Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 17:41:44 -0600
Reply-To: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
Sender: DCHAS-L Discussion List <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU>
From: Alan Hall <ahalltoxic**At_Symbol_Here**MSN.COM>
Subject: Re: Dog detection strategies beyond Hg...
In-Reply-To: <487F803D-7317-4DDE-8E18-C087CFD819B7**At_Symbol_Here**DCHAS.ORG>

Although, as the father of a daughter currently with 2 service dogs and w ho has walked them frequently, I haven't observed that they think sniffin g human feces is a good thing! This might be sample bias gi ven relative availability of canine versus human samples in certain locatio ns?  Then again, humans have (thank goodness) other ways of markin g our territories and leaving messages for others.  Maybe this would be a better tool for veterinary medicine diagnostics?  We di d recently review a film in which a marine veterinary expert was sniffing t he blowhole of a dolphin to check for certain respiratory diseases. 
 
And then, in human medicine, there was "The Maddness of King George III " which was likely do to the relatively rare condition of intermittent porp hyria in which (in the technology of the times), the color and the odor o r the urine were key diagnostic clues.  There is an old medical mono graph called "Ye Pisse Potte", however, in which a physician at the tim e noted that it were better than a physician examined a patient once than h is urine an hundred times.
 
[Tongue firmly in cheek; nose held.] 
 
And the next 2 days, I'm doing yet another training program on agroterror ism preparedness and response!  Good thing I'm not a canine!  Unfortunately, anything short of SCBA or Supplied Air with a really good seal doesn't necessarily filter out certain mercaptans and other odiferous compounds commonly found around the barnyard or paddock.
 
Alan
Alan H. Hall, M.D.
 
> Date: Mon, 16 May 2011 12:42:15 -0400
> From: secretary**At_Symbol_Here**DC HAS.ORG
> Subject: [DCHAS-L] Dog detection strategies beyond Hg...< BR>> To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**LIST.UVM.EDU
>
> From: "Eric Clark" <erclark**At_Symbol_Here**ph.lacounty.gov>
> Date: May 16, 2011 10:46:51 AM EDT
>
> Hello Colleagues,
>
> Did you happen to see the Chemical & Engineering News (May 9, 2011, p 56) article regarding the cancer-sniffing dog? According C&EN, thi s amazing dog can correctly identify positive colorectal cancer from a pati ent's fecal specimen with 97% accuracy. As far as service animal jobs go, this one must be considered by dogs to be the epitome of all the sniffing jobs, leaving drug, explosive, and mercury-sniffing in a distant 2nd , 3rd, and 4th place.
>
> The next step for the resea rchers is to identify the compound that's unique to cancer. Perhaps this do g could also serve as a GC detector by sniffing what comes off of the chrom atography column - the correct fraction being when the dog's tail wags. But I don't believe using a GC dog-detector is something research labs present ly do do.
>
> Eric
>
> Eric Clark, MS , CCHO, CHMM
> Safety & Compliance Officer
> Lo s Angeles County Public Health Laboratory

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