Medscape (7/26, Jeffrey) reported that investigators “have for the first time described a pathologic role for a third protein in the Alzheimer’s disease process, in addition to the well-described β-amyloid and tau proteins.” Researchers found, “in a postmortem study of 340 brains from participants identified after death as having AD,” that “a protein called TDP-43 correlated strongly with cognitive impairment during life, as well as hippocampal and cortical atrophy, independent of amyloid deposition and at lower Braak stages of AD pathology progression.” The findings were presented at a press conference at the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2014.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

The Psychiatry Online (7/25, Watts) reports, “In June, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) called for $4.5 billion in new federal funding over 10 years” for the Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) Initiative. The story quotes NIH Director Francis Collins, MD, PhD, saying, “As the Human Genome Project did with precision medicine, the BRAIN Initiative promises to transform the way we prevent and treat devastating brain diseases and disorders while also spurring economic development.” It is being “led by the NIH, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency of the Department of Defense, National Science Foundation, and Food and Drug Administration.”

Related Links:

— “NIH Calls for $4.5 Billion for BRAIN Initiative,” Vabren Watts, Psychiatry Online, July 25, 2014.

Medscape (7/25, Phillips) reports that a study published in the August issue of the journal Anesthesia & Analgesia “linking epidural anaesthesia during childbirth to reduced risk for postpartum depression suggests that pain control during labor and delivery may lower women’s risk of developing the serious mood disorder.”

The 214-participant study revealed that “at six weeks postpartum, 14.0% of the [107] women who had opted for epidural anaesthesia during delivery had depressive symptoms, compared with 34.6% of the women who did not choose epidural anesthesia.”

An accompanying editorial called for further research to confirm the study’s findings, “especially in women at increased risk of postpartum depression.” One of the editorialists received partial support from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Related Links:

— Medscape (requires login and subscription)

USA Today (7/24, Johnson) reports that data supplied by the Federal Bureau of Prisons show that the system “has spent more than $36.5 million on psychotropic drugs to treat thousands of offenders in the past four years.” Data supplied to USA Today demonstrate that nearly 10 percent of the 216,000 Federal inmates “are receiving medications designed to treat an array of illnesses, from depression and bipolar disorder to acute schizophrenia.” The disclosure “comes as government officials have raised questions about the costs of confining such large populations, while advocates for the mentally ill argue that prisons and jails have become the new repository for people with mental illness.”

Related Links:

— “Thousands of prisoners treated for mental illness,” Kevin Johnson, USA Today, July 24, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (7/24, MacVean) reports in “Science Now” that according to a study published July 17 in the American Journal of Public Health, “trying to maintain their weight helped low-income, overweight African American women stave off depression.” At the beginning “of the study, about 20% of the 185 participants reported symptoms of moderate to severe depression.” But, “among the group in the weight management program, that number fell to about 10% after a year and after 18 months,” whereas no changes were seen in those in the control group.

Related Links:

— “http://www.latimes.com/science/sciencenow/la-sci-sn-weight-depression-african-american-women-20140723-story.html,” , Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (7/24, Zarembo) reports in “Science Now” that according to a study published online July 23 in JAMA Psychiatry, “in America’s all-volunteer military, men who enlist are about twice as likely to have had troubled childhoods.”

The AP (7/24) reports that included in the study were “nearly 10,000 current and former service members,” the majority of whom were men, as well as some 51,000 civilians. The study indicated that the “disparities were most striking among men during the volunteer era: More than 25 percent had experienced at least four childhood traumas, versus about 13 percent of civilian men.”

The Stars And Stripes (DC) (7/24, Vandiver) reports that the study findings “suggest that the military could serve as a refuge for those seeking to escape troubled home lives.” In addition, the study, “which was a secondary analysis of data from a 2010 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey,” may “provide the military with added insight into its struggle to curb suicide in the ranks, as people who have experienced severe childhood abuse are at a higher risk of attempting suicide.”

Related Links:

— “Study: Men with troubled childhoods may seek refuge in the military,” , Los Angeles Times, July 23, 2014.

HealthDay (7/23, Thompson) reports that according to a study published online July 21 and to appear in the August print issue of the journal Pediatrics, the “stressed-out parents” of children with autism may “benefit from treatments designed specifically for them.” The 243-participant study revealed that moms of kids with autism “who took part in a coping skills program found they connected better with their child and felt less stress, anxiety and depression.”

Related Links:

— “Parents of Children With Autism Need Help, Too,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, July 22, 2014.

Vox (7/23, Kliff) reports on a study published in the American Journal of Managed Care that detailed the “unintended consequences when medicaid tries to save money on anti-psychotic medications,” including the fact that “prior authorization policies in Medicaid programs have significantly higher rates of severe mental illness in their prison populations.”

Related Links:

— “States that deny anti-psychotics to the poor have lots of mentally ill people behind bars,” Sarah Kliff, Vox, July 22, 2014.

In a 3,270-word article on its front page, USA Today (7/22, A1, Johnson) reports from Newport, RI, where 40% “of all calls to police involve people who are mentally ill or have behavioral problems,” a number that “only begins to assess how an overwhelmed criminal justice system has become the de facto caretaker of Americans who are mentally ill and emotionally disturbed.” USA Today notes that from police departments and prisons to courthouses and jails nationwide, “the care of those who are mentally ill weighs heaviest on law enforcement authorities, many of whom readily acknowledge that they lack both resources and expertise to deal with the crushing responsibility.”

Related Links:

— “Mental illness cases swamp criminal justice system,” , USA Today, July 21, 2014.

HealthDay (7/22, Dotinga) reports that according to a study published online July 21 in the journal Pediatrics, children born to mothers who smoked during pregnancy are more likely to develop attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD). “The new study also hints – but doesn’t prove – that nicotine-replacement products used during pregnancy, such as patches and gum, could pose the same risk to children.” After examining almost 85,000 children’s medical records, researchers found AD/HD signs in over 2,000 youngsters. While 1.8% of children with nonsmoking parents were diagnosed with AD/HD, the disorder was also found in 2% of children in households where the mother quit and the father did not smoke and in 4.2% of households where both parents smoked.

Related Links:

— “Smoking While Pregnant Linked to ADHD in Children,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, July 21, 2014.