Imagination is a spectrum, and 1% of people can’t mentally visualize things at all

When you hear someone talk, do you see the words in your mind’s eye? Or do you see what they’re saying as a movie? It’s easy to assume that the way you perceive the world is the same for everyone. But recent studies have revealed that there is a wide spectrum of how people visualize things in their mind’s eye. The vividness of your inner visual imagery can even change throughout your life.

Parental support for LGBTQ youth is important, research shows

Depression is more widespread among lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) youth than heterosexual, cisgender youth, making parental support more important for these adolescents. A new study released in Child Development by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin looks at parental social support and psychological control in relation to depressive symptoms for LGBTQ youth in the United States.

Tracing a rare smooth muscle disorder to a single mutation in a non-coding gene

A team of investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a founding member of Mass General Brigham (MGB) and Mass General for Children (MGfC) has identified—for the first time—the mutation in a single non-coding gene of a young patient responsible for the extremely rare disease known as multisystemic smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (MSMDS), which causes profound cerebrovascular, gastrointestinal and urologic impairment.

Digital twin opens way to effective treatment of inflammatory diseases

Inflammatory diseases like rheumatoid arthritis have complex disease mechanisms that can differ from patient to patient with the same diagnosis. This means that currently available drugs have little effect on many patients. Using so-called digital twins, researchers at Karolinska Institutet have now obtained a deeper understanding of the “off and on” proteins that control these diseases. The study, which is published in Cell Reports Medicine, can lead to more personalized drug therapies.