If puppies experience more tough love from their mothers, they make up better guide dogs

STATES CHRONICLE – We can’t help loving all puppies and wishing they get all pampered and spoiled by their mothers. However, this is not a good behavior if they are going to train to become guide dogs. Research showed puppies grow up to be better at guiding the blind if they are exposed to ‘tough love’ from their mothers.

Puppies’ relationship with their mother is crucial

If you get to experience more tough situations when you are younger, you naturally grow up better at handling difficult situations. It seems the situation stays the same for puppies. If they are training to become guide dogs, they are more likely to succeed if their mothers hadn’t pampered them.

For the study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers analyzed the behavior of several pups which underwent training to become seeing eye dogs at a special facility located in New Jersey, called The Seeing Eye.

They closely observed 23 dog mothers and 98 puppies by monitoring them both on video and in real life for the first five weeks of their life. Then, they noticed how those pups which their mothers allowed to learn new things on their own grew into great guide dogs.

Tougher dog-moms give birth to better guide dog candidates

On the other hand, those which were much too pampered by their mothers became anxious and easily scared by new things. This didn’t allow them to complete the tough training they had to undergo to become liable to lead the blind.

Among the things they looked at, there was the position in which the mother nursed the pups, how often she groomed them, and how much time she spent with or away from them. Nursing while standing is a key point to help puppies become tough, as they have to struggle more to get to the milk.

Therefore, we shouldn’t feel bad for those puppies who are not as pampered as we want them to be. This will help them grow up brave and become good guide dogs, helping those in need live a life as close to normal as possible.
Image Source: Pixabay

Yoga could alleviate the symptoms of depression

STATES CHRONICLE – You most probably how relaxing yoga can get, and how much it can do both for your body and for your mind. New studies suggest this activity can be much better than we would have thought, as it could have the ability to ease the symptoms of depression. However, this research is only preliminary at the moment.

Does yoga help people with depression?

On Thursday, the American Psychology Association (APA) held its annual meeting in Washington D.C. Among many topics they discussed, they also looked at the link between yoga and depression, and how much the former can help with the latter.

They developed a study which look at the benefic effects of this practice on people suffering from depression. However, their results haven’t been published in a journal yet. Until then, they can only be regarded as preliminary.

Therefore, researchers recommend yoga to people suffering from depression, but only accompanied by other approved methods of therapy. It should be more effective if it is combined with standard treatments as given by a doctor or therapist.

It should always be accompanied by proper therapy methods

Yoga is not a magical method which cures everything, so people should not suddenly stop taking other kinds of treatment in favor of this one. However, researchers managed to collect enough empirical evidence that it helps people with this condition.

The study in question was led by psychologist Lindsey Hopkins from the San Francisco VA Clinical Center. She had 23 male veterans take part in classes of hatha yoga two times a week for a period of eight weeks. This combines exercise with meditation and deep breathing. When the testing period was over, those patients with high levels of depression had had significantly improved their condition.

Therefore, yoga can be a healthy ‘supplement’ and help people deal with depression. If accompanied by proper therapy, this sport can be a perfect solution to ease symptoms and improve the people’s condition.
Image Source: Pixabay

If brain cells control hunger, we might find a way to control impulsive eating

STATES CHRONICLE – A team of researchers made a huge discovery which might influence the way we looked at obesity. They suggest the brain might be to blame in the case of obese people, as they have discovered two new sets of brain cells which control our appetite. If they can command us when to be hungry or not, we might be able to find a treatment to combat obesity.

Options for a treatment to control hunger signals

Knowing where hunger comes from is vital if you want to control it, making the development of any kind of drugs much easier. Therefore, scientists think they can develop a treatment which can control our appetite, and turn it off when needed. They could prevent us from getting food when we no longer need it by controlling the hunger signals issued by these cells.

The cells in question are placed in an area of the brain called the dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN). Researchers performed brain scans on mice and looked at how the cells in the DRN react. This is how they observed the cells activated when the mice felt hungry. Also, when they received more food than they needed, these neurons in DRN influenced the feeding behavior.

