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Menopause May Leave Clues That Predict Future Dementia Risk

Menopause is often associated with hot flashes, anxiety, brain fog and sleep problems, suggesting that the transition affects not only the body but also the brain. Now, researchers at UC San Francisco have identified biological changes that may help explain this connection — and potentially offer clues about women’s brain health decades later.

In a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers found that levels of 16 blood molecules linked to brain ageing changed during the menopause transition. In older women, higher levels of these same molecules were associated with poorer memory and thinking skills and a greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers stress that menopause itself does not appear to cause dementia directly, but these biological changes could eventually help predict future risk.

Women account for about two-thirds of people with Alzheimer’s disease, a difference that cannot be explained entirely by women’s longer average lifespan. Because the earliest brain changes associated with Alzheimer’s can begin decades before symptoms appear, researchers are increasingly interested in midlife — particularly the years surrounding menopause — as an important period for understanding later brain health.

To examine this period more closely, researchers studied 80 women in their 40s and 50s. Rather than simply classifying them as pre- or postmenopausal, they used symptoms and hormone levels to determine where each woman was in the menopause transition, which can begin years before the final menstrual period and continue afterwards.

Using a blood test measuring more than 100 molecules related to brain health, the researchers identified 16 that changed across menopause. These changes were more strongly associated with hormone levels than with chronological age. Inflammatory molecules tended to increase as estradiol declined, while molecules associated with Alzheimer’s biology increased as follicle-stimulating hormone levels rose. Similar patterns were found in data from more than 2,800 women in the UK Biobank.

The researchers then examined nearly 12,000 women in their 60s and early 70s from four previous studies. Women with the highest levels of these molecules had poorer memory and a 15% higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease as they aged. Women who experienced night sweats during menopause also tended to show greater increases in inflammatory molecules, and elevated levels remained detectable years later among some women who recalled having hot flashes.

However, the findings show associations rather than cause and effect. Researchers do not yet know whether menopause directly triggers brain changes that increase dementia risk. Interestingly, a small group of middle-aged men showed much of the same molecular pattern seen in postmenopausal women, raising the possibility that menopause may accelerate biological changes that occur more gradually in men.

The long-term goal is to develop a blood test that could provide an early warning of dementia risk, similar to the way cholesterol testing helps assess cardiovascular risk. Researchers are now launching the Longitudinal Menopause Project, which will follow women through menopause using blood tests, brain MRI scans, cognitive testing, wearables and smartphone monitoring. The hope is that identifying risk during midlife could eventually create opportunities to strengthen brain resilience long before dementia symptoms appear.

More information: Madeline Wood Alexander et al, Blood proteomics of menopause map to brain aging and dementia risk, Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-026-04648-4

Journal information: Nature Medicine Provided by University of California – San Francisco

Paid to Vape: Researchers Raise Concerns About the Risks

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Vaping products are becoming smarter – and potentially more addictive. Some new devices now offer cryptocurrency and other incentives linked to vaping behaviour, prompting researchers at MUSC Hollings Cancer Center to raise concerns about their potential public health impact. In a perspective published in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers warn that combining addictive substances with financial rewards, gamification and artificial intelligence could encourage continued vaping and make quitting more difficult.

“What really stood out is that these products are rewarding people for engaging in an already rewarding behaviour,” said lead author Amanda Palmer, Ph.D., a Hollings researcher. “In substance use treatment, we do the opposite. We try to help people find rewarding activities that aren’t associated with using a substance.”

The researchers examined two recently introduced products: Puffpaw, a nicotine vaping device marketed as an aid for quitting e-cigarettes, and Gudtrip, a cannabis vaping device incorporating artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency. Both connect to smartphone apps and track users’ behaviour. Although such “smart vapes” are relatively new, researchers say their potential effects should be examined before they become more widespread.

Nicotine and cannabis activate the brain’s reward system, encouraging repeated use. Smart vaping devices add another layer by offering points or cryptocurrency for vaping and engagement. In some cases, rewards can be used to purchase refill cartridges. “There’s no incentive for not using the device,” Palmer said. Researchers note that this differs from evidence-based cessation programmes, where financial incentives can help people quit when they reward abstinence or healthier behaviours.

