Restless legs syndrome (RLS), now also called Willis-Ekbom disease (WED), is a sleep-disrupting neurologic disorder that affects roughly 20–30% of pregnancies in some series and is linked to preeclampsia, increased cesarean delivery, and perinatal depression. A 2026 Nature and Science of Sleep synthesis turned 9 source documents into 27 practice recommendations across 5 domains, ending …
A 2025 iScience study found that nighttime caffeine increased motor impulsivity in Drosophila, with dose-dependent loss-of-inhibition events across n = 30-32 flies per behavioral condition and stronger effects in female flies than male flies.1 The result does not prove that an evening coffee makes humans reckless, but it sharpens a neglected point: caffeine’s alertness benefit …
A 99-patient randomized trial found that adding esketamine to sufentanil patient-controlled analgesia lowered postoperative depression and anxiety scores at 24 and 72 hours after colorectal cancer surgery, while resting and activity pain scores did not differ by group.1 That pattern makes the result more interesting than simple pain relief: the mood signal was partly independent …
A 2026 meta-analysis of 4 randomized trials found that GLP-1 receptor agonists reduced obstructive sleep apnea severity by 13.89 apnea-hypopnea events per hour compared with placebo, alongside 12.46 kg more weight loss than placebo.1 The effect looks clinically meaningful for obesity-linked sleep apnea, but high heterogeneity means the result should not be flattened into “GLP-1 …
Cocaine relapse circuitry looks different when alcohol is part of the history. In a rat model, inhibiting prelimbic cortex neurons projecting to the nucleus accumbens core blocked cue-triggered cocaine seeking after cocaine alone, but failed after sequential cocaine-alcohol polysubstance use.1 Research Highlights PL-NAc inhibition split by drug history: in a 4-group DREADD experiment, inhibiting the …
A 2026 preprint following 964 adults who used a Chicago mobile medical unit for opioid use disorder care found 5 follow-up patterns over 12 months: 56% made 1 visit, while the remaining patients showed slow decline, fast decline, infrequent use, or continued use.1 Research Highlights The cohort was large for mobile OUD care: 3,528 OUD-related …
A 30-trial meta-analysis found that cholinergic modulators improved schizophrenia negative symptoms, SMD −0.42, while the overall total PANSS/BPRS effect was not statistically significant.1 The clearest signal came from muscarinic agonists, which makes acetylcholine biology promising but not uniformly positive across every cholinergic drug class. Research Highlights Negative symptoms improved: Cholinergic modulators reduced PANSS-N/SANS negative symptom …