As per the latest data released by Transforming Access to Student Outcomes in Higher Education (TASO) and the Policy Institute at King's College London, the number of UK students reporting mental health difficulties tripled. The estimate reveals that around 300,000 students could now be experiencing mental health struggles. Of the total, 18% of students reported some kind of mental health issue in 2024.

As per the reports, this estimate is triple what was reported in 2017, where it was at 6%. Experts also say that Covid-19 pandemic is "often considered to have contributed to this, it does not explain the ongoing rise in mental health difficulties." Another reason could also be the "changing definition and increasing openness about mental health" which has led to a rise in numbers. The report notes, "This trend pre-dates the Covid-19 pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis. Although these factors play a part in students' deteriorating mental health, they cannot therefore be the only explanation."

How Did The Report Conclude?

The report drew data collected over the latest Student Academic Experience Survey of 93,212 students. From the survey, it was found that there exist significant disparities between demographic groups, with women being twice as likely to report mental health difficulties, about 22% as compared to men, at 11%.

What Did The Results Reveal?

The results revealed that students who identified as LGBTQ experienced the highest rates of mental health challenges. This has actually lessened the hope that conditions for LGBTQ students are improving, which may not have been a positive case.

Of them, 42% are bisexual and lesbian students, whereas last year it was 35% and 32% respectively. The report also noted that mental health difficulties among lesbian women and gay men rose three times the rate of straight people, and among bisexual and asexual people, it was twice as high. For trans students, the number jumped from 25% in 2023 to 40% in 2024.

Is The LGBTQ+ Prone To Mental Health Crisis?

As per the Child Mind Institute, being LGBTQ+ does not cause mental health problems, but because these kids often face factors like rejection, discrimination and violence, they are at a higher risk of challenges including depression, anxiety, and even attempting suicide.

A UTAH Health study quotes Anna Docherty, PhD, LP, assistant professor of psychiatry at Huntsman Mental Health Institute that, "likely with any identity, feeling different - or worse, unaccepted as you are is a significant risk factor of mental health struggle." The data reveals that LGBTQ+ teens are six times more likely to experience symptoms of depression than non-LGBTQ+ identifying teens. They are also more than twice as likely to feel suicidal and more than four times as likely to attempt suicide. In the US alone, 48% of transgender adults report that they have considered suicide in the last year, compared to 4% of the overall population.

What Do These Findings Mean?

TASO's academic lead and professor of public policy at King's College London, Michael Sanders said, "LGBTQ students and women bear the brunt of the rise in declining mental health and urgent action is needed to understand and address these trends."

UK health officials have reported the breeding of an invasive mosquito species known to spread dengue, chikungunya and Zika viruses.

While this is the fourth time Aedes aegypti has been detected in the UK, it is the first time the species has been found breeding. The mosquitoes were found reproducing in homes in east London.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) said the risk to the public is low, with no evidence of human infections linked to these mosquitoes.

Officials believe the mosquitoes may have been accidentally imported in baggage, vehicles or plants. Measures to destroy larvae, along with surveillance and trapping, have been stepped up.

What Does This Mean For Public Health?

Mosquito-borne diseases kill more than one million people and infect up to 700 million each year.

While Aedes aegypti mosquitoes are usually found in tropical and subtropical climates, the current risk to the UK public remains low. The species is unlikely to survive long-term in the UK's colder temperatures.

UKHSA head of medical entomology Dr Jolyon Medlock said: "There is no evidence that these mosquitoes have caused human infections and importantly, to date, there is no evidence of the mosquitoes or larvae being detected in nearby public areas."

Dr César López-Camacho of the University of Oxford called the finding "important" but said it was not a reason for alarm.

Is Climate Change To Blame?

Despite recent heatwaves, the overall UK climate remains too cold for Aedes aegypti to survive long-term, UKHSA said.

The mosquitoes were detected through the Mosquito Watch scheme, which monitors invasive species.

Medlock said the UK will continue to see invasive mosquitoes and that, as the climate warms, he expects more reports of them surviving.

Globally, dengue cases are increasing across the Western Pacific and Southeast Asia. These increases are fueled by climate change, globalisation and immunological naïveté, alongside the limited impact of existing control measures.

“While the current mosquitoes are unlikely to be infected, and so the risk to people will be low, their presence may indicate a regular summer event in future years. These mosquitoes will not survive the cooler weather of autumn or winter, but new introductions next year may lead to breeding again,” Martin Hibberd, Professor of Emerging Infectious Disease at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), said.

He said the mosquitoes live in and around human habitations and are well adapted to city life, requiring the right climate conditions, which the UK is now experiencing more regularly.

Dr Robert Jones, Assistant Professor in the Department of Disease Control at LSHTM, said: “Even in outbreak situations, only a fraction of mosquitoes are infected, so the risk to the public from this finding is very low.”

He advised people to make gardens and outdoor spaces less suitable for mosquitoes by removing standing water.

“Mosquitoes can lay eggs in buckets, containers, plant pots and other places where water accumulates, so removing standing water can help limit the places available for them to lay eggs and reduce the likelihood of populations becoming established.”

How To Prevent Mosquito Bites?

To lower your risk of dengue and other mosquito-borne diseases:

• Wear clothes that cover as much of the body as possible
• Use mosquito nets, ideally treated with insect repellent, when sleeping during the day
• Install window screens
• Use repellents containing DEET, picaridin or IR3535
• Use coils and vaporizers

How To Stop Mosquitoes From Breeding?

• Remove places where water can accumulate
• Dispose of solid waste properly
• Cover, empty and clean domestic water-storage containers weekly
• Remove artificial containers that can hold water
• Use appropriate insecticides in outdoor water-storage containers

Mosquito detection and eradication programs are key to preventing the problem from becoming a bigger public-health risk.

