The AP (4/22, Arbel) reports, “Recognizing that many Americans rely on texting, U.S. regulators are weighing whether to require that phone companies allow people to text a suicide hotline.” The Federal Communications Commission “last summer voted to require a new ‘988’ number for people to call to reach a suicide-prevention hotline.” Phone companies “have until July 2022 to implement it.”

Related Links:

— “Texting option weighed for upcoming ’988′ suicide hotline “Tali Arbel, AP, April 22, 2021

HealthDay (4/22) reports autism spectrum disorder (ASD) “appears to develop differently in girls and boys, so the findings of research conducted mainly with boys might not apply to girls,” investigators concluded in a study using “functional MRI…to examine brain activity during social interactions.” The study revealed that “girls with autism use different sections of their brains than girls without autism.” Researchers also found that “girls with autism had much larger numbers of rare variants of genes active during early development of a brain region called the striatum.” The findings were published online in the journal Brain.

Related Links:

— “Brain Study Suggests Autism Develops Differently in Girls Than Boys “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, April 22, 2021

HealthDay (4/21, Norton) reports researchers found the COVID-19 pandemic has stopped many people in the US from receiving treatment for opioid addiction, “possibly contributing to the national surge in overdose deaths.” The findings were published in JAMA Network Open.

Related Links:

— “Pandemic Has Blocked Access to Treatment for Many Americans Hooked on Opioids ” Amy Norton, HealthDay, April 21, 2021

The Hill (4/21, Marcos) reports the House “easily passed legislation on Wednesday to extend a ban on copycats of fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, that is set to expire on May 6 without congressional action.” Lawmakers “passed the bill by voice vote to extend through Oct. 22 the federal government’s ability to regulate fentanyl analogues as one of the most strictly controlled drugs with no accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse.”

Related Links:

— “House votes to extend ban on fentanyl-like substances “Cristina Marcos, The Hill, April 21, 2021

MedPage Today (4/21, Grant) reports, “Children as young as 9 years old have an increased risk of major depressive disorder and other psychopathologies if one or more generations in their family were also affected, an analysis of Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study data showed.” Parent reports showed that “the weighted prevalence of depressive disorder in children ages 9 to 11 years was 3.8% for those with no family history of depression, 5.5% for children who had a depressed grandparent but no depressed parent, and 10.4% for those who only had an affected parent.” Furthermore, “this trend was similar for a range of other psychiatric disorders, including all anxiety-related disorders.” The findings were published in JAMA Psychiatry.

Related Links:

— MedPage Today (requires login and subscription)