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Thousands of Corewell Health patients affected by 2024 vendor data breach
Corewell Health announced their former health care consulting vendor experienced a data breach in 2024, affecting thousands of patients.
San Francisco Supervisor Jackie Fielder dealing with health crisis, office says she hasn't resigned
San Francisco District 9 Supervisor Jackie Fielder's office issued a statement Friday night saying that she is “going through an acute personal health crisis" but that the supervisor has not resigned.
Angel father says Democrat politicians in his state abandoned daughter
Angel father Joe Abraham said that Democratic leaders in his home state of Illinois abandoned his daughter and his family.
Giant golden spiders could spread this summer, experts downplay health risk
Joro spiders, which have 4-inch leg spans, are spreading across the eastern U.S., and Penn State says they could reach Pennsylvania. Experts say not to panic, as they're shy and rarely bite.
This is a 'huge' political problem for Speaker Johnson, former Biden official warns
Panelists Meghan Hays and Kaylee McGhee White analyze the congressional standoff over DHS funding on ‘America Reports.’
NCAA Men's, Women's Basketball Tournament Highlights: Sweet 16 Action
On Friday, the Sweet 16 begins in the 2026 NCAA Women's Tournament and continues in the Men's Tournament. Here are the highlights!
Trump makes shocking comment to Fox News host: ‘It’s the end of my political career’
Trump told Dana Perino of "The Five" she had changed in one way since they met for lunch years ago.
Mamdani endorses planned NYC 'No Kings' rally, derides ICE as 'rogue agency'
NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani calls ICE a rogue agency that should be abolished amid scrutiny over the subway killing of a veteran by an alleged illegal immigrant.
All-new Star Fox and Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake reportedly set for Switch 2 release this year
Nintendo reportedly has great plans to tap into (and benefit from) our nostalgia this year.
Houston sports suffers double defeat: Astros fall to Angels, Houston Cougars eliminated from NCAA Tournament
It was a rare "double loss" day for the City of Champions. From a stagnant offense at Daikin Park to a physical exit at the Toyota Center, we recap the two major losses for Houston sports fans.
Rumor: Zelda: Ocarina of Time remake and new Star Fox game coming this year, no 3D Mario until 2027
Insider NateTheHate has provided an update on a variety of Nintendo projects, including rumors about Zelda remake, a new Star Fox game, and the lack of a 3D Mario in 2026. This comes from a new podcast published today. It’s claimed that Star Fox will be making a return on Nintendo Switch 2 this summer. Apparently it’ll be a classic...
The Patriots are banking on a youth movement in Foxboro
The Patriots going to the next level in 2026 will depend on Mike Vrabel’s first draft class getting its opportunity.
Byron Donalds blasts partial DHS funding bill and Senate's political games
Rep. Byron Donald, R-Fla., discusses the partial DHS funding deal, new polling showing voter frustration with Washington, and a key GOP House seat flipping in Florida on 'Varney & Co.'
2026 MLB Odds: Back Mets — Not Dodgers — to Win National League
Bettors love backing the Dodgers, but Sammy P is looking elsewhere on the early MLB oddsboard. Here are his four MLB futures best bets.
FC Barcelona joins Miami business boom, leaves NYC behind for Florida’s business-friendly climate
Miami's One Biscayne Tower lands FC Barcelona as a new office tenant, with CP Group's Angelo Bianco saying the city offers a "liberating" business environment.
Miami makes it ‘irresistible’ for businesses to move south, developer says
CP Group managing partner Angelo Bianco speaks exclusively to Fox News Digital about FC Barcelona’s new headquarters office lease in Downtown Miami’s One Biscayne Tower.
Fox News Poll: Fans say paywalled sports are out of bounds
A new Fox News Poll finds 72% of sports fans say major sporting events should be required to stay on free broadcast TV, not behind streaming paywalls.
AAP faces pressure over trans youth care, guiding docs to keep parents in the dark about child's sexual health
A parental rights group accused the AAP of hiding minors' sexual health info from parents and pushing transgender procedures over parental concerns.
