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Medical Research News

Serotonin 2C receptor in the brain regulates memory in people and animal models, research shows

Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine, the University of Cambridge in the U.K. and collaborating institutions have shown that serotonin 2C receptor in the brain regulates memory in people and animal models.

Study alerts transwomen to interpret standard prostate cancer screening guidelines with caution

UCSF-led study alerts transwomen and physicians to interpret standard screening guidelines with caution.

Loss of salt, body fluid can stimulate kidney regeneration and repair in mice

A loss of salt and body fluid can stimulate kidney regeneration and repair in mice, according to a NIH-funded study led by USC Stem Cell scientist Janos Peti-Peterdi and published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Microscopic changes in the liver can be used to predict pancreatic cancer spread

Microscopic changes in the liver can be used to predict if, and where, pancreatic cancer may spread in the body.

Systematic review investigates the psychological experiences of donor-conceived individuals

Children conceived by using egg or sperm donors have the same well-being outcomes as non-donor conceived people.

Breakthrough in auditory research: Supranormal hearing achieved

A study from Michigan Medicine's Kresge Hearing Research Institute was able to produce supranormal hearing in mice, while also supporting a hypothesis on the cause of hidden hearing loss in humans.

New framework produce clearer guidance on fish consumption for pregnant mothers

Fish consumption during pregnancy is a complex scientific topic. On one hand, fish are rich in nutrients essential to brain development, including polyunsaturated fatty acids, selenium, iodine, and vitamin D.

Survey reveals public awareness gaps in opioid use disorder treatment by primary care physicians

Results from a national survey indicate that many Americans, 61%, are unaware that primary care physicians can prescribe medications for opioid use disorder, and 13% incorrectly believed that they could not.

Penn researchers aim to uncover the underlying biological mechanisms of TBI-related neurodegeneration

A team of researchers led by Penn Medicine will investigate the link between traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) over the next five years with a $10 million grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

New research may help explain recurrent Crohn's disease in children

Remarkable new research by a University of Virginia undergraduate may help explain recurrent Crohn's disease in children and open the door to new ways to treat or even cure the devastating condition.

Study shows prognostic value of tissue bridges in cervical spinal cord injury

The prognosis for recovery from a spinal cord injury (SCI) is of great importance for those directly affected and those around them.

Remote strategy-based intervention shows promise for individuals with memory impairments caused by MS

A pilot study shows promise for a new treatment option for individuals with memory impairments caused by multiple sclerosis (MS).

Meaningful social interactions have net positive outcomes for affective well-being, stress, and loneliness

Engaging in meaningful social interactions with peers is associated with lower loneliness and greater affective well-being, new research finds.

Long-term effects of chemotherapy on hearing and quality of life in testicular cancer survivors

An interdisciplinary study led by researchers at the University of South Florida and Indiana University has uncovered significant findings on the long-term effects of one of the most common forms of chemotherapy on cancer survivors.

People are commonly given misleading information about depression, study shows

A recent Finnish study shows that people are commonly given misleading information about depression. According to the researchers, the inaccurate information makes it harder for people to understand the causes of their distress.

Study of healthy adults over 20+ years reveals daily multivitamin use is not associated with mortality benefit

A recent study published in JAMA Network Open determined the relationship between regular multivitamin (MV) supplementation and mortality risk among United States adults.

New study links psoriasis severity to skin microbiome dysbiosis

A multi-omics analysis of host-microbe interactions in psoriasis.

Plant-based meat alternatives show no significant heart health benefits in recent study

In an eight-week trial, researchers found that a plant-based meat analog diet did not significantly improve cardiometabolic health biomarkers compared to an omnivorous diet in a Singaporean cohort.

New study reveals rare genetic variants significantly increase atrial fibrillation risk

Researchers identified rare genetic variants that significantly increase the risk of atrial fibrillation, enhancing AF risk stratification by combining these with polygenic risk scores.

Study links low teenage mental ability to early stroke

A lower level of mental ability during the teenage years may be linked to as much as a tripling in the risk of having a stroke before the age of 50, finds research published online in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.

