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Urgent care clinics move to fill abortion care gaps in rural areas

Providing abortions was the last thing Shawn Brown thought she'd be doing when she opened an urgent care clinic in this remote town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.

8 Apr 2026

Analysis reveals long-term male bias in European meat access

Access to nutritious food is a fundamental pillar of human success, but such access has been unequal throughout history. In pre-industrial European societies, meat was a highly sought-after food, and access to it was often related to a higher social status.

7 Apr 2026

This Northern Cheyenne doula was about to start getting paid — then Medicaid cuts hit

Misty Pipe had about an hour before her shift began at the post office. She used that time to check in on a new mom who lives a few miles outside this town at the heart of the Northern Cheyenne Indian Reservation.

7 Apr 2026

Study finds unisex armor can trap more blast energy on female torsos

Researchers used free-field C4 blasts and anatomically representative male and female manikins to test how unisex SAPI body armor changes shock exposure under different blast angles. They found that while armor lowered peak pressure in both, the female torso shape created larger air gaps that trapped energy longer and increased impulse exposure, especially around the underbust region.

6 Apr 2026

Prenatal smoking linked to broader mental health issues in children

Children exposed to maternal smoking before birth are more likely to experience behavioral and mental health challenges, according to a large study funded by the National Institutes of Health's Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program.

6 Apr 2026

Study shows masculine depression is not just a male mental health pattern

Researchers found that depressed inpatients with high masculine depression scores had a substantially greater acute mental health burden across multiple symptom domains, even after accounting for overall depression severity. The paper also found this pattern was not specific to men, supporting “masculine depression” as a descriptive, sex-independent behavioral profile rather than a male-only condition.

6 Apr 2026

Flu vaccination may cut heart attack and stroke risk after infection

In Danish adults aged 40 years or older, laboratory-confirmed influenza was linked to a sharp short-term rise in first-time heart attack and stroke risk, especially in the first 7 days after infection. Prior same-season influenza vaccination was associated with about half the excess cardiovascular risk among infected individuals, suggesting possible protection even in breakthrough cases.

6 Apr 2026

Evolocumab trial could reshape how doctors treat high-risk cholesterol patients

A new ACC/AHA dyslipidemia guideline and editorial argue that guideline development is rigorous but can lag behind fast-moving science, using the VESALIUS-CV trial as a clear example. The trial showed that intensive LDL cholesterol lowering with evolocumab reduced cardiovascular events in high-risk patients without prior heart attack or stroke, with implications for future guideline updates.

6 Apr 2026

Princeton researchers reveal new links between high-fat diets and aggressive breast cancer

Princeton researchers have revealed new links between high-fat diets and aggressive breast cancer, demonstrating the important role fat plays in making some cancers more invasive.

6 Apr 2026

Study finds gaps in preventive care for women with diabetes

Physicians are less likely to provide preventive care such as conception counseling and some cancer screenings to women with diabetes than they do for women without the disease, a UCLA-led study suggests.

3 Apr 2026

Music boosts vivid mental imagery while traffic noise changes where the mind goes

Music and traffic noise both changed how people imagined a simple journey, but they did so differently: music boosted vividness, positive tone, imagined time, and distance, while traffic noise mainly increased vividness, distance, and traffic-related imagery content. The study suggests that everyday soundscapes can shape mental imagery in complex ways, with possible implications for imagery-based therapies and other real-world settings.

2 Apr 2026

High-dose flu shots inked to lower Alzheimer's dementia risk in older adults

A large US claims-based study found that adults aged 65 and older who received a high-dose flu vaccine had a lower observed risk of Alzheimer dementia than those who received a standard-dose vaccine, with the association lasting up to 25 months in per-protocol analyses and 28 months in intention-to-treat analyses. The signal appeared stronger and more sustained in women, though the authors stress that the findings are observational and need confirmation in longer prospective studies.

2 Apr 2026

Researchers find 25 ways to rate meals and diets for both health and environmental impact

This systematic review identified 25 food-based indices, termed NECIs, that combine nutritional value and environmental impact to classify or rank meals and diets. It found wide methodological variation across 27 approaches, suggesting a need for more harmonized tools to support healthier and more sustainable food choices.

2 Apr 2026

Obesity, sleep, smoking, and inactivity show the strongest links to hypertension in U.S. adults

A cross-sectional analysis of 20,912 U.S. adults found that obesity, overweight, inadequate physical activity, smoking, and short or long sleep were each associated with higher odds of hypertension, while overall diet quality by HEI-2015 was not significantly associated. Sleep associations differed by sex, and lower sodium intake remained linked to lower odds of hypertension in sensitivity analyses.

2 Apr 2026

American Heart Association's 9 diet rules to lower heart disease risk

The AHA's dietary guidance emphasizes food choices over fad diets to reduce heart disease risk and improve cardiovascular health across all life stages.

2 Apr 2026

Trial tests fast-acting brain stimulation for postpartum depression treatment

The Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai today announced the enrollment of its first patient in a U.S. Department of Defense-funded pivotal clinical trial to evaluate whether a fast-acting, drug-free brain stimulation therapy can safely and quickly relieve symptoms of postpartum depression.

1 Apr 2026