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A new study published in Circulation has revealed that increasing the number of daily sit-to-stand transitions can significantly lower diastolic blood pressure in postmenopausal women with overweight or obesity, offering a simple, low-cost strategy to improve cardiovascular health.
Researchers found that participants who performed more frequent sit-to-stand movements throughout the day experienced measurable reductions in diastolic blood pressure, even without additional structured exercise.
The findings highlight the potential benefits of reducing sedentary behavior by incorporating small, frequent bouts of movement into daily routines, particularly for populations at elevated cardiovascular risk. Postmenopausal women often experience increased blood pressure due to hormonal changes, weight gain, and reduced physical activity, making these results especially relevant. By simply standing up from a seated position multiple times a day, individuals may enhance vascular function and lower cardiovascular disease risk.
The authors emphasize that these sit-to-stand transitions are easy to implement in most settings, including at home or work, and can be combined with other healthy lifestyle interventions for greater impact. However, they note that further studies are needed to assess the long-term effects and optimal frequency of these movements. This research supports public health messages encouraging less sitting and more movement as an achievable way to improve heart health.
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Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic, relapsing inflammatory skin disease that significantly impacts quality of life and often requires systemic therapies for patients with moderate-to-severe disease. With increasing focus on targeted biologic therapies, anti–IL-13 monoclonal antibodies have emerged as a promising treatment option for patients inadequately controlled with conventional therapies.
Findings from the BIOREP registry have highlighted that lebrikizumab achieved significant improvement in atopic dermatitis, with 63.7% of patients reaching an EASI-75 response at 16 weeks. The benefit was especially pronounced in treatment-naïve patients compared to those previously exposed to biologics. The therapy also demonstrated a favorable safety profile, with sustained efficacy documented through 24 weeks. Registry data showed that lebrikizumab not only improved objective disease severity scores but also enhanced patient-reported outcomes such as pruritus reduction and quality of life measures. Rates of adverse events remained low, with conjunctivitis and injection-site reactions being the most commonly reported but generally mild. No new safety concerns were identified during the observation period. The study authors emphasized the importance of early initiation, noting that biologic-naïve patients responded more robustly than previously treated patients. This suggests that earlier use of lebrikizumab may maximize clinical benefit and minimize disease burden. In addition, the durability of response over 24 weeks supports its potential as a long-term management option in clinical practice.
As the treatment landscape for atopic dermatitis continues to expand, real-world registry data such as BIOREP provide valuable evidence on the efficacy and safety of emerging biologics beyond controlled clinical trials. The findings reinforce lebrikizumab as a strong therapeutic candidate for patients with moderate-to-severe AD who require systemic intervention.
Keywords: lebrikizumab, atopic dermatitis, EASI-75, BIOREP registry, biologic therapy, IL-13 inhibitor, treatment-naïve, real-world data, safety profile, dermatology
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Netherlands: A new longitudinal study published in the Journal of Dental Research has found that nonsurgical periodontal therapy (NSPT) not only improves gum health but also significantly lowers blood sugar levels in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), particularly in those with poor baseline glycemic control.
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South Korea: A large population-based study from South Korea has revealed a significant association between cholecystectomy—the surgical removal of the gallbladder—and an elevated risk of developing metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), particularly in individuals with multiple cardiometabolic risk factors.
The research, conducted by Dr. Hyuk Soo Eun and colleagues from the Department of Internal Medicine at Chungnam National University School of Medicine, has been published in Scientific Reports.
The investigators analyzed data from over 660,000 participants enrolled in the Korean National Health Insurance Service-National Sample Cohort between 2009 and 2019. Among them, 4,664 individuals who had undergone cholecystectomy were matched with controls based on age, sex, and other parameters. The presence of MASLD was determined using the fatty liver index (FLI), a validated non-invasive tool for assessing liver fat accumulation.
The study found the following:
These findings emphasize the role of underlying metabolic health in determining post-cholecystectomy outcomes. According to the researchers, preoperative evaluation of cardiometabolic risk profiles is crucial in patients scheduled for gallbladder removal. The study recommends that individuals with multiple risk factors undergo careful assessment and be counseled on their elevated risk of developing MASLD after surgery.
While the study’s results are robust due to its large sample size and stratified risk analysis, the authors acknowledge certain limitations. MASLD was diagnosed using the fatty liver index rather than liver biopsy, which remains the gold standard. However, given the impracticality of performing liver biopsies or MRI scans in large-scale cohorts, the FLI was deemed a suitable and validated alternative.
