A 2026 meta-analysis of 7 small Chinese trials found that adding herbal patches on acupuncture points to usual stroke care improved self-rated sleep in 608 stroke survivors with sleep problems.1 The researchers rated that evidence as very low certainty, and safety was barely reported. Research Highlights Better sleep scores: across 6 trials (536 people), Pittsburgh …
A 2026 meta-analysis of 50 studies estimated that about 1 in 3 people with neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) have ADHD (33%), and that roughly 1 in 10 have autism (11%), seizures (11%), depression (13%), or anxiety (12%).1 Every one of those figures sits well above typical population rates, but the individual studies disagreed so widely …
A 2026 meta-analysis of 11 reports from small randomized trials found that virtual reality (VR) training modestly improved thinking-test scores in people with Alzheimer’s dementia (standardized effect 0.44), but it did not produce a clear benefit for everyday functioning, quality of life, or mood.1 The studies were small, several had design problems, and the researchers …
A 2026 meta-analysis of 32 randomized trials involving 2,669 participants found that ultrasound-guided acupotomy reduced chronic spinal musculoskeletal pain, with pain intensity improving by SMD = −0.80 and disability by SMD = −0.99 on NDI/ODI measures.1 The direction is favorable, but all trials came from China and evidence certainty stayed moderate for pain and low …
A 53-study resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) meta-analysis found substance use disorder (SUD) linked to altered connectivity across prefrontal, striatal, thalamic, cingulate, and amygdala circuits. The most clinically relevant finding was an impulsivity correlation, not a diagnostic brain signature. Research Highlights Meta-analysis scale was meaningful: Zhang et al. pooled 53 whole-brain resting-state functional magnetic …
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 …
A 2026 meta-analysis of 8 controlled trials found that AVATAR therapy reduced auditory verbal hallucination severity after treatment, Hedges’ g = −0.40, 95% CI −0.54 to −0.25, across 978 participants.1 The signal is real, but the strongest reading is short-term symptom calibration rather than a finished replacement for standard psychosis care. Research Highlights Voice severity …