For Those Who Test For DM, What Age? - Page 16

Blitzen you keep asking other to do this

Has anyone done as I've suggested multiple times - asked the GSDCA if they can disclose why they switched their funding from Clemmons to Coates.

Have you and what did you learn

http://agsdcf.com/

Thank you for that link. I did not and am not going to read more than the front page which did not answer your question. So why the link.

What did they tell you when you asked

Why the link? I posted the link  to show how much is going on in this breed that most here don't seem to know about. There is also a need for donations. DM, hemangiosarcoma, cancer etc - all being researched. Hating on the GSDCA does not benefit the breed. They do good too. If you won't get past the first page, you won't know what's happening.

You'll have to ask the GSDCA about that funding switch. There has been a lot of wrong information posted here about why that happened.

Blitzen sorry I thought that the link was the answer to the question I asked you.

I was thinking that perhaps you had asked why they switched and wanted others to ask and see if we got the same answer and maybe compare answers.
I had not heard that anyone had switched or why they did.

      Thank you Blitzen for the link, I looked past the first page and this organization has put real dollars to research although there appears to be no current funding for DM research. I did glean some information pertinent to our discussion, this is what the Broad Institute had to say about the test;"The availability of the DM test has raised questions that must be answered before the test can be used by dog breeders,"- I haven't seen those questions answered. Here are some excerpts from Dr Clemmons from the University of Florida who was doing research into DM specific to German Shepherd Dogs; "in light of the data from the Broad Institute and the University of Missouri, we did look at the encoding region of SOD1 and found that at least 60% of the patients we diagnose with GSDM have a change in that region. Again, this SOD1 change does not appear to be specific in GSDM as the flash test and is probably a common mutation, not the rare mutation that would have a high risk significance."

       "The disease in some un-related breeds (such as Corgis and Boxers) appears to have a different basis from our work." "Even though some GSDs have a change in SOD1, not all of the GSDM patients we diagnose with the disease based on our clinical criteria have an SOD1 change. Moreover the pathology of the GSD in GSDM does not support the motor neuron hypothesis." "You can not look at a single common mutation and understand the disease. You can not ignore the rest of the data about GSDM and its clinical picture. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis has some association with SOD1, but that is not the sole problem even in ALS. ALS patients do not have the elevated protein in the CSF and they have characteristic changes in motor units either in the spinal cord or brain which are indicative of the diseases. Neither of these changes has been seen in the GSD."

It's a shame this specific to our breed research ended and it is a shame that people exhibit such a blind euphoria to this testing. The promotion of this test to me amounts to a fraud and a scam. Even the data from the University of Missouri should raise red flags to those with more than a casual concern.

From what I see, the University of Missouri seems to be barking up the wrong tree.

Have you contacted Coates with your concerns and opinions, Marko? I assure you she will be interested in reading and discussing them with you. She is dedicated to solving the DM puzzle and is leaving no stone unturned in the process. You should also ask her if the DM research specific to the GSD is closed.  coatesj@missouri.edu

You may also want to consider having your GSD/s DNA banked with CHIC. I don't know where you live, but there are often blood draw clinics sponsored by the GSDCA or all breed AKC clubs. There will be one at the GSDCA National again this year. http://www.caninehealthinfo.org/. Or you can order a swab kit and collect your dogs yourself.

PS: Based on a few postmortems, the Flash test wasn't 100% accurate either for GSD's. Have you read or heard that anywhere? I'm guessing not although the proof was offered.

The prognosis for DM in this breed comes down to a simple fact - unless GSD owners have posts done on their suspected effected dogs and bank their GSD's DNA there will be never be answers to DM (or any other health issue)  that effect this breed.

Egos and half truths have driven this project from day one. That's why there are no answers, not because researchers are  now "barking up the wrong tree". Stop drinking the Kool Aid. Who did what when doesn't matter anymore; it never did.

     A database that labels dogs Carriers, Clears, and At Risk does great harm to the breed when it tests for a gene that has not satisfactorily proven to cause DM in German Shepherd Dogs. Whose ego are you speaking of Blitzen, the Doctor who focused his research to GSD DM or the Doctor who announced a major breakthrough in ALS and is accepting donations for that research? Who is drinking the Kool-aid, the people who ask for proof or the people who repeat the Bob Barker-like cliche," have your pets tested"? I have seen no refutation explaining the differences between the clinical signs of GSD DM and the signs of the ALS like symptoms this test claims to identify. I have seen no explanation for the lack of accuracy this tests offers. I welcome anyone to read Dr Clemmons' review of his research and what he thought of the science behind this test, and I would love to see a refutation of what an expert on the subject has made other than we don't know until we have more data. If you can identify or refute the half-truths Blitzen, have at it. 

   Barking up the wrong tree was probably a poor choice of words, barking in the wrong blind seems more appropriate.

 

Then don't test your dogs  or contribute DNA to either database, Marko. It's up to you.