Category: 8. Health

SAN DIEGO—In patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding, early blood product transfusion is independently associated with improved clinical outcomes, even in the absence of early endoscopic intervention, reducing the risk for inpatient mortality and myocardial infarction, according to findings presented at DDW 2025.

Nearly 11,000 individuals die from complications of GI bleeding each year. Timely resuscitation and endoscopic evaluation are critical for optimizing hospitalization outcomes. Although guidelines recommend resuscitation with red blood cell transfusion and early endoscopy (Am J Gastroenterol 2021; 116[5]:899-917), the effect of the timing of transfusion has not been established.

Investigators from SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, in New York City, performed a retrospective review of nearly 15,000 hospitalizations from the National Inpatient Sample to determine how the timing of packed red blood cell (PRBC) transfusion affects outcomes (abstract Sa1338).

“The results of this study highlight the importance of timely resuscitation with PRBC transfusion, as we demonstrated that even with a delay in endoscopy, early blood product transfusion has a significant impact on mortality and hospitalization outcomes,” Tamta Chkhikvadze, MD, who presented the results, told Gastroenterology & Endoscopy News.

Almost 15,000 Patients

The analysis included 14,865 adults with ICD-10 codes for upper GI bleeding and associated procedural codes for interventions of esophagogastroduodenoscopy and transfusion of PRBCs alone or with plasma. The intervention groups were divided by timing: early EGD (=24 hours) and delayed EGD (>24 hours), with further subgrouping by timing of blood product transfusions (early, =24 hours; delayed, >24 hours).

“Our data in different subgroups of patients with upper GI bleeding, divided by the timing of blood transfusion and endoscopy, demonstrated that the group with both delayed PRBC transfusion and delayed EGD had the worst outcomes compared to the reference group of patients with early blood transfusions and early EGD,” said Dr. Chkhikvadze, a GI fellow at SUNY Downstate.

Concerning Odds Ratios

In a multivariate analysis, the reference group was patients who received both early PRBC transfusion and early EGD. Compared with the optimally treated group, patients with delays in both PRBC transfusion and EGD had the worst outcomes, with odds ratios (ORs) of 4.57 (95% CI, 3.64-5.75) for inpatient mortality and 2.05 (95% CI, 1.70-2.48) for myocardial infarction. In comparison, even in the setting of delayed EGD, the ORs for patients with early transfusion were 1.39 (95% CI, 1.09-1.77) for inpatient mortality and 1.61 for myocardial infarction (95% CI, 1.35-1.93). A focused sub-analysis comparing early PRBC transfusion with delayed EGD versus delayed PRBC transfusion with delayed EGD demonstrated markedly lower mortality in the early-transfused group (3.4% vs. 11.2%; P<0.0001).

In addition, patients with delayed EGD had a 61% higher hospital bill and stayed for an average of more than five days longer.

The findings suggest that the timing of transfusion is a critical, modifiable factor that can influence prognosis, even in the absence of early endoscopic intervention. “Timely hemodynamic resuscitation should be prioritized in upper GI bleeding management, particularly in resource-limited settings or when endoscopy is delayed,” Dr. Chkhikvadze said.

Why Is This Happening?

David Wan, MD, a gastroenterologist at Weill Cornell Medicine, in New York City, with a research interest in GI bleeding, said the findings “raise important questions” and suggest that the delayed management of upper GI bleeding is “more common than people appreciate” and has significant consequences. “I assumed that the large majority of patients received an EGD within 24 hours, which is the standard of care, but in this study, it was delayed for nearly half of patients. The question is why?” he said. “Of course, there can be mitigating factors, such as patients presenting over the weekend and a lack of available scope time. Additionally, patients may be unstable and not fit for endoscopy.”

Of note, delays in blood transfusions were found to be a critical factor, he continued, although according to Dr. Wan, a 24-hour window is too liberal. “The hope would be to give the unstable patient blood immediately upon presentation,” he maintained. “Even for a stable patient with significantly low hemoglobin, you would hope they would receive a blood transfusion well within 24 hours.” Nonetheless, he added, “the significant number of delayed transfusions and its association with increased mortality is concerning and highlights an important area for improvement.”

—Caroline Helwick

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Drs. Chkhikvadze and Wan reported no relevant financial disclosures.

