Reuters (5/16, Heavey) reports, “The Biden administration is seeking to meet with the makers of the life-saving medication naloxone used to reverse opioid overdoses in an effort to increase access and reduce cost, a spokesperson for the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy” (ONDCP) announced. ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta “‘plans to have conversations with manufacturers to share his key principle moving forward: the easier it is for people to access naloxone, the more lives we can save,’ the spokesperson said.”

Related Links:

— “White House wants to improve access to opioid overdose reversal medication “Susan Heavey, Reuters, May 16, 2023

The New York Times (5/15, Kolata) reports that researchers have discovered a genetic mutation in one patient that appears to delay Alzheimer’s disease from entering the patient’s entorhinal cortex, even though brain scans “revealed severe atrophying and…rough, hard, amyloid plaques and spaghetti-like tangles of tau proteins.” This particular “mutation results in a potent version of a protein, Reelin, in the entorhinal cortex,” and this “super-potent Reelin ultimately prevents tangled strands of tau proteins from sticking together and forming the structures that are a characteristic of Alzheimer’s.” The discovery has prompted researchers to investigate this as a potential target in developing the next generation of Alzheimer’s therapeutics. The findings of the research were published in Nature Medicine.

The Washington Post (5/15, A1, Johnson) reports that “this man is only the second patient identified with the miraculous ability to defy the devastating Alzheimer’s gene.” A previously known patient with a different mutation also had a brain “clogged with the characteristic amyloid plaques of Alzheimer’s, [but] it was relatively free of the tangles of tau that are also associated with the disease.” Investigators “did find an overlap between the two different gene mutations that helped protect these individuals: Both mutations affect proteins that bind to the same receptors on the surfaces of brain cells.”

Related Links:

— “Mutation Protected Man From Alzheimer’s Disease, Hinting at Treatment “Gina Kolata, The New York Times, May 15, 2023

Healio (5/15, VanDewater) reports, “Most self-harm diagnoses occurred within 24 months of a dementia diagnosis, and vice versa, with a greater risk for self-harm within six to 12 months after dementia diagnosis,” researchers concluded in a study that “linked data from” Australia’s “Admitted Patient Data Collection, the ED Data Collection, the Mental Health Ambulatory Data Collection, the New South Wales (NSW) Registry of Births, Death and Marriages and the NSW Cause of Death Unit Record File” to “identify 154,811 people who had no history of self-harm who were diagnosed with dementia between July 2001 and December 2014 – termed the dementia cohort – and 28,972 people who had no history of dementia who were diagnosed with self-harm between January 2005 and December 2014 – termed the self-harm cohort.” The findings were published online May 1 in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Dementia diagnosis increases self-harm risk in first year “Kalie VanDewater, Healio, May 15, 2023

HealthDay (5/15, Murez) reports, “While people might assume suicide is more common in the darker months of winter, it actually peaks in spring and early summer,” according to findings published online May 12 in the journal Translational Psychiatry. After examining questionnaire data from some “10,000 people in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom…about their moods and thoughts around suicide and self-harm over a six-year period,” investigators also found that “suicidal thoughts peak in December but then take a few months to reach a ‘tipping point,’” and people appear to be “most vulnerable to ending their lives between 4 and 5 a.m.”

Related Links:

— “Study Shows Season, Time of Day When Suicidal Thoughts Most Likely “Cara Murez, HealthDay, May 15, 2023

Psychiatric News (5/15) reports, “Seven in ten American adults reported that they felt anxious or extremely anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe, according to a recent APA Healthy Minds Poll” that sampled 2,201 adults. Even though “this is an improvement over the 80% of adults who expressed anxiety over their safety and that of their loved ones in 2020 (during the early days of the pandemic), the percentage reporting anxiety about keeping safe has increased since 2022.” APA President Rebecca Brendel, MD, JD, said, “Ongoing stress about our basic needs can lead to other negative mental health effects.” Dr. Brendel added, “The impact of this stress means that psychiatrists will need to continue work with the communities they serve, the larger mental health field, and policymakers to ensure those who need care can access it.”

Related Links:

— “Americans Feel Worried About Their Safety, APA Poll Finds, Psychiatric News , May 15, 2023

KFF Health News (5/15) reports, “Over the past two years, rural Greene County in northeastern Tennessee has collected more than $2.7 million from regional and national settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors,” but rather than “helping people harmed by addiction, county officials are finding other ways to spend it.” This issue “is reverberating nationwide as state and local governments receive billions of dollars from companies that made, distributed, or sold opioid” analgesics. Monies received from these companies “is meant to remediate that harm.” So far, “about $3 billion has already landed in state, county, and city coffers, and about $50 billion more is expected in the coming decade and beyond.”

Related Links:

— “County with high rate of overdose deaths doesn’t use opioid settlement funds for addiction program “Aneri Pattani, KFF Health News, May 15, 2023

Parkinson’s News Today (5/12, Shapiro) reported, “People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were found to be at a higher risk of Parkinson’s disease or related neurodegenerative conditions,” researchers concluded in the findings of a six-study, 1,747,378-individual systematic review and meta-analysis published online ahead of print in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “PTSD linked to increased risk of Parkinson’s in meta-analysis “Lindsey Shapiro, Parkinson’s News Today, May 12, 2023

In a parenting column for CNBC (5/12), Jen Zamzow, an adjunct professor of healthcare ethics at Concordia University Irvine, wrote, “It’s hard for parents to give kids the mental health support they need without affordable and accessible mental health services.” Currently, the United States “has ‘a chronic shortage of psychiatrists, and it’s going to keep growing, says Saul Levin,” MD, MPA, FRCP-E, FRCPsych, “medical director of the American Psychiatric Association.” This “situation is even worse for rural areas: 60% of rural Americans live in an area with” a shortage of mental health clinicians.

Related Links:

— “Here’s the No. 1 phrase moms are ‘sick of hearing’ on Mother’s Day, says parenting expert—what to say instead “Jen Zamzow, CNBC, May 12, 2023

HealthDay (5/12, Solomon) reported, “Among U.S. youth ages 13 and 14 years, suicide rates more than doubled from 2008 to 2018,” researchers concluded in a study that “used death certificate data collected by the” CDC “to explore trends in suicide by sex, race, level of urbanization, census region, month of the year, and day of the week among U.S. youths aged 13 to 14 years.” The findings were published online April 19 in the Annals of Pediatrics and Child Health.

Related Links:

— “Suicide Rates for 13- and 14-Year-Olds Doubled From 2008 to 2018 “Lori Solomon, HealthDay, May 12, 2023

Medscape (5/11, Brooks, Subscription Publication) reports, “Most adults in the United States (70%) are anxious or extremely anxious about keeping themselves or their families safe, with 42% very anxious about gun violence,” according to findings from “a national mental health poll conducted by the American Psychiatric Association (APA)” that “was conducted between April 20-22 among a nationally representative sample of 2201 adults.” Additionally, the analysis “tracks data from a poll conducted between April 23-24, 2022, among a sample of 2210 adults.” In a May 10 press briefing, APA President Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD, “said the results are an important reminder and opportunity for psychiatrists to put their finger on the pulse of Americans’ mental health.” In that briefing, Saul Levin, MD, MPA, chief executive officer and medical director at the APA, stated, “The majority of the public understands something we’ve been saying for a long time: your mental health is about your health.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)