Author: healthadmin

When Raymond, from Salford, was diagnosed with heart failure, he had to spend an extended period of time in hospital on NHS Greater Manchester’s virtual ward until he could continue his treatment safely at home. He received twice daily home visits from the Salford Emergency Response Team and was in regular contact with the clinicians responsible for his care to discuss and review his care. This meant he was more comfortable at home and could recover faster. As of January 2026, there were 883 virtual ward beds available across the city, equivalent to hundreds of hospital beds, providing care in…

For some people covered by the Affordable Care Act, tax season can come with big surprises, including having to repay the government for premium subsidies they received in the previous year. With more changes on the horizon, it will be important for people receiving subsidies in 2026 to track their income and take steps to protect themselves from such financial blows. Let’s start with the basic mechanism of subsidies. Participants pay a fixed percentage of their household income as health insurance premiums on a sliding scale, ranging from zero for very low-income earners to 8.5% for high-income earners by 2025.…

A common feature of schizophrenia is difficulty using new information to make sense of the world. This challenge can make decision-making difficult and, over time, lead to a disconnect with reality. MIT researchers have identified a genetic mutation that may play a key role in this problem. Experiments in mice found that this mutation disrupts the brain circuitry that updates beliefs when new information is received. The mutation occurs in a gene called grin2a, which was previously identified in large-scale genetic studies of schizophrenia. New findings suggest that targeting this brain circuit may help improve cognitive symptoms associated with the…

Recent research published in Journal of Psychopharmacology Cannabis use has been shown to have a wide range of negative effects on different types of memory. The findings provide evidence that getting high impairs everyday cognitive functions, such as remembering to perform future tasks and remembering the exact order of past events. “It is well established in the empirical literature that acute cannabis intoxication negatively impacts memory,” said study author Carrie Cutler, associate professor at Washington State University and co-director of the WSU Cannabis Research Center. “However, most previous studies investigating the acute effects of cannabis on human memory have focused…

In 2016, geologist Rowan Martindale was hiking a hillside in Morocco when something unusual caught his eye. The slabs of sedimentary rock were covered with a wrinkled texture that looked strikingly like elephant skin. The pattern was so unexpected that it immediately stood out. “When I saw the wrinkles, I thought, ‘This can’t be in this rock. What’s going on here?'” said Martindale, an associate professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at the University of Texas at Austin. The texture of a rock reveals the process by which it was formed over millions of years. To Martindale, the wrinkled…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week against Colorado’s ban on licensed mental health providers who engage in gender and sexuality “conversion therapy” could narrow the power of state medical boards to regulate aspects of care for speech-related providers, legal experts say. The impact could extend far beyond issues related to LGBTQ+ rights to other forms of talk therapy, telemedicine, and medical advice on COVID-19, vaccines, and reproductive health. Because the therapist who challenged the law, Kaylee Childs, engages in talk therapy without prescribing medication or having any physical contact with patients, the majority held that the Colorado law was…

Losing a parent in adulthood can have a huge impact on mental health, and new research suggests having a sibling may ease that burden, something we’re only just beginning to understand. Study: Number of siblings and psychotropic medication purchases surrounding parental death in adulthood: A population-wide cohort study in Finland. Image credit: PeopleImages/Shutterstock.com recent Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health The study conducted a national cohort study to examine whether having siblings was associated with differences in psychotropic drug purchases before and after a parent’s death. Adult bereavement and mental health The death of a parent is an important stressful…

Older people are far more likely to get seriously ill from the flu or the coronavirus, and a new study from the University of California, San Francisco offers an explanation. This study shows that aging of lung cells can trigger an overly aggressive immune response, turning even mild infections into serious conditions. These findings provide new insights into age-related inflammation and help explain why simple symptoms like cough can lead to hospitalization in older people. Aging and inflammation of lung cells To explore what changes occur in the lungs as we age, researchers focused on fibroblasts, structural cells that help…

A new study published in Italy suggests that the widely used body mass index (BMI) system may be misclassifying many people. The findings were presented at the European Obesity Conference (ECO 2026, Istanbul, Turkey, May 12-15). nutrientsshow that when body fat is measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), which is considered the gold standard method, BMI often incorrectly classifies individuals as overweight or obese. BMI has come under increasing criticism in recent years because it does not directly measure body fat or describe the distribution of fat in the body. This limitation makes it difficult for BMI to accurately reflect…

Ice giants are among the most attractive targets in the solar system, and Uranus has recently risen to the top of the list. The National Academies’ 2022 Decadal Study identified it as a top priority destination for future exploration. However, despite its strong support, there is still no fully developed mission ready for launch opportunities expected in the 2030s. This delay may not be completely negative. Powerful new launch systems are emerging that have the potential to significantly change the way such missions are designed. SpaceX’s Starship continues to show progress through recent successful tests. In a paper presented at…