This article is from the June 2025 print issue.

Children are increasingly taking breaks from their smartphones to better manage their mental health, personal safety and concentration spans, research has revealed.

They are reacting to growing concerns that spending too much time online can be harmful by taking control of their own social media and smartphone use rather than relying on parents to enforce limits, according to experts.

The number of 12- to 15-year-olds who take breaks from smartphones, computers and iPads rose by 18% to 40% since 2022, according to the audience research company GWI, drawing on a survey of 20,000 young people and their parents across 18 countries.

Prof Sonia Livingstone, the director of the LSE’s Digital Futures for Children centre, said these findings were echoed in soon to be published research, which has found that children and young people are trying various options to manage how their online lives affect their wellbeing, including taking a break from social media, distracting themselves from negativity online, seeking more positive experiences on the internet and in some cases quitting social media altogether.

Livingstone said: “Children have got the message – from their parents, the media, their own experiences – that too much social media isn’t always good for them.

“So they are experimenting with different ways of protecting their wellbeing, without wanting to give up on social media entirely. I’m sure they’re talking to each other about what works for them and figuring out the way ahead.”

Daisy Greenwell, the co-founder of Smartphone Free Childhood, said she was increasingly speaking to young people who were “questioning the idea that growing up online is inevitable”.

She said: “We regularly hear from teenagers who are exhausted by the pressure of being permanently connected and who are choosing to step back for their own mental health.

“Many of them are waking up to the fact that these platforms aren’t neutral. They’re designed to manipulate attention … They are realising that their time, focus and self-esteem are being monetised by some of the world’s biggest companies. Taking a break has become an act of rebellion.”

This is reflected in Ofcom research. A report from 2024 found that a third (33%) of eight- to 17-year-olds who are online think their screen time is too high, while another found that 47% of 16- to 24-year-olds who use social media deactivate notifications and used “do not disturb” mode, an increase from 40% in 2023, and compared with 28% of older adult users.

Thirty-four per cent of younger people were more likely to take a deliberate break from social media (compared with 23% who said they would not do this), 29% would delete apps because they spend too much time on them (compared with 19% who would not), and 24% would delete apps for their mental health (compared with 13% who would not).

David Ellis, a professor of behavioural science at the University of Bath, noted that teenagers may have discovered the features that let people control their time on social media and smartphones more quickly than their parents – though evidence that these features change behaviour in the long term was mixed, he said.

Ellis said: “If someone is going to spend less time sitting in front of a screen and instead increase their levels of physical activity, then most people would probably view that as a net positive. On the other hand, that time could be replaced by something else less beneficial.”

Young people aged 18 to 25 who spoke to the Guardian previously said they felt their “parent’s generation didn’t have a clue” and had granted them too much access to smartphones too young, while several said they would restrict access for their own children until their late teens.

A recent poll found that almost half of young people would rather live in a world where the internet did not exist and a similar proportion would support a digital curfew, while more than three-quarters felt worse about themselves after using social media.

The GWI research also found that social media addiction ranked among parents’ top three fears for their children from a list that included climate change, war and the cost of housing, while 8% said they had become tougher about screen-time limits after watching the hit Netflix show Adolescence about the dangers of online misogyny.

In a new study published in the European Heart Journal, researchers reported the successful development and validation of a medical artificial intelligence (AI) model that screens for cardiac amyloidosis, a progressive and irreversible type of heart disease.

The results showed that the AI tool is highly accurate, outperforming existing methods and potentially enabling earlier, more accurate diagnoses so patients can benefit from getting the right treatment sooner.

What is cardiac amyloidosis?

Cardiac amyloidosis is a heart condition in which abnormal proteins build up in the heart muscle, making it stiff and impairing its ability to pump blood. Multiple life-prolonging drug treatments for this condition have recently become available, but without early diagnosis, physicians miss out on opportunities to extend patients’ survival and quality of life.

Unfortunately, cardiac amyloidosis can be challenging to diagnose, because it’s often difficult to distinguish from other heart issues without a burdensome amount of testing.”

Jeremy Slivnick, MD, co-lead author, cardiologist, University of Chicago Medicine

Developing AI for cardiology

The AI model was developed by researchers at the Mayo Clinic and Ultromics, Ltd., an AI echocardiography company. They trained a neural network to detect cardiac amyloidosis using routine heart ultrasound images, known as echocardiograms.

