Experiencing daytime sleepiness is something that is usually perceived as a minor inconvenience, but for older adults, it could be an early warning sign of Dementia. This neurodegenerative disease leads to the progressive decline of brain cells. This eventually

affects memory, cognition, and personality, making everyday tasks more difficult. As one of the fastest-growing neurological disorders across the world, dementia poses a significant health threat to ageing populations.

Is Dementia Linked To Poor Sleep?

For this study, researchers followed 445 older adults (average age 76) over three years, aiming to determine whether poor sleep could increase the risk of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), which often leads to dementia. At the start, none of the participants had MCI, but by the end of the study, 36 individuals had developed the condition.

The researchers discovered that participants with poor sleep were more likely to develop MCI compared to those who slept well. However, when depression symptoms were taken into account, the link between poor sleep and MCI became less pronounced, suggesting that while sleep issues are a concern, mental health also plays a key role in dementia risk.

To assess sleep quality, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used, evaluating factors such as sleep duration, disturbances, and daytime alertness. Among these, "daytime dysfunction"—defined as excessive sleepiness and low energy during the day—was most strongly associated with an increased risk of MCI. Those experiencing daytime dysfunction were more than three times as likely to develop MCI as those who didn’t report such symptoms.

There are many types of dementia:

Dementia is not a specific disease. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is an overall term that describes a decline in mental ability that interferes with daily life. People with dementia often have symptoms like trouble remembering, thinking, or making everyday decisions. These symptoms tend to get worse over time.

Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, and it mostly affects the elderly. Each form of dementia has a different cause. Though dementia mostly affects older adults, it is not a part of normal ageing. An estimated 6.7 million older adults have Alzheimer's disease in the United States. That number is expected to double by 2060, as per data from the CDC.

In 2022, 3.8% of men and 4.2% women in US were diagnosed with dementia. The percentage of people increase with age from 1.7% for those aged 65-74 to 13.1% for those aged 85 and older. Alzheimer's accounts for 60 to 80% of all dementia cases and it is most prevalent in California, Florida, and Texas, as these states have the highest number of people.

National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has urged parents to vaccinate their children against measles, saying, “I trust the science,” as the United States faces its worst measles surge in decades.

Speaking to CBS News’ Face the Nation on August 9, Bhattacharya said vaccination remains the best way to protect children from the highly contagious disease.

“If you want to protect your kids from these sort of preventable diseases, yes, you should vaccinate your kids,” Bhattacharya said. He added that he has been “very, very clear” about recommending measles vaccination.

His comments come as the US has recorded 2,465 confirmed measles cases in 2026 as of August 6, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The figure has already surpassed the total reported in 2025 and represents the highest annual case count in the country in about 35 years.

Could US Could Lose Its Measles Elimination Status?

Also read: CDC Recommends All International Travelers To Get Measles Vaccine

Bhattacharya pointed to declining public trust in health institutions as one factor behind the resurgence.

“There’s been a lot of outbreaks, not just the United States, but around the world,” he said. “A lot of that has to do with sort of a collapse in public trust in a lot of science.”

The CDC says only 10 US states had measles vaccination coverage above the approximately 95% level needed to maintain community protection during the previous school year.

The growing outbreak has raised another concern, which is whether the US could lose its measles elimination status.

Experts have warned that continued transmission could jeopardize the status the country has maintained since 2000.

A recent analysis described losing elimination status in 2026 as highly likely unless vaccination coverage improves and ongoing transmission is interrupted.

For parents, the message from the NIH chief is straightforward: the measles vaccine remains the scientific evidence-backed way to protect children. “I trust the science,” Bhattacharya said.

Jay Bhattacharya Pushes Back Against Vaccine Fear

Also read: Dr. Erica Schwartz Confirmed As CDC’s First Permanent Director In Nearly A Year

Bhattacharya also addressed concerns about children returning to school while measles is circulating.

“It is even more important that these kids go to school,” he said, warning against creating fear around unvaccinated children.

“That’s a tremendous mistake,” Bhattacharya said, arguing that parents should vaccinate their children rather than fear school attendance.

His comments are notable amid renewed debate over childhood vaccines under Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has a long history of vaccine skepticism but recently also urged parents to vaccinate children against measles.

How Effective Is The MMR Vaccine?

The measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine remains one of the strongest tools against measles. Two doses are about 97% effective at preventing measles, while one dose provides about 93% protection.

That protection becomes particularly important in schools and communities because measles spreads extremely easily. When vaccination rates fall below the level needed for herd immunity, the virus can move rapidly through pockets of susceptible people.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has issued a new public health alert for 18 meat and poultry products that contain recalled jalapeño peppers potentially contaminated with Salmonella, expanding the food-safety concerns surrounding an outbreak in multiple states in the US.

The products were made using jalapeños that had already been recalled by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Many of the affected products are sold under brands including Taylor Farms, Walmart’s Marketside and H-E-B. The products have expiry dates extending through August 15.

The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said the issue came to light after the FDA notified the agency that several meat and poultry establishments had received the recalled jalapeños as an ingredient.

