Molecular Techniques Are 'Man's New Best Friend' in Pet Obesity Research

Apr. 11, 2013 — According to the World Health Organization, more than two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese. And it's not just humans who are packing on the pounds. Our furry companions are plagued by an obesity epidemic of their own. More than 50 percent of the dogs and cats in the United States are overweight or obese.

In a new paper on pet obesity in the Journal of Animal Science, University of Illinois professor of animal and nutritional sciences Kelly Swanson and his colleagues describe how nutrients and biological compounds in foods can affect gene expression in animals. Their field, called nutrigenomics, offers new insights into the why and how of companion animal obesity.

There are many reasons for the uptick in pet obesity, but they stem from the domestication of cats and dogs, Swanson said. Because most pets no longer hunt or compete for their food and do not mate -- as a result of having been spayed or neutered, the typical dog or cat of today has a much smaller need for energy than the typical wild dog or cat of yesterday, he said.

When a person or an animal consumes more food than the body needs, the excess energy is converted into fat that is stored in adipose tissue. These fats can then be converted back to an energy source during fasting or times of food scarcity.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130411143058.htm

Bird Flu More Prevalent, Less Deadly Than Expected

Jesse Emspak, LiveScience Contributor

The H5N1 influenza virus, also known as "bird flu," may well be more prevalent and less deadly than health officials had thought, according to a new study published online today (Feb. 23) by the journal Science.

The World Health Organization (WHO) reported 586 human cases of the H5N1 flu since 2003, and notes that as of Feb. 22, 59 percent (346 individuals) of those people had died.

But this 50-percent-plus mortality rate may be misleading, according to the new study led by Peter Palese, chairman of the department of microbiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York. That's because the cases reported by WHO include only people who were sick enough to go to a hospital and be laboratory-tested for the virus. For WHO, to get counted, a person must have an acute illness and fever within a week and test positive for exposure to the H5 protein that gives the virus part of its name.

Anyone sick enough to do that is more likely to die to begin with, and in countries where avian flu is present, access to health care and hospitals is spotty, according to Palese. Basically, there could be a lot more people out there who get the virus and either don't show symptoms or don't feel bad enough to see a doctor. 

Read on:  http://www.livescience.com/18630-h5n1-bird-flu-prevalence-mortality-rate.html