The New York Times (8/24, Reynolds) reports in its “Well” blog that a 2014 study on mice suggested that exercise might have detrimental effects on long-term memory. Meanwhile, in a new study published in The Journal of Neuroscience “researchers decided to replicate aspects of the 2014 mouse experiment but instead use rats” because research has shown rat brains “are more similar to our brains.” The new study found that rats that exercised displayed long-term memory as good as sedentary rats and had developed “about twice as many new cells as did the brains of the sedentary animals.”

Related Links:

— “Exercise Boosts Brain Health, but Is There a Downside?,” GRETCHEN REYNOLDS, New York Times, August 24, 2016.

The Baltimore Sun (8/24, McDaniels) reports that recently, the American Academy of Pediatrics updated its “guidelines advising pediatricians how to identify and help teenagers at risk for suicide,” saying it “wants pediatricians to screen patients for suicidal thoughts and risk factors for suicide, such as bullying.” This change is meant to address an increase “in teenage depression, suicidal ideation and suicide attempts.” Data from the CDC’s Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System survey indicate “suicide is the second-leading cause of death in adolescents ages 15 to 19 and the third-leading cause of death in children ages 10 to 14.”

Related Links:

— “Pediatricians can help identify suicidal teens,” Andrea K. McDaniels, Baltimore Sun, August 24, 2016.

In “Science Now,” the Los Angeles Times (8/24, Netburn) reports that “overall mental health, including your mood, your sense of well-being and your ability to handle stress, just keeps improving right up until the very end of life,” research suggests. After surveying some “1,500 San Diego residents aged 21 to 99, researchers report that people in their 20s were the most stressed out and depressed, while those in their 90s were the most content.”

Related Links:

— “The aging paradox: The older we get, the happier we are,” Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, August 24, 2016.

USA Today (8/23, Perez) reports that, according to a study published in the Journal of Neurosurgery, “eliminating particular high-impact drills in youth football practices significantly reduces the risk of head injuries.”

Related Links:

— “Study: High-impact drills cause more concussions at youth football level,” A.J. Perez, USA Today, August 23, 2016.

HealthDay (8/23, Norton) reports, “Children exposed to relatively high levels of” polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in utero “may have an increased risk of developing autism,” researchers found. Specifically, when expectant mothers “had relatively high levels of certain PCBs in their blood, their children were about 80 percent more likely to be diagnosed with autism versus other kids,” the study found. The findings of the 1,100-child study were published online Aug. 23 in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Related Links:

— “Banned PCB Chemicals Still Tied to Autism in U.S. Kids,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, August 23, 2016.

HealthDay (8/23, Bernstein) reports, “While a higher percentage of black children show the symptoms of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder” (AD/HD) “than white kids, they are less likely to be diagnosed or treated for the disorder,” researchers found after following some “4,000 children in grades 5, 7 and 10” from various areas around the US.

During the study, investigators found that “rates of diagnosis for” AD/HD “were consistently higher among white children, with 19 percent diagnosed by the 10th grade compared to 10 percent of blacks by 10th grade.” The findings were published online Aug. 23 in Pediatrics.

In a video segment for MedPage Today (8/23), F. Perry Wilson, MD, MSCE, assistant professor of medicine at the Yale School of Medicine, discusses the study and somewhat disagrees with its findings.

Related Links:

— “ADHD More Often Missed in Minority Kids,” James Bernstein, HealthDay, August 23, 2016.

Healio (8/22) reports the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development recently launched Moms’ Mental Health Matters, a new initiative that aims “to increase awareness about depression and anxiety during and after pregnancy.” The National Institute of Child Health and Human Development developed free materials on the signs and symptoms of the conditions that can occur “during pregnancy and after childbirth.”

Related Links:

— “NIH launches initiative to raise awareness of maternal mental health,” Healio, August 22, 2016.

HealthDay (8/22, Mozes) reports new research found being unsatisfied at your job in your 20s and 30s can “undermine your health by mid-life,” but having work you enjoy could “pay health dividends.” The study found that disenchanted worker had “worse mental health” by their 40s, and “were more likely to suffer from routine sleep trouble and anxiety compared with satisfied or increasingly satisfied participants.”

Researchers surveyed more than 6,400 men and women participating in a long-running study that began in 1979. According to the researchers “physical health appeared to suffer among those who consistently expressed low satisfaction with work or whose satisfaction fell over time.”

Related Links:

— “Unhappy at Work in Your 20s, Unhealthy in Your 40s?,” Alan Mozes, HealthDay, August 22, 2016.

On the front of its New York section, the New York Times (8/21, MB1, Glaser, Subscription Publication) reported in a nearly 2,700-word story that suicidologist Madelyn Gould, PhD, MPH, a professor of epidemiology in Columbia University’s psychiatry department, is urging New York “authorities to put barriers on bridges and other buildings, something that copious amounts of research show is effective” in preventing suicides.

Even though “the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge, has put dozens of signs and several telephones on it to link desperate callers to trained crisis counselors,” some “93 people have died at the bridge” over the past seven years. Now, the Port Authority plans “to erect a safety barrier on the bridge, a project that will not be completed before 2024.”

Dr. Gould would like that barrier completed much sooner, commenting, “From the perspective of saving people’s lives, why not move up that time frame?”

Related Links:

— “A Suicidologist’s New Challenge: The George Washington Bridge,” GABRIELLE GLASER, New York Times, August 19, 2016.

Bloomberg News (8/19, Tracer) reported that according to a study conducted by Avalere Health, consumers are getting fewer options under Affordable Care Act plans. Data show about “36 percent of the approximately 500 rating regions in the US may have just one health insurer when the 2017 signup season starts on Nov. 1,” while an additional “19 percent could have just two carriers.” The article said by comparison, in 2016, some two-thirds of areas had three or more insurers competing for consumers’ business.

On its website, CNBC (8/19, Mangan) reported that the analysis indicates seven states, including Alaska, Alabama, Kansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Wyoming, will have only one insurer offering ACA plans in 2017.

Related Links:

— “Choices May Be Limited for Obamacare Shoppers, Avalere Says,” Zachary Tracer, Bloomberg News, August 19, 2016.