Researchers are particularly concerned about the potential appeal to adolescents and young adults. With mobile apps, artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency and game-like features, the products can resemble technology or gaming platforms more than conventional vaping devices. The researchers say these features may be especially attractive to younger users, while financial rewards could also appeal to people experiencing financial hardship.

The devices also raise regulatory questions. Nicotine vaping products must receive authorisation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration before they can legally be marketed in the United States. The smart vaping devices discussed by the researchers have not received FDA authorisation, although unauthorised vaping products remain widely available. Cannabis products present additional challenges because regulation varies considerably from state to state.

Another concern is data collection. Because smart vaping devices connect with smartphone apps and can track detailed patterns of use, researchers say questions remain about how this information might eventually be used or shared. As vaping technologies become more sophisticated, they argue that regulations may need to keep pace with developments in artificial intelligence, digital rewards and behavioural tracking.

The researchers stress that they are not arguing against technological innovation or harm-reduction approaches. Rather, their concern centres on products that financially reward continued use of addictive substances. They are calling for closer regulatory review and greater awareness among clinicians and parents. “We’re trying to get ahead of what could become a much bigger issue,” Palmer said. “The vaping marketplace changes incredibly quickly, and it’s important that we think carefully about how these technologies are designed and marketed.”

More information: Amanda Palmer et al, Vaping for Crypto — Smart Devices, Risky Business, New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMp2606580

Journal information: New England Journal of Medicine Provided by Medical University of South Carolina

Nearly One in Five People with Vision Loss Come Across Bogus Treatments

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An international study of nearly 1,000 people living with sight loss has found that almost one in five had encountered eye treatments they believed to be “bogus”. Led by researchers at University College London (UCL), the findings highlight the challenges patients face when navigating health information and commercial claims about emerging treatments.

Published in JAMA Ophthalmology, the study surveyed 955 adults with diagnosed eye conditions in the UK and US. Researchers examined how often participants encountered treatments they felt lacked sufficient scientific evidence or regulatory credibility, where they heard about them, and what influenced their decision to accept or reject treatment.

Overall, 19.1% of participants reported encountering treatments they believed to be bogus. Most decided not to proceed, although around one in four of those who encountered such treatments ultimately underwent them. The findings were based on patients’ perceptions and did not independently determine whether individual treatments were ineffective or scientifically unsupported.

Online advertising was a major source of exposure, reported by nearly 58% of participants who encountered these treatments. However, some participants first heard about a treatment during an appointment with an eye care professional. Those individuals were significantly more likely to undergo the treatment than people who encountered it through online advertising or marketing.

“Our results highlight the importance of clear and evidence-based communication between clinicians and patients as new therapies emerge and online marketing continues to expand across the world,” said Dr Lee Jones, Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the UCL Institute of Ophthalmology and the NIHR Clinical Research Facility at Moorfields Eye Hospital.

Dr Jones stressed that the research focused on patient perceptions rather than determining whether the treatments themselves were actually bogus. “What we’ve shown is the importance of helping patients to tell the difference between evidence-based treatments and unsupported company claims,” he said.

The treatments reported by participants covered a wide range of products and approaches, including nutritional supplements and vitamins, complementary and alternative therapies such as acupuncture and homeopathy, regenerative therapies including stem cell treatments, electromagnetic devices, and topical substances. Almost 80% of participants who rejected a treatment said they did so because they did not trust the claims being made, while others sought further advice from healthcare professionals.

Experiences among those who underwent treatment varied considerably. Some reported spending more than £10,000, while a small number experienced adverse effects, including worsening vision, increased visual symptoms or other health problems. The study also identified differences between countries, with participants in the US more likely than those in the UK to report both encountering these treatments and undergoing them.

