Medwire (4/11, Grasmo) reports that “study findings published in PLoS One reveal that over one-third of parents and step-parents who murder their children – known as filicide – have a mental disorder.” For the study, researchers analyzed “a national index of homicide perpetrators to identify 297 filicides and 45 filicides that were followed by suicides that occurred in England and Wales during 1997 through 2006.” Investigators found that “a history of mental illness was present in 40% of perpetrators, and this was more common in mothers than in fathers (66 vs 27%).”

Related Links:

— “Mental disorders prevalent among parents who commit filicide, “Ingrid Grasmo, Medwire News, April 10, 2013.

Medscape (4/11, Keller) reports, “Cannabis use not only increases the risk for schizophrenia but new research suggests it is associated with more severe schizophrenic psychosis,” according to research presented at EPA 2013: 21st European Congress of Psychiatry. After performing “a longitudinal study of 50,087 male Swedish army conscripts aged 18 to 19 years between 1969 and 1970,” researchers found that “schizophrenia patients with a history of cannabis use had longer hospital stays, a higher rate of hospital readmission, and a type of schizophrenia ‘that may be more severe than schizophrenia cases in general,’ according to study investigator Peter Allebeck, MD, PhD, professor of social medicine in the Department of Public Health Sciences at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden.”

According to the New York Times (4/10, Reynolds) “Well” blog, research recently published in the Journal of Aging Research suggests that “regular exercise can substantially improve memory, although different types of exercise seem to affect the brain quite differently.” In a small study of 86 elderly women between the ages of 70 and 80 who had mild cognitive impairment who were randomized to weight training, brisk walking, or simple stretching and toning exercises and then were evaluated six months later, researchers found that “women who had exercised, either by walking or weight training, performed better on almost all of the cognitive tests after six months than they had before.” Interestingly, “while both exercise groups improved almost equally on tests of spatial memory, the women who had walked showed greater gains in verbal memory than the women who had lifted weights.” Women who stretched and performed toning exercises scored worse on memory tests.

Related Links:

— “Getting a Brain Boost Through Exercise, “Gretchen Reynolds, The New York Times, April 10, 2013.

HealthDay (4/10, Preidt) reports, “Internet searches for information about mental illnesses follow seasonal patterns, which suggests that there may be a stronger association between mental disorders and changing seasons than previously believed,” according to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. “Researchers analyzed data from Google searches for mental health information made in Australia and the United States from 2006 through 2010. The analysis revealed that the number of such searches in both countries was consistently higher in winter than in summer.”

Related Links:

— “Google Search Trends Suggest Mental Woes Vary by Seasons, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 10, 2013.

USA Today (4/9, Kucinich) reports, “Mental health advocates, heartened when their cause took center stage in the wake of the mass shooting in Newtown, Conn., are now looking past the gun debate with the hope of having a more positive discussion about the issue.” That’s because “the focus [has been] primarily on how to prevent mentally ill people from obtaining weapons rather than improving care.” To urge a new focus, “the VERA Institute of Justice issued a policy paper warning that mental health should be dealt with as a public health issue, rather than a criminal justice issue.” And “Congressional advocates of expanding mental health said Tuesday that…the push to make changes to the mental health issue would continue.” In addition, the President’s budget proposes “$235 million for new mental health programs.”

Related Links:

— “Mental health advocates worry about gun legislation, “Jackie Kucinich, USA Today, April 9, 2013.