Search

Objectives: The UK dog population is living longer, raising concerns about their welfare as a result of ageing-related diseases. Our primary objective was to determine when dogs enter the "old age" life stage based on free-text clinical narratives in veterinary electronic health records. In addition, to identify common conditions documented during consultations with old dogs., Materials and Methods: Regular expressions were developed for: ageing, elderly, geriatric, senior and old. These were used to search the veterinary clinical narratives within a large database of veterinary electronic health records. A sample of 1000 consultations were then read, and those confirmed as being old age classified according to a modified scheme based on the World Health Organization International Classification of Disease 10th Revision., Results: A total of 832 old age dogs were identified. The age at which veterinary professionals considered dogs to be in old age was over 7.25 years in 95% of patients (median age 12.5 years). This age varied among the most common breeds, with cocker spaniels being younger (median 11.7 years) compared with Jack Russell terriers (14.1 years). Weight-related (289/832 consultations, 35%), musculoskeletal (278, 33%), dental (254, 31%), integumentary (235, 28%) and digestive (187, 22%) conditions were most common. The odds of a dental condition were greater (odds ratio: 2.71, 95% confidence interval: 1.38 to 5.31) and musculoskeletal condition less (odds ratio: 0.36, 95% confidence interval: 0.17 to 0.81) in cocker spaniels than in a mixed breeds reference., Clinical Significance: This metric applied at scale to identify old patients may provide a novel foundation for timely health interventions targeted to dogs at increased risk of developing various age-related conditions., (© 2024 The Author(s). Journal of Small Animal Practice published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of British Small Animal Veterinary Association.)

Behavioural and cognitive processes play important roles in mediating an individual's interactions with its environment. Yet, while there is a vast literature on repeatable individual differences in behaviour, relatively little is known about the repeatability of cognitive performance. To further our understanding of the evolution of cognition, we gathered 44 studies on individual performance of 25 species across six animal classes and used meta-analysis to assess whether cognitive performance is repeatable. We compared repeatability ( R ) in performance (1) on the same task presented at different times (temporal repeatability), and (2) on different tasks that measured the same putative cognitive ability (contextual repeatability). We also addressed whether R estimates were influenced by seven extrinsic factors (moderators): type of cognitive performance measurement, type of cognitive task, delay between tests, origin of the subjects, experimental context, taxonomic class and publication status. We found support for both temporal and contextual repeatability of cognitive performance, with mean R estimates ranging between 0.15 and 0.28. Repeatability estimates were mostly influenced by the type of cognitive performance measures and publication status. Our findings highlight the widespread occurrence of consistent inter-individual variation in cognition across a range of taxa which, like behaviour, may be associated with fitness outcomes.This article is part of the theme issue 'Causes and consequences of individual differences in cognitive abilities'., (© 2018 The Author(s).)

We investigated the coevolutionary history of seabirds (orders Procellariiformes and Sphenisciformes) and their lice (order Phthiraptera). Independent trees were produced for the seabirds (tree derived from 12S ribosomal RNA, isoenzyme, and behavioral data) and their lice (trees derived from 12S rRNA data). Brook's parsimony analysis (BPA) supported a general history of cospeciation (consistency index = 0.84, retention index = 0.81). We inferred that the homoplasy in the BPA was caused by one intrahost speciation, one potential host-switching, and eight or nine sorting events. Using reconciliation analysis, we quantified the cost of fitting the louse tree onto the seabird tree. The reconciled trees postulated one host-switching, nine cospeciation, three or four intrahost speciation, and 11 to 14 sorting events. The number of cospeciation events was significantly more than would be expected from chance alone (P < 0.01). The sequence data were used to test for rate heterogeneity for both seabirds and lice. Neither data set displayed significant rate heterogeneity. An examination of the codivergent nodes revealed that seabirds and lice have cospeciated synchronously and that lice have evolved at approximately 5.5 times the rate of seabirds. The degree of sequence divergence supported some of the postulated intrahost speciation events (e.g., Halipeurus predated the evolution of their present hosts). The sequence data also supported some of the postulated host-switching events. These results demonstrate the value of sequence data and reconciliation analyses in unraveling complex histories between hosts and their parasites.

We have examined the pattern of expression of the human PAX2 gene in Wilms' tumors and human fetal kidney by Northern blot and in situ hybridization. Human PAX2 encodes a paired box-containing protein and has a high degree of homology with mouse and Drosophila paired box genes. In situ hybridization analysis reveals that PAX2 is expressed in nephrogenic structures in fetal kidney and also in Wilms' tumors. This pattern of expression suggests that PAX2 may have a role in differentiation of tissues in the kidney. In fetal kidney, PAX2 expression rapidly attenuates following the initial differentiation, but no evidence of attenuation was found in Wilms' tumors. The timing of PAX2 expression is restricted to fetal development, although high levels of expression were also observed in nephrogenic rests of residual normal juvenile kidney tissue adjacent to a Wilms' tumor. Nephrogenic rests are the presumptive precursors of Wilms' tumor but are not necessarily neoplastic. The failure of PAX2 expression to attenuate in Wilms' tumors and nephrogenic rests may be associated with events leading to the onset of Wilms' tumor. By somatic cell hybrid mapping, the PAX2 gene was localized to chromosome 10q22.1-q24.3, although this region has not previously been implicated in Wilms' tumor.