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The latest news in clinical medicine, biomedical research, public health, and health policy

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Research news

Covid-19: nearly 20% of patients receive psychiatric diagnosis within three months of covid, study finds, antibiotics are as good as surgery for appendicitis, study reports, black babies are less likely to die when cared for by black doctors, us study finds, mortality rates are lower with higher continuity of care, review finds, urgent gp referrals for suspected cancer associated with lower mortality, study claims, covid-19: death rate is 0.66% and increases with age, study estimates, targeted screening in routine primary care detects lung cancer in 2% of high risk patients, study finds, macrolide antibiotics in pregnancy are linked with birth defects, study suggests, lung cancer: ct screening in former or current smokers significantly reduces mortality, study finds, meningitis vaccine: cases fall in uk, but herd immunity remains elusive in australia, obesity surgery does not lead to long term alleviation of mental health problems in teens, study finds, clinical trial reporting: compliance with us rules is poor and not improving, study finds, high levels of bad cholesterol in early middle age are linked to cvd risk decades later, study finds, declining us life expectancy is driven by more than just opioids, study finds, study links air pollution to several new causes of hospital admissions, inducing labour at 41 weeks may be safer than “wait and see” approach, study finds, sepsis: digital monitoring improves outcomes by alerting clinicians to deteriorating patients, study finds, study records improved blood flow within a month of replacing cigarettes with vaping, china’s organ donation figures appear to be falsified, study claims, rates of colorectal cancer after negative colonoscopies vary by provider, study finds, cystic fibrosis: triple therapy shows promising results, tb vaccine is hailed as ground breaking, though confirmatory trials are needed, taking antihypertensives at bedtime nearly halves cardiovascular deaths when compared with morning dosing, study finds, former footballers are more likely to die from neurodegenerative disease, study finds, most fatal opioid overdoses are not caused by prescription drugs, us study finds, gps talked to fewer patients about alcohol after incentive scheme ended, study finds, childbirth: one in three women in low and middle income countries reports being mistreated, air pollution is linked to infant deaths and reduced lung function in children, research evaluating ai for diagnosing disease is weak, finds review, children with cancer are missing out on precision medicine, study finds, having a named gp doesn’t improve older patients’ continuity of care, finds study, malaria could be eradicated by 2050, say global experts, vegetarian and pescatarian diets are linked to lower risk of ischaemic heart disease, study finds, cancer overtakes cvd to become leading cause of death in high income countries, breast cancer risk associated with hrt increases with longer use, finds study, stress urinary incontinence: study finds fourfold variation in use of surgery across england, polypill cuts major cardiovascular events by a third, study finds, social media can harm when use displaces sleep or exercise or involves bullying, finds study, women in india face “extensive gender discrimination” in healthcare access, ssris in children: nice guidelines may have increased their use, hepatitis c: voluntary drug licences improve treatment uptake in lower income countries, banning tobacco sales to under 21s reduces smoking, study finds, superbug spreads in european hospitals as resistance to last resort antibiotics grows, most deaths related to non-cardiac surgery occur outside operating room, finds study, non-prescription antibiotic use is “public health problem” in us, finds study, malaria drugs left ineffective by spread of multidrug resistant parasites in southeast asia, added screen time linked to more depression in adolescents, study finds, “hostile and demeaning” universal credit system worsens physical and mental health, study finds, risk of stillbirth increases after 41 weeks, study finds, us suicide rates in young people are highest since 2000, being obese before conception triples odds of obese or overweight offspring, review finds, white coat hypertension linked to double the risk of death from heart disease, study finds, major rise in non-suicidal self harm in england, study shows, living in a war zone increases heart disease and stroke risk years after conflict ends, study finds, rheumatoid arthritis: glucocorticoids are associated with nearly double infection risk post-surgery, an estimated one in seven babies is born with a low birthweight, antibiotics after assisted childbirth could almost halve maternal infections, obesity rates are increasing more rapidly in rural areas than in cities, alcohol use: global target to reduce harm is likely to be missed as intake rises, social media: concerns over effects on teenagers are overblown and lack evidence, follow us 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Paleontologist Dany Azar holds up one of his treasures that he discovered in Lebanon in a piece of amber from the early Cretaceous: The oldest mosquito ever found. Ari Daniel/For NPR hide caption

In Lebanon, the 'Amber Man' digs up golden time capsules from the age of the dinosaurs

June 28, 2024 • When dinosaurs reigned some 130 million years ago, flowering plants were taking over the world. That change is sealed in ancient amber specimens on the slopes of Lebanon that Danny Azar knows so well.

Reconstruction of a Lokiceratops rangiformis being surprised by a crocodilian in the 78-million-year-old swamps that would have existed in what is now northern Montana. Andrey Atuchin/Museum of Evolution hide caption

Named after the Norse god Loki, meet Lokiceratops, a new horned dinosaur species

June 28, 2024 • A brand new species of ceratops, or horned dinosaur, was recently discovered in northern Montana. The dinosaur is called Lokiceratops rangiformis , after the Norse god Loki, and is believed to have lived roughly eighty million years ago. The bones of the plant-eating dinosaur were found on private land in an area well known for its large amount of fossils, and at first, researchers thought the bones belonged to another species of dinosaur!

