Fatty Acids, Beneficial for our Pets : Family Pet Veterinary Center

As seen in?West Des Moines Living Magazine,?November 2012 issue.

Fatty acids are used to help with?arthritis, allergies, cardiovascular diseases, geriatric health, skin and coat, optimal neurological development, kidney treatment, thyroid disorders, inflammatory bowel disease, and cancer therapies in pets and people.

They are part of the barrier function of skin, essential for?neurological?and sight tissues, and maintain the normal inflammatory response.

There are two main types of fatty acids: Omega 6 and Omega 3.? Both types are used within the body, but pets and people naturally consume plenty of omega 6?s on a daily basis. Omega 3s counteract omega 6s.? Ideally we would strive for a balance of these two types, but since omega 6s are plentiful, we need to take in extra omega 3s as they reduce inflammation within the body.? The specific omega 3 fatty acid forms EPA and DHA are the beneficial types as long as they are in an absorbable form.

Where can we get these? Traditionally fatty acids were obtained from fish oil capsules.? Due to multiple reasons fish oil capsules are not the source from which to get the beneficial effects of EPA and DHA listed above.

According to Dr. Kwochka?consideration of the source of fish oil has multiple factors:

1)?? Wild salmon have historically been the primary type of fish used for fatty acids because of their high fat content. However, as they have been over fished, quantities have declined as has the fat content of the fish. Additionally, heavy metal toxicity is more of a concern with larger predator fish further up in the food chain.

2)?? Farm-raised salmon have also become popular to address the dismissing wild population. However, concerns include higher levels of PCBs, higher levels of parasites such as sea lice, chemicals to give the fish color, pellets of chicken feces, corn meal, soy, etc., antibiotics at high levels, less omega 3?s due to lack of wild diet, crowding into small areas inhibiting movement, etc.

3)?? A more satisfactory option for source of fish oil appears to be the use of wild, non-predatory smaller and more easily renewable high fat comment species such as anchovies and sardines.

4)?? To address at least some of the above concerns, fish oils should be fully tested for heavy metals (especially PCBs, mercury and dioxins) and microbial content. Some of these standards have been set by the Council for Responsible Nutrition, World Health Organization, and the FDA. Every batch of fish oil product (diet or supplement) should be tested for EPA and DHA levels. Simply reporting total amount of fish oil or total amount of omega 3?s doesn?t tell one much about the most critical components.

These are real problems for interpreting labels as there is no regulatory requirement to list individual omega 3 components and AAFCO does not recognize them as essential nutrients in their Dog Food Nutrient Profiles. The form of fish oil is also usually not specified. They are usually triglycerides that have been chemically processed for stability, but are less than 30% absorbable.? Thus a product that says it has specific amounts of fatty acids often does not have them in an absorbable form.? Other times people may find flax as a source which is not absorbed well by our pets. Fish oil is also prone to oxidation and loss of activity making testing very important to prove stability.? Another concern is dose. To get the beneficial effects, a 100 pound dog needs 2300-3400mg of JUST the EPA to be absorbed per day!? If the over the counter products are accurate on the absorbable level of EPA or have it even listed specifically, many times the volume to be administered is unrealistic.? Recently a client brought in a bottle for evaluation: the 85 lb pet would have had to have twenty extra large fish oil capsules per day to get close to the same benefits as the purified form. Talk about fish breath!

EPA is just one of the methods to help pets. Please visit us to learn how this piece can work with other therapies to reduce allergy flare ups, manage arthritis and pain, and protect organs. It is great that we have this along with other modalities for a safe alternative to therapies for painful arthritic pets. Pets with other medical problems now have safer options for treatment! For more information, contact Family Pet Veterinary Center at familypetvet@gmail.com or call us: 515-224-9750

Source: http://familypet-vet.com/?p=754

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Akamai Technologies Targeted By Put Buyers | Options - Minyanville

Bearish bets have emerged as the options of choice lately on Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:AKAM). During the past five sessions and as of the time of this writing (Nov. 8, 2:15 p.m.), options players on the International Securities Exchange (ISE) and Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE) have bought to open 1,454 puts on the tech stock, comfortably outstripping the 372 calls purchased during this time frame. The resulting five-day put/call volume ratio of 3.91 indicates that puts have nearly quadrupled calls over the past week.

