Read AMA Morning Rounds®’ most popular stories in medicine and public health from the week of Oct. 26, 2026–Oct. 30, 2026.
Researchers propose new subtype of clinical depression called “circadian depression”
The New York Times (10/23, Caron) reports that in a study published in the British Journal of Psychiatry, researchers “proposed a new subtype of clinical depression called ‘circadian depression,’ that is estimated to affect about a quarter of the people who have major depressive disorders. And it is not dependent on seasonal changes.” The researchers evaluated “more than 11,000 Australians who had been diagnosed with depression and found that over 2,600 of them, or about one in four, met the criteria for circadian depression.” The category “is not a formal diagnosis but rather a suggested subtype.”
Ultraprocessed foods appear to rewire children’s brains to crave more junk food
HealthDay (10/23, Thompson) reports ultraprocessed “foods appear to rewire kids’ brains so they crave more junk food,” according to a study published in JAMA Network Open. In the study, researchers “analyzed data from 46 children” of healthy weight “taking part in a long-term study of diabetes and obesity risk.” Researchers “collected MRI scans of each child as they viewed photos” of ultraprocessed foods and gathered data on “diet, body fat percentage, waist circumference and body mass index.” The results showed children “who ate more ultra-processed foods had stronger responses to food images in the dorsal striatum, a brain region involved in reward and motivation. Stronger dorsal striatum responses were also associated with increases in BMI and higher body fat one year later.”
You also may be interested in: What do we know about ultraprocessed foods and how they affect health?
Drug-resistant germs cause more than 50,000 deaths per year in U.S.
The Washington Post (10/27, Sun) says a CDC report released on Tuesday “identified 19 superbugs that cause an estimated 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths in the United States each year.” The agency found that “infections commonly associated with medical settings such as hospitals account for more than 42,000 of those deaths and nearly $12 billion in healthcare costs.”
ABC News (10/27, Tsapatsaris, Howard) reports, “The CDC classifies drug-resistant germs into three threat levels: ‘urgent,’ ‘serious’ and ‘concerning.’ Four germs fall into the ‘urgent’ category, the agency’s highest level of concern.” These include Candida auris, Neisseria gonorrhoeae, carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales, and carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter.
Healio (10/27, Stulpin) reports, “The CDC’s last report, released in 2019 but using 2013 data, estimated that there are 2.8 million infections and 35,000 deaths caused by antimicrobial-resistant pathogens each year in the U.S. The 2026 update, which uses 2023 data, revised those estimates to 9.7 million infections and 50,800 deaths.”
You also may be interested in: This superbug's toll exceeds 3,400. How to protect your loved ones.
Draft policy introduced to allow the temporary sale of six unapproved peptides
The Washington Post (10/28, Roubein) reports that the “administration on Wednesday released its plans for the temporary sale of six unapproved...peptides that have been marketed but untested to treat maladies including osteoporosis, insomnia and migraines.” Currently, “the plan is a draft policy, and the public can submit comments for two weeks after it’s officially published in the Federal Register later this week.”
The New York Times (10/28, Jewett) reports, “The plan would bypass the most standard Food and Drug Administration safeguards for approving drugs, such as tests to see if the compounds work better than a placebo and whether they might cause cancer or birth defects.” A Department of Health and Human Services spokeswoman “said the policy was aimed at ‘confronting the risks of black-market peptides.’”
NBC News (10/28, Lovelace Jr.) reports, “The FDA said compounding pharmacies must certify the identity and purity of the compounds. They must also now report side effects, which was not previously mandated.” NBC News adds, “The six peptides are BPC-157, epitalon, KPV, MOTS-c, semax and TB-500.”
You also may be interested in: What doctors want patients to know about injectable peptides.
More than 10% of Americans have tried a nicotine pouch
HealthDay (10/29, Thompson) reports, “More than 1 in 10 Americans (10.2%) have tried a nicotine pouch, researchers” have found. The data also indicated that “among tobacco users – people who already smoke, vape or use chewing tobacco, for example—about 1 in every 10 were using nicotine pouches in 2024,” which is “more than triple the 3% of tobacco users who were using them in 2021.” The findings were published in Addiction.
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