Detection dogs sniffing for drugs or bombs are affected by their handlers’ reactions to stimuli, a new study at the University of California has revealed.

Eighteen professional dog handlers and their hounds were asked to complete a set of brief searches. Of the eighteen, thirteen worked in drug detection, three in sniffing out bombs, and two in both.

The searches took place in rooms in a church, with five minutes allocated to each of the different search areas. Before the searches began, the handlers were told that several of the areas might hold up to three target scents and that in two situations those scents would be flagged by red paper.

Unbeknownst to the handlers, though, was that two of the targets held decoy scents in the form of hidden sausages to push the dogs’ interest in a false location. In addition, not one of the search areas actually held the scents of drugs or explosives. Therefore, any “detections” made by the teams had to be false. Recorders, who were blind to the study, marked where handlers indicated that their dogs had raised alerts.

The findings, published in the journal Animal Cognition, show that of 144 searches, only 21 had no alerts. In total, the teams raised 225 alerts, all of which were false. While the sheer number of false alerts may strike some as interesting, the locations of these alerts was what researchers were most fascinated by.

When handlers saw pieces of red paper, which supposedly were what marked scents, they were much more likely to report that their dog had signaled. In the two rooms that contained red paper but no sausages, 32 of a possible 36 alerts were reported. In the two rooms where both pieces of red paper and sausages were hidden the figure was 30, a not all too different figure. The number of alerts in search areas where only sausages were present, however, was 17.

While the dogs were distracted by the stimuli aimed toward them, it appears that the stimuli that were aimed at the handlers had a greater affect, with the handlers’ reactions rubbing off on to the dogs. Interestingly, in almost every case the handlers could not help but be distracted by the stimuli.

In the real world, this could mean false positives come up much more than they should. Not only would this inconvenience those innocent, but it would also distract teams from finding guilty parties. Racial profiling could also play a role here in finding false positives.

If a handler thinks someone is carrying drugs or a bomb, the dog is much more likely to signal that that person is carrying such goods, even if the person is not. While it is unclear how handlers will be able to get around this problem, hopefully the news can spark a change in the system.

Image Courtesy of   KellyNelson / Shutterstock.com

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The new ifocus computer game, launching soon for children ages 6 to 12 to improve attention, concentration and memory, has been endorsed by top brain imaging specialist Daniel Amen, MD, CEO and medical director of Amen Clinics a world leader in applying brain imaging science to clinical practice.

A Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, Dr. Amen serves as Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behavior at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine where he teaches brain imaging in clinical practice.

According to Dr. Amen, “ifocus was developed in a thoughtful way to actually enhance brain development, and we have clinical evidence to prove that it does exactly that.  We conducted a very sophisticated neuropsychological assessment of a large group of children before and after they played the game, and analyzed their attention and impulse control.  It was very exciting to actually see significant improvement in their scores.

“As a child psychiatrist, I believe if you can help a child regulate their emotions, they will be much happier in their lives.  Self-regulation is critical to focus because if you can control your own attention, you can stay on track and accomplish what you need to accomplish for long-term success, despite the many distractions that all of us face today,” he said.

The centerpiece of ifocus is Jungle Rangers, a fun computer game which improves mental function through the repeated, structured practice of tasks which challenge kids in an enjoyable and motivating manner.  While playing different types of games along the path to becoming a “Jungle Ranger”, children are actually performing cognitive brain exercises to improve their focus, attention, and memory.

In addition to the Jungle Rangers game, ifocus emphasizes a holistic approach with parents’ handbooks, CDs, and Quick Start cards to explain how behavior, exercise and nutrition can impact children’s focus and attention.  ifocus was developed under the leadership of some of the world’s top scientists in pediatric neuropsychology and physiology.

The product is being marketed directly to consumers via television, radio and online. ”I have four children and five grandchildren, and frequently tell them how important it is to ensure that they have many options in life by taking care of their brains and bodies whether it’s the food they eat, the kids they play with, or the video games they play.

