https://phys.org/ en-us Latest news from University of Utah Health Sciences As generative AI rapidly expands into mental health care, Utah has emerged as a national leader in developing a pragmatic, forward-looking regulatory framework that balances innovation with patient safety. In an npj Digital Medicine commentary, researchers and policymakers detail the state's early regulatory review of mental health AI agents and the legislative approach it helped shape. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-04-regulatory-framework-ai-patient-safety.html Wed, 08 Apr 2026 19:20:05 EDT news694870532 Huntsman Mental Health Institute today announced the publication of a pioneering framework designed to ensure artificial intelligence (AI) systems used in health care are developed and deployed ethically, transparently, and with patient equity at the forefront. The framework—Scalable Agile Framework for Execution in AI (SAFE AI)—has been published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (JMIR), a leading peer-reviewed academic journal for digital health research. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-framework-ethical-fair-ai-health.html Fri, 13 Mar 2026 17:50:02 EDT news692613113 Suicide rates in the U.S. have been steadily rising since the late 1990s, leading to an urgent need to understand what's putting people at risk. Risk factors include high air pollution and hot temperatures, which have each been individually associated with increased suicide risk in the days after exposure. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-03-hot-polluted-weeks-critical-window.html Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:50:01 EDT news692522591 In September 2025, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared the Apple Watch Hypertension Notifications Feature, a cuffless tool that uses the watch's optical sensors to detect blood flow patterns and alert users when their data suggest possible hypertension. While the feature is not intended to diagnose high blood pressure, it represents a step toward wearable-based population screening. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-02-reveals-gaps-apple-ability-undiagnosed.html Cardiology Mon, 09 Feb 2026 11:00:01 EST news689592722 Two minutes. That's how long two-year-old Briar Curtis's heart stopped during a severe seizure in April 2025. Since birth and before, Briar had been sick. Her heart rate in the womb was high and erratic. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-year-medical-epilepsy-heart-conditions.html Neuroscience Thu, 29 Jan 2026 05:01:36 EST news688885261 Punch-drunk syndrome, boxer's madness, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The name has changed over the years, but the cause is clear: repeated impacts can affect long-term brain health, with symptoms ranging from confusion to memory loss and potentially dementia. More than 100 former NFL football players have been posthumously diagnosed with CTE. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-01-red-therapy-football-players-brains.html Neuroscience Thu, 22 Jan 2026 08:56:05 EST news688294311 Increasing paternal age has been linked to elevated health risks for the next generation, including higher risks of obesity and stillbirth. But what drives this increased risk remains unknown. https://phys.org/news/2026-01-scientists-hidden-rna-aging-clock.html Cell & Microbiology Tue, 20 Jan 2026 05:10:01 EST news688064521 The gut microbiome is intimately linked to human health and weight. Differences in the gut microbiome—the bacteria and fungi in the gut—are associated with obesity and weight gain, raising the possibility that changing the microbiome could improve health. But any given person's gut contains hundreds of different microbial species, making it difficult to tell which species could help. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-gut-bacteria-weight-gain-mice.html Cell & Microbiology Thu, 25 Dec 2025 13:20:01 EST news685189163 It wasn't looking good for Major. https://phys.org/news/2025-12-biomedical-animals-people.html Veterinary medicine Thu, 11 Dec 2025 12:35:11 EST news684678902 Among friends and family of those who die by suicide, a common refrain is: I didn't know. While some people who die by suicide have prior attempts, about half of people who die by suicide have no documented suicidal thoughts or behaviors, nor do they have known psychiatric conditions associated with suicide risk, like depression. They have no previous clear indicators that they might be at risk at all. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-die-suicide-depressed-genetic.html Genetics Fri, 21 Nov 2025 10:38:04 EST news682943881 Anxiety disorders are some of the most common mental health conditions in America, affecting about one in five people nationwide. But much remains unknown about the roots of anxiety in the brain. Now, research at the University of Utah has identified two surprising groups of brain cells in mice that act as "accelerators" and "brakes" for anxiety. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-mice-reveals-brain-cells-anxiety.html Psychology & Psychiatry Wed, 12 Nov 2025 11:09:04 EST news682168142 Serious damage to short-term kidney function—known as acute kidney injury, or AKI—can be fatal and also increase the risk of irreversible chronic kidney disease. It can be triggered by stressors ranging from sepsis to heart surgery, and it affects more than half of ICU patients. There are currently no drugs to treat AKI. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-experimental-drug-mitochondria-kidney-injury.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 12 Nov 2025 11:00:07 EST news682081404 Every cell of the deadly Plasmodium falciparum parasite, the organism that causes malaria, contains a tiny compartment full of microscopic iron crystals. As long as the parasite is alive, the crystals dance. They spin, jolt, and ricochet in their little bubble like change in an overclocked washing machine, too fast and chaotic to even be tracked by traditional scientific techniques. And when the parasite dies, they stop. https://phys.org/news/2025-10-malaria-parasites-full-wildly-iron.html Bio & Medicine Wed, 29 Oct 2025 11:30:08 EDT news680955206 About two to three percent of all Americans—including adults and children—are autistic. With recent reports that autism rates are rising, potentially due to improved diagnosis, there's a lot of conflicting information about the condition. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-autism-1.html Autism spectrum disorders Fri, 26 Sep 2025 09:16:04 EDT news678096962 Use of medical cannabis has been on the rise since it first became available to Utah patients in 2020. A medical cannabis card, which can be prescribed for difficult-to-treat conditions including PTSD and chronic pain, allows a patient to access licensed cannabis products in designated pharmacies. