The number of Americans who have personally been victims of physical or sexual violence is much higher than one might think, a new report says. More than half of U.S. adults have experienced physical violence in their lifetimes, and nearly half have experienced sexual violence, researchers found.

As world leaders gather at the 81st session of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA 81), experts in a special collection of articles published by The BMJ warn that the proposed merger of U.N. Women and the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA)—two vital institutions for protecting sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR)—will weaken global commitments to gender equality.

A study reveals that your genes may make you more vulnerable to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from certain types of trauma—particularly childhood neglect—than from others.

A common and often overlooked nutrient deficiency may play a bigger role in pregnancy outcomes than previously recognized. In a recent analysis published in the Journal of Perinatology, neonatologist and pediatrician Carol L. Wagner, M.D., and Anjali G. Borsum, an M.D. candidate at MUSC’s College of Medicine, found that among more than 15,000 pregnancies studied at MUSC, women with the lowest vitamin D levels faced the highest risk of preterm birth.

Type 2 diabetes increases the risk of chronic kidney disease, making prevention of kidney failure a key part of treatment. Newer diabetes medications, including GLP-1s and SGLT2 inhibitors, can reduce the risk of kidney disease, but previous studies have included large proportions of patients who already had signs of kidney damage, making it unclear whether the findings applied to patients without kidney damage.