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sCD27 Biomarker Flags Autoimmune Disease in Severe Psychiatric Disorders

MHD featured image for sCD27, autoimmune disease, severe psychiatric disorders, and neuroinflammation biomarker triage.

A 2026 immunopsychiatry cohort study found that soluble CD27 (sCD27), a marker of T-cell activation, was positive in cerebrospinal fluid in 23% of severe psychiatric patients selected for suspected immune involvement and in 88% of multiple sclerosis patients used as a positive-control group. In the psychiatric cohort, combined cerebrospinal fluid or blood sCD27 positivity was …

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Parkinson’s Speech Pauses Track Sentence Complexity and MoCA Scores

MHD featured image for Parkinson's speech pauses, sentence complexity, MoCA scores, and dysarthria.

A 2026 connected-speech study found that people with Parkinson’s disease produced more silent pauses than older controls while reading aloud: 2.185 vs. 1.595 mean pauses, while long sentences produced 2.676 pauses vs. 1.033 in short sentences.1 Within the Parkinson’s group, MoCA scores correlated with total pause count (rs = −0.502, p = 0.005). Research Highlights …

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Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis Added 670,000 Rat Dentate Neurons

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A 2026 rat study estimated that adult hippocampal neurogenesis added 670,000 dentate gyrus granule neurons from 2 to 18 months of age, but the total dentate gyrus population grew by only 385,000 cells because older developmentally born neurons were also being lost.1 The result makes adult neurogenesis look numerically larger than the usual “tiny trickle” …

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Fibromyalgia Costs in Saudi Arabia: $2,560 Annual Direct Medical Cost

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A 2026 Saudi tertiary-hospital study estimated that adults treated for fibromyalgia — chronic widespread pain with fatigue, sleep disruption, cognitive symptoms, and overlapping mood or medical problems — generated SAR 9,601.2 (USD 2,560.3) in annual direct medical costs per patient, with specialist visits and diagnostic procedures accounting for 96.3% of recorded spending.1 Research Highlights Annual …

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PHQ-15 and SSD-12 1-Week Versions Support Clinical Symptom Tracking

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A 2026 psychometric study of 354 Swedish participants found that 1-week versions of the PHQ-15 and SSD-12 mostly preserved internal consistency and construct validity, but reliability was acceptable mainly in clinical participants or when researchers averaged 2 timepoints. Research Highlights Clinical tracking looked more defensible than healthy screening: Hybelius et al. studied 194 people with …

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Teen Substance-Use Prediction in ABCD: Stable Signals, Small Effects

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A 2026 ABCD Study preprint involving 11,868 youth found stable time-ordered predictors of teen substance-use initiation, but the adjusted effects were small: most estimates ranged from −0.01 to 0.02 initiation-probability points per 1-SD predictor increase. Research Highlights Large ABCD panel: Wei et al. analyzed 11,868 youth with repeated observations and interval-level initiation outcomes for alcohol, …

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