DHS shutdown breakthrough comes at cost for Republicans as funding fights nears end
The Senate advanced a DHS shutdown deal without ICE or CBP funding, as Republicans plan to use reconciliation to secure immigration enforcement funding long-term.
Spencer Pratt: Newsom is seeing his political ambitions unravel
Los Angeles mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt explains why he is running and criticizes Mayor Karen Bass on ‘Fox News @ Night.’
Trump names David Sacks co-chair of tech advisory council, expanding AI, crypto role
Trump names David Sacks as PCAST co-chair, expanding his AI and crypto czar role, with Nvidia's Jensen Huang, Meta's Mark Zuckerberg and Oracle's Larry Ellison also joining.
Pulse of Politics: Iran war poll & DHS funding fight
A new AP/NORC poll shows Americans say U.S. military action against Iran has gone too far. Oakland University Political Science Professor Dave Dulio weighs in on that, as well as the Department of Homeland Security funding fight on Capitol Hill.
2026 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament Highlights: Sweet 16 Action
Here are the top moments from Thursday’s Sweet 16 action in the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament!
Sensitive patient health information leaked in Texas third-party software breach
Multiple Texas home health care providers are notifying patients of a data breach at Doctor Alliance, a third-party software platform, that exposed sensitive medical and personal information.
Marina and bar owner remains hopeful after Key Bridge collapse impacted business
It was two years ago that the Key Bridge collapsed in seconds after being slammed into by the Dali cargo ship.It was one of those moments those in Maryland reme
Weir's Furniture to close after 78 years in business
The Dallas-based furniture business will close its doors for good once all of its current merchandise has sold.
Olympians react to the IOC policy change to protect women's sports
Olympians including Martina Navratilova and Nancy Hogshead are responding to the IOC's decision to bar biological males from women's sports, calling it a step toward fairness.
Top End Sports brings sports-based wheelchairs to life
Inside a Pinellas Park warehouse, precision engineering meets purpose. Top End builds equipment that helps athletes around the world compete at the highest level.
Country star Tracy Lawrence calls out ‘divisive’ political climate: Music should bring us 'all together’
Tracy Lawrence urges fans to keep politics out of country music, saying music should unite people regardless of their color or political background.
Trump reveals ‘present’ from Iran as oil tankers move through Strait of Hormuz
Trump claims oil tankers through the Strait of Hormuz signal real talks, as Steve Witkoff reports positive signs in U.S.-Iran backchannel negotiations.
Schumer, Democrats say they support voter ID — then block GOP amendment to require it
Senate Democrats blocked a photo voter ID amendment to the SAVE America Act, despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., saying Democrats support voter ID.
Justice Department secures denaturalization of convicted gun trafficker and health care fraudster
The DOJ announced it secured the denaturalization of two criminals “who obtained U.S. citizenship through fraud" and sued to revoke the citizenship of a third.
Tom Brady opens up about his health amid GLP-1 surge: Water, movement and discipline
Seven-time Super Bowl champ Tom Brady says he wants to break the stigma around willpower as he joins eMed's mission to bring GLP-1 weight-loss support to workers.
Health Alert: Organic beef and pork sold nationwide could be safety, health risk
The products could contain undeclared allergens, harmful bacteria, or other contaminants that put consumer health and safety at risk.
Here are incoming businesses we've spotted in the Fox Cities
We spotted 6 incoming businesses around the Fox Cities. Here's what they are and what we know.
House Democrat bans staff from betting on prediction markets, citing ethics concerns
Democratic Rep. Seth Moulton of Massachusetts has prohibited staffers from betting on prediction markets on areas such as politics and any information obtained in an official capacity.
Houston traffic tips to know before Thursday's big sports day
Thursday will be a very busy day across the City of Houston. That means traffic problems for everyone across the city for a good chunk of the day.
Broad Ripple welcomes new sports, entertainment venue
BROAD RIPPLE, Ind. — The Broad Ripple neighborhood will soon be home to another place where people can enjoy fun and food. Stick & Hack Entertainment is opening its second location at 46th Stre…
2025-26 Sweet 16 Betting Report: Swing in Futures Liability Impacting Books
The books no longer need who they thought they needed when the Tournament began. Patrick Everson has the scoop.
