protein DHA for puppies/kittens and no fillers artificial ingredients or byproducts (Packaged Facts 2014). 6. In 2013 more households had dogs than children with 39 percent of households having a dog
and 32 percent of households having children (Packaged Facts 2014). 7. The Paleo Diet has created a new sector of ancestral foods reflective of earlier diets of canines
and felines that are focused on the high quality of proteins and grains in pet food. 8. 53 percent of dogs and 58 percent of cats are overweight causing the need for functional and therapeutic pet food (APOP 2013). 9. 51 percent
of dog owners and 44 percent of cat owners believe that made in the U s. is a very important package claim as fear of contamination
and product safety is a large concern among pet owners (Packaged Facts 2014. Read the article in Food technology:
http://www. ift. org/food technology/past-issues/2014/july/features/specialtymarkets. aspxstory Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Institute of Food Technologists (IFT.
and Institute for Genomic Biology director Gene Robinson who performed the new analysis together with entomology graduate student Marsha Wheeler.
#Transplanting gene into injured hearts creates biological pacemakerscardiologists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have developed a minimally invasive gene transplant procedure that changes unspecialized heart cells into biological pacemaker cells
pacemakers. In the United states an estimated 300000 patients receive pacemakers every year. We have been able for the first time to create a biological pacemaker using minimally invasive methods
and to show that the biological pacemaker supports the demands of daily life said Eduardo Marbã¡
n MD Phd director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute who led the research team.
We also are the first to reprogram a heart cell in a living animal in order to effectively cure a disease.
but who suffer side effects such as infection of the leads that connect the device to the heart from implanted mechanical pacemakers.
n on biological pacemaker research team said that in the future pacemaker cells also could help infants born with congenital heart block.
Babies still in the womb cannot have a pacemaker but we hope to work with fetal medicine specialists to create a lifesaving catheter-based treatment for infants diagnosed with congenital heart block Cingolani said.
Originally we thought that biological pacemaker cells could be a temporary bridge therapy for patients who had an infection in the implanted pacemaker area Marbã¡
#Transplanting gene into injured hearts creates biological pacemakerscardiologists at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute have developed a minimally invasive gene transplant procedure that changes unspecialized heart cells into biological pacemaker cells
pacemakers. In the United states an estimated 300000 patients receive pacemakers every year. We have been able for the first time to create a biological pacemaker using minimally invasive methods
and to show that the biological pacemaker supports the demands of daily life said Eduardo Marbã¡
n MD Phd director of the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute who led the research team.
We also are the first to reprogram a heart cell in a living animal in order to effectively cure a disease.
but who suffer side effects such as infection of the leads that connect the device to the heart from implanted mechanical pacemakers.
n on biological pacemaker research team said that in the future pacemaker cells also could help infants born with congenital heart block.
Babies still in the womb cannot have a pacemaker but we hope to work with fetal medicine specialists to create a lifesaving catheter-based treatment for infants diagnosed with congenital heart block Cingolani said.
Originally we thought that biological pacemaker cells could be a temporary bridge therapy for patients who had an infection in the implanted pacemaker area Marbã¡
Two CT-scanned Siberian mammoth calves yield trove of insightsct scans of two newborn woolly mammoths recovered from the Siberian Arctic are revealing previously inaccessible details about the early development of prehistoric pachyderms.
Lyuba's full-body CT scan which used an industrial scanner at a Ford testing facility in Michigan was the first of its kind for any mammoth.
This is the first time anyone's been able to do a comparative study of the skeletal development of two baby mammoths of known age said University of Michigan paleontologist Daniel Fisher.
Lyuba was found by reindeer herders in May 2007 on the banks of the Yuribei River on the Yamal Peninsula in northwest Siberia.
Ravens and possibly arctic foxes scavenged exposed portions of her carcass including parts of the trunk and skull and the fat hump that likely covered the back of her neck.
But because of Lyuba's size (about 110 pounds and slightly smaller than a baby elephant) the researchers could not acquire 3-D data from her entire body.
Micro-CT scans of teeth from both mammoth calves were conducted at the University of Michigan School of dentistry.
The dental studies also indicate that both mammoths were born in the spring. Scans of Khroma's skull showed she had a brain slightly smaller than that of a newborn elephant
which hints at the possibility of a shorter gestation period for mammoths. Lyuba's skull is conspicuously narrower than Khroma's
and her upper jawbones are more slender while Khroma's shoulder blades and foot bones are developed more.
