HEALTH CARE POLICY: Behavioral Health Insurance Passes Economics Test
A large, nationwide study suggests that employer-based health insurance can cover behavioral health services at the same level as other medical services without breaking the bank. The study, published in the March 30 New England Journal of Medicine and led by researchers at the University of Maryland and HMS, supports the case for parity in behavioral health coverage, which has long been sought by mental health advocates. But there’s a catch: in this study, whose authors include (clockwise from top left) Haiden Huskamp, Sharon-Lise Normand, Vanessa Azzone, and Richard Frank, parity went hand-in-hand with managed care, a cost-control system that has been controversial in the behavioral health community.

NEUROSCIENCE: Enzyme Traced to Two Alzheimer’s Pathways
For decades, scientists have struggled to find a single molecular lesion that would generate both amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles, the archetypal protein aggregates of Alzheimer’s disease. In the March 23 Nature, Kun Ping Lu (front right) and (clockwise from left) Xiao Zhen Zhou, Jormay Lim, Martin Balastik, and Greg Finn, among other colleagues, report that in mice, loss of the enzyme Pin1 causes a gradual accumulation of Abeta 42, the major plaque component. Lu and colleagues also demonstrated several years ago that Pin1 is needed to prevent neurofibrillary tangles and neurodegeneration. Taken together, the data suggest that loss of Pin1 activity may be sufficient to recapitulate the major pathological disruptions of Alzheimer’s.

PUBLIC HEALTH: Sex Hormone Arms Men, Harms Women Facing Diabetes
Higher levels of testosterone correspond to a lower risk of type 2 diabetes in men, but pose a higher risk for women, according to a comprehensive analysis of the world’s available evidence. The study, by Eric Ding (on right), Vasanti Malik, and colleagues, appears in the March 15 Journal of the American Medical Association. The results clarify a sex discrepancy in the scientific literature and set the stage for researchers to investigate how sex hormones differentially influence and predict type 2 diabetes and its complications in women and men. The study method, known as a systematic review, is a cornerstone of evidence-based medicine.