The NBC News (3/13, Fox) reports that a study published online March 11 in the journal Hippocampus suggests that adolescents “who use marijuana heavily grow up to have poor memories and also have brain abnormalities.” The 97-participant study revealed that “daily marijuana users had an abnormally shaped hippocampus,” the “part of the brain used in storing long-term memories,” and “performed about 18 percent more poorly on long-term memory tasks.”

The Fox News (3/13, Carstensen) reports that the study, which “used MRI scans to analyze changes in the hippocampus,” also revealed that teens “who smoke regularly but then kick the habit in a couple of years may see their long-term memory take a hit.” The study “found that two years after abstaining, those who abused the substance scored worse on tests that assessed their long-term memory.” According to Fox News, “none of the study participants reported taking any drugs besides marijuana, and researchers adjusted for nicotine and verbal IQ differences.”

Related Links:

— “Hazy Heads: Heavy Teen Pot Use Linked to Weaker Memories,” Maggie Fox, NBC News, March 12, 2015.

HealthDay (3/11, Dotinga) reports that research to be published in Psychological Science “raises the prospect that people in their 40s and 50s do a better job of translating emotional signals from other people, while seniors have more overall knowledge.” The study also found that “young adults…think faster and have more short-term memory.” These “findings are based in part on an analysis of the responses of slightly over 48,500 people who took online tests on the websites gameswithwords.org and testmybrain.org.”

Related Links:

— “Brainpower Peaks in Different Ways as People Age, Study Finds,” Randy Dotinga, HealthDay, March 10, 2015.

HealthDay (3/11, Preidt) reports that research published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics suggests that “depression may increase the risk of poor nutrition and obesity among Americans receiving food assistance.” Investigators followed “more than 600 people who were the main food shoppers in low-income families living in ‘food deserts’ in Pittsburgh.” The study found “a strong link between depression, poor nutrition and high body-mass index.”

Related Links:

— “Depression May Worsen Problem of Obesity Among the Poor,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, March 10, 2015.

TIME (3/11, Worland) reports that research published in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes suggests that “intense stress and depression in people with coronary heart disease creates a ‘perfect storm’ that can increase the risk of death.”

Reuters (3/10, Doyle) reports that investigators looked at data on approximately 4,400 individuals with coronary heart disease who were at least 45 years old.

HealthDay (3/11, Reinberg) reports that “over an average six years of follow-up, 1,337 participants died or had a heart attack.” The investigators found that “the risk was 48 percent higher for those with stress and serious depression than those not feeling emotionally drained, but only for the first 2.5 years.”

Related Links:

— “Depression and Stress Could Be ‘Perfect Storm’ for Heart Disease Patients,” Justin Worland, Time, March 10, 2015.

The Huffington Post (3/7, Couch) reports that a study published March 3 in the Journal of the American Medical Association suggests that “providing homeless people with housing first and foremost is vital in getting them off the streets for good.” The two-year study involved “nearly 1,200 homeless individuals” with a mental illness who lived in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg, Canada. Researchers followed “two groups of homeless people with mental illness – one (the ‘intervention’ group) was given rent supplements to access stable housing, as well as provided with case management services, while the other (or ‘usual care’ group) only had access to existing housing and support services in their communities.)” People in the intervention group ended up staying in stable housing some 73.2 percent of the time, whereas those getting usual care stayed in stable housing only 23.6 percent of the time, the study found.

Related Links:

— “This Critical Step Could Keep Homeless People With Mental Illness Off The Streets,” Robbie Couch
, Huffington Post, March 6, 2015.