FOX Sports Assembles Top-Tier Roster for 2026 MLB Regular Season Coverage
After an enthralling World Baseball Classic, FOX Sports returns to the 2026 Major League Baseball season with a dynamic roster of broadcasters.
Postal Service to implement first-ever fuel surcharge amid mounting fuel costs, financial challenges
USPS is reportedly planning its first-ever 8% fuel surcharge on packages starting in April as the agency faces a cash crisis and mounting financial losses.
New proposal would cap Social Security benefits at $100K for wealthy couples
A new proposal from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget would cap Social Security benefits for wealthy couples at $100,000 annually, with a $50,000 limit for single retirees.
Health alert issued for dengue outbreaks spreading in travel hotspots
The CDC has issued a Level 1 dengue fever warning covering 15+ countries, urging spring break travelers to take precautions against mosquito bites.
Fox News Poll: Voters oppose action in Iran but give US military positive marks
A new poll finds 58% of voters oppose U.S. military action in Iran, while Trump's disapproval rating hits a second-term high of 59%, the survey shows.
Pussycat Dolls star triples down on MAGA label after claiming politics cost her the reunion tour
Pussycat Dolls member Jessica Sutta says her MAGA alignment and RFK Jr. support cost her a spot on the group's 53-date PCD Forever reunion tour.
Jury finds Meta, Google liable in landmark social media addiction trial, awards $3M in damages
Los Angeles jury delivers verdict in landmark case accusing Meta and YouTube of designing platforms to addict young users, setting major precedent.
Bodybuilding legend Lee Haney seeks living kidney donor as family goes public with health struggles
Eight-time Mr. Olympia champion Lee Haney is urgently seeking a living kidney donor after his son revealed the bodybuilding legend's kidney is failing.
Biden political priorities impeded Iran negotiations, former secretary of state admits
Former Secretary of State Antony Blinken admitted that midterm elections complicated the Biden administration's push for a stronger Iran nuclear deal.
Supreme Court tosses $1B copyright verdict in record companies' battle over illegal internet downloads
The Supreme Court unanimously ruled Wednesday that internet providers are not liable for copyright infringement by their users, delivering an opinion in Cox v. Sony and tossing a $1 billion verdict.
Fox Sports Host weighs in on the Chiefs acquiring QB Justin Fields
During a recent media appearance, Fox Sports Host Nick Wright weighed in on the Kansas City Chiefs acquiring quarterback Justin Fields | @EdEastonJr
Top Republican in North Carolina Senate concedes race decided by 23 votes
North Carolina Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, endorsed by President Donald Trump, conceded the GOP primary race to Sheriff Sam Page after a second recount.
Ballot box upset: Democrats flip Florida legislative seat in Trump’s stomping ground
Trump-endorsed Republican Jon Maples loses to Democrat Emily Gregory in a Florida House District 87 special election in Palm Beach, home to President Donald Trump
Mohamed Salah's Remarkable Career At Liverpool, Broken Down In Numbers
A by-the-numbers look at Mohamed Salah's time at Liverpool after he announced he will be leaving the club at the end of this season.
VIDEO: Car flees Parma Heights police, crashes into business
Local police in the early hours of Tuesday, March 24, pursued a speeding vehicle that fled a traffic stop, then crashed into a business storefront.
These politicians are putting politics over people, Kerri Urbahn says
Fox News legal editor Kerri Urbahn discusses efforts to stop illegal immigration amid instances of crime from illegal migrants on 'The Story.'
Trump touts ‘significant’ Iran ‘present’ linked to Strait of Hormuz as deal talks heat up
President Donald Trump said Iran gave the U.S. a 'significant' oil and gas gift tied to the Strait of Hormuz, saying Iran is ready to make a deal on nuclear weapons.
Epic Games cuts 1,000 jobs as Fortnite 'magic' fades in 'extreme' market conditions
Epic Games is laying off over 1,000 employees as CEO Tim Sweeney cites declining Fortnite engagement and spending that exceeds the company's revenue.