Joro spider sits in the middle of a spider web. GummyBone/Getty Images hide caption

Why you shouldn't worry about invasive Joro spiders

June 14, 2024 • Joro spiders are spreading across the east coast. They are an invasive species that most likely arrived in shipping containers from eastern Asia. Today, we look into why some people find them scary, why to not panic about them and what their trajectory illustrates about the wider issue of invasive species.

Later this year, the FDA plans to decide whether MDMA can be used to treat PTSD Eva Almqvist/Getty Images hide caption

Misconduct claims may derail MDMA psychedelic treatment for PTSD

June 3, 2024 • People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) may soon have a new treatment option: MDMA, the chemical found in ecstasy. In August, the Food and Drug Administration plans to decide whether MDMA-assisted therapy for PTSD will be approved for market based on years of research. But serious allegations of research misconduct may derail the approval timeline.

Former President Donald Trump holds a press conference following the verdict in his hush-money trial at Trump Tower on May 31 in New York City. Spencer Platt/Getty Images hide caption

Trump repeats claims — without evidence — that his trial was rigged

May 31, 2024 • Former President Donald Trump reiterated many of claims — without evidence — that his criminal trial was rigged, a day after a New York jury found him guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records.

Researchers have detected microplastics in human testicles. Volodymyr Zakharov/Getty Images hide caption

Shots - Health News

Plastic junk researchers find tiny particles in men's testicles.

May 22, 2024 • The new study has scientists concerned that microplastics may be contributing to reproductive health issues.

Harlan Gough holds a recently collected tiger beetle on a tether. Lawrence Reeves hide caption

To escape hungry bats, these flying beetles create an ultrasound 'illusion'

May 22, 2024 • A study of tiger beetles has found a possible explanation for why they produce ultrasound noises right before an echolocating bat swoops in for the kill.

A sea otter in Monterey Bay with a rock anvil on its belly and a scallop in its forepaws. Jessica Fujii hide caption

When sea otters lose their favorite foods, they can use tools to go after new ones

May 20, 2024 • Some otters rely on tools to bust open hard-shelled prey items like snails, and a new study suggests this tool use is helping them to survive as their favorite, easier-to-eat foods disappear.

Lauren Hill, a graduate student at Cal State LA, holds a bird at the bird banding site at Bear Divide in the San Gabriel Mountains. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption

On this unassuming trail near LA, bird watchers see something spectacular

May 13, 2024 • At Bear Divide, just outside Los Angeles, you can see a rare spectacle of nature. This is one of the only places in the western United States where you can see bird migration during daylight hours.

The inside of a cell is a complicated orchestration of interactions between molecules. Keith Chambers/Science Photo Library hide caption

AI gets scientists one step closer to mapping the organized chaos in our cells

May 13, 2024 • As artificial intelligence seeps into some realms of society, it rushes into others. One area it's making a big difference is protein science — as in the "building blocks of life," proteins! Producer Berly McCoy talks to host Emily Kwong about the newest advance in protein science: AlphaFold3, an AI program from Google DeepMind. Plus, they talk about the wider field of AI protein science and why researchers hope it will solve a range of problems, from disease to the climate.

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory captured this image of a strong solar flare on May 8, 2024. The Wednesday solar flares kicked off the geomagnetic storm happening this weekend. NASA/SDO hide caption

NOAA Issues First Severe Geomagnetic Storm Watch Since 2005

May 10, 2024 • Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration observed a cluster of sunspots on the surface of the sun this week. With them came solar flares that kicked off a severe geomagnetic storm. That storm is expected to last throughout the weekend as at least five coronal mass ejections — chunks of the sun — are flung out into space, towards Earth! NOAA uses a five point scale to rate these storms, and this weekend's storm is a G4. It's expected to produce auroras as far south as Alabama. To contextualize this storm, we are looking back at the largest solar storm on record: the Carrington Event.

Esther Nesbitt lost two of her children to drug overdoses, and her grandchildren are among more than 320,000 who lost parents in the overdose epidemic. Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images hide caption

In a decade of drug overdoses, more than 320,000 American children lost a parent

May 8, 2024 • New research documents how many children lost a parent to an opioid or other overdose in the period from 2011 to 2021. Bereaved children face elevated risks to their physical and emotional health.

This illustration depicts a washed-up Ichthyotitan severnensis carcass on the beach. Sergey Krasovskiy hide caption

Largest-ever marine reptile found with help from an 11-year-old girl

May 6, 2024 • A father and daughter discovered fossil remnants of a giant ichthyosaur that scientists say may have been the largest-known marine reptile to ever swim the seas.

A survey shows that doctors have trouble taking full vacations from their high-stress jobs. Even when they do, they often still do work on their time off. Wolfgang Kaehler/LightRocket via Getty Images hide caption

Perspective

When pto stands for 'pretend time off': doctors struggle to take real breaks.

