Alcohol’s ability to increase people’s pain threshold is one reason that drinking also leads to more aggressive behavior, a new study suggests. Researchers found that the less pain that study participants felt after drinking an alcoholic beverage, the more pain they were willing to inflict on someone else.

Suicide remains a leading cause of death among adolescents. A new study among US high school students has found that suicidal behavior is significantly associated with externalizing behaviors and violence exposure. The new study, appearing in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine, published by Elsevier, is the first to assess this association at the state level.

Eating a diet with a higher ratio of plant-based protein to animal-based protein may reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) and coronary heart disease (CHD), according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. According to the researchers, these risk reductions are likely driven by the replacement of red and processed meats with plant proteins. The researchers also observed that a combination of consuming more plant protein and higher protein intake overall provided the most heart health benefits.

For pregnant women, exposure to fine particulate air pollution (PM2.5) was associated with altered immune responses that can lead to adverse birth outcomes, according to a new study led by Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. The study is the first to examine the relationship between PM2.5 and maternal and fetal health on a single-cell level and highlights the health risk of PM2.5 exposure for pregnant women.