The AP (6/1, Golen) reports, “Researchers are moving ahead with efforts to develop a diagnostic test for chronic traumatic encephalopathy – even without the NFL’s help.” Researchers gathered on Wednesday at the Boston University School of Medicine “for the start of a seven-year, $16 million research project designed to find a test for CTE and identify its risk factors.” The DIAGNOSE CTE project “had originally been set to receive money that the NFL earmarked for concussion research” but the league’s “complaints about Boston University researchers led the National Institutes of Health to pay for it with other funds.”

The Boston Globe (6/2, Lazar) reports that the DIAGNOSE CTE study “will be the largest to date of living former football players and includes 240 men ages 45 to 74.” Researchers “say findings from the seven-year study, paid for by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, might be used to help veterans with brain injuries and others who suffer repetitive head traumas.” The researchers “pledge to share their data monthly with researchers around the world.”

Related Links:

— “Can brain damage be found in retired football players?,” Kay Lazar, Boston Globe, June 1, 2016.

Medical Daily (5/31, Bushak) reports, “Maintaining a social media presence that depicts a lifestyle that revolves around drinking and partying may predict future drinking problems among college students,” the findings of a study published in the June issue of the Journal of Health Communication: International Perspectives suggest.

In the study, which included 364 undergraduate students over the age of 18, researchers found that “a social media account that detailed a student’s drinking escapades was more closely correlated to alcoholism than simply having a drink.” The National Institutes of Health has found that “four in five college students drink alcohol, half of whom take part in binge-drinking,” Medical Daily adds.

Related Links:

— “Social Media Can Help Us Spot College Students With Potential For Drinking Problems,” Lecia Bushak, Medical Daily, May 31, 2016.

The Tampa Bay (FL) Times (5/30, Neuhaus) reports that research “published online in a journal produced by the American Psychiatric Association” suggests “the VA is up to 30 percent better at providing medication to veteran patients than the private sector is for its patients.” This “was largely due to the VA’s ability to provide a one-stop shop for timely medication to patients with appropriate follow-up care, like therapy and blood-level checks to ensure proper medication dosages.”

The Times points out that “Dr. Katherine Watkins, a primary author of the study at the RAND Corporation, said the study compared more than 830,000 veterans against 545,000 non-veterans.” The study “compared data from veterans and patients in the private sector who were being treated for five mental health disorders: schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, PTSD, major depression and substance abuse disorders.”

Related Links:

— “Study finds that VA treats PTSD better than the private sector,” Les Neuhaus, Tampa Bay (FL) Times, May 30, 2016.

Reuters (5/26, Rapaport) reports that early puberty and breast development in girls in comparison to their peers may be tied to an increased risk of depression. The findings of the 5,800-child study were published online May 26 in Pediatrics.

Related Links:

— “Girls’ early puberty and breast development tied to depression,” Lisa Rapaport, Reuters, May 26, 2016.

HealthDay (5/26, Preidt) reports, “Heavy drinking may fuel the risk of suicide among men when the economy is sinking,” research published in the July issue of Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests. Researchers arrived at the study’s conclusions after analyzing “data from 16 states to compare alcohol use between suicide victims and the general population in 2005-2007, during the 2008-2009 recession, and again in 2010-2011.”

Related Links:

— “Tough Economy, Alcohol Fuels Suicide Risk in Men: Study,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, May 26, 2016.