Articles imported from Science News Daily: Dog News
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Many dogs show empathy if their owner is in distress and will also try to help rescue them. Scientists have just tested whether there is truth in the notion that dogs have a prosocial and empathetic nature.
Researchers have found therapy dogs to be effective in reducing the symptoms of attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children.
In 2015, a New Delhi-metallo-beta-lactamase (NDM) Escherichia coli bacteria was discovered in two Finnish dogs. A new article reveals that the dogs' owner did also carry the bacterium. This is presumably the first time in the world that the transmission of NDM-bacteria between a dog and a human has been reported.
Researchers have successfully attached miniature radio transmitters to kissing bugs and tracked their movements. Also known as triatomine bugs, kissing bugs transmit the pathogen that causes Chagas disease in humans and animals. They typically move at night and hide during day, and uncovering their secretive movements could play a key role in reducing their impact as a disease vector.
Both dogs and humans can suffer from ichthyosis, a disorder in which the skin becomes very dry, scaly, and prone to secondary infections. Medical researchers have uncovered new details about one form of the disease and took a step toward developing a topical therapy.
A new study offers an enhanced view of the origins and ultimate fate of the first dogs in the Americas. The dogs were not domesticated North American wolves, as some have speculated, but likely followed their human counterparts over a land bridge that once connected North Asia and the Americas, the study found.
After wolves were reintroduced to Yellowstone National Park in the mid-1990s, some scientists thought the large predator reestablished a 'landscape of fear' that caused elk, the wolf's main prey, to avoid risky places where wolves killed them. But according to recent findings, Yellowstone's 'landscape of fear' is not as scary as first thought.
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Scientists demonstrated for the first time that horses integrate human facial expressions and voice tones to perceive human emotion, regardless of whether the person is familiar or not.
Dogs are capable of understanding the emotions behind an expression on a human face. This study is the latest to reveal just how connected dogs are with people. The research also provides evidence that dogs use different parts of their brains to process human emotions.
New research suggests that if people perceive the rise of vegetarianism as a threat to their way of life they are more likely to care less for some animals.
Research indicates that for wolves to be effective at directly reducing red deer numbers and allowing nature to recover in the Scottish Highlands they may need to be reintroduced to very large fenced reserve.
A new study shows how veterans with PTSD may benefit physiologically from using service dogs. This study used a physiological marker to define the biobehavioral effects of service dogs on veterans with PTSD.
Laurel wilt disease has had a devastating effect on the avocado industry in South Florida in past harvest seasons. Early detection can be instrumental in deterring a widespread infection. The use of scent-discriminating dogs has shown to offer the avocado industry legitimate signs of hope in their fight against the spread of the disease throughout their groves.
A new study sheds light on how people influence animal behavior. Researchers evaluated the behavior of search and rescue dogs and pet dogs when presented with the same problem-solving task. Both sets of dogs persisted at the task for about the same proportion of time, but the search and rescue dogs were more successful at solving the task when encouraged by their owners.
Dogs gravitate toward high-fat food, but cats pounce on carbohydrates with even greater enthusiasm, according to research into the dietary habits of America's two most popular pets.
Dogs are a potential reservoir for a future influenza pandemic, according to a new study. The study demonstrated that influenza virus can jump from pigs into canines and that influenza is becoming increasingly diverse in canines.
Research to improve our understanding of Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), and the development of new therapies, has previously relied on mouse models. However, physiological differences between the two species has limited how successfully findings in mice can be applied to humans. A newly developed rabbit model, created through the use of CRISPR/Cas-9 genome editing, exhibits greater clinical similarity to human patients than the mouse models currently in use, with huge potential to advance DMD research.
The persecution of wolves in order to remove them from human settlements has culminated in their near-disappearance in numerous European countries, like Spain and Sweden. Following a recovery of the species, a team of scientists has determined what geographic areas in the Scandinavian country would be most suitable for a redistribution of the specie's range, in the interests of increasing the social acceptance of wolves.
A new gene for canine congenital eye disease has been identified. Defective RBP4 leads to vitamin A deficiency and abnormal eye development during pregnancy. The study defines a novel recessive mode of maternal inheritance, which may underlie other types of birth defects.
The case for permethrin-treated clothing to prevent tick bites keeps getting stronger. In new experiments, clothing treated with an insecticide known as permethrin had strong toxic effects on three primary species of ticks known to spread disease-causing pathogens in the United States. Exposure to permethrin interfered with the ticks' ability to move properly, making them sluggish and likely interfering with their ability to bite.
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Researchers have recently published results identifying the major sources of E. coli breakouts on several beaches on Lake Michigan. They have also researched an effective method of reducing the breakouts and the resulting beach closings.
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Using museum specimens and fossil records, researchers have produced a comprehensive (and unprecedented) range history of coyotes that can help reveal the ecology of predation as well as evolution through hybridization.
Dogs born June through August are at higher risk of heart disease than those born other months, rising in July to 74 percent higher risk, according to a new study. A correlation to outdoor air pollution may be the culprit.
The 2018 report is out: two wolves, almost 1,500 moose and an ecosystem in transition. In its 60th year, the research conducted at Isle Royale National Park is the longest running predator-prey study of its kind.
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Canine researchers reveals more about the depth and origin of the human-dog relationship.
