Tag: News Approved

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Efficacy of a World Health Organization–Guided Self-Help Intervention for Reducing Psychological Distress in Afghan Refugees: Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Common mental health disorders are highly prevalent among refugees. There is an urgent need to address the mental health burden in this population. Objective: This study tested the efficacy of an individually supported self-help stress-management intervention developed by the World Health Organization—Doing What Matters in Times of Stress (DWM)—in reducing psychological distress and improving functioning among refugees in Indonesia, a major transit country in the Asia-Pacific region. Methods: A single-blind randomized controlled trial with 303 Farsi-speaking refugees was conducted between June 2024 and June 2025. Participants with moderate to high psychological distress (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale [K10] score≥20) were randomly allocated to the facilitator-guided individual DWM condition (n=202) or a repeated assessment control condition (n=101). The primary outcome was psychological distress (K10 score) at the posttreatment assessment. Secondary outcomes were posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, functional impairment, social functioning, and personally identified problems. Results: Intent-to-treat analysis indicated that participants in the DWM condition showed greater reductions in K10 scores than those in the repeated assessment control condition (posttreatment: =−.563, SE=0.124; <.001; Cohen =0.56; 1-month follow-up: =−.447, SE=0.140; =.002; Cohen =0.45). Similarly, those participants in the DWM condition reported greater improvements in posttraumatic stress disorder symptoms, well-being, social functioning, functional impairment, and personally identified psychological problems. No serious adverse events were reported. Conclusions: The findings provide the first evidence for the effectiveness of DWM in reducing psychological distress and improving overall functioning among urban refugees living in a transit setting. Individually supported self-help interventions such as DWM mayoffer an effective, feasible, and scalable approach to improving mental health for refugees. Trial Registration: ANZCTR ACTRN12624000609550; https://www.anzctr.org.au/Trial/Registration/TrialReview.aspx?id=387637&isReview=true
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Congressional Democrats try to force a vote to end Medicare AI prior authorization pilot

Senate and House Democrats introduced resolutions Wednesday to overturn a Medicare pilot that uses artificial intelligence to approve or deny care. The technology experiment has led to allegations of delayed care for seniors in at least one of the six states it is currently being implemented. 

The newest effort to force a vote to stop the experiment follows a Government Accountability Office ruling from last week. The GAO determined that the Wasteful and Inappropriate Service Reduction program (WISeR) is subject to congressional approval and should have been submitted to Congress before going into effect in January.

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STAT+: Pioneering trial for treating genetic disease before birth nears reality

SAN FRANCISCO — While Tippi MacKenzie was a postdoctoral fellow in the early 2000s, she and her lab mates experimented with using the then-new technology of gene replacement therapy to try to treat inherited disorders in mice before they were born. Over and over it worked. They cured mice with hemophilia and mice with tyrosinemia. And the whole time, people kept telling her that gene therapy in human fetuses was just around the corner, just five years away. 

It’s now been 25 years, and such a reality has yet to materialize. But after promising discussions with the Food and Drug Administration, MacKenzie is now closer than anyone’s ever been.

Her team has submitted an investigational new drug (IND) application to the agency seeking approval for a small trial that aims to treat five fetal patients with a rare lysosomal storage disorder. The agency told them they could bypass animal testing, because the safety profile of the vector they plan to use already has been so well characterized by other academics and companies developing gene therapies for kids and adults.

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Surgeon general’s office issues warning on screen time for children

WASHINGTON — Health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is issuing a U.S. surgeon general’s advisory urging families, schools, and providers to reduce children’s screen time, according to a draft of the report reviewed by STAT.

The report, which comes from the surgeon general’s office even though there is no Senate-confirmed nominee, calls on parents, schools, and all levels of government to work together to shift the use of devices with screens, saying some patterns of use “can pose real harm to children.”

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STAT+: Florida hospitals win $8 billion in extra Medicaid funds

The federal government is sending nearly $8 billion in supplemental Medicaid funds to hospitals in Florida for care they delivered last year, delivering a windfall to facilities in the politically influential state ahead of the imposition of new limits stemming from President Trump’s 2025 tax cut bill.

The extra cash is another victory for hospitals, which now are routinely getting paid much-higher commercial prices to treat Medicaid patients. Florida’s hospitals, which lobbied to get these extra funds approved, could get billions more on top of that once federal Medicaid officials mull over this year’s application.

On April 30, officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services approved the money through a mechanism called a state directed payment program. CMS released the approval letters this week. The $8 billion, which also was authorized by state lawmakers, covers Medicaid patients treated from Oct. 1, 2024, through Sept. 30, 2025.

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STAT+: Scientists track cellular disruptions that lead to type 1 diabetes

The story of type 1 diabetes begins in the pancreas, long seen as a battleground between insulin-producing beta cells and misdirected immune defenders. Scientists have been searching for ways to spot this internal warfare early enough to prevent a lifelong disease that depletes the body’s source of insulin. 

Two new papers published Wednesday in Science Translational Medicine offer new clues to what happens in these beta cells before type 1 diabetes emerges. Experiments in human cells and in mouse models used biosensors and genetic analyses to illuminate this pathway and detect possible ways to halt beta-cell destruction.

In the first study, a team from the Indiana University School of Medicine explored how certain immune cells involved in inflammation, known as signaling cytokine interferon-alpha, normally trigger beta cells to produce other molecules  that play a role in inflammation, cell proliferation, and cell death. These reactive oxygen species, ROS for short, sometimes cause collateral damage. But cells from patients with type 1 diabetes did not have ROS-producing beta cells, suggesting they lacked the cytokines that stimulate their ROS production. That dearth might be useful in flagging the decline of beta cells early on in type 1 diabetes, the study authors surmised. 