These two exquisitely preserved baby mammoths are like two snapshots in time. We can use them to understand how factors like location
and age influenced the way mammoths grew into the huge adults that captivate us today said co-author Zachary T. Calamari of the American Museum of Natural history who began investigating mammoths as a U-M undergraduate working with Fisher.
and the two mammoths mother and daughter plunged into the river. A fall would account for the fractured spinal column revealed by Khroma's CT scan as well as the mud she inhaled.
Bernard Buigues of the International Mammoth Committee in France; Frederic Lacombat of the Musee de Paleontologie de Chilhac in France;
The retinal beta-amyloid plaque findings and optical imaging technology began at Cedars-Sinai with studies in live rodents
or soap might not be ape friendly and the situation appears likely to get even worse according to an analysis in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on July 10.
The growing demand for vegetable oil has led already to the conversion of Southeast Asian forest into oil palm plantations bringing trouble for orangutans in particular.
If guidelines are not put in place very soon researchers say the spread of those large-scale industrial plantations from Asia into Africa will be bad news for great apes there as well.
Oil palm concessions that have already been given to companies for production in Africa show almost 60%overlap with the distribution of great ape species the new analysis finds.
Of the area suitable for growing oil palm in Africa there is a 42%overlap with great ape habitat.
Now that companies are looking to Africa we wanted to determine how large the potential threat to African ape species is.
The new analysis shows that the oil palm industry presents a significant threat to apes all across Africa.
which is the only home to the peaceful chimpanzee relatives known as bonobos. In each of those nations approximately 80%of the area suitable for oil palm growth overlaps with ape habitat.
There is an urgent need to develop guidelines for the expansion of oil palm in Africa to minimize the negative effects on apes
and other wildlife Wich and colleagues write. There is also a need for research to support land use decisions to reconcile economic development great ape conservation and the avoidance of carbon emissions.
For people looking to do something about the palm oil problem themselves now is the time to start the researchers say.
#Hunting gives deer-damaged forests in state parks a shot at recoveryregulated deer hunts in Indiana state parks have helped restore the health of forests suffering from decades of damage caused by overabundant populations of white-tailed deer
and wildflowers rendered scarce by browsing deer. Jenkins said that while hunting may be unpopular with some it is an effective means of promoting the growth and richness of Indiana's natural areas.
But by the 1990s white-tailed deer populations in parks had swelled to such size that many species of native wildflowers such as trillium
and exotic species such as garlic mustard and Japanese stiltgrass plants not favored by deer. Oak and ash tree seedlings gave way to highly deer-resistant or unpalatable trees such as pawpaw.
The health of deer in state parks also dwindled as their food sources shrank. To check the overabundant deer populations the DNR introduced controlled hunts in state parks in 1993 with most parks adopting the strategy by 1996.
Hunting in natural areas is said controversial Jenkins. But when deer are overabundant they start to have undeniable negative impacts on the ecosystem.
Working with Christopher Webster a Michigan Tech University professor and Purdue alumnus Jenkins and then-master's student Lindsay Jenkins (no relation) tested the effectiveness of the hunting program by comparing the amount of plant
cover in 108 plots in state parks and historically hunted areas with 1996-97 levels.
With heavy populations of deer tree seedlings often don't have a chance to survive he said.
The deer management program is having a clear beneficial impact on Indiana parks and could serve as a good example for nature preserves with overabundant deer in other states.
Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Purdue University. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.
Only five plants have been collected from two sites in Mexico's western Chihuahua state. Its status is data deficient
The first species is weed a widespread from northern Chihuahua and west Texas to central Arizona and New mexico.
and flavoring material can reverse the biomechanical cellular and anatomical changes that occur in the brains of mice with Parkinsonâ##s disease (PD).
and improves motor functions in mice with PD. This research was supported by grants from National institutes of health. â#oenow we need to translate this finding to the clinic and test ground cinnamon in patients with PD.
#Ancient hedgehog and tapir once inhabited British Columbiathe Earth has experienced many dramatic changes in climate
This is illustrated by a study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology that describes an ancient hedgehog
and tapir that lived in what is now Driftwood Canyon Provincial Park British columbia some 52 million years ago.
