New research has revealed that dogs "cry happy tears" when they are reunited with their owners.
'News addiction' is common and can harm your mental health
From the COVID-19 pandemic and the spread of monkeypox to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, school shootings and devastating wildfires, thereβs been no lack of doom and gloom lately, and many folks are glued to the news.
For more than 16% of people, however, compulsive news watching can be seriously problematic and is linked to a host of physical and mental health woes, a new study shows.
βFor individuals who find themselves constantly thinking about and checking the news, news consumption may be having a more negative impact on their well-being than they realize,β said study author Bryan McLaughlin, an associate professor of advertising at Texas Tech University College of Media & Communication, in Lubbock.
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Kidney function lower in middle-aged women than men
With aging, kidney function is lower in women than men, but the rate of change in glomerular filtration rate (GFR) is higher in men than women, according to a study published online Aug. 17 in the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology.
Toralf Melsom, M.D., Ph.D., from the University Hospital of North Norway in TromsΓΈ, and colleagues examined sex differences in the loss of kidney function in healthy adults. A total of 1,837 participants (aged 50 to 62 years) without self-reported diabetes, chronic kidney disease (CKD), or cardiovascular disease were recruited. The GFR was measured by plasma iohexol clearance in 2007 to 2009, 2013 to 2015, and 2018 to 2020.
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Dogs do cry when reunited with owners
Humans and dogs undoubtedly share a powerful bond, but can dogs cry when overcome with emotion?
According to a recent study, possibly the first to try to answer that question, canine's eyes do indeed well up with tears, most often when they are reunited with their beloved owner.
βWe found that dogs shed tears associated with positive emotions,β said Takefumi Kikusui, of Azabu University in Japan. βWe also made the discovery of oxytocin as a possible mechanism underlying it.β
Following the birth of one of his two standard poodles six years ago, Kikusui observed that something in his dog's face had changed while the dog was feeding the puppies; there were tears.
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Any leisurely physical activity tied to lower mortality risk
Being physically active through participation in any type of leisure-time activity is associated with lower mortality risks for older adults, according to a study published online Aug. 24 in JAMA Network Open.
Eleanor L. Watts, D.Phil., from the U.S. National Cancer Institute in Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues assessed whether different leisure-time physical activity types are differentially associated with mortality risk among older adults. The analysis included 272,550 participants (mean age, 70.5 years at baseline) in the National Institutes of Health-AARP Diet and Health Study with a mean 12.4 years of follow-up.
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Hate listening to people chew? You might have misophonia
Most people have cherished memories of their grandparents reading to them as children.
Ekaterina Pesheva's memories are quite different.
"I remember distinctly being very irritated and very angry listening to my grandmother reading children's books to me, like fairy tales," said Pesheva, 48, who lives in Boston. "I would become aware of her mouth getting dry, and that, for whatever reason, just irritated me unbelievably."
Pesheva has misophonia, a disorder in which certain sounds cause extreme feelings of anger and disgust.
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