Researchers asked patients, some of whom had experienced lower back pain for up to 40 years, if being in nature helped them coped better with their lower back pain. They found that people able to spend time in their own gardens saw some health and wellbeing benefits. However, those able to immerse themselves in larger green spaces such as forests felt even more positive, as they were able to lose themselves in the environment and focus more on that than their pain levels. The researchers have recommended trying to incorporate time spent in nature into people’s treatments plans, and are also using their findings to develop virtual reality interventions that allow people to experience some of the benefits of being in nature without the need to travel anywhere if they are unable to do so.

A new type of mRNA vaccine is more scalable and adaptable to continuously evolving viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 and H5N1, according to a new study.

The biosynthesis of the great variety of natural plant products has not yet been elucidated for many medically interesting substances. In a new study, an international team of researchers was able to show how ipecacuanha alkaloids, substances used in traditional medicine, are synthesized. They compared two distantly related plant species and were able to show that although both plant species use a comparable chemical approach, the enzymes they need for synthesis differ and a different starting material is used. Further investigations revealed that the biosynthetic pathways of these complex chemical compounds have developed independently in the two species. These results help to enable the synthesis of these and related substances on a larger scale for medical use.

As psychedelics gain traction as potential treatments for mental health disorders, an international study stands to improve the rigor and reliability of clinical research.

A new study shows how person-to-person variation in antibody immunity plays a key role in shaping which influenza (flu) strains dominate in a population.

Multiple myeloma is considered incurable, but a third of patients in a Johnson & Johnson clinical trial have lived without detectable cancer for years after facing certain death.A group of 97 patients had longstanding multiple myeloma, a common blood cancer that doctors consider incurable, and faced a certain, and extremely painful, death within about a year. They had gone through a series of treatments, each of which controlled their disease for a while. But then it came back, as it always does. They reached the stage where they had no more options and were facing hospice.They all got immunotherapy, in a study that was a last-ditch effort.A third responded so well that they got what seems to be an astonishing reprieve. The immunotherapy developed by Legend Biotech, a company founded in China, seems to have made their cancer disappear. And after five years, it still has not returned in those patients — a result never before seen in this disease.These results, in patients whose situation had seemed hopeless, has led some battle-worn American oncologists to dare to say the words “potential cure.”“In my 30 years in oncology, we haven’t talked about curing myeloma,” said Dr. Norman Sharpless, a former director of the National Cancer Institute who is now a professor of cancer policy and innovation at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. “This is the first time we are really talking seriously about cure in one of the worst malignancies imaginable.”The new study, reported Tuesday at the annual conference of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and published in The Journal of Clinical Oncology, was funded by Johnson & Johnson, which bought Legend Biotech.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