More information: Lee Jones et al, Patient-Reported Exposure to Potentially Bogus Ophthalmic Treatments, JAMA Ophthalmology. DOI: 10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2026.4121

Journal information: JAMA Ophthalmology Provided by University College London

Multiple Childhood Traumas Associated With Mental Health and Other Challenges in Young Adulthood

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Young adults who experienced multiple forms of childhood adversity were substantially more likely to face mental health, substance use, relationship, and other challenges, according to a new study. Emerging adults, with an average age of 19, who reported four or more adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) had considerably higher rates of depression, suicidal thoughts, hard drug use, and interpersonal violence than those who reported no childhood adversity.

Among the different types of adversity examined, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, discrimination, and witnessing domestic violence showed some of the strongest and most consistent associations with poorer health and other negative outcomes. The study was published in JAMA Network Open.

First author Jeff Temple, PhD, professor and associate dean for clinical research at UTHealth Houston School of Behavioral Health Sciences, said the findings are particularly notable because participants were assessed relatively close in time to the childhood adversity they experienced. Many previous ACE studies have relied on adults recalling childhood experiences several decades later.

“Emerging adulthood is a particularly important developmental period, and what happens during these years can have implications for health, relationships, and education well into adulthood,” said Temple, who is also the Betty and Rose Pfefferbaum Chair in Child Mass Trauma and Resilience at McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. The transition from adolescence to young adulthood can be especially important for identity development and risk-taking behaviours.

The researchers studied 1,850 emerging adults using the Philadelphia ACEs survey, a 21-item measure designed to capture both conventional adverse childhood experiences and adversity occurring within the broader community. This approach allowed the researchers to examine a wider range of potentially harmful childhood experiences than is typically considered in traditional ACE research.

Conventional ACEs included emotional or physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional or physical neglect, witnessing domestic violence, household substance abuse, household mental illness, and having an incarcerated family member. Community-level adversity included witnessing violence, experiencing discrimination, being bullied, and feeling unsafe in one’s neighbourhood.

The researchers found a clear cumulative pattern: as the number of adverse childhood experiences increased, outcomes generally worsened. Young adults who were still relatively close in time to these experiences were already showing substantial differences in mental health, interpersonal relationships, substance use, and educational outcomes. The findings suggest that the effects of childhood adversity can become evident relatively early rather than emerging only later in adulthood.

Temple said the findings highlight the importance of both preventing childhood adversity and providing support during the transition to adulthood. Emerging adulthood may offer an important opportunity to intervene before harmful patterns become more firmly established. This could include identifying young people who have experienced significant adversity, connecting them with trauma-informed supports, and addressing broader community factors, including neighbourhood safety and discrimination, that may contribute to poorer outcomes.

More information: Jeff Temple et al, Childhood Adversity and Health in Emerging Adulthood, JAMA Network Open. DOI: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2026.35834

Journal information: JAMA Network Open Provided by University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

AI Innovation Could Reduce Toxic Dust Risks for Millions of US Workers

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More than 2.2 million U.S. workers are exposed to hazardous airborne dust from rock, sand or coal on the job, putting them at risk of permanent lung damage. Workers in industries such as mining, construction, engineered stone fabrication and foundries can develop serious conditions including black lung and silicosis after years of inhaling fine dust particles.

Regular chest X-rays can help detect lung damage before severe breathing problems develop. However, these scans must be reviewed by specially trained physicians known as B readers, and there are currently only about 200 certified B readers in the U.S. This shortage can contribute to screening backlogs and delays in identifying workers who may need protection from further exposure.

Researchers at Michigan State University have developed an artificial intelligence system designed to help physicians interpret these X-rays more quickly and consistently. Supported by a $600,000 grant from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), the system was trained using a specialised dataset of scans from U.S. workers. The study was published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

“For workers in dusty environments, time is everything,” said Kenneth Rosenman, chief of MSU’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine and a certified B reader. If lung disease goes undetected, he explained, workers may remain exposed to hazardous dust while additional scarring develops. The AI system is intended to provide physicians with an objective second opinion that could help identify disease earlier.

Early detection is particularly important because dust-related lung damage often develops gradually over 10 to 20 years. Workers may not realise they are affected until they experience serious breathing difficulties, and once lung tissue has been scarred, the damage cannot be reversed. Earlier identification can allow workers to move into lower-exposure roles and receive appropriate medical care.

