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Medical Xpress / REM and deep sleep, not just total sleep time, associated with disease risk

Greater amounts of REM and deep sleep were associated with lower risks of dozens of diseases, and less than 5 hours of total sleep was associated with high disease risks, according to a new study published Sept. 17 in the ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Gestures influence the way our brains process grammar

Our hands may do more than complement what we say. They can also help our brains process grammar. In a new neuroimaging study published in PNAS, researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics (MPI) in Nijmegen ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Rare inherited EGFR mutation linked to dramatically increased lung cancer risk

A rare inherited mutation in the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) gene is associated with a 25-fold increased risk of lung cancer, according to a study by investigators at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and 23andMe Research ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / A gut's complex architecture, recreated on a microscope slide–sized chip

Gut instinct, gut feeling or gutting it out—what exactly is the human gut? It's the workhorse of the digestive system and home to a vast, dynamic community of microorganisms that influence human health. In fact, the human ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Scientists map brain's mysterious 'blue place' and discover longest neuron ever measured in a mouse

Deep in the brainstem sits a small but important cluster of neurons known as the locus coeruleus (LC), Latin for "blue place." It makes up a tiny fraction of the brain's cells but plays an important role by releasing the ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / The body's warmth sensor is secretly a pain switch—blocking it may ease arthritis

Chronic pain, including arthritis pain, affects more than one-third of U.K. adults. Current painkillers such as methotrexate and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) work by damping down the immune system, which ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Making invisible cancers visible: A new route to turn 'cold' tumors 'hot'

One of the biggest challenges in cancer immunotherapy may not be that immune cells are too weak, but that some tumors give them too little to see. New research from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute scientists reveals how cancers ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / AI tool nears psychiatrist-level accuracy

UTHealth Houston researchers have developed an artificial intelligence system that can perform a mental health evaluation at nearly the same level of accuracy as a team of psychiatrists. The results of their work, done in ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Cancer biologists bring in the B-cell reinforcements for immunotherapy

Cancer is the second-leading cause of death in the United States, according to a 2026 Cancer Research Institute report. Cancer biologists are keenly aware of this statistic, as it drives innovations that revolutionize cancer ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Wildfire smoke may be more harmful than other air pollution, two studies find

As climate change drives more frequent and intense wildfires, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have published two large-scale studies showing that wildfire smoke may pose greater health risks than ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Continuous glucose monitors may reveal hidden heart risk patterns in adults without diabetes

Fasting plasma glucose (FPG) and hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) are the clinical gold standards for screening blood sugar levels, yet they provide only static snapshots that fail to reflect the highly dynamic and heterogeneous nature ...

Sep 17, 2026
Medical Xpress / Intermittent fasting shows promise in slowing Huntington's disease progression

A simple change in when people eat may offer a promising new approach for Huntington's disease, according to research led by Oregon Health & Science University.

Sep 17, 2026