Epic Games cuts 1,000 jobs as Fortnite 'magic' fades in 'extreme' market conditions
Epic Games is laying off over 1,000 employees as CEO Tim Sweeney cites declining Fortnite engagement and spending that exceeds the company's revenue.
Sherrill flexes political muscle in midterm battle between moderate Democrats and progressives
New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill launches Mission to Deliver PAC, aiming to boost moderate Democrats in key federal and statewide 2026 midterm races.
NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament: Ranking the Sweet 16 Matchups
FOX Sports' Casey Jacobsen ranks the Sweet 16 matchups in the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.
Delta suspends VIP services for Congress members amid DHS shutdown, TSA delays
Delta suspended VIP congressional services amid the government shutdown, telling lawmakers they'll be treated like regular travelers by SkyMiles status.
Firefox now has a free built-in VPN with 50GB monthly data limit
Mozilla released Firefox 149 with added privacy protection through a built-in VPN tool offering up to 50GB of monthly traffic.
2026 MLB Division Winner Odds: Dodgers, Mariners Favored to Repeat
The Dodgers and Mariners are expected to repeat as division champs. Every other division? Up for grabs. See the Opening Day odds.
5 seriously strange ways wildlife is changing inside Chernobyl | BBC Science Focus Magazine
Forty years after the reactor explosion, the wildlife around Chernobyl has recovered in strange and unexpected ways.
Christal Jordan has the latest in entertainment headlines
Iconic girl groups are going on tour, plus they're an updated on The Bachelorette news.
Ford recalls more than 254,000 SUVs due to software issues
Ford is recalling more than 254,000 SUVs in the U.S. after a software defect was found to impact rearview cameras and key driver-assistance safety systems.
Texas oil refinery explosion sends smoke into air, residents advised to shelter in place
An explosion and fire at a Valero oil refinery has sent smoke rising into the sky in Port Arthur, where some residents are being told to shelter in place.
We’ve Been Underestimating Flying Foxes
Australia used to incinerate the large fruit bats, but research suggests they bring hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to the country’s economy.
We’ve Been Underestimating Flying Foxes
Australia used to incinerate the large fruit bats, but research suggests they bring hundreds of millions of dollars in benefits to the country’s economy.
Home heating oil firms squeezed as diesel, crude prices surge amid Middle East tensions
It's a volatile market for home heating oil businesses. Rising oil and fuel costs after a brutal winter have customers calling and asking for help.
Lithia sports facility proposal sparks heated zoning battle between neighbors, supporters
A growing dispute is unfolding in Lithia, where a proposed private youth sports complex is drawing strong reactions from both neighbors and supporters.
Stopping GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic erodes heart health benefits quickly, new study finds
Stopping GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic quickly erodes heart protection, with two years off the medication raising cardiovascular risk by 22%, a new study finds.
Special election on Tuesday will test whether national political winds reach Florida
Tuesday is a special election day for 300,000 voters in Florida's Senate District 14.
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he's 'not a fan' of AI
Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak says he is 'not a fan of AI,' warning the technology lacks reliability and the human understanding users expect.
UFL 2026: Joel Klatt, Curt Menefee Return To Headline FOX Broadcast Team
Joel Klatt and Curt Menefee will once again lead FOX Sports' broadcast coverage for the highly anticipated third season of the UFL.
Political traffic signals: waiting for the light to change on the Hill
Congress faces a steep political battle over a $200 billion Iran war spending request, with Trump sending mixed signals on whether the funds are needed.
Will Blue Bloods Continue to Dominate Mach Madness in the NIL Era?
College basketball has changed because of NIL. The Big Ten has risen, old-school coaches have adapted, and the talent pool is deeper than ever.
Ruth’s Chris enforces business casual dress code at restaurants
The ‘Nightcap’ panel discusses Ruth’s Chris’ enforcement of a business casual dress code and the viral reaction on social media on 'Fox News @ Night.'