From a slightly longer-term view, AKAM sports a cumulative 10-day put/call volume ratio of 1.29 on the ISE, CBOE, and NASDAQ OMX PHLX (PHLX). This ratio ranks above 90% of other such readings taken during the previous 52 weeks, indicating that speculative investors have purchased puts over calls at a faster pace just 10% of the time.

In fact, the security's Schaeffer's put/call open interest ratio (SOIR) of 1.03 registers in the 100th annual percentile, as short-term options traders are more put-heavy now than at any other time in the last year.

This negative attitude is also on display among short sellers, as the number of AKAM shares sold short surged by more than 28% over the past two reporting periods. These pessimistic plays now account for 4.5% of the equity's float.

On the charts, AKAM gapped higher on the heels of its late-October earnings report, but the stock's positive momentum fizzled near the troublesome $40 level. Despite the recent pullback from this round-number area, the shares are still sitting on a respectable year-over-year gain of 29.5%.

This article by Elizabeth Harrow was originally published on Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Below, find some more great content from Schaeffer's Investment Research:

Daily Game Plan ? More Selling

Chart of the Day: Tempur-Pedic International Inc. (TPX)

Intel's New Low Doesn't Faze Bullish Traders

Twitter: @schaeffers

No positions in stocks mentioned.

Source: http://www.minyanville.com/trading-and-investing/options/articles/akam-chart-akam-stock-akam-shares/11/9/2012/id/45716

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An iPhone case that shoots pepper spray

13 hrs.

Devin Coldewey , NBC News

There's no shortage of iPhone cases out there, but this one from Spraytect is one-of-a-kind: It has built-in pepper spray.

You read that correctly. The case, currently available for iPhone 4 and 4S, has a special loading mechanism and custom canisters, allowing anyone equipping it to enter self-defense mode in an instant.

The founder of Spraytect, Scott McPherson, thought of the idea as something "socially acceptable" his daughter could carry while alone in a strange city.

It's not exactly haute couture, though; The description of the case says the spray cartridge is "inconspicuously attached" to your phone, but the bump is in fact rather large. It's?even advertised as a "kickstand," allowing your phone to sit at an angle in portrait, or straight up in landscape mode.

The obvious question, considering how phones get manhandled and jostled in pockets and purses all day, is how do you prevent it from firing on accident, filling your eyes or your friends' with noxious military-grade mist?

First of all, after you load the canister, there's a safety pin that must be taken out. And then you must rotate the cap downwards to its "armed" position, indicated in bright yellow. Then you're free to hit the button and douse your attacker.

Ridiculous gadget, or useful accessory for wary city-dwellers? Either way, it really exists, and you can buy one for $40 in your choice of color ? but just the one flavor.

Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/iphone-case-shoots-pepper-spray-yes-really-1C6963042

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Corals attacked by toxic seaweed use chemical 911 signals to summon help from fish

ScienceDaily (Nov. 8, 2012) ? Corals under attack by toxic seaweed do what anyone might do when threatened -- they call for help. A study reported this week in the journal Science shows that threatened corals send signals to fish "bodyguards" that quickly respond to trim back the noxious alga -- which can kill the coral if not promptly removed.

Scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found evidence that these "mutualistic" fish respond to chemical signals from the coral like a 911 emergency call -- in a matter of minutes. The inch-long fish -- known as gobies -- spend their entire lives in the crevices of specific corals, receiving protection from their own predators while removing threats to the corals.

This symbiotic relationship between the fish and the coral on which they live is the first known example of one species chemically signaling a consumer species to remove competitors. It is similar to the symbiotic relationship between Acacia trees and mutualist ants in which the ants receive food and shelter while protecting the trees from both competitors and consumers.

"This species of coral is recruiting inch-long bodyguards," said Mark Hay, a professor in the School of Biology at Georgia Tech. "There is a careful and nuanced dance of the odors that makes all this happen. The fish have evolved to cue on the odor released into the water by the coral, and they very quickly take care of the problem."

