Friday, September 30, 2016

CUSHINGS STUDY AT VIRGINIA TECH/MARYLAND





As you all know, Cushings is a prevalent disease among Scottish Terriers.  Although none of us have ever been diagnosed with it, we are aware that it can happen at any time.  It is a manageable disease and once diagnosed a dog can live a happy and full life with a few minor adjustments. 

Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine invited all Scottish Terriers in the area to participate in the study.  Below you will find an update.

 Dear Scottie supporters,

Thank you to those veterinarians and owners who participated in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine’s study of Atypical Cushing’s in Scottish terriers. We wanted to provide an update on our research findings for those who may be interested in learning more.

Atypical Cushing’s in Scotties

Cushing’s disease is a chronic debilitating disorder in dogs. Scotties have an unusually high incidence of Cushing’s. It can contribute to the development of diabetes, obesity, immune system problems, inappropriate urination, and other negative health outcomes. In normal dogs, the pituitary gland and adrenal glands produce hormones necessary for the function of many systems in the body. If something goes wrong in these glands and certain hormones are overproduced, then Cushing’s can develop. These abnormalities are often detected by observing clinical signs and when routine blood work shows elevations in a liver protein called ALP.

Our Earlier Findings

Preliminary data indicate that in Scottish Terriers, the cause of atypical Cushing’s appears to be due to excessive amounts of noncortisol steroids, which is an atypical form of the disease. These findings prompted the group at the vet school here to speculate that there might be a unique underlying cause for atypical Cushing’s in this breed. The study you participated in was designed to test those theories.

Our preliminary research, which has been ongoing for several years, had already figured out a few things:

· In the most common form of Cushing’s, excessive amounts of a single hormone from the pituitary gland signals the adrenal gland to overproduce cortisol. However, in Scotties excessive amounts of sex hormones, not cortisol, are observed.

· This increased production of adrenal sex hormones is not due to excessive amounts of a variety of pituitary signaling hormones.

· These elevated concentrations of sex hormones are the cause for the increased ALP values commonly seen in these dogs.

· There is no indication of adrenal cancer as a cause for this increased production of sex hormones.

· The magnitude of ALP elevations increases over time, but pituitary and adrenal regulation do not change.

The Virginia-Maryland college team identified 3 candidate genes in a very small pool of patients which are uniquely expressed in Scotties with atypical disease compared to normal Scotties and other breeds with Cushing’s disease, and undertook the study you participated in to understand how these genes might influence the development of atypical Cushing’s.

The Newest Study

The latest study you participated in found that there was indeed a genomic variation in Scottish terriers that was associated with increased serum ALP activity. The variation was located on the same chromosome as a gene responsible for inactivation of sex steroids. Genes can be active (expressed) or inactive (not expressed). If genes are overexpressed, their effect can increase. If they are under expressed, their effect is reduced. In Scotties, the sex steroid inactivation gene was under expressed in comparison to other breeds with Cushing’s disease (pituitary dependent hyperadrenocorticism). We suggest the gene variation seen in Scotties may be linked with “turning off” this sex steroid inactivation gene, leading to increased concentrations of sex steroids. We believe the higher concentrations of these sex steroids may explain commonly observed liver and ALP changes seen in Scottish terriers.

Questions?

The results will be published in academic journals, shared with the AKC’s Canine Health Foundation, and published on the AVMA’s clinical research website. We hope that better understanding of the mechanisms of this disease in Scotties can lead to better treatments for affected dogs. 

If you have any questions about this research, please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Mindy Quigley

Clinical Trials Coordinator

Veterinary Clinical Research Office

Virginia Tech

Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

205 Duck Pond Drive

Blacksburg, VA 24061

Office Phone: 540-231-1363

Web: http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/clinical-trials/ 

Working Hours: T, W, TH (8:30am-5pm)

Thursday, September 22, 2016

HELP OUT A WORTHY CAUSE



We know that many of you
were good friends with 


 We were devastated
when we found out 
that he had to go 
to 
The Rainbow Bridge
to be with our Lilly.

His Peeps,
along with some Vets
are researching the horrible
cancer that took our buddy.


You can help out
by ordering one of 
with a picture
of Stuart on it.
All you have to do
is go here.
They come in several different styles,
even a cool hoody.
Our Mom has
already ordered one.

XOXO
Piper, Celti, Bonnie
and 
Ivy

Wednesday, September 21, 2016

OH HOW WE LOVE THOSE CHEWY BOXES



As most of you
are well aware,
one of the best days
of the month 
is the day 
that you get a package from
chewy.com.




Mom is a little slow
about getting this review done,
but we wanted to
let you know about 
this superior toy.


Ms. Sydney sent us 
to try out.

It's a great design,
rounded on the bottom
with little fingers inside
that hold treats!!

(please mute you computer
unless you want to hear the 6:30 news)


The best thing
about the Zogoflex
is that it stands up
to the tough jaws
of a 
Scottish Terrier!!

The second best thing is
that it's on sale right now.

We give it 12 paws up!!
(because we don't let
Ivy play with it.  
We're sure she'd like it too)

We are impressed.


XOXO,
Piper, Celti, Bonnie
and Ivy

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

MENDING A BROKEN HEART....


....is not easy
and sometimes never happens.

You all know how heartbroken
we were when we lost
Our Angel Lilly
at such a young age.  

 Mom had grieved
for over two years
and then she 
held a wee black Scottie girl
when she was visiting
our brother and sissy 
in California.

She felt her heart 
start to mend
a bit
and she knew it was time.


Two weeks ago,
she went to visit them again,
and when she returned
she had a red plaid bag
with a little black Scottie girl
inside.

MascotHaven's RC RhythmnBlues
came to us 
all the way from Australia.

She is a granddaughter
to Piper and Carrleigh
and is Celti's niece.

We're so excited
and we love her dearly.

Even though she has
a long posh name,
we just call her
Bonnie Blue.

Please help us 
welcome her.

XOXO,
Piper, Celti, and Ivy


Monday, September 19, 2016

WE'VE GOT TO BRAG JUST A BIT


If you've been with us
for a while,
you might remember
when
Carrleigh and Piper
had a littler of 
eight Wheaten Scottie puppies.
 Guthrie was one of those pups.


 But once he was selected
for his forever home,
his Mum named him Arlo.

And he's been around
the show ring 
a time or two.

But Arlo
(due to the magic of AI)
has a daughter 
in 
Australia
who is really prancing
around the show ring.


 This past weekend,
she won 
Best Puppy
at 
The Victoria Scottie Show

and


 She won
Best Puppy
at
The Royal Melbourne Show.


We are all so proud
of
Our Little Champion!!

XOXO,
Piper, Celti, Bonnie
and
Ivy

PS - we'll be back tomorrow
with another surprise!!
Related Posts with Thumbnails

Carrleigh

Piper

Ivy

Celti

Bonnie