ABC World News (12/22, story 13, 0:25, Muir) reported that the NFL is “under fire” for “withholding $16 million from researchers investigating football-related head trauma.” The NFL was funding the study, which is being conducted by the National Institutes of Health, but the league was “reportedly critical of the doctor leading the project.” NFL officials are “disputing the report.”

The Washington Post (12/23, Larimer) reports on the ESPN “Outside the Lines” story, which claimed that the NFL “‘backed out’ of the planned seven-year, $16 million research project to attempt to diagnose chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in living patients.” The study was originally “to have been paid for by a $30 million grant from the NFL made to the National Institutes of Health in 2012.” However, “the NIH will fund the study itself, according to a Tuesday morning news release.”

The New York Times (12/23, B9, Belson, Subscription Publication) reports that the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke awarded the grant “as part of a long-term study of brain disease in former NFL and college football players, many of whom sustained multiple concussions on the field,” but the NFL “did not help pay for the grant.”

Related Links:

— “NFL disputes ESPN report on brain study funding; NIH says no NFL veto,” Sarah Larimar, Washington Post, December 22, 2015.

HealthDay (12/23, Norton) reports, “College students who smoke marijuana appear more likely than their peers to skip classes – which eventually leads to poorer grades and later graduation,” a study published in the September issue of the journal Psychology of Addictive Behaviors suggests.

Related Links:

— “Smoke Weed in College and Your Grades May Go to Pot,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, December 22, 2015.

PBS NewsHour (12/23) correspondent William Brangham sat down with National Institute on Drug Abuse toxicologist Dr. Marilyn Huestis, among others, to discuss the “rise of the drug synthetic marijuana, commonly known as Spice or K2.” In the interview, Dr. Huestis predicted that synthetic marijuana will be “the emerging face of drug abuse for the future,” adding that some of the new drugs that come out are “very potent, up to 100 times as potent as cannabis.” She is studying the chemical composition of synthetic drugs in her lab and notes the challenges of identifying the “ever-changing cocktail of chemicals.”

Related Links:

— “What’s in that synthetic drug? An unknown grab-bag of toxic chemicals,” William Brangham, PBS NewsHour, December 22, 2015.

The Washington Post (12/23, Ingraham) “Wonkblog” reports that US alcohol deaths have reached a “35-year high.” In 2014, some “30,700 Americans died from alcohol-induced causes, including alcohol poisoning and cirrhosis.” Excluded from this figure are “deaths from drunk driving, other accidents, and homicides committed under the influence of alcohol.” Were those deaths to be “included, the annual toll of deaths directly or indirectly caused by alcohol would be closer to 90,000, according to” a CDC report published Dec. 18 in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

TIME (12/23, Chan) points out, “Excessive alcohol use is a leading cause of preventable death, according to the” CDC, accounting “for about 88,000 deaths each from 2006 to 2010, health officials said.”

Related Links:

— “Americans are drinking themselves to death at record rates,” Christopher Ingraham, Washington Post, December 22, 2015.

On the front of its Personal Journal section, the Wall Street Journal (12/22, D1, Beck, Subscription Publication) reports in “Health Journal” that drinking heavily on a chronic and long-term basis may cause brain damage and cognitive decline. To avoid those effects, the National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) recommends no more than 14 drinks weekly or four on one day for men and no more than seven drinks weekly or three on one day for women.

Related Links:

— “The Effects of Chronic Heavy Drinking on Brain Function Are Underdiagnosed,” Melinda Beck, WallStreet Journal, December 21, 2015.

In an opinion piece in the Washington Post (12/22), Marney A. White, PhD, MS, an associate professor of psychiatry and chronic disease epidemiology at Yale University, writes that not only is suicide “the leading cause of death among college students,” but also that “nearly one in five college-aged adults currently have or will develop a mental health problem within the next year.” White calls for adoption of “a public health approach focused on early identification and treatment” of students who could be at risk for the development of a “serious mental disorder.”

Related Links:

— “To prevent suicide in college, make mental health screening mandatory,” Marney A. White, Washington Post, December 21, 2015.

The Huffington Post (12/22, Jeltsen) reports that a study published in 2012 in the International Journal of Eating Disorders revealed that “13 percent of women aged 50 and older exhibited symptoms of eating disorders.” Due to “lingering stereotypes about who gets sick,” older women with eating disorders “can face lower rates of diagnosis, unique medical complications and limited treatment options, as well as the stigma that comes with having a disease” often seen in adolescents.

Related Links:

— “Inside The Hidden World Of Adult Eating Disorders,” Melissa Jeltsen, Huffington Post, December 21, 2015.

In a front-page article, the Washington Post (12/19, A1, Ingraham, Johnson) reported that “for the first time on record, Americans are as likely to die by a gunshot as in a traffic accident, according to” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data released this month. According to the Post, deaths involving guns “now outnumber vehicle deaths in 21 states and the District of Columbia.” The Post adds this “trend was driven largely by the sharp drop in the rate of traffic fatalities” and while homicide rates involving guns “have fallen in recent years, [they] have been offset by the rising prevalence of suicides.”

Related Links:

— “How gun deaths became as common as traffic deaths,” Christopher Ingraham and Carolyn Y. Johnson, Washington Post, December 18, 2015.

HealthDay (12/19, Preidt) reported, “Heightened fear responses occur in certain areas of the brain in people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),” the findings of a 67-participant study published online Dec. 15 in Translational Psychiatry suggest. Magnetic resonance imaging brain scans revealed “heightened activity” in the brain’s “visual cortex.” The finding “is significant because along with visual processing, that area of the brain also assesses threats.”

Related Links:

— “Study Maps Areas of Brain Linked to PTSD,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, December 18, 2015.

Reuters (12/19, Kennedy) reported that active duty service members deployed to Afghanistan appeared not only to have an increase in symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder not just immediately after combat deployment, but also up to five years afterward, a 1,007-soldier study published online Dec. 8 in The Lancet Psychiatry suggests. The study authors suggested that PTSD screening should continue for more than the first two years following combat deployment to detect new or recurring cases.

Related Links:

— “Veterans’ PTSD may recur down the line,” Madeline Kennedy, Reuters, December 18, 2015.