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People who grew up in U.S. areas with high atmospheric lead levels were about 20% more likely to report memory problems 50 years later, a study of more than 600,000 older adults showed. Compared with people from areas with the lowest atmospheric lead levels, the odds of reported memory impairment were higher in people from areas with moderate levels, high levels, and extremely high levels, said Eric Brown, MD, MSc, of the University of Toronto, at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference (AAIC). (George, 7/27)

Serious liver disease is becoming more common among Americans who drink heavily, according to a new study from Keck Medicine of USC. It’s not that more people are partying with alcohol. And it’s not that the drinkers are having more drinks. It’s that more of the people who drink regularly are becoming sick. (Ordner, 7/26)

If you needed another reason to get your daily steps in, science just handed you one. A new study shows that walking daily can reduce the risk of cognitive decline — especially among those with a genetic predisposition for Alzheimer’s disease. Almost 3,000 participants between the ages of 70 and 79 reported their daily walking habits over the course of 10 years, according to research that will be presented Tuesday at the annual Alzheimer’s Association International Conference. Those who reported maintaining or increasing their walking habits over the years showed greater improvements in processing speed and executive function. (Griesser, 7/28)

A new report by California health officials highlights the risks posed by consuming raw dairy products. The report, published yesterday in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Reports, describes an outbreak of Salmonella Typhimurium linked to raw milk from a California dairy farm. The outbreak, which stretched from October 2023 to March 2024, sickened 171 people in California and four other states, including 120 children and adolescents. Children were the most likely to be hospitalized among all age-groups. (Dall, 7/25)

The antiparasitic drug ivermectin reduced the incidence of malaria by 26% in a cluster randomized trial conducted in Kenya, which has a high rate of the disease and of use of bed nets against mosquito bites, according to a new study in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM). "We are thrilled with these results," first author Carlos Chaccour, MD, PhD, said in a news release from the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), which led the study. "Ivermectin has shown great promise in reducing malaria transmission and could complement existing control measures." (Wappes, 7/25)

A team of researchers in California drew notoriety last year with an aborted experiment on a retired aircraft carrier that sought to test a machine for creating clouds.  But behind the scenes, they were planning a much larger and potentially riskier study of salt water-spraying equipment that could eventually be used to dim the sun’s rays — a multimillion-dollar project aimed at producing clouds over a stretch of ocean larger than Puerto Rico. (Hiar, 7/27)