Screening also helps employers determine whether workplace dust controls are effective and whether stronger ventilation or other protections are needed. Early diagnosis may also help affected workers obtain medical treatment and, where eligible, financial compensation. Coal miners, for example, require routine lung scans every five years, adding to the large volume of images specialists must review.

The MSU system demonstrated strong performance across four screening tasks. It was able to identify and clear about half of normal X-rays, potentially allowing specialists to devote more time to scans showing possible disease. The AI also achieved 91% accuracy in detecting the earliest signs of lung scarring, compared with an average of 77% among human readers. A colour map highlights areas where potential damage is detected for clinicians to review.

“Because early signs of lung damage are so subtle, even experienced human doctors often disagree on what they see,” said Ling Wang, associate professor in MSU’s Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine. The researchers envision the technology as a second opinion rather than a replacement for specialists. The MSU team is now working with NIOSH to package the technology into an application that could eventually support wider use.

More information: Meiqi Liu et al, Pneumoconiosis screening and classification using deep learning models, Occupational and Environmental Medicine. DOI: 10.1136/oemed-2026-111040

Journal information: Occupational and Environmental Medicine Provided by Michigan State University

Millions May Be Living with High Blood Pressure Without Knowing It

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Researchers from Oxford Population Health have found that high blood pressure remains widely undetected, untreated or inadequately controlled in England. The team analysed clinic blood pressure measurements collected by Our Future Health, the UK’s largest health research programme, from participants enrolled between 2022 and 2025.

Using World Health Organization criteria, hypertension was defined as systolic blood pressure of 140 mmHg or higher, diastolic blood pressure of 90 mmHg or higher, or the use of blood pressure-lowering medication. Researchers examined how common hypertension was and how many people had been diagnosed, treated and had their blood pressure successfully controlled.

More than one-third (37%) of participants had hypertension, with prevalence rising sharply with age. Around 15% of adults aged 18 to 39 had high blood pressure, compared with 71% of those aged 80 or older. After adjusting for age, hypertension was also almost 50% more common among men than women, at 42% compared with 29%.

Perhaps most concerning, 59% of people with hypertension were unaware of their condition, meaning they had never been diagnosed and were not taking blood pressure-lowering medication. Treatment did not always mean the condition was well controlled: among people taking one or more blood pressure medications, half still had readings of 140/90 mmHg or higher.

The researchers noted that estimates of hypertension awareness, treatment and control in England have shown little improvement in recent decades despite longstanding clinical guidance. They argue that current approaches requiring multiple confirmatory blood pressure readings before diagnosis, along with lifestyle advice before medication in some cases, may contribute to hypertension remaining undetected or inadequately controlled.

Wenyu Liu, Medical Statistician at Oxford Population Health and lead author of the study, described hypertension as largely a “silent killer” and said the current approach to detecting and treating it needs improvement. The problem was widespread across demographic groups, including younger adults. More than 15% of adults aged 18 to 39 had high blood pressure, even though younger adults are not currently eligible for an NHS Health Check.

Iain Turnbull, Deputy Chief Medical Officer at Our Future Health, Clinical Research Fellow at Oxford Population Health and a GP, said the findings reflect what is commonly seen in general practice. He called for a more proactive approach to detecting high blood pressure. He suggested that decisions about treatment should consider a person’s predicted cardiovascular disease risk as well as their blood pressure readings.

Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said the findings highlight both the scale of undetected hypertension and the difficulty of controlling blood pressure among people already receiving treatment. High blood pressure is a major modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease and is linked to around half of heart attacks and strokes in the UK. Improving detection, treatment and ongoing support could therefore help prevent many avoidable cardiovascular events.

More information: Wenyu Liu et al, Hypertension prevalence, detection, treatment and control among 1.4 million adults in England: a cross-sectional analysis from the Our Future Health study in 2022–2025, BMJ Public Health. DOI: 10.1136/bmjph-2025-004815

Journal information: BMJ Public Health Provided by University of Oxford

Why Do Some People Have Vaccine Side Effects While Others Don’t?

