Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive and incurable neurodegenerative disorder that primarily affects persons aged 65 years and above. It causes dementia with memory loss and deterioration in thinking and language skills. AD is characterized by specific pathology resulting from the accumulation in the brain of extracellular plaques of amyloid-β and intracellular tangles of phosphorylated tau. The importance of mitochondrial dysfunction in AD pathogenesis, while previously underrecognized, is now more and more appreciated. Mitochondria are an essential organelle involved in cellular bioenergetics and signaling pathways. Mitochondrial processes crucial for synaptic activity such as mitophagy, mitochondrial trafficking, mitochondrial fission, and mitochondrial fusion are dysregulated in the AD brain. Excess fission and fragmentation yield mitochondria with low energy production.
Acute ischemic stroke is a complex disorder in which the damage goes beyond neuronal loss and involves dynamic responses from glial, vascular, stromal, and immune cells. Spatial transcriptomics (ST) has become a powerful tool to study these processes by preserving tissue architecture while revealing detailed gene expression patterns. This review describes how ST has advanced the understanding of cellular changes after stroke, focusing on microglia, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes to showcase the complexity of stroke pathobiology.
Rheumatoid factor (RF) is the first autoantibody identified in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) which targets the fragment crystallizable (Fc) region of immunoglobulin (Ig) G. Although IgM isotype is predominant, other Ig isotypes, including IgG and IgA, also exist. While RF is not specific to RA, it remains a valuable serological test for diagnosing the disease, as evidenced by its inclusion in the 2010 classification criteria for RA based on elevated serum RF levels. RF is also associated with RA severity, including joint damage and extra-articular manifestations, serving as a poor prognostic factor and aiding in the identification of difficult-to-treat RA. Recent studies have demonstrated that high serum RF levels are associated with a reduced response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors.
The brain has its own immune system, which detects threats and mounts a defense. A growing body of evidence has shown that in Alzheimer’s disease, those immune cells are chronically overactivated, causing inflammation that damages the connections between brain cells.
Now, in a preclinical study using human Alzheimer’s brain cells, scientists at Scripps Research have identified a molecular switch—and potential drug target—responsible for driving that chronic inflammation.
The research, published in Cell Chemical Biology on April 23, 2026, centers on a protein called STING, which normally functions as part of the immune system’s early-warning system. In the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, the team discovered that STING undergoes a chemical modification known as S-nitrosylation (or SNO, a reaction involving sulfur, oxygen and nitrogen) that promotes its overactivation. Blocking this chemical change to STING in a mouse model of the disease decreased neuroinflammation.
A new vulnerability dubbed Pack2TheRoot could be exploited in the PackageKit daemon to allow local Linux users to install or remove system packages and gain root permissions.
The flaw is identified as CVE-2026–41651 and received a high-severity rating of 8.8 out of 10. It has persisted for almost 12 years in the PackageKit daemon, a background service that manages software installation, updates, and removal across Linux systems.
Earlier this week, some information about the vulnerability has been published, along with PackageKit version 1.3.5 that addresses the issue. However, technical details and a demo exploit have been not been disclosed to allow the patches to propagate.
Cybersecurity agencies in the U.S. and U.K. are warning about a custom malware called Firestarter persisting on Cisco Firepower and Secure Firewall devices running Adaptive Security Appliance (ASA) or Firepower Threat Defense (FTD) software.
The backdoor has been attributed to a threat actor that Cisco Talos tracks internally as UAT-4356, known for cyberespionage campaigns, including ArcaneDoor.
The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and the U.K. National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) believe that the adversary obtained initial access by exploiting a missing authorization issue (CVE-2025–20333) and/or a buffer overflow bug (CVE-2025–20362).
Microsoft is rolling out Windows Update improvements that give users more control over how updates are installed while reducing disruption from frequent or poorly timed restarts.
The company says the improvements are now rolling out to Windows Insiders, following user feedback that highlighted two key issues: updates are disrupting workflows, and there is a lack of control over when they are installed.
“We are continually reading the feedback submitted about the Windows update experience. Personally, I’ve had the opportunity to read over 7,621 direct verbatims over the last few months,” explains Microsoft’s Aria Hanson.
A new financially motivated hacking group tracked as BlackFile has been linked to a wave of data theft and extortion attacks against retail and hospitality organizations since February 2026.
The group, also tracked as CL-CRI-1116, UNC6671, and Cordial Spider, is impersonating corporate IT helpdesk staff to steal employee credentials and demand seven-figure ransoms, according to information shared by cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 with the Retail & Hospitality Information Sharing and Analysis Center (RH-ISAC).
Unit 42 security researchers have also linked BlackFile with moderate confidence to “The Com,” a loose-knit network of English-speaking cybercriminals known for targeting and recruiting young people for extortion, violence, and the production of child sexual exploitation material (CSAM).