Modern obstetrics and gynecology has evolved beyond routine examinations to embrace a holistic, patient-centered approach that integrates wellness support, reproductive health, and disease prevention. Contemporary practice distinguishes between clinical pathways—structured, evidence-based treatment protocols—and the patient journey, which encompasses the complete lived experience from initial concerns through long-term follow-up. This paradigm shift prioritizes active patient participation and collaboration between physicians and patients in establishing personalized health goals. Research from the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists demonstrates that patients encouraged to engage actively in their treatment decisions report higher satisfaction and improved health literacy. Regular OB-GYN visits establish consistent health baselines while providing comprehensive guidance on menstrual health, fertility planning, and life-stage transitions. This partnership-based model ensures sustainable wellness outcomes that evolve with patients' changing needs and life circumstances.

Second Chance Community Health's integrated care model addresses the whole person by connecting three essential pathways: medical care, behavioral health support, and housing assistance. Rather than treating these components separately, the organization recognizes that sustainable wellness requires simultaneous intervention across all domains. Through the example of Maria, a 34-year-old experiencing homelessness and multiple health challenges, the model demonstrates its effectiveness. Initial crisis intervention connects patients to comprehensive services including same-day clinical intake, affordable medication management, trauma-informed therapy, and emergency housing placement. Ongoing case management supports benefit enrollment, employment assistance, and permanent housing transitions. By coordinating medical treatment, mental health counseling, and stable shelter within one integrated framework, Second Chance transforms acute crisis episodes into pathways toward lasting stability and improved health outcomes.

millions of students experience basic needs insecurity, including a lack of access to adequate housing, food, social determinant of health

In this context, the promise of parity—ensuring coverage of MH/SUD care is equal to coverage offered for medical/surgical care—could not matter more. Under the ...

CMS is requesting information on how to best improve hospital price transparency data standardization -- specifically data consistency, comparability and ...

Cancer vaccines offer a promising strategy to initiate de novo T cell responses or enhance existing ones, either functioning independently or synergizing with T cell–modulating therapeutics to reduce tumor burden. The clinical development of cancer vaccines faces challenges such as limited antigen coverage, insufficient antigen presentation, immune suppressive microenvironment, and the availability of personalized vaccines. In this study, we developed a universal “all-in-one” cancer cell–derived vaccine (UniCVac) with comprehensive antigen spectrum coverage by programming tumor cells into antigen-presenting cells (APCs) through the codelivery of CIITA, NLRC5, CD80, and IL-2. This reprogramming mimics the professional APC phenotype, providing simultaneous HLA-I and HLA-II antigen presentation, costimulation, and T cell proliferation signals. These tumor-derived UniCVac can directly activate both CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in vitro, independent of APCs. In addition, their costimulation and T cell growth-stimulating capabilities result in superior CD4+ and CD8+ T cell activation and proliferation comparable to traditional APCs, with enhanced PI3K-AKT pathways activation.

Injectable hydrogels demonstrated the capacity to provide spatially localized and temporally controlled therapy within the infarcted myocardium. Stimuli-responsive systems exploiting pH, reactive oxygen species, and enzymatic microenvironments enabled phase-matched therapeutic release. Major pharmacological effects included macrophage immunomodulation, angiogenesis promotion, oxidative stress reduction, fibrosis attenuation, and restoration of electrical conductivity. Convergent signaling pathways across studies included PI3K/AKT, AMPK-mTOR, VEGF, and TGF-β-related networks. Preclinical studies consistently reported improvements in ventricular remodeling and cardiac function, while early clinical translation with VentriGel established feasibility and procedural safety in human patients. Injectable bioactive hydrogels represent a promising pharmacological strategy for post-MI cardiac repair by integrating biomaterial engineering with localized multi-dimensional drug delivery.

Nitric oxide (NO) is a key signaling molecule involved in many physiological processes including vasodilation, neurotransmission, inflammatory and antimicrobial responses. Despite its therapeutic potential, its clinical utility remains limited due to its extremely short half-life (less than 5 s), high reactivity (with oxygen radicals) and the need for precise spatiotemporal dose control. To overcome these limitations, recent advancements in biomaterials have led to the development of responsive systems capable of delivering NO in a targeted and controlled manner. These systems can respond to endogenous stimuli (such as pH changes, enzymatic activity, altered redox environment (associated with hypoxia, oxidative stress) which are key characteristics of diseased cells) or to exogenous stimuli (such as light, X-ray, ultrasound). By allowing site-specific and time-controlled NO release, these responsive biomaterials offer improved control over local NO delivery and are being evaluated predominantly in in vitro and animal models. In this review, we discuss the advances in design of NO-releasing responsive biomaterials with a particular focus on applications in antimicrobial skin therapy.

Menopause represents a significant yet overlooked cost driver for health plans managing high-risk populations with multiple chronic conditions. The hormonal changes associated with menopause can complicate existing conditions such as diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and depression, intensifying clinical complexity and healthcare expenditures. Despite affecting over 80% of women inadequately, menopause often remains unmanaged within high-cost populations. Physiologic shifts influence cardiovascular risk, metabolic function, bone density, sleep, and mental health, potentially disrupting treatment stability. Medication management emerges as a critical concern, as women juggling hormone therapy with multiple chronic disease treatments risk drug interactions and adherence failures. Addressing menopause as an integrated component of chronic disease management represents an opportunity for health plans to reduce costs and improve outcomes in aging female populations.