The resulting AI model can analyze a single echocardiogram video of the heart’s apical four-chamber view to quickly detect cardiac amyloidosis and differentiate it from other similar heart conditions.

UChicago Medicine joined 17 other hospitals worldwide to validate and test the algorithm’s results in a large and multiethnic patient population. They found that the AI tool demonstrated an accuracy rate of 85% for correctly identifying patients with cardiac amyloidosis and 93% for correctly ruling it out. This efficacy held true across multiple types of cardiac amyloidosis in diverse populations.

In their analysis, Slivnick and his colleagues compared the AI model to existing clinical scoring methods commonly used to detect cardiac amyloidosis. Their results showed that it significantly outperformed these traditional approaches, making it easier for doctors to decide who needs advanced imaging tests or further evaluation.

“It was exciting to confirm that artificial intelligence can give clinicians reliable information to augment their expert decision-making process,” Slivnick said. “Since the new treatments for cardiac amyloidosis are most effective in early stages of the disease, it’s critical that we leverage every tool at our disposal to diagnose it as soon as possible.”

Bringing AI into the clinic

The AI model is FDA-cleared and already being implemented at multiple hospitals across the country, and the researchers hope its use will ultimately become widespread in routine cardiac care.

“This AI model provides a practical solution,” Slivnick said. “Because it automatically analyzes a common echocardiogram view, it can easily integrate into everyday clinical practice without causing hassle or sacrificing diagnostic accuracy.”

Sticking to the Mediterranean diet, rich in plants and nuts and low in meat, could drastically reduce your risk of dementia, according to a new study from researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea.

Scientific studies have long shown how our eating habits can affect our chances of developing dementia. Backing up those previous findings, the new study digs into this association for four specific types of diet across a large sample size, following up with participants for an average of 13.5 years.

While it’s not enough to prove direct cause and effect between these diets and dementia risk, this study does show a strong association. Further down the line, that might help us understand how different types of dementia get started, and what steps we could take to slow or prevent it.

“Considering the lack of a definitive cure for dementia, dietary interventions targeting specific food components, overall diet quality, and inflammatory potential offer promising approaches for early prevention,” write the researchers in their published paper.

Related: Scientists Say This One Particular Diet May Slow The Decline of The Brain

The researchers looked at 131,209 individuals aged between 40 and 69 in a public health database, scoring their diets against the Mediterranean diet (MEDAS), the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, the Recommended Food Score (RFS), and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI).

Sticking to any of these four healthy diets was linked to a notable drop in dementia risk – between 21 and 28 percent. RFS adherents showed the best results, followed closely by the MIND diet.

Inversely, participants’ diets were also scored against another metric, the Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (EDII). Higher EDII scores, which indicate pro-inflammatory diets, were linked to a 30 percent increase in dementia risk.

The healthy diets all focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, and poultry. Fried foods, dairy, and meat are discouraged. It’s thought that this helps reduce stress inside the body and thus protect the brain from harm.

“The associations between dietary patterns and dementia were stronger in older adults and women and varied between the obese and non-obese groups, highlighting the differential impact of dietary patterns across subgroups,” write the researchers.

“Our findings underscore the potential of dietary interventions as modifiable factors to reduce the risk of dementia, particularly in vulnerable populations.”

Despite plenty of progress in our understanding of dementia in recent years, we’re still not sure of its precise causes – though we know that diet, genetics, physical exercise, and sleep all play a role.

With so many factors involved, figuring out how conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease develop in some people and not others isn’t easy. However, each of these studies helps put together a full picture, as well as suggesting practical ways in which we might help reduce our own personal risk.

“Our study effectively addresses several limitations of previous studies on diet and dementia,” write the researchers.

“Many earlier studies relied on a single dietary scoring system without comparing multiple dietary patterns, or had relatively short follow-up periods, limiting their ability to assess long-term effects.”

The research has been published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

Sticking to the Mediterranean diet, rich in plants and nuts and low in meat, could drastically reduce your risk of dementia, according to a new study from researchers at Yonsei University in South Korea.

