The Washington Post (2/25, Hicks, Wiggins) reports that on Thursday, hundreds of people advocating “for mental health and substance abuse treatment rallied in Annapolis…for something Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is pushing to tame: automatic spending increases.” The advocates “gathered outside the State House to support legislation that would tie the state’s behavioral-health funding to the rate of inflation for medical costs.” The bill would mandate that spending “be increased by nearly $17 million during the first year of implementation, with additional hikes during subsequent years.”

Related Links:

— “Hundreds attend Md. rally for mental-health, drug-treatment funding,” Josh Hicks and Ovetta Wiggins, Washington Post, February 25, 2016.

STAT (2/25, Samuel) reports that often individuals “choose, deliberately or unconsciously, romantic partners similar to themselves.” Now, according to the findings of a study published online Feb. 24 in JAMA Psychiatry, “that extends to people with mental disorders, including schizophrenia and autism.”

Researchers arrived at this conclusion after analyzing “the records of 700,000 individuals who had been diagnosed with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression, anxiety, agoraphobia, social phobia, obsessive-compulsive disorder, anorexia, or substance abuse,” then assessing “how often these diagnoses correlated with that person’s spouse or partner having either the same psychiatric condition or a different psychiatric condition.”

Related Links:

— “In marriage, those with mental disorders seek out similar partners,” Leah Samuel, STAT, February 25, 2016.

In an op-ed in the Washington Post (2/24, Lane), opinion writer Charles Lane writes, “According to an analysis” of euthanasia cases “from 2011 to 2014” published Feb. 10 in JAMA Psychiatry by psychiatrist Scott Kim, MD, PhD, of the National Institutes of Health, and colleagues, psychiatric patients in the Netherlands “were often euthanized despite disagreement among consulting physicians as to whether they met legal criteria” for euthanasia under that country’s laws.

What’s more, “in 37 cases, patients refused possibly beneficial treatment, and” physicians went ahead anyway, while “in seven cases, doctors did not seek an independent psychiatric evaluation, contrary to recommendations by the Dutch Psychiatric Association.”

According to Lane, these findings undermine “the very notion of a ‘voluntary and well-considered’ request for death from a patient who is, by definition, cognitively and/or emotionally troubled.”

Related Links:

— “Where the prescription for autism can be death,” Charles Lane, Washington Post, February 24, 2016.

HealthDay (2/24) reports that “exercising the mind and body may delay the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease…but in most people it does not slow underlying brain changes linked to the disease,” the findings of a 400-participant study published online Feb. 24 in Neurology suggest. In the study, participants “underwent brain scans to check for signs of Alzheimer’s disease and were also asked about their mental and physical activity levels.”

Researchers did find, however, that in the subset of participants who have the APOE4 gene, “people who had high education levels and who had continued to learn throughout their lives had less amyloid plaque, compared to those with high education levels who did not continue to challenge their mind.”

Related Links:

— “Active Mind, Body May Only Do So Much Against Alzheimer’s,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 24, 2016.

According to the New York Daily News (2/23, Cutler), a new report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Tuesday that “cigarette smoking is at an all-time low” as “only 15.3% of American adults now light up – down from 16.8% in 2014 and 24.7% in 1997.” According to experts, “Americans are butting out because of the high cost of cigarettes and thanks to fewer legal places to smoke.”

Related Links:

— “Cigarette smoking at an all-time low among American adults ,” Jacqueline Cutler, New York Daily News, February 23, 2016.

HealthDay (2/23, Norton) reports, “Rates of” attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (AD/HD) “have risen globally, and adults’ unreasonable expectations of young children could be one reason why,” a research letter published online Feb. 22 in JAMA Pediatrics suggests. The study authors “point to evidence that the rise in” AD/HD “diagnoses coincided with ever-growing demands on young children’s attention and focus.”

Related Links:

— “Could Adults’ Expectations Drive Up ADHD Diagnoses in Kids?,” Amy Norton, HealthDay, February 23, 2016.

Reuters (2/22, Seaman) reports that parental anxiety while expecting or during the earliest parts of children’s lives may be associated with fussy eating in preschoolers. The findings of the large study were published Feb. 22 in Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Related Links:

— “Parents’ anxiety, depression may lead to kids being fussy eaters,” Andrew M. Seaman, Reuters, February 22, 2016.

The New York Magazine (2/23, Carpenter) reports on the growing number of apps designed to help people with mental health disorders. For individuals “dealing with mental-health issues involving addiction or abuse or self-harm,” however, “an app can’t make up for in-person check-ins.” Still, such apps may help provide access to some form of mental health treatment. Currently, “more than half” of US counties “are entirely without mental-health professionals, according to the director of the National Institute of Mental Health.”

Related Links:

— “Uber, But for the Mirror Stage: How Mental-Health Apps Are Changing Therapy,” Julia Carpenter, New York Magazine, February 22, 2016.

HealthDay (2/19, Preidt) reported, “Children with autism and other development disorders are more likely than other youngsters to wander and put themselves in potential danger,” a study published in PLoS One suggests. After having “analyzed data from a 2011 US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey of parents and guardians of more than 4,000 children with special needs who were between the ages of six and 17,” investigators found that “more than 26 percent of the children had wandered away from a safe environment within the previous 12 months.”

Related Links:

— “Kids With Autism More Likely to Wander, Less Likely to Recognize Danger,” Robert Preidt, HealthDay, February 19, 2016.

Medical Daily (2/20, Castillo) reported that a study published online Feb. 10 in the journal Appetite “suggests habitual chocolate consumption is positively associated with cognitive performance”.

Related Links:

— “Health Benefits Of Chocolate: Habitual Consumption ‘Positively Associated’ With Brain Function,” Stephanie Castillo, Medical Daily, February 20, 2016.