May 4, 2024 • What's a typical vacation activity for doctors? Work. A new study finds that most physicians do work on a typical day off. In this essay, a family doctor considers why that is and why it matters.

Weliton Menário Costa (center) holds a laptop while surrounded by dancers for his music video, "Kangaroo Time." From left: Faux Née Phish (Caitlin Winter), Holly Hazlewood, and Marina de Andrade. Nic Vevers/ANU hide caption

'Dance Your Ph.D.' winner on science, art, and embracing his identity

May 4, 2024 • Weliton Menário Costa's award-winning music video showcases his research on kangaroo personality and behavior — and offers a celebration of human diversity, too.

Researchers in a rainforest in Indonesia spotted an injury on the face of a male orangutan they named Rakus. They were stunned to watch him treat his wound with a medicinal plant. Armas/Suaq Project hide caption

Orangutan in the wild applied medicinal plant to heal its own injury, biologists say

May 3, 2024 • It is "the first known case of active wound treatment in a wild animal with a medical plant," biologist Isabelle Laumer told NPR. She says the orangutan, called Rakus, is now thriving.

The federal government says it has taken steps toward developing a vaccine to protect against bird flu should it become a threat to humans. skodonnell/Getty Images hide caption

Launching an effective bird flu vaccine quickly could be tough, scientists warn

May 3, 2024 • Federal health officials say the U.S. has the building blocks to make a vaccine to protect humans from bird flu, if needed. But experts warn we're nowhere near prepared for another pandemic.

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For birds, siblinghood can be a matter of life or death.

May 1, 2024 • Some birds kill their siblings soon after hatching. Other birds spend their whole lives with their siblings and will even risk their lives to help each other.

Planet Money

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April 30, 2024 • An economic perspective on misinformation

This image shows a brain "assembloid" consisting of two connected brain "organoids." Scientists studying these structures have restored impaired brain cells in Timothy syndrome patients. Pasca lab, Stanford University hide caption

Scientists restore brain cells impaired by a rare genetic disorder

April 30, 2024 • A therapy that restores brain cells impaired by a rare genetic disorder may offer a strategy for treating conditions like autism, epilepsy, and schizophrenia.

Katie Krimitsos is among the majority of American women who have trouble getting healthy sleep, according to a new Gallup survey. Krimitsos launched a podcast called Sleep Meditation for Women to offer some help. Natalie Champa Jennings/Natalie Jennings, courtesy of Katie Krimitsos hide caption

Helping women get better sleep by calming the relentless 'to-do lists' in their heads

April 26, 2024 • A recent survey found that Americans' sleep patterns have been getting worse. Adult women under 50 are among the most sleep-deprived demographics.

Bird flu is spreading through U.S. dairy cattle. Scientists say the risk to people is minimal, but open questions remain, including how widespread the outbreak is and how the virus is spreading. DOUGLAS MAGNO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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April 26, 2024 • Health officials say there's very little risk to humans from the bird flu outbreak among dairy cattle, but there's still much they don't know. Here are four questions scientists are trying to answer.

She's fighting to stop the brain disease that killed her mother before it gets her.

Looking to save herself from a rare brain disease, she helped discover a treatment that may help millions of others..

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts ‒ Sonia Vallabh watched helplessly as her 51-year-old mother rapidly descended into dementia and died. It didn't take long for Vallabh to realize she was destined for the same rare genetic fate.

Vallabh and her husband did what anyone would want to do in their situation: They decided to fight.

Armed with little more than incredible intellect and determination they set out to conquer her destiny.

A dozen years later, they've taken a major step in that direction, finding a way to shut off enough genetic signals to hold off the disease.

And in the process of trying to rescue Vallabh, they may save many, many others as well.

In a paper published Thursday in the prestigious journal Science , Vallabh and her husband, Eric Minikel, and their co-authors offer a way to disrupt brain diseases like the one that killed her mother.

The same approach should also work against diseases such as Huntington's, Parkinson's, ALS and even Alzheimer's, which result from the accumulation of toxic proteins. If it works as well as they think, it could also be useful against a vast array of other diseases that can be treated by shutting off genes.

"It doesn't have to be the brain. It could be the muscles. It could be the kidneys. It could be really anywhere in the body where we have not easily been able to do these things before," said Dr. Kiran Musunuru, a cardiologist and geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania's Perelman School of Medicine, who wasn't involved in the research but wrote a perspective accompanying the paper .

So far, they've proven it only in mice.

"The data are good as far as they go," Vallabh said this week from her office at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, where she has worked since getting a PhD at Harvard. She had already gotten a law degree from the university, but she and Minikel, then a transportation planner, both pursued biology degrees after her mother's death. Now, they work together at the Broad.

