HealthDay (9/18, Dallas) reports that research published online Sept. 18 in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry found that teens with bulimia recover faster when their parents are involved. According to study lead Daniel Le Grange, the Benioff UCSF professor in children’s health at the University of California, San Francisco Benioff Children’s Hospital San Francisco, the findings run “counter to the training that physicians receive in psychiatry, which teaches that parents are to blame for bulimia, and therefore should be omitted from treatment.”

The small study of 130 teens found that after initial treatment, 39 percent of teens who were randomly assigned to receive family-based therapy (FBT) were no longer binging and purging, compared with 20 percent of patients who received cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). At the six-month follow up, “44 percent of FBT patients had stopped binging and purging, compared to 25 percent of CBT patients.”

Related Links:

— “Parents Should Be Involved in Teen’s Bulimia Treatment: Study,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 18, 2015.

NBC Nightly News (9/18, story 10, 0:35, Holt) reported on “troubling news tonight about the long-term dangers of head injuries while playing football.” According to PBS Frontline, a small study by the “VA in Boston University showed the brains of 87 out of 91 former deceased NFL players tested positive for” chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or “CTE in the latest study of traumatic brain injuries. That is 96 percent of deceased NFL players examined and they’ve also founded CTE in the brains of 79 percent of all deceased football players tested, including those who played in high school and college.”

The AP (9/18) added that the brains were examined by researchers with the Department of Veterans Affairs and Boston University. According to the report, many of the players who donated their brains to research suspected they had CTE, “which therefore skews the population of brains being examined.” CTE is linked to repeated brain trauma and is associated with symptoms including “memory loss, impaired judgement, depression, and, eventually, progressive dementia.”

Related Links:

— “TESTS ON BRAINS OF FORMER NFL PLAYERS CONTINUE CTE TREND,” Associated Press, September 18, 2015.

Reuters (9/18, Nathan) reports that the Food and Drug Administration approved Allergan Plc’s new antipsychotic drug, Vraylar (cariprazine), to treat patients with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. The drug has a boxed warning of increased risk of death in older patients who have dementia-related psychosis.

MedPage Today (9/18, Fiore) reports that the drug “is a partial agonist of the dopamine D3 and D2 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors,” is “an antagonist of the serotonin 5-HT2B and 5-HT2A receptors, and it also binds to histamine H1 receptors.”

Related Links:

— “Allergan gets FDA nod for new antipsychotic,” Vidya L Nathan, Reuters, September 17, 2015.

Bloomberg News (9/18, Koons) reports that the Food and Drug Administration requested Pfizer Inc. in August to “alter Zoloft’s [sertraline] warnings to show some researchers have found an ‘increased risk of congenital cardiac defects’ in babies whose mothers took the drug,” according to court papers filed earlier this month.

Legal experts believe that the label change could help “bolster claims by those who have already sued over Zoloft,” but could also “help the company fend off future lawsuits.” According to a statement by Pfizer, the new label language, although still being drafted, “reflects the extensive science supporting the safety and efficacy of Zoloft, stating a complete review of the scientific evidence finds that there is no difference in birth defect risks between pregnant women who took Zoloft and those who did not.”

Related Links:

— “Pfizer Weighing FDA Request to Change Zoloft’s Warnings,” Cynthia Koons and Jef Feeley, Bloomberg News, September 17, 2015.

The Wall Street Journal (9/17, McGinty, Subscription Publication) “The Numbers Column” reports that according to a study published online July 22 in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, the global increase in youngsters diagnosed with autism may be attributed to diagnostic substitution, not to an actual increase in actual autism cases. In other words, more children may now be correctly diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder instead of another disability or condition.

Related Links:

— “‘Diagnostic Substitution’ Drives Autism Spike,” Jo Craven McGinty, Wall Street Journal, September 16, 2015.