Researchers have uncovered a possible link between sterol biosynthesis inhibiting medications taken during pregnancy and an increased risk for autism spectrum disorder in offspring, according to a study published in Molecular Psychiatry.
“Cholesterol is an essential building block of the developing brain. Some medications, intentionally or unintentionally, can inhibit cholesterol biosynthesis,” Karoly Mirnics, MD, PhD, dean and director of the Munroe-Meyer Institute and Hattie B. Munroe Professor of Psychiatry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center,

SAN FRANCISCO — ACP has announced that LeRoi Hicks, MD, MPH, MACP, will serve as the organization’s next executive vice president and CEO starting July 6.
Following a nationwide search, Hicks was recommended by a committee appointed by ACP’s Board of Regents, according to a press release. He is currently the president of the ChristianaCare campus in Wilmington, Delaware, where he held several other high-profile roles.
Before ChristianaCare, Hicks was the division chief of hospital medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. He is also past president of the Society of

CHICAGO — Even with biologics changing the treatment paradigm for ulcerative colitis more than 2 decades ago, patients have a similar risk for undergoing colectomy a decade after diagnosis as they have had for the last 5 decades.
The findings were presented at Digestive Disease Week.
“The 10-year risk of colectomy in patients with ulcerative colitis still appears to be approximately 15%, similar to historical cohorts, even in the more contemporary ‘post-biologic era’ for this population-based cohort,” Isabel Lopera, MD, internal medicine resident physician at Mayo Clinic, told Healio.
Lopera and

DESTIN, Fla. — Imaging analyses can improve diagnostic accuracy and confidence in patients with giant cell arteritis, according to data presented at the Congress of Clinical Rheumatology East.
“The reason I am speaking on advances in GCA is that diagnosis and management continue to evolve, particularly with increasing use of advanced imaging,” Kenneth J. Warrington, MD, director of the vasculitis clinic, consultant in the division of rheumatology, and John F. Finn MN Arthritis Foundation Professor of Medicine at the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, told Healio. “Over

DENVER — New research suggests that progression of thyroid eye disease is not limited to the early disease period, with a number of patients experiencing progression years after diagnosis.
At the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology meeting, Madhura A. Tamhankar, MD, told Healio that the traditional understanding of thyroid eye disease (TED) progression, the Rundle’s Curve, suggests that an acute phase of the disease begins with inflammation and bulging of the eyes. The condition then progresses for about 18 months, followed by a plateau stage.
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Many Americans engage in risky sun behaviors driven by misinformation and myths promulgated on social media, according to the American Academy of Dermatology’s annual Practice Safe Sun Survey.
Despite half of adults reporting concerns about premature skin aging, the national survey, conducted by Versta Research on behalf of the AAD, found a large gap between Americans’ perceptions of sun-safe habits and true protective behaviors. Nearly half of Americans received a “C” on the AAD’s sun safety quiz — a grade which decreased to a “D” and “F” when only looking at Gen Z respondents, the survey

Google searches for transcatheter aortic valve replacement surged among laypersons when pivotal trials were published, echoing the simultaneous clinical move away from surgical AVR in most patients, researchers reported.
Despite rising internet searches for information about TAVR, gaps arose, with residents of rural areas with fewer TAVR programs continuing to search more for surgical AVR information, according to data presented at the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography & Interventions Scientific Sessions & Canadian Association of Interventional Cardiology/Association Canadienne de

The timing of myocarditis onset during immunotherapy treatment for cancer may predict how likely a person is to die of the condition, according to retrospective study results.
Patients who developed myocarditis within a month of starting immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) appeared more than twice as likely to die of the rare but potentially serious adverse event than those who developed it between 1 and 12 months after starting treatment.
Risk for myocarditis-specific death also appeared elevated among patients who developed myocarditis with co-occurring myositis and myasthenia gravis, findings

Proton beam therapy, a radiation treatment for cancer, may be effective as a treatment for refractory ventricular tachycardia, according to results of a first-in-human study presented at Heart Rhythm 2026.
“There are certain limitations and for the most part suboptimal outcomes for some of the patients [with ventricular tachycardia] that we treat with catheter ablation, especially those with nonischemic cardiomyopathy,” Konstantinos C. Siontis, MD, cardiologist and professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, who presented the findings, told Healio. “So the

NEW ORLEANS — According to a presenter, surgeons should consider absolute risk for impactful optimization of surgical candidates vs. relative risk and hazard ratios, which lead to low-impact, access-limiting decision-making.
“Relative risk is one of the most misused and misunderstood statistical measures in clinical communication,” Derek F. Amanatullah, MD, PhD, associate professor of orthopedic surgery at Stanford University, told Healio. “It can create a distorted lens through which both clinicians and patients view medical interventions.”
At the American Academy