SCOTUS conservatives signal readiness to curb late-arriving mail ballots
Conservative Supreme Court justices appeared skeptical during oral arguments of allowing states to continue counting late-arriving mail-in ballots. A decision is expected in June.
House GOP targeting vulnerable Dems over DHS shutdown, TSA chaos
The NRCC launches paid ads targeting Democrats in 28 districts, accusing them of shutting down DHS and forcing TSA agents to work without pay at airports.
Trump admin dumps Biden-era wind projects for billion-dollar investment in US oil
The Trump Department of the Interior secured a landmark agreement with energy giant TotalEnergies to redirect nearly $1 billion away from "unreliable" and "ideological" wind projects.
Firefox 149 Now Available With XDG Portal File Picker, Rust-Based JPEG-XL Decoder
Firefox 149.0 release binaries are now available with a wide assortment of improvements for this month's update to the cross-platform Mozilla web browser solution.
US soccer legend Landon Donovan details mental health struggles in new book
American soccer great Landon Donovan talks to Fox News Digital about the themes in his new book, "Landon: A Memoir."
Trump to Maria Bartiromo: Iran wants to make a deal badly, could be within 5 days or sooner
Maria Bartiromo reports that President Donald Trump says Iran ‘wants to make a deal badly’ as he orders a five-day pause on planned strikes against key infrastructure, signaling ongoing high-level talks and triggering a sharp market rebound.
Trump orders War Dept to postpone strikes on Iranian energy sites, citing 'productive' talks to end war
President Donald Trump, in an all-caps post early Monday morning, declared progress toward "resolution" of the war on Iran.
US soccer legend Landon Donovan opens up on mental health struggles, redefining success
American soccer legend Landon Donovan opened up about mental health struggles and reconfiguring what success meant to him. He releases "Landon: A Memoir" this week.
Goodyear 400 Live Updates, Leaderboard: Will Tyler Reddick Win 4th Race This Season?
Follow along here for live updates from Sunday's Goodyear 400.
Your Thymus and Your Healthspan
Our thymus gland plays a central role in the development or our immune system, specifically for supporting T cell development (how these cells got their name, maturation and differentiation in the thymus) and discriminating between self and foreign, non-self antigen proteins with production of dendritic cells. As we age, our thymus gland shrinks—the process known as involution—with progressive change from spongy to fatty tissue, with loss of functionality. But this process, with respect to timeline and extent, markedly varies from one person to the next. And to make things even more complicated, our thymus gland anatomy and precise location in the chest also is highly variable. So the famous Frank Netter diagrams from the 1960s (such as at left below) don’t capture the remarkable heterogeneity that a random set of 12 chest CT scans (below at right). What I consider as 2 landmark papers in Nature this week (here and here) used AI to quantify health of the thymus in 2 large cohorts, and then correlate the metric to a broad array of health outcomes. In this edition of Ground Truths, I’m going to cover three questions: (1) How was thymus health determined by AI?; (2) How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? and (3) Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? Subscribe 1. How was thymus health determined by AI? This was accomplished by extensive work developing and validating an AI pipeline for 2 stages, the first for localization and segmentation of the thymus bed, and the second to quantify a digital marker, termed the thymic health score. There’s a lot to this algorithmic development, so I won’t go into all the details, but just provide a rudimentary outline of what was done. The 1st stage used supervised learning with 2 radiologists reviewing 2,461 chest CT scans. That work trained a 3D U-Net model to automatically identify the thymic bed’s 3D cropped region using center of mass coordinates, which reached 99.8% accuracy. The 2nd stage used a foundation model that was pre-trained with SwAV (which stands for Swapping Assignment between multiple Views), a self-supervised model, that generated a high-dimensional thymus representation of 4,096 features. That compares to the radiology reductionist and subjective scoring of 0 to 3 where 0 means the thymus is fully degenerated and fatty, and 3 is considered dense, intact glandular soft tissue. Notably, the self-supervised learning (SSL) performance was superior to supervised (AUC ~0.75 vs 0.55, respectively) reflecting the shallowness of the 0-3 classifier vs SSL’s holistic, self-taught AI. The thymic health score ranged from 0 to 