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How social and environmental exposures across life influence mental health risk

Researchers outline how the exposome framework, which captures the totality of environmental exposures across the lifespan, can help explain how non-genetic factors shape mental health risk and resilience. The perspective highlights how integrating environmental, biological, and social data could improve prevention strategies, research models, and personalized mental health care.

10 Mar 2026

More kids are in ERs for tooth pain. Trump cuts and RFK Jr.’s anti-fluoride fight aren’t helping.

Eight-year-old Jonah woke up one May morning with a swollen face and a toothache. He refused the pain medication that his mom, Geneva Reynolds, tried to give him. He didn't sleep or eat and cried constantly.

10 Mar 2026

Banks are becoming bulwarks against scams for vulnerable seniors

The first call came just before Thanksgiving last year. She didn't recognize the phone number, but she answered anyway.

10 Mar 2026

New index provides state-level vulnerability to influenza-like illness

Infectious disease can afflict a population in complex ways. Understanding the varying risks is an equally complex challenge.

9 Mar 2026

Exercise triggers memory-related brain waves in the hippocampus

A single session of physical exercise can spawn a boost of neural activity in brain networks that underlie learning and memory, according to a new study led by the University of Iowa.

9 Mar 2026

Daily multivitamin intake linked to slower biological aging in older adults

An analysis led by Mass General Brigham investigators found slower aging in older adults after two years of a daily multivitamin, with greater benefits for those who began the trial with accelerated biological age.

9 Mar 2026

American Heart Association ranked as a top trusted health information source

At time when trust in health information is at unprecedented risk, the American Heart Association today welcomed new findings from the independent Annenberg Public Policy Center (APPC) at the University of Pennsylvania suggesting that Americans consider the Association the most trusted source of public health information after their personal physician.

9 Mar 2026

Florida hasn’t expanded Medicaid. Lawmakers want to add work requirements anyway.

In states that have long refused to expand Medicaid to more low-income adults, people in the program aren't subject to new rules under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act requiring them to prove they're working in order to get and keep coverage.

9 Mar 2026

Can aging bring improvement instead of decline? Long-term study says yes

A large longitudinal study of U.S. adults found that many older people improve in cognitive function or walking speed over time, challenging the idea that aging inevitably leads to decline. Positive beliefs about aging were associated with higher odds of improvement in both cognitive and physical health.

8 Mar 2026

Report highlights gaps in cancer care access for tribal citizens

The University of Oklahoma's Native Nations Center for Tribal Policy Research recently released a new Sovereign Report titled "Purchased/Referred Care and Cancer: Overview and Options for Tribal Consideration."

6 Mar 2026

Meaning, purpose and spirituality should be core parts of healthcare, say experts

A new peer-reviewed paper calls for meaning, purpose, and spirituality to be treated as core components of lifestyle medicine - not optional add-ons - because they directly influence patients' ability to adopt and sustain health-promoting behaviors.

6 Mar 2026

New report shows primary care readiness for digital cognitive assessment tools

A new Gerontological Society of America (GSA) report summarizes survey findings on the readiness of the primary care workforce to adopt digital cognitive assessments (DCAs) for use in the diagnostic process for cognitive impairment and dementia.

6 Mar 2026

Virtual mental health visits show little impact on rural care access

During the COVID-19 pandemic, mental health specialists started using telemedicine much more frequently.

5 Mar 2026

Improving biological age gap may help protect long-term brain health

Improving the gap between your biological age and your chronological age is associated with a lower risk of stroke and improvements in signs of damage in the brain, according to a preliminary study released March 5, 2026, that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 78th Annual Meeting taking place April 18-22, 2026, in Chicago and online.

5 Mar 2026

Repurposed kidney drug finerenone shows promise in treating premature ovarian insufficiency

Premature ovarian insufficiency (POI) is a clinically significant cause of infertility that affects between 1 to 3% of women of childbearing age.

5 Mar 2026

Tufts researchers identify new vulnerabilities to combat persistent C. diff infections

Affecting roughly half a million Americans each year, bacterial infections caused by Clostridioides difficile—commonly known as C. diff—are a serious and persistent problem for patients and hospitals alike.

5 Mar 2026

Researchers find novel path to treat Rett syndrome

A team of researchers at Texas Children's Duncan Neurological Research Institute (NRI) and Baylor College of Medicine report in Science Translational Medicine a potential new approach to treat Rett syndrome – offering early promise for a rare neurodevelopmental disorder that currently has no cure.

5 Mar 2026

As ICE moved in, Minnesotans set up a shadow medical system. It’s a lesson for other cities.

Gabi has big brown eyes, pigtails, and a genetic condition that makes her bones brittle. They fracture easily, leaving the 2-year-old in such pain that her mother quit her job cleaning offices to stay home and cradle her in the one-bedroom apartment they share with six relatives.

5 Mar 2026

GLP-1 drugs may be effective at treating and preventing substance use disorders

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis show in a new study that GLP-1 medications may be effective at treating and preventing substance use disorders across all major addictive substances studied, suggesting these drugs target a common biological pathway underlying addiction.

4 Mar 2026

Chile verified as leprosy free after decades of public health efforts

The World Health Organization (WHO), together with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), congratulates Chile for becoming the first country in the Americas – and the second globally – to be officially verified as having eliminated leprosy disease.

4 Mar 2026