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Psychiatry
5th Nov, 2025
The Lancet
In May, 2025, the Danish Parliament agreed on a landmark 10-year mental health reform plan,1 substantially investing in prevention, early intervention, and expanded services. However, alongside these advances, one element has raised considerable concern: the legalisation of new forms of restrictive practices, including isolation (in forensic services, in locked patient rooms), upward restraint (such as during transfer), and expanded criteria for forced treatment and rapid tranquillisation. These changes, expected to take effect in 2026–27,1 broaden the legal scope of existing practices and introduce previously prohibited ones.
Climate change is an existential threat to humanity and the ecosystems we rely on, impacting many aspects of human life, including mental health.1,2 Rising temperatures, extreme weather events, loss of habitats, environmental degradation, and resulting socioeconomic instability are some of the drivers associated with increasing incidence of psychological distress, psychiatric disorders, suicide, and mental health-related mortality.2 Climate change-related displacement, food insecurity, and economic hardship exert chronic stress, disproportionately affecting low-income populations, young people, older adults, individuals with pre-existing conditions, and Indigenous peoples, thus amplifying health disparities.
Mental health disorders affect approximately one in seven children and adolescents globally, representing a major public health challenge that often begins early in life but remains underaddressed.1 In China, this burden is intensifying amid rapid socioeconomic transformation, urbanisation, widening rural–urban disparities, increased academic pressure, and evolving family dynamics.2 While in the last 30 years the number of mental disorder cases among children and adolescents decreased by 21·9% in China, age-standardised prevalence increased by 4·8%.
Rare diseases are defined as those that affect fewer than 1 in 2000 people in any WHO region. Over 7000 such diseases are known and more than 300 million people globally (between 3·5% and 5·9% of the population)1 are estimated to live with one of these diseases. As 72% of rare diseases are genetic and 70% of them start in childhood, effects on mental health are often lifelong and family-wide.2 The prevalence of depression (39·3% of patients with rare diseases) and anxiety (44·2% of patients with rare diseases) is substantially higher in patients with rare diseases than in the general population (depression 10·8–20·6%; anxiety disorders 16·6%).
Hyperemesis gravidarum affects 0·3–3·6% of women1 and is the leading cause of hospital admissions during the first trimester of pregnancy.2 Hyperemesis gravidarum is associated with serious consequences not only for the mother's physical health, but also for her mental health, particularly the risk of peripartum depression. Peripartum depression is recognised as the leading cause of illness during the perinatal period.3 Numerous studies have noted the existence of an association between hyperemesis gravidarum and depression; a meta-analysis by Mitchell-Jones and colleagues4 showed significantly higher depression scores in pregnant women with hyperemesis gravidarum than in controls without the disorder.
Schizophrenia is a chronic and relapsing psychiatric disorder that is now the third most common cause of disability-adjusted life years among older adults (aged ≥60 years).1 The estimated prevalence rate of schizophrenia among older adults is approximately 0·1–0·5%.2 Given the global population increase of older adults, there will be approximately 10 million older individuals with schizophrenia worldwide by 2050.1 Despite this population growth, data on these individuals are scarce, with only 1% of scientific literature on schizophrenia devoted to this population.
Circle of Security-Parenting (COS-P) is an attachment-based parenting intervention typically offered in a group format, utilising videos of families. It focuses on helping caregivers respond to their children's attachment needs.1 It has seen rapid uptake,2 with more than 50 000 facilitators trained worldwide in the condensed COS-P. Research has not been able to keep pace with this prolific uptake, and as a result, there is a paucity of rigorous evidence on the efficacy of COS-P across the varied populations and settings where it is being utilised.
Classical Greek texts feature many examples of mortals acting against advice and experiencing adverse consequences, such as Icarus flying too close to the sun or Pandora opening a box containing evils and miseries that were then released into the world. Pandora was curious, and curiosity is a foundational feature of good science: the desire to discover and understand more about the world in which we live. Modern scientific equivalents of Pandora's box might be nuclear power, genetic engineering, and artificial intelligence (AI).
Haematology
29th Oct, 2025
A 17-year-old boy with no personal or family history presented at St Louis Hospital in Paris in October, 2024 with a thyroid goitre that progressed over several weeks, rapidly causing dysphonia. A CT showed invasion of the thyroid gland by a lobulated structure infiltrating both lobes and the isthmus, measured at 75 × 46 mm (figure A). Biological investigations showed no abnormalities (normal complete blood count, and normal thyroid-stimulating hormone, thyroglobulin, and calcitonin levels). Thyroid fine needle aspiration disclosed the presence of large cells with dispersed chromatin (figure B).
The incidence of haematological malignancies during pregnancy ranges from 4·0 to 15·8 cases per 100 000 pregnancies, with Hodgkin lymphoma, acute leukaemia, and aggressive B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma being the most frequent subtypes. Although survival rates are similar to those in patients who are not pregnant with similar disease profiles, pregnant women face higher risks of maternal morbidity, along with adverse obstetric and neonatal outcomes. Their management, therefore, requires a carefully balanced approach that minimises obstetric risks and ensures effective oncological control.
Mature T-cell and natural killer-cell neoplasms are a heterogenous group of uncommon lymphomas. Conventional therapy with mainly cytotoxic chemotherapy for this subgroup is suboptimal, and the treatment outcome is unsatisfactory. With the advances in the understanding of disease biology, considerable progress has been made in recent years. Monoclonal antibodies or antibody–drug conjugates targeting T-cell lymphoma surface antigens have been approved, including brentuximab vedotin, for the treatment of CD30-positive nodal and cutaneous T-cell lymphoma, and mogamulizumab, for mycosis fungoides and adult T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma.
This comprehensive nationwide study of acute leukaemia incidence, mortality and survival outcomes across China establishes age-specific epidemiological benchmarks, enabling ongoing risk factor monitoring, while supporting expanded transplantation access for eligible patients and highlighting the urgent need for novel, less toxic therapies for older patients who bear a disproportionately higher disease burden.
The comparative evidence provided support the view that sickle cell disease is neglected compared with cystic fibrosis and haemophilia in relation to research and funding in the UK. The highest value for each indicator, often observed for cystic fibrosis, provides a benchmark target for the other two conditions. More dedicated research funding would likely have a ripple effect on other indicators, which could guide public health policies and have a major effect on the quality of life of people living with sickle cell disease.
To our knowledge, this is the first prospective study to stratify patients with mantle cell lymphoma to different treatments according to their risk profile. Our results suggest that the addition of fixed-duration venetoclax improves the performance of RBAC in patients with a high-risk disease profile. Our findings point to the importance of identifying patients with high-risk disease at initial diagnosis.
Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy has revolutionised the treatment of B-cell malignancies, offering durable responses for patients with relapsed or refractory disease. However, access globally remains limited due to high costs, centralised production models, and logistical challenges. Despite approvals from the US Food and Drug Administration, European Medicines Agency, and other regulatory bodies, less than 5% of eligible patients worldwide receive CAR T-cell therapy. Socioeconomic and geographical barriers, as well as delays related to complex manufacturing, further challenge timely access.
Rheumatology
11th Mar, 2026
Microbe / Infectious Research
Neurology
The New England Journal of Medicine