100, with the highest number indexed to fully preserved thymic health. The algorithmic work extended to explainability with both Shapely value distribution, meaning the model was holistic not relying on any “magic” pixel, and occlusion sensitivity, demonstrating the model’s performance was not affected by ribs, sternum, lung tissue, but rather focused on the thymic bed directly. Below are a few saliency maps from the occlusion sensitivity that indicate the thymic bed focus, not affected by neighboring structures, using the jet color scale. Now the AI was ready for processing ~25,000 CT scans, each over 30 MB files, from the 2 large participant cohorts to provide a thymic health score, it did so in less than 14 hours, which is less than 2 seconds per scan! Share 2. How is thymus health linked to key clinical outcomes? The two cohorts were the National Lung Screening Trial, NLST (N=25,031) and the Framingham Heart Study, FHS (N=2,581) each with baseline demographics and long term follow up of >12 years for health outcomes. From the NSLT, you can see below that increased age and body-mass index were correlated to reduced thymic health. And, overall, men had reduced thymic health scores compared with women. There are a lot of graphs in the paper for outcomes, for both the NLST and FHS cohorts. To simplify the major outcomes, below is a composite Figure with striking reduction of all-cause mortality and for the different causes of death. The results were consistent between the 2 cohorts. For example, the cardiovascular mortality hazard ratio average was 0.57 in NLST and 0.38 in FHS (weighted to be 0.53 for the aggregate). The reduction of mortality also extended to digestive diseases and pulmonary disease (data not shown below). Lung cancer incidence was reduced by 36% for high vs low thymic health (Figure below, with a panel -incidence and b panel-mortality, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, smoking status). Notably, there was a smoker’s paradox: lower incidence and improved survival for lung cancer in smokers who had a high thymus health score. Smoking was associated with lower thymic scores whereas alcohol was not. Higher thymic health was linked to higher HDL cholesterol, lower triglycerides, lower fasting blood glucose, and lower systolic and diastolic blood pressure. Inflammation biomarkers, such as C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, were elevated in the people with lower thymic health scores. In their second paper, the same team looked at the relationship between thymic score and outcomes for 3,476 patients receiving cancer immunotherapy. The non-small cell lung cancer progression-free survival was reduced in patients with low thymic health score. A parallel relationship for survival was seen for other types of cancer including melanoma, breast, and kidney with a 44% lower risk among high thymic scores (Figure). A similar pattern was seen with different immune checkpoint inhibitors. The thymus health score outperformed programmed death ligand-1 (PD-L1)and tumor mutation burden (TMB) assay of the tumor and was an independent prognostic marker of progression-free survival. In this dataset, a direct connect with thymus score and adaptive immune function was noted with a correlation before cancer treatment for both T-cell diversity and thymus T-cell production (a metric known as T cell receptor excision circles). Thymus Removal Study There is a highly relevant citation about thymus function before moving onto ways to rejuvenate it. In 2023, a very important study of thymus removal during cardiothoracic surgery was published, with 1146 patients undergoing thymus removal vs 1146 matched controls (mean age 55 years). The adverse outcomes for thymus removal were striking, with a 2.9 higher risk of all-cause mortality and doubling of cancer incidence, 1.5 fold increase in cancer mortality, and 1.5-fold increase in autoimmune diseases. The immune function showed marked compromise after thymus removal, as reflected by CD4+ and CD8+ T cells (Figure below) Share Ground Truths 3. Are there ways we can promote a healthy (aka rejuvenate) thymus gland in our later years? In recent months we’ve learned a lot about the process of thymus involution and the pathways by which this may be modulated. Thymus involution is primarily due to loss to thymus epithelial cells (TECs) and there are 2 subtypes with different functions: the cortical, responsible for positive selection of T cells, and the medullary, for negative selection. When adipose tissue infiltrates the thymus, thymic adipocytes are pro-inflammatory, knocking out T-cell output. Likewise, systemic inflammation, or “inflammaging,” from smoking, obesity, and chronic stress promote thymic adipocytes. Now, from preclinical studies, we know about key pathways that