Browsing by Subject "Dog"
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(2022)Urban greenspaces are valuable resources for humans and are an integral part of the urban landscape. They are also popular sites for various social and cultural activities, such as dog walking. Dog ownership rates are increasing globally at a rapid rate, hence increasing the dog populations within urban cities. The increasing number of dogs could potentially have negative consequences to the quality of urban parks. Furthermore, there is a lack of research on the impacts of dogs on urban environments. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the impacts of dogs on path-side soils in urban greenspaces. Soil samples were collected from both Helsinki and Lahti. The impact of dog urine was studied by comparing path-side soil samples between areas with high dog activity (i.e., parks) and similar areas with low to no dog activity (i.e., cemeteries). Soil samples were collected three times during the growing season in 2021 at three different treatments: close by 1) an evergreen tree, 2) a lamppost, and 3) a lawn area. The samples were analyzed for soil pH, electrical conductivity, organic matter, soil moisture, NO3--N, and NH4+-N. Net N mineralization and net nitrification rates were also calculated. The results indicated that dog urine is a significant contributor to the input of nitrogen in urban parks. Soil NO3-N and NH4+-N concentrations were significantly higher in parks than in cemeteries and exhibited clear seasonal trends. Soil pH was generally lower and electrical conductivity higher in parks than in cemeteries. Poles and trees exhibited the greatest concentrations, suggesting that the impact of dog urine is highly localized around path-side objects. None of the treatments in cemeteries showed little to no changes throughout the growing season. Lastly, the net nitrification rates were significantly higher in parks during spring and summer. In contrast, net mineralization rates were generally higher in cemeteries than parks. These results confirm that urban planners need to take into consideration the impact of dogs to mitigate any potential negative consequences to the quality of urban parks.
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(2021)Canine uveal melanoma (UM) usually manifests as a slowly developing, darker pigmented and well distinguishable mass in the iris. Less than a third of them are considered malignant, which is much less than with other melanocytic cancers. In contrast, in humans, 90% of UM occurs in the choroid and half of the patients eventually develop aggressive and often lethal metastases. Understanding the disease process and genetic background in dogs might also help us further the knowledge and improve the treatment options of humans. There is a hereditary component to the oncogenesis of the UM: the disease is more common in a Caucasian race and is also found in certain families. It is also more prevalent in certain dog breeds; Labrador Retrievers seem to be overrepresented. Several susceptibility genes have been identified in humans. One with the strongest association with UM is a tumor suppressor gene BAP1, which is dysfunctional or missing in nearly half of the human uveal melanomas. This gene is a so-called secondary driver of the UM and mutations in it spark the metastasizing process. There is a germline mutation of BAP1 in fourth of Finnish UM families and these mutations are also connected to various other cancers. Moreover, BAP1 shows over 98% protein product homology and almost 80% mRNA homology between dogs and humans, making it an appealing study target also for canines. Should a single variant account for high UM risk, a DNA test could be developed to be used in breeding and veterinary diagnostics. In this work, I mapped the BAP1 germline mutations of seven Labrador Retrievers with diagnosed uveal melanomas or melanocytomas. It was found that four dogs shared the same set of five heterozygous single nucleotide variants (SNV). One of the SNVs within exon 17 was synonymous, g.37,363,076G>A, p.(Ser721Ser), while the other four SNVs were intronic, residing close to exons 4, 10, 11 and 14. In the future, variant comparisons with healthy Labradors are needed to study the role of the identified variants for the development of UM, as the SNVs now found could also just be a part of a common variation in the Labrador Retriever gene pool. To grasp a bigger picture of the UM tumor development, the tumors themselves should also be analyzed for somatic mutations. Moreover, when we know that the disease is likely affected by over a hundred genes, studying just one gene is unnecessarily self-restricting. Modern full genome sequencing techniques should be used for catching all the predisposing genes simultaneously.
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(2021)Canine uveal melanoma (UM) usually manifests as a slowly developing, darker pigmented and well distinguishable mass in the iris. Less than a third of them are considered malignant, which is much less than with other melanocytic cancers. In contrast, in humans, 90% of UM occurs in the choroid and half of the patients eventually develop aggressive and often lethal metastases. Understanding the disease process and genetic background in dogs might also help us further the knowledge and improve the treatment options of humans. There is a hereditary component to the oncogenesis of the UM: the disease is more common in a Caucasian race and is also found in certain families. It is also more prevalent in certain dog breeds; Labrador Retrievers seem to be overrepresented. Several susceptibility genes have been identified in humans. One with the strongest association with UM is a tumor suppressor gene BAP1, which is dysfunctional or missing in nearly half of the human uveal melanomas. This gene is a so-called secondary driver of the UM and mutations in it spark the metastasizing process. There is a germline mutation of BAP1 in fourth of Finnish UM families and these mutations are also connected to various other cancers. Moreover, BAP1 shows over 98% protein product homology and almost 80% mRNA homology between dogs and humans, making it an appealing study target also for canines. Should a single variant account for high UM risk, a DNA test could be developed to be used in breeding and veterinary diagnostics. In this work, I mapped the BAP1 germline mutations of seven Labrador Retrievers with diagnosed uveal melanomas or melanocytomas. It was found that four dogs shared the same set of five heterozygous single nucleotide variants (SNV). One of the SNVs within exon 17 was synonymous, g.37,363,076G>A, p.(Ser721Ser), while the other four SNVs were intronic, residing close to exons 4, 10, 11 and 14. In the future, variant comparisons with healthy Labradors are needed to study the role of the identified variants for the development of UM, as the SNVs now found could also just be a part of a common variation in the Labrador Retriever gene pool. To grasp a bigger picture of the UM tumor development, the tumors themselves should also be analyzed for somatic mutations. Moreover, when we know that the disease is likely affected by over a hundred genes, studying just one gene is unnecessarily self-restricting. Modern full genome sequencing techniques should be used for catching all the predisposing genes simultaneously.
Now showing items 1-3 of 3