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<![CDATA[Synendos launches a phase 2 trial of SYT-510, a first-in-class endocannabinoid modulator, aiming to ease generalized anxiety symptoms with improved safety and adherence.]]>
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Systemic inflammation response index as an independent predictor of unfavorable prognosis and its application in risk stratification in patients with aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage

BackgroundAneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (aSAH) is a devastating cerebrovascular disease associated with high rates of mortality and long-term disability. Early risk stratification is essential to guide personalized management. Systemic inflammation plays a key role in secondary brain injury after aSAH. The systemic inflammation response index (SIRI), a novel inflammatory marker combining neutrophil, monocyte, and lymphocyte counts, has shown prognostic value in multiple disorders, but its long-term prognostic role in aSAH remains unclear.ObjectivesThis study aimed to investigate the association between admission SIRI and 12-month unfavorable functional outcomes (modified Rankin Scale [mRS] ≥ 3) in patients with aSAH, verify its independent prognostic value, and construct a clinically useful prediction nomogram.MethodsA retrospective cohort study was performed including 258 patients with aSAH admitted between January 2021 and December 2024. Patients were divided into a favorable prognosis group (mRS 0–2, n = 158) and an unfavorable prognosis group (mRS ≥ 3, n = 100). Baseline characteristics, imaging indices including modified Fisher scale, laboratory parameters, and treatment data were collected. Multivariate logistic regression with forced entry was used to identify independent prognostic factors. Restricted cubic spline (RCS) analysis was applied to explore the non-linear relationship between SIRI and prognosis. A prediction nomogram was constructed and validated using temporal validation (training cohort n = 170; validation cohort n = 88). Model performance was evaluated using discrimination, calibration, and decision curve analysis.ResultsSIRI was significantly higher in the unfavorable prognosis group (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis confirmed that SIRI (OR = 1.20, 95% CI: 1.08–1.34, p = 0.001), age, hypertension, GCS score ≤ 8, modified Fisher scale, and treatment modality were independent prognostic factors. RCS analysis demonstrated a non-linear relationship (P for nonlinearity = 0.020), with a clear threshold at SIRI = 4.36; the risk of unfavorable outcomes rose steeply above this cutoff. The nomogram showed excellent discrimination (AUC = 0.881 in training; 0.919 in validation) and satisfactory calibration. Decision curve analysis confirmed favorable clinical utility.ConclusionAdmission SIRI is an independent predictor of 12-month unfavorable functional outcomes in patients with aSAH. A threshold value of 4.36 can effectively identify high-risk patients. The SIRI-integrated nomogram provides accurate and individualized prognosis prediction across both training and temporal validation cohorts. This validated tool provides robust evidence to support clinical risk stratification and personalized decision-making.
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Infant traumatic brain injury with a biphasic clinical course and late diffusion restriction: a case report

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) in young children can rarely exhibit a biphasic clinical course with delayed neurological deterioration. We report a 2-year-old boy who fell from 50 cm and briefly lost consciousness with vomiting, initially found to have a right frontotemporoparietal acute subdural hematoma (SDH) with midline shift but no brain contusions. After transient stabilization, he developed new left-sided limb weakness and status epilepticus on day 3 post-injury. Follow-up diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) revealed a characteristic “bright tree” pattern of bilateral subcortical white matter diffusion restriction with corresponding decreased apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. Electroencephalography showed generalized slowing with interictal focal epileptiform discharges. The patient was managed with antiepileptic therapy and supportive care. He demonstrated steady improvement and achieved near-complete neurological recovery by 9-month follow-up. This biphasic presentation—early trauma and late-onset seizures with diffusion restriction—is consistent with Traumatic brain injury with a biphasic clinical course and late reduced diffusion (TBIRD). Early recognition of TBIRD is crucial, as it resembles acute encephalopathy with biphasic seizures and late diffusion changes, and likely stems from secondary excitotoxic injury. Timely intervention in our case was associated with a favorable outcome, underscoring the importance of vigilant monitoring for delayed neurologic sequelae in pediatric TBI.
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Machine learning-based morphological brain analysis in schizophrenia and unaffected siblings: a multisite study of potential risk markers

Background and hypothesisAssessing schizophrenia risk factors is crucial for developing early preventive interventions. We hypothesized that unaffected siblings, who share high genetic risk, exhibit neuroanatomical signatures similar to affected patients, potentially reflecting early pathogenic processes.Study designTo overcome single-center limitations, we analyzed 1,018 participants from five independent, public databases. Brain MRIs were standardized via voxel-based morphometry, and covariate-adjusted z-scores were calculated for regional volumes. An ensemble support vector machine (SVM) approach, incorporating multiple models to ensure robustness, was employed to extract a multidimensional brain signature, from which a schizophrenia-like score (SPS) was derived.ResultsThe ensemble SVM achieved high classification performance (AUC = 0.99861). Across all databases, patients exhibited consistent volume reductions in frontal, temporal, insular, and thalamic regions, alongside globus pallidus enlargement. Notably, unaffected siblings were 3.8 times more likely to show brain morphological similarities to patients than were healthy controls. Furthermore, we identified a novel imaging phenotype in siblings: increased ventral striatal volume, which positively correlated with the SPS. This feature, absent in established schizophrenia, suggests a potential compensatory mechanism or a transient developmental marker of risk.ConclusionApplying machine learning to large-scale, multi-site neuroimaging data effectively identifies structural endophenotypes. Our findings highlight unique structural characteristics, specifically the enlarged ventral striatum, as a critical biological metric for identifying high-risk individuals before clinical onset.