Within Canada the only other fossil localities yielding mammals of similar age are from the Arctic so these fossils from British columbia help fill a significant geographic gap said Dr. Natalia Rybczynski of the Canadian Museum of Nature
The ancient hedgehog is a species hitherto unknown to science. It is named Silvacola acares which means tiny forest dweller
since this minute hedgehog likely had a body length of only 2 to 2. 5 inches.
Modern hedgehogs and their relatives are restricted to Europe Asia and Africa. The other mammal discovered at the site Heptodon is an ancient relative of modern tapirs
which resemble small rhinos with no horns and a short mobile trunk or proboscis. Heptodon was about half the size of today's tapirs
and it lacked the short trunk that occurs on later species and their living cousins.
Based upon its teeth it was probably a leaf-eater which fits nicely with the rainforest environment indicated by the fossil plants at Driftwood Canyon said Dr. Jaelyn Eberle of the University of Colorado lead author of the study.
But no fossils of mammals had ever before been identified at the site. The fieldwork that resulted in these discovered was supported by Natural sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
The discovery in northern British columbia of an early cousin to tapirs is intriguing because today's tapirs live in the tropics.
Its occurrence alongside a diversity of fossil plants that indicates a rainforest supports an idea put forward by others that tapirs
and their extinct kin are good indicators of dense forests and high precipitation said Eberle.
and Australian species. Discovering mammals allows us to paint a more complete picture of this lost world said Dr. David Greenwood of Brandon University a co-author of the study.
Although it has been known for over 100 years that vertebrates apart from mammals detect light deep inside their brains the true nature of the key photoreceptor has remained to be a mystery up until now.
which is regulated by photoperiod says Professor Yoshimura who led the study small mammals and birds tend to breed during the spring
In most mammals including humans eyes are the exclusive photoreceptor organs. Rhodopsin and rhodopsin family proteins in our eyes detect light
On the other hand vertebrates apart from mammals receive light directly inside their brains and sense the changes in day length.
and also revealed the possibility that this fungus could produce harmful metabolites that were previously unknown in this species. The researchers then tested the strain on mice where the fungus showed an ability to cause lethal infections
in squirrels and passerines it was lower and in partridges it was low. Authors highlight that carbon
and Research Project Office Morgan Simpson of NASA Ground Processing Directorate and Ray Wheeler Ph d. of the Surface Systems office in NASA's Engineering and Technology Directorate also provided guidance
#Grass-in-the-ear technique sets new trend in chimp etiquette: Chimpanzees spontaneously copy arbitrary behaviorchimpanzees are copycats
and in the process they form new traditions that are often particular to only one specific group of these primates.
Such are the findings of an international group of scientists who waded through over 700 hours of video footage to understand how it came about that one chimpanzee stuck a piece of grass in her ear
and started a new trend and others soon followed suit. The findings of the study led by Edwin van Leeuwen of the Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics in The netherlands are published in Springer's journal Animal Cognition.
In 2010 van Leeuwen first noticed how a female chimp named Julie repeatedly put a stiff strawlike blade of grass for no apparent reason in one or both of her ears.
On subsequent visits van Leeuwen saw that other chimpanzees in her group had started to do the same.
The research team including Zambians who monitor the chimpanzees daily collected and analyzed 740 hours of footage that had been shot during the course of a year of 94 chimpanzees living in four different social groups in the sanctuary.
Only two of these groups could see one another. The research team found that only one of the four groups regularly performed this so-called grass-in-the-ear behavior.
In one other group one chimpanzee once did the same. Eight of the twelve chimpanzees in Julie's group repeatedly did so.
The first to copy her was her son Jack followed by Kathy Miracle and Val with
Generally at least two of the chimps put grass in their ear at the same time. Interestingly the chimpanzees Kathy and Val kept up the custom even after Julie the original inventor of this behavior died.
The observations show that there's nothing random about individual chimpanzees sticking grass into their ears.
They spontaneously copied the arbitrary behavior from a group member. Chimpanzees have a tendency to learn from one another--clearly a case of monkey see monkey do in fact.
Van Leeuwen suggests that those animals that find a specific behavior somehow rewarding will continue to do
so on their own even if the chimpanzee they have learned it from is no longer around. This reflects chimpanzees'proclivity to actively investigate
and learn from group members'behaviors in order to obtain biologically relevant information says van Leeuwen. The fact that these behaviors can be arbitrary
and outlast the originator speaks to the cultural potential of chimpanzees. Story Source: The above story is provided based on materials by Springer Science+Business Media.
whilst badgers form part of the environmental reservoir they only play a relatively minor role in the transmission of infection.