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Redness or pain at the injection site, fever, fatigue and headaches are common side effects of vaccination, but not everyone experiences them in the same way. Some people notice almost nothing, while others develop more noticeable flu-like symptoms. Researchers at the University of Geneva (UNIGE) and Geneva University Hospital (HUG) may have discovered an important reason for these differences.

Their study found that some people have more reactive innate immune systems even before they are vaccinated. In particular, they show a stronger response involving interferons, molecules naturally produced by the body that play an important role in antiviral defence. The stronger this pre-existing response, the more likely a person may be to experience temporary symptoms following vaccination. The findings were published in Science Translational Medicine.

Most vaccine reactions are mild and short-lived. They occur as the immune system responds to the vaccine and learns to recognise antigens associated with a virus, helping prepare the body to respond to future infection. This immune activation can produce inflammation around the injection site, causing redness, swelling or pain, as well as symptoms such as fatigue, headache or fever.

Scientists have long known that factors such as age and vaccine dose can affect side effects. Older adults, for example, often experience fewer reactions because immune function tends to decline with age. However, the biological reasons why people of similar ages can react very differently have remained less clear.

To investigate, researchers monitored 51 healthy people who received two doses of an mRNA COVID-19 vaccine. Participants were followed for seven days after each injection. The researchers found that people whose immune systems already showed greater interferon-related activity before vaccination tended to report stronger reactions afterwards.

Interferons are produced when cells become infected with a virus. They alert nearby cells and help prepare them to defend against infection. However, people appear to have different baseline levels of this antiviral activity. Researchers say these differences could be related to factors such as genetics, the microbiome or previous episodes of inflammation, although the precise reasons are not yet fully understood.

The researchers also identified another possible mechanism that may help explain why side effects can become more noticeable after a second vaccine dose. After the first dose, the body develops antibodies and T cells that recognise the vaccine antigen. When another dose is given, this acquired immunity can rapidly activate innate immune cells, including monocytes, which can then attract additional inflammatory cells to the injection site.

The findings could eventually help scientists design vaccines that cause fewer uncomfortable reactions while maintaining strong protection. Researchers are now investigating whether similar mechanisms occur with other vaccines. Importantly, they emphasise that experiencing few or no side effects does not mean a vaccine has failed to work. The severity of symptoms following vaccination is not, by itself, a measure of how effective the vaccine will be.

More information: Natacha Madelon et al, Baseline interferon signaling in monocytes and antibody-mediated innate activation are associated with reactogenicity to mRNA vaccines, Science Translational Medicine. DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aee4776

Journal information: Science Translational Medicine Provided by Université de Genève

Study Finds One in Three Older Adults With Cognitive Disorders Take Potentially Harmful Medications

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Adults aged 65 and older with cognitive disorders such as dementia may be particularly vulnerable to harmful effects from medications used to treat central nervous system conditions, including anxiety, sleep problems and psychosis. These medications can contribute to poorer mental health, more emergency department visits, longer and more frequent hospital stays, and a greater risk of premature death.

There is, however, some encouraging news. The proportion of older adults with cognitive disorders taking medications that may impair cognition declined significantly between 2011 and 2022, according to a recent study by researchers at the University at Buffalo. Among 2,796 independently living older adults with cognitive disorders, exposure to potentially inappropriate medications fell from 39.3% in 2011 to 29.3% in 2022.

“These drugs also act on the central nervous system, so they can be too much for older adults if inappropriately used,” says Haowen Hsu, PharmD, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Pharmacy Practice at the University at Buffalo and first author of the study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

One approach to reducing the risk is “deprescribing” — stopping inappropriate medications, reducing their dosage or frequency, or replacing them with safer alternatives. For example, an older adult who has taken a benzodiazepine such as Xanax for anxiety or a sleep aid such as Ambien for years may need a medication review because these drugs can affect balance, coordination and cognition.

The researchers used the American Geriatrics Society’s Beers Criteria, which identifies medications that may be inappropriate or harmful for older adults, and focused specifically on people diagnosed with cognitive disorders. Using data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey, the study population represented approximately 29.7 million older Americans with cognitive disorders between 2011 and 2022.

