The NPR (9/2, Hobson) “Shots” blog reported that, according to the results of a 340-patient study published online Sept. 1 in the journal Pediatrics, taking stimulant medications for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) in childhood appears not to lead to “height deficits in adulthood.”

HealthDay (9/3, Reinberg) reports that the study’s lead author “said this study is unique because it followed a group of people with AD/HD who were taking stimulant medications and compared them with a group with AD/HD who were not taking medication and also a group that didn’t have AD/HD.” All participants “were followed from childhood to adulthood, she said.” HealthDay also notes, “AD/HD is one of the most common disorders of childhood, according to the US National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).”

Related Links:

— “More Evidence That ADHD Drugs Don’t Curb Ultimate Height,” Katherine Hobson, National Public Radio, September 1, 2014.

Reuters (9/2, Doyle) reports a study published in JAMA Pediatrics found that regular dinners with their families may help children cope with online bullying. The study also suggests that other means of talking with family members, such as during car rides, also helps.

TIME (9/2, Sifferlin) reports on the study indicating “about 1 in 5 young people experience some form of online bullying, which can have serious effects on mental health and behavior.” Investigators found “a positive association between cyberbullying and problems like anxiety, depression and self-harm as well as substance abuse like frequent drinking and prescription drug abuse.”

Related Links:

— “Family dinners may help kids cope with cyberbullying,” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, September 1, 2014.

The New York Times (9/2) reports in its “Well” blog of potential risks to newborn babies stemming from pregnant women’s use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor antidepressants such as Prozac (fluoxetine). The piece notes that up to “14 percent of pregnant women take antidepressants,” and the FDA has warned that Paxil (paroxetine) could be responsible for birth defects. The blog posting notes that the “prevailing attitude among doctors has been that depression during pregnancy is more dangerous to mother and child than any drug could be. Now a growing number of critics are challenging that assumption.”

The paper points out that three new studies have highlighted concerns about long-term developmental effects for SSRIs, including one by researchers at Johns Hopkins University, who noted in April “that boys with autism were nearly three times more likely to have been exposed to S.S.R.I.s before birth than typically developing boys.”

Related Links:

— “Are Antidepressants Safe During Pregnancy?,” Roni Caryn Rabin, New York Times, August , 2014.

Medscape (8/29) reports that “a new integrated program for treating depression in cancer patients is reported to be ‘strikingly more effective’ at both reducing depressive symptoms and improving quality of life than the current standard of care.” This “approach, known as Depression Care for People with Cancer (DCPC), was tested in 2 clinical trials: the SMaRT-2 study, reported in the Lancet , and the SMaRT-3 study, reported in the Lancet Oncology.”

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

Medscape (8/29, Nelson) reports that research published online in the Lancet Psychiatry suggests that approximately “three-quarters of cancer patients with major depression are not being treated for it.” Researchers found that “the prevalence of major depression was highest in patients with lung cancer (13.1%), followed by gynecologic cancer (10.9%), breast cancer (9.3%), colorectal cancer (7.0%), and genitourinary cancer (5.6%).” Altogether, “73% of these patients were not receiving any treatment for depression.” BBC News (8/27, Mundasad) and Renal and Urology News (8/29) also cover the story.

Related Links:

— “Cancer patients with depression ‘are being overlooked’,” Smitha Mundasad, BBC News, August 27, 2014.

Medscape (8/29, Brauser) reports that research released Aug. 27 “from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) shows that 4.3% of US teens had a serious emotional or behavioral difficulty between 2010 and 2012 for which they sought nonmedication mental health services.” What’s more, “71% of these kids, who were between the ages of 12 and 17 years, received these services during the previous six months, and boys were more likely than girls to receive these types of services overall and specifically within school settings.”

The study authors, led by the CDC’s Lindsey I. Jones, MPH, concluded, “This finding may be due, in part, to the higher prevalence among boys of externalizing and developmental conditions such as attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders, which negatively affect their school achievement and participations.”

Related Links:

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

On its front page, USA Today (8/28, A1, Jervis) reports in a 2,500-word story, part of is “The Cost of Not Caring” series, that “more than 124,000 – or one-fifth – of the 610,000 homeless people across the USA suffer from a severe mental illness, according to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.” These people are dealing with “schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression — all manageable with the right medication and counseling but debilitating if left untreated.” Strategies now “gaining favor in treating the homeless who are mentally ill are the ‘Housing First’ approach, which puts homeless individuals into housing first, then treats their ailments, and permanent-supportive housing, which couples housing with counseling and access to” medications. These strategies, however, are hampered due to a lack of political commitment as well as Federal dollars.

Related Links:

— “Mental disorders keep thousands of homeless on streets,” Rick Jervis, USA Today, August 27, 2014.

On its front page, the New York Times (8/28, A1, Goodnough, Subscription Publication) reports in a 2,400-word story that “the Affordable Care Act has paved the way for a vast expansion of mental health coverage in America, providing access for millions of people who were previously uninsured or whose policies did not include such coverage before.” Figures from the Department of Health and Human Services indicate that “nearly one in five Americans has a diagnosable mental illness…but most get no treatment.” Medicaid expansion has now allowed many poor people to seek mental healthcare. The problem is finding a therapist, many of which “refuse to accept Medicaid” and are reluctant to take on the related paperwork. The article details “shortfalls in care” as seen through the eyes of therapists and patients in Louisville, KY.

Related Links:

— “Expansion of Mental Health Care Hits Obstacles,” Abby Goodnough, New York Times, August 28, 2014.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (8/27, Satyanarayana) reports that “Carnegie Mellon University officials announced on Tuesday a global, $75 million partnership to improve the understanding of the human brain.” The CMU BrainHub will include “researchers from CMU and the University of Pittsburgh, as well as universities in England, China and India,” who “will work to build better tools for imaging, cataloging and treating patients’ brains affected by neurological disorders.”

National Institute of Mental Health director Thomas Insel, MD said, “This is the topic of the decade, no question. … The public has become really intrigued by the brain,” and noted that “CMU’s effort aligns with President Obama’s Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies, or, BRAIN initiative.”

Related Links:

— “Carnegie Mellon launches $75M project to better understand brain disorders

Read more: http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/6648171-74/brain-university-understand#ixzz3CJfSafIj
Follow us: @triblive on Twitter | triblive on Facebook,” Megha Satyanarayana, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, August 26, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (8/27, Kaplan) reports a study has found that brain function could “benefit from bariatric surgery,” although “the effects measured were modest,” citing a study published Tuesday in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism. Researchers at the University of Sao Paolo in Brazil tracked patients before and after they had weight-loss surgery and found women in that group and the control group did equally well on the cognitive tests. However, “compared with their initial results, the obese women improved on one of the tests – the Trail Making Test – after their surgeries, the researchers found.”

Related Links:

— “Lose weight to gain brain power? Study says it may work,” Karen Kaplan, Los Angeles Times, August 26, 2014.