Month: November 2017

Commercial bones treats may be hazardous to a dog’s health, according to a new report put out by the Food and Drug Administration.

This month, the organization updated its website to include a series of new reports regarding illnesses and deaths associated with processed bone treats. Nearly 70 dogs have become sick from processed and packaged bones, and 15 have died, Newsweek reports.

Those numbers are nearly double the last reported dog-treat-linked death toll linked that came out in 2015. Dogs who have become ill have experienced numerous symptoms, including vomiting, choking, and stomach issues. Some bones have also looked moldy, and others have splintered or broken when chewed on.

While the reports does not list and specific brands, some products associated with the injuries include “Ham Bones,” “Pork Femur Bones,” “Rib Bones,” and “Smokey Knuckle Bones.”

“Giving your dog a bone treat might lead to an unexpected trip to your veterinarian, a possible emergency surgery, or even death for your pet,” said Carmela Stamper, a veterinarian at FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine, according to Fox News.

These new issues are concerning, and they come out on top of other past treat concerns. For instance, by the end of 2015, more than 1,000 dogs had died, and over 6,000 fell sick, after eating jerky pet treats. Though many of the illnesses were linked to treats imported from China, they are hard to track because manufacturers are not required to list the country of origin for each ingredient in their products.

This new report is concerning and shows people need to take caution when buying their pets treats for the holiday season. However, despite the danger, the FDA reports there are still many health treats to feed your pets. The agency urges people to talk to their veterinarians to discover safe alternatives.

If anyone believes their pet became ill after eating a treat, they can report it online.

A group of scientists led by researchers at the University of Bristol have built the most accurate depiction of feathered dinosaurs to date, showing the ancient reptiles were much fluffier than previously thought.

Birds are the direct descendants of a group of feathered, carnivorous dinosaurs known as paravians. In the study, researchers analyzed the fossil of one such species, Anchiornis and compared its fossilized feathers to those of other dinosaurs and extinct birds.

That showed the feathers around Anchiornis’ body — known as contour feathers — had a never-before-seen short quill that had long, flexible barbs coming out at low angles to form two vanes and a forked feather shape.

Such feathers are important because they would have given Anchiornis a fluffy appearance that is distinctly different than the sleek look of modern birds. Most species today have tightly-zipped vanes that form continuous surfaces. Anchiornis‘ feathers were unzipped, and may have been worse at controlling temperature or repelling water.

In addition, the ancient feathers did not have the aerodynamic, asymmetrical vanes of modern flight feathers, and the vanes were also not tightly-zipped. That would have hindered their ability to form a lift surface. To compensate, paravians had multiple rows of long feathers on their wings. Many also had four wings rather than two.

“[T]his highlights how we can’t simply depict these dinosaurs that are closely related to true birds as fully modern in their bird-like characteristics,” study co-author Evan Saitta, a researcher at the University of Bristol, told Motherboard. “They had feathers like birds, but these would have been more primitive in form.”

This finding is important because is gives a more accurate depiction of how feathered dinosaurs may have looked. It also sheds new light on the evolution of feathers and provides further insight into the mechanisms behind early flight.

“Overall, our study provides some new insight into the appearance of dinosaurs, their behavior and physiology, and the evolution of feathers, birds, and powered flight,” added Saitta, according to Phys.org.

The results of this study are published in the journal Paleontology.

A new study of ancient bones reveals that prehistoric women had stronger arms than female rowing teams do today.

The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

The study suggests that performing manual agricultural work affected women’s bodies significantly between about 5,300 BC to 100AD.

“We think a lot of what we’re seeing is the bone’s response to women grinding grain, which is pretty much seated but using your arms really repetitively many hours a day,” says co-author Dr. Alison Macintosh from the University of Cambridge in the UK, in a report by The Guardian.

By medieval times, however, women’s arms had lost their strength and their arm bones measured about the same as a modern-day woman.

The researchers analyzed the remains of 94 women from early neolithic times — about 5,300 BC — to the 9th century, from countries in Central Europe, including Germany, Austria, and northern Serbia. They also studied bones of four groups of 83 living women: runners, rowers, footballers, and those who were mostly sedentary.

They found that neolithic women had arm bones some 30 percent stronger than non-sporty living women.

Previous research by the team on male leg bones also showed a decline in strength since the late iron age.

“Early farming men had these really strong leg bones — when you compared them to living men they were close to what you see in living runners, suggesting they were really active,” Macintosh said. “Then [there is] this really progressive decline through time in bone strength, down to what you see in living sedentary undergraduate students at Cambridge.”