Although the study did not examine why potentially inappropriate medication use declined, Hsu says increased attention to medication safety in geriatric care may have contributed. Still, he cautions that the problem remains significant. “We were happy to see the percentages of harm decline over that 11-year period,” he says. “However, one-third of our target population is still exposed to these harmful medications, which isn’t good.”

The research is connected to the University at Buffalo’s Team Alice initiative, an interdisciplinary effort focused on protecting older adults from medication-related harm. David Jacobs, PharmD, PhD, a principal investigator with Team Alice, says older adults with cognitive disorders are particularly vulnerable because they may have difficulty tolerating medications that worsen memory or thinking. Regular medication reviews involving physicians, pharmacists, nurses and other health care providers could help identify potentially inappropriate prescriptions.

The findings take on added importance as populations age worldwide. Many older adults live with multiple chronic conditions and consequently take several medications, increasing the potential for harmful drug effects and interactions. The researchers say better medication reviews and assessment tools could help reduce preventable harm. At the same time, further research is needed to determine whether optimizing medication use can improve quality of life and reduce hospitalizations and emergency department visits among older adults with cognitive disorders.

More information: Haowen Hsu et al, Cognitive Potentially Inappropriate Medications, Quality of Life, and Healthcare Use in Older Adults With Cognitive Disorders, Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. DOI: 10.1111/jgs.70607

Journal information: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society Provided by University at Buffalo

Sleep Quality Matters: REM and Deep Sleep Associated With Disease Risk

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Getting enough REM and deep sleep may be associated with a lower risk of dozens of diseases, while sleeping fewer than five hours a night is linked to substantially higher disease risk, according to a new study published September 17 in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine. The research was led by Shengzhi Sun of Capital Medical University in China and colleagues.

Sleep quantity and quality have become important public health concerns in China. The 2026 China Sleep Health White Paper reports that surveyed Chinese adults sleep an average of 6.97 hours a night, while 23% sleep fewer than six hours. Only 26% reported maintaining a consistent sleep schedule, highlighting growing concerns about disrupted sleep and its potential effects on health.

Despite increasing attention to sleep, researchers still have a limited understanding of how specific sleep stages and everyday sleep patterns are related to long-term health. One challenge is that self-reported measures of sleep do not always correspond closely with objective measurements, making it difficult to assess how people actually sleep accurately.

In the new study, researchers analysed data from 95,559 UK Biobank participants who wore wrist accelerometers continuously for seven days and nights. Using a deep-learning algorithm, the researchers estimated REM, deep and light sleep, as well as total sleep duration, wakefulness after falling asleep and night-to-night sleep irregularity.

Participants were followed for a median of 8.9 years, allowing the researchers to examine associations between sleep patterns and more than 1,000 health outcomes. Overall, the analysis identified 156 significant associations between sleep patterns and newly diagnosed diseases after applying a stringent statistical correction.

More REM sleep was associated with a lower risk of 83 diseases, including heart failure, dementia and Parkinson’s disease. Greater amounts of deep sleep were associated with a lower risk of seven conditions, including type 2 diabetes and major depressive disorder. In contrast, greater sleep irregularity and more time awake after initially falling asleep were associated with increased risks of several conditions, including anxiety and substance use disorders.

Total sleep duration also showed an important relationship with health. For many conditions, the lowest disease risk was concentrated within a six-to-eight-hour sleep window. Researchers found significant non-linear associations between sleep duration and 86 disease outcomes, with the minimum-risk duration for 69 of them falling within that range. People who slept fewer than five hours had an increased risk of 37 conditions.

The researchers said the findings provide additional evidence that six to eight hours of sleep may be beneficial for middle-aged and older adults, potentially because this duration supports more favourable distributions of different sleep stages. However, the study was observational, meaning it cannot establish that particular sleep patterns directly prevent or cause disease. The findings nevertheless suggest that both how long people sleep and the quality and structure of that sleep may be important considerations for long-term health.