The research, supported the National Science Foundation, the National Institutes of Health and the Teasley Endowment at Georgia Tech, was reported November 8 in the journal Science. The research was done as part of a long-term study of chemical signaling on Fiji Island coral reefs aimed at understanding these threatened ecosystems and discovering chemicals that may be useful as pharmaceuticals.

Because they control the growth of seaweeds that damage coral, the importance of large herbivorous fish to maintaining the health of coral reefs has been known for some time. But Georgia Tech postdoctoral fellow Danielle Dixson suspected that the role of the gobies might be more complicated. To study that relationship, she and Hay set up a series of experiments to observe how the fish would respond when the coral that shelters them was threatened.

They studied Acropora nasuta, a species in a genus of coral important to reef ecosystems because it grows rapidly and provides much of the structure for reefs. To threaten the coral, the researchers moved filaments of Chlorodesmis fastigiata, a species of seaweed that is particularly chemically toxic to corals, into contact with the coral. Within a few minutes of the seaweed contacting the coral, two species of gobies -- Gobidon histrio and Paragobidon enchinocephalus -- moved toward the site of contact and began neatly trimming away the offending seaweed.

"These little fish would come out and mow the seaweed off so it didn't touch the coral," said Hay, who holds the Harry and Linda Teasley Chair in Environmental Biology at Georgia Tech. "This takes place very rapidly, which means it must be very important to both the coral and the fish. The coral releases a chemical and the fish respond right away."

In corals occupied by the gobies, the amount of offending seaweed declined 30 percent over a three-day period, and the amount of damage to the coral declined by 70 to 80 percent. Control corals that had no gobies living with them had no change in the amount of toxic seaweed and were badly damaged by the seaweed.

To determine what was attracting the fish, Dixson and Hay collected samples of water from locations (1) near the seaweed by itself, (2) where the seaweed was contacting the coral, and (3) from coral that had been in contact with the seaweed -- 20 minutes after the seaweed had been removed. They released the samples near other corals that hosted gobies, which were attracted to the samples taken from the seaweed-coral contact area and the damaged coral -- but not the seaweed by itself.

"We demonstrated that the coral is emitting some signal or cue that attracts the fish to remove the encroaching seaweed," Hay said. "The fish are not responding to the seaweed itself."

Similar waters collected from a different species of coral placed in contact with the seaweed did not attract the fish, suggesting they were only interested in removing seaweed from their host coral.

Finally, the researchers obtained the chemical extract of the toxic seaweed and placed it onto nylon filaments designed to stimulate the mechanical effects of seaweed. They also created simulated seaweed samples without the toxic extract. When placed in contact with the coral, the fish were attracted to areas in which the chemical-containing mimic contacted the coral, but not to the area contacting the mimic without the chemical.

By studying the contents of the fish digestive systems, the researchers learned that one species -- Gobidon histrio -- actually eats the noxious seaweed, while the other fish apparently bites it off without eating it. In the former, consuming the toxic seaweed makes the fish less attractive to predators.

The two species of fish also eat mucus from the coral, as well as algae from the coral base and zooplankton from the water column. By defending the corals, the gobies are thus defending the home in which they shelter and feed.

"The fish are getting protection in a safe place to live and food from the coral," Hay noted. "The coral gets a bodyguard in exchange for a small amount of food. It's kind of like paying taxes in exchange for police protection."

As a next step, Hay and Dixson would like to determine if other species of coral and fish have similar symbiotic relationships. And they'd like to understand more about how the chemical signaling and symbiotic relationship came into being.

"These kinds of positive interactions needs to be better understood because they tell us something about the pressures that have gone on through time on these corals," said Hay. "If they have evolved to signal these gobies when a competitor shows up, then competition has been important throughout evolutionary time."

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Georgia Institute of Technology Research News, via Newswise. The original article was written by John Toon.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. D. L. Dixson, M. E. Hay. Corals Chemically Cue Mutualistic Fishes to Remove Competing Seaweeds. Science, 2012; 338 (6108): 804 DOI: 10.1126/science.1225748

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/strange_science/~3/s5bSy5-Vg0M/121108142740.htm

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Flashline 2012-44

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