As a new generation of biomaterials, biodegradable zinc (Zn)-based implants hold substantial promise for clinical use due to their favorable biocompatibility and controllable degradation behavior. This review summarizes recent progress in Zn-based implants, focusing on the physiological roles of Zn, current Zn-based implant systems, and relevant applicable standards. To address the critical challenges faced in practical applications, such as optimizing corrosion rate, antibacterial performance, and biocompatibility, researchers have employed innovative strategies, including alloying (e.g., Zn-Mg, Zn-Mn, Zn-Li), surface modifications, and functional coatings. Meanwhile, a detailed overview is provided of in vitro and in vivo degradation evaluation systems, advances in preclinical animal studies, and the status of clinical trials, together with regulatory requirements for biodegradable metals set by domestic and international authorities. Key mechanistic and translational bottlenecks that currently limit clinical adoption are identified, together with critical directions for the rational design and standardized evaluation of next-generation Zn-based implants.  

Targeting the critical complications of thromboembolism and device-related infection in long-term left ventricular assist devices (LVADs), we developed a facile, one-step rapid co-polymerization strategy based on mussel-inspired polyphenol chemistry to construct a copper-integrated polydopamine/tannic acid (Ti/PDT(Cu)) nanocomposite coating. By incorporating tannic acid, we synergistically accelerated dopamine oxidative polymerization and drastically shortened the fabrication period. This approach constructs a robust dual-crosslinked network through covalent/hydrogen bonds and metal-phenolic coordination, endowing the coating with a uniform nanoscale roughened structure, excellent hydrophilicity, and superior long-term structural integrity in physiological environments. Crucially, the optimized coating design overcomes the inherent drawbacks of conventional PDA-Cu systems—such as uncontrollable ion burst release and poor physiological stability. It provides durable, broad-spectrum bactericidal efficacy while enabling sustained, endothelium-mimicking catalytic nitric oxide generation.

Cell therapy has emerged as a transformative approach to cancer treatment, advancing significantly beyond initial CAR-T cell successes in hematologic malignancies. The field now encompasses diverse platforms including TCR-T cells, tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes, gamma delta T cells, CAR-NK cells, and CAR-macrophages, with expanding applications toward solid tumors. A notable shift is occurring from autologous to allogeneic "off-the-shelf" therapies, with CAR-NK and CAR-NKT cells demonstrating clinical potential due to reduced immunogenicity and graft-versus-host disease risk. In vivo engineering technologies offer cost and manufacturing advantages by eliminating complex ex vivo procedures. Despite progress, significant challenges persist, including tumor heterogeneity, immunosuppressive microenvironments, and therapy-related toxicity. Future advancement will depend on novel target discovery, improved toxicity management, scalable manufacturing, and integration of multiomics, artificial intelligence, and synthetic biology approaches.

Precision medicine requires understanding how general treatment effects from randomized clinical trials should be applied to individual patients.

Ongoing engineering strategies, including cytokine armoring, metabolic reprogramming, and resistance ... CRISPR promotes the long-term efficacy of CAR T cells ...

Sail Biomedicines is advancing RNA therapeutics through innovative circular RNA constructs, known as Endless RNA (eRNA), paired with targeted nanoparticle delivery systems. Unlike conventional linear mRNA, which degrades rapidly due to exposed ends, eRNA's circular design eliminates vulnerable endpoints, enabling sustained therapeutic protein expression while maintaining the transient nature essential for safety. This breakthrough addresses critical limitations in mRNA therapeutics, particularly for applications requiring extended but controlled protein expression, such as CAR-T cell programming and immune modulation. The combination of eRNA technology and precision delivery mechanisms represents a significant advancement in expanding the therapeutic potential and clinical applicability of RNA-based medicines.

IntuitionLabs, founded in 2023 by Adrien Laurent, specializes in developing custom AI solutions for pharmaceutical and life science industries. The company leverages advanced artificial intelligence technologies to assist organizations in navigating complex clinical trial challenges, including the implementation of digital twins and virtual control methodologies. With over 25 years of enterprise software development expertise, IntuitionLabs helps life science companies optimize their clinical development processes through innovative AI applications. The organization emphasizes that any information provided is for educational purposes and recommends independent verification of critical details before implementation.

Recent advances in nanoparticle technology demonstrate significant therapeutic potential across multiple medical domains. Novel developments include intranasal nanoparticle adjuvants targeting the STING pathway, which generate robust mucosal and systemic immunity against coronaviruses while converting traditional flu vaccines into effective nasal formulations. Optimized lipid nanoparticle-based prime editing systems enable efficient gene editing and disease correction in human cells with improved delivery outcomes. Additionally, nanoparticles show promise in cancer treatment through enhanced accumulation near micrometastases, improved early-stage metastasis detection, and immunotherapeutic applications that trigger viral defense responses and activate B cell immunity. Further breakthroughs include nanovaccines enhancing dendritic cell communication for improved T cell activation and dual-acting lipid nanoparticles combining effector T cell stimulation with exhaustion inhibition, offering transformative approaches to previously difficult-to-treat malignancies.

This open-access protocol presents a comprehensive methodology for analyzing three-dimensional single-cell imaging of tumor-natural killer cell interactions within multi-cell-type tumor organoid models. Published in BMC Methods in June 2026, the research enables detailed visualization and characterization of dynamic cellular interactions at the individual cell level. The protocol advances understanding of immune cell behavior within complex tumor microenvironments by utilizing sophisticated imaging techniques combined with organoid technology. This approach facilitates investigation of natural killer cell cytotoxic mechanisms and tumor cell responses in physiologically relevant conditions, offering valuable insights for immunotherapy development and personalized cancer research applications.

One of the most promising approaches is in vivo CAR-T cell engineering using lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) loaded with mRNA to reprogram endogenous T cells ...

Organoid-based co-cultures are also being developed and screened for advanced immunotherapies. These include testing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells, ...