account for these processes. Historically, back in 2014, FOXN1 was recognized as a single master transcription factor essential for TEC function, with studies in mice with forced FOXN1 upregulation leading to thymus regeneration. That laid the foundation for potential regrowth of quiescent thymus cells. It took awhile to find pathways to accomplish this goal and to even refute its role as the master regulator. The Liver-Thymus Axis Feng Zhang and his team recently showed that injection of an mRNA vaccine to the liver encoding DLL1, IL-7 and FLT3-L in combination, factors known to support thymopoiesis (Figure), successfully enhanced immune function in aged mice. However, the effect was transient. The FGF21 Story Two reports in 2025 addressed the thymus gland’s production of FGF21, a growth factor (fibroblast growth factor 21) and its control of thymus involution. This growth factor is also produced by the liver, but it doesn’t have impact on the thymus in aged rodent models. In contrast, The liver’s hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) has been shown to reverse senescent TEC structural changes. Growth hormone stimulates production of insulin growth factor-1 (IGF-1) in the liver and the thymus. Two small studies in human participants (TRIIM, for Thymus Regeneration, Immunorestoration, and Insulin Mitigation) of 6 and 50 people, respectively, treated with combined human growth hormone, metformin and DHEA, suggested the potential of slowing epigenetic aging and improving thymus mass and function. But the combination of drugs, small sample, and lack of controls make conclusions murky. Increased thymus FGF21 led to increased CD8 T cells in old mice and extended healthspan and improved physical performance. Building on the previous FOXN1 data, ablation of β-klotho, the obligatory co-receptor for FOXN1, accelerated thymic aging. The benefit to FGF21 was confirmed in a companion paper using an FGF21 knock-in mouse model showing thymus enlargement and increased TECs throughout the lifespan. (schematic Figure below). The accompanying editorial for these 2 papers speculated: “The proposed link between age-associated thymus involution and organismal aging is intriguing, and suggests we might seek to achieve systemic rejuvenation by counteracting thymic involution.” Other Factors Lessons from the Axolotl (Mexican Salamander) In an elegant set of experiments of the axolotl (Figure), known for its complete thymus regeneration after total surgical removal, mediators were identified. Surprisingly FOXN1 was dispensable. But midkine, a growth factor, appeared to be the driver, the initiator of thymus cell growth, survival, and repair. Other components that contributed were Postn+ (periostin-expressing mesenchymal niches) and Ccl19, a chemokine protein from the bloodstream. RANK and RANKL RANK (receptor activator of nuclear factor κB its ligand (RANKL) have been considered key regulators of medullary TECs. In a study of both aged mice and human thymus cell cultures, their key role was confirmed, with multiple benefits of resorting TEC function, recruitment of progenitor cells, and T cell development. Subscribe Summing Up This body of work strongly supports the health of the thymus gland as a critical regulator of human healthspan, not just a correlate or link. The new landmark studies are reinforced by the regenerative biology experimental models that have shown, via an array of mediators, that healthspan of aged mice is at least in part dependent on thymus gland function and its critical role for maintaining adaptive immunity. It sure seems that we’d be better off having an immune reservoir of naive T cells instead of a profile in older adults of exhausted, low quality, memory T cells, with a senescent phenotype. It is striking that we ignored the importance of the thymus gland for many decades. A wake-up call was the results of the thymectomy matched control study reviewed here, with the opposite of high thymic health score improved health outcomes. The convergence of AI and healthspan here is notable. The exceptional and laborious work for developing and validating (no less explaining) the AI to quantify thymus health set the foundation for probing the connect the major health outcomes in two cohorts with extensive follow-up. We’ve never had a way to meaningfully quantify the thymus gland before, so this represents important leverage of supervised, self-supervised, and transformer models. The study wouldn’t have been possible without AI. And it begs the question as to whether there are ways we can maintain our thymus at a high health score. But it’s not so simple to rejuvenate our thymus. There are multiple risks including the induction of autoimmunity, increasing the risk of cancer, and inducing a pro-inflammatory state. For