CNN (9/17, Tinker) reports that Alzheimer’s Disease International has issued its sixth annual World Alzheimer’s Report in which it reveals that “an estimated 44 million people worldwide are living with dementia,” and that figure “is expected to nearly double by 2030 and more than triple by 2050” due to rising life expectancies. The report also notes that “there is now ‘persuasive evidence that dementia risk…can be modified through reduction in tobacco use and better control and detection for hypertension and diabetes, as well as cardiovascular risk factors. “ Figures from the CDC put Alzheimer’s in sixth position on the top 10 causes of mortality in the US.

TIME (9/17, Oaklander) quotes Maria Carrillo, Alzheimer’s Association vice president of medical and scientific relations, who said in a statementr047 “Other lifestyle aspects that may contribute to healthy brain aging are eating a brain-healthy diet, being mentally active, and being socially engaged.”

Related Links:

— “Reduce your risk of dementia right now,” Ben Tinker, CNN, September 16, 2014.

In the TIME (9/12) “Ideas” column, Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus, director of the UCLA Global Center for Children and Families, and Mark Tomlinson, a psychology professor at the Stellenbosch University in South Africa, wrote about the impact of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, which are a direct result of a pregnant woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. “According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, almost all of these children will have mental health problems as adults and 82 percent will not live independently.” In their teens years, these children will also “face an increased risk of drug and alcohol addiction.”

The pair encouraged readers to “make a personal pledge to watch out for yourself, your friends, and people you encounter casually who may be at risk of creating a child with the disorder.”

Related Links:

— “This Is Your Child’s Brain on Alcohol,” Mary Jane Rotheram-Borus and Mark Tomlinson, Time, September 12, 2014.

USA Today (9/15, Szabo) reports that according to research funded by the National Institutes of Health and published online Sept. 15 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a publication of the American Psychiatric Association, “schizophrenia is not a single disease, but a group of eight distinct disorders, each caused by changes in clusters of genes that lead to different sets of symptoms.”

After comparing “the DNA of 4,200 people with schizophrenia to that of 3,800 healthy people,” researchers also “found that certain genetic profiles matched particular symptoms.”

Related Links:

— “Schizophrenia is eight different diseases, not one,” Lisa Szabo, USA Today, September 15, 2014.

The Today Show Online (9/12, Carroll) reports research suggests that, as we sleep our brains are “organizing and storing away memories of events,” as well as “open to other activities.” a study of 18 people published Thursday in Current Biology found “that the brain can be started on a task just as a person is dropping off to sleep and then, during slumber, take in new auditory information and then process it.”

However, Dr. Alon Avidan, a professor of neurology at the University of California, Los Angeles and director of the UCLA Sleep Disorders Center, warned that having the mind deal with additional tasks while asleep could affect its processing of memories or impair its restorative properties.

Related Links:

— “To sleep, perchance to study: New research shows how brain learns while dozing,” Linda Carroll, Today Show, September 11, 2014.

HealthDay (9/12, Dallas) reports a new study suggests brain chemistry may make “obese people…more vulnerable to environmental food cues than thin people.” The brain imaging study, published in the online edition of Molecular Psychiatry, included 43 men and women, and “found those who were obese had increased activity in the habit-forming part of their brain and reduced activity in the area that controls reward.”

Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said in an institute news release, “These findings point to the complexity of obesity and contribute to our understanding of how people with varying amounts of body fat process information about food.”

Related Links:

— “Obese People May Be More Vulnerable to Food Cues,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 11, 2014.