The CBS News (6/12, Firger) website reported that “some experts say it’s past time to start thinking about mass violence as a public health crisis.” Instead of “just continuing to debate gun reform and the failings of the mental health system, they say the way to stop the cycle is to treat gun violence as a disease and involve health care workers in combatting it.”

In April 2013, JAMA Internal Medicine published an article stating: “The secretary of Health and Human Services, the Surgeon General, the director of the CDC, and the director of the CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control should be allowed to protect the public health by working to reduce injuries and deaths from firearms, in the same way that they work to reduce injuries and deaths from poisonings, motor vehicle traffic accidents, and falls.”

Related Links:

— “Is gun violence a public health issue?,” Jessica Firgir, CBS News, June 11, 2014.

Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), in a piece for The Hill (6/11), calls for a much larger research program on Alzheimer’s, citing a study conducted by researchers at Rush University Medical Center finding that it “is now likely the third leading cause of death in the U.S.” Collins points out that NIH “will spend just $566 million” researching the disease in 2015, and offers a bipartisan resolution she authored with Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) setting a “target of $2 billion a year in funding for research as recommended by the experts on the federal Alzheimer’s Advisory Council.”

Related Links:

— “Alzheimer’s becoming the defining disease of baby boom generation,” Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine), The Hill, June 11, 2014.

TIME (6/11, Abrams) reports that a study conducted by researchers at Northwestern University ties student loan debt to hypertension “as well as poor self-reported mental and general health.” For the study, investigators examined “the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, which allowed them to analyze previously existing conditions of debt and health in” some 8,400 young adults. The study’s lead author, Elizabeth Sweet, now “plans to conduct a five-year study funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities to further explore the ways various types of debt can impact physical and mental health.”

Related Links:

— “How Student Loan Debt Hurts Your Health,” Abby Abrams, Time, June 11, 2014.

Medwire (6/12, Cowen) reports that according to a review published online June 7 in the Journal of Affective Disorders, “patients with bipolar disorder [BD] and comorbid alcohol and substance use disorders are twice as likely to attempt suicide as those without such comorbidity.” Researchers arrived at that conclusion after having “reviewed data from 29 studies comprising 31,294 individuals with bipolar disorder, 6308 (20.1%) of whom had attempted suicide.”

Related Links:

— “Alcohol, substance abuse doubles suicide risk in bipolar disorder,” Lauren Cowen, Medwire, June 12, 2014.

Medwire (6/12, Cowen) reports that according to a study published online June 5 in the Schizophrenia Bulletin, “childhood residential mobility is associated with an increased risk of psychotic disorders, particularly schizophrenia, during adulthood.” After calculating “the number of moves between any of the 276 Danish municipalities during each year from birth to age 15 years for approximately 1.1 million individuals born between 1971 and 1991,” then following people up until December 2010, researchers found that youngsters “who move several times and those who move during adolescence may be particularly vulnerable, report Diana Paksarian,” of the National Institute of Mental Health, and colleagues.

Related Links:

— “Moving during childhood linked to increased schizophrenia risk,” Lauren Cow3n, Medwire, June 12, 2014.