BBC News (7/31) reports that the George Washington Bridge, which spans the Hudson River between New Jersey and New York, “will be getting a safety fence designed to prevent suicides, after an increase in deaths this year.” The new fence, which is estimated to cost up to $47 million, will be nine feet tall and will be put up on both sides of the bridge. The project is expected to be completed in 2022. The move to install a fence to prevent suicides “comes a month after officials at the Golden Gate Bridge in California voted to install suicide-prevention nets along the bridge.”

Related Links:

— “George Washington Bridge to get suicide prevention fence,” BBC News, July 30, 2014.

HealthDay (7/31, Norton) reports that according to a review published online in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, “spending time in a garden might help soothe the agitation that commonly strikes people with dementia.” Evidence suggests that “watering plants, or sitting or strolling in a garden can help soothe some dementia patients’ anxiety.” Researchers arrived at these conclusions after analyzing data from 17 studies.

Related Links:

— “Gardens a Center of Calm for People With Dementia,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, July 30, 2014.

Reuters (7/31, Doyle) reports that according to a study published online July 30 in the journal Neurology, depression appears to contribute to faster cognitive decline in seniors with dementia or mild cognitive impairment.

TIME (7/31, Sifferlin) reports that for the study, investigators “looked at 1,764 people with no memory problems around age 77 and followed them for about eight years.” Researchers then “discovered that people with mild cognitive decline as well as people with dementia were likely to have higher levels of depression symptoms before they were diagnosed, and that having these symptoms was associated with a greater decline in memory.” The study authors went on to estimate that symptoms of depression “accounted for 4.4% of the difference in memory decline that could not be caused by brain damage.”

Related Links:

— “Depression linked to faster cognitive decline in old age,” Kathryn Doyle, Reuters, July 30, 2014.

The Wall Street Journal (7/30, Beck, Subscription Publication) reports that according to a study published in the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, people who are problem drinkers in mid-life may have double the likelihood of having late-life memory problems.

BBC News (7/30, Briggs) reports that the study of 6,500 Americans found that “men and women in their 50s and 60s with a history of alcohol abuse were more likely to have memory problems up to two decades later.”

Related Links:

— “Heavy Drinkers Are Prone to Memory Problems in Old Age,” Melinda Beck, Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2014.

HealthDay (7/30) reports that a new review shows that “quitting smoking is harder for people with depression.” The scientists discovered that “depression can make it more difficult to ride out the anxiety, cravings or lack of sleep that come with trying to quit cold turkey,” although “extra exercise – even just a walk – could help people quit faster, they said.” The study was published in Nicotine & Tobacco Research.

Related Links:

— “Extra Exercise Could Help Depressed Smokers Quit: Study,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, July 29, 2014.