ArcaMax

The mental health crisis that seems to be afflicting many of us has found a new target: our best friends. Veterinarians across the country report rising prescriptions of Prozac for dogs, along with various mood stabilizers for separation anxiety, socialization fears, biting habits or other problematic behaviors.

The phenomenon reflects the ready availability of inexpensive generic medicines and our own mindfulness -- or lack thereof. "The human world has become more attuned to mental health," said veterinarian Melissa Bain. "When we start to recognize things in humans, we recognize it in our dogs too."

Analysts expect the global market for canine psych medicines to continue growing from roughly $11.6 billion in 2019 to more than $18 billion by 2027.

Body of Knowledge

The temple is a juncture where four skull bones meet. It's also the thinnest part of the skull, but it provides cover for a major artery that supplies blood to the outer covering of the brain -- the meninges.

Get Me That, Stat!

The suicide rate among college athletes has doubled from 7.6% in 2002 to 15.3% in 2022, according to research published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It's grown so fast that suicide is not the second-most common cause of death in this population after accidents. Division I and II athletes died by suicide at higher rates than those in Division III.

Counts

1 in 7: Number of women in states with abortion bans who say that either they or someone they know has had difficulty accessing an abortion since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. (Source: KFF Health News)

Stories for the Waiting Room

Long COVID-19 rates are starting to flatten, leveling off at roughly 1 in 10 people infected by COVID-19. That's lower than the 3 in 10 people surveyed earlier who said they experienced brain fog, fatigue and other lingering symptoms after their initial illness. An estimated 17 million adults are currently living with long COVID-19, roughly equivalent to the number of people who have cancer or coronary artery disease.

Doc Talk

Keratoconjunctivitis sicca: Persistent dryness of the eye

Mania of the Week

Gamomania: An obsession with making unusual, strange or extravagant marriage proposals

Never Say 'Diet'

The Major League Eating speed-eating record for sweet corn is 61.75 ears in 12 minutes, held by Carmen Cincotti, who could do no butter.

Best Medicine

Patient: "It's terrible. I think I'm a dog. I walk around on all fours. I bark in the middle of the night. I eat kibble."

Psychiatrist: "Very interesting. Please lie down on the couch."

Patient: "I'm not allowed on the couch."

Observation

"Psychiatry enables us to correct our faults by confessing our parents' shortcomings." -- Canadian educator and "Peter principle" inventor Laurence J. Peter (1919-1990)

Medical History

This week in 1903, Marie Curie went before the examination committee for her Ph.D. Later in the same year, she would be awarded a Nobel Prize for her research.

Ig Nobel Apprised

The Ig Nobel Prizes celebrate achievements that make people laugh, then think. A look at real science that's hard to take seriously and even harder to ignore.

In 2022, the Ig Nobel Prize in biology went to Solimary Garcia-Hernandez and Glauco Machado for studying whether and how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions.

Self-Exam

Q: Do any animals other than humans have chins?

A: No. Elephants are the only other creature with a body part similar to the chin, but it is caused by a lack of lower teeth and a big lower lip. It's not the bony protrusion characteristic of a real chin.

Medical Myths

Sinking into an icy tub after a hard workout seems like a good, albeit chilly, way to reduce inflammation. But not all inflammation is bad inflammation, and if you routinely resort to icy baths, you slow or stop the inflammation's repair process, which recruits various types of immune cells that regulate the activation, expansion and differentiation of muscle stem cells that lead to muscle regeneration.

So chill out sparingly. The same advice applies to anti-inflammatory medications like NSAIDs. Take them only when treating an injury.

Curtain Calls

In Buenos Aires in 1988, a poodle named Cachi fell 13 floors from a high-rise apartment, striking 75-year-old Marta Espina below. Both dog and woman died instantly. Nearby, 46-year-old Edith Sola stopped in the street when she saw the incident and was fatally hit by a bus. An unidentified man who witnessed her death had a heart attack and died on his way to the hospital.

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To find out more about Scott LaFee and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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