Nearly a quarter of Labrador retrievers are more likely to be obese due to a genetic “double-whammy,” a new study finds. This gene mutation causes Labradors to both feel hungry all the time and also burn fewer calories, British researchers report. The mutation involves a gene called POMC, which plays a critical role in hunger and energy use among Labs. About 25% of Labradors and 66% of flat-coated retriever dogs have this POMC mutation, which causes increased interest in food, researchers said. Specifically, it makes them hungrier in between meals, even though they don’t need to eat more to feel full at mealtime. “We found that a mutation in the POMC gene seems to make dogs hungrier. Affected dogs tend to overeat because they get hungry between meals more quickly than dogs without the mutation,” said study author Eleanor Raffan, a researcher in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Physiology, Development and Neuroscience. Dogs with the POMC mutation also tend to burn about 25% less energy at rest than dogs without it, the researchers added. That means they should consume fewer calories to maintain a healthy body weight. “Dogs with this genetic mutation face a double whammy: They not only want to eat more, but also need fewer calories because they’re not burning them off as fast,” Raffan said in a university news release. The…  read on >  read on >

When it comes to giving at-risk Americans access to the mental health services they need, prevention is far better than detention, new research confirms. However, a majority of the 950 U.S. counties surveyed in the report do not offer access to the types of mental health and substance use disorder services that can save communities money and prevent incarceration. “Most counties offer only a tiny fraction of the community services that are necessary to keep people out of jail,” said study author Jennifer Johnson, a professor of public health at Michigan State University. “We’re hoping that by publishing this article, county administrators will look at the list of services that they don’t yet offer and try to make them happen,” Johnson added in a university news release. Her team surveyed the availability of 59 mental health practices that are known to help at-risk folks stay healthy. The survey asked people representing the counties studied if such programs might be accessible “to people interacting with police, 911, courts, jails, probation or parole.” The results were disappointing. For example, only about 29% of counties offered permanent supportive housing to people with mental health conditions, while even fewer (about 27%) offered what’s know as assertive community treatment. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, assertive community treatment is “treatment, rehabilitation and support services using a person-centered,…  read on >  read on >

Air pollution harms the health of everyone exposed to it, but a new study says communities of color are disproportionately harmed by dirty air. Smog causes nearly 8 times higher childhood asthma rates and 1.3 times higher risk of premature death among minority communities compared to white communities, researchers found. These elevated risks are a matter of geography, said study co-author Gaige Kerr, a senior research scientist with the George Washington University School of Public Health. “Redlining and systemic racism have resulted in the least white areas of the U.S. being located near factories, congested roadways or shipping routes with heavily polluted air,” Kerr said in a university news release. For this study, the researchers tracked health problems linked to two forms of air pollution –- the nitrogen dioxide typically spewed by traffic and the fine particulate soot produced by vehicles and industry. To do this, they combined U.S. Census Bureau data with NASA satellite scans to estimate pollution concentrations and their affect on human health. Nitrogen dioxide can irritate the lungs and trigger asthma attacks, researchers said in background notes. Fine particulate matter can lodge deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream, raising the risk of a number of different diseases that include heart disease, lung cancer and stroke. Overall, an estimated 49,400 premature deaths and nearly 115,000 new cases of childhood asthma…  read on >  read on >

Menopause is thought to trigger mood changes among women, with changes in female hormone levels contributing to anxiety, depression and stress. However, a new study says some women are at more risk than others for menopause-linked mental health issues, and many escape them altogether. There’s no evidence that menopause causes a universal rise in risk for mental health conditions like depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder or psychosis, researchers concluded March 5 in The Lancet journal. Instead, certain groups of women are more likely to have mental health problems during menopause — those with previous depression or depressive symptoms, those whose sleep is disturbed by nighttime hot flashes, and those who had a stressful life event around the time of menopause. “We have a negative media image about menopause, but without looking at someone’s mental health prior to menopause, it’s very challenging to understand what might be biologically related to menopause as opposed to life stage or life trajectory,” said co-senior study author Dr. Hadine Joffe, interim chair of psychiatry at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. “Clinicians need to think about what happened before, because depression might be coincident with menopause but unrelated,” Joffee added in a hospital news release. Menopause can last four to ten years, and tends to begins around age 47, researchers said in background notes. Menopause is thought of as emotionally taxing…  read on >  read on >