With ifocus, we have found specific, clinical evidence that it helps children with two of the most critical important keys to success, self-regulation and emotion,” said Dr. Amen.

Focus Education Co-Founder and CEO Michael Apstein explained that the game’s animation and storyline keeps kids interested and challenged while they are actually engaging in brain process stimulation using integrated neuro-technology.  Research has shown that improvements in the cognitive process can help children overcome distractions, attain more effective levels of concentration, improve memory and decrease frustration during problem solving.

Parents are able to monitor their children’s progress using the Jungle Rangers Dashboard which provides a personalized report card on the amount of time spent on each task within the game, as well as which tasks the child excels at and which ones need additional practice.  The best indicators, however, are the significant changes that parents experience including fewer calls from school, better grades and an easier, more organized home life.

The ifocus development team recommends that a child play Jungle Rangers 30 minutes a day five days a week for six weeks in order to experience improvement in the ability to absorb, store and manipulate information without distractions.  Just like a bad habit that is formed over time, so too are good habits such as the cognitive skills developed by children who play the game consistently.

“We believe so strongly in our product that our Parent-to-Parent Promise allows consumers to returnifocus with a full 100 percent money back guarantee for six months if they don’t see the results we’ve promised.  Besides the changes they’ll see in their children in just a couple of weeks, with our game dashboard parents will see visual proof of a child’s improvement in focus and attention,” said Apstein.

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Adam Linstedt and Somshuvra Mukhopadhyay, biology researchers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, have discovered that manganese – a common, inexpensive mineral – can prevent and neutralize the effects of the deadliest strain of Escherichia coli (E. coli). According to Linstedt, this is a “classic example of serendipity in science.”

E. coli, composed of bad bacteria, is found in feces, which spreads by contaminating food and water. The mostly deadly strain contains a toxin called the Shiga toxin, which attacks cells individually. Cells contain endosomes, which test foreign substances and direct the undesirable ones to the lysosome, the cell’s waste disposal unit.

The Shiga toxin attacks and destroys cells individually by hijacking the protein (GPP130), which cyclically travels to various parts of the cell and drops off molecules at their respective destinations. The toxin then makes the GPP130 maneuver away from the lysosome, avoiding its destruction. Ultimately, the Shiga toxin halts the cell’s process to create protein, consequently killing the cell.

This strain of E. coli causes lethal infections, which lead to dysentery, severe diarrhea, kidney failure, anemia, and so on. Last year, 3,700 people were infected with E. coli, and 45 were killed in western Europe.

The idea of manganese being the cure began with Don Smith, a toxicologist at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Performing an experiment to study manganese toxicity in cells, he found out that the mineral easily affects GPP130. When Linstedt and Mukhopadhyay learned of Smith’s findings, they took the experiment further.

Using mice as test subjects and their knowledge of how the Shiga toxin infiltrates the cell, Linstedt and Mukhopadhyay experimented to see if manganese had any effect on hijacked GPP130. They learned that manganese directs GPP130 on track to the lysosome, getting rid of the Shiga toxin and neutralizing any present effects as well.

“If we weren’t focused on answering fundamental biological questions, we wouldn’t have made this discovery,” Linstedt says in the Carnegie Mellon University press release.

He and Mukhopadhyay believe that manganese can be taken along with antibiotics to form a perfect combination to completely take out E. coli. When current antibiotics kill the E. coli bacteria, the Shiga toxin is released in much larger amounts. However, this unfortunate response can be counteracted with manganese, which blocks the toxin.

“An inexpensive, accessible treatment — not a designer drug — is the ideal solution,” Linstedt says. “We know the toxicity levels of manganese in humans; we know ways to administer it. While further testing is needed to determine if manganese is a suitable treatment for humans, I’m optimistic that trials should move forward quickly.”

In addition to being a supplement in vitamins, manganese can be found in many foods: nuts, kale, strawberries, spinach, garlic, grapes, brown rice, and spices, such as thyme and tumeric.

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