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People who walk more each day tend to score better on several brain tests

Researchers analyzed 14 years of physical activity and blood pressure records from 3,093 US adults and found that higher daily step counts were associated with better performance on tests of attention, cognitive control, and reward-related decision-making. Higher systolic blood pressure was associated with poorer delay-discounting performance, but accounted for only 4.8% of its association with physical activity, while the single cognitive assessment prevented conclusions about causation or cognitive decline.

14 Oct 2026

From turmeric to fenugreek, scientists examine nature’s potential role in diabetes care

A narrative review examined how curcumin, honey, culinary spices, and traditional remedies may influence oxidative stress, inflammation, mitochondrial function, and insulin signaling in diabetes. Although experimental research and some clinical trials suggest potential metabolic benefits, the authors emphasize that larger, well-controlled studies are needed to establish their effectiveness and safety alongside conventional treatments.

14 Oct 2026

Coffee, citrus and genetics: What scientists found inside human breast milk

In a bioRxiv preprint, researchers analyzed 458 metabolites in breast milk samples from 349 mothers to investigate how maternal diet, genetics, clinical characteristics, and milk-cell gene expression relate to milk composition. Maternal diet explained the greatest share of metabolite variation among the measured maternal factors, while specific genetic variants and gene-expression patterns were associated with individual metabolites, although the study did not establish effects on infant health.

14 Oct 2026

Your diet may have more to do with your sense of smell than you think

Researchers analyzed dietary patterns and odor identification in 6,690 adults in Italy, finding that healthier plant-rich diets, particularly those emphasizing fruits and vegetables, were associated with better olfactory function and lower odds of hyposmia. Diets emphasizing less healthy plant foods showed the opposite association, although the cross-sectional study could not establish whether diet influences smell or impaired smell affects food choices.

14 Oct 2026

Cigarette smoke exposure alters ovarian and testicular function in mice

New research has shed light on how exposure to cigarette smoke could affect reproductive health in both men and women, identifying changes in biological processes involved in ovarian function and sperm production.

13 Oct 2026

Researchers uncover how metastatic colorectal cancer evades immune attack

Researchers at Hokkaido University, in collaboration with an international team of scientists led by the University of South Florida Health and Tampa General Hospital, have uncovered an important mechanism behind immune evasion in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

13 Oct 2026

Nature-based activities may offer lasting relief from loneliness

About one in three Americans and one in six people worldwide feel lonely on a regular basis, a troubling reality that has prompted some public health officials to declare an "epidemic of loneliness."

13 Oct 2026

Disadvantaged children with intellectual disabilities face greater mental health difficulties

Children with intellectual disabilities face greater mental health difficulties when they are from a disadvantaged background, finds a new study led by UCL researchers.

13 Oct 2026

Parents of children with mental health problems face stigma

Parents of children with mental health problems may experience stigma when the ideals that matter most to being considered a "good parent" are perceived as not being met, according to preliminary research led by Weill Cornell Medicine, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and NewYork-Presbyterian investigators.

13 Oct 2026

Improving nurse staffing could ease emergency department crowding

A new study led by researchers from Penn Nursing's Center for Health Outcomes and Policy Research (CHOPR) finds that improving hospital nurse workloads could alleviate delays in care contributing to emergency department crowding.

13 Oct 2026

$5.8 million study explores gut-brain inflammation in people with HIV

Oregon Health & Science University researchers have secured a $5.8 million, five-year federal award to investigate whether damage to the gastrointestinal tract contributes to neuroinflammation in people living with HIV - raising the potential for new treatments to preserve brain function in people with HIV and older adults.

13 Oct 2026

CHOP researchers link MAP2K4 variants to a neurodevelopmental disorder

Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have discovered the mechanisms of previously unknown changes in a gene that result in symptoms associated with a neurodevelopmental disorder.

13 Oct 2026

Scientists studied diet and lung cancer in 95,612 adults. One eating pattern stood out

A prospective study of 95,612 U.S. adults found that those with the highest sulfur microbial diet scores had a 23% higher adjusted lung cancer incidence hazard and a 19% higher lung cancer-related mortality hazard than those with the lowest scores. However, the associations weakened after accounting for overall dietary quality and competing causes of death, and the findings do not establish a causal relationship.

13 Oct 2026

Doctors avoided two common words when talking about weight with patients

Researchers analyzed 123 recorded primary care consultations involving adults with type 2 diabetes and elevated BMI, finding that weight was discussed in just 39% of visits. Clinicians avoided potentially stigmatizing terms such as "overweight" and "obesity," while weight-related conversations occurred more frequently among patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists.

13 Oct 2026

Pancreatic cancer cells continuously reshape DNA to evade treatment

A new analysis of nearly half a million cells from dozens of pancreatic tumors, led by researchers at UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center and New York University (NYU), reveals how pancreatic cancer cells continuously reshape their genetic makeup over time, enabling them to evade treatment.

13 Oct 2026

Maternal opioid use in pregnancy linked to childhood hospitalizations

Children whose mothers received opioid prescriptions during pregnancy have a higher rate of hospital admission in childhood than unexposed children, including unexposed siblings, according to a new study published October 13th in the open access journal PLOS Medicine by Dong Keon Yon of Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, South Korea, and colleagues.

13 Oct 2026

Extended Medicaid coverage increases postpartum care for high-risk women

Extending Medicaid coverage to 12 months after childbirth increased postpartum health care utilization among women with pregnancy complications such as diabetes and hypertension, according to a new study at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health.

13 Oct 2026

Childhood leukemia treatment causes rapid, lasting challenges for patient families

New research in the October 2026 issue of JNCCN-Journal of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network finds that families of children receiving treatment for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL) experience substantial and lasting challenges beginning early after diagnosis, according to a new multicenter study embedded in a Children's Oncology Group (COG) trial.

13 Oct 2026

Women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome more likely to have Alzheimer's and dementia

Alzheimer's disease and dementia may be more common in women with polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS), formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), according to a review of existing evidence published in the Journal of the Endocrine Society.

13 Oct 2026

Targeting the RUNX1 gene helps reduce severe skin fibrosis

Skin fibrosis includes hypertrophic scar (HTS), keloid scar (KS), and systemic sclerosis (SSc). These conditions share persistent fibroblast activation, excessive extracellular matrix (ECM) deposition, and progressive skin remodeling.

13 Oct 2026