The first Kangaroo grass gives a high protein diet at high temperatures and a high carbohydrate diet at low temperatures.
Consequently locusts raised on Kangaroo grass reach a larger size at low temperatures but locusts that are fed wheat are larger at high temperatures.
Following a meal of Kangaroo grass the locusts seek shady places such as behind grass stalks
As mammals are warm-blooded animals that maintain a constant body temperature it is unlikely that temperature overtly affects the nutrient quality of their diets.
However there is some evidence that rodents may increase their body temperature to reduce the toxicity of compounds found in some plant leaves.
Nearly half of the world's threatened endemic tropical mammal bird and plant species are found in 27 developing counties that the World bank now classifies as having reached upper middle income (UMI) status. UMI countries
As early as 1968 the Malaysian federal government recommended establishing a wildlife reserve in Belum-Temengor to protect its populations of Asian elephants Malaysian tigers Sumatran rhinoceroses and other large mammals against poaching and logging.
Other co-authors include David Bell from the University of Wyoming Dewayne Fox from Delaware State university
Previous studies by Eberle and colleagues showed the fauna there included ancestors of tapirs hippo-like creatures crocodiles and giant tortoises.
Our study was motivated by the need for effective strategies that will enable small-scale growers who do not have access to drills to grow uniform
In vegetable and strawberry systems in the central coast region of California grain drills are used commonly by medium-to large-scale farms
#Some dogs and cats prone to sunburn: How to protect your animal from skin damageexcessive sunbathing damages the skin.
Dogs and cats with white or thin coats are at particular risk as are animals with very closely shorn fur
For dogs and cats this applies in particular to those parts of the skin that are exposed regularly to the sun. These include the ears the bridge of the nose the skin around the eyes
The Dogo Argentino breed white bulldogs Dalmatians boxers whippets beagles and white or multicoloured cats with white patches have skin that is very sensitive to light especially on their heads.
Hairless dogs and cats are naturally more sensitive to the sun since they lack the natural sun protection fur affords.
â#oenot every white dog or white cat needs sunscreen or clothing to protect it from the sun
or even actual skin tumours. â#oewe sometimes see squamous cell carcinoma on the heads of white outdoor cats as the result of chronic sun exposure.
Many mammals in mountain environments also respond to daily changes in temperature by moving to different altitudes following their preferred temperature range
The small rodents such as voles and lemmings benefit from this says Dr Jepsen while it appears that reindeer use the heavily defoliated areas less.
This is based on counting of the various animal droppings. In severely defoliated areas we found increased amounts of small-rodent excrement
and less from reindeer Insect outbreaks mean browner sub-arcticseveral studies in recent years have pointed to the greening of the Arctic due to a warming climate.
But this change is occurring to a greater extent in low and high-Arctic tundra areas and less so in subarctic forests.
Specifically the study results using mice genetically engineered to mimic Alzheimer's disease suggest that Lavado cocoa extract prevents the protein Î-amyloid-(AÎ) from gradually forming sticky clumps in the brain
and reversing damage to synapses in the study mice. There have been some inconsistencies in medical literature regarding the potential benefit of cocoa polyphenols on cognitive function says Dr. Pasinetti.
Grasslands especially in agricultural landscapes also provide tremendous benefits to humans through erosion reduction and water filtration as well as offering habitat to numerous grassland-obligate species from black-footed ferrets to Dakota skippers.
The report identifies important secure habitats and landscape connections for five species--bull trout westslope cutthroat trout grizzly bears wolverines and mountain goats.
#Africas poison apple provides common ground for saving elephants, raising livestockwhile African wildlife often run afoul of ranchers
however that certain wild African animals particularly elephants could be a boon to human-raised livestock because of their voracious appetite for the Sodom apple.
A five-year study led by Princeton university researchers found that elephants and impalas among other wild animals can not only safely gorge themselves on the plant
but can efficiently regulate its otherwise explosive growth according to a report in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Without elephants ripping the plant from the ground
and beneficial for the survival of African elephants explained first author Robert Pringle a Princeton assistant professor of ecology and evolutionary biology.
