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."

Barbados recently joined the list of 26 countries and territories that have been certified by the World Health Organization for eliminating mother-to-child-transmission (EMTCT) of HIV, syphilis or hepatitis B. 15 of these countries are in the Americas, which makes the region a global leader to achieve this feat.

The major public health milestone comes after years of sustained efforts to prevent mother-to-child-transmission of HIV.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said, “I congratulate Barbados on protecting a generation of children from HIV,” said “Barbados has shown what universal health coverage looks like in practice: free services for every pregnant woman, regardless of nationality, and care that respects her rights and privacy. With 15 countries and territories in the Americas now recognized, the region continues to show the world the way.”

How Did Barbados Prevent Mother-To-Child HIV Transmission?

Also read: Exclusive With Leading HIV Expert: What's Driving Rising HIV Cases Among India's Youth And How To Prevent It

The Caribbean country's achievement was backed by widespread coverage of antenatal care, HIV testing and antiretroviral treatment.

“Barbados has shown that eliminating mother-to-child transmission of HIV is possible when women and children have access to quality health services without barriers,” said Dr Jarbas Barbosa, Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and WHO Regional Director for the Americas.

“This achievement means that children are born free of HIV and that women living with HIV can access the care and treatment they need. It is a proud moment for Barbados, the Caribbean, and the global effort to end AIDS in children.”

During the three-year period, 98% of pregnant women received antenatal care, 98% were tested for HIV, and 98% of pregnant women living with HIV received antiretroviral treatment.

An essential step in Barbados' HIV elimination strategy is making HIV testing and treatment accessible to all pregnant women. Free HIV testing and treatment are available to all pregnant women regardless of race and nationality. These services are available through public clinics and hospitals.

“This is incredible for us, and it allows us to be able to see our children living their full, best lives. It allows mothers to be able to have the benefit of treatment during pregnancy, before treatment, but also, it means that we're able to ensure that we have a healthier population, and we're able to join the other countries around the globe that have also equally been able to achieve this historic milestone,” said Lisa Cummins, Minister of Health and Wellness of Barbados.

Additionally, pregnant women are offered voluntary and confidential HIV testing. Those who test positive are provided specialised care and treatment to reduce the risk of passing the virus to their babies.

Antiretroviral therapy (ART) is central to preventing mother-to-child HIV transmission. These medicines suppress HIV in the body, reducing the amount of virus in the blood. When an HIV+ pregnant woman receives ART, the risk of transmission to her baby can be reduced significantly.

Barbados also provides early testing and follow-up care for babies at risk of contracting HIV from their mothers.

Also read: 1 In 60 Adults In Fiji May Now Have HIV As Meth Use, Unsafe Injecting And Treatment Gaps Fuel Surge

How Does HIV Pass From Mother To Child?

HIV can be transmitted from a woman living with HIV to her child during pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding. This is known as vertical transmission or mother-to-child transmission.

Without preventive interventions, the risk of transmission can be significant. However, timely diagnosis, antiretroviral treatment during pregnancy and appropriate care around childbirth can substantially reduce this risk.

With effective treatment and appropriate medical support, women living with HIV can have children who are born without the infection.

The WHO certification recognises that Barbados has brought transmission down to a level at which it is no longer considered a public health problem. It does not mean that HIV has been eliminated from the country.

In a world first, scientists have administered AI-designed viruses to a human patient to treat a serious antibiotic-resistant bacterial infection. The experimental treatment marks a milestone in the development of personalized therapies that use artificial intelligence (AI) to design viruses capable of targeting drug-resistant bacteria.

California-based AI startup Radical Numerics announced the development in a blog post, saying a patient with a serious bacterial infection received an experimental treatment containing viruses generated by its AI model, Omnii-1.

How AI Helped Design the Viruses

Also read: AI Creates 16 Viruses To Kill Drug-Resistant E. coli, Raises Biosafety Concerns

The treatment uses bacteriophages, or phages, which are viruses that infect and kill bacteria. Phage therapy is being explored as an alternative when antibiotics fail, particularly in drug-resistant infections.

However, identifying phages that can effectively target the specific bacteria causing an individual patient's infection remains a major challenge.

Antibiotic resistance is a growing global health threat. A 2024 study published in The Lancet projected that bacterial antimicrobial resistance could directly cause 39.1 million deaths globally between 2025 and 2050.

Radical Numerics said it trained Omnii-1, its multimodal genome language model, to address the challenge of identifying and designing effective phages.

"We trained Omnii-1, our multimodal genome language model, to help bridge this gap. We demonstrate that it can generate viable phages, prioritize variants, and predict phage-host interactions," the company said.

"In the world's first clinical use of AI-generated phages, Omnii-1 designs were administered to a human patient under compassionate use," it added.

How Did the AI-Designed Phage Treatment Work?

