Pets As Sentinels, Forecasters And Promoters Of Human Health

371 Pages·2020·7.641 MB·English

by  M. Ramiro Pastorinho, Ana Catarina A. Sousa

M. Ramiro Pastorinho
Ana Catarina A. Sousa Editors
Pets as Sentinels,
Forecasters
and Promoters
of Human Health
Pets as Sentinels, Forecasters and Promoters
of Human Health
M. Ramiro Pastorinho • Ana Catarina A. Sousa
Editors
Pets as Sentinels, Forecasters
and Promoters of Human
Health
Editors
M. Ramiro Pastorinho Ana Catarina A. Sousa
Department of Biology CICECO – Aveiro Institute of Materials
University of Évora Department of Chemistry
Évora, Portugal University of Aveiro
Aveiro, Portugal
ISBN 978-3-030-30733-2 ISBN 978-3-030-30734-9 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-30734-9
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To the pets that illuminate our lives…
to Maria Pia, the cat
Preface
More than a company or protection, more than attractive possessions or a set of
playful personalities, pets have the potential to promote human health. As sentinels
of exposure to environmental contaminants or forecasters of future health condi-
tions, pets can help their human companions attain higher living standards.
This book presents recent advances on the uses of pets as sentinels, forecasters,
and promoters of human health. The chapters compiled under this volume, written
by leading specialists from a wide array of different and complementary areas (from
biology, chemistry, toxicology, and psychology to veterinary and medical sciences),
will provide a comprehensive understanding of the capabilities of pets regarding
human health.
The first part of the book (Part I) focuses on the possible use of pets as sentinels
and surrogates regarding exposure to the main classes of environmental contami-
nants. By sharing the same environment with their human companions, pets are
exposed to the same type of contaminants, and by possessing a higher sensitivity
and shorter periods for the establishment of symptoms and the onset of disease, they
may be used as sentinels. The shared environment can be regarded in a more con-
fined way, focusing, for example, on the household that is shared between human
and animal or going in the opposite direction into a broader context, as, for example,
an entire ecosystem. Both perspectives are addressed in this volume. The chapter by
Sonne and collaborators offers an ecosystem-based perspective on the usefulness of
sledge dogs as sentinel species of ecosystem health across the Arctic, a particular
and vulnerable region that is especially sensitive to environmental stressors, as evi-
denced by the multilayered effects of climate change. The chapter by Poma et al.
provides a global overview of the use of pets as sentinels of indoor contamination,
explaining the rationale behind the use of pets as sentinels and describing the vast
array of contaminants that pets are exposed indoors, paving the way for the subse-
quent chapters that deal with specific chemicals. Aslan et al. describes the different
classes of pesticides to which pets and humans are exposed under a “One Health”
perspective, highlighting the common food and water sources and the potential
impacts on animal and human health. Luzardo and colleagues provide a detailed
account of human and pet exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
vii
viii Preface
These authors review the available information and make an important contribution
to the enlargement of this highly limited amount of data by providing new, previ-
ously unpublished results of PAHs levels in the blood of pet dogs. The chapter by
Pastorinho et al. describes the levels, the exposure pathways, and the impacts of
neurotoxic metals in both cats and dogs and discusses the usefulness of this knowl-
edge in the use of pets as sentinels and early warning systems of human neurode-
generative processes. The exposure of cats and dogs to brominated flame retardants
(BFRs) is analyzed by Mizukawa and Nomiyama. These authors describe the tissue-
specific accumulation and biotransformation of polybrominated diphenyl ethers
(PBDEs) and their hydroxylated and methoxylated derivatives (OH-PBDEs and
MeO-PBDEs) in pet dogs and cats and unveil the possible mechanisms that might
be responsible for the differences observed between these animals. Weiss and Jones
provide further insights on the deleterious health consequences of PBDEs exposure
in cats. The authors summarize the available studies describing blood levels of
PBDEs and other organic contaminants in cats and discuss potential effects on the
thyroid hormone system.
The second part of the book (Part II) deals with the capacity of pets to be used as
forecasters and promoters of human health, particularly regarding noncommunica-
ble diseases, including obesity and metabolic disorders, cancer, and immunological
and neurological diseases. The chapter by Tvarijonaviciute and co-workers explores
the similarities, links, and differences between human and canine obesity in order to
better understand this disease that is now considered a global epidemic. The authors
describe the causes and effects of obesity and further provide a detailed description
of obesity grade measurements as well as obesity biomarkers in both cats and dogs.
Vilhena et al. in their chapter on canine and feline spontaneous mammary tumors
use a comparative oncology approach to describe the histophatological, molecular,
and genetic features of canine and feline mammary tumors and propose that these
spontaneous tumors can act as models for human breast cancer. The chapter by
Taborda-Barata provides a clinical perspective on the immunomodulatory effects of
pets. The author reviews the effects of pets on the human immune system, address-
ing the role of pet guardianship in the risk of developing allergic diseases and other
immunomodulators, such as the reduction of psychological stress and depression, as
well as the increase in the levels of regular physical activity and exercise. The poten-
tial use of this immunomodulatory effect of pets is further addressed in the chapter
