A 24-week study of 122 adults with overweight or obesity found an average weight reduction of 15.8% during tirzepatide treatment combined with a low-carbohydrate diet and activity guidance. Fat mass fell by about 35%, while skeletal muscle mass stayed fairly stable. Metabolic markers also improved. The authors say the results come from routine care rather than a tightly controlled trial, and that diet and exercise support likely helped protect lean tissue.
A low-calorie diet combined with an exercise programme put early-onset type 2 diabetes into remission for 54 percent of participants in a new trial, offering an alternative to lifelong drug treatment for younger patients. Separate research found that almost one in three adults develop cardiorenal disease or die within five years of a type 2 diabetes diagnosis. Short steroid courses were linked to higher risks of pneumonia and heart failure, and vitamin B12 deficiency was tied to a higher fracture hazard after age 50.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is asking whether artificial intelligence should play a larger role in the annual wellness visit, a yearly preventive check-up covered for Medicare beneficiaries. The question sits in the proposed 2027 Physician Fee Schedule rule as a request for information with eight parts, covering realistic uses, tasks that still need a clinician, adoption barriers, payment policy and evaluation. Possible jobs for AI include pre-visit collection of health risk data, flagging patients for extra assessment and drafting follow-up steps. The American Academy of Family Physicians supports careful use; others worry about automating a conversation.
Structural changes in the brain can be seen on MRI scans at least seven years before the amyloid plaques linked to Alzheimer's disease become detectable, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience. Researchers compared longitudinal MRI data from cognitively healthy older adults with amyloid-PET results and found that thickening of the cortex preceded high amyloid levels. Most recent drug approvals target amyloid, and the finding suggests other processes are already at work. Authors say the result supports work on treatments that act on mechanisms other than amyloid.
Researchers at the University of Southern Denmark reexamined all eight major randomised mammography trials, adjusting for differences between trial arms in follow-up time, screening frequency and screening that continued after a trial ended. Earlier estimates of overdiagnosis had ranged from 1% to more than 50%, with critics often citing 30% to 50%. After the adjustments, the results point to an overdiagnosis rate below 5%. The analysis was published in JNCI: Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Overdiagnosis means finding a cancer that would never have caused symptoms.
Researchers at the University of Florida used artificial intelligence to search deidentified health records from 2012 to 2024 for patients diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias, or with mild cognitive impairment. About 8% of both groups reported taking glucosamine — 1,896 patients with dementia and 2,750 with mild cognitive impairment. After adjusting for age, sex and demographics, glucosamine use was associated with a 25% higher likelihood that mild cognitive impairment progressed to dementia. An analysis of records from nearly 42,000 people with mild cognitive impairment found a similar link. The study is observational and shows an association, not proof that the supplement causes the change.
The European Commission granted marketing authorisation for NEZGLYAL (leriglitazone), the first approved medicine for cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy, a rare and progressive brain disease. The decision, dated 21 September, covers boys aged 2 to 12 with early, Gadolinium-negative brain lesions. Leriglitazone is an oral, brain-penetrant selective PPAR gamma agonist developed by Minoryx Therapeutics of Barcelona, assessed under exceptional circumstances on the basis of the Phase 2/3 NEXUS1 study and compassionate-use data. Neuraxpharm will commercialise the product in Europe, with a first launch expected in Germany by the end of the year.
Pennsylvania's measles outbreak is now the largest in the United States this year. The state Department of Health reported 792 confirmed cases across 39 counties as of September 21, and local reports said about 55 more cases were confirmed in the three days to September 26. Lancaster County, home to one of the country's largest plain communities, accounts for 185 cases. Officials have linked at least two deaths to the outbreak, Pennsylvania's first measles deaths in 35 years and the first US measles fatalities of 2026. Demand for the MMR vaccine has jumped sharply, with more than 46,000 doses given in August against a typical 25,000.
A study of more than 72,000 adults aged 60 and over found that those who received the recombinant shingles vaccine Shingrix had a 9% lower burden of cardiovascular disease over seven years than those who received the older live-virus vaccine. Heart failure risk was 12% lower and ischemic heart disease 10% lower. Oxford researchers used the US switch between the two vaccines in late 2017 as a natural experiment. The findings are observational, and a randomised trial in Denmark is expected to report in 2027. Public health agencies currently recommend shingles vaccination by age and immune status rather than by heart risk.
A study of more than 95,000 adults in the UK Biobank found that people who spent more time in REM sleep had a lower risk of 83 diseases, including heart failure, dementia, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease and multiple sclerosis. Participants wore wrist monitors for seven days and nights, and researchers then followed their health records for about nine years against more than 1,000 conditions. The work, led by researchers at Peking University, was published in PLOS Medicine. It is observational, so it shows an association rather than proof that REM sleep prevents disease.