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.