Scientific studies have long shown how our eating habits can affect our chances of developing dementia. Backing up those previous findings, the new study digs into this association for four specific types of diet across a large sample size, following up with participants for an average of 13.5 years.

While it’s not enough to prove direct cause and effect between these diets and dementia risk, this study does show a strong association. Further down the line, that might help us understand how different types of dementia get started, and what steps we could take to slow or prevent it.

“Considering the lack of a definitive cure for dementia, dietary interventions targeting specific food components, overall diet quality, and inflammatory potential offer promising approaches for early prevention,” write the researchers in their published paper.

Related: Scientists Say This One Particular Diet May Slow The Decline of The Brain

The researchers looked at 131,209 individuals aged between 40 and 69 in a public health database, scoring their diets against the Mediterranean diet (MEDAS), the Mediterranean-DASH Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay (MIND) diet, the Recommended Food Score (RFS), and the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI).

Sticking to any of these four healthy diets was linked to a notable drop in dementia risk – between 21 and 28 percent. RFS adherents showed the best results, followed closely by the MIND diet.

Inversely, participants’ diets were also scored against another metric, the Energy-adjusted Dietary Inflammatory Index (EDII). Higher EDII scores, which indicate pro-inflammatory diets, were linked to a 30 percent increase in dementia risk.

The healthy diets all focus on whole grains, fruits, vegetables, fish, nuts, and poultry. Fried foods, dairy, and meat are discouraged. It’s thought that this helps reduce stress inside the body and thus protect the brain from harm.

“The associations between dietary patterns and dementia were stronger in older adults and women and varied between the obese and non-obese groups, highlighting the differential impact of dietary patterns across subgroups,” write the researchers.

“Our findings underscore the potential of dietary interventions as modifiable factors to reduce the risk of dementia, particularly in vulnerable populations.”

Despite plenty of progress in our understanding of dementia in recent years, we’re still not sure of its precise causes – though we know that diet, genetics, physical exercise, and sleep all play a role.

With so many factors involved, figuring out how conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease develop in some people and not others isn’t easy. However, each of these studies helps put together a full picture, as well as suggesting practical ways in which we might help reduce our own personal risk.

“Our study effectively addresses several limitations of previous studies on diet and dementia,” write the researchers.

“Many earlier studies relied on a single dietary scoring system without comparing multiple dietary patterns, or had relatively short follow-up periods, limiting their ability to assess long-term effects.”

The research has been published in the Journal of Nutrition, Health and Aging.

“Creatine is very crucial for energy-consuming cells in skeletal muscle throughout the body, but also in the brain and in the heart,” said Chin-Yi Chen, a research scientist at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

Chen is part of a research team working to develop a technique that uses focused ultrasound to deliver creatine directly to the brain. The work, being conducted in the lab of Fralin Biomedical Research Institute Assistant Professor Cheng-Chia “Fred” Wu, will be supported by a $30,000 grant from the Association for Creatine Deficiencies.

Creatine plays a vital role in the brain, where it interacts with phosphoric acid to help create adenosine triphosphate, a molecule essential for energy production in living cells. In addition to its role in energy production, creatine also influences neurotransmitter systems.

For example, creatine influences the brain’s major inhibitory pathways that use the neurotransmitter gamma-aminobutyric acid, which limits neuronal excitability in the central nervous system. It may play a role in a variety of functions, including seizure control, learning, memory, and brain development.

A growing body of research suggests that creatine may itself function as neurotransmitter, as it is delivered to neurons from glial cells in the brain and can influence signaling processes between other neurons. While creatine deficiency disorders can weaken the skeletal muscle and the heart, they can also severely affect the brain. Many patients see increased muscle mass and body weight with creatine supplements, but they often continue to face neurodevelopmental challenges that can hinder their ability to speak, read, or write.

This is largely caused by the brain’s protective blood-brain barrier. This selective shield blocks harmful substances like toxins and pathogens from entering brain tissue, but it can also prevent beneficial compounds like creatine from reaching the brain when levels are low.

Wu studies therapeutic focused ultrasound, which precisely directs sound waves to areas of the brain to which access has been opened temporarily. The process allows drugs to reach diseased tissue without harming surrounding healthy cells. While Wu is investigating this method as a potential treatment for pediatric brain cancer, he also sees potential in applying it to creatine deficiency.

