Mind & body, in brief

Coeliac disease affects about 1 in 100 people. In them, the immune system attacks the lining of the small intestine whenever they eat gluten. [3][9]

Gluten is a group of proteins in wheat, barley and rye. Its pieces are rich in one building block, proline, so stomach enzymes cannot cut them up completely. [3]

An enzyme in the gut wall, called TG2, changes the leftover pieces so they fit tightly onto two gene-made display molecules, HLA-DQ2 and HLA-DQ8. Immune cells read that as an alarm. [3][4]

The alarm switches on killer immune cells that sit inside the gut lining, and they kill the lining's own cells. [4][12] The tiny folds that absorb food, called villi, wear flat. [11]

A 2025 lab study grew human gut tissue and found rare gatekeeper cells, called M cells, that pick up gluten and show it to immune cells themselves. [5]

About 30 to 40 in every 100 people carry the gene types the disease needs, and only about 3 in 100 of those carriers develop it. [6]

Its signs vary from diarrhoea and weight loss to anaemia, thin bones, tiredness or nothing at all, which is one reason it goes unnoticed. [9]

An estimated 75% to 83% of people with coeliac disease have never been diagnosed. [7] One study found two-thirds of children with it undiagnosed. [6]

In July 2026 the British Society of Gastroenterology, the UK's society of gut doctors, updated its adult rules for the first time since 2014. Its first rule is that the blood test is done while the person still eats gluten. [1]

The reason is that the antibodies the test looks for usually fade on a gluten-free diet, so a person who has already cut gluten can test negative while having the disease. [2][9]

Adults with symptoms whose antibody level is at least 10 times the top of the normal range may now be diagnosed without a biopsy, a tissue sample taken through a camera tube. [1][2] Only a minority have levels that high, so most still need one. [3]

A strict gluten-free diet for life is still the only treatment, and 30% to 40% of patients keep symptoms or gut damage despite saying they follow it. [1][8] Enzyme pills that cut up gluten are in trials, and none is approved. [3]

Why it matters. The next thing to watch is how many UK adults now reach a diagnosis without a biopsy, and how many undiagnosed children Italy's screening of children finds. [1][6]

The UK Health Security Agency counted 1,168 laboratory-confirmed Lyme disease cases in England in 2025, up from 959 in 2024. [13] Lyme disease is a bacterial infection passed on by tick bites, and it can cause a bullseye rash, fever and joint pain. [13] The 2025 figure is close to 2023's 1,151. [13] The agency said yearly counts vary with awareness, testing and the weather that sends people outdoors. [13] Moderna and a Pfizer-Valneva partnership are both testing new vaccines. [13]

Why it matters. A rise in a count can mean more illness or more testing, and the agency named both as reasons counts move. [13] There is no human Lyme vaccine on sale, and the only earlier one was withdrawn in the US in 2002. [13]

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the national public-health agency, said emergency room visits for tick bites were higher than usual in spring 2026. [14] In every region except the south-central US, weekly rates were the highest for that time of year since 2017. [14] Its tracker counts people who go to an emergency room with a bite. [14] Taking an attached tick off within 24 hours can help prevent Lyme disease, the agency said. [14]

Why it matters. Tick bites can pass on Lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever and alpha-gal syndrome, a meat allergy, the agency notes. [14] More bites puts more people at risk of all three.

Researchers collected ticks every month at 22 homes in Biltmore Forest, North Carolina, between November 2024 and August 2025. [15] Of 373 ticks, 287 were blacklegged ticks, the kind that spreads Lyme disease. [15] Of 48 adult blacklegged ticks, 19, or 39.6%, carried the Lyme germ. [15] Two other tick-borne germs turned up too. [15] Southern Appalachia is a region where Lyme is emerging but not yet counted as settled. [15]

Why it matters. The study started because residents worried about more tick illness. [15] It shows the germs moving south into places where doctors may not yet think of Lyme.

In July 2025 a resident of Herkimer County, New York, tested positive for Borrelia mayonii, a less common cause of Lyme disease. [16] It had only been reported in Minnesota and Wisconsin before. [16] State scientists then collected ticks near the home and found the germ in 9 of 229 adult ticks there. [16] Of 1,309 ticks from 23 other New York counties, none carried it. [16] The patient was treated with an antibiotic and fully recovered. [16]

Why it matters. One lab result led to a search of 1,518 ticks, and the search found the germ only on one property. It shows how a first case can depend on one laboratory running the right test. [16]

Doctors in Slovenia tested 337 adults with an unexplained fever using gene-reading methods, and found Borrelia miyamotoi in two of them. [17] It is a relative of the Lyme germ, first described in Japan in 1995 and first found in people in Russia in 2011. [17] Both patients had recent tick bites and a mild illness that passed on its own. [17] No blood test for it is sold commercially, which makes studies hard to compare. [17]

Why it matters. Without a test on the shelf, a germ like this is recorded only where researchers look for it. The authors want doctors to consider it in fever after a tick bite. [17]

