HealthDay (10/7, Preidt) reports that, according to a study published online in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment, when it comes to treating a substance abuser suffering from a severe mental disorder, “treating substance abuse at the outset is more likely to reduce violent acts.” Researchers arrived at this conclusion after following “nearly 300 patients for six months after their enrollment in an outpatient treatment program for both substance abuse and mental illness.”

The study’s lead author wrote, “Our findings suggest that treatment attendance is very important for these individuals and treatment programs should include interventions that are likely to decrease substance abuse, as this may provide the additional benefit of reducing the risk of later aggression among dual-diagnosis patients.”

Related Links:

— “Addiction Treatment Key to Curbing Violence in Mentally Ill: Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 6, 2014.

HealthDay (10/7, Thompson) reports on a new study that finds mental health problems in one-third of German cancer patients. The study, published yesterday in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, notes 32% of cancer patients’ responses to researchers were consistent with “a full-blown psychological disorder.”

Investigators from the University of Leipzig interviewed 2,100 patients aged 18-75 and compared their responses to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V). Mental illness rates varied based on cancer type, ranging from a low of 20% for patients with pancreatic, prostate, stomach, or esophageal cancers and a high of 40% for patients with breast or head and neck cancer or melanoma.

Related Links:

— “Cancer Diagnosis Can Take Toll on Mental Health, Study Finds,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, October 6, 2014.

HealthDay (10/6, Preidt) reports a study published in the journal Translational Behavioral Medicine suggests that overweight and obese people are the frequent target of cyberbullying and negative messages on social media. Reviewing more than 1.3 million messages with keywords relating to obesity, researchers found a “large number of negative stereotypes, ‘fat’ jokes, self-deprecating humor and alienation of overweight and obese people.”

Related Links:

— “The Obese Are Frequent Targets for Cyberbullies,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, October 3, 2014.

The New York Times (10/4, Ellin, Subscription Publication) reported that a study published in the journal “Addiction” found that 2.8 million older adults in the US “meet the criteria for alcohol abuse, and this number is expected to reach 5.7 million by 2020.” According to the Federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in 2008. “231,200 people over 50 sought treatment for substance abuse, up from 102,700 in 1992.”

Related Links:

— “More Older Adults Are Struggling With Substance Abuse,” Abby Ellin, New York Times, October 3, 2014.

Bloomberg News (10/3, Cortez) reports that the number of Americans “dying from heroin overdoses doubled across 28 states in 2012 from 2010,” citing the CDC. The shift has mainly been due to ready access “and rising rates of opioid addiction,” the piece adds.

Bloomberg notes that the “unusual analysis” unveiled today by the CDC’s weekly bulletin came in the wake of the agency’s effort to find out “if reports from some states about spikes in heroin use and related deaths since 2010 were part of a larger nationwide trend.” In sheer numbers, there were 3,635 heroin deaths in 2012, compared with 1,779 two years earlier, the piece adds.

The Washington Times (10/3, Pace) highlights that death rates from heroin rose “in every age cohort, ethnic group (except American Indians/Alaskan Natives) and region of the country.” According to the paper, “men were nearly four times as likely to overdose from heroin as women, and 25- to 34-year-olds had the highest heroin-overdose death rate.” The piece notes that from 2010 to 2012, “the death rate from heroin overdose increased from 1.0 to 2.1 people per 100,000 in the population.”

Related Links:

— “Heroin Deaths Double in the U.S., Fueled by Access,” Michelle Fay Cortez, Bloomberg News, October 2, 2014.

HealthDay (10/3, Reinberg) reports that according to the results of a 108-patient study published online Oct. 2 in the journal Stroke, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) may increase the “risk of developing post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).” The study found that nearly a third of patients who had a TIA “developed symptoms of PTSD, including depression, anxiety and reduced quality of life.” The NPR (10/3, Shute) “Shots” blog also covers the study.

Related Links:

— “Mini-Strokes May Lead to PTSD, Study Finds,” Steven Reinberg, HealthDay, October 2, 2014.

The Washington Post (10/1, Kunkle) reports that middle-aged women who worry a lot may have a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease later in life, citing a study unveiled Wednesday in American Academy of Neurology’s journal, Neurology.

The paper notes that researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden “followed a group of women in their 40s, whose disposition made them prone to anxiety, moodiness and psychological distress, to see how many developed dementia over the next 38 years.”

They found that women “who were the most easily upset by stress — as determined by a commonly used personality test — were two times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than women who were least prone to neuroticism.”

Related Links:

— “Excessive worry in middle-aged women linked to higher Alzheimer’s risk,” Frederick Kunkle, Washington Post, October 1, 2014.

HealthDay (10/1, Thompson) reports that according to a study published online Sept. 30 in PLoS One, adolescents “who have experienced a traumatic brain injury [TBI] are much more likely to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after having examined “data gathered during the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey developed by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto,” Canada on some “9,000 students between grades 7 and 12 in public schools across Ontario.”

Related Links:

— “Head Injuries May Raise Chances of Risky Behavior by Teens,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 30, 2014.

The New York Times (10/1, Gorman, Subscription Publication) reports the Obama Administration has recruited a number of new Federal agencies as well as universities, foundations and businesses to help pursue it’s goals associated with the BRAIN Initiative, which the president started in 2013. “For 2015, the Administration has asked for $200 million for all the agencies involved. The National Institutes of Health, part of the initiative, has proposed a $4.5 billion, 12-year program as part of the overall effort.”

Other companies and agencies involved include “Google, General Electric, companies involved in optics and other technologies, several universities and the Simons Foundation” along with the Food and Drug Administration and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Related Links:

— “More Groups Join Project on the Brain,” James Gorman, New York Times, September 30, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (9/29, Netburn) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a new study, published in Pediatrics, “kids 7 to 9 years old who attended a daily, after-school fitness program showed an increased ability to pay attention, avoid distraction and switch between tasks at the end of a nine-month period.”

The study involved a total of 222 elementary-school-aged children, half of whom were enrolled in an after-school program with physical fitness elements while the rest of the participants were not. The report concluded that “at the end of the nine months, the physical fitness of the kids in the after-school program had improved by 6%, compared to just 1% improvement in the control group.” Additionally, “researchers also found that the kids in the program had a 10% increase in accuracy on a series of cognitive tests, while the control group saw an increase of just 5%.”

The NPR (9/29, Bruzeck) “Shots” blog also reported on this study.

Related Links:

— “An hour of physical activity a day helps kids think better, study says,” Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2014.