Many Asymptomatic Patients Seeking Skin Cancer Surveillance Are Often Low Risk Edited by Deepa Varma May 21, 2026 ++

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/many-asymptomatic-patients-seeking-skin-cancer-surveillance-2026a1000ghu Many asymptomatic patients who are screened for skin cancer have a lower risk for detection than older patients with prior skin cancer, a study found. Lentigo Maligna Shows Minimal Progression Risk Despite Rising Incidence After COVID-19 Pandemic Edited by Vineeta Teotia https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/lentigo-maligna-shows-minimal-progression-risk-despite-2026a1000g5e Medscape UK May 21, 2026 In a retrospective study, lentigo maligna (LM) progressed to invasive lentigo maligna melanoma (LMM) in approximately 1% of cases over 10 years, with patients more likely to die from other cancers or cardiovascular disease than from melanoma.

Medscape Now! Unproven Beauty Treatments: What Are the Risks of Intravenous Vitamin or Detox Drips? Authors: ​Naseem Bazargan, MPH

https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/medscape-now-unproven-beauty-treatments-what-are-risks-2026a1000g6o?page=1

Decision-Making for Managing Myelofibrosis-Related Cytopenias: What Is Best Practice? Authors: Paola Guglielmelli, MD, PhD

https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/decision-making-managing-myelofibrosis-related-cytopenias-2026a1000ar2?page=1&src=mkmcmr_driv_stan_mscpedu_260521-OUS-HONC-decision-making-managing-myelofibrosis-related-cytopenias-2026a1000ar2-cta&uac=148436CN

Daily briefing: How the ‘Enhanced Games’ could expose flaws in the sporting world The ‘steroid Olympics’ could highlight cracks in the anti-doping system. Plus, AI brain implants are headed for real-world use in China and the progress on treatments for the virus at the centre of the Ebola outbreak. By Flora Graham

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01640-3

Genetic analysis of circulating metabolic traits in 619,372 individuals Ralf Tambets, Mihkel Jesse, Jaanika Kronberg, Adriaan van der Graaf, Erik Abner, Urmo Võsa, Ida Rahu, Nele Taba, Anastassia Kolde, Dzvenymyra Yarish, Sariyya Abdullayeva, Anastasiia Alekseienko, Andres Veidenberg, Estonian Biobank Research Team, Krista Fischer, Zoltán Kutalik, Tõnu Esko, Kaur Alasoo & Priit Palta

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-026-10532-5 Interpreting the association of genetic variants with complex traits can be improved by gaining a greater understanding of the molecular consequences of these variants. Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) for complex diseases routinely profile over one million individuals1,2,3,4,5, studies of molecular traits have lagged behind. Here we performed a GWAS meta-analysis for 249 circulating metabolic traits in the Estonian Biobank and the UK Biobank in up to 619,372 individuals. We identified 88,127 common and low-frequency locus–trait associations from 8,398 loci that converged on shared genes and pathways. Using statistical fine mapping, systematic phenome-wide colocalization and cis-Mendelian randomization, we explored putative causal links between metabolic traits and disease outcomes. We predict that although plasma branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) have been associated with type 2 diabetes in observational studies6,7, lowering BCAA levels by targeting the BCAA catabolism pathway is unlikely to reduce type 2 diabetes risk. Leveraging our large sample size and high-quality genotype imputation, we found that 19.4% of the confidently fine-mapped variants had minor allele frequencies between 0.1 and 1%, and these variants were twofold enriched for predicted missense and splice-altering variants. Our results highlight the value of integrating low-frequency variants into genetic association studies.

Wearable robot boosts strength of children with spinal muscular atrophy The device helps muscle recovery in those receiving gene therapy for the rare neuromuscular condition. By Liam Drew

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01573-x A wearable robot weighing just under one kilogram improves knee function in children living with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), according to research published in Nature today1.

The brain’s code seems to be in constant flux. Neuroscientists are baffled Neurons fire much more erratically than researchers thought. What does that mean for how the brain works? By Diana Kwon

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-026-01554-0 It is a dogma in neuroscience that certain brain cells respond in the same way to the same thing. Specific neurons always fire, for example, when we see particular shapes and colours; other neurons activate to swing an arm or wiggle a nose. The brain needs this stability, the theory goes, to respond to the outside world in a consistent way.