According to Medical Daily (11/28, Borreli), “long-term marijuana use may reduce blood flow to the brain, specifically the hippocampus, and increase the susceptibility for Alzheimer’s disease,” researchers found by using single photon emission computed tomography to help gain data from “approximately 1,000 current or former marijuana users and about 100 healthy participants” while “at rest and during a mental concentration task.” The findings were published online Nov. 24 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Related Links:

— “Effects Of Smoking Marijuana On The Human Brain: Drug Reduces Blood Flow To Hippocampus, Increasing Alzheimer’s Disease Risk,”Liza Borreli, Reuters, November 28, 2016.

Reuters (11/28, Seaman) reports, “Pregnant women who get the flu…are not increasing their baby’s risk for an autism spectrum disorder (ASD),” research suggests.

The NPR (11/28, Shute) “Shots” blog reports that “getting a flu shot while pregnant” also appears not to increase the risk for ASD.

MedPage Today (11/28, Walker) reports researchers arrived at both conclusions after examining “data from 196,929 children in Kaiser Permanente Northern California inpatient and outpatient databases who were born from 2001 to 2010.” The findings were published Nov. 28 in JAMA Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Flu – or flu vaccine – in pregnancy not tied to autism in kids,”Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, November 28, 2016.

In a special piece for the Wall Street Journal (11/27, Agronin, Subscription Publication), geriatric psychiatrist Marc E. Agronin, MD, vice president for behavior health and clinical research at Miami Jewish Health, writes that memory loss in persons in their middle years most often may be attributed to factors besides Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.

Related Links:

— “Baby Boomers, Relax. It Probably Isn’t Dementia,”Marc Agronin, The Wall Street Journal, November 27, 2016.

Medscape (11/25, Harrison) reported, “Almost one-third of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) also have a diagnosis of depression,” researchers found after reviewing some “57 studies involving 20,892 patients.” The findings of the meta-analysis were published online Nov. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

HCP Live (11/23) reported that “family-based cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT] may be a key factor in treating children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) who have problems sleeping.” The findings of the 81-child study were published in the June issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental June issue of the Journal of Autism and Developmental.

Related Links:

— “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Children with Autism and Sleep Disorders, MD Magazine, November 23, 2016.

HealthImaging (11/23, Pearson) reported, “The shared environment of twins – possibly in utero as well as in childhood – ups the risk of brain incidental findings associated with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in both siblings even when only one of them has ASD,” researchers found after comparing magnetic resonance imaging “brain scans of 50 ‘case pairs’ of twin children in whom at least one twin had a diagnosis of ASD with the scans of 32 non-ASD control pairs.” The findingswere published online Nov. 22 in Autism Research.

Related Links:

— “MRI suggested as part of initial autism workup of twins, especially boys,”Dave Pearson, HealthImaging , November 23, 2016.

Healio (11/23, Oldt) reported, “Cognitive processing therapy administered individually was more effective than therapy administered in a group for PTSD among active-duty service members who developed PTSD postdeployment,” researchers found after conducting “a randomized clinical trial among 268 active-duty service members with PTSD after deployment who achieved stability with medication.” The findings were published online Nov. 23 in JAMA Psychiatry. The author of an accompanying editorial observed the study “also highlights that we have probably come about as far as we can with currently dominant clinical approaches.” For that reason, “other strategies are urgently needed to effectively address remaining research and clinical gaps concerning the health care needs of combat veterans.”

Related Links:

— “Individual cognitive therapy more effective than group therapy for PTSD,”Amanda Oldt, Healio, November 23, 2016.

NBC Nightly News (11/21, story 9, 0:25, Holt) reported, “A study from the University of Michigan found the rate of dementia in seniors has dropped by 24 percent since 2000.”

The New York Times (11/22, A13, Kolata, Subscription Publication) reports the study, published online Nov. 21 in JAMA Internal Medicine, reveals that “the dementia rate in Americans 65 and older fell…over 12 years, to 8.8 percent in 2012 from 11.6 percent in 2000.”

The AP (11/21, Tanner) reports, “Older adults with the most schooling had the lowest dementia rates, and the average education level increased during the study years,” researchers found after analyzing “nationally representative government surveys of about 10,500 older adults” in 2000 and in 2012.

According to Kaiser Health News (11/21, Szabo), the authors of accompanying editorial observed that it may be “possible that people with more education can better compensate for memory problems as they age, finding ways to work around their impairments.”

Psychiatric News (11/21) points out the study “authors also noted that while rates of cardiovascular risk factors have gone up since 2000, treatments for cardiovascular disease have improved, which may contribute to the reduced dementia incidence.”

Related Links:

— “U.S. Dementia Rates Are Dropping Even as Population Ages,”Gina Kolata, The New York Times, November 22, 2016.

HealthDay (11/22, Mundell) reports that “babies of confident, enthusiastic fathers were less likely to develop behavioral problems by age 9 or 11,” researchers found after studying “more than 10,000 children and their parents.” The findings were published online in BMJ Open.

Related Links:

— “‘Enthusiastic’ Dads May Mean Less Troubled Kids: Study,”E.J. Mundell, HealthDay, November 22, 2016.

Healio (11/22, Oldt) reports, “Having a strong social network was associated with lower risk for” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “among survivors of a major bushfire disaster,” Australian researchers found. The findings of the 558-participant study were published online Nov. 14 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association.

Related Links:

— “Strong social ties protective against post-disaster PTSD, depression,Healio, November 22, 2016.