A review of 27 published reports from 1988 to 2025 collected 38 cases of Lyme disease affecting the eye. [18] The commonest form, in 45%, was uveitis, a swelling inside the eye. [18] Others were swelling of the nerve behind the eye and weakness of the nerves that move it. [18] Only five cases had laboratory proof of the germ, and not all met the CDC's case definition. [18]

Why it matters. The authors say doctors may overlook eye signs of Lyme disease. [18] They ask for laboratory proof so that cases can be counted with confidence. [18]

The US Diabetes Prevention Program randomly assigned adults with raised blood sugar to a lifestyle programme, the drug metformin or a placebo from 1996. [19] Researchers followed 1,173 of them through 2021 using US Medicare records. [19] The lifestyle group had a 21% lower risk of two long-term illnesses and 25% lower risk of three. [19] Metformin did not lower the risk significantly. [19] The results were published in June 2026. [19]

Why it matters. It followed people for more than two decades and tracked 15 illnesses, not only diabetes. [19] Both the drug and the programme were measured against the same placebo group, which is what shows the gap. [19]

A US team followed 12,409 people who were free of dementia at 55 in the early 1990s, through 2022. [20] Those with none of diabetes, high blood pressure or smoking lived about 30 years past 55 without dementia. [20] Those with all three lived about 17. [20] Women lived 1.5 to 3 years longer without dementia than men with the same risks. [20] The study was published on 5 August 2026. [20]

Why it matters. It measures years lived without dementia, not only whether it came. Black participants lived about three fewer dementia-free years than white participants, a gap the study reports but does not explain. [20]

A US trial followed 266 pregnant or new mothers who already had diagnosed anxiety or depression. [21] Half were helped to move from their pregnancy doctor to a family doctor after the birth. [21] Among them, 33.3% had a family doctor visit that included a mood check, against 15.6% without help. [21] Prescriptions for mood medicine did not differ between the groups. [21] The analysis was published in August 2026. [21]

Why it matters. Depression and anxiety after birth often go untreated, partly because care breaks down at the hand-over from pregnancy care. [21] More checks meant more mothers were found and offered counselling or referrals. [21]

Swedish researchers studied every one of 58,618 women diagnosed with depression after giving birth between 2006 and 2021. [22] Within a year, 3,522, or 6.0%, met the definition of treatment-resistant depression, meaning it did not improve after repeated treatment. [22] Lower income and education, living alone, smoking in early pregnancy and a caesarean birth went with higher risk. [22] Women on their second birth had lower risk. [22]

Why it matters. The study used Sweden's national health registers, so it covers a whole country rather than one clinic. [22] The risk factors point to mothers who may need more help early.

A US trial gave pregnant women with depression either a short course of interpersonal psychotherapy, a talking therapy about relationships and life changes, or enhanced usual care. [23] Researchers followed 230 of them to a year after the birth. [23] At 12 months, 4.33% of the therapy group had major depression, against 12.93% of the usual-care group. [23]

Why it matters. The therapy was given before the birth, and its effect still showed a year after it. [23] It is one trial of 230 women.

A California trial randomly placed 674 pregnant women on low incomes into enhanced group pregnancy care or enhanced one-to-one care. [24] Most participants were Latina. [24] Depression symptoms fell in both groups by three months after the birth. [24] The trial found no difference between the two kinds of care. [24]

Why it matters. Both groups got better, so the trial cannot say how much of the fall came from either kind of care. What it does show is that the group version was not better.

Zuranolone was approved in the US in 2023 as the first pill for depression after birth. [25] It acts on GABA, the brain's main calming signal. [25] In a trial of 196 women with severe depression after birth, it improved symptoms more than a placebo. [25] The commonest side effects were sleepiness in 7.1% and dizziness in 6.1%. [25] A 2026 review says how long the effect lasts is still unknown. [25]

Why it matters. Older antidepressants can be slow to start working, the review notes. [25] It names long-term results and access as the open questions.

A US trial gave 385 people with long-term low back pain one of three headsets at home. [26] One taught relaxation and body-awareness skills, one showed immersive 360-degree films, and one showed ordinary flat videos. [26] Neither real virtual reality programme reduced how much pain interfered with life more than the flat videos. [26] The immersive group did cut daily opioid painkiller use more. [26]

Why it matters. A fair dummy group showed that the main benefit did not come from the virtual reality itself. [26] The authors want a new trial aimed at the opioid finding. [26]

An Australian trial randomised 200 people having a common operation for a slipped disc pressing on a nerve. [27] Half were told to limit sitting, lifting and hard activity for two weeks; half returned to normal activity. [27] At a year, 41.6% of the restricted group and 36.4% of the other met the main goal, a difference that could be chance. [27] A repeat slipped disc happened in 10.1% against 14.1%. [27]

Why it matters. Most surgeons still advise these limits, the trial says. It found no evidence they help. [27]

A review pooled 15 randomised trials and 31 other studies on surgery for a slipped disc in the lower back. [28] Surgery reduced leg pain and disability better than other care in the short term. [28] After more than a year, results from surgery and non-surgical care were about the same. [28] Going back to work early after surgery did not lead to worse results. [28]

Why it matters. Between 5% and 10% of people with back pain also get leg pain from a slipped disc, the review says. [28] It found no agreement on the best time to operate. [28]

A review combined 11 trials with 868 people who had long-term sciatica, leg pain from a slipped disc pressing on a nerve. [29] Most trials were from China. [29] Acupuncture reduced leg pain more than the comparison groups, including fake acupuncture. [29] The authors say the trials had weaknesses that call for caution. [29]

Why it matters. A fake-needle group is the fairest test for acupuncture. Even so, small trials mostly from one country leave the size of the effect uncertain.

