The CBS Evening News (1/26, story 6, 0:25, Pelley) reported, “Today a medical advisory panel recommended that all pregnant women and new mothers be screened for depression.” NBC Nightly News (1/26, story 9, 2:05, Holt) reported that the panel also “recommended screening every adult for depression.”

On its front page, the New York Times (1/26, A1, Belluck, Subscription Publication) reports that yesterday, the US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), “an independent group of experts appointed by the Department of Health and Human Services,” made its first-ever recommendation for “screening for maternal mental illness” in wake “of new evidence that maternal mental illness is more common than previously thought; that many cases of what has been called postpartum depression actually start during pregnancy; and that left untreated, these mood disorders can be detrimental to the well-being of children.” The guidelines were published online Jan. 26 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

The Los Angeles Times (1/26, Healy) reports in “Science Now” that the USPSTF also “recommended that general physicians screen all adults for depression and treat those affected by the mood disorder with antidepressant medication, refer them to psychotherapy or do both.” According to the Times, these new recommendations “ensure that virtually all adults consulting with a physician will at some point be asked a battery of questions aimed at discerning the signs of depression.”

Related Links:

— “Panel Calls for Depression Screenings During and After Pregnancy,” Pam Belluck, New York Times, January 26, 2016.

NPR (1/21, Chen) reports in its “Shots” blog that a study published last August in Psychology of Addictive Behaviors “that found no connection between male teens’ marijuana use and the risk of psychotic disorders is in error, the researchers said Wednesday.” Upon reanalyzing their data, the researchers “found that the men in the study who smoked weed as youngsters were more likely to have psychotic disorders, but still were not more likely to report any health problems than nonsmokers.”

Related Links:

— “Study Erred In Finding No Link Between Teen Pot Use And Psychosis,” January 21, National Public Radio, January 21, 2016.

The Wall Street Journal (1/21, Marcus, Subscription Publication) reports that with people who have Down syndrome living longer lives, they are now more often battling Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers are now seeking ways to address this issue. For instance, the National Institutes of Health recently launched a new initiative with the goal of finding biomarkers that may help detect and track the condition in individuals with Down syndrome. Meanwhile, homes are being built to provide specialized care to this population.

Related Links:

— “Down Syndrome Is Thought to Hold Clues to Alzheimer’s,” Amy Docker Marcus, Wall Street Journal, January 21, 2016.

HealthDay (1/21, Norton) reports that research suggests “very premature infants may have an increased risk of being diagnosed with autism by age 4, although the research questions just how high the odds are.” Investigators “found that just under 2 percent of tiny preemies were later diagnosed with autism between 2 and 4 years of age.” But, “that prevalence, the researchers say, is lower than what’s been seen in” previous research, “where figures have ranged from roughly 4 percent to 13 percent.” The findings were published in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “More Evidence Preterm Birth Could Raise Autism Risk,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, January 21, 2016.

Medscape (1/20) reports that new research suggests that middle-aged women may be at a greater risk of developing eating disorders (EDs) around the time of menopause. Investigators at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill conducted “a comprehensive search of articles published in PubMed on midlife EDs, as well as the hormonal etiology of EDs and other psychiatric disorders, including depression.” The findings were published online in Maturitas.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

MedPage Today (1/20, Lupkin) reports that research suggests that individuals “who continue to use cannabis after being diagnosed with psychosis may be more likely to relapse and have other adverse health outcomes than those who stop smoking pot.” Investigators found, “in a meta-analysis of observational data,” that “continued use of cannabis after onset of psychosis was associated with more relapses compared with both discontinued use…and never having used cannabis at all.”

Related Links:

— “Quitting Pot Tied to Fewer Relapses in Psychosis Patients,” Sydney Lupkin, MedPage Today, January 20, 2016.

HealthDay (1/20, Preidt) reports that research published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings suggests “receiving general anesthesia for surgery after age 40 doesn’t appear to raise the risk for mild thinking and memory problems later in life.” Investigators “followed more than 1,700 people in Minnesota, aged 70 to 89, who had normal mental function when the study began.” Approximately “85 percent of the participants had at least one surgery requiring general anesthesia after age 40.”

HCP Live (1/20, Colwell) reports that during the “follow-up period, 31% of the participants developed” mild cognitive impairment (MCI). But, the research “showed no association between MCI incidence and having any anesthesia vs no anesthesia or between the number of exposures or the total cumulative duration of exposure.”

Related Links:

— “Anesthesia After 40 Not Linked to Mental Decline Later, Study Finds,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 20, 2016.

MedPage Today (1/19, Blum) reports that research suggests that children’s “AD/HD symptoms aren’t well controlled in the morning, even when they take their early-morning dose of stimulants, researchers reported” at the American Professional Society of AD/HD and Related Disorders meeting. Responses from a “survey of 201 parents and caregivers” indicated that “74% of children were easily distracted, 73% did not listen to caregivers, and 66% were unable to sustain attention to tasks during the early morning, even when they took their stimulants as directed, according to Floyd Sallee, MD, PhD.”

Related Links:

— “Morning a Challenge for ADHD Symptom Control,” Karen Blum, MedPage Today, January 19, 2016.

Medscape (1/15, Melville) reports that people “with eating disorders have been found to be at increased risk for suicide attempts or death by suicide, even after adjustment for psychiatric comorbidities such as depression,” a study published online Jan. 13 in JAMA Psychiatry indicates. After analyzing data from “a Swedish national birth cohort of 2,268,786 individuals born between January 1979 and December 2001 who were followed from the age of six years,” researchers found that “the risk is notably increased when a close family member also has an eating disorder.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Washington Post (1/18, Ingraham) “Wonkblog” reports that research has “found no evidence” that teen “marijuana use leads to a decline in intelligence.”

The AP (1/19, Ritter) reports that in arriving at that finding, researchers “focused on 3,066 participants who were given a battery of intelligence tests at ages 9 to 12 – before any of them had used marijuana – and again at ages 17 to 20.” The majority of tests “revealed no difference between the two groups.” Nora Volkow, MD, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, “said that while the study has some limitations, it is important and deserves to be followed up with more research.”

Related Links:

— “Scientists have found that smoking weed does not make you stupid after all,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, January 18, 2016.