genomic analysis traces Indian ancestry back to a migration out of Africa around 50,000 years ago, after which humans interbred with Neanderthals and Denisovans and spread throughout Eurasia. About 10,000 years ago, farmers from Iran and nomadic herders from the Central Asian steppe mixed with the local hunter-gatherers. Then, 5,000 years ago, endogamy led to bottlenecks. This complex evolutionary history has shaped the genetic variation and health and disease in India.

Journal: Cell
Funder: NIH/National Institutes of Health, Burroughs Wellcome Fund

Frontiers Forum Deep Dive series: New gene therapy delivery device could let hospitals create personalized nanomedicines on-demand

Frontiers
Meeting Announcement

Rare diseases affect millions worldwide, yet the one-size-fits-all model of drug development leaves patients with few treatment options. Now a European research project called NANOSPRESSO aims to tip the balance in patients’ favor by boosting access to low-cost bespoke gene and RNA therapies.