Dogs can sniff out whether a human is stressed or relaxed, new research suggests, and that sensory feedback appears to influence canine emotions and choices. The dog doesn’t even have to know the human well to interpret odor in this way, the British researchers noted. “Dog owners know how attuned their pets are to their emotions, but here we show that even the odor of a stressed, unfamiliar human affects a dog’s emotional state, perception of rewards and ability to learn,” said study author Dr. Nicola Rooney. She’s a senior lecturer in wildlife and conservation at Bristol Veterinary School in Bristol, England. “Working dog handlers often describe stress traveling down the lead, but we’ve also shown it can also travel through the air,” she said in a university news release. Her team published its findings July 22 in the journal Scientific Reports. As the Bristol team noted, research has long pointed to scent as an important but perhaps under-appreciated form of emotional communication between people. Rooney’s group wondered if dogs, with olfactory senses that are so much more sophisticated than humans, might catch human emotions through smell, as well, and act accordingly. They constructed an elaborate experiment to find out. First, they trained dogs in a simple task: If a bowl was placed in one location, it invariably contained food. But if it was placed…  read on >  read on >

Spending time in nature can provide a boost for people with mental illness, a new review finds. Even as little as 10 minutes spent in a city park can improve a person’s symptoms, researchers found. The positive effects of nature approved particularly helpful for people with mood disorders like depression or bipolar disorder, results show. “We know nature plays an important role in human health, but behavioral health and health care providers often neglect to think about it as an intervention,” said lead researcher Joanna Bettmann, a professor at the University of Utah College of Social Work. For the review, researchers analyzed results from 45 studies involving nearly 1,500 people diagnosed with mental illnesses. The studies varied in structure, with some participants spending short amounts of time in a city park and others having multiple-day wilderness adventures. No matter how long people spent around nature, they always experienced positive results, results show. Results showed that water-based outdoor spaces — rivers, lakes and oceans — had the greatest positive effect. Camping, farming and gardening activities were the most beneficial. The new review was published recently in the journal Ecopsychology. “All of these different types of outdoor spaces delivered positive results, which underscores the importance of preserving green spaces in our natural and built environments,” Bettmann said in a university news release. However, the researchers warned that…  read on >  read on >

Pudgy with a purpose: Fat cats could help humans better understand the way gut bacteria influences conditions like obesity and type 2 diabetes, a new study claims. Food-related changes in obese cats’ gut microbiome have striking similarities to the way diet affects the gut of humans, researchers reported recently in the journal Scientific Reports. As a result, pet cats might be the best source of information about the human microbiome, and whether altering gut bacteria could help battle obesity, researchers say. “Being able to see changes in cats that come up in the context of obesity and type 2 diabetes in people makes them a really good model to start looking at more microbiome-directed therapeutics for obesity in humans if we’re seeing a similar shift,” said lead researcher Dr. Jenessa Weston, an assistant professor of veterinary clinical sciences at Ohio State University. “Animals share our beds. They share our ice cream. There are all these things that people do with their pets that highlight they are a naturally occurring disease model with similar environmental exposures as humans,” Weston added in a university news release. For the study, researchers fed seven obese cats a rigidly engineered diet for 16 weeks. The diet progressed from free-feeding of commercial cat food to feeding a special weight-loss diet, then to calorie-restricted feeding of the weight-loss food. Researchers found that…  read on >  read on >

Kids whose families frequently move have a significantly higher risk of depression later in life, a new study warns. Children who move once between the ages of 10 and 15 are 41% more likely to be diagnosed with depression in adulthood, compared with those whose families don’t move, researchers found. And kids who move twice or more at that age are 61% more likely to develop depression, results. By comparison, kids who live in a poor neighborhood are 10% more likely to develop depression as adults, researchers noted. The results suggest that a settled home environment during childhood is crucial to protecting children against future mental health problems. “We know there are a number of factors which lead to a person being diagnosed with a mental illness,” said lead researcher Clive Sabel, a professor with the University of Plymouth in the U.K. “However, this is the first evidence to suggest that moving to a new neighborhood during childhood is among them, and we believe the numbers we are seeing could be the tip of the iceberg.” “During those formative years, children are building their social networks through school, sports groups or other activities,” Sabel said in a university news release. “Each time they have to adapt to something new it can be disruptive, so we potentially need to find new ways to help people overcome…  read on >  read on >

Folks need to have their meals at regular intervals or risk slipping into anxiety or depression, a new study of airline personnel has found. Delaying breakfast or dinner appears to increase a person’s risk of developing a mood disorder, researchers report. The study also found that confining meals to a 12-hour “eating window” every day helps sustain an even mood — good news for folks who engage in intermittent fasting. “An eating window of less than 12 hours may be associated with reduced severity of anxiety or depression,” concluded the research team led by Mi Xiang, an associate professor with Shanghai Jio Tong University in China. For the study, researchers analyzed data from more than 22,600 airline crew members participating in an ongoing health survey of employees at China’s major airlines. The team tracked when participants ate breakfast and dinner, and how much time passed between meals.  They then compared that data to the crew members’ scores on anxiety and depression screening tools.  They found that people working a day shift who delayed their dinner past 8 p.m. had twice the risk of depression and a 78% higher risk of anxiety, compared with when they ate before 8 p.m., according to results published July 17 in the journal JAMA Network Open. Similarly, delaying breakfast until after 9 a.m. increased risk of depression by 73% and…  read on >  read on >

Telemedicine could be a better way to get opioid addicts to seek out and stick with treatment, a new study suggests. People referred to an addiction treatment clinic following a telemedicine evaluation were more likely to show up to their first appointment than those whose referral resulted from an ER visit, researchers reported recently in the Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment. Those referred to addiction treatment through telemedicine also were more likely to stick with the program for at least a month. “Our study shows that patients referred from telemedicine are more likely to follow up initially, and still be retained in care at 30 days,” said lead researcher Dr. Joshua Lynch, an associate professor of emergency medicine at the University of Buffalo in New York. Long-term recovery from addiction requires consistent care, involving repeated outpatient visits as well as continuing use of treatment drugs like buprenorphine or methadone, researchers said. “Patients with opioid use disorder often seek care in times of crisis in emergency departments,” said senior researcher Dr. Brian Clemency, a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Buffalo. “However, the emergency department may not be a good option for all patients. We wanted to see if telemedicine could be used as a gateway to ongoing care.” For the study, researchers analyzed data on nearly 400 patients referred to addiction…  read on >  read on >