TL;DR: A 2026 systematic review and meta-analysis in Journal of Medical Internet Research found that care robots showed a low-certainty reduction in neuropsychiatric symptoms, but six other pooled outcome domains did not reach statistical significance. Key Findings 34 randomized trials: The review included 34 randomized controlled studies across 17 countries, with 2,476 participants. 20 meta-analyzed …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint in medRxiv reported that frailty and medical comorbidity predicted short-term outcomes more clearly than psychiatric history among older adults evaluated by consultation-liaison psychiatry teams in Spanish general hospitals. Key Findings 465 older inpatients: The prospective OLD-3 cohort included adults aged 65 years and older referred to consultation-liaison psychiatry in 10 Spanish …
TL;DR: A 2026 narrative review in International Journal of General Medicine argued that apathy in Alzheimer’s disease is tied to damage across motivation circuits, including the anterior cingulate cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, striatum, locus coeruleus, and large-scale brain networks. Key Findings Apathy was framed as its own syndrome: The review separates reduced goal-directed behavior from depression, …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in eLife found that infants’ brains responded more strongly to structured children’s music than shuffled music by 3 months, while clearer music-linked movement patterns appeared mainly by 12 months. Key Findings 79 infants tested: Researchers recorded electroencephalography (EEG), a scalp measure of brain electrical activity, and video-based body movement in 3 …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Nature Communications found that deleting ankyrin-2 (Ank2) from hippocampal astrocytes left recent memory intact but weakened remote memory, pointing to astrocyte structure as part of how memories stay stable over time. Key Findings Recent recall stayed intact: Mice lacking astrocytic Ank2 performed normally in the day-1 contextual fear memory …
TL;DR: A 2026 narrative review in Clinical Drug Investigation argued that desvenlafaxine, a serotonin-noradrenaline reuptake inhibitor (SNRI), may be a first-line major depressive disorder option for selected patients, especially when fatigue, cognitive complaints, polypharmacy, or tolerability concerns shape the treatment choice. Key Findings Review plus consensus: The source combined a PubMed-based narrative review with a …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint in medRxiv found that stroke survivors doing motor imagery showed changing brain-heart coupling across rehabilitation sessions, especially between cardiac sympathetic activity and electroencephalography (EEG) beta-band network clustering. Key Findings 15 stroke survivors: Researchers analyzed two cohorts with upper- or lower-limb motor impairment after stroke. 2 motor-imagery protocols: Dataset 1 used gait …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint posted on medRxiv reported that resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) neural slowing after stroke tracked secondary thalamic degeneration measured on structural MRI, even though the sampled patients did not have direct thalamic lesions. Key Findings 25 stroke patients: Researchers studied adults at least 3 months after unilateral supratentorial stroke and compared their resting-state …
TL;DR: A 2026 review in International Journal of Molecular Medicine mapped how exercise and fluoxetine overlap in Alzheimer’s disease mechanisms such as mitochondrial quality control, oxidative stress, inflammation, and neuroplasticity, but clinical combination benefits remain unproven. Key Findings Review article, not trial: Wu and Li synthesized mechanistic evidence on exercise and fluoxetine in Alzheimer’s disease …
TL;DR: A 2026 preprint posted on medRxiv reported that larger choroid plexus volume on brain MRI was associated with greater disability in multiple sclerosis and with higher white-matter myo-inositol in progressive MS, but the work has not yet been peer reviewed. Key Findings 88-person imaging sample: Researchers studied 45 people with multiple sclerosis and 43 …
