Organic beef have got a lot more confirmed brainpower, nevertheless considering the sense of smell, we all don't even are available near the level of sensitivity regarding man's smart companion, your canine. Merely taking into consideration the peripheral area of the method within the nose area, rather than the particular olfactory a part of it is human brain, any canine's biological fineness runs between 15 to be able to 100-fold in addition regarding person. The acknowledged contributions of dogs in working fields such as seeing-eye and therapy or bomb and body sniffing may be simply scratching the surface in terms of what dogs could do in the future to improve human lives. At the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, Tallahassee, Dr. Jim Walker and his wife, Dianne and their colleagues are continuing previously-started work that could put dogs to work identifying cancers, particularly those deadly, sometimes obvious ones on the skin. Jim Walker holds a Ph.D. in psychobiology while Dianne holds a B.S. in psychology. Both Walkers share a deep respect for the potential of dogs, and are currently developing ways to ask olfactory questions of them that they hope will satisfy both "dog people" and "laboratory people". The Walkers have initiated some very preliminary work to identify chemicals in the air over cultured melanoma cells. They've collaborated with Tallahassee-based dog trainers Duane Pickel and Gloria Manucy, as well as dermatologist Dr. Armand Cognetta, to pull together work done thus far. Cautious and modest, as accomplished and responsible scientists are, that nothing is assumed until proven, Jim Walker urges us to assume nothing and not to get too overly enthused. Adamant that he's not conducting a cancer study, he explains further: "What is being detected is the most dangerous type of skin cancer: melanoma. Melanin is the substance that is the skin pigment. But it is not absolutely safe to say that it is the melanoma per se that is being detected; the dogs could be smelling chemicals that are associated with wounds, tissue injury or with something altered about the skin." More Than Skin Deep More than 47,000 new cases of melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, are diagnosed annually in the United States and result in some 8,000 deaths. You've heard the warnings, often issued concurrently with "wear your sunblock: If you notice anything suspicious on your skin, see your doctor," for indeed, many deaths could be prevented if diagnoses could be made earlier. Just as early diagnosis relies upon the patient to first notice something, current medical practice relies on astute visual detection by the physician frequently aided by a hand-held microscope, and as a result, melanomas are only diagnosed accurately, perhaps 65 percent of the time. That's a statistic that can, and should be improved upon, and the Walkers would eventually like to do just that by figuring out a better way to obtain information from the dog-to get it to talk to them in a clearer language-and to figure out "as best we can what are the chemical markers on which the dogs rely in the melanoma situation," adds Jim Walker. Their labors follow pioneering work in the canine olfaction realm initiated by Cognetta and friends. The doctor was first captivated by a radio news story he heard that described how dogs were being used to search for a body thought to be at a lake bottom. Prompted to investigate published medical reports, he came upon a 1989 Lancet (a British medical journal) story that further fired his curiosity. He read of a 44-year old woman whose dog persistently continued sniffing at a mole on her leg: the spot was ultimately diagnosed as malignant melanoma. Cognetta decided to undertake then-revolutionary research, and sought out dog expert and retired Tallahassee police officer Pickel as well as dog trainer Manucy. Other members of the research team included Pickel's dog George, a former bomb-sniffing standard schnauzer who ultimately proved his expertise as a diagnostician. Manucy's golden retriever, Breeze, was also a major player in the scenario. Both pups' resumes read like "Who's Who" of dogdom: George knew how to obey almost 130 hand signals, and had racked up 400 awards for obedience from the American Kennel Club (AKC). Breeze, too, had a roster of wins in obedience, agility and other pertinent categories, and was acknowledged to be "very intelligent." The two canines were also great with people. George, for example, who passed away at 10 in 2000, first learned to recognize cancer cells in a test or "retrieval" tube, then in a more complex set-up involving 10 holes in a large box. The dog exhibited a very high success rate. When he progressed to humans, where the cancer-ridden tissue samples were hidden under bandages, he was right 99 percent of the time. Walker clarifies: "It is not possible to say that the dogs were keying in just on melanoma since they were trained mostly on a mixed tissue sample that was part basal cell cancer and part squamous cell and part melanoma." Very simply, in laymen's terms, George worked like this; the dog would sniff the patient, sit, lift his paw and basically place it on the tumor. In the end, he found skin cancer in four of the seven patients. True, he wasn't right in all cases, but his penchant for accuracy was encouraging that something noteworthy was happening here. Breeze would identify the troublesome area on the patient by putting her mouth gently on the suspected growth. Pickel, a big believer in canine capability, wasn't terribly surprised with the results, since he had made dogs his life's passion since he was 10 years old. Having served with the canine corps in Vietnam, Pickel trained under many of the top canine professionals in the world, and has overseen 17 top AKC champions. He was involved in bomb searches for the Reagan-Bush administration when the President and Vice President visited the Southeastern United States. "Dogs smell much better than the best man-made odor-detecting machines," Pickel personally believes. Dogs Make Scents Make Sense The Walkers have picked up the canine ball, so to speak, from the previous two-year efforts of Cognetta, Pickel and Manucy: the dermatologist is now fully returned to private practice. As the Walkers continue their canine olfactory exploration, they've attracted the interest and support of Brent Hoadley, another Ph.D. who specializes in plant and soil science. Now retired from academia, Hoadley runs a full-time dog kennel and volunteers the sniffing services of his Golden Retriever, Pat, to the Walker's scientific endeavors with Pickel. "I've known and respected Duane for 30 years," confides Hoadley "and I've watched him as he went through developing stringent standards. I've personally followed what's been done with dogs in detecting explosive mines and bombs; it's fascinating. I don't believe there's been a better piece of equipment invented than a dog's nose. " Hoadley, who says he's just "tagging along on this research," is enthused at the prospects that the four other canines, his included, "are going to prove how well a dog's nose can find a target." The challenge, Hoadley agrees, is that, realistically "not everybody accepts dogs: the patient has got to do that. The other piece of this is that it's going to require some very unique trainers. We need a better standard for training dogs and making sure there are trainers on the end of the lead who really know what's going on. They need to have the interest: I know these people are out there." The person is just one part of the equation: then there's the dog, acknowledges Hoadley. "Therapy and seeing-eye dogs have already proven themselves. Once we prove the dog is able to help mankind in this way, we'll need to develop a certification program so that both dog and trainer can do what they're expected to do. Remember, though, that not every dog is a good hunting dog, for example. Not every dog is ideal for police work; maybe they're not brave enough. Dogs trained for this purpose will have proven a special talent." Furthering the research for, and ultimately the training and implementation of cancer-sniffing dogs, depends on continued funding, acknowledges Hoadley. "If anyone has the interest and the money, it's needed now, for the training and the target; this won't go on if there's no money." The number of choices in this particular industry may possibly genuinely end up being countless. Of course, if you concentrate on that, what is being done really does help to make sense…and smells, even as we think about inside around the amazing things in the human/animal partnership. Pickel sets that very best: "A doggy will be the simply dog inside the kingdom that will somewhat add him self in people as compared to his very own sort. " |
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