Giving Impoverished Parents $4,000 A Year Could Have Profound Impact On Child’s Cognitive Development

The Wall Street Journal: Can An Extra $333 A Month Improve A Baby’s Brain? A Research Team Wants To Know.
Kimberly Noble, a neuroscientist, holds up a blue and red cap dotted with electrodes that rest on a toddler’s scalp to measure electrical activity in the brain. It is one of the tools her team will use to answer a complex question: Can monthly cash payments to low-income mothers foster the growth of their babies’ brains and cognitive abilities? Dr. Noble, based at Teachers College, Columbia University, thinks so. (Brody, 4/29)

The New York Times: Airlines Turn To Doctors With Goal Of Limiting Long Flights’ Negative Effects
Turkish Airlines brought in Dr. Mehmet Oz, host and producer of “The Dr. Oz Show.” Singapore Airlines turned to Dr. Richard Carmona, a former United States surgeon general who is now chief of health innovation at the resort spa Canyon Ranch. Air France works with its own medical aviation doctor and psychologist. Airlines have long vied to offer the most front-of-plane amenities. More recently, the competition has moved to a new area: in-flight wellness programs meant to help passengers ward off the effects of air travel, especially on nonstop long-haul and the newer ultra-long-haul flights, with meditation apps, exercises, better blankets and bedding, herbal teas and healthier meals. (Garfinkel, 4/29)

Stat: Advocacy Group Sues FDA For Not Warning On Parkinson's Drugs
A consumer advocacy group has filed a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for failing to act on a petition filed three years ago demanding the agency place serious warnings on a handful of drugs used to treat Parkinson’s disease that have been blamed for compulsive behaviors. These include sudden sexual urges, compulsive eating and shopping, and pathological gambling. (Silverman, 4/29)

Bloomberg: Is Juul Vaping? New E-Cigarette Survey Asks Teens For First Time 
A language gap is making it harder for U.S. health officials to measure a teen-vaping epidemic. For some young people who use the popular vaping device sold by Juul Labs Inc., “juuling” is a verb in its own right. Antitobacco groups and health officials worry that has led to confusion when pollsters go out into the field to quiz teens on their nicotine habits for an annual government survey that plays an important role in shaping tobacco policies. This year for the first time, the poll will specifically mention Juul as an example of an e-cigarette. (Edney, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Men Won’t Go To The Doctor, And How To Change That
Men are notoriously bad patients. Compared with women, they avoid going to the doctor, skip more recommended screenings and practice riskier behavior. They also die about five years sooner, live with more years of bad health and have higher suicide rates. Now, with growing recognition that treating preventable causes of death and disability could close the medical gender gap, the health-care industry is mounting a new push to get men the care they need. (Landro, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Why Women Live Longer Than Men
Why have women have been living longer than men everywhere in the world since the mid-19th century? To find out, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina, an economist at the Oxford Martin School at the University of Oxford, dug through statistics collected through various sources, including the global Human Mortality Database. (Mitchell, 4/29)

The New York Times: U.N. Issues Urgent Warning On The Growing Peril Of Drug-Resistant Infections
With more and more common medications losing their ability to fight dangerous infections, and few new drugs in the pipeline, the world is facing an imminent crisis that could lead to millions of deaths, a surge in global poverty and an even wider gap between rich and poor countries, the United Nations warned in a report on Monday. Drug-resistant infections already claim 700,000 lives a year, including 230,000 deaths from drug-resistant tuberculosis, the report said. (Jacobs, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: ER Cubicles Allow Hospitals To Use Their Limited Space More Wisely
Cubicles have arrived in the emergency room. Hospitals across the country, rethinking how they use precious ER space, are creating more compact examination and treatment areas for ER patients with less-acute ills—a move that also frees up space for patients with more serious problems and reduces the expense of building larger ERs. By being smarter about using space, the ERs aim to see more patients, in less time, without having to expand. (Sadick, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: How A Mirror Can Help People Who Hate Their Bodies
Can a mirror help people who are unhappy with their bodies feel better about themselves? A review of studies on the subject says it can, with the right help. Mirror exposure therapy is a relatively new psychological approach in which participants observe themselves in a full-length mirror and talk about their bodies with the guidance of a therapist. (Oliver, 4/29)

Georgia Health News: Too Much Iron? It’s A Real Genetic Disease
Iron is one of the major chemical elements on Earth, and a proper level of it in the human body is necessary for life. Most Americans have probably heard about iron deficiency, a serious problem for many poorly nourished people. But hemochromatosis, which is sort of the opposite condition, is less known.Hemochromatosis causes the body to store too much iron, which can lead to serious health problems. (Thomas, 4/29)

The Wall Street Journal: Vitamin B-12 Deficiency: The Serious Health Problem That’s Easy To Miss
It began with occasional tiredness, dizziness and tinnitus. I later developed heart palpitations, odd sensations in my extremities, and shortness of breath. As time went on, I also experienced anxiety, feeling faint and brain fog. Add to the list insomnia, as I became afraid to fall sleep because I sometimes awoke with what felt like a surge of electrical charges throughout my body, or with my arms and legs completely numb. (Hawkins-Simons, 4/29)