In the “Blog” for the Huffington Post (2/6), Howard Dean, former Governor of Vermont, observes, “Recently, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) put forth a proposed rule that would make unprecedented changes to the six classes of medication that are specifically protected under Part D.” According to Dean, “Patients suffering from mental illness are likely to suffer the consequences of this rule more than any other populations.” He asserts, “The proposed rule would make significant changes to the availability of antidepressants and antipsychotics.” Such changes, made to reduce costs, would have the unintended consequence of making some mental illnesses even more difficult to manage and may result in more lengthy periods of disability for some patients.

Related Links:

— “Containing Health Costs Is Good But Not at the Expense of the Mentally Ill, “Howard Dean, The Huffington Post, February 5, 2014.

HealthDay (2/6) reports that according to research published in the Feb. 1 issue of the journal Sleep, “too much or too little sleep can increase the risk of depression.” One study, which involved some 1,700 adult twins, found that “inappropriate amounts of sleep may activate depression-related genes.” The second study, which involved some 4,100 children ranging in age from 11 to 17, revealed that “sleeping six hours or less per night increased their risk for major depression, which in turn increased their risk for too little sleep.”

Related Links:

— “Risk of Depression May Rise With Too Much or Too Little Sleep, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 5, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (2/5, Mohan) “Science Now” blog reports, “Memory can be altered by new experience, and isn’t nearly as accurate as courtroom testimony might have us believe,” according to a study published online Feb. 4 in the Journal of Neuroscience.

USA Today (2/5, Weintraub) reports, “Using brain scans of 17 healthy volunteers as they were taught new data and recalled previously learned information,” researchers demonstrated “for the first time precisely when and where new information gets implanted into existing memories.” They found that when people recall “an old memory, the bits of information get melded with new bits relevant to [one’s] present life.” In other words, memories can be modified when retrieved.

Related Links:

— “Remembrance or revision? Brain study shows memory misleads, “Geoffrey Mohan, Los Angeles Times, February 4, 2014.

On its front page, the New York Times (2/5, A1, Kaufman, Subscription Publication) reports in a 1,200-word article that crisis hotlines have adopted texting as a means to communicate with callers, particularly with those aged under 20. Hotline centers have found that texting offers privacy. Callers can contact the center when a caller feels threatened by somebody nearby, and staff members can deal with multiple callers at once or “introduce experts into a conversation without transferring or placing a caller on hold.” Conversational records also exist, allowing staff members to refer to discussions that took place earlier if necessary. Organizations such as the National Dating Abuse Helpline and National Human Trafficking Resource Center have already adopted this means of communication.

Related Links:

— “In Texting Era, Crisis Hotlines Put Help at Youths’ Fingertips, “Leslie Kaufman, The New York Times, February 4, 2014.

The AP (2/4, Jelinek) reports that according to an Army report released yesterday, US soldiers “had higher morale and suffered fewer mental health problems in Afghanistan last year as they handed off more duties to Afghans and saw less combat themselves.” The report, which was “drawn from a battlefield survey and interviews in June and July,” found that “rates of soldiers with depression, anxiety and acute stress – as well as tendencies toward suicide – were lower than in the most recent previous surveys.”

USA Today (2/4, Zoroya) reports that the study found that “the more times a soldier is deployed, the greater the likelihood he or she will suffer from mental illness.” The study also concluded that “the stigma against seeking mental health help remains,” with nearly half “of the surveyed soldiers who need therapy” saying that “the perception of weakness discouraged them from seeking help.”

Related Links:

— “Study: Less war improves mental health of soldiers, “Gregg Zoroya, USA Today, February 3, 2014.

Roll Call (2/4, Attias, Subscription Publication) reports that some advocates for patients with Alzheimer’s and their families are “lining up behind the idea of establishing a global fund for Alzheimer’s modeled after international efforts to address HIV and AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.” Currently, Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-NJ) “is putting together a bill that would seek to establish such a fund, which he hopes to bring forward in a few weeks.” Meanwhile, contained within the recently passed omnibus spending bill was an appropriation for $1.2 billion for the National Institute on Aging. In a statement that went along with the bill, “appropriators said they expect a ‘significant portion’ of the boost to go toward research on Alzheimer’s, leaving the specific amount to the agency to avoid what they described as politicizing the peer review system.”

Related Links:

— “Alzheimer’s Advocates Fight for Piece of Research Pie, “Melissa Attias, Roll Call, February 3, 2014.

CQ (2/4, Zeller, Subscription Publication) reports on a “tussle” between the Obama Administration and mental health advocates over a CMS proposal to “tak[e] depression and psychotic disorders off a list of conditions for which it will allow seniors to receive almost any approved drug.” According to CMS, Medicare Part D “would save $1.3 billion over the five years 2015 to 2019 if the rule change is implemented.” However, “advocates for people with mental illness object, arguing that not all generics or lower-cost alternatives work as well as brand-name drugs.”

HealthDay (1/29) reports that according to an article published online Jan. 28 in the journal Nature Communications, a three-dimensional “model of the brain of a man who lived for 55 years with almost total amnesia is revealing new clues about what caused his memory loss, and could lead to a better understanding of memory.” The patient in question, Henry Molaison, “lost his ability to store new memories after undergoing brain surgery for epilepsy in 1953.” Molaison’s “case provided the first conclusive evidence that the hippocampus plays a role in forming new memories.”

Related Links:

— “Amnesia Patient’s Brain Helps Illuminate How Memory Works, ” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 28, 2014.

Medscape (1/28, Brauser) reports that according to a study published online Jan. 21 in the Annals of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology, symptoms of depression may be associated with “the development of adult-onset asthma.” In fact, the study of “nearly 32,000 participants from the Black Women’s Health Study…showed that those with the highest depressive symptom scores were more than twice as likely to develop asthma as their counterparts with the lowest symptom scores.” In addition, the study found “a higher incidence rate trend for asthma for women who took antidepressants and were current or former smokers.”

HealthDay (1/28) reports that according to a study published in the January issue of the journal Social Psychiatry and Psychiatric Epidemiology, “recovery from depression might take longer among adults who suffered childhood abuse or had parents with addiction problems.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after analyzing “data from more than 1,100 Canadian adults with depression who were assessed every other year until they recovered, for up to 12 years.”

Related Links:

— “Childhood Events Tied to Slow Recovery From Depression Later, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay /i>, January 27, 2014.