On its front page, the Wall Street Journal (1/15, A1, Ansberry, Subscription Publication) reports that 1.5 million people in the US simultaneously are dealing with a dual diagnosis of developmental disability and mental illness. What happens is that individuals with both conditions are rarely given proper, coordinated treatment and services. In the majority of states, counties oversee mental health treatment, whereas services developmental disability are coordinated by state governments. Ohio, however, is an exception, offering comprehensive, coordinated services to individuals with dual diagnoses.

Related Links:

— “Splintered System Often Fails Mentally Ill With Low IQs, “Clare Ansberry, The Wall Street Journal, January 14, 2014.

HealthDay (1/15, Preidt) reports that, according to a study published in the January issue of the journal Biological Psychiatry, “daughters exposed to their mother’s stress hormones in the womb may be more likely to become nicotine-dependent later in life.” After analyzing “data from 649 women and 437 men who were followed for 40 years after being born to mothers whose hormone levels and smoking status were recorded during pregnancy,” researchers found that “exposure to elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol in the womb and having a mother who smoked during pregnancy was linked to an increased likelihood that daughters, but not sons, would be at raised risk for nicotine dependence as adults.”

Related Links:

— “Smoking in Pregnancy Tied to Later Nicotine Addiction in Daughters, HealthDay , January 14, 2014.

HealthDay (1/15, Preidt) reports that according to studies published online in the journal Psychology of Men & Masculinity, adolescent “boys who think they’re too skinny are at increased risk for depression, and they’re more likely to be bullied and use steroids.” In the first “study, researchers analyzed data gathered from more than 2,100 boys who were about 16 years old in 1996 and followed for 13 years,” while in the second, investigators “analyzed data from a 2009 survey of more than 8,000 boys in grades nine through 12 across the United States.”

Related Links:

— “Teen Boys Who Think They’re Skinny May Be at Higher Risk for Depression, “Robert Preidt, HealthDay, January 14, 2014.