On its website, MSNBC (1/22, Khimm) examines how “the Obamacare wars” between Republicans and Democrats “hurt” individuals with mental illnesses. When states like Georgia, profiled in the piece, refuse to expand Medicaid under the law, safety net hospitals are “caught in the middle.” They don’t get new Medicaid funding, “yet they’ll see a cumulative $18 billion reduction in federal payments by 2020.” Moreover, the article explains, “as the fiscal pressures mount, mental health services for low-income residents are especially vulnerable to cutbacks.”

Related Links:

— “How the Obamacare wars hurt the mentally ill, “Suzy Khimm, MSNBC, January 24, 2014.

The AP (1/18) reported that the FDA “on Friday cleared a first-of-a-kind blood test that can help diagnose mental disabilities in babies by analyzing their genetic code.” It approved the CytoScan Dx Assay from Affymetrix that “is designed to help doctors diagnose children’s disabilities earlier” for better care, but “it is not intended for prenatal screening or for predicting other genetically acquired diseases and conditions.” The test “detects variations in patients’ chromosomes that are linked to Down syndrome, DiGeorge syndrome and other developmental disorders” and is described as “faster” and “more comprehensive” than existing tests.

The New York Times (1/20, Span) reports in its “New Old Age” blog on the results of a study by two researchers from Boston College that found “those who report having endured childhood maltreatment are particularly vulnerable to depression if they later care for their parents.” The study divided 1,001 participants into three groups: never abused, abused as children and caring for their non-abusive parent, and abused as children and caring for the abusive parent. The last group had significantly more deleterious effects.

Related Links:

— “A Risk in Caring for Abusive Parents, “Paula Span, The New York Times, January 20, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (1/21, Healy) reports that research published in Annals of Internal Medicine suggests that individuals “who have ready access to a firearm are almost twice as likely to be killed and three times likelier to commit suicide than those without a gun available in the home or from a neighbor or friend.” Investigators analyzed data from 14 observational studies.

On its website, NBC News (1/21, Fox) reports that the data indicated that “the odds of suicide went up by anywhere from 1.5 times to 10-fold if people had access to guns.” Meanwhile, “studies looking at homicide found that if people had access to guns, they were two to three times more likely to be killed themselves.”

Related Links:

— “Study takes new look at gun access and risk of homicide, suicide, “Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, January 20, 2014.

The Los Angeles Times (1/16, Zarembo) “Science Now” blog reports that according to astudy published online Jan. 15 in JAMA Psychiatry, “people who suffer traumatic brain injuries [TBI] face an elevated risk of death from suicide or accidents for years to come.” The study, which is “based on four decades of data on hundreds of thousand of patients in Sweden,” found that individuals “who survived the immediate aftermath of moderate and severe traumatic brain injuries were three times more likely than people without such injuries to die prematurely, defined by the researchers as before age 56.”

Related Links:

— “Survivors of traumatic brain injuries more likely to die young, “Alan Zarembo, Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2014.

One national news broadcast, several major newspapers, one wire source, and numerous consumer online medical sources report a study suggesting that mental decline is associated with heavy drinking in middle-aged men.

ABC World News (1/15, story 8, 1:40, Sawyer) reported that a study published online Jan. 15 in the journal Neurology “shows that beer and wine speeds up memory loss, but it seems only if you drink a certain amount.”

The Los Angeles Times (1/15, Healy) reports, “Middle-aged men who consume an average of more than 2½ alcoholic drinks per day accelerate the rate at which their memories decline by almost six years over a 10-year span,” the study found. What’s more, “while a higher consumption of spirits such as vodka, gin, whiskey or scotch was linked to the fastest rates of mental decline in men, researchers saw little difference between the cognitive loss seen in heavy beer drinkers (who drank more than 2½ 12-ounce beers per day) and that seen in men who quaffed a half-bottle of wine or more per day.”

Related Links:

— “Heavy drinking in middle age speeds cognitive decline, study finds, “Melissa Healy, Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2014.

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.

The Boston Globe (1/13, Lazar) reports on a “first-of-its kind study” scheduled for release today that finds positive effects to “brain training drills” lasting up to ten years. The study analyzed data from “roughly 2,800 participants” who were given sessions of brain training, 74% of whom showed continuing improvement at the decade mark.

Reuters (1/13, Steenhuysen) reports that the results are slated for publication in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

Related Links:

— “Study finds long-lasting results from brain exercises, “Kay Lazar, The Boston Globe, January 13, 2014.