Canine brain-tumor treatment trials may help humans

Following a seizure, Petey the pit bull was diagnosed with a brain tumor. He is doing well after undergoing treatment in a pilot trial in 2011. By Janet Christenbury, Woodruff Health Sciences Center The American Kennel Club Canine Health Foundation, Inc., has awarded the University of Georgia (UGA) College of Veterinary Medicine and Emory University a $119,000 grant over three years to test a newly developed experimental drug to treat dogs with naturally-occurring brain tumors, following partial surgical removal of those tumors. The goal of the research is to help translate new brain cancer therapies to humans by assessing results in dogs with similar diseases. According to the researchers, the tumors in dogs, known as spontaneous gliomas, are very similar to human malignant brain tumors both by imaging and biology, and both tend to grow back rapidly. The poor prognosis for dogs with gliomas is similar to human patients. The researchers are hoping the novel treatment being tested will slow down tumor growth. A seven-year-old pit bull named Petey was the first dog enrolled in the initial pilot trial at UGA in 2011. Following discovery of a brain tumor after a seizure, Petey underwent surgery in September 2011 to remove a portion of the tumor. Simon Platt, a professor of veterinary neurology at UGA, performed the surgery...
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DARPA Military Robot Dog LS3 Follows On Command

Working with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), researchers from DARPA's LS3 program demonstrated new advances in the robot's control, stability and maneuverability, including "Leader Follow" decision making, enhanced roll recovery, exact foot placement over rough terrain, the ability to maneuver in an urban environment, and verbal command capability. For the past two weeks, in the woods of central Virginia around Fort Pickett, the Legged Squad Support System (LS3) four-legged robot has been showing off its capabilities during field testing. Working with the Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory (MCWL), researchers from DARPA’s LS3 program demonstrated new advances in the robot’s control, stability and maneuverability, including "Leader Follow" decision making, enhanced roll recovery, exact foot placement over rough terrain, the ability to maneuver in an urban environment, and verbal command capability. Testing shows advances in robot’s autonomy, maneuverability and recovery: The LS3 program seeks to demonstrate that a highly mobile, semi-autonomous legged robot can carry 400 lbs of a squad’s equipment, follow squad members through rugged terrain and interact with troops in a natural way similar to a trained animal with its handler. The robot could also be able to maneuver at night and serve as a mobile auxiliary...
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Belgian Malinois Military Working Dogs.

In Europe the Belgian Malinois (short-haired fawn) is one of four varieties of the Belgian Shepherd Dog.The other varieties are the Groenendael (long-haired black, called Belgian Sheepdog in the US), the Tervuren (long-haired fawn), and the Laekenois (wire-haired fawn or gray). The American Kennel Club split the varieties into three separate breeds back in the 1950s (AKC does not recognize the Laekenois). The genetics behind each  breed  are  very  similar,  as  are  their  personalities  and  temperaments. The advantage here is that a study of the more common Tervuren and Sheepdog will give you some indication of the qualities of the short-haired, fawn colored Malinois. A word of caution: The US Military has imported many dogs from the Netherlands for use as Military Working Dogs (MWDs). Although they refer to these dogs as Belgian Malinois, many of them are mixed with other breeds and do not possess all of the Belgian Malinois breed's characteristics. The Belgian Malinois is a sensitive, family-oriented dog. They love to do anything and everything with their owners, and at times they will insist! They are not a breed that is happy being kenneled or otherwise deprived of their owner's companionship. They are also an extremely high-energy dog. This is an...
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Dogs and cats may help kids escape respiratory illnesses

Dogs and cats might offer protection against respiratory illnesses in the first year of an infant’s life, a new study has revealed. Finnish researchers have found that having pets during infancy may actually protect children from respiratory illnesses during the first year of their life. They followed 397 children from the time their mothers were pregnant through age 1. The scientists found that those who were exposed to dogs at home had fewer respiratory illnesses or symptoms compared with children who didn’t have dogs. Children with dogs also had less-frequent ear infections and needed antibiotics less often as compared to those children who were never exposed to dogs. Cats offered similar protective benefits, but to a lesser degree. According to the authors, the findings suggest that early contact with dogs or cats may ramp up infants’ immune systems. “We speculate that animal contacts could help to mature the immunologic system, leading to more composed immunologic response and shorter duration of infections,” ABC News quoted. The amount of time a dog spends inside the home also has an impact on children’s respiratory health. Children who live in houses where dogs are inside less than six hours a day are at lowest risk for respiratory problems. The authors think that it could...
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Is a dog your baby's new best friend?

Daniel DeNoon writes about a new study involving pets and babies for WebMD Health News. An excerpt: "Babies in homes with dogs have fewer colds, fewer ear infections, and need fewer antibiotics in their first year of life than babies raised in pet-free homes, Finnish researchers find. Homes with cats are healthier for babies, too, but not to the same extent as those with dogs, note researchers Eija Bergroth, MD, of Finland's Kuopio University Hospital, and colleagues."'The strongest effect was seen with dog contacts. We do not know why it was stronger than with cat contacts,' Bergroth tells WebMD. 'It might have something to do with dirt brought inside by the dogs, especially since the strongest protective effect was seen with children living in houses where dogs spent a lot of time outside.'... "A time-honored theory, the hygiene hypothesis, suggests that children's immune systems mature best when infants are exposed to germs in just the right amount. Too many germs are unhealthy, but so is a sterile, germ-free home. "That theory is now giving way to the 'microbiome hypothesis,' says Karen DeMuth, assistant professor of pediatrics at Atlanta's Emory University. "'The microbiome hypothesis is that early-life exposure to wide varieties of microbes lets them mix with the microbes in the gut and helps them keep...
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