Today's Globe: epilepsy drug in pregnancy, genetic variation and stroke, troop head injuries, Allied Health Initiative

Toddlers of mothers who took the epilepsy drug valproate during pregnancy had lower IQs than the children of women who used other antiseizure medicines, according to a new study.

Scientists have found important genetic differences that significantly raise the risk of stroke, and they are found in millions of people.

Mild brain injuries - once considered an underrecognized problem in returning military troops - are being overdiagnosed because the government is using soft criteria instead of hard medical evidence, an Army doctor and two other officials contend.

The Allied Health Initiative, funded by the Boston Foundation, "has brought together the region's leading healthcare sector organizations to address a persistent problem in the region's workforce: a jobs mismatch," Paul Grogan, president and CEO of the Boston Foundation, writes on the opinion page. "Tens of thousands of jobs remain unfilled due to lack of properly trained candidates. This is an impediment to growth as well as a barrier to the spread of economic democracy."