"We're far from this being a drug," Vallabh said. "There's always, always reason for caution. Sadly, everything is always more likely to fail than succeed.

"But there is justifiable reason for optimism."

A terrible disease

The disease that killed Vallabh's mother was one of a group of conditions called prion diseases . These include mad cow disease, which affects mostly cattle, scrapie, which affects sheep, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease , which kills about 350 Americans a year ‒ most within months of their first symptom.

These diseases are triggered when the prion protein found in all normal brains starts misfolding for some reason, as yet unknown.

"Prion disease can strike anybody," Vallabh said, noting the 1 in 6,000 risk to the general population.

Though prion diseases are, in some cases, contagious, a federal study earlier this year concluded that chronic wasting disease, found in deer, elk and moose, is very unlikely to pass to people who eat the meat of sick animals.

In Vallabh's case, the cause is genetic. Vallabh discovered after her mother's death that she carries the same variant of the same gene that caused her mother's disease, meaning she will certainly develop it.

The only question is when.

"The age of onset is extremely unpredictable," Vallabh said. "Your parent's age of onset doesn't actually predict anything."

How the gene-editing tool works

Vallabh and Minikel approached colleagues at the Whitehead Institute a biomedical research institute next to the Broad. They asked to collaborate on a new gene-editing approach to turn off Vallabh's disease gene. The technique developed by Whitehead scientists is called CHARM (for Coupled Histone tail Autoinhibition Release of Methyltransferase).

While previous gene-editing tools have been described as scissors or erasers, Musunuru described CHARM as a volume control, allowing scientists to tune a gene up or down. It has three advantages over previous strategies, he said.

The device is tiny, so it fits easily inside the virus needed to deliver it. Other gene-editing tools, like CRISPR, are bigger, which means they need to be broken into pieces and much more of the virus is needed to deliver those pieces to the brain, risking a dangerous immune reaction.

CHARM, Musunuru said, is "easier to deliver to hard-to-deliver spaces like the brain."

At least in the mouse, it also seems to have reached throughout the brain, making the desired genetic change without other, unwanted ones, Musunuru said.

And finally, the research team figured out a way to turn the gene editor off after its work was done. "If it's sticking around, there's the potential for genetic mischief," Musunuru said.

One shot on goal

While researchers, including Vallabh, continue to work to perfect an approach, the clock for Vallabh and others is ticking.

Right now there's no viable treatment and if it takes too long to develop one, Vallabh will miss her window. Once the disease process starts, like a runaway train, it'll be much harder to stop than it would be to just shut the gene off in the first place.

The more of the prion protein in the brain, the more likely it is to misfold. And the more likely it is for the disease to spread, a process that co-opts the natural form of the protein and converts it to the toxic form.

That's why getting rid of as much of it as possible makes sense, said Jonathan Weissman, the senior author on the study, who leads a Whitehead lab.

"The biology is really clear. The need (for a cure) is so compelling," Weissman said.

Every cell in the brain has the gene for making the prion protein. By silencing even 50% of those genes, Weissman figures he can prevent the disease. In mice, CHARM silenced up to 80% to 90%.

"We've figured out what to deliver. Now we have to figure out how to deliver it," he said.

Another of the paper's co-authors, the Broad's Ben Deverman, published a study late last year showing he could deliver a gene-therapy-carrying virus throughout the brain. Others are developing other viral delivery systems.

And Vallabh and Minikel have hedged their bets, helping to develop a so-called antisense oligonucleotide, or ASO, which uses another path for stopping the gene from making the prion protein.

The ASO, which is in early trials in people by a company called Ionis Pharmaceuticals, requires regular treatment rather than the one-and-done of a gene therapy. Recruitment for that trial had to be paused in April because the number of would-be volunteers outstripped the available slots.

Personalized therapy: This lifesaving treatment was designed for one. Could it be the future of medical care?

Vallabh isn't ready yet to start any treatment yet herself.

"She has one shot on goal," Musunuru said. "At some point, she'll have to decide what's the best strategy."

In the meantime, the clock Vallabh can't see continues to tick toward onset.

She and Minikel stay exceedingly busy with their research along with their daughter, almost 7, and 4-year-old son ‒ both born via IVF and preimplantation genetic testing to ensure they wouldn't inherit her genetic curse. (They were super lucky, Vallabh notes, to be living in Massachusetts where IVF is at least "approachable" financially.)

"There is a mountain ahead of us," Vallabh said of the path to a cure. "There's still a lot of hurdles, there's still a lot to figure out."

Karen Weintraub can be reached at [email protected].

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Magic mushrooms are the most-used psychedelic drug

by RAND Corporation

Psilocybin mushrooms are the psychedelic substance most often used in the U.S., with its popularity outpacing other psychedelic drugs such as MDMA (known as ecstasy), according to a new RAND report.

