All Sauce from Weekly Sauce:

It’s thought that for an HIV vaccine to be widely effective, it will have to spur the body to make special antibodies that can neutralize a broad range of HIV strains. Now scientists say they have taken an essential step in that direction. In an early study, researchers found that an experimental HIV vaccine was…  read on >  read on >

A national hotline that people can call in a mental health emergency went down for a day before it was restored late Thursday. Those in crisis could still reach counselors by texting 988 or visiting 988lifeline.org during the outage. The U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s Disaster Distress Helpline was also down. It’s…  read on >  read on >

Dementia patients who suffer from seizures tend to decline faster and die younger, according to a new study that urges caregivers to watch for these sudden brain changes. “Our hope is that controlling seizures by prescribing antiseizure medications to these patients will slow down the progression of cognitive impairment,” said Dr. Ifrah Zawar, lead study…  read on >  read on >

Costs for epilepsy medications in the United States are skyrocketing, outpacing inflation and straining federal insurers Medicare and Medicaid, according to new research. Spending on antiseizure medications more than doubled in eight years for the government insurers, largely because of third-generation and brand-name drugs, the study found. “While it’s very important that Medicare and Medicaid…  read on >  read on >

Moms-to-be can safely take Paxlovid to help keep their COVID infection from turning serious, a new study shows. Nearly everyone in a group of 47 pregnant women prescribed Paxlovid did well on the drug, which did not appear to interfere with their pregnancy in any significant way, researchers report in the Nov. 29 issue of…  read on >  read on >