Nearly 17 per cent or one in six people worldwide is affected by loneliness, and the condition was linked to an estimated 100 deaths every hour -- more than 8,71,000 deaths annually between 2014 and 2023, according to a new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday.

The report showed that while loneliness has significant impacts on health and well-being, strong social connections can lead to better health and longer life.

The WHO defines loneliness as the painful feeling that arises from a gap between desired and actual social connections, while social isolation refers to the objective lack of sufficient social connections.

On the other hand, social connection is the way people relate to and interact with others.

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have developed a simple sensor that is cost-effective and can enable faster detection of liver cancer.

The team focussed on the potential of terbium -- a rare earth metal -- to develop a unique luminescent probe that can sense the presence of an enzyme called beta-glucuronidase.

While its core function is to break down a sugar acid called glucuronic acid, the enzyme also doubles as a critical biomarker for liver cancer.

An increase in beta-glucuronidase levels has been associated with the risk of colon, breast, and renal cancers, as well as infections of the urinary tract and AIDS.

Serious concerns continue to mount over the impact of HIV in Fiji, as eight children were among the 126 people who died from HIV-related illnesses last year.

The grim figures were shared by UNAIDS Pacific Adviser Renata Ram during the Fiji Medical Association's 2025 North Mini-Conference held in Labasa over the weekend, according to news agency.

Her message underscored the urgent need for stronger, more accountable, and innovative health systems.

Ram described Fiji's HIV situation as worsening, making this year's conference theme -- Future-Proofing Healthcare Standards in Fiji: Accountability, Ethics and Innovation -- especially timely.

She revealed that Fiji recorded its highest-ever number of HIV cases in 2024, with 1,583 new diagnoses. This marks a staggering 281 per cent increase from 2023, which saw 415 cases, and more than a 500 per cent rise compared to 2018, when just 131 cases were reported.

With xenotransplantation -- animal-to-human transplantation -- poised to address the global organ shortage crisis, a pioneering study has outlined how human immune cells interact with pig kidney tissue in transplanted organs, revealing critical early markers of rejection and potential intervention strategies.

Led by French and US researchers, the study deployed cutting-edge spatial molecular imaging to find key molecular mechanisms that could help overcome the biggest challenge in xenotransplantation: rejection by the human immune system.

The team led by Dr. Valentin Goutaudier from the Paris Institute for Transplantation and Organ Regeneration & NYU Langone Transplant Institute) found that human immune cells were found in every part of the pig kidney's filtering system after the transplant.

Researchers observed early molecular signs of antibody-mediated rejection as soon as Day 10 and peaking at Day 33, reinforcing previous findings that rejection begins rapidly but progresses over time.

In a significant achievement for identifying neurodegenerative diseases early, a team of US researchers has developed a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool that helps clinicians detect brain activity patterns linked to nine types of dementia using a single and widely available scan.

The tool, StateViewer, not only helped in early detection but also provided accurate diagnosis -- it identified the dementia type in 88 per cent of cases, including Alzheimer's disease.

It also enabled clinicians to interpret brain scans nearly twice as fast and with up to three times greater accuracy than standard workflows, according to the research, published online in the journal Neurology.

Researchers from the Mayo Clinic trained and tested the AI on more than 3,600 scans, including images from patients with dementia and people without cognitive impairment.

Even though the positivity rate declined by 7.5 per cent over the past two days, Covid-19 cases continue to rise in Manipur, where the cumulative number of active cases stood at 217, officials said on Saturday.

According to a senior official with Manipur Health and Family Welfare Department, of the 217 active cases, 146 were reported in Imphal West district, 52 in Imphal East district, nine in Thoubal district, six in Bishnupur, two in Tengnoupal and one each in Jiribam and Chandel district.

A portable DNA sequencing device may be a key genomic surveillance tool for detecting hotspots of antibiotic resistance in animals, and the environment, according to a new study.

In the pilot project, researchers from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN, Indonesia’s Ministry of Agriculture, and Arizona State University (ASU) in the US tested the handheld DNA sequencing device to check antibiotic resistance across six chicken slaughterhouses.

The global team collected samples from both wastewater and surrounding rivers in Indonesia’s Greater Jakarta area.

The study found signs that drug-resistant E. coli bacteria -- a key indicator of antibiotic resistance -- from slaughterhouse wastewater may be reaching nearby rivers.

In many cases, downstream sites had higher levels of resistant E. coli than upstream, pointing to a possible route for resistance to spread from animal waste into the environment.

Love your morning cup of coffee? A new study has shown that it may not only energise you but also help slow down ageing and boost longevity.

Caffeine has long been linked to potential health benefits, including reduced risk of age-related diseases.

However, the study led by researchers from Queen Mary University of London in the UK revealed how caffeine works inside human cells, and what exactly its connections are with nutrient and stress-responsive gene and protein networks.

The researchers found that caffeine affects ageing by tapping into an ancient cellular energy system.

They showed that caffeine works by activating an important system called AMPK -- a cellular fuel gauge that is evolutionarily conserved in yeast and humans.

“When your cells are low on energy, AMPK kicks in to help them cope,” said Dr Charalampos (Babis) Rallis, Reader in Genetics, Genomics, and Fundamental Cell Biology at Queen Mary’s University of London’s Centre for Molecular Cell Biology.

A team of Israeli and US researchers have developed a simple blood test that can detect a person's risk of developing leukaemia -- a deadly blood cancer.

In the study, published in the journal Nature Medicine, the researchers suggested that this test may replace the current more invasive method of bone marrow sampling used to diagnose certain blood cancers, news agency reported.

The team led by researchers from Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel focused on myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) -- an age-related condition in which blood-forming stem cells do not develop properly.

MDS can lead to severe anaemia and may progress to acute myeloid leukaemia, one of the most common types of blood cancer in adults.

In a major scientific breakthrough, researchers from IIT (BHU) in Uttar Pradesh have developed a miniaturised, self-reporting diagnostic device that can detect early-stage bone cancer with high precision.

The first-of-its-kind sensor detects osteopontin (OPN) -- a key biomarker for bone cancer.

The device is reagent-free, portable, and cost-effective and is ideal for rural healthcare, said the research team led by Dr. Pranjal Chandra from the School of Biochemical Engineering.

The device works much like a glucose metre and enables quick, accurate, and on-the-spot detection, even in resource-limited settings.