The study also highlights the potential for residual confounding despite statistical adjustments, as well as limited generalizability beyond South Korea due to the ethnically homogenous population studied. Moreover, patients who underwent cholecystectomy may have received more frequent follow-up care, introducing a degree of surveillance bias.
“Our findings add to the growing body of evidence linking cholecystectomy to adverse metabolic outcomes. The risk of MASLD is particularly elevated in patients with multiple cardiometabolic risk factors, highlighting the importance of proactive risk assessment and management before and after gallbladder surgery. Clinicians should closely monitor liver health in these individuals and implement aggressive strategies to control metabolic risk factors postoperatively,” stated Dr. Hyuk Soo Eun and colleagues.
Reference:
Jeon, H. J., Eun, H. S., Rou, W. S., Kim, S. H., Lee, B. S., & Ahn, S. (2025). Association between cholecystectomy and the risk of new-onset metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: A risk-stratified cohort study. Scientific Reports, 15(1), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-13556-5
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One of the world’s leading causes of irreversible vision loss could begin with elevated eye pressure, according to a recent study published in the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
Yi Hua, a biomedical engineering professor at the University of Mississippi, partnered with researchers at the University of Pittsburgh to study how ocular hypertension – elevated eye pressure – affects the eye.
“We wanted to see how intraocular pressure changes and deforms the blood vessels in the eye,” Hua said. “If we can understand that, we can inform drug delivery to improve blood flow in the back of the eye. That can slow down the progression of glaucoma.”
Glaucoma damages the optic nerve, leading to irreversible vision loss. It is a leading cause of blindness worldwide. Glaucoma is sometimes called the “silent thief of sight,” with symptoms often not becoming apparent until the damage is extensive.
“This can lead us to a new way to diagnose glaucoma earlier,” said Yuankai Lu, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Pittsburgh and co-author of the study. “If this finding holds true, then we can use blood flow supply to predict the development of this disease.”
Pressure inside the eye can increases when aqueous humor – a clear fluid produced by the eye – does not properly drain. The buildup of fluid increases pressure on the lamina cribrosa, a mesh-like structure in the optic nerve head, which can constrict blood vessels, reducing oxygen flow to nerve cells and other parts of the eye.
Without oxygen, these cells can die, leading to loss of sight.
“We want to understand this problem so we can develop new drug pathways for patients,” Hua said. “We still do not have an efficient way to slow down the progression of glaucoma. The only way is to reduce eye pressure.
“But for some patients, even though we’ve reduced the eye pressure, the damage progresses, and they still lose vision. So, we need better methods.”
The researchers used a combination of 3D modeling and fluorescent dye to trace the path of blood flow through the eye under various amounts of pressure. They found even mildly elevated eye pressure can distort blood vessels and lead to hypoxia, an oxygen deficit. Extreme eye pressure led to hypoxia in approximately 30% of the lamina cribrosa tissue.
“The eye can weather a short-lived increase in eye pressure,” said Ian Sigal, associate professor of ophthalmology and bioengineering at the University of Pittsburgh. “For instance, when we rub our eyes lightly. But a chronic increase of weeks, months or years can cause substantial damage.
“The vision loss resulting from this damage cannot be recovered. Hence, it is crucial to find ways to detect the disease and prevent the damage before it happens.”
Previous research has correlated elevated eye pressure with glaucoma, but did not explain how those issues were related, Lu said.
“Most glaucoma research is based on statistics, which can give you a correlation,” he said. “But it was actually very difficult to discover the mechanics of it.
“By combining imaging techniques with 3D modeling, we gained a more comprehensive understanding of blood flow and oxygen distribution in the eye.”
Treatment options are available for elevated eye pressure, but they are most effective for patients who undergo regular eye examinations and are diagnosed early, especially if they are at risk of developing glaucoma, Hua said.
Risk factors include medical conditions like high blood pressure or diabetes, a family history of the disease and race, as studies show that Black and Latino individuals are more likely to be affected.
“We really want to raise awareness of this issue,” Hua said. “A lot of people know the risk of high blood pressure, but we want to also raise the importance of elevated eye pressure.”
Reference:
Yuankai Lu, Impact of Elevated Intraocular Pressure on Lamina Cribrosa Oxygenation: A Combined Experimental–Computational Study on Monkeys, Ophthalmology Science, DOI10.1016/j.xops.2025.100725
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Each year, millions of women undergo mammography to screen for breast cancer, yet tiny calcium specks-known as microcalcifications-often evade detection or are misread, leading to delayed diagnoses or unnecessary biopsies. Conventional computer-aided tools rely on hand-crafted rules and struggle with the sheer variety of imaging devices and lesion patterns.
