Medical research

The Swedish National Patient Register (NPR) has long been a cornerstone for epidemiological research. Researchers at Karolinska Institutet have published a new review examining the validity of the register and found that it is good for most diagnoses and very good for surgical procedures.

Studying the early development of human embryos is challenging due to ethical constraints and technical difficulties. Therefore, animal models are often used to understand the biological processes that govern embryo development before it implants in the uterus.

Scientists have for the first time looked deep into the protein structure that may determine our vision—and discovered that it is much more dynamic than previously thought. RBP3 not only changes its shape depending on its load but may also play a role in protecting the retina from diseases ranging from diabetic retinopathy to retinitis pigmentosa.

University of Kentucky Markey Cancer Center researchers presented promising results from an early-stage clinical trial investigating a unique coffee-based approach to ovarian cancer maintenance therapy at the Society of Gynecologic Oncology annual meeting in Seattle (SGO 2025).

Editors of medical journals deal with allegations of research misconduct, defined by the Office of Research Integrity (ORI) in the U.S. as fabrication, falsification and plagiarism. Research misconduct threatens the validity of science, undermines trust in science and contributes to misinformation and disinformation about science.

Cyanide is a highly lethal chemical that has been used in warfare and poisonings for centuries—that was the general consensus on the naturally occurring chemical up until spring 2025. But in a global study published in Nature Metabolism, a research team from seven countries and 12 universities, including South Dakota State University, has upended the world’s consensus on cyanide. The researchers have found that while cyanide remains highly poisonous, it also plays a fundamental role in normal cell function.

In Estonia, many people learned a lesson from ethnomedicine as children: that placing a plantain leaf on a scraped knee would help to heal the skin faster. This practice has been a common way to aid skin recovery for generations. Today, scientific studies have confirmed that plantain plants do indeed accelerate wound healing and possess anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties.

Researchers at The Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have demonstrated the potential for a new combination therapy to improve outcomes for patients with myelofibrosis, a rare and aggressive blood cancer.

Cancer researchers at Children’s Medical Research Institute have discovered an “unexpected mechanism” that our cells use to avoid cancer.

A new study published in Nature Communications reveals a novel approach to mitigating tissue damage caused by Streptococcus pyogenes, the flesh-eating bacterium responsible for severe infections such as necrotizing fasciitis. The research highlights how disrupting bacterial metabolism can help the body better tolerate infection and heal more effectively.