More canine/human symbiosis

I am putting this story up mainly because I like the picture of the doggie but it does illustrate the theory that dogs and humans are symbionts—i.e. they have evolved together and benefit one-another. They certainly regard one-another as family. The most obvious case of the symbiosis is the large and super-sensitive canine nose which does detection jobs that the small human nose cannot. We see it at work in this story

“Meet Ruben, the dalmatian who can spot when his schoolgirl owner is at risk of a life-threatening metabolic attack. While most dogs are out chasing the postman, Ruben is busy monitoring Sarah Mackintosh’s health. The five-year-old family pooch is being hailed for his ability to detect when Sarah is at risk of an attack.

Sarah, 9, suffers from a rare metabolic disorder called 3MCC which stops her from being able to break down proteins such as those in cheese and meat. At 14 months, the girl from Maleny in the Sunshine Coast hinterland was revived at Brisbane’s Mater Children’s Hospital after she had a metabolic stroke. The first in Australia to be diagnosed with 3MCC, and one of only a handful of sufferers worldwide, she is extremely susceptible to common viruses.

But mum Rachael Sharman, 48, said the normally dopey dalmatian can sense when Sarah is at risk of suffering an episode. “Before Sarah was diagnosed she had been eating protein and it had just built up in her system,” Ms Sharman said. “We woke up on a Friday morning to her screaming and vomiting blood. “We rushed her to the Mater but she was pretty much dead and the doctors had to revive her.

“When Sarah was five years old we got Ruben and we noticed he could pick up when she was about to become unwell. “He tries to get close to her and will sneak in the house and doesn’t want to let her out of his sight. “We’ve found him hiding under her bed before she gets sick and the last time he just stood there barking at her. “Then, a day or two later, she will be ill. He seems to understand when her metabolites are different and that it’s not good. “His behaviour means we can pick it up early.””

Source

P.S. I like the picture of the little girl too!

Posted by jonjayray on Sunday, March 26, 2006 at 09:01 PM in
Comments (6) | Tell a friend

Comments:

Posted by john on March 26, 2006, 10:01 PM | #

I think it,s reasonable to say that for most normal europeans the situation with regards to non-euros is ; didn’t ask for them, don’t want them, and don’t need them. Dogs however are useful.

Posted by Andy on March 26, 2006, 10:46 PM | #

Dogs are fantastic.

Posted by ben tillman on March 27, 2006, 12:19 AM | #

Very interesting, John.

Posted by seelow heights on March 27, 2006, 09:29 PM | #

Reminds me that I heard once that it was those high-IQ Germans who first came up with the idea of guide dogs for the blind-for the use of blinded WW1 veterans.

Posted by Bartelson on March 28, 2006, 12:16 AM | #

Come on guys, this story is total bullshit.

Posted by JB on March 28, 2006, 09:13 PM | #

Dogs can detect early lung, breast cancer, study finds

http://www.world-science.net/othernews/060106_dogsfrm.htm

In a society where lung and breast cancers are leading causes of cancer death worldwide, early detection of the disease is highly desirable. A new study has found that dogs might be able to help detect these cancers early.

The study is to appear in the March 2006 issue of the research journal Integrative Cancer Therapies.

The scientists said dogs’ extraordinary scenting ability can distinguish people with both early and late stage lung and breast cancers from healthy people. The research, performed in California, was recently documented by the BBC in the United Kingdom, and is soon to be aired in the United States, researchers said.

Other studies have documented dogs’ abilities to identify chemicals that are diluted as low as parts per trillion. The clinical implications of canine sniffing first came to light in the case report of a dog alerting its owner to skin cancer by constantly sniffing the skin lesion. Subsequent studies published in medical journals reported trained dogs’ ability to detect both melanomas and bladder cancers.

The new study, led by Michael McCulloch of the Pine Street Foundation in San Anselmo, California, and Tadeusz Jezierski of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Institute of Genetics and Animal Breeding, is the first to test whether dogs can detect cancers only by sniffing the exhaled breath of cancer patients, the researchers said.

Five household dogs were trained within a three-week period to detect lung or breast cancer by sniffing the breath of cancer participants.

The trial was comprised of 55 lung cancer and 31 breast cancer patients who had not yet undergone chemotherapy, and 83 healthy patients.

The dogs were presented with breath samples from the human participants, captured in a special tube. Dogs were trained to identify a cancer patient by sitting or lying down directly in front of a test station containing a cancer patient sample, while ignoring samples from healthy people.

The results showed dogs can detect breast and lung cancer with sensitivity and specificity between 88 percent and 97 percent, the researchers reported. The accuracy persisted even after results were adjusted to take into account whether the lung cancer patients were currently smokers.

Moreover, the study also confirmed that the trained dogs could even detect the early stages of both diseases. The researchers concluded that with further work, breath analysis could substantially reduce the uncertainties of cancer diagnosis methods.

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