In a recent study led by Dr. Ke-Da Yu from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, a novel deep-learning approach that automatically finds and classifies microcalcifications across different machines and patient populations was developed-bringing both accuracy and consistency to breast-cancer screening.
“Microcalcifications can be just a few pixels wide. Hence, spotting them amid normal tissue is like finding a needle in a haystack,” explains Dr. Yu. “We wanted a system that adapts to any mammogram and never overlooks early warning signs.”
The team’s innovation rests on two key advances:
• Adaptive, multi-scale detection: By integrating a faster region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) model with a feature-pyramid network (FPN), the pipeline fuses features at multiple resolutions-enabling it to localize both coarse clusters and individual specks without any manually tuned thresholds.
• Robust, multi-center training: Trained on 4,810 biopsy-confirmed mammograms (6,663 lesions evenly split between benign and malignant) from three hospitals, the system automatically standardizes each image, so it works seamlessly across different scanners and clinical settings.
In blind testing, the pipeline processed each mammogram, achieving approximately 75% overall accuracy at the microcalcification-lesion level with 76% sensitivity for malignant lesions and about 72% accuracy at the breast level.
“This solution can be deployed directly on standard radiology workstations,” adds Dr. Yu. “By pre-marking suspicious regions on each mammogram, it enables radiologists to quickly focus on areas of concern, significantly reducing both missed diagnoses and unnecessary biopsies-thereby easing patient discomfort and lowering healthcare costs.”
The research team has open-sourced the code, and their next steps will focus on integrating the system into clinical workflows, with the aim of offering a reliable AI-driven tool for more widespread breast-cancer screening.
Reference:
Qing Lin, Wei-Min Tan, Jing-Yu Ge, Yan Huang, Qin Xiao, Ying-Ying Xu, Yi-Ting Jin, Zhi-Ming Shao, Ya-Jia Gu, Bo Yan, Ke-Da Yu, Artificial intelligence-based diagnosis of breast cancer by mammography microcalcification, Fundamental Research https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fmre.2023.04.018.
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A new study published in The Journal of Urology found that low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave therapy (LI-SWT) did not significantly improve erectile dysfunction (ED) in men post-radical prostatectomy when compared to a sham procedure. Fewer than 20% of men in the LI-SWT group achieved erections sufficient for sexual intercourse.
Even with nerve-sparing procedures, ED is still a serious side effect following radical prostatectomy. According to a 2009 meta-analysis, 58% of patients recovered their erectile function overall following prostatectomy, meaning that a sizable portion of patients still experienced ED after the procedure.
Due to the poor efficacy of current therapies, innovative strategies are desperately needed. For many years, a variety of medical specialties have employed extracorporeal shock wave treatment (ESWT). By encouraging neoangiogenesis and nerve regeneration, low-intensity extracorporeal shock wave treatment has demonstrated potential for vasculogenic ED.
Furthermore, there is evidence that shock wave treatment may enhance the way phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors work. Although there is little research on LI-SWT’s effects following prostatectomy, the findings are promising. The precise mode of action is still uncertain, though. Thus, to fill a significant need in the available rehabilitation alternatives, this study assessed whether LI-SWT might enhance erectile function in individuals who had undergone a prostatectomy.
A total of 75 subjects in all were randomly assigned to either LI-SWT or a sham therapy. A zero-inflated negative binomial model was used to assess the IIEF scores, and suitable nonparametric techniques, such as binary transformation for clinically significant outcomes, were used to the ordinal EHS data.
With a ratio of 1.2 (95% CI: 0.1-2.4, P =.469), the zero-inflated model for IIEF scores revealed no discernible difference between treatment groups. The LI-SWT group’s estimated median IIEF score at 24 weeks after treatment was 4, whereas the sham group’s was 4. With median scores at 24 weeks of 2 in the LI-SWT group compared to 2 in the sham group, there was no discernible treatment benefit for EHS.
At 24 weeks, 18% (95% CI: 9%-34%) of patients in the LI-SWT group and 26% (95% CI: 14%-43%) of patients in the sham group had sufficient erection hardness (EHS ≥3) (P =.552). Overall, the results support that LI-SWT is not likely to be a successful therapeutic option for ED following a prostatectomy.
Reference:
Pedersen, T. B., Secher, C., Moumneh, A., Hvid, N., Lund, M., Fojecki, G., & Lund, L. (2025). A prospective randomized study on low-energy extracorporeal shock wave therapy for erectile dysfunction after radical prostatectomy. The Journal of Urology, 214(2), 156–166. https://doi.org/10.1097/JU.0000000000004576
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