Behind every patient are family members, caregivers, employers, friends, and communities whose lives are also affected by treatment, recovery, uncertainty, and loss. According to Leslie Smith, co-founder of Anchors, those broader support needs often receive less attention despite playing an important role throughout the cancer journey.

On a busy hospital ward, a nurse says "wonderful, wonderful" as a patient with dementia completes a task. It sounds simple, but moments like this can play an important role in how care gets done.

More than a third of psychologists report having patients who use artificial intelligence as an additional source of mental health support. As more people turn to AI for advice, companionship and help navigating difficult situations, researchers are working to understand what these rapidly evolving systems can—and cannot—do when it comes to human health and well-being.

New research among lung cancer screening participants has found that low-dose chest computed tomography (CT) screening is generally well tolerated both physically and emotionally, but experiences vary across socioeconomic groups. Lower-income and safety-net participants experienced higher testing-related burden, with factors such as insurance and employment status associated with more discomfort or anxiety. The findings in the Journal of the American College of Radiology highlight opportunities to improve equity in screening.

The immune system depends on molecular alarms that detect danger inside cells. One of these alarms is STING, short for "stimulator of interferon genes." STING helps cells respond to infections, damaged DNA and cancer. When it activates at the right time, it helps protect the body. When it activates too easily, or fails to activate, it can contribute to disease.

The three largest Medicare Advantage insurers turned down requests for post-hospital care at some of the highest rates among major plans, a federal watchdog has found.

Each year in the U.S., more than 300,000 people die from sudden cardiac arrest, a condition in which the heart's electrical system malfunctions without warning. The medical emergency can kill both high-risk older adults and young athletes with no history of heart issues, and while internal defibrillators that shock the heart can save lives, figuring out who actually needs one remains a high-stakes guessing game.

A first-of-its-kind study of supermarket products has found that in total, the plant-based items sampled contained twice as many food additives as the animal-based equivalents. Overall, the plant-based products contained more additives, more ingredients and more E-numbers than their animal-based counterparts. A team from the Institute for Optimum Nutrition in London led the research, published in Food Additives & Contaminants: Part A.

University of Louisville researchers have discovered how a naturally occurring microbial compound may help protect the gut and support future treatment strategies for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).

In autoimmune disorders, immune cells targeting "self" proteins are mistakenly activated, resulting in abnormal expansion and responsiveness. These disorders are known to reduce patients' quality of life over a prolonged period. This can be attributed to CD4+ T cells, which play a key role in inducing persistent inflammation, recruiting other immune cells, including antibody-producing B cells, and inflicting tissue damage.