A pig kidney transplanted into a US man in 2025 functioned in his body for 271 days, marking the longest dialysis-free survival reported following a porcine kidney transplant, according to Harvard Medical School.

Tim Andrews, who was 66 at the time of the xenotransplantation, did not need dialysis for 271 days before receiving a human kidney from a deceased donor.

What Happened In The Case?

In January 2025, Andrews, received a genetically edited pig kidney, after being on dialysis for more than two years due to end-stage kidney disease. He became the fourth worldwide to receive a pig kidney.

Andrews received the genetically engineered pig kidney under an FDA Expanded Access Investigational New Drug application.

A team of doctors monitored him for kidney function, rejection, antibody development and potential pig-to-human infection, and found that the kidney began functioning immediately. An early episode of T-cell-mediated rejection resolved with treatment, and no pig pathogen transmission was detected, revealed the case published in the journal The Lancet.

After approximately six months, immunosuppression was reduced because of an infection. The xenotransplant subsequently developed microvascular injury and inflammation that progressed to organ failure.

In January this year Andrews received a deceased-donor human kidney, which showed immediate graft function, with no evidence of sensitization during follow-up.

What Did The Case Show?

The findings illustrate both the promise of xenotransplantation and the areas that still need improvement before pig organs can become a broader transplant option.

Importantly, the microvascular injury seen in the porcine kidney has implications for developing immunosuppressive strategies, donor genetic engineering and monitoring approaches in future clinical transplantation studies, the researchers said.

Xenotransplants And The Organ Transplant Gap

According to the latest data from the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation, a record 183,896 solid organ transplants were performed globally across 96 countries. This represents a 4% increase over 2024, primarily driven by an 11% rise in donations after circulatory death (DCD) and a 4% increase in living-donor transplants.

Despite this growth, a 90% unmet need remains a critical global issue as demand continues to rise, driven by chronic conditions such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

In the US alone, over 109,000 people remain on the national transplant waiting list, while an average of 12 people die every day waiting for a compatible match, according to HRSA Organ Donor Statistics.

India recorded a record 20,138 transplants, yet more than 89,000 patients are actively waitlisted, according to data from NOTTO. The deceased-donor rate remains critically low at 0.77 per million people, with deceased-donor organs accounting for only 18% of the country's total transplant pool.

“The organ shortage is the greatest crisis we have right now in transplantation,” said Leonardo Riella, associate professor of surgery at Mass General and medical director for kidney transplantation at Mass General Brigham.

“We know that the best treatment option for patients with end-stage kidney disease who have developed renal failure is transplantation, but we simply don’t have enough human organs to transplant in a timely manner.”

Andrews’ case therefore offers a potential way to help bridge this gap.

“Our vision is that xenotransplantation could help address this gap — initially as a bridge to get patients off dialysis while they wait for a human donor kidney, and potentially, as we establish long-term safety and durability, as a destination therapy in its own right,” Riella said.

Alcohol-attributable cancer deaths in the US doubled between 1990 and 2023, according to a study published in The Lancet Regional Health – Americas.

Using more than three decades of Global Burden of Disease data, researchers found that annual alcohol-attributable cancer deaths rose from 11,361 in 1990 to 23,126 in 2023.

Men and adults aged 55 and older experienced the greatest burden, but increases were seen across most cancer types, age groups and regions.

Among older men, liver cancer accounted for the highest alcohol-attributable mortality rates, followed by esophageal and colorectal cancers. Among women, breast cancer represented the leading source of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality.

Colorectal Cancer Leads In Younger Men

The study also identified concerning patterns among younger adults. For men aged 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading alcohol-attributable cause of cancer death. Among women in the same age group, breast cancer ranked first, followed by colorectal cancer.

“Notably, among adults aged 20 to 54, colorectal cancer was the leading cause of alcohol-attributable cancer mortality in men and the second leading cause in women, surpassing liver cancer in both groups,” Jani said.

Alcohol And Cancer Risk

While it is commonly known that alcohol damages the liver, the new study highlights that its impact extends beyond liver cancer, with growing burdens from colorectal, breast, esophageal, pancreatic and other cancers.

Alcohol has long been recognized as a Group 1 carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, in the same category as tobacco smoke and asbestos. Scientific evidence links alcohol consumption to cancers of the breast, liver, esophagus, colorectum and several head and neck sites.

“The most surprising finding was the breadth of alcohol’s potential impact across cancer types,” said Chinmay Jani, chief fellow in hematology and oncology at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine.

“Although its relationship with liver cancer is widely recognized, its contribution to cancers such as colorectal, esophageal, breast, pancreatic and prostate cancer is less well understood by the public.”

Alcohol As A Modifiable Risk Factor

Gilberto Lopes, chief of the Division of Medical Oncology at Sylvester, said the findings reinforce the importance of giving people clear information about lifestyle factors that influence cancer risk.

“What this study makes clear is that alcohol-related cancer risk is not limited to one disease or one group of people,” Lopes said. “As physicians and cancer researchers, we have an opportunity to help patients understand that alcohol is a modifiable risk factor and that even small, informed changes can be part of a broader strategy to reduce cancer risk in our community.”

Despite increasing scientific evidence, public awareness of the alcohol-cancer connection remains relatively low compared with awareness of other risk factors such as tobacco use.

“The most important takeaway is greater awareness that alcohol may affect cancer risk beyond the liver,” Jani said.

“These findings highlight alcohol as a potentially modifiable risk factor, and while the lowest safe dose is not yet known, this study suggests that reducing consumption to the lowest amount feasible for each individual may help lessen its impact on cancer risk and overall health.”