“Through the partnership between Virginia Tech and Children’s National Hospital, I was able to present our work in focused ultrasound at the Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus,” Wu said. “There, I met Dr. Seth Berger, a medical geneticist, who introduced me to creatine transporter deficiency. Together, we saw the promise that focused ultrasound had to offer.”

The Focused Ultrasound Foundation has recognized Virginia Tech and Children’s National as Centers of Excellence. Wu said the two organizations bring together clinical specialists, trial experts, and research scientists who can design experiments that could inform future clinical trials.

“It was a moment that made me really excited — that I had found a lab where I could move from basic research to something that could help patients,” Chen said. “When Fred asked me, ‘Are you interested in this project?’ I said, ‘Yes, of course.’”

Because creatine deficiencies can impair brain development, the early stages of Chen’s project will concentrate on using focused ultrasound to deliver creatine across the blood-brain barrier. Chen hopes the technique will restore normal brain mass in models of creatine deficiency.

July 9 (UPI) — The number of reported measles cases in the United States has hit 1,288 in the first six months of this year, the most since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000, according data released Wednesday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The figure has surpassed the total number of infections in 2019, which was 1,274, the CDC said.

In 1992, there were 2,126 cases, eight years before the virus was officially declared eliminated in the United States in 2000 after vaccine use became prevalent. That means measles was no longer spreading within the country, and new cases were only found when someone contracted measles abroad and returned to the United States.

Cases have been reported in 38 states, with 753 in Texas, where outbreaks were first reported in January. The next highest states are 95 in New Mexico and 87 in Kansas.

There have been 27 separate outbreaks, with 88% of confirmed cases related to them, the CDC said.

Of the cases, 29% are among children under 5, with 36% from those 5-19 years old and 34% of those 20 years and older.

Also, 92% of cases are among those unvaccinated, with 4% getting one measles, mumps and rubella dose, and 4% two.

Thirteen percent of those with measles were hospitalized, and there have been three deaths.

Despite the outbreaks, CDC said in the statement to CBS News the risk of measles infection remains lower than in other countries, including Canada, Britain, France, Spain and Italy.

Canada, which has 12% of the U.S. population, has reported 3,393 confirmed cases, including 2,231 in the province of Ontario.

“Measles risk is higher in U.S. communities with low vaccination rates in areas with active measles outbreaks or with close social and/or geographic linkages to areas with active measles outbreaks,” the statement said, adding, “CDC continues to recommend MMR vaccines as the best way to protect against measles.”

A study published in June found that the vaccination rate decreased from 93.92% in the 2017-2018 school year to 91.26% in 2023-2024.

Herd immunity is considered with a 95% vaccination rate.

The outbreak was originally reported in a rural Mennonite community with a low vaccination rate.

Measles, which is the most contagious infectious disease known to humans, spreads through the air via respiratory droplets produced by coughing or sneezing.

Symptoms include cough, runny nose, inflamed eyes, sore throat, fever and a red, blotchy skin rash. Over-the-counter fever reducers or vitamin A may alleviate symptoms.

Before the measles vaccine, nearly every child contracted measles by the time they were 15.

The CDC estimates that 3 million to 4 million people in the United States were sickened by measles every year before the vaccine. That included 48,000 hospitalizations and 400 to 500 deaths each year.

The measles vaccine was first licensed for public use in 1963, according to the World Health Organization.

The first MMR vaccine was administered in 1971.

As summer kicks into full gear and people are spending more time outside, there’s one thing on many people’s minds – ticks. Tick season is starting earlier and lasting longer, and ticks are popping up in areas they haven’t been found before, expanding the risk of tick-borne viruses.

One emerging tick-borne virus in North America – including in Pennsylvania – is the Powassan virus (POWV), which can cause encephalitis, seizures, paralysis and coma. Rates of POWV infections have increased in recent years and currently, there are no treatments available, according to Joyce Jose, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State.

“We don’t know much about the structure of this virus, but we need to know the structure in order to come up with strategies to treat and prevent infection,” Joyce said, explaining that her team, which includes researchers from Penn State, the University of Minnesota and the US Department of Agriculture, has built a high resolution, 3D structure of POWV. They published their findings today (July 9) in the journal Science Advances.

