HealthDay (10/1, Thompson) reports that according to a study published online Sept. 30 in PLoS One, adolescents “who have experienced a traumatic brain injury [TBI] are much more likely to engage in a wide range of risky behaviors.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after having examined “data gathered during the 2011 Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey developed by the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto,” Canada on some “9,000 students between grades 7 and 12 in public schools across Ontario.”

Related Links:

— “Head Injuries May Raise Chances of Risky Behavior by Teens,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, September 30, 2014.

The New York Times (10/1, Gorman, Subscription Publication) reports the Obama Administration has recruited a number of new Federal agencies as well as universities, foundations and businesses to help pursue it’s goals associated with the BRAIN Initiative, which the president started in 2013. “For 2015, the Administration has asked for $200 million for all the agencies involved. The National Institutes of Health, part of the initiative, has proposed a $4.5 billion, 12-year program as part of the overall effort.”

Other companies and agencies involved include “Google, General Electric, companies involved in optics and other technologies, several universities and the Simons Foundation” along with the Food and Drug Administration and the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity.

Related Links:

— “More Groups Join Project on the Brain,” James Gorman, New York Times, September 30, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (9/29, Netburn) “Science Now” blog reports that according to a new study, published in Pediatrics, “kids 7 to 9 years old who attended a daily, after-school fitness program showed an increased ability to pay attention, avoid distraction and switch between tasks at the end of a nine-month period.”

The study involved a total of 222 elementary-school-aged children, half of whom were enrolled in an after-school program with physical fitness elements while the rest of the participants were not. The report concluded that “at the end of the nine months, the physical fitness of the kids in the after-school program had improved by 6%, compared to just 1% improvement in the control group.” Additionally, “researchers also found that the kids in the program had a 10% increase in accuracy on a series of cognitive tests, while the control group saw an increase of just 5%.”

The NPR (9/29, Bruzeck) “Shots” blog also reported on this study.

Related Links:

— “An hour of physical activity a day helps kids think better, study says,” Deborah Netburn, Los Angeles Times, September 29, 2014.

TIME (9/30, Sifferlin) reports that the DEA prescription pain killer take back program, which will “allow Americans to get rid of their excess drugs at pharmacies or police departments with drop-off receptacles,” is slated to launch in early October. The program was developed under the auspices of the 2010 Drug Disposal Act, which “gave the DEA the authority to create a framework for how the general public and facilities could dispose of prescription pills properly and safely.”

Related Links:

— “Soon You Can Send Your Expired Painkillers Through the Mail,” Alexandra Sifferlin, Time, September 29, 2014.

The Imperial Valley (CA) News (9/29, Trinidad) reports that “a multi-institutional team of researchers studying schizophrenia and bipolar disorder [BD] has been awarded a $16 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to create the most extensive genetic resource to date for these two devastating psychiatric disorders, using data assembled by the University of Southern California (USC).”

The “four-year award…will help fund a project titled: ‘Whole Genome Sequencing of Schizophrenia and Bipolar Disorder in the Genomic Psychiatry Cohort (GPC).’” The goal of the study is to “sequence total genomic DNA from 10,000 or more ethnically diverse individuals from the GPC, split evenly among schizophrenia cases, bipolar disorder cases and psychiatrically normal controls.”

Related Links:

— “National research team awarded $16M NIH grant to study genetics of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder,” Alison Trinidad, Imperial Valley News, September 28, 2014.