HealthDay (9/12, Dallas) reports a new study suggests brain chemistry may make “obese people…more vulnerable to environmental food cues than thin people.” The brain imaging study, published in the online edition of Molecular Psychiatry, included 43 men and women, and “found those who were obese had increased activity in the habit-forming part of their brain and reduced activity in the area that controls reward.”

Dr. Griffin Rodgers, director of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, said in an institute news release, “These findings point to the complexity of obesity and contribute to our understanding of how people with varying amounts of body fat process information about food.”

Related Links:

— “Obese People May Be More Vulnerable to Food Cues,” Mary Elizabeth Dallas, HealthDay, September 11, 2014.

The AP (9/11) reports on New Yorkers who are increasingly seeking treatment for the long-term psychological problems that arose after 9/11, most of whom rely on the New York City hospital system’s World Trade Center Environmental Health Center. The article details the delayed psychological effects of many 9/11 survivors, as well as the increase in enrollment in the program in the past five years.

“Even though it’s 13 years later, we’re really appreciating that there’s a long wake and legacy of the World Trade Center disaster,” said the program’s mental health director, Dr. Nomi Levy-Carrick. The AP also notes that the program’s Federal funding through the James L. Zadroga 9/11 Compensation Act is set to expire next year, although “New York legislators said this week” that they would propose extension legislation.

Related Links:

— “Seeking Help After Years of 9/11 Survivor Guilt,” Michael R. Sisak, Associated Press, September 11, 2014.

On its website, NPR (9/10) reports in its “Health” blog that middle-aged men are the group “emerging” as the group most likely to commit suicide, surpassing older men. According to the article, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that of 39,518 suicides in 2011, people aged 45-64 years had the highest rate, and with men more likely to commit suicide than women, the CDC “points to the need for more suicide prevention efforts aimed at men.”

Related Links:

— “Suicides Rise In Middle-Aged Men, And Older Men Remain At Risk,” Alison Bruzek, National Public Radio, September 10, 2014.

TIME (9/11, Luscombe) reports that research published online in Human Reproduction “suggests that not having children only makes infertile women unhappy if they are unable to let go of the idea of having kids.” The study included approximately 7,000 who had undergone fertility treatments. The women “were sent questionnaires about how they were doing and what caused the infertility and whether they had” children. The majority “of them were doing fine, except for about 6% who still wanted children even a decade or more after their last infertility treatment.”

HealthDay (9/11, Dallas) reports that the researchers found that the “prolonged longing for children was linked to worse mental health regardless of the health issues the women faced or the type of treatment they received.”

Related Links:

— “,” Belinda Luscombe, Time, September 10, 2014.

TIME (9/11, Oaklander) reports that research published in JAMA Psychiatry “found a positive association between the number of suicides on a particular day and the hours of sunshine—meaning sunny days saw more suicides.” Investigators “compared 69,462 suicides that occurred in Austria between 1970 and 2010 to hours of sunshine during that day.”

Newsweek (9/11, Bekiempis) reports that the researchers also found that “the effects of sunlight were not limited to the day of suicide along; a string of sunny days often ended in tragedy, according to the data in Austria.”

Related Links:

— “The Link Between Sunny Days and Suicide,” Mandy Oaklander, Time, September 10, 2014.