Category: 4. Health

Herman Johnson never imagined that something as simple as fruits and vegetables could change his life. A retired Army veteran from Houston, Texas, Johnson had struggled with weight issues for years, tipping the scales at over 300 pounds. His diet— like that of so many army veterans— was heavy on processed foods and light on fresh produce. But under a new pilot…

In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we look at the policy uncertainty around vaccines, sex differences in GLP-1 drug side effects, the challenges of using AI to predict epidemics and more. To get it in your inbox, subscribe here.

One of the major concerns expressed by Senators during Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s confirmation hearings was his longstanding activism against vaccines, and how that might affect his tenure as Secretary of Health and Human Services….

Maintaining cognitive health as we age is a growing concern, with researchers continuously exploring factors that influence brain function and neurodegeneration. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has investigated the relationship between long-term diet quality, waist-to-hip ratio (WHR), and brain health, seeking to understand whether dietary habits and changes in body composition from middle age onward affect brain…

The Cigna Group has closed the…

The measles outbreak that started in Texas in late January continues to grow. As of March 18, 2025, confirmed cases in the outbreak, which now spans Texas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, reached 321, surpassing the number of confirmed cases recorded for all of the U.S. in 2024. The vast majority of cases are in people who are not vaccinated. Meanwhile, a lack of clarity from health authorities is leaving people with questions about whether they need to get revaccinated.

In a Q&A with The…

In the early 1990s when I was a young pediatrician, I was responsible for evaluating children with developmental and learning problems. Two unrelated boys, ages 7 and 9, were found to have IQs in the range of 60-70, which indicates a severe cognitive disability.

During my medical review, the mothers revealed that their children were shaken violently as infants and that afterward behaved as if “the wind had been knocked out of them.” Both mothers reported shaking by a boyfriend or…

While usage varies significantly by country, millions of people around the world use psychotropic medications, particularly depression treatments like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) such as Prozac. Scientists have found that SSRI users who had COVID-19 had less severe infections and were less likely to develop long COVID compared to those not using SSRIs. These antidepressants could help protect people from serious infections and sepsis,…

If you or a relative has been admitted to the hospital through an emergency department (ED) recently, chances are you spent many hours waiting lying on a gurney before arriving at an inpatient bed. This is called emergency department boarding—where admitted patients are…

The findings, published in Nature Communications, tested two candidate drugs derived from their studies on the mechanism of the brain effects of rehabilitation, of which one resulted in significant recovery in movement control after stroke in the mouse model.

Stroke is the leading cause of adult…