Articles imported from Science News Daily: Dog News
Neurotoxocarosis (NT) occurs in humans when larvae of the Toxocara roundworm migrate into the central nervous system. That infection is accompanied by a complex molecular signaling cascade, including changes to anti-inflammatory lipid molecules, researchers now report.
The World Health Organization has made it a goal to eliminate human rabies deaths due to dog bites by the year 2030. An increase in dog rabies vaccination rates decreases dog rabies cases, human exposure, and human deaths, researchers now report.
An evolutionary biologist has spent more than three decades studying the skulls of many species of large carnivores -- including wolves, lions and tigers -- that lived from 50,000 years ago to the present. She reports today the answer to a puzzling question.
Dog welfare campaigns that tell people to be 'responsible owners' don't help to promote behaviour change, a new report suggests. Dog owners interviewed for a study all considered themselves to be responsible owners, despite there being great variation in key aspects of their dog-owning behavior.
Researchers have found that dogs can suffer from the same type of autoimmune encephalitis that people do. The finding could lead to better screening methods for diagnosis and possibly more effective treatments for canine encephalitis.
Cats have a reputation for being aloof and independent. But a study of the way domestic cats respond to their caregivers suggests that their socio-cognitive abilities and the depth of their human attachments have been underestimated. The findings show that, much like children and dogs, pet cats form secure and insecure bonds with their human caretakers.
A new study reports that the prevalence of overweight dogs is markedly larger among overweight owners than among normal weight owners. Part of the explanation lies in whether treats are used as training tools or ''hygge-snacks''.
A change in diet is a go-to strategy for treating inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's. In dogs with a similar illness, researchers tracked specific changes in the microbiome as the pets went into remission. The team's findings, which mirror what is seen in children with Crohn's, could inform the design of improved therapeutic diets.
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Researchers have detected a potentially human-infective microbe in pet dogs in Nigeria.
An extensive international survey indicates that pet owners do not consider raw food to considerably increase infection risk in their household. In the survey, targeted at pet owners, raw food was reliably determined to be a contaminant only in three households.
Researchers have found the companionship of a pet after the loss of a spouse can help reduce feelings of depression and loneliness in older adults.
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Dog brain structure varies across breeds and is correlated with specific behaviors, according to new research published in JNeurosci. These findings show how, by selectively breeding for certain behaviors, humans have shaped the brains of their best friends.
Animal-assisted therapy has many benefits in health care. Yet, its biological and psychosocial effects in the military are unknown, especially for injured, airlifted patients. Researchers teamed up with a non-profit animal organization that trains therapy dogs to see if an animal-assisted intervention could reduce stress in this setting. Results showed that levels of the stress biomarkers cortisol, alpha-amylase, and immunoglobulin A, significantly decreased after a 20-minute intervention with the dogs, regardless of post-traumatic stress symptom severity.
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We are all familiar with the sounds of a cat or dog vying for human attention, and for pet-owners, these sounds are particularly evocative. Dog sounds are especially sad to both cat and dog owners, who actually rate a whimpering dog as sounding as sad as a crying baby.
Like many women who develop a particular type of breast cancer, the same gene -- HER2 -- also appears to be the cause of lung cancer in many dogs. Researchers found that neratinib -- a drug that has successfully been used to battle human breast cancer -- might also work for many of the nearly 40,000 dogs in the US that annually develop the most common type of canine lung cancer, known as CPAC.
Law enforcement K-9s face the same dangers their human handlers confront. Recognizing a gap in care for law enforcement K-9s injured on the job, a team of veterinarians, emergency medical services experts and canine handlers has developed protocols for emergency medical service personnel who may be called upon to help treat and transport the injured dogs.
Emotional Support Animals (ESAs) are showing up in places previously understood to be animal-free. The growing trend includes 'certifying' animals to provide emotional assistance to a person with a diagnosable mental condition or emotional disorder. New research outlines the ethical challenge and offers possible solutions to better serve both people who feel they need ESAs and those who must comply with the animals.
The most detailed study to date of ancient predators trapped in the La Brea Tar Pits is helping Americans understand why today we're dealing with coyotes dumping over garbage cans and not saber-toothed cats ripping our arms off.
Wolves are charismatic, conspicuous, and easy to single out as the top predator affecting populations of elk, deer, and other prey animals. However, a new study has found that the secretive cougar is actually the main predator influencing the movement of elk across the winter range of northern Yellowstone National Park.
Scientists describe the evolutionary dynamics of a sexually transmitted cancer affecting dogs, which arose in a single ancient animal, living as much as 8.5 millennia ago. The findings provide fresh insights into disease evolution relevant to human cancer study and treatment.
A contagious canine cancer that conquered the world by spreading between dogs during mating likely arose around 6,000 years ago in Asia and spread around the globe through maritime activities, scientists say.
RNA -- the short-lived transcripts of genes -- from the 'Tumat puppy', a wolf of the Pleistocene era has been isolated, and its sequence analyzed in a new study. The results establish the possibility of examining a range of RNA transcripts from ancient organisms, a possibility previously thought extremely unlikely because of RNA's short lifespan.
A bone cancer known as osteosarcoma is genetically similar in dogs and human children, according to the results of a new study. The findings could help break the logjam in the treatment of this deadly disease, which hasn't seen a significant medical breakthrough in nearly three decades.
Researchers have accessed data on more than 19 million cats and have learned that most cats continue to put on weight as they age.
New research shows that inbreeding depression, the result of breeding closely-related individuals, reduces litter sizes in purebred golden retrievers.