Based on a new national survey , researchers found that about 12% of respondents reported using psilocybin at some point within their lives and 3.1% reported using the substance over the past year. An estimated 8 million American adults used psilocybin in 2023.

Psychedelic substances such as psilocybin mushrooms and MDMA have long been touted as holding promise for treating various mental health conditions, with enthusiasm for the substances growing during the past decade. Although clinical research continues to grow, less attention has focused on the changing policy landscape for some psychedelics.

The report, which looks broadly at emerging issues involving the use and supply of psychedelics for nonclinical purposes, suggests that as state and local officials ease regulations on the substances, federal policymakers must decide whether they want psychedelics to follow in the footsteps of the for-profit cannabis model or take another path.

"The current situation with psychedelics reminds me of where we were with cannabis policy 12 years ago," said Beau Kilmer, lead author of the report and a senior policy researcher at RAND, a nonprofit research organization. "Now is the time for federal policymakers to decide if they want to shape these policy changes or stay on the sidelines."

Researchers caution that there is concern that if efforts to expand the non-clinical supply of psychedelics do not go well, it could generate a backlash that may have a chilling effect on research and potential therapeutic uses.

"Based on what happened with clinical research on psychedelics after the 1960s, this is not an idle concern," said Kilmer, codirector of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center.

The RAND report is based on several sources of information, including a December 2023 survey of a representative sample of 3,791 American adults who were asked about their use of a variety of substances, including psychedelics. The survey included several questions specific to psilocybin use and how it was obtained. The researchers also analyzed data from the National Survey on Drug Use and Health and the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Researchers interviewed legal experts , policy advocates, regulators, clinical researchers, mental health providers, and representatives from organizations working in the emerging psychedelics industry in the U.S. and abroad. The work also included discussions with members of Indigenous communities about their spiritual medicines.

"Policy changes may affect Indigenous people who have longstanding traditions with certain spiritual medicines that are commonly referred to as psychedelics," said Michelle Priest, co-author of the report and an assistant policy researcher at RAND. "Engaging respectfully with Indigenous community members who are authorized to speak on these topics can help craft policies that benefit from generations of wisdom while protecting Indigenous rights."

Despite the federal prohibition on supply and possession outside approved clinical research and some religious exemptions, some state and local governments are loosening their approaches to psychedelics, including approaches that legalize some forms of supply to adults for any reason.

For states considering alternatives to prohibiting the supply of psychedelics, the report highlights how there are many options besides the for-profit approach. For example, states could allow people to forage or grow their own, or allow them to join non-profit collectives or cooperatives. There also is the supervised use model that's operating in Oregon for psilocybin and is expected to be up and running in Colorado in 2025.

One difference from cannabis policy debates, the researchers note, is the role of supervision in policy discussions surrounding psychedelics. Even in places that do not adopt the supervision model being implemented in Oregon and Colorado, policymakers will likely face many decisions surrounding the regulation of facilitators and supervision settings.

The RAND report found that unlike people who use cannabis and many other drugs, those who use psychedelics typically do so infrequently. The RAND survey found that 0.9% of respondents reported using psilocybin during the past month, compared to 20% of respondents reporting cannabis use during the past month.

Researchers estimate that among all American adults, the total number of use days in the most recent month for cannabis was on the order of 650 million, whereas the comparable figure for hallucinogens was closer to 7 million.

Among those reporting past year use of psilocybin in the RAND survey, 47% reported microdosing the last time they had used. Microdosing involves using small amounts of psilocybin or other psychedelics—often 1/10th to 1/20th of a typical dose.

Researchers say one takeaway from the analysis is the extent to which infrequent users drive the market for psychedelics. For cannabis, the market for infrequent users is negligible, accounting for about 5% of the total use days in the past month. For psychedelics, that figure is closer to 60%.

"While price is a major policy lever when we think about regulating cannabis and alcohol, it will likely play a much smaller role for psychedelics since infrequent users currently drive the market and they tend to spend relatively little on these substances," said Rajeev Ramchand, co-author of the report and codirector of the RAND Epstein Family Veterans Policy Research Institute.

The researchers found that when they were writing the report, it became clear how little has been published about the markets and patterns of use for many psychedelics—especially psilocybin. They offer ideas for improving existing surveys such as the National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and recommend conducting qualitative research (ideally longitudinally) with those who use psychedelics and those who produce and distribute these substances in legal or illegal settings.

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University of Cincinnati, UC Health collaborate with GE HealthCare on MRI research center

Center is only one of a few in the world and will focus on clinical research.

The University of Cincinnati College of Medicine and UC Health are collaborating with GE HealthCare, JobsOhio, REDI Cincinnati and Cincinnati Children’s to create an MRI Research and Development Center of Excellence located on UC’s medical campus.

