MentalHealthDaily

High Cytokines Predicted Weaker Placebo Response in Cancer Symptom Trial

by GLOOM

MHD featured image for cytokine biomarkers and placebo response in cancer symptom trials.

A 2026 exploratory analysis of the ABCD cancer dyspnea trial found that higher baseline cytokines predicted less placebo symptom improvement than lower baseline cytokines across 33 of 40 cytokine-symptom combinations at day 7 and 29 of 40 at day 14.1 The signal is not ready for clinical prediction, but it sharpens a trial-design problem: patients …

Dexamethasone Disrupts Mouse Sleep Through Orexin Hyperarousal

by GLOOM

Photoreal illustration of a steroid pill bottle with overlay of disrupted sleep architecture, conveying glucocorticoid-induced insomnia mechanism.

A 2026 male-mouse study found that 30 mg/kg dexamethasone for 5 days increased light-phase wakefulness (t13 = 4.122, p = 0.0012), decreased NREM sleep (t13 = 4.412, p = 0.0007), and amplified orexin-neuron activity during NREM-to-wake transitions (F1,9 = 6.941, p = 0.0272). The result points to orexin-linked hyperarousal as a testable explanation for steroid-induced …