POWV is a member of the Flaviviridae family, which includes West Nile, dengue and yellow fever viruses. It’s transmitted by vectors, which are living organisms that carry the virus and infect other organisms. In this case, the vectors are ticks.

Because POWV can cause serious health problems, it’s been challenging for researchers to study it in its natural form, Joyce said. Typically, they inactivate the virus by modifying it with chemicals or ultraviolet light. However, these processes often damage the virus, making it difficult to determine its structure at a high resolution, she explained.

Instead, the team used a surrogate to study POWV. Using the yellow fever vaccine virus, a weakened strain of the yellow fever virus that’s less infectious, they swapped out two protein genes and replaced them with two genes that encode the structural proteins found on the surface of POWV. These proteins – envelope proteins and membrane proteins – are arranged on the surface of POWV in a herringbone-like pattern. It’s a standard and safe practice that has been used to study the surface structure of other types of viruses, Joyce said.

They then imaged the virus in Penn State’s Cryo-Electron Microscopy (cryo-EM) facility. Cryo-EM is a technique that allows researchers to determine the 3D structure of proteins and viruses at near atomic resolution. With cryo-EM, researchers can see every molecule in the virus, enabling the team to capture every angle and reconstruct it into a 3D structure featuring the details of the surface proteins.

When I started my research, viruses used to look like blobs because the resolution was so low. Now, we know how every molecule sits on the surface, as well as which ones are more exposed and accessible.”

Joyce Jose, associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology, Penn State

Understanding the structure of the virus is necessary for understanding viral transmission, something Joyce said is not well understood. Interestingly, she noted, the team found that the type of host the virus transmits through isn’t determined by the structural proteins on the surface of the virus but by the virus’s nonstructural proteins.

“One thing we learned is that the viruses that are transmitted by mosquitoes cannot be transmitted by ticks and vice versa, but we don’t understand what prevents them from cross-transmitting,” she said. “Knowing what the virus looks like – what proteins are on the surface – is the first step. It can shed light on virus-host and virus-vector interactions and how to prevent them.”

Vaccines and treatments typically target surface proteins, as well, so this revealing these visual details could potentially inform future therapeutics, Joyce said. Next, the team plans to continue to examine the factors that influence how viruses are transmitted.

Other Penn State authors on the paper include Ibrahim Moustafa, Sung Hyun Cho and Anqi Wang. First author Sayan Das earned a graduate degree at Penn State and senior author Susan Hafenstein was at Penn State at the time of the research; they are now at the University of Minnesota. Dana Mitzel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture also contributed to the paper. 

Funding from the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Agriculture supported this work.

As revenues from the anti-aging market– riddled with hope and thousands of supplements–– surged past $500 million last year, Emory University researchers identified a compound that actively delays aging in cells and organisms. 

A newly published study in Nature Partner Journals’ Aging demonstrates that psilocin, a byproduct of consuming psilocybin, the active ingredient in psychedelic mushrooms, extended the cellular lifespan of human skin and lung cells by more than 50%. 

In parallel, researchers also conducted the first long-term in vivo study evaluating the systemic effects of psilocybin in aged mice of 19 months, or the equivalent of 60–65 human years. Results indicated that the mice that received an initial low dose of psilocybin of 5 mg, followed by a monthly high dose of 15 mg for 10 months, had a 30% increase in survival compared to mice that did not receive any. These mice also displayed healthier physical features, such as improved fur quality, fewer white hairs and hair regrowth. 

While traditionally researched for its mental health benefits, this study suggests that psilocybin impacts multiple hallmarks of aging by reducing oxidative stress, improving DNA repair responses, and preserving telomere length. Telomeres are the structured ends of a chromosome, protecting it from damage that could lead to the formation of age-related diseases, such as cancer, neurodegeneration, or cardiovascular disease. These foundational processes influence human aging and the onset of these chronic diseases.

The study concludes that psilocybin may have the potential to revolutionize anti-aging therapies and could be an impactful intervention in an aging population. 

“Most cells in the body express serotonin receptors, and this study opens a new frontier for how psilocybin could influence systemic aging processes, particularly when administered later in life,” says Louise Hecker, PhD, senior author on the study, and former associate professor at Emory University, where the research was initiated and funded. 

