A study that followed 294 adults with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease for up to seven years found that those who were more physically active had slower declines in memory, thinking and movement. Participants who reported more than eight hours of activity a week showed almost no average cognitive decline. The research was published in Neurology, the journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Activity was measured by questionnaire and covered work, housework and hobbies, not gym training. The design shows an association, not proof that exercise slows the disease. Researchers say patients should discuss activity with a neurologist. The authors stress that the finding should not be read as a treatment recommendation.
Doctors treating Pope Leo XIV said the tumour removed from his right lung this month was a pulmonary adenocarcinoma and that the disease was localized, so no further treatment is necessary. The 71-year-old American pontiff had the lower lobe of his right lung removed on October 13 at Rome's Gemelli hospital in a video-assisted operation. He returned to the Vatican after five days and has resumed his duties. Adenocarcinoma accounts for about 80% of non-small cell lung cancer cases. Leo, who is not known to have smoked, still plans a two-week trip to South America in November. He is expected to keep a lighter schedule for several weeks while he recovers.
A systematic review and meta-analysis in JAMA Network Open covering 19 studies and nearly 16 million participants found people with ADHD had a 71% higher rate of death from any cause. Suicide deaths were 89% higher, injury deaths 55% higher and natural-cause deaths 27% higher. Medication use was linked to a 25% lower death rate, but only three studies supported that estimate, so the review does not prove that drugs prevent early death. Researchers say absolute risk remains low and point to sleep, injury, substance use and mental health screening as areas families and clinicians can act on.
New CDC survey data show that about 1 in 38 hospitalised patients in the United States had at least one healthcare-associated infection in 2023, compared with 1 in 31 in 2015. The 2023 survey covered 13,653 patients at 218 hospitals in 10 states. An estimated 518,000 such infections occurred in US hospitals that year. Pneumonia, surgical site infections and gastrointestinal infections were the most common, and 61% were not linked to a medical device or procedure.
A Harvard Medical School study published in Nature Medicine found that people at risk of Alzheimer's who walked 3,000 to 5,000 steps a day had about 40 percent less cognitive decline than those who walked less, a delay of roughly three years. Those walking 5,000 to 7,500 steps appeared to gain as much as seven years. Brain scans showed less buildup of tau, a protein tied to disease progression. The study followed participants for about nine years but is observational, so it cannot prove that walking caused the difference.
CVS Pharmacy and its subsidiaries agreed to pay $315 million to settle a Justice Department lawsuit accusing them of dispensing medically unnecessary prescriptions for highly addictive opioids. The case, filed in 2024, alleged the company's staffing levels, performance metrics and incentive pay pushed pharmacists to fill prescriptions without checking whether they were legitimate, with many billed to Medicaid and other federal programmes. CVS denied wrongdoing. The settlement requires extra safeguards on dispensing controlled substances. It is the latest in a series of opioid settlements that have totalled more than $50 billion across the industry over the past decade.
Researchers at Michigan Medicine reversed metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, or MASH, in animal studies using an experimental compound called DT-109. The drug is a glycine-based tripeptide that reduces harmful gut bacteria, protects the intestinal lining and limits inflammatory substances reaching the liver. The work, published in The Journal of Clinical Investigation, explains a mechanism the team had previously observed but could not account for. MASH affects about 7% of the world's population and can progress to cirrhosis and liver cancer.
About 11.4 million people developed dementia worldwide in 2023, and new global estimates project 24.7 million new cases a year by 2050, according to research led by UNSW Sydney's Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing and published in JAMA Neurology. Incidence was higher among women, at 10.6 cases per 1,000 person-years against 8.6 for men, and much higher in low- and middle-income countries. Researchers said population ageing means countries cannot simply wait for people to develop dementia and then respond, and called for earlier risk reduction, diagnosis and care.
A study led by Oregon Health & Science University found that people who regularly ate after dinner or around bedtime had a 20% to 30% higher risk of liver disease, including fatty liver disease and cirrhosis. Researchers pooled data from nearly 200,000 participants in three long-running US health studies. The work, published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, is among the first long-term analyses to link meal timing explicitly to fatty liver disease. Earlier research had tied late eating to obesity and heart problems.
CVS Pharmacy and several subsidiaries agreed to pay $315 million to settle a US Justice Department lawsuit accusing the company of filling medically unnecessary prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances. The department announced the deal on Tuesday. The 2024 case alleged CVS filled prescriptions from pill mills and billed federal health care programmes, and said the chain sold more than 12 billion doses of opioids between 2015 and 2020. CVS said it disagrees with the allegations and that the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing. Regulators have increasingly treated pharmacy chains as a last line of defence against illegal prescribing.