Scent-detection dogs have been used for decades to locate drugs, explosives, toxic waste, and more. Scent dogs have been trained to alert for seizures and hypoglycemia, locate cadavers, and screen ...for viruses, bacterial infections, and numerous cancers. These capable dogs warrant a more significant role in public health protection. The purpose of this preliminary study was to determine whether dogs could be trained to accurately identify coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infections in humans. In previously published studies, dogs were trained to identify the scent of COVID-19 in inert samples with high sensitivity and specificity. In this study, 2 dogs were trained to identify the scent in live individuals (vs inert samples, as used in previous studies), a faster and more efficient screening method. These dogs tested out at 94% to 96% positive and negative agreement compared to PCR testing. These results recommend the use of scent dogs for public health applications and warrant investigation for other applications beyond COVID-19. This study is included as part of the Currents in One Health series. A partner article by Pellin et al, AJVR, January 2024, describes and evaluates the current research on the utilization of trained scent-detection dogs for the detection of disease within human and veterinary patients.
Dogs' roles to support people with disabilities are increasing. Existing U.S. laws and regulations pertaining to the use of dogs for people with disabilities are only minimally enforced. Pushback ...legislation against some aspects of uses of assistance dogs currently is being passed or proposed in several states. Further, the U.S. Department of the Army and the Veterans' Administration support only dogs trained by an Assistance Dogs International (ADI) or International Guide Dog Federation (IGDF) accredited facility. Lacking a mandatory national process for screening the selection, training, and placement of assistance dogs with persons who have disabilities, the U.S. offers a creative but confusing opportunity for people to train their own dogs for any disability. While no U.S. surveillance system monitors assistance dogs, other countries generally have a legislated or regulatory process for approving assistance dogs or a cultural convention for obtaining dogs from accredited facilities. We conducted an online survey investigating current demographics of assistance dogs placed in 2013 and 2014 with persons who have disabilities, by facilities worldwide that are associated with ADI or IGDF and by some non-accredited U.S. facilities. Placement data from ADI and IGDF facilities revealed that in most countries aside from the U.S., guide dogs were by far the main type of assistance dog placed. In the U.S., there were about equal numbers of mobility and guide dogs placed, including many placed by large older facilities, along with smaller numbers of other types of assistance dogs. In non-accredited U.S. facilities, psychiatric dogs accounted for most placements. Dogs for families with an autistic child were increasing in all regions around the world. Of dog breeds placed, accredited facilities usually mentioned Labrador Retrievers and Golden Retrievers, and sometimes, German Shepherd Dogs. The facilities bred their dogs in-house, or acquired them from certain breeders. Non-accredited facilities more often used dogs from shelters or assisted people in training their own dogs. Facilities in Europe and the U.S. place dogs in all roles; other parts of the world primarily focus on guide dogs. Expansion of assistance dogs in many roles is continuing, with numbers of dogs placed accelerating internationally.
Wie gut ist gut? Jansen, Till
Zeitschrift Führung + Organisation,
01/2022
1
Trade Publication Article
Recenzirano
Dem Zeitgeist gilt, dass Organisationen besser funktionieren, wenn sie Purpose bieten, wenn die Vorgesetzten New Leader sind und keine machiavellistischen Herrscher. Stellen wir das Garbage Can Model ...organisationaler Entscheidungsfindung4 in Rechnung, ließe sich die Sache dahingehend zuspitzen, dass rationale Organisationen überhaupt nicht gut sein können, weil im Zuge permanenter Strategiewechsel, Personalrochaden und interner Kompromisse keine kohärente Idee von »gut« verfolgt werden kann. Auch hier ist das Schlechte nur dann gut, wenn es sich am Ende des Tages als das bessere »gut« herausstellt.
The domestic dog is becoming an increasingly valuable model species in medical genetics, showing particular promise to advance our understanding of cancer and orthopaedic disease. Here we undertake ...the largest canine genome-wide association study to date, with a panel of over 4,200 dogs genotyped at 180,000 markers, to accelerate mapping efforts. For complex diseases, we identify loci significantly associated with hip dysplasia, elbow dysplasia, idiopathic epilepsy, lymphoma, mast cell tumour and granulomatous colitis; for morphological traits, we report three novel quantitative trait loci that influence body size and one that influences fur length and shedding. Using simulation studies, we show that modestly larger sample sizes and denser marker sets will be sufficient to identify most moderate- to large-effect complex disease loci. This proposed design will enable efficient mapping of canine complex diseases, most of which have human homologues, using far fewer samples than required in human studies.
Cognitive Aging in Dogs Chapagain, Durga; Range, Friederike; Huber, Ludwig ...
Gerontology (Basel),
02/2018, Letnik:
64, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
A decline in the physical or mental health of older dogs can be a challenge for the owners, whose relationship with their dog is compromised by the cognitive and behavioral changes in their dogs. ...Although dog owners tend to consider many physiological and behavioral changes in old dogs as part of the normal aging process, it is important to differentiate between normal aging and pathologic aging, since behavioral changes may be the first indication of declining health and welfare in old dogs. Most reviews on cognitive aging in dogs have focused on translational approaches to human Alzheimer's disease; from a practical perspective, however, understanding normal cognitive aging in pet dogs and screening cognitively affected dogs are important in their own right. Here we review the literature on different cognitive functions that decline during aging, signs of cognitive dysfunction, screening methods, and preventive measures for age-related cognitive decline. Moreover, we discuss the drawbacks of using questionnaires as subjective measures of aging and propose the development of objective methods to distinguish normal cognitive aging from severe cognitive dysfunction. We suggest that multi-targeted approaches that combine owner-evaluated questionnaires with neuropsychological tests can be most effective in screening cognitively affected dogs from normally aging dogs. Regarding preventive measures, we conclude that combinations of dietary intervention and behavioral enrichment may be more beneficial than single-pathway manipulations in delaying cognitive aging or retaining various cognitive functions during aging.
Domestic dog breeds exhibit remarkable morphological variations that result from centuries of artificial selection and breeding. Identifying the genetic changes that contribute to these variations ...could provide critical insights into the molecular basis of tissue and organismal morphogenesis. Bulldogs, French Bulldogs and Boston Terriers share many morphological and disease-predisposition traits, including brachycephalic skull morphology, widely set eyes and short stature. Unlike other brachycephalic dogs, these breeds also exhibit vertebral malformations that result in a truncated, kinked tail (screw tail). Whole genome sequencing of 100 dogs from 21 breeds identified 12.4 million bi-allelic variants that met inclusion criteria. Whole Genome Association of these variants with the breed defining phenotype of screw tail was performed using 10 cases and 84 controls and identified a frameshift mutation in the WNT pathway gene DISHEVELLED 2 (DVL2) (Chr5: 32195043_32195044del, p = 4.37 X 10-37) as the most strongly associated variant in the canine genome. This DVL2 variant was fixed in Bulldogs and French Bulldogs and had a high allele frequency (0.94) in Boston Terriers. The DVL2 variant segregated with thoracic and caudal vertebral column malformations in a recessive manner with incomplete and variable penetrance for thoracic vertebral malformations between different breeds. Importantly, analogous frameshift mutations in the human DVL1 and DVL3 genes cause Robinow syndrome, a congenital disorder characterized by similar craniofacial, limb and vertebral malformations. Analysis of the canine DVL2 variant protein showed that its ability to undergo WNT-induced phosphorylation is reduced, suggesting that altered WNT signaling may contribute to the Robinow-like syndrome in the screwtail breeds.
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