Do these cells actually influence hunger?

The next step in the research is to find out which neurons present in the DRN control hunger. Other tests might help them find an answer, as they could make other observations. When the mice got full, certain neurons released a substance called glutamate. On the other hand, when they were hungry, neurons released a different chemical, namely GABA.

This discovery offers two alternatives. Either these cells just get triggered by this hunger process and play no role whatsoever, or they influence all this mechanism. Judging from the observations made so far, they might have a role in the entire process, but scientists need more research to find the answer.
Image Source: Max Pixel

People who use electronic cigarette to quit smoking are more likely to succeed

The role of e-cigarettes in quitting smoking has been debated for quite a long time, and a new study brings evidence in favor of one of the theories. Scientists recommend that doctors should include electronic cigarettes in plans for tobacco control, as those who use this method are more likely to succeed in quitting smoking than non-users.

Big sample of participants to answer on e-cigarette use

A new study discovered that people who used electronic cigarettes were more eager to attempt to quit smoking, and more likely to succeed. On the other hand, non-users were less successful. They came up to this conclusion after analyzing data from one of the biggest samples of e-cigarette users.

The study looked at data collected from more than 161,000 participants between 2014 and 2015. They had to answer a survey related to tobacco, included in a population survey conducted by the American Census Bureau. Researchers used the responses of those participants who were still smokers 12 months before taking part to the survey.

Electronic cigarettes are more likely to help you quit smoking

This is how they discovered those people who had been using electronic cigarettes had a 65 percent rate of attempting to quit. Those who didn’t use such a method had only a 38 percent rate of attempting to quit. Also, those who smoked e-cigarettes had a higher success rate, of 8 percent, as compared to only 5 percent among non-electronic cigarette users.

Also, people attempted and succeeded quitting more often in the study period than before. Between 2014 and 2015, the quitting rate was of 5.6 percent, while between 2010 and 2011 it was of 4.5 percent. Given the high number of respondents, researchers concluded that using electronic cigarettes really helps one quit smoking.

The results are quite interesting, since the same rate was predicted for users of special medication to help them quit. However, evidence showed these methods were not effective, as the actual quitting rate was much smaller.
Image Source: Pixabay

A woman from Oregon posted a photo of her smoking from a bong while breastfeeding

STATES CHRONICLE – A woman from Portland, Oregon, managed to spark outrage all over the internet after she posted an unusual photo of her breastfeeding her newborn baby. Nothing sounds exaggerated so far, but the woman wasn’t only doing what all mothers do. While breastfeeding, she was also smoking marijuana from a bong.

The breastfeeding bong photo sparked a lot of controversy

Kayla Marlow, like any other mother on Facebook, decided to post a picture of her while breastfeeding her baby. However, the picture doesn’t only show the woman and her newborn, as a friend of hers was also present. This friend, instead of just being around, was helping Marlow take a hit from a bong. This is not something you see every day, so there arose plenty of reactions afterwards.

The woman posted the picture in a Facebook group called CannaParentingSupport.V.420. Members of the group showed unexpected support, but other users thought otherwise. The photo went viral pretty quickly, and everybody started sharing their unwanted opinion on the woman’s parenting methods.

As expected, people started blaming her for being a bad mother, and condemned her from smoking from the bong with her baby around. Of course, harsh words were present, as people didn’t hesitate to call her names and being offensive.

There’s no evidence that marijuana is bad for infants

Is smoking marijuana while breastfeeding actually bad for the baby? Most doctors advise mothers not to do it, but there is no solid proof that this habit harms babies. This is understandable, since marijuana doesn’t have any adverse effects. Also, the quantity of THC consumed by the mothers is most surely not enough to become harmful for the babies.

What could be a problem for babies would be the smoke, as their lungs are too small and fragile to handle it. Therefore, if mothers insist on consuming cannabis products while breastfeeding, they should opt for edibles and avoid getting smoke in the baby’s lungs.
Image Source: Flickr