24 minutes agoShareSaveDominic HughesHealth CorrespondentAnnabel RackhamHealth ReporterShareSaveGetty ImagesNew cases of the sexually transmitted infection syphilis have risen again in England, continuing a trend dating back to the early 2000s.While the overall number of people diagnosed with gonorrhoea has fallen, there has been a significant increase in the number of cases where the infection is drug resistant, new UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) data shows. Health experts say this is a real concern, although the actual number of drug-resistant cases remains very low. The NHS recently announced the rollout of the world’s first vaccine programme to protect against gonorrhoea, aimed principally at gay and bisexual men.Overall, there were 9,535 diagnoses of what is described as early-stage syphilis in England in 2024, up 2% on 2023.But the overall figure for syphilis, including what is called late-stage syphilis, or complications from the infection, rose 5% to 13,030.The figures for gonorrhoea show a more complicated picture.Overall, 2024 saw a 16% fall in gonorrhoea cases, with 71,802 diagnoses compared to 85,370 in 2023, with the greatest fall among 15- to 24-year-olds. Giulia Habib Meriggi, a surveillance and prevention scientist for sexually transmitted infections at UKHSA, urged caution over the decline.”This is the first year in the last couple of years where [the numbers] have actually gone down,” she said.”It’s still the third highest number of cases we’ve had in a year in recorded history, so it is sort of good news but it doesn’t mean it will stay that way. “It is obviously really important for people to still get tested regularly and use condoms with new partners.”Drug resistant gonorrhoea on the riseBy contrast, there has been an acceleration in diagnoses of antibiotic-resistant gonorrhoea. Some strains of the bacteria which causes the disease no longer respond to the first-line treatment, the antibiotic ceftriaxone.The numbers themselves remain low, with 14 cases reported in the first five months of 2025, compared with 13 cases for the whole of 2024. But six of those 14 cases so far this year have been extensively drug-resistant, meaning they were resistant not just to ceftriaxone but also to second-line treatment options.Most of the ceftriaxone resistant cases were linked with travel to or from the Asia-Pacific region, where levels of ceftriaxone resistance are high.UKHSA scientist Prarthana Narayanan describes the trend as “worrying”.”The numbers are still small but the reason this is worrying is because, once resistance in gonorrhoea becomes endemic, then it becomes extremely hard to treat, because ceftriaxone is the last first-line therapy we have for it. “We want to make sure that the spread of resistant strains is reduced as much as possible to try and prolong how long we can use ceftriaxone to treat it for,” she said. What are the symptoms of syphilis and gonorrhoea?Syphilis can present as small sores or ulcers on and around the genitals, as well as white or grey warty growthsSores in other areas, including in your mouth or on your lips, hands or bottomA rash on the palms of your hands and soles of your feet that can sometimes spread all over your bodyWhite patches in your mouthFlu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature, headaches, tiredness and swollen glandsPatchy hair loss on the head, beard and eyebrowsGonorrhoea can cause fluid or discharge from the penis or vaginaA burning pain when you urinatePain in the lower abdomen (for women) or sore testiclesGrowing concern over drug resistanceNumbers of sexually transmitted infections remain high, warns UKHSA, with the impact felt felt mainly in 15- to 24-year-olds, gay and bisexual men and some minority ethnic groups. But the increase in drug resistant cases of gonorrhoea is a real concern, amid wider worries around the growth in antimicrobial resistance.The World Health Organisation describes antimicrobial resistance as an issue of global concern and one of the biggest threats to global health. It threatens our ability to treat common infections and to perform life-saving procedures, including chemotherapy for cancer, caesarean sections, hip replacements, organ transplants and other operations.This is why, even though only 14 cases of drug-resistant gonorrhoea were identified this year, health experts urge anyone having sex with new or casual partners to use a condom and get tested regularly, whatever their age or sexual orientation.

Sally Odenheimer starved herself because she was an athlete and thought she’d run faster on an empty stomach.Karla Wagner starved herself because she wanted to be in charge of at least one aspect of her life.Janice Bremis simply felt too fat.They all sought perfection and control. Not eating helped.They are women in their 60s and 70s who have struggled with anorexia nervosa since childhood or adolescence. Years later, their lives are still governed by calories consumed, miles run, laps swum, pounds lost.“It’s an addiction I can’t get rid of,” said Ms. Odenheimer, 73, a retired teacher who lives outside Denver.For decades, few people connected eating disorders with older people; they were seen as an affliction of teenage girls and young women. But research suggests that an increasing number of older women have been seeking treatment for eating disorders, including bulimia, binge eating disorder (known as BED) and anorexia, which has the highest mortality rate of any psychiatric disorder, and brings with it an elevated risk of suicide.In a 2017 paper in the journal BMC Medicine, researchers reported that more than 15 percent of 5,658 women surveyed met the criteria for a lifetime eating disorder while in their 30s and 40s. A 2023 review of recent research reported that the prevalence rates among women 40 and older with full diagnoses of eating disorders were between 2.1 and 7.7 percent. (For men, they were less than 1 percent.)We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Researchers have identified a gene that plays a key role in prostate cancer cells that have transitioned to a more aggressive, treatment-resistant form. The gene can be indirectly targeted with an existing class of drugs, suggesting a potential treatment strategy for patients with aggressive subtypes of prostate cancer.

Marijuana use among older adults in the US has reached a new high, with 7 percent of adults aged 65 and over who report using it in the past month, according to a recent analysis.