This center of excellence, which will be located in the former UC Health MRI Center at 321 Albert Sabin Way, is only one of a handful in the world and will focus on patient research and fostering collaboration between academia and industry, as GE HealthCare scientists will also staff the facility. 

Mary Mahoney, MD, Ben Felson Chair and professor in the University of Cincinnati Department of Radiology at the College of Medicine and chief of imaging services at UC Health.

“We are excited to embark on this new research collaboration with GE HealthCare,” says Mary Mahoney, Ben Felson Chair and professor in the University of Cincinnati Department of Radiology at the College of Medicine and chief of imaging services at UC Health. “Together, we can make a profound impact on our medical center, our community and most importantly, our patients. Through our collective efforts, we can push the boundaries of knowledge, discover innovative solutions,and improve the lives of those we serve. UC and UC Health fully embrace this opportunity to advance imaging science and help develop and build the workforce of technologists, engineers and scientists in health imaging for Ohio.”

Studies conducted at the facility, equipped with the  3T wide-bore MRI scanner , will help to test MRI hardware and software technology that have the potential to help improve clinical outcomes. The timelines for installation of the equipment and opening are still in planning stages, but leaders are optimistic and are aiming for the facility to be operational in 2025. 

“The University of Cincinnati is home to physician scientists who are impacting how we care for patients with new discoveries every day,” says Brett Kissela, MD, senior associate dean for clinical research at UC’s College of Medicine and chief of research services at UC Health. “This partnership with GE HealthCare will undoubtedly lead to tremendous advances in how we will utilize imaging for daily care of patients within our health system.”

Read more about this collaboration. 

Featured image of GE HealthCare Air Tech Comfort MRI machine courtesy of GE HealthCare.

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CSMAS supports plan to reinstate access to injury data

Committee members affirm performance technologies as priority topic for its training and performance advisory group.

During its meeting  in Indianapolis, the NCAA Committee on Competitive Safeguards and Medical Aspects of Sports supported a plan to reinstate the NCAA Injury Surveillance Program data request process. 

The program provides injury surveillance data to researchers.

"Sport-injury researchers will be able to apply for data from the Injury Surveillance Program," said Pam Hinton Bruzina, chair of the CSMAS Research Subcommittee and faculty athletics representative at Missouri, where she is a professor of nutrition and exercise physiology. "CSMAS continues to support opportunities for research to advance the scientific understanding of data from the program." 

The data sharing has been paused since 2018 while the committee considered policy and procedural changes. The process may be reinstated by as early as this winter. 

Performance technology

The committee affirmed wearable performance technology as a priority topic for the Association. 

Its Training and Performance Advisory Group met in May and recommended additional work on performance technologies, including their intersection with nutrition, sleep and recovery. 

The committee agreed that the advisory group should focus its future discussion on wearable performance technologies, with the potential goal of providing enhanced guidance to the membership. 

Division I core guarantees: Guidance on mental and physical health, safety and performance requirements

CSMAS supported the creation of a question-and-answer document that provides guidance to schools as they implement mental and physical health, safety and performance  core guarantees  from the holistic student-athlete model adopted last year and effective Aug. 1.

The mental and physical health, safety and performance core guarantees include, among other items, a requirement that Division I schools attest to being in compliance with consensus-based guidance (Mental Health Best Practices) developed by CSMAS and approved by the NCAA Board of Governors.

The guidance will be reviewed with the membership this summer and made available before the August effective date. 

Deena Casiero, director of sports medicine and head team physician at UConn, was  named the NCAA's chief medical officer , starting Aug. 12. Casiero has been a member of CSMAS since 2021 and was named vice chair of the committee in 2023. 

Nadine Mastroleo, faculty athletics representative and professor of psychology at Binghamton University, will replace Casiero as vice chair and become chair Sept. 1. Sarah Dowd, the director of student-athlete wellness and clinical counselor at Michigan Tech, was elected as the vice chair in waiting. 

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U.S. News Releases 2024-2025 Best Global Universities Rankings

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Jun 25, 2024, 09:10 ET

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The newest edition evaluates schools from more than 100 countries.

WASHINGTON , June 25, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- U.S. News & World Report, the global authority in education rankings and consumer advice, today published the 2024-2025 Best Global Universities rankings, which evaluate more than 2,250 schools on academic research and reputation.

The new edition includes universities from more than 100 countries. The following countries have the most schools in the overall rankings:

• China : 396
• United States : 283
• Japan : 112
• India : 109
• United Kingdom : 96

"The Best Global Universities rankings provide a starting point for students to compare universities across the globe, within their region, and even by specific discipline," said LaMont Jones , Ed.D., managing editor for Education at U.S. News. "In their tenth year, the rankings have expanded to include more schools and more subjects while ensuring a focus on scholarly reputation and on institutions that prioritize cutting-edge research."

