Dronabinol for nightmares in post-traumatic stress disorder: a randomized controlled trial.

August 5, 2026| Source: Nature medicine

Nightmares are a hallmark of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet pharmacological treatments remain limited. Here we conducted a multicenter, double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of dronabinol (BX-1; Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)) for PTSD-related nightmares. Adults with PTSD and recurrent nightmares were randomly assigned to receive dronabinol (2.5-15 mg) or placebo, once daily before bedtime, for 10 weeks. The primary endpoint was change from baseline to week 10 in the Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale for DSM-IV (CAPS-IV) B2 item assessing nightmare frequency and intensity. A total of 171 patients underwent randomization (mean age, 37.9 ± 12.8 years; 79.3% female), with 87 assigned to dronabinol and 84 to placebo. At week 10, reduction in CAPS-IV B2 scores was significantly greater with dronabinol than with placebo (between-group difference -1.50; 95% confidence interval -2.28 to -0.71; Cohen's d = 0.65; P < 0.001). Adverse events occurred in 78 patients (89.7%) receiving dronabinol and 64 (77.1%) receiving placebo. Treatment discontinuation due to adverse events occurred in five (5.7%) and six (7.2%) patients, respectively. Serious adverse events occurred in seven patients (8.0%) receiving dronabinol and in none receiving placebo. This trial provides evidence that dronabinol reduces the frequency and intensity of PTSD-related nightmares, although long-term efficacy and safety require further evaluation. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04448808 .

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Iron or Multiple Micronutrient Powder Supplements With Malaria Chemoprevention in Rural Malawian Children: The IRMA Randomized Clinical Trial.

The World Health Organization recommends universal preventive iron interventions for young children in anemia-prevalent areas to alleviate the effects of anemia on child neurodevelopment and other outcomes. However, the functional benefits have not been confirmed in randomized clinical trials and there are concerns that iron interventions may increase infection risk. To determine whether universal iron interventions administered with malaria chemoprevention improve child functional outcomes and

Artificial IntelligenceAugust 5, 2026

The Virtual Tissues foundation model resolves spatial proteomics across scales.

Spatial proteomics technologies have transformed our understanding of complex tissue architecture in cancer but present unique challenges for computational analysis 1 . Each study uses a different marker panel and protocol, and most methods are tailored to single cohorts, which limits knowledge transfer and robust biomarker discovery. Here we present Virtual Tissues (VirTues), a general-purpose foundation model for spatial proteomics that learns marker-aware, multi-scale representations of prote

Artificial IntelligenceAugust 5, 2026

ZFP36L2 orchestrates stress-adaptive plasticity in regeneration and cancer.

Phenotypic plasticity is a hallmark of cancer 1 ; however the molecular switches required for cell-fate reprogramming are poorly understood. During intestinal wound-healing and colorectal cancer (CRC) metastasis, differentiated cells can dynamically dedifferentiate into an intestinal stem cell (ISC) state to drive epithelial regeneration and metastatic outgrowth 2-10 . Here we show that the RNA-binding protein ZFP36L2, which is mutated in 5-10% of CRC 11-15 , is a pivotal stress-responsive orche

Artificial IntelligenceAugust 4, 2026

PLK1-mediated phosphorylation of PHGDH reprograms serine metabolism in advanced prostate cancer.

Metabolic reprogramming is a hallmark of cancer, enabling tumor cells to meet their increased biosynthetic and energetic demands. Although cells possess the capacity for de novo serine biosynthesis, most transformed cancer cells preferentially rely on exogenous serine uptake to sustain their growth, yet the regulatory mechanisms driving this metabolic dependency remain poorly understood. Here, we uncover a mechanism by which Polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1), frequently overexpressed in prostate cancer,

Artificial IntelligenceAugust 4, 2026

When coordination is avoidable: A monotonicity analysis of organizational tasks.

Organizations devote substantial resources to coordination, yet which tasks actually require it for correctness remains unclear. The problem is acute in multiagent AI systems, where coordination cost is directly measurable and can exceed the cost of the work itself. Distributed systems theory provides a precise criterion: Coordination is required when a task specification is nonmonotonic, meaning that as histories grow, new information can invalidate prior conclusions. Here we show that Thompson