A review pooled 35 trials with 2,132 people with lower back pain, comparing eight kinds of exercise. [30] Exercise reduced pain more than usual care. [30] Tai chi, walking and Pilates showed the largest pain reductions. [30] For daily function, walking, Pilates and yoga did best. [30]

Why it matters. Lower back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide, the review says. [30] Walking did well on both pain and daily function. [30]

A double-blind trial in 40 people with long-term low back pain tested a machine that runs heated rollers along the spine for 40 minutes. [31] Pain fell by an average of 46.8% with the real machine and 17.0% with a weak control setting on the neck. [31] Nobody reported side effects. [31] The trial measured only the effect straight after one session. [31]

Why it matters. Even the control group's pain fell by about a sixth. [31] Whether the gap lasts beyond one session is the untested part.

A survey of 927 adults in the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia found that 9.9% had sciatica. [32] Arthritis, obesity and a family history went with higher rates. [32] Most people surveyed understood little about its causes and treatment. [32] The survey was done online. [32]

Why it matters. An online survey counts people who say they have sciatica, not people examined by a doctor. It points to where education is lacking.

Acute pancreatitis is sudden swelling of the pancreas, the gland that makes digestive juices. [33] In 3,813 patients without organ failure on arrival, 458, or 12%, went on to the severe form. [33] Researchers built a score from six routine measurements, and it predicted that better than three older scores. [33] A separate study of 300 patients compared several older scores and blood ratios. [34]

Why it matters. The patients who later turn severe look fine on arrival. A score that flags them early tells staff who to watch.

Researchers at three hospitals studied 406 patients admitted with a dangerous blood-sugar crisis, mostly diabetic ketoacidosis. [35] Of them, 60, or 14.8%, also developed acute pancreatitis. [35] It was commoner in ketoacidosis than in the other crisis, at 17.5% against 6.8%. [35] High blood fats, obesity and shock predicted it. [35]

Why it matters. Pancreatitis sent more of these patients to intensive care, but did not lengthen stays or raise deaths. [35] It adds pancreatitis to the illnesses that go with high blood sugar and body fat. [35]

Doctors have avoided drugs like Ozempic, which copy a gut hormone called GLP-1, in people who have had pancreatitis. [36] A Cleveland Clinic review from December 2025 says trials and analyses have given mixed results on that risk. [36] It lists obesity, gallstones, very high blood fats and fatty liver as causes of pancreatitis. [36] Fatty liver was present in 39% of people with pancreatitis in one study. [36]

Why it matters. The authors argue that a past bout of pancreatitis should not by itself rule the drugs out. That is their view, and the risk question is not settled.

Danish doctors followed all 482 adults who started one kind of injected antibody for severe asthma between 2016 and 2020. [37] These drugs block IL-5, a signal that drives one type of airway swelling. [37] Each year 17.6% to 23.1% were in full remission, but many slipped out again. [37] Only 7.7% stayed in remission for all five years. [37]

Why it matters. Most patients still did much better on the drugs, the authors say. [37] But remission, as defined here, turned out to come and go.

Researchers measured how fast the body is ageing in 154,169 young adults in UK Biobank, a large health study. [38] They used PhenoAge, a score built from routine blood tests. [38] People born in 1965 to 1974 were ageing faster than those born in 1950 to 1954. [38] Faster ageing went with a higher risk of cancer before 55, mainly lung, gut and womb cancers. [38]

Why it matters. Cancer in younger adults has been rising across recent generations. [38] This points to something in how later generations age, though it shows a link, not a cause.

Researchers followed 184,219 adults aged 40 and over across several studies. [39] They scored each on five abilities set out by the World Health Organization: thinking, mood, senses, energy and movement. [39] Lower scores went with more strokes, and the link was strongest in people aged 80 and over. [39]

Why it matters. It measures what a person can do, not which diseases they have. [39] It is an observational study, so it shows a link, not a cause.

A study followed 1,545 people aged 80 and over in Hainan, China. [40] Those with the best score on 11 changeable risk factors had a 40.7% lower risk of death than those with the worst. [40] Genes linked to a long life lowered the risk by 13%. [40] People with both had the lowest risk. [40]

Why it matters. Even in very old age, the changeable factors mattered about three times as much as the inherited ones in this group. [40] It is observational, so other differences may explain some of it.