THE MEDICAL NEWS

In a bid to better understand, and potentially treat, a host of conditions that affect early cognition, neurodevelopment and the brain later in life, investigators at Johns Hopkins Medicine and colleagues throughout the world have been mapping the molecular construction of the human brain.

As whole-person care accelerates across the U.S. health care system, clinicians face a persistent and consequential gap: the lifestyle and upstream health factors that drive chronic disease remain largely unmeasured, undocumented, and uncompensated in health care data systems.

A major new study, led by scientists at University College Dublin and the University of Edinburgh and funded by the St John of God Research Foundation, has found that commonly prescribed attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) medication in childhood may lower the long‑term risk of developing serious psychotic disorders, including schizophrenia.

A study of 627 Saudi university students found that higher social media addiction was associated with more anxiety and depression, while family environment fully mediated those links in the statistical model. The findings suggest that supportive family relationships may help buffer the mental health burden associated with problematic social media use, although the cross-sectional design does not …

Evidence-based parenting programs delivered through community organisations can support family wellbeing and should be considered as part of wider strategies to reduce health inequalities, a landmark UCL study has found.

Hormone patches are as good at controlling locally advanced prostate cancer as the injections typically used to deliver hormone therapy, according to the results of a large clinical trial led by UCL (University College London) researchers.

A new study from researchers at the Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology (Alliance) shows that patients with stage III colon cancer with deficient deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) mismatch repair (dMMR) had significantly better outcomes when the immunotherapy drug atezolizumab (Tecentriq®) was added to standard chemotherapy after surgery.

Patients with breast cancer may be able to avoid lymphedema, which can occur after surgery to remove lymph nodes in the armpit (the axilla), by having radiotherapy instead.