More information: Jingsong Luo et al, Accelerometer-derived real-world sleep stages and risk of incident diseases: A UK Biobank cohort study and phenome-wide association analysis, PLOS Medicine. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1005213

Journal information: PLOS Medicine Provided by PLOS

Chronic Stress May Fuel Inflammation and Damage Heart Health

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The stresses and strains of everyday life may be leaving a hidden mark on the heart. New research suggests that chronic inflammation linked to lifestyle, psychological distress and socioeconomic circumstances may gradually alter the heart’s structure, increasing the risk of heart attack and stroke — often years before any cardiovascular symptoms appear.

The study, led by researchers at the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences and Imperial College London, analysed UK Biobank data from nearly 480,000 UK adults. Researchers examined a blood marker of chronic inflammation called glycoprotein acetyls (GlycA), together with heart imaging, genetic information and health data.

People with the highest levels of inflammation had a 43% greater risk of heart attack and stroke than those with the lowest levels. Higher inflammation was also associated with structural changes in the heart, including thicker heart walls, smaller chambers and poorer filling of the heart — changes that may eventually contribute to heart failure.

Chronic inflammation is a persistent, low-level activation of the immune system. While inflammation normally plays an important role in healing and fighting infection, prolonged inflammation has been linked to conditions including diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. The researchers found that elevated inflammation was associated not only with established cardiovascular risk factors such as smoking, excess body fat and physical inactivity, but also with socioeconomic disadvantage and psychological distress.

Professor Declan O’Regan of Imperial College London and the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences said millions of people could potentially be living with hidden inflammation that is gradually affecting their hearts. He noted that inflammation is influenced by a complex combination of lifestyle, economic, social and genetic factors, meaning that people’s circumstances may contribute to their cardiovascular risk.

The findings suggest chronic inflammation could be one biological pathway through which factors such as socioeconomic disadvantage and poor mental health affect cardiovascular health. The researchers also found a strong genetic component, suggesting some people may be naturally more susceptible or resilient to inflammation associated with different lifestyles and circumstances.

However, the researchers emphasised that genetic susceptibility or difficult socioeconomic circumstances do not mean heart disease is inevitable. Addressing modifiable risk factors such as smoking, obesity and physical inactivity may help reduce inflammation and cardiovascular risk. The study also identified inflammatory proteins from the interleukin-1 and TNF families that may contribute to heart damage. Some of these proteins are already being targeted by medicines undergoing clinical trials.

Professor Bryan Williams, Chief Scientific and Medical Officer at the British Heart Foundation, said the research highlights both the protective and potentially harmful roles of inflammation. The findings could eventually help identify people at higher cardiovascular risk before symptoms develop, potentially by combining inflammation blood tests with genetic risk information. They also reinforce the importance of addressing the social and lifestyle factors associated with chronic inflammation while investigating whether anti-inflammatory treatments could help prevent cardiovascular disease.

More information: Mattia Corianò et al, Gene–environment interactions shape cytokine-mediated inflammation and cardiovascular risk, European Journal of Preventive Cardiology. DOI: 10.1093/eurjpc/zwag435

Journal information: European Journal of Preventive Cardiology Provided by Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Medical Sciences

New research challenges traditional view of the human brain as a single organ

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For centuries, scientists have viewed the brain as a single, unified organ. But new Stanford Medicine-led research suggests that the human brain develops from two distinct systems with separate origins, challenging a long-standing model of brain development.

Researchers had generally thought that a single progenitor cell early in development gives rise to the entire brain. The new findings suggest instead that the forebrain and midbrain develop from one type of progenitor cell, while the hindbrain follows a separate developmental pathway. These two systems appear to have evolved independently before eventually becoming joined together.

The distinction reflects the brain’s different functions. The forebrain supports higher-level abilities such as language, consciousness and abstract reasoning. The hindbrain, often associated with the brain stem, controls essential automatic functions including breathing, sleeping, heartbeat and hunger, as well as muscles involved in facial movement, speech and swallowing.

“We’ve shown for the first time that the front of the brain arises from a totally different progenitor cell than the back of the brain,” said Kyle Loh, PhD, associate professor of developmental biology and senior author of the study. The findings are being published in Nature Neuroscience, with graduate students Carolyn Dundes and Rayyan Jokhai as co-first authors.

