McClatchy (3/29, Hotakainen) reports that US Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), who chairs the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, “has begun an investigation into whether military hospitals across the country are denying treatment to service members with post-traumatic stress disorder because of cost considerations.” Meanwhile, “the Army already is conducting at least three separate probes amid disclosures that the Madigan Army Medical Center on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Murray’s home state of Washington has reversed hundreds of PTSD diagnoses for patients who were up for medical retirement. Murray’s office said last week that a review of PTSD cases dating to 2007 found that 290 of 690 diagnoses — more than 40 percent — had been reversed by a medical screening team.”

Houston VA Hospital Looking For Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans For Study Of PTSD. The Houston Chronicle (3/29, Wise) “Armed Sources” blog reports, “Researchers at the Michael E. DeBakey VA Medical Center and Baylor College of Medicine are looking to recruit 40 to 50 Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans to participate” in a post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) “funded by a grant from the VA Rehabilitation Research and Development Program.” The study “will evaluate how psychotherapy treatment changes neural functioning in veterans with PTSD.” Veterans, who “will be compensated $10 per hour for interviews and $20 per hour” for taking part in the study, “will play computer games while inside a functional magnetic resonance imaging” (fMRI) machine.

Related Links:

— “Senate begins probe of Army’s handling of PTSD cases,”Rob Hotakainen , McClatchy Newspapers, March 28, 2012.

The AP (3/26) reports, “The aging of the massive post-World War II baby boom generation in the US is casting light on early onset dementia, a sorrowful subset of younger people experiencing a slow, cruel overtaking of their minds.” Approximately “200,000 Americans under 65 are among the 5.4 million Americans suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.” The AP adds, “Experts’ estimates suggest there’s a similar number of younger people with other types of dementia, meaning about a half-million Americans, some as young as their 30s, suffer from early-onset or younger-onset dementia.”

Related Links:

— “Dementia’s youngest victims often defy stereotypes,”AP, USA Today, March 24, 2012.

Medscape (3/20, Lowry) reported, “A recent episode of the news program 60 Minutes featuring psychologist Irving Kirsch, PhD, and his book The Emperor’s New Drugs, which claims there is no effective difference between antidepressant medications and placebo, is not just wrong ‘but irresponsible and dangerous reporting,’ according to the American Psychiatric Association (APA).” APA president John Oldham, MD, asserts, “Antidepressants do work, particularly for patients with major depression.”

The Boston Globe (3/19, Conaboy) reports, “Dr. Danny McCormick of Cambridge Health Alliance and his colleagues faced criticism this month when they published a study saying that electronic health records may not be a panacea for skyrocketing costs that many had hoped for.” According to the Boston Globe, “a chorus of critics said the study was outdated, because systems have come a long way since 2008 and now include tools to help providers decide when a particular test is necessary.” But, “McCormick and colleagues disputed their critics’ main points,” and wrote, “While the proportion of outpatient physicians utilizing health IT has grown since 2008…we are unaware of any ‘game changing’ health IT developments in the past four years that…would produce substantially different results if the study were repeated today.”

Related Links:

— “Scientists stand firm on health IT study,”Chelsea Conaboy, The Boston Globe, March 19, 2012.

Bloomberg News (3/20, Lopatto) reports, “Shock therapy, in use since 1937, appears to tamp down an overactive connection between two parts of the brain involved in emotional processing, thinking and concentration, according to a study released…by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.” Shock therapy “mimics a seizure, sending a brief electric current to the brain. ECT has the strongest supporting data among treatments for patients whose depression doesn’t respond to medication, according to the American Psychiatric Association.”

HealthDay (3/20, Storrs) reports that investigators “used functional MRI scans to look at brain activity in nine adults with severe depression before and after electroshock therapy.” The researchers “found that electroshock, or electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), dampens the connections between different areas of the brain in depressed people.” Also covering the story are Reuters (3/20, Kelland), BBC News (3/20), and the UK’s Daily Mail (3/20, Allen).

Related Links:

— “Shock Therapy’s Effect on Depression Discovered, Researchers Say,”Elizabeth Lopatto, Bloomberg, March 19, 2012.