While much of what researchers know about psilocybin relates to the brain, few studies have examined its systemic impacts. Many people associate psilocybin with the hallucinogenic impacts, but the majority of the cells in the body express serotonin receptors. 

Our study opens new questions about what long-term treatments can do. Additionally, even when the intervention is initiated late in life in mice, it still leads to improved survival, which is clinically relevant in healthy aging.”

Louise Hecker, PhD, currently associate professor at Baylor College of Medicine

This news comes on the heels of KFF’s recent report that U.S. life expectancy is still below that of other countries similar in income and size, with an average lifespan of 78.4 years, compared to 82.5 years elsewhere. Not only was it the lowest, but as the lifespan in similar countries increased by 7.9 years from 1980-2022, whereas the U.S. life expectancy has only increased by 4.7 years. 

“This study provides strong preclinical evidence that psilocybin may contribute to healthier aging– not just a longer lifespan, but a better quality of life in later years,” says Director of Psychedelic Research at Emory University’s Department of Psychiatry Ali John Zarrabi, MD. “As a palliative care physician-scientist, one of my biggest concerns is prolonging life at the cost of dignity and function. But these mice weren’t just surviving longer-they experienced better aging,” adds Zarrabi, co-investigator of the study. 

Zarrabi emphasized the importance of further research in older adults, as well as the well-documented overlap between physical and mental health. 

“Emory is actively involved in Phase II and III clinical trials of psilocybin-assisted therapy for depression, and these results suggest we also need to understand psilocybin’s systemic effects in aging populations,” says Zarrabi. “My hope is also that if psilocybin-assisted therapy is approved as an intervention for depression by the FDA in 2027, then having a better quality of life would also translate into a longer, healthier life.” 

The study was initiated at Emory University and funded by several awards, including the Imagine, Innovative, and Impact (I3) Award, Emory University School of Medicine; the Georgia CTSA NIH Award; and a grant from Emory’s Woodruff Health Sciences Center for Health in Aging.

New research has found two novel antibiotics that could provide safer treatment options for drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Sutezolid and delpazolid are part of a class of medicines called oxazolidinones. When compared to linezolid, these drugs have demonstrated strong antimicrobial activity and an improved safety profile.

Linezolid was introduced as part of the BPaLM regimen (bedaquiline, pretomanid, and moxifloxacin) in 2022. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommended it as a standard six-month treatment for multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, the researchers highlighted.

However, ”despite its effectiveness, linezolid is simply too toxic for many patients. We urgently need safer alternatives in this antibiotic class,” stated PD Dr Norbert Heinrich, Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine, LMU University Hospital Munich.

Working to improve outcomes in tuberculosis – potential of the novel antibiotics

Two Phase IIb clinical trials evaluated sutezolid and delpazolid in combination with bedaquiline, delamanid, and moxifloxacin, making them the first trials to use these specific four-drug combinations. In patients with drug-sensitive pulmonary tuberculosis, the antibiotics were reportedly safer and more tolerable compared to linezolid.

Specifically, sutezolid demonstrated strong antibacterial activity and was well tolerated across all tested doses. On the other hand, delpazolid improved the effectiveness of the combination therapy with bedaquiline, delamanid, and moxifloxacin. A once-daily 1200mg dose achieved the desired drug levels for maximum efficacy. This was well tolerated over a 16-week period, the team shared.

“These findings suggest that both drugs may offer safer treatment options for [tuberculosis] patients, particularly those requiring longer courses of therapy,” explained Dr Tina Minja, National PI for the DECODE study at NIMR-Mbeya Medical Research Centre in Tanzania.

Future tuberculosis treatment landscape

“Seeing fewer side effects with sutezolid and delpazolid is a significant step forward—it brings us closer to [tuberculosis] therapies that are both effective and easier for patients to tolerate,” commented Dr Ivan Norena, Medical Team Lead at the Institute of Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine at LMU University Hospital Munich.

Going forward, the research team plan to evaluate sutezolid and delpazolid in larger cohorts. Notably, subject to further development of these drugs as a new treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis, the antibiotics could play a key role in reducing treatment-related side effects while maintaining efficacy as next generation medicines for the disease.

These new findings were published in two peer-reviewed articles in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.