A forgotten opioid has resurfaced as a lethal street drug

A UCLA-led study has found that a surgical technique developed to protect vision in patients with uveal melanoma, a rare cancer that arises inside the eye, may also lower the risk of the disease spreading and improve survival—a development researchers say could change the way the cancer is treated.

Abbreviated, 15- to 30-minute medication visits have become common in psychiatry now that many insurers model their reimbursement patterns on internal medicine and surgery. To support practicing psychiatrists, a series of four columns in the Journal of Psychiatric Practice, describes how to feasibly combine brief psychotherapy with longitudinal pharmacotherapy. The final installment appears in the September issue.

Cardiac arrest happens when the heart stops pumping blood properly, cutting off oxygen to the brain and other vital organs. In these emergencies, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) can help keep blood and oxygen moving until medical help arrives. For children, CPR usually needs both chest compressions and rescue breaths, because many cases are caused by breathing problems such as drowning, choking, or serious illness.

Mayo Clinic researchers have developed a new way to predict whether existing drugs could be repurposed to treat heart failure, one of the world's most pressing health challenges. By combining advanced computer modeling with real-world patient data, the team has created "virtual clinical trials" that may facilitate the discovery of effective therapies while reducing the time, cost, and risk of failed studies.

It is estimated that one-third of the 50 million people worldwide with epilepsy are resistant to anti-seizure medications. These patients, with drug-resistant epilepsy, have limited treatment options beyond surgery to control their seizures. Even surgical interventions become difficult in many of these patients due to challenges in pinpointing the anatomical source of their seizures, such as the seizures originating from multiple regions of the brain.

Noonan syndrome with multiple lentigines (NSML) is a rare genetic disorder that causes short stature, distinctive facial features, and clusters of dark skin spots called lentigines. But its most serious impact is a dangerous thickening of the heart muscle, the onset of which is not well understood.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative condition that typically affects older people and is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. AD is characterized by progressive cognitive impairment caused by a decades-long process that leads to neuronal dysfunction. The global prevalence of AD is projected to triple by 2050 and currently there are limited strategies to prevent or slow down the progression of this devastating condition.

Researchers have provided new insights into how exercise helps lose weight. They discovered a mechanism by which the compound Lac-Phe, which is produced during exercise, reduces appetite in mice, leading to weight loss. The findings appeared in Nature Metabolism.

In almost all solid tumors—i.e. cancers with a solid tissue structure—the detection of tumor cells in the lymph nodes is considered a decisive marker for the progression of the disease. Lymph node involvement has a significant influence on the choice of treatment and the chances of survival for patients.

Scientists have uncovered how lymphatic vessels—the kidney's "plumbing system"—undergo dramatic changes during chronic transplant rejection, becoming structurally disorganized and spreading to unusual parts of the kidney.

Implanting a brain shunt in older people diagnosed with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is effective in improving their symptoms, a randomized, double-blinded, multi-center patient trial shows.

A diet focused on healthy plant-based foods may lower the risk of type 2 diabetes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study by Solomon Sowah and colleagues from the MRC Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom, published September 16 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine.

Previous studies have suggested that children exposed to opioid pain medications while in the womb have higher rates of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention- deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), but a new study finds that any increased risk could be explained by other factors.

Olympic swimmer Ben Proud has become the first British athlete to join the Enhanced Games—a controversial new event that allows athletes from all over the world to compete using performance-enhancing drugs. The prize money on offer can hit US$1 million (£730,000). But the swimmer, who won a silver medal at last year's Paris Olympics, has sparked sharp criticism from sporting bodies after announcing he would be taking part.

Nearly one in three people have reported serious difficulties in psychologically adapting to life after the COVID-19 pandemic, a new study led by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire has found.

A growing body of research ties environmental pollutants to worse health and shorter life spans for childhood cancer survivors. Yet medical providers lack sufficient resources to address these risks with patients, a recent study found.

In the brain, it is not only important that nerve cells send signals, but also how quickly they can do so. In order for information to flow smoothly, a kind of biological insulation is necessary. The brain forms specialized cells called oligodendrocytes for this purpose. They coat the long extensions of nerve cells, the axons, with a protective layer of myelin.

Researchers at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) unveiled a novel antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that shows striking efficacy against cancers that express the anaplastic lymphoma kinase (ALK) protein on the cancer cell surface. The therapy, named CDX0239-PBD, achieved complete and lasting tumor responses in preclinical models of neuroblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma and colorectal carcinoma, according to findings published in Nature Communications.