by Gilbert and collaborators. The microbiome approach put forward by these
authors provides novel insights on how pets may affect human health and well-
being and examines whether or not pets may be able to function as a new microbiome-
based therapy and thus as promoters of human health. The chapter by Vaz-Patto
provides a clinical-oriented perspective on benefits and hazards of pets’ interactions
with the elderly. The impacts of pet guardianship are reviewed in the light of the
more frequent neurological changes presented after 65 years of age, and the positive
and negative aspects associated with pets and the elderly population are outlined.
The effects of companion animals on human health and the use of pets in health
promotion in a healthcare setting are critically reviewed by Silva and Lima. The
authors describe the evidence suggesting companion animals have a positive impact
Preface ix
on human health as well as the available opposite findings. By critically evaluating
the literature, the authors identify gaps still needing to be addressed and propose the
implementation of a comprehensive research approach, which integrates confound-
ing, mediating, and moderating variables.
The third part of the book (Part III) is dedicated to the psychosocial and psycho-
physiological aspects of human-animal interactions. The complex communication
between cats and humans is summarized and described in the chapter by Schötz.
The author explains how cats communicate and describes in detail the vocal com-
munication of domestic cats through phonetic methods. The application of these
methods provides a deeper understanding of the phonetic characteristics of cat
vocalizations, which, according to the author, may improve cat-human communica-
tion and ultimately may contribute to improve health and well-being of cats and, by
extension, their tutors. The final chapter on this section provides an alternative view
on the human-pet interaction by essentially focusing on the pet perspective. The
chapter by Glenck explores the canine perspective of animal-assisted interventions
(AAI), describing the factors that modulate dog’s welfare and addressing the physi-
ological and behavioral welfare indicators available to identify stress in dogs used
in AAI. The author reviews the limitations of the available studies and highlights the
future directions in this emerging field.
We hope that the diverse, complementary, and sometimes discordant perspec-
tives brought by the different authors on the usefulness of pets as sentinels, forecast-
ers, and promoters of human health may contribute to increase the debate on this
topic, improving our understanding on the human pet relationships and thus rein-
forcing the One Health Concept.
We would like to finish by thanking the Springer editorial team for all the support
and all the authors who contributed to this work. Without their commitments and
patience, this book would not have been possible.
Évora, Portugal M. Ramiro Pastorinho
Aveiro, Portugal Ana Catarina A. Sousa
Contents
Part I Pets as Sentinels of Human Exposure to Environmental
Contaminants
1 Pets as Sentinels of Indoor Contamination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Giulia Poma, Govindan Malarvannan, and Adrian Covaci
2 Sled Dogs as Sentinel Species for Monitoring
Arctic Ecosystem Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Christian Sonne, Robert J. Letcher, Bjørn M. Jenssen,
Jean-Pierre Desforges, Igor Eulaers, Emilie Andersen-Ranberg,
Kim Gustavson, Rosanna Bossi, Bjarne Styrishave,
Mikkel-Holger S. Sinding, and Rune Dietz
3 Pets as Sentinels of Human Exposure to Pesticides
and Co-exposure Concerns with Other Contaminants/Toxicants . . . 47
Basak Aslan, Lindsey Viola, Shivender Singh Saini,
Jonathan Stockman, and Elizabeth P. Ryan
4 Role of Pet Dogs and Cats as Sentinels of Human Exposure
to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Cristian Rial-Berriel, Luis Alberto Henríquez-Hernández,
and Octavio P. Luzardo
5 Pets as Sentinels of Human Exposure to Neurotoxic Metals . . . . . . . . 83
M. Ramiro Pastorinho and Ana Catarina A. Sousa
6 Biotransformation of Brominated Compounds
by Pet Dogs and Cats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Hazuki Mizukawa and Kei Nomiyama
xi
xii Contents
7 Using Cats as Sentinels for Human Indoor Exposure
to Organic Contaminants and Potential Effects on the Thyroid
Hormone System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Jana Weiss and Bernt Jones
Part II Pets as Forecasters and Promotors of Human Health
8 Obesity in Humans and Dogs: Similarities,
Links, and Differences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Asta Tvarijonaviciute, Alberto Muñoz-Prieto, and Silvia
Martinez-Subiela
9 Canine and Feline Spontaneous Mammary Tumours as
Models of Human Breast Cancer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Hugo Vilhena, Ana Catarina Figueira, Fernando Schmitt,
Ana Canadas, Raquel Chaves, Adelina Gama,
and Patrícia Dias-Pereira
10 Pets and Immunomodulation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209
Luis Taborda-Barata
11 Pets as a Novel Microbiome-Based Therapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 245
Mariana C. Salas Garcia, Ashley R. Schorr, Wyatt Arnold,
Na Fei, and Jack A. Gilbert
12 N eurological Perspectives on Pets and the Elderly:
The Truth About Cats, Dogs and Grandparents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 269
Maria Vaz Patto
13 Companion Animals and Human Health: On the Need
for a Comprehensive Research Agenda Toward Clinical
Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 295
Karine Silva and Mariely Lima
Part III Psychosocial and Psychophysiological Effects of
Human-Animal Interactions
14 Phonetic Variation in Cat–Human Communication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 319
Susanne Schötz
15 A Dog’s Perspective on Animal-Assisted Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . 349
Lisa Maria Glenk
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 367