A man’s mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, however he is helping her remember through music. “Alzheimer’s disease has crushed Marti’s memory. At this stage, she cannot form a word. But somehow the pathway to musical melodies remains clear,” Adam says. “And it is along this pathway that she and I are able to communicate.” According to a study from Northwestern University, many Alzheimer’s patients can still recall melodies from their past because the cerebellum, where musical memories are processed, is affected later in the disease. This allows patients like Marti to recognize and enjoy the music they’ve always loved, even after they can no longer speak. A series of new treatment options in 2023 has shown promise for the millions of Americans with Alzheimer’s. This July, the Food and Drug Administration gave full approval for Leqembi, the first drug shown to slow the disease. And a new experimental drug called donanemab, which was found to slow Alzheimer’s progression by about 35%, has been submitted to the FDA for approval. A decision is expected by the end of 2023. However, both of these new drugs can only slow the disease, not stop or reverse it.

Medication abortions accounts for more than half of all abortions performed in the U.S. It involves taking two prescription medications: mifepristone, followed by misoprostal. Mifepristone blocks the hormone progesterone, which supports a healthy pregnancy, and misoprostol causes uterine cramping and shedding of the endometrium. A “reversal” involves giving doses of progesterone after mifepristone is taken — but before misoprostol is taken — to try to prevent pregnancy loss. (Supplemental progesterone is used to try to lower the risk of miscarriage in certain pregnancies, Lauren Streicher, MD, a clinical professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, shares. But this reversal treatment isn’t supported by science. The idea of an abortion reversal comes from a 2012 case series on six women who took mifepristone and were then given different doses of progesterone. Four of those women continued with their pregnancies, but ACOG points out that it’s difficult to know if the progesterone caused the pregnancies to continue or if other factors were at play. The study also did not have a control group (i.e., patients who did not take progesterone after mifepristone) and is therefore considered weak evidence, ACOG says. Taking mifepristone alone also isn’t a guarantee that an abortion will work, Streicher says: “The reason you use mifepristone and misoprostol is that if you use mifepristone alone, it doesn’t always work.”

Fentanyl has made headlines for years, with the narcotic being blamed for the deaths of Prince, Tom Petty and Mac Miller. But more recent reports have linked the drug to children and teens – and some have died from accidental fentanyl exposure. It doesn’t take much fentanyl to do harm. “Fentanyl is very potent — it’s 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times stronger than morphine,” Kristine Cieslak, MD, a pediatric emergency medicine physician at Lurie Children’s at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital, tells Yahoo Life. “As little as 2 milligrams can be lethal in adults and even smaller amounts can cause death in children.” Pills that have been laced with fentanyl may look like candy and be swallowed by children if they’re found at a park or in a home. The medication can also cause drowsiness, nausea, confusion, unconsciousness and stroke, Cieslak says. “Fentanyl moves fast, which is why it’s important to call 911 immediately if you suspect your child has been exposed, Cieslak says. “First responders carry Narcan and can administer this lifesaving medication,” she explains. “Narcan reverses an opioid overdose by blocking the effects of opiates on the brain and restoring breathing. Seconds or minutes count and can be the difference between life or death, so parents should not attempt to drive their child to the emergency department.”

In a new Northwestern Medicine study in the journal Sleep Medicine, researchers reviewed treatment on non-rapid-eye-movement disorders, like sleep apnea, insomnia and “arousal disorders” to find that sexsomnia, sleepwalking or sleeptalking and sleep terrors have few guidelines for treatment. Arousal disorders can involve things like sleep eating, engaging in sexual activity during sleep, walking, running or even driving while asleep and the intense fear of terrors, according to a Northwestern Medicine press release. However, unlike nearly every other type of sleep disorder, there are no consensus treatment guidelines for arousal disorders, Jennifer Mundt, PhD, led author of the study and assistant professor of neurology at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, said in the release. “These disorders can be dangerous and result in injuries to the sleeper or loved ones, so it’s important that symptoms are evaluated and treated,” Mundt said in the release. “And we need to have guidelines, so patients are getting the most effective treatment, which is not necessarily a medication.” Mundt found that the treatments with the most evidence about their effectiveness are cognitive behavioral therapy, hypnosis, sleep hygiene and scheduled awakenings, in which a sleeper is is woken up before they usually have an episode.