The agency warned that some of the products may still be sitting in consumers’ refrigerators or freezers, advising people not to eat them. Retailers have also been told not to sell the affected products.

How Did Jalapeños Expand To A Meat And Poultry Problem?

The latest alert is part of a much larger Salmonella investigation. According to the FDA and CDC, the outbreak involves Salmonella Javiana linked to fresh jalapeños grown in Sinaloa, Mexico, and distributed in the US by Coast Citrus Distributors.

As of August 5, 345 people across 27 states had been infected, with 36 hospitalizations and no reported deaths. The outbreak began between June 19 and July 20.

Investigators found that 177 of 191 interviewed patients, or 93%, had eaten at a Mexican-style restaurant before becoming sick. This included people who had eaten at Chipotle and QDOBA locations.

The FDA's investigation identified a common grower in Sinaloa as the most likely source. Coast Citrus has agreed to recall the remaining implicated peppers and has stopped importing from that grower.

Also read: Maharashtra Becomes Second Indian State To Ban Sale Of Fake Paneer: Here's Why It Can Be Harmful

Why Is USDA Involved?

This case highlights how a contaminated ingredient can move through the food supply chain and end up in products that are not immediately connected to the outbreak.

While the FDA regulates most fresh produce, the USDA's FSIS oversees federally regulated meat and poultry products.

Once contaminated jalapeños were used as ingredients in meat and poultry products, the issue crossed into USDA-regulated food.

Also read: Nearly 1.6 Million Dozen Eggs Recalled in US Over Potential Salmonella Contamination: FDA

What Are The Symptoms Of Salmonella?

Young children, older adults and people with weakened immune systems are at greater risk of developing severe illness.

Most importantly, contaminated food may look, smell and taste completely normal, meaning consumers cannot rely on appearance or taste to determine whether the food is safe.

Consumers who have purchased products covered by the USDA alert should not eat them. They should either discard them away or return them to the place of purchase.

Anyone who develops symptoms after eating a potentially contaminated product should contact a healthcare provider and disclose the possible Salmonella exposure.

Artificial intelligence has taken another step forward in biology. Scientists have created viruses designed by AI and shown that they can work in the laboratory, showing promise for new treatments. But this has also triggered concerns about biosecurity.

The viruses are bacteriophages, or viruses that infect bacteria rather than humans. Researchers led by Dr Brian Hie, a chemical engineer at Stanford University, used AI models called Evo1 and Evo2 to design functioning genomes for these viruses. The models were trained using genetic data from around 2 million bacteriophages.

The researchers generated thousands of potential viral genomes and selected nearly 300 to manufacture and test in the laboratory. Only 16 ultimately proved viable.

However, a combination of the AI-designed viruses was able to kill two strains of E coli that had developed resistance to naturally occurring bacteriophages.

How Can AI Design A Virus?

The technology works like the large language models behind AI chatbots, but instead of learning patterns in human language, genome language models learn patterns in genetic sequences.

The AI was able to generate genetic instructions for new bacteriophages, which were then produced in the laboratory and tested against bacteria.

This matters because bacteriophages are already being explored as a treatment for persistent bacterial infections.

If scientists can rapidly design viruses that target specific bacteria and overcome resistance, the approach could strengthen phage therapy, particularly as antibiotic resistance continues to complicate treatment.

The researchers said the ability to rapidly design genomes and adapt them to particular bacteria could “transform phage therapy” and expand biotechnology.

Also read: ChatGPT Health Becomes Available For Eligible Users In US: Pros & Cons Of Letting AI Access Your Medical Records

So Why Are Scientists Worried?

The viruses created in this experiment were designed to infect bacteria. The researchers also deliberately excluded genetic information from viruses that infect humans, animals and plants from the AI's training data, reducing the chance of the system generating dangerous pathogens.

But the experiment demonstrates something bigger: AI can now produce functioning viral genomes.

That raises questions about what could happen if similar technology were trained on genetic information from harmful pathogens.

Prof Tom Inglesby and Dr Moritz Hanke of the Center for Health Security at Johns Hopkins University warned that the ability to create viral genomes using generative AI now exists, but the systems and regulations needed to govern the AI have not caught up.

They warned that genomes designed for human, animal or plant pathogens could potentially generate new threats that existing measures may not be equipped to contain.

Also read: The Rise of Robotic Joint Replacement: How Technology Is Transforming Orthopaedic Surgery

Is AI-Created Biological Warfare Already A Reality?

Tom Ellis, a professor of synthetic genome engineering at Imperial College London, said the experiment was impressive but pointed out that bacteriophages have extremely small and relatively simple genomes.

He also argued that fears surrounding fully AI-designed pathogens may currently be overstated. He said that modifying existing pathogens to make them more dangerous remains a much easier and more immediate concern.

Dr Filippa Lentzos of King's College London said the solution should not focus only on AI. Instead, safeguards should extend across the entire process, including AI development and access, research, DNA synthesis screening and lab biosafety.