This edition adds four new subject rankings: ecology; green and sustainable science and technology; environmental engineering; and marine & freshwater biology.

Powered by Web of Science™ data and  InCites™ metrics provided by Clarivate™ , a leading global provider of transformative intelligence, the Best Global Universities   methodology weighs factors that measure a university's global and regional research reputation and academic research performance. For the overall ranking, this includes bibliometric indicators such as publications, citations and international collaboration. Each of the 51 subject rankings has its own weighting based on academic research performance in that specific area.

2024-2025 U.S. News & World Report Best Global Universities *See the full rankings here .

Overall Best Global Universities – Top 10

1.  Harvard University (U.S.) 2.  Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.) 3.  Stanford University ( U.S .) 4.  University of Oxford ( U.K .) 5.  University of California Berkeley ( U.S .) 6.  University of Cambridge ( U.K .)  7.  University College London ( U.K .; tie) 7.  University of Washington ( U.S .; tie) 9.  Columbia University ( U.S .) 10. California Institute of Technology ( U.S .)

Africa – Top 3

1. University of Cape Town ( South Africa ) 2. University of Witwatersrand ( South Africa ) 3. Cairo University ( Egypt )

Asia – Top 3

1. Tsinghua University ( China ) 2. National University of Singapore 3. Nanyang Technological University ( Singapore )

Australia / New Zealand – Top 3

1. University of Melbourne ( Australia ) 2. University of Sydney 3. Monash University ( Australia )

Europe – Top 3

1. University of Oxford (U.K.) 2. University of Cambridge ( U.K .) 3. University College London

Latin America – Top 3

1. Universidade de São Paulo (Brazil) 2. Universidade Estadual de Campinas (Brazil) 3. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile

The Best Global Universities rankings serve the broader U.S. News mission of providing trusted information and rankings – such as Best High Schools ,  Best Colleges and Best Online Programs – to empower all students in making informed choices about their education.

For more information on the Best Global Universities, visit X  (formerly Twitter), TikTok , Facebook  and  Instagram  using #BestGlobal.

About U.S. News & World Report U.S. News & World Report is the global leader in quality rankings that empower consumers, business leaders and policy officials to make better, more informed decisions about important issues affecting their lives and communities. A multifaceted digital media company with Education, Health, Money, Travel, Cars, News, Real Estate and 360 Reviews platforms, U.S. News provides rankings, independent reporting, data journalism, consumer advice and U.S. News Live events. More than 40 million people visit USNews.com each month for research and guidance. Founded in 1933, U.S. News is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

About Clarivate Clarivate™ is a leading global provider of transformative intelligence. We offer enriched data, insights & analytics, workflow solutions and expert services in the areas of Academia & Government, Intellectual Property and Life Sciences & Healthcare. For more information, please visit  www.clarivate.com .

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Supreme Court Will Hear Challenge to Tennessee Law Banning Transition Care for Minors

The move comes as states around the country have pushed to curtail transgender rights.

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By Abbie VanSickle

Reporting from Washington

The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to consider a Tennessee law that bans certain medical treatments for transgender minors, the first time the justices will decide on the constitutionality of such statewide bans.

The move could have broad ramifications for about 25 states that have enacted similar measures. Republican-led state legislatures have pushed to curtail transgender rights in recent years, with laws that target gender-transition care and that regulate other parts of life, including which bathrooms students and others can use and which sports teams they can play on.

The case, United States v. Skrmetti , will be heard in the court’s next term, which typically begins on the first Monday in October, though no date has been set yet for oral argument. The justices had considered whether to hear two challenges to transition care, including the Tennessee appeal and one centered on a Kentucky law, at their private conference each week. But they had repeatedly postponed making a decision, suggesting there might have been debate over whether to do so.

The court’s decision to take up the case signals a willingness by at least some of the justices to delve into yet another polarizing social issue, even as they have yet to rule on some of the biggest cases for this term, involving emergency abortion care, disinformation on social media and the scope of presidential power.

The Biden administration and a number of legal advocacy groups representing transgender youths had asked the court to intervene after a federal appeals court upheld the ban. In Tennessee, the law prohibits three types of transgender medical care for minors — puberty blockers, cross-sex hormones and gender-transition surgeries.

The administration has argued that the law violates the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment because it “frames that prohibition in explicitly sex-based terms.” Solicitor General Elizabeth B. Prelogar, in the government’s petition to the court, identified what she viewed as a disparity in the state’s approach, saying that even as Tennessee bans transgender medical care, it “leaves the same treatments entirely unrestricted if they are prescribed for any other purpose.”

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