TL;DR: A 2026 study in eLife found that prior cocaine self-administration disrupted how rat orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), a frontal brain region involved in task structure and flexible behavior, encoded hidden states in an odor-sequence task. Key Findings 3,881 single units: The study recorded 3,881 lateral OFC single units while rats performed a sequential odor task. …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Critical Care Explorations described a 45-year-old woman whose extended-release carbamazepine and venlafaxine overdose led to cardiac arrest, delayed serotonin syndrome, rebounding carbamazepine levels, bowel ischemia, and right hemicolectomy after retained gastrointestinal drug material kept releasing medication. Key Findings Extended-release overdose: The patient had altered mental status after a carbamazepine-venlafaxine ER …
TL;DR: A 2026 review in Translational Neurodegeneration found that most repurposed multiple system atrophy drugs failed to show disease-slowing effects in trials, while ubiquinol produced the clearest placebo-controlled motor-progression signal. Key Findings No proven disease-modifying therapy: Multiple system atrophy remains a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease without an approved treatment that slows progression. Four target classes …
TL;DR: A 2026 Current Biology study found that bacterial polysaccharides, including peptidoglycan from Gram-positive bacteria, activated the C. elegans NSM enteric sensory neuron and shifted feeding and movement behavior through acid-sensing ion channels. Key Findings NSM sensed ingested bacteria: the enteric sensory neuron NSM, which projects into the C. elegans pharyngeal lumen, responded when worms …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Comprehensive Psychoneuroendocrinology found that adulthood stressor severity was linked to higher hair cortisol in a longitudinal sample, while early-life stress, recent stress, daily phone-based stress reports, and the cortisol/DHEA ratio did not show consistent associations. Key Findings 2 aligned samples were tested: Study I included 79 adults, and Study II …
TL;DR: A 2026 nationwide study in Journal of Korean Medical Science found that among South Korean children and adolescents with intellectual disability, diagnosed ADHD increased from 30.23% in 2012 to 41.77% in 2021, while diagnosed depression increased from 10.46% to 19.37%. Key Findings Population: Researchers analyzed South Korean national health-insurance records for children and adolescents …
TL;DR: A 2026 mouse study in Neuropsychopharmacology found that brain iron deficiency made an opioid-responsive striatal pathway unusually sensitive to D1 dopamine receptor stimulation, pointing to a possible circuit mechanism for restless legs syndrome and opioid-withdrawal restlessness. Key Findings Iron-deficient mouse model: Researchers used a low-iron diet to create brain iron deficiency (BID), a rodent …
TL;DR: A 2026 medRxiv preprint found that multivariate resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) network markers separated non-lesional epilepsy from functional/dissociative seizures above chance, but the best model was stronger at identifying epilepsy than at identifying functional/dissociative seizures. Key Findings 148 suspected seizure cases: Researchers analyzed medication-free, visually normal, eyes-closed EEG recordings from 75 people later diagnosed with …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine found that 36 of 42 Hodgkin lymphoma survivors tested after mantle radiation therapy had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), despite mostly normal BMIs and slender necks — an under-recognized phenotype linked to dropped head syndrome. Key Findings 182 long-term HL survivors: All had received mantle radiation …
TL;DR: A 2026 study in Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports found 70 known Australian fatal poisonings involving new psychoactive stimulants and hallucinogens (NPSH), a category of newer stimulant- or hallucinogen-like drugs that often appeared alongside other psychoactive substances. Key Findings Researchers identified 70 fatal drug-toxicity cases in Australia from 2000 to 2025 where NPSH were …