example, factors that increase TEC proliferation could compromise the medulllary negative selection process and leak out auto-reactive (self-attacking) T cells. Thymic cells could be induced to proliferate, but we know, for example, that growth hormone and IGF-1 are associated with an increase risk of cancer. If thymus rejuvenation doesn’t clear out the accumulated senescent cells in older adults, then inflammation within the gland could block the production of TECs. Keeping these risks in mind, we now have identified many ways to keep our thymus healthy as we age that undoubtedly will be tested in clinical trials going forward. Ultimately, the benefit-to-risk tradeoffs will be defined. In the meantime, we have desperately needed an immunome. As I’ve stressed in multiple prior Ground Truths, we have no test in the clinic to assess a patient’s immune status! It was very encouraging for me to get an email from Hugo Aerts, the senior author of the landmark papers in the days after they were published: “I also wanted to say that your Substack on “Why We Need an Immunome” was inspiring for this work. We found it a very compelling perspective and greatly enjoyed reading it.” Just having an assessment of a person’s immune status via a chest CT scan, with millions of these performed per year, might help in guiding the right immunotherapy for cancer (e.g. more intensive, combinations for those with low thymic health scores) and help define people who are increased risk for age-related diseases of cancer, cardiovascular, and neurodegenerative. The main theme of Super Agers is that we now have many layers of data (genetics, proteins, biomarkers, organ clocks that can be integrated via multimodal AI) for us to define a person’s specific risk decades before one of these age-related diseases leads to symptoms, enabling prevention. From the new studies this week, we can add thymus health score as yet another way to understand a person’s risk, a window into their adaptive immune system and healthspan. And perhaps someday we will be able to safely rejuvenate the thymus, or maintain its health through one’s life, and use the thymus health score to monitor. NB: I wrote this post (No A.I.) A Quick Poll Loading... ********************************************************************* Thanks to Ground Truths subscribers (now > 200,000) from every US state and 212 countries. Your subscription to these free essays and podcasts makes my work in putting them together worthwhile. Please join! If you found this interesting PLEASE share it! Share Ground Truths Paid subscriptions are voluntary and all proceeds from them go to support Scripps Research. They do allow for posting comments and questions, which I do my best to respond to. Please don’t hesitate to post comments and give me feedback. Let me know topics that you would like to see covered. Leave a comment Many thanks to those who have contributed—they have greatly helped fund our summer internship programs for the past two years. It enabled us to accept and support 47 summer interns in 2025! We aim to accept even more of the several thousand who will apply for summer 2026.
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A large group of nurses rallied outside Alameda Hospital as part of a nationwide “Red Alert" tour, protesting proposed federal cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
4 Takeaways From Fanatics Flag Football Classic: USA Football Dominates the Pros
Tom Brady looked the part in his return to the field, but USA Football overwhelmed their NFL counterparts in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic.
Dad’s Donuts, a popular Colorado Springs donut business, announces indefinite closure
Dad’s Donuts, a popular Colorado Springs donut business, announced their indefinite closure Saturday.
Top 5 states with the highest number of safest hospitals, according to new report
Healthgrades named 438 hospitals across 40 states for its 2026 Patient Safety Excellence Award, with Texas and Florida among the top-performing states.
Farmers and rural community members can access free mental health resources
KGAN CBS 2 and KFXA Fox 28 provide local news, weather forecasts, notices of events and items of interest in the community, sports and entertainment programming for Cedar Rapids and nearby towns and communities in the Corridor and throughout eastern Iowa, including Iowa City, Waterloo, Dubuque, North Liberty, Coralville, Marion, Morengo, Williamsburg, Washington, Tiffin, Tipton, Solon, Mount Vernon, Lisbon, Central City, Urbana, Independence, Manchester, Dyersville, Oelwein, Cedar Falls, Waverly, Evansdale, Guttenberg, West Union, New Hampton, Decorah, Waukon, Maquoketa, Sigourney, Fairfield, Grundy Center, La Porte City, Dysart, Fayette, Elkader, Strawberry Point and Belle Plaine.