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-reveals-medical-cannabis-patients-illegal.html Addiction Sat, 20 Sep 2025 02:40:01 EDT news677553917 A new drug has shown unprecedented promise in lowering blood pressure and preventing the progression of kidney disease for people with hard-to-treat hypertension. The medication, baxdrostat, reduces the levels of a hormone that drives high blood pressure and could transform hypertension care. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-drug-lowers-treatment-resistant-high.html Medications Wed, 17 Sep 2025 09:36:04 EDT news677320561 Three months ago, you left your country fearing for your life. Now, you're learning to navigate a new city, where the street signs are in a new language. You're learning to navigate social interactions that operate on slightly different rules. You're applying for jobs to support your family. You've figured out how to get to the grocery store that sells food your kids will eat—and how to use food assistance programs to get it. https://phys.org/news/2025-09-job-food-insecurity-refugees.html Social Sciences Sat, 06 Sep 2025 09:55:14 EDT news676371299 Inflammatory bowel disease, in which the immune system attacks the gut, is a painful chronic condition that affects three million Americans. Rates of IBD are rising, and there's currently no cure. IBD can also be deadly: Up to 8% of people with the disease develop blood clots, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-uncovers-ibd-blood-clots.html Inflammatory disorders Mon, 25 Aug 2025 16:23:04 EDT news675357781 As use of the popular anti-diabetic and weight-loss drug Ozempic skyrockets, so have concerns about the medication's side effects. One such side effect is loss of "lean mass"—body weight that isn't fat—raising concerns that Ozempic could be reducing muscle mass and strength. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-ozempic-weaken-muscles-muscle-size.html Overweight & Obesity Tue, 05 Aug 2025 11:00:01 EDT news673513905 Animals that hibernate are incredibly resilient. They can spend months without food or water, muscles refusing to atrophy, body temperature dropping to near freezing as their metabolism and brain activity slow to a crawl. When they emerge from hibernation, they recover from dangerous health changes similar to those seen in type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and stroke. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-07-hibernator-superpowers-hidden-human-dna.html Genetics Thu, 31 Jul 2025 14:00:06 EDT news673169928 New research shows that weight stigma—and not weight itself—has the biggest impact on mental health and healthy behaviors in the years after weight-loss surgery. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-weight-stigma-bmi-biggest-effect.html Psychology & Psychiatry Thu, 05 Jun 2025 09:00:04 EDT news668324041 For the first time, researchers have created genetically modified fruit flies that can become addicted to cocaine. The flies will self-administer cocaine if given the option. The new model could prove immensely valuable for the development of new therapies to prevent and treat cocaine use disorder, a growing and deadly concern that affects about 1.5 million people nationwide. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-06-fruit-flies-cocaine-reveal-therapies.html Neuroscience Mon, 02 Jun 2025 13:00:03 EDT news668071880 A new analysis of a group of all-women extreme divers off the coast of Korea has uncovered genetic differences that could help them survive the intense physiological stresses of free-diving—and could ultimately lead to better treatments for blood pressure disorders. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-genetic-analysis-women-extreme-divers.html Genetics Fri, 02 May 2025 11:00:03 EDT news665307422 Researchers at the University of Utah's Department of Psychiatry and Huntsman Mental Health Institute have published a paper in Patterns introducing RiskPath, an open-source software toolkit that uses explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to predict whether individuals will develop progressive and chronic diseases years before symptoms appear, potentially transforming how preventive health care is delivered. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-05-ai-toolkit-disease-symptoms.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 02 May 2025 05:44:14 EDT news665383450 Cholera kills thousands of people and infects hundreds of thousands every year—and cases have spiked in recent years, leaving governments with an urgent need to find the best ways to control outbreaks. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-broader-antibiotic-cholera-outbreaks.html Medications Tue, 29 Apr 2025 20:00:01 EDT news665136541 Knowing how human DNA changes over generations is essential to estimating genetic disease risks and understanding how we evolved. But some of the most changeable regions of our DNA have been off-limits to researchers—until now. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-dna-mutate-faster-previously-thought.html Genetics Wed, 23 Apr 2025 11:00:11 EDT news664529521 One in 10 people will have at least one seizure in their life, but effective treatments for seizures remain very limited, in part due to incomplete understanding of the brain mechanisms involved. Now, research in fruit flies has uncovered a role for two specific brain proteins that are necessary during brain development to prevent seizures. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-brain-proteins-key-seizures-fruit.html Medical research Mon, 21 Apr 2025 13:00:02 EDT news664098241 One of the most common health-care-associated infections spreads within intensive care units (ICUs) more than three times more than previously thought, new research has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-04-hospital-diff-thought.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Fri, 04 Apr 2025 11:00:03 EDT news662981882 COVID infection has been linked to a higher risk of autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes. But why the virus might cause the body's immune system to go haywire remains unknown, making it difficult to develop therapies to avoid autoimmunity. One hypothesis is that viral "molecular mimics" that resemble the body's own proteins trigger an immune response against the virus—and healthy tissues get caught in the crossfire. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-potential-molecular-mimics-covid-autoimmune.html Diseases, Conditions, Syndromes Wed, 26 Mar 2025 14:45:03 EDT news662219102 The microbiome shapes the development of insulin-producing cells in infancy, leading to long-term changes in metabolism and diabetes risk, new research in mice has found. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-early-life-gut-microbes-diabetes.html Gastroenterology Thu, 06 Mar 2025 14:00:01 EST news660472566