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Latest News Around the Web

Justice Department Memo Directs Enforcement Of Administration Policies Regarding Select Procedures For Transgender-Identifying Minors

CNN (4/23, Gannon, Perez ) reports, “Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday issued a memo of directives to Justice Department employees to enforce the Trump administration’s policies targeting gender-affirmingcare for minors.” The memo, CNN says, “specifically targets the medical community, saying that it has given families ‘misleading advice,’ when seeking the help of medical professionals for this type of care.” CNN adds that “major mainstream medical associations” – including the American Psychiatric Association, American Medical Association, American Academy of Pediatrics, among others – “have affirmed the practice of gender-affirming care.”

Related Links:

— “Attorney general directs Justice Department employees to enforce policies targeting care for transgender minors,” Casey Gannon and Evan Perez, CNN, April 23, 2025

Alzheimer’s Researchers Await Renewal Of Federal Funding

CNN (4/24, Howard ) reports that 14 of 35 Alzheimer’s Disease Research Centers had their funding halted by the NIH last month as the Trump Administration stopped $65 million in funding for research. About a dozen Alzheimer’s disease research centers “are still waiting for their federal funding to be renewed, said Dr. Michael Greicius, professor of neurology and neurological sciences at the Stanford University School of Medicine, whose Alzheimer’s center is among those awaiting a decision.”

Greicius and his colleagues “had to hold off on starting research projects because they didn’t know whether there will be funding coming in.” HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon explained in an email Thursday that the NIH is “committed to advancing groundbreaking research in Alzheimer’s disease. However, we also have a responsibility to ensure that all grant proposals align with the established policies.”

Related Links:

— “Uncertainty around NIH funding leaves Alzheimer’s studies in limbo,” Jacqueline Howard, CNN, April 24, 2025

Female patients who enter menopause early may face greater age-related cognitive decline

HealthDay (4/23, Thompson ) reports a study found that “women who entered menopause before 40 had a greater cognitive decline than women who entered menopause after 50.” Researchers observed that “women who entered menopause early tended to experience a more dramatic decline in their thinking and memory skills than those whose menopause occurred in middle-age.” They noted the link “remained even after researchers accounted for the potential effect of depression on the women’s brain health.” Furthermore, “women who entered menopause at the more usual time of life wound up with better cognitive function than men of the same age, researchers found.” The study was published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia.

Related Links:

— “Early Menopause Might Mean Greater Age-Related Brain Decline,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, April 23, 2025

Oral Varenicline Plus Behavioral Counseling Effective At Helping Teenage And Young Adult Patients Quit E-Cigarettes, Study Finds

STAT (4/23, Todd , Subscription Publication) reports a study found that “using the oral pill varenicline in combination with behavioral counseling is the most effective way for young people” to quit e-cigarettes. In the study, half of participants ages 16 to 25 who took varenicline for 12 weeks “were able to abstain from e-cigarettes for the last month of that period, compared to 14% of the placebo group. After a total of six months, 28% of people in the varenicline group were still vape-free, compared to 7% of the placebo group.” Although the study was fairly small, its authors believe it “to be the first trial of a vaping cessation medication in young people.” Its findings can have “significant implications for how pediatricians and school health care providers treat nicotine addiction.” The study was published in JAMA.

Related Links:

— “Many young people want to quit vaping. A new study says medication can help,” Sarah Todd, STAT, April 23, 2025

Anxiety, Depression Rates Among Children Rose From 2016 To 2022, Data Show

HealthDay (4/23, Thompson ) reports 10.6% of children “suffered from anxiety in 2022, up from 7.1% in 2016,” and “depression among children increased to 4.6% from 3.2%” during the same period, according to researchers who analyzed National Survey of Children’s Health data. The results – published as a research letter in JAMA Pediatrics – “showed that some physical maladies among children decreased even as their mood disorders rose.”

Related Links:

— “Mood Disorders Have Increased Among Kids, Teens,” Dennis Thompson, HealthDay, April 23, 2025

Foundation News

New Foundation Radio Spot Looks at Maryland’s Extreme Risk Protection Order

More than 2/3 of people who die from guns in the United States have their own finger on the trigger. A gun in the home increases the chance of a suicide there by three fold. The Maryland Extreme Risk Protection Order seeks to help mitigate that. This new radio spot from the Foundation examines how the order allows family, police, and clinicians to petition a judge to temporarily remove guns from the home of someone who is at risk for using them to harm themselves or others.

Gun Suicide Risk and Maryland LawGun Suicide Risk and Maryland Law, MP3, 1.1MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.

Foundation Radio PSA Examines Child and Teen Adolescent Health

Among children and teens the rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide have been surging for over a decade and made severely worse by the pandemic. The latest radio spot from the Foundation examines how suicide is now the second leading cause of death among children aged 10-14 and the rise in emergency room visits for young people has become a national emergency. The Foundation asks you to reach out to your local and state legislators to urge funding for mental health help for our youth.

Child and Adolescent Mental HealthChild and Adolescent Mental Health, MP3, 1.2MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.

Carolyn Im to Receive MFP Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award

The 2023 Maryland Foundation for Psychiatry (MFP) Anti-Stigma Advocacy Prize will be awarded to Carolyn Im for her A Piece of My Mind in JAMA, “Major Developments During Medical School” published October 25, 2022.

She very effectively articulates some of the adjustments medical students with recurrent depression might have to make.  She encourages students to seek psychiatric help when needed and points out that dealing with mental health issues can foster personal growth and make us better physicians.

The Anti-Stigma Advocacy Award carries a $500 prize and will be formally presented at the Maryland Psychiatric Society annual meeting on April 20.

The Foundation established this annual prize for a worthy media piece, preferably local or regional, that accomplishes one or more of the following:

  • Shares with the public their experience with mental illness in themselves, a family member, or simply in the community.
  • Helps others to overcome their inability to talk about mental illness or their own mental illness.
  • Imparts particularly insightful observations on the general subject of mental illness.

Click here for information about past winners.

Foundation Radio Spot Examines the Rise of Telehealth Due to Pandemic

Every dark cloud has a silver lining. Even the COVID-19 pandemic has seen some positive consequences for mental health care. A new radio spot from the Foundation examines the rise of Telehealth during days of lockdown and stress over the past few years, including increased acceptance by insurance companies in the wake of the U.S. government declaring a national mental health crisis.

Telehealth in the COVID-19 AgeTelehealth in the COVID-19 Age, MP3, 1.3MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.

New Foundation Radio Spot Notes Women’s Health In Jeopardy

It’s not easy to be a woman these days. Women’s health is especially in jeopardy, particularly for those who are pregnant. A new radio spot from the Foundation examines studies about women denied reproductive choice have significantly worse mental health, and other studies about women jailed for drug addiction and more.

Women’s HealthcareWomen’s Healthcare, MP3, 1.3MB

You can listen to the ad using the player in the upper right of the website’s homepage. All past public service spots are also available for listening or to download on our Radio Advertisements page.