Similarly Princeton researchers published two studies in 2011 that showed that allowing livestock to graze with wild animals such as zebras greatly improved the quality of the domesticated animals'diet.
whose main interest is cattle to say'Maybe I do want elephants on my land.'
'Elephants have a reputation as destructive but they may be playing a role in keeping pastures grassy.
Elephants and impalas can withstand S. campylacanthum's poison because they belong to a class of herbivores known as browsers that subsist on woody plants and shrubs many species
On the other hand grazers such as cows sheep and zebras primarily eat grass which is rarely poisonous. These animals easily succumb to the Sodom apple.
As more African savanna is converted into pasture the proliferation of the Sodom apple may only get worse Pringle said which means that the presence of elephants to eat it may become more vital to the ecosystem and livestock.
but had no role in it said that beyond removing the Sodom apple animals such as elephants
In this case the effect of large mammals such as elephants and impalas on the Sodom apple population--and perhaps the populations of other plants--is unlikely to be duplicated by another animal species the researchers found.
Doing these experiments in the kind of environment like you have in Kenya is really challenging--keeping elephants out of anything is really a huge challenge.
Elephants impalas and a taste for Solanumpringle was roughly three years into a study about the effects of elephants on plant diversity
another where only elephants were excluded; one in which elephants and impalas were excluded; and another off limits to all animals.
It was in the sites that excluded elephants and impala that the Sodom apple particularly flourished Pringle said which defied everything he knew about the plant.
This study was really fortuitous. I had thought always that these fruits were horrible and toxic but when
The researchers specifically observed the foraging activity of elephants impalas small-dog-sized antelopes known as dik-diks and rodents.
In the plots closed to elephants that average increased to three fruits per plant. When both impala and elephants were kept away the average jumped to around 50 fruits per plant
and fruits were more likely to be eaten by insects rather than dik-diks or rodents.
There is a catch to the elephants'and impalas'appetite for the Sodom apple: When fruit goes in one end seeds come out the other.
Though some seeds are destroyed during digestion most reemerge and are potentially able to germinate. Pringle and Tarnita developed a mathematical model to conduct a sort of cost-benefit analysis of how the Sodom apple's ability to proliferate is affected by being eaten.
While elephants ate an enormous amount of Solanum seeds they also often destroyed the entire plant ripping it out of the ground and stuffing the whole bush into their mouths.
The model showed that to offset the damage an elephant wreaks on a plant 80 percent of the seeds the animal eats would have to emerge from it unscathed.
although it is theoretically possible for elephants to benefit the plant that outcome is extremely unlikely.
A single brown bat will eat its body mass equivalent in insects in one summer night Cornelison said.
In collaboration with University of California-Davis he found the bacteria prevented the spread of fungi on bat skin without touching the skin.
Cornelison's research is funded by the U s. Forest Service and Bat Conservation International. Story Source:
In the study the researchers showed that the tetracycline gene construct also works in Drosophila the fruit fly lab rat of the insect world that is a distant cousin of the sheep blowfly.
Why cattle, pigs are even-toedduring evolutionary diversification of vertebrate limbs the number of toes in even-toed ungulates such as cattle
Scientists at the University of Basel have identified a gene regulatory switch that was key to evolutionary adaption of limbs in ungulates.
The fossil record shows that the first primitive even-toed ungulates had legs with five toes (digits) just like modern mice and humans.
To this aim they compared the activity of genes in mouse and cattle embryos which control the development of fingers and toes during embryonic development.
in mouse embryos the so-called Hox gene transcription factors are distributed asymmetrically in the limb buds which is crucial to the correct patterning of the distal skeleton.
and other even-toed ungulates says Developmental Geneticist Prof. Rolf Zeller. Loss of asymmetry preceded the reduction
and loss of digitsthe scientists in the Department of Biomedicine then focused their attention on the Sonic Hedgehog (SHH) signaling pathway as it controls Hox gene expression and the development of five fingers and toes in mice and humans.
They discovered that the gene expression in limb buds of cattle embryos is altered such that the cells giving rise to the distal skeleton fail to express the Hedgehog receptor called Patched1.
The identified genetic alterations affecting this regulatory switch offer unprecedented molecular insights into how the limbs of even-toed ungulates diverged from those of other mammals roughly 55 million years ago explains Rolf Zeller.
and other even-toed ungulates while it remained fully functional in some vertebrates such as mice and humans.
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