December 11, 2025

Pain misconceptions push 1 in 4 people toward spinal surgery

December 11, 2025 / Research update / InnovateMed Author / spinal injury

by University of South Australia edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin Editors’ notes Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain If you live with constant lower back pain, surgery can start to look like the only way out. Yet new research from the University of South Australia published in the Australian Health Review shows that it’s mindset, more than pain severity, that’s pushing […]

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Tricking tumors into marking themselves for destruction with focused ultrasound

December 11, 2025 / Research update / InnovateMed Author / Ultrasound

by Greta Harrison, University of Southern California edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Robert Egan Editors’ notes The combinatorial immunotherapy strategy. Credit: Nature Materials (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-025-02391-8 USC biomedical engineers have found a way to make a solid tumor paint a target on its own back in order to train the body’s immune system to find and destroy it. The

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Examining hidden risks of cannabis use among older adults

December 11, 2025 / Clinical Practice / InnovateMed Author / cannabis

by Hayley Mignacca, University of Massachusetts Medical School edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Andrew Zinin Editors’ notes Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain Cannabis use is rising among older adults, fueled by expanded legalization and people increasingly turning to cannabinoid-containing products to manage pain, sleep problems and other chronic issues. A new study, published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, suggests that

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Bone density does not determine floating ability, challenging decades of misconceptions

December 11, 2025 / Patient education / InnovateMed Author / bone density

by University of Portsmouth edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain A landmark study has debunked the long-held belief that people of African, Caribbean and Asian heritage cannot float due to “heavy bones,” after 93% of participants successfully floated for two minutes following proper instruction. The research—led by the Black Swimming Association (BSA),

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How to protect your child’s teeth if your water lacks fluoride

December 11, 2025 / Patient education / InnovateMed Author / fluroide

by Helene Ragovin, Tufts University edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin Editors’ notes Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain For generations, fluoridated drinking water has helped safeguard the teeth of most American children. Yet recently, skepticism over this public-health measure has gained new traction, and some locales—including the states of Utah and Florida—have stopped adding fluoride to public

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Do older adults need to take vitamin D and calcium supplements?

December 11, 2025 / Clinical Practice / InnovateMed Author / supplements

by Bess Dawson-Hughes, Tufts University edited by Gaby Clark, reviewed by Andrew Zinin Editors’ notes Credit: Unsplash/CC0 Public Domain As we enter our 50s, it’s time to reassess our intake of calcium, which helps mitigate bone loss, and vitamin D, which helps us absorb calcium. That’s because women lose about 3% of their bone mass each year during

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From mind-controlling tech to clinical therapy: An optogenetics roadmap

December 11, 2025 / Research update / InnovateMed Author / optogenetics

by Justin Jackson, Medical Xpress edited by Lisa Lock, reviewed by Robert Egan Editors’ notes Direct and indirect translation of optogenetic circuit discoveries. Credit: Nature Neuroscience (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41593-025-02097-9 Researchers at the University of Geneva, together with colleagues in Switzerland, France, the United States and Israel, describe how optogenetic control of brain cells and circuits is already steering both indirect

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Explaining Skin Laxity After a Patient’s Drastic GLP-1 Medication Weight Loss

December 11, 2025 / Clinical Practice / InnovateMed Author / Weight loss

Erica Lamberg November 18, 2025 Most patients taking GLP-1 agonists are experiencing positive outcomes for managing type 2 diabetes and obesity. With all the fanfare around losing weight, there is a potential drawback for some patients: loose skin that results from drastic weight loss. Some proactive instructions can be given to reduce the risk, and there are

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Landmark Trial Upends HPV Vaccine Dosing: One Dose Is Enough

December 11, 2025 / Research update / InnovateMed Author / HPV Vaccine

Hello. I’m Dr Maurie Markman, from City of Hope. I’d like to briefly discuss a very interesting abstract. In these sessions, I have particularly focused on published, peer-reviewed articles. This particular abstract, I believe, was so important that I really wanted to discuss it here briefly in abstract form. Now, it’s certainly possible when this

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Five Genetic Clusters Explain Over Half of All Psychiatric Risk

December 11, 2025 / Research update / InnovateMed Author / psychiatric risk

Genetic overlap across depression, anxiety and schizophrenia traces back to five shared risk factors. News Published: December 10, 2025 Written by Rhianna-lily Smith Credit: iStock. Read time: 2 minutes The blurred lines between conditions such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia may finally have a genetic explanation. A new study, applying advanced genomic statistical methods to

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