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Twenty thousand soldiers who seek help each year at Army substance-abuse clinics encounter a program in such disarray that thousands who need treatment are turned away and more than two dozen others linked to poor care have spiraled into suicide, a USA TODAY investigation has found.

The Army's transfer of substance-abuse outpatient treatment from medical to non-medical leadership in 2010 has led to substandard care, the mass exodus of veteran personnel and the hiring of unqualified clinic directors and counselors, according to senior Army clinical staff members and records obtained by USA TODAY.

The indoor air quality in nursing homes has a serious effect on the lung health of elderly residents, according to the findings of a new study.

The study, which is published online in the European Respiratory Journal, is the first to detail the negative effects of poor air quality in nursing homes across several countries.

Researchers from the EU-funded GERIE research project collected data on five indoor air pollutants: PM10, PM0.1, formaldehyde, NO2 and O3. These pollutants come from a range of sources including heaters, building materials, furniture, cleaning products, disinfectants and cooling systems. They objectively assessed levels of the pollutants in 50 different nursing homes in seven countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and Sweden).

A total of 600 residents aged over 65 years (82 years in mean) were used in the study. Each participant underwent a number of clinical tests including lung function testing and a health questionnaire.

The results showed that exposure to high levels of PM10 and NO2 was significantly associated with breathlessness and cough. High levels of PM0.1 were associated with wheeze during the last year and high concentrations of formaldehyde were linked with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The associations were even seen with moderate concentrations of indoor air pollutants that did not exceed the existing international guidelines. The findings were also enhanced in homes with poor ventilation and in residents over the age of 80.

Children in the United States are on drugs for longer and more often than kids in any other country. And for children on Medicaid or in foster care, the numbers are far higher. In Kentucky, for example, a child in the Medicaid program is nearly three times as likely to be prescribed a mind-altering psychotropic medication as a kid under private insurance. For a Kentucky foster child, the likelihood is nearly nine times the norm.

Kentucky is hardly alone in overprescribing psychotropics, a class of drugs that ranges from stimulants to antidepressants and antipsychotics. Between 1997 and 2006, American prescriptions for antipsychotics increased somewhere between sevenfold and twelvefold, according to a report by the University of Maryland. And just as in Kentucky, the nationwide numbers for children in foster systems or on Medicaid are startlingly higher than for other children. An average of 4.8 percent of privately insured children are prescribed these drugs every year; among kids on Medicaid, the number is 7.3 percent, according to the most recent study, which looked across 10 states. For children in foster care, it’s a whopping 26.6 percent.

Because of better mental health care and campus services, more young adults with a mental health diagnosis are attending college than ever. According to the 2013 National Survey of College Counseling Centers, 88% of college counseling directors reported a steady increase in students arriving on campus already on psychiatric medication. What parents need to know is that with strategies crafted in advance and monitored from afar, teens with a mental illness can thrive in college and beyond.

Like Skoch, many freshmen with a diagnosis arrive at college without any mental health care in place, said Nance Roy, clinical director of the Jed Foundation, a nonprofit that advocates for the emotional health and suicide prevention of college students. Skoch quickly sought out a therapist, but many students fail to ask for help until their illnesses compromise their academics and/or emotional well-being.

Roy urges parents to be proactive: Once a teen selects a college, contact the counseling office to find a psychologist and a psychiatrist on campus or nearby. Then schedule an introductory appointment for soon after the child's arrival. She also suggests having your teen sign a medical release before leaving for college. Otherwise, once he or she turns 18, you will not be able to access his or her health information unless there is a crisis.

People who've been diagnosed with severe mental illnesses are from three to ten times more likely to become victims of violent and non-violent crimes than members of the general population, according to a study in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

The research team interviewed 361 psychiatric patients using the national crime survey questionnaire, and compared the findings with 3,138 people from the general population who'd completed a similar survey.

In the previous year, 40% of the patients had been a victim of a crime, compared to 14% of the control group. About 19% of the patients had been violently assaulted, compared to just 3% of the general population, a six-fold difference. Women with mental illnesses, the researchers wrote, were particularly vulnerable, having "four-, ten- and four-fold increases in the odds of experiencing domestic, community and sexual violence, respectively."

The findings from the National Center for Heath Statistics (NCHS) report state that the age-adjusted rate of deaths involving heroin increased from 0.7 deaths per 100,000 to 2.7 per 100,000 during this period, with the majority of this rise occurring after 2010.

Drug poisoning (overdosing) is the number one cause of injury-related death in the US. In 2013, a total of 43,982 deaths across the country were attributed to drug poisoning.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), in 2011, around 4.2 million Americans aged 12 and above (1.6% of the population) had used heroin at least once in their lives. Experts believe that almost a quarter (23%) of individuals that use heroin go on to develop a dependency on the drug.

There was also a regional shift in where drug-poisoning deaths involving heroin were most prevalent. While increases were observed in all regions of the US, the biggest increase was found in the Midwest region, where death rates grew to almost 11 times the number - from 0.4 to 4.3 per 100,000 - between 2000 and 2013. In 2000, the Northeast and West regions had the highest rates.