Bloomberg Law (1/31, Lopez , Subscription Publication) reports, “Restrictions on take-home drugs for treating opioid addiction will be permanently eased under a Biden administration regulation announced Wednesday.” The final rule, issued by HHS, “builds upon practices deployed during the Covid-19 pandemic. It would maintain regulatory flexibilities for programs treating opioid addiction and lower other barriers to accessing the opioid treatment drug methadone for take-home use.”

Related Links:

— “At-Home Opioid Treatment Restrictions Eased by Biden HHS (1),”Ian Lopez, Bloomberg Law, January 31, 2024

HCP Live (1/31, Derman) reports, “Antipsychotic injections are linked to a 75% reduction in 30-day rehospitalizations compared with other oral antipsychotics, according to a…study.” Investigators came to this conclusion after comparing “30-day readmission rates for all patients with schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder discharged from a single academic hospital from August 2019 – June 2022.” The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Psychopharmacology.

Related Links:

— “Antipsychotic Injections for Schizophrenia Linked to Decline in Hospital Readmissions,”Chelsie Derman, HCP Live, January 31, 2024

Maryland’s Lieutenant Governor Aruna Miller talks about growing up in an immigrant family and with a father with bipolar disorder. She is dedicated to combating the stigma against mental illness. Ms. Miller is an example of how one can grow up with a parent who has a serious mental illness, and not just survive, but thrive and achieve great things, perhaps empowered and inspired by your challenging life experiences.

“Just like myself, everybody’s been touched with a mental health disorder, whether it’s at a personal level or someone that we know and love,” Miller told 11 News.

For Miller, that someone was a central figure in her life.

“Ever since I was a child, I’ve been touched by it by the fact that my father suffered from bipolar disorder,” she said.

Not as much was known about mental health when Rao Katragadda immigrated to the U.S. from India. Miller described how, as a young child, she thought it was normal to have the extreme highs and lows her father would go through.

Read the full article here:
https://www.wbaltv.com/article/mental-health-priority-maryland-lt-gov-aruna-miller/43976449#

Neurology Advisor (1/30, Nye) reports that a study found that “early life adversity…is associated with sleep disturbance and depressive symptoms during the transition to adolescence among girls but not boys.” The findings were published in The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “For Girls, Early Life Adversity Tied to Sleep Disturbance, Depressive Symptoms,” Jessica Nye, PhD, Neurology Advisor, January 30, 2024

Healio (1/30, Weldon) reports, “Mild traumatic brain injuries may raise the risk for affective and behavioral disorders in children, according to research published in Pediatrics.” In the study, overall, “patients with mTBIs were 25% more likely to be diagnosed with an affective disorder, which included depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder and acute stress.”

Related Links:

— “Mild brain injuries associated with mental, behavioral issues in children,” Rose Weldon, Healio, January 30, 2024

Psychiatric News (1/30) reports, “Experiencing consistent feelings of loneliness – defined as a lack of a meaningful or close relationship or sense of belonging – is common among U.S. adults, suggest the findings of APA’s latest Healthy Minds Monthly Poll.” The poll indicated that “in early January, 30% of adults reported that they had experienced feelings of loneliness at least once a week over the past year, while 10% said they were lonely every day.”

Related Links:

— “1 in 4 Americans Lonelier Now Than Before Pandemic, APA Poll Finds,” Psychiatric News, January 30, 2024

Healio (1/30, Welsh) reports, “In utero exposure to amphetamine/dextroamphetamine or methylphenidate was not associated with increased risks for neurodevelopmental disorders in children, according to cohort study results.” Investigators came to this conclusion after conducting “a cohort study using health care utilization Medicaid data from 2000 to 2018 and MarketScan Commercial Claims Database data from 2003 to 2020 to identify insured pregnant individuals aged 12 to 55 years in the U.S.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Maternal ADHD drug use not tied to neurodevelopmental disorders, autism in children,” Erin T. Welsh, MA, Healio, January 30, 2024

NBC News (1/29, Szabo ) reports, “Five patients in the United Kingdom have developed Alzheimer’s disease that appears to be the result of contaminated injections they received as children decades ago, according to a new study” published in Nature Medicine. Those “five patients received injections of human growth hormone from cadavers for several years as a treatment for very short stature, according to the study.”

But, “what the scientists didn’t realize at the time…was that in some cases, another substance was extracted as well, contaminating the batches: amyloid-beta protein.”

Related Links:

— “Decades-old human growth hormone treatments linked to five cases of early Alzheimer’s,” Liz Szabo, NBC News, January 29, 2024

HealthDay (1/29, Thompson ) reports, “Playing a musical instrument, particularly the piano, is linked to improved memory and the ability to solve complex tasks, according to” a study. Investigators “also found that continuing to play into later life provides even greater benefit.” The findings were published in the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— “Playing Music Hits a High Note for Brain Health,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, January 29, 2024

Healio (1/29, Rhoades) reports, “Practitioner empathy was associated with greater patient satisfaction, according to results from more than a dozen trials, although the findings were hampered by inadequate reporting and a risk of bias, according to researchers.” For the research, published in Annals of Internal Medicine, “researchers evaluated 14 randomized clinical trials (RCTs) – comprising 80 practitioners and 1,986 patients – that assessed the impact of empathy on patient satisfaction. Overall, practitioner empathy was associated with positive change in patient satisfaction.”

Related Links:

— “Provider empathy may improve patient satisfaction, but more research is needed,” Andrew Rhodes, Healio, January 29, 2024