The researchers made the discovery by studying mouse embryos during gastrulation, an early stage when the body begins to take shape. They identified two distinct populations of brain progenitor cells: cells expressing the gene Otx2 develop into the forebrain and midbrain, while those expressing Gbx2 form the hindbrain. The two populations remained separate from the earliest stages of development.

Further analysis revealed fundamental differences in how DNA is packaged within the two cell populations, effectively committing them to different developmental paths. This could explain why scientists have struggled for decades to produce human hindbrain neurons in the laboratory: previous approaches may have attempted to transform forebrain and midbrain progenitors into cells they were incapable of becoming.

Using their new understanding, the researchers successfully coaxed human pluripotent stem cells into functional hindbrain motor neurons in the laboratory. The cells displayed electrical activity and produced proteins characteristic of neurons controlling facial and swallowing muscles. This advance could provide new ways to study spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), conditions in which hindbrain neurons can progressively lose function.

The team also traced this two-part organisation through more than 550 million years of evolution, finding similar patterns in chickens, zebrafish and acorn worms. The discovery suggests that evolution may have brought two ancient neural systems together to form what we now recognise as the brain. The ability to grow hindbrain neurons in the laboratory could help researchers investigate brain-stem diseases, explore regenerative treatments and better understand other hindbrain functions, including the neural circuits involved in hunger.

More information: Rayyan Jokhai et al, Two parallel neural ectoderm progenitors contribute to the developing brain, Nature Neuroscience. DOI: 10.1038/s41593-026-02433-7

Journal information: Nature Neuroscience Provided by Stanford Medicine

Weather Conditions Could Provide Early Warning of Cardiac Arrest Risk

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Weather data could help predict up to three days in advance when the number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA) is likely to rise above average, according to a nationwide study of more than 114,000 cases by researchers from Semmelweis University, the Budapest University of Technology and Economics, and the Hungarian National Ambulance Service. Published in Public Health, the study found that lower temperatures were among the most important weather-related risk factors.

Researchers compared out-of-hospital cardiac arrests recorded between November 2018 and December 2023 with daily meteorological indicators, including temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, humidity and air quality. Their goal was not only to identify weather conditions associated with cardiac arrest, but also to determine whether these factors could be used to predict periods when case numbers would rise above average.

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is a major cause of death in developed countries. In Europe, an estimated 67–170 cases occur per 100,000 people each year, while survival remains below 10%. Being able to anticipate increases in cases could help emergency medical services and hospitals prepare for higher demand, while raising public awareness about the importance of rapid intervention and resuscitation.

Temperature emerged as a particularly important factor. Every 1°C decrease in average temperature was associated with a 1.4% increase in the daily number of out-of-hospital cardiac arrests. Nearly 18% more events occurred in winter than in summer, suggesting that lower temperatures generally—not only extreme cold—may increase risk. A daily temperature drop of more than 5°C could also provide a useful warning signal.

Importantly, the effects of weather changes were not always immediate. Cardiac arrest numbers could increase up to three days after certain weather conditions, creating an opportunity for early warning systems to forecast periods of increased healthcare demand.

“In a previous study, we examined how extreme cold and heat affect the incidence of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest. This time, we went one step further and investigated whether weather patterns could be used to predict when higher-than-average numbers of cases are likely to occur,” said Dr. Endre Zima, Professor at Semmelweis University’s Heart and Vascular Center and lead researcher.

The researchers developed a predictive model combining meteorological and ambulance service data. According to first author Dr. Ádám Pál-Jakab, the model could identify one to three days in advance when nationwide cardiac arrest numbers were likely to exceed average levels. Importantly, the model predicts population-level case numbers rather than a person’s risk.

The findings could eventually support an early warning system using weather forecasts to help ambulance services and hospitals plan staffing and capacity. Such systems might also alert people with cardiovascular disease and their families to higher-risk periods, encouraging greater attention to warning symptoms and earlier medical care when necessary.

More information: Ádám Pál-Jakab et al, Meteorological associations with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest: A national population-based time-series analysis, Public Health. DOI: 10.1016/j.puhe.2026.106145

Journal information: Public Health Provided by Semmelweis University