Read More: Anthropic Says Claude Blocked Bird Flu, Chikungunya Research: How AI Could Enable Biological Misuse

According to the company, researchers tested the AI-designed viruses against bacteria obtained from the patient before administering the treatment. The resulting phage cocktail eliminated the patient's antibiotic-resistant bacterial sample in laboratory testing.

The treatment was administered under an authorized, physician-led compassionate-use pathway. Compassionate use allows patients with serious conditions to access investigational treatments outside clinical trials when satisfactory alternatives are unavailable, subject to regulatory authorization and appropriate oversight.

The report has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal. Company officials said the trial had been authorized by the Food and Drug Administration, the New York Times reported.

The company has not disclosed the patient's diagnosis, clinical course or treatment outcome, citing privacy concerns. It is therefore unclear whether the treatment successfully cleared the infection.

Eric Nguyen, chief executive officer of Radical Numerics, said the company was prioritizing patient confidentiality and intended to publish its findings through peer-reviewed research.

"We intend to publish our scientific findings through peer-reviewed research, with any future disclosure of clinical details subject to appropriate consent," he added.

The company said making phage therapy accessible to more patients would require reliable workflows for designing effective phages against individual bacterial infections.

Previous Research Used AI to Design Bacteria-Killing Viruses

The development comes amid growing interest in using AI to accelerate medical research, including the design of new biological therapies.

In August 2026, researchers at Stanford University and the Arc Institute announced that they had used AI to design previously unseen bacteriophages capable of killing E. coli bacteria in laboratory experiments.

Of nearly 300 AI-designed phages synthesized and tested, 16 produced functional viruses. However, these experiments were conducted in bacteria and did not involve human patients.

The Radical Numerics development goes a step further by reporting the clinical administration of AI-designed phages to a human patient.

The share of US children aged 5–17 who had ever received an attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis increased from 9.9% in 2019 to 13.8% in 2025, according to new CDC data.

Nearly 1 in 7 children and adolescents aged 5–17 in the US have received an ADHD diagnosis, according to a QuickStats report published in the CDC's latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR).

The National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) found that the percentage of children who had ever been diagnosed with ADHD increased by 3.9 percentage points over the seven years, representing a relative rise of approximately 39%.

More boys received the diagnoses than girls throughout the period, although the trends fluctuated from year to year.

ADHD Diagnoses Among US Children: Trends From 2019 to 2025

Also read: ADHD Linked To 71% Higher Risk Of Death; Suicide And Injuries Among Top Concerns

According to the CDC data, the percentage of US children and adolescents aged 5–17 who had ever received an ADHD diagnosis rose from 9.9% in 2019 to 11.6% in 2020. It dipped to 10.8% in 2021 before increasing to 11.5% in 2022.

The figure climbed to 13.4% in 2023, 13.6% in 2024 and 13.8% in 2025.

Among boys, the percentage increased from 13.2% in 2019 to 17.5% in 2025, reaching a high of 17.6% in 2024.

Among girls, it rose from 6.5% in 2019 to 9.9% in 2025, although it dipped from 9.9% in 2023 to 9.3% in 2024.

The estimates are based on household interviews with a sample of the civilian, noninstitutionalised US population. The survey considered children to have an ADHD diagnosis if a parent or respondent answered yes to whether a doctor or health professional had ever told them the child had ADHD or attention-deficit disorder (ADD).

What Is ADHD?

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects attention, executive function, impulse control and activity levels. It typically begins in childhood, with symptoms appearing before age 12, and can persist into adulthood.

Read More: Attention Deficit May Be The Wrong Way To Understand ADHD, Says US Psychiatrist

What Are the Symptoms of ADHD?

According to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), ADHD symptoms fall into two primary categories:

• Inattention: Difficulty sustaining focus, missing details, making careless mistakes, forgetfulness in daily routines and struggling to stay organised.
• Hyperactivity and impulsivity: Fidgeting, excessive talking, restlessness, interrupting others and acting without thinking. In adults, hyperactivity may also manifest as internal restlessness.

AAP Guidance on ADHD Evaluation and Treatment in Children

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) 2019 clinical practice guideline recommends that primary care clinicians initiate an ADHD evaluation for children and adolescents aged 4–18 who present with academic or behavioural problems and symptoms of inattention, hyperactivity or impulsivity.

The guideline recommends assessing children using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5) criteria, based on information from parents, teachers and other school personnel.

It also calls for screening for coexisting emotional, behavioural, developmental and physical conditions.

For preschool-aged children, parent training in behaviour management is recommended as a first-line approach.

For school-aged children and adolescents, the AAP recommends FDA-approved medication alongside behavioural and school-based interventions. It also emphasises managing ADHD as a chronic condition, with ongoing monitoring and follow-up.