An AI model using gait data before and after hip replacement could help predict which patients will walk close to normal and who may need extra rehabilitation.

The tool analyses gait biomechanics, the study of how people walk, using data collected before and after operations in people with hip osteoarthritis, caused by cartilage wear in the hip joint.

The study examined 109 patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis before total hip replacement. Of these, 63 were reassessed after surgery, while 56 healthy people acted as a control group.

The analysis, developed by researchers at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology and Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, identified three patient groups with different patterns of change in how they walked.

Some improved markedly and walked almost normally after surgery, while others still showed clear deviations from the control group.

Three-dimensional joint angle and joint loading data were gathered through musculoskeletal modelling. Certain measurements, including hip angles and joint loads, were especially useful in assigning patients to the right group. The groups also differed in age, height, weight, walking speed and osteoarthritis severity.

Dr Bernd J. Stetter, who leads a musculoskeletal health and technology research group at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, said: “Our model makes it possible to predict who will benefit especially well from an operation and who will need additional intensive therapy afterwards.

“Since the algorithms are explainable and transparent, we expect the model to enjoy a high level of clinical acceptance.”

The researchers said the model could help clinicians make better-informed decisions, set more realistic expectations with patients and tailor rehabilitation after surgery.

While the model was trained for artificial hip joints, the team said the approach could potentially be adapted to other joints and conditions.

Around 200,000 people in Germany received artificial hip joints in 2024, making it one of the country’s most common orthopaedic procedures.

Ageing should be central to Parkinson’s research, experts argue, saying it has been sidelined as studies focused on genetics and single disease mechanisms.

Parkinson’s is a progressive neurological condition that affects movement and can cause tremors, stiffness and balance problems.

It affects about one million people in the US and more than ten million worldwide, with numbers rising as populations age, particularly in developed countries.

Only around 10 per cent of cases are directly linked to family history.

Most are thought to arise from a mix of advancing age, genetic vulnerability, environmental exposures and lifestyle factors.

A team led by Dr Julie Andersen, a professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging in the US and senior author of the study, says many age-related brain changes resemble those seen early in Parkinson’s.

These include mitochondrial dysfunction, where the cell’s energy-producing structures stop working properly; impaired autophagy, the process cells use to clear damaged components; increased inflammation; and cellular senescence, where cells stop dividing and release harmful substances.

“Many age-related changes in the brain mirror those seen in the early stages of Parkinson’s,” she said.

“The research community needs to approach this disease holistically and ageing is the place to start.”

“When we reviewed studies that include ageing, we concluded that the influence of ageing on Parkinson’s is subtle, emerges gradually and likely interacts synergistically with other contributing factors,” Andersen added.

The researchers suggest this gradual, cumulative effect may help explain why Parkinson’s usually develops later in life and why it varies so widely between individuals.

Andersen and colleagues have also produced a research road map, including guidance on mouse models for experiments where ageing is treated as a central part of how Parkinson’s develops.

The plan also aims to standardise methods, encourage collaboration between laboratories and make better use of limited research resources.

“As a group we recognise that the complexity and diversity of Parkinson’s models, combined with the lengthy nature of ageing studies, present challenges that require substantial resources and innovative approaches,” Andersen said.

“Our work is aimed at making it easier for researchers to include ageing as a critical element of their efforts to tackle this disease.”

Traditional dal bhat could help curb Nepal’s diabetes crisis, with one in five people over 40 living with type 2 diabetes, researchers say.

With medication often unaffordable, researchers are testing whether cheap, local staples such as lentils and rice can help tackle type 2 diabetes, where blood sugar stays high because the body does not make enough insulin or cannot use it properly.

If poorly controlled, type 2 diabetes can lead to complications including kidney disease, limb loss, blindness and premature death.

Dr Ashish Tamang, a resident doctor based in Kathmandu said: “For many families, diabetes is not just a medical condition, but a long-term social and economic burden.”

A pilot study in Kathmandu involving 70 hospital patients with long-established diabetes put 43 per cent into remission after a calorie-controlled traditional diet.

An ongoing trial involving 120 people in villages and communities on the outskirts of cities has shown similar promise.

“It is very early days but around half are free from diabetes at four months, with an average weight loss of only 4 to 5kg,” said Prof Mike Lean, a diabetes and human nutrition expert from the University of Glasgow.

The work is being expanded in a four-year study led by the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Dhulikhel hospital in Nepal, which also aims to test whether the diet can prevent type 2 diabetes in people at high risk.

The approach builds on work by a UK team, including Lean, who showed in 2017 that weight-loss diets based on soups and shakes could reverse type 2 diabetes. That programme is now part of standard NHS diabetes care.

People from Asian backgrounds are genetically predisposed to type 2 diabetes, meaning they can develop the condition after gaining relatively small amounts of weight. But the same pattern means less weight loss may be needed to reverse it.

Lean said the weight loss needed in Nepal is around half that typically required in the UK, where patients often need to lose 10 to 15kg. ‘It makes the task a fair bit easier,’ he said.

Participants were asked to follow an 850-calorie-a-day plan for eight weeks, typically with yoghurt and fruit for breakfast and main meals of lentils and rice, known as dal bhat.

They then moved to a higher-calorie version of the same diet to help maintain the lower weight.

During screening camps, people found to have diabetes, or to be at high risk, were given a cup, measuring glass and weighing equipment alongside a diet plan to help them stick to portion sizes.

They were also invited to attend regular support group sessions.

The programme was designed to be delivered in communities without the need for doctors or hospitals, supported by the female volunteers who underpin Nepal’s health system.

Trial documents describe a plan that ‘stresses a disciplined (traditional) eating pattern, avoiding snacking and high-fat/sugar processed western-type foods’.

A 2025 study found 87 per cent of packaged foods sold in Kathmandu shops exceeded World Health Organization recommended thresholds for sugar, fat and salt.

Lean said the approach was ‘not rocket science’. But it was ‘way more effective than any drug or medicine, and traditional medicines that don’t do anything’.

He also encouraged participants to switch to brown rice rather than double-milled white rice, which contains fewer nutrients, including lower levels of vitamin B1, which helps the body process carbohydrates.

The expanded study initially won UK government funding but was affected by cuts.

The Howard Foundation has stepped in with £1.78m to keep it going, and the project will also create educational materials on the drivers of diabetes.

Lean blames soaring type 2 diabetes rates in Nepal on the importation of western junk foods.

He said he had spoken to Nepalis who ‘remember the first bicycle arriving in their village’, adding that the bike was carrying sweets and soft drinks, and that improved transport links later brought more junk food.

Lower activity levels linked to technology are also a driver, the study team said.

Lean said officials from neighbouring countries have expressed interest at conferences. ‘If this works in Nepal, it will work for us,’ he said they told him.