Consumer Reports Says New FDA Apple Juice Arsenic Levels Too High For Kids

CBS News: The FDA Just Set Arsenic Levels For Apple Juice. The Level Could Hurt Kids, Consumer Reports Says
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has set limits for inorganic arsenic in apple juice, but Consumer Reports argues that the level is still too high and could harm children who consume the popular drink. The FDA on Thursday announced it is setting the limit of 10 parts per billion as an allowable amount of inorganic arsenic in apple juice, noting that it has identified some apple juice products with levels about that amount. (Picchi, 6/1)

On the gun violence epidemic —

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: SSM Heath Becomes Latest St. Louis-Area Health System To Provide Free Gun Locks
Baskets of free gun locks will be available starting June 2 in the emergency departments and pediatric clinic waiting areas at SSM Health’s eight hospitals across the St. Louis region, officials announced Thursday. More than 11,400 locks are provided through the initiative, which is funded by the SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation and the SSM Health Foundation–St. Louis. (Munz, 6/1)

KFF Health News: The Gun Violence Epidemic Is ‘Locking Us Back In Our Room’
Erin Brown recalls all too well the dreadful call he received from his mother in 2021, while in the thralls of the covid-19 pandemic: His cousin — his “brother” — had been shot six times. Although it was not the first time gun violence had reached the then-17-year-old Brown’s social circle, that incident was different. It involved family. So it hit Brown harder, even though his cousin, then 21, survived the gunshot wounds. (Racer, 6/2)

In other health and wellness news —

CBS News: Last Winter Saw A "Large Spike" In Very Rare Pediatric Brain Infections, CDC Reports
Hospitals reported a "large spike" of children with brain infections this past winter to the highest levels seen in several years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Thursday, but cases still remain rare overall. The new findings were published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, updating a previous analysis from the same database run by the Children's Hospital Association. (Tin, 6/1)

USA Today: How Does The Brain Process Memory During Sleep? Study Provides Clues
While it's long been suspected that our brains consolidate each day's events as we sleep, a new study is the first to show that process in action. Researchers were able to reinforce memories as study volunteers slept by stimulating specific parts of their brains in synchrony. The participants all had severe epilepsy and agreed to be part of the study while under observation for their seizures. (Weintraub, 6/1)

KFF Health News: How To Negotiate With Resistant Aging Parents? Borrow These Tips From The Business World
You’ve reached a standstill with your mother and father, who are in their late 80s. You think they need some help in the home, but they vigorously refuse. You’re frustrated because you want to make their lives easier. They’re angry because they think you’re interfering in their affairs. Can negotiation and dispute resolution techniques used in the business world help defuse these kinds of conflicts? Yes, say a group of researchers at Northwestern University. And they’re on to something. (Graham, 6/2)

NBC News: Al Pacino Expecting A Baby At 83: Health Risks For Children Of Older Fathers
Doctors and medical ethicists alike are warning about the risks of fathering children in old age, following news that actor Al Pacino is expecting a child at age 83. Pacino’s girlfriend, Noor Alfallah, is eight months pregnant. The "Scarface" star already has three other children: daughter Julie Marie, 33, and 22-year-old twins Anton and Olivia. (Bendix, 6/1)

KFF Health News: Watch: Payback For The Opioid Crisis: How Did The Sackler Family Skirt Liability? 
This week, a federal appeals court ruling concerning opioid manufacturer Purdue Pharma spared its owner, the Sackler family, from further civil litigation in exchange for a $6 billion settlement. KFF Health News senior correspondent Aneri Pattani appeared on PBS NewsHour to discuss the ruling and her reporting into the ongoing distribution of more than $54 billion in opioid settlement funds. (6/1)

In covid research —

CIDRAP: COVID Survivors With Depressive, Cognitive Symptoms Show Signs Of Brain Inflammation 
Patients with persistent symptoms of depression and cognitive impairment after a mild to moderate COVID-19 infection had elevated levels of a protein indicating inflammation of the brain, finds a Canadian case-control study published yesterday in JAMA Psychiatry. (Van Beusekom, 6/1)

CIDRAP: Study: Cats Can Transmit COVID-19 To Each Other
Cats can become infected with COVID-19 through contact with other infected animals or contaminated pens and should be considered part of the household dynamics of the virus, according to a new study in Microbiology Spectrum. (Soucheray, 6/1)