Military Working Dogs

McGraw, Andrew L.; Thomas, Todd M.

doi:10.1016/j.cvsm.2021.04.010

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…For example, previously uninfected hunting dogs that were group-housed in kennels of central and south Texas had a 30.7% risk of acquiring T. cruzi infection within 1 year [29]. Additionally, the high-value U.S. government working dogs, which are often kept in outdoor kennel environments, have had continuous diagnoses of infection, including both military working dogs [30] and the border patrol and port of entry dogs, leading to fatal Chagas myocarditis [31]. Dogs at animal shelters across variable ecoregions in Texas have an overall T. cruzi infection prevalence of ∼18%, which is statistically indistinguishable from the heartworm prevalence in the same dogs [32].…”

Section: T Cruzi Infection In Non-humans Is a Crucial Problem And An ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unfortunate Abundance of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally Infected Dogs and Monkeys Provides Unique Opportunities to Advance Solutions for Chagas Disease

Tarleton,

Saunders,

Lococo

et al. 2024

Zoonoses

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Trypanosoma cruzi, the protozoan parasite and cause of Chagas disease, is widely distributed in many vertebrate and triatomine species throughout North, Central, and South America. Variations in housing quality largely determines human infection risk in the Americas. However, the southern U.S. contains widespread, infected triatomine vectors and captive species and domesticated animals with active T. cruzi infection or at high risk of becoming infected and developing Chagas disease. There is a critical need for better detection and intervention strategies, principally focused on human infection throughout the Americas, but mainly in the U.S., for high-value dogs employed in government and other work. In addition to this economic impact, the concentration of largely unavoidable T. cruzi infections in U.S. dogs provides an incomparable opportunity to answer questions related to T. cruzi infection and Chagas disease that are impossible or unethical to address in humans. As the course of T. cruzi infection and Chagas disease, the immune response to infection, and the response to therapeutics are highly similar across the range of mammalian host species, information obtained from studies in other species can directly inform researchers on how to best detect, manage, and treat T. cruzi infection and Chagas disease in humans.

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Section: T Cruzi Infection In Non-humans Is a Crucial Problem And An ...mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Unfortunate Abundance of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally Infected Dogs and Monkeys Provides Unique Opportunities to Advance Solutions for Chagas Disease

Tarleton,

Saunders,

Lococo

et al. 2024

Zoonoses

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“…brachycephalic) and also use (e.g. work), there is evidence for a large variation in exposure and sensitivity to heat stress (Otto et al., 2017; Gogolski et al., 2020; McGraw and Thomas, 2021). –Hales and Dampney (1975), investigated vulnerability to cold stress in Greyhounds. –Other examples are studies on brachycephalic‐type breeds (Bruchim et al., 2017; Davis et al., 2017; Caldas et al., 2022; Gallman et al., 2023), on coat and fur (Turnpenny et al., 2000; McNicholl et al., 2016) and on different sizes (Jimenez et al., 2023).…”

Section: Judgement 1: Housingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Rectal temperatures around 42°C are usually fatal (Stanley et al., 1980 ). Heatstroke‐related diseases are quite common in dogs belonging to brachycephalic breeds, due to the morpho‐functional alterations in their airways, or in military, rescue, or work dogs, which are subject to physical exercise in hot and adverse ambient conditions (Otto et al., 2017 ; Gogolski et al., 2020 ; McGraw and Thomas, 2021 ).…”

Section: Judgement 1: Housingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Scientific and technical assistance on welfare aspects related to housing and health of cats and dogs in commercial breeding establishments

Candiani,

Drewe,

Forkman

et al. 2023

EFS2

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This Scientific Report addresses a mandate from the European Commission according to Article 31 of Regulation (EC) No 178/2002 on the welfare of cats and dogs in commercial breeding establishments kept for sport, hunting and companion purposes. The aim was to scrutinise recent recommendations made by the EU Platform on Animal Welfare Voluntary Initiative on measures to assist the preparation of policy options for the legal framework of commercial breeding of cats and dogs. Specifically, the main question addressed was if there is scientific evidence to support the measures for protection of cats and dogs in commercial breeding related to housing, health considerations and painful procedures. Three judgements were carried out based on scientific literature reviews and, where possible a review of national regulations. The first judgement addressed housing and included: type of accommodation, outdoor access, exercise, social behaviour, housing temperature and light requirements. The second judgement addressed health and included: age at first and last breeding, and breeding frequency. Judgement 3 addressed painful procedures (mutilations or convenience surgeries) and included: ear cropping, tail docking and vocal cord resections in dogs and declawing in cats. For each of these judgements, considerations were provided indicating where scientific literature is available to support recommendations on providing or avoiding specific housing, health or painful surgical interventions. Areas where evidence is lacking are indicated.

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“…Working dogs cover a wide range of occupations including military working dogs (MWDs) which go anywhere soldiers are deployed and aid with a wide range of tasks ( 5 ). The ever increasing high risk mission that MWDs share with their handlers puts them at risk for similar injuries as their Service member counterparts ( 6 , 7 ). Unfortunately, in the early roles of care, where MWD casualties are first managed, veterinary expertise may not be present to properly acquire ultrasound images and to interpret images making GlobalFAST® inaccessible for treatment of MWDs at these early stages of care ( 8 ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deep learning models for interpretation of point of care ultrasound in military working dogs

Hernandez Torres,

Holland,

Edwards

et al. 2024

Front. Vet. Sci.

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IntroductionMilitary working dogs (MWDs) are essential for military operations in a wide range of missions. With this pivotal role, MWDs can become casualties requiring specialized veterinary care that may not always be available far forward on the battlefield. Some injuries such as pneumothorax, hemothorax, or abdominal hemorrhage can be diagnosed using point of care ultrasound (POCUS) such as the Global FAST® exam. This presents a unique opportunity for artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in the interpretation of ultrasound images. In this article, deep learning classification neural networks were developed for POCUS assessment in MWDs.MethodsImages were collected in five MWDs under general anesthesia or deep sedation for all scan points in the Global FAST® exam. For representative injuries, a cadaver model was used from which positive and negative injury images were captured. A total of 327 ultrasound clips were captured and split across scan points for training three different AI network architectures: MobileNetV2, DarkNet-19, and ShrapML. Gradient class activation mapping (GradCAM) overlays were generated for representative images to better explain AI predictions.ResultsPerformance of AI models reached over 82% accuracy for all scan points. The model with the highest performance was trained with the MobileNetV2 network for the cystocolic scan point achieving 99.8% accuracy. Across all trained networks the diaphragmatic hepatorenal scan point had the best overall performance. However, GradCAM overlays showed that the models with highest accuracy, like MobileNetV2, were not always identifying relevant features. Conversely, the GradCAM heatmaps for ShrapML show general agreement with regions most indicative of fluid accumulation.DiscussionOverall, the AI models developed can automate POCUS predictions in MWDs. Preliminarily, ShrapML had the strongest performance and prediction rate paired with accurately tracking fluid accumulation sites, making it the most suitable option for eventual real-time deployment with ultrasound systems. Further integration of this technology with imaging technologies will expand use of POCUS-based triage of MWDs.

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Military Working Dogs

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

The Unfortunate Abundance of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally Infected Dogs and Monkeys Provides Unique Opportunities to Advance Solutions for Chagas Disease

The Unfortunate Abundance of Trypanosoma cruzi in Naturally Infected