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The spouses arriving for the Wednesday afternoon caregivers’ class at the Penn Memory Center in Philadelphia had something on their minds even before Alison Lynn, the social worker leading the session, could start the conversation. A few days before, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor had released a letter announcing that she’d been diagnosed with dementia, probably Alzheimer’s disease. (Span, 11/9)

Health officials are preparing to launch a clinical trial designed to test whether experimental Ebola therapies improve patients’ chances of survival in the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo — a landmark moment in the world’s efforts to respond to this and future crises. The randomized controlled trial will compare three different antibody treatments and an antiviral drug to each other, rather than involving a placebo. It is unlikely that the trial will produce clear results based on a single epidemic; it is expected to span several outbreaks and countries — a novel and challenging design. (Branswell, 11/12)

Consuming soy-based formula during infancy may be linked to severe menstrual pain in adulthood, researchers report. A study published in Human Reproduction included 1,553 African-American women ages 23 to 35 with information on soy formula feeding gathered by questionnaires. To determine menstrual pain, they asked women whether they had ever taken prescription or over-the-counter medication to prevent menstrual cramps or pelvic pain. (Bakalar, 11/9)

There’s some good news about influenza this fall: After the last brutal flu season, it’s less likely that Dallas-Fort Worth will see such a deadly outbreak again in the coming months, experts say. For now, flu activity is low across Texas and in D-FW. Before it picks up, here’s what you need to know to protect yourself and the people around you. It’s too early to say exactly how this flu season will play out, but Tarrant County Chief Epidemiologist Russ Jones said a season as bad as the last one typically happens only about once in a decade. (Branham, 11/10)

Anais Garcia, 21, anxiously stares at the menu of a Bob Evans restaurant in Baltimore. Her dark brown eyes gravitate toward the Fit and Healthy section, which lists calories per meal. She takes a long time figuring out what to order and decides to go with her “safe meal,” a small stack of pancakes, with no butter, reduced-calorie syrup, a small bowl of fruit on the side and a cup of black coffee. “Restaurants are like battle zones for me, literal war zones,” she says. (Rolz, 11/11)

A sleepless night can leave the brain spinning with anxiety the next day. In healthy adults, overnight sleep deprivation will trigger anxiety the next morning, along with altered brain activity patterns, scientists reported at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience on Nov. 4. (Sanders, 11/10)

Americans love to designate dietary devils. MSG. Fat. Carbs. Gluten. The latest food to be nominated for devilhood is fructans. And the focus on them came about, in part, because of our obsession with gluten. Here’s how: We know that many people who follow a gluten-free diet don’t need to for medical reasons, such as having celiac disease. Yet some insist they aren’t going gluten-free because it’s trendy — they’re going gluten-free because it makes them feel better. Many researchers believe these people who think they can’t tolerate gluten are actually sensitive to fructans. (Dennett, 11/6)

You may have heard that “Stayin’ Alive” by the Bee Gees has the perfect beat for doing CPR. But it’s not the only song that can provide a soundtrack to chest compressions in an emergency. If you know “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga, “Rock This Town” by Stray Cats or “Crazy in Love” by Beyoncé, you already know a song that could help you save a life. The “Songs to do CPR to” playlist on Spotify collects those songs and more. (Blakemore, 11/10)

Around the world, one in three women experiences domestic violence. How can it be reduced? New research is bringing unexpected insights into this problem — and its potential solutions. A study accepted for publication this month by the Review of Economics and Statistics found that, in Bangladesh, improving the economic status of women can decrease domestic violence if the women also took part in an educational program that helped elevate their social standing in the community. (Schreiber, 11/12)

Kaiser Health News: High Stakes, Entrenched Interests And The Trump Rollback Of Environmental Regs

Since his days on the campaign trail, President Donald Trump has promised to roll back environmental regulations, boost the use of coal and pull out of the Paris climate agreement — and he’s moving toward doing all those things. He has pushed ahead with such action even as a report by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released in October concluded that without much stronger measures to reduce the use of fossil fuels, a warming planet will witness the spread of tropical diseases, water shortages and crop die-offs affecting millions of people. (Appleby, 11/12)

It's not every day that one of the world's richest men walks on stage carrying a jar of human feces, but that's precisely what Bill Gates did in Beijing on Tuesday. The Microsoft founder was in China to talk toilets at the Reinvented Toilet Expo, an event showcasing the latest in high-tech sanitation to entrepreneurs, development banks and government agencies. (Yu, 11/9)

Two bits of health news last month left me puzzled. One study said don’t bother taking vitamin D for bone health. Another reported that bone-building medications are useful in women with thinning bones, but without an osteoporosis diagnosis. That pre-osteoporosis state is called osteopenia. It’s when your bone density score shows some bone loss, but not enough to be labeled osteoporosis. (Adams, 11/10)

A lawsuit brought against the NHL over what more than 100 former players claim was negligence in dealing with their head injuries could be on the verge of a settlement. According to a Forbes report on Friday, the case is "on the verge" of a settlement agreement worth a total of $18.9 million. Per the report, the lead attorney for the players is pushing for acceptance of the agreement, which would give $6.9 million to the players, or just $22,000 each. (11/9)

If patients return to Dr. Crystal Bowe soon after taking medication for a sexually transmitted infection, she usually knows the reason: Their partners have re-infected them. “While you tell people not to have sex until both folks are treated, they just don’t wait,” she said. “So they are passing the infection back and forth.” That’s when Bowe, who practices on both sides of the North and South Carolina border, does something doctors are often reluctant to do: She prescribes the partners antibiotics without meeting them. (Gorman, 11/9)