USA Today (12/3, Leger) reports, “K2, Spice and other synthetic drugs that mimic a marijuana high sent 11,406 people…to the emergency room in 2010.” In fact, “in 59% of the cases involving patients ages 12 to 29, doctors found no other substance,” besides synthetic marijuana in the patients, which differs from most other drug-related hospital visits. According to USA Today, “At least 18 states outlawed the substances and the Drug Enforcement Administration instituted an emergency ban. In July, Congress banned sales of K2, Spice and other synthetic drugs under the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act.”

The Hill (12/5, Viebeck) reports in its “Healthwatch” blog that, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, “Synthetic marijuana can cause vomiting, seizures, hallucinations and paranoid behavior on a level that lands people in the hospital.” The Hill adds, “Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA), who is behind a law that bans the drug’s chemical ingredients, hailed the study” detailing the dangers of synthetic marijuana. The story was also covered by HealthDay (12/5, Mozes) and by CBS News (12/5, Castillo).

Related Links:

— “Report: Synthetic pot sends thousands to hospital, “Donna Leinwand Leger, USA Today, December 4, 2012.

On its website, Salon (12/5, Lennard) reports that Yale University, using national administrative data from the Housing and Urban Development-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) program, discovered that the majority of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan veterans who reported combat exposure, have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and “do not receive any” Veterans Affairs-service connected disability. Yale’s study, according to Salon, “assessed nearly 100 Iraq and Afghanistan vets.”

Related Links:

— “Majority of homeless Iraq and Afghanistan vets have PTSD, “Natasha Lennard, Salon, December 4, 2012.

Reuters (12/5, Seaman) reports that according to a study published online Dec. 3 in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, one in five adolescents whose parent has died of cancer may self-harm either by burning or cutting themselves. In contrast, only one in 10 adolescents with both parents living will engage in such behavior.

MedPage Today (12/5, Bankhead) reports that the study “authors identified several factors that had statistically significant associations with self-injury in both groups: female sex — OR 3.2; bullying before age 13 — OR 2.8; physical/sexual abuse — OR 6.5; low family cohesion — OR 3.2; no one to share joys/sorrows — OR 1.8; any childhood psychiatric morbidity — OR 9.0; deliberately harming others during a menstrual period — OR 2.9; attempted suicide/endangering own life — OR 6.0; [and] self-injury prior to 2000 — OR 11.7.” Researchers arrived at these conclusions after reviewing “government records of individuals born in Sweden from 1936 to 1973 and who died of cancer during 2000 through 2003.”

Related Links:

— “After parent’s cancer death, one in five kids self-injure, ” Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, December 5, 2012.

The Boston Globe (12/4) reports, “Since 2002, the government’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has funded about $57.7 million in scientific research into meditation, according to statistics provided by the office,” and “last April, the International Symposia for Contemplative Studies, a first-ever conference of researchers, scholars, and students in the field, drew 720 participants from all over the world.” While earlier research “focused on the health benefits of stress reduction from meditation,” recently “neuroscientists…have begun using magnetic resonance imaging to show that meditation can make actual structural changes in the brain.” For example, one imaging study conducted in 2005 found that people who meditate had more gray matter in areas of the brain involved in sensory processing and attention. A 2012 study found that meditation increases gyrification in the brain.

Related Links:

— “The effectiveness in meditation to treat an array of illnesses has led to studies of how meditation can change the brain, “Jan Brogan, Boston.com, November 25, 2012.

NBC Nightly News (12/3, story 7, 1:20, Williams) reported, “There is news tonight on a topic that has been in the news a lot of late — the connection between repeated concussions and long-term degenerative brain disease.”

The CBS Evening News (12/3, story 3, 2:30, Pelley) reported, “Scientists studied 85 brains, most from professional athletes, and 68 of them showed signs of damage.”

USA Today (12/4, Mihoces) reported, “John Mackey and Ollie Matson, Pro Football Hall of Famers, are among 33 deceased NFL players diagnosed in a new study with a brain disease linked to concussions. But the study also reports early-stage cases some who only played high school football.” The authors of the study “say that sounds an alarm that must be heard at the youth level of football and other sports with head impacts.”

The Boston Globe (12/3, Kotz) reported, “Published Monday by Boston University School of Medicine researchers, the study [pdf] reports on the autopsies of 85 brain donors, most of them professional athletes.” The study “provides new insight into an Alzheimer’s-like condition, called chronic traumatic encephalopathy [CTE], that is thought to be caused by repeat concussions or blows to the head.”

Related Links:

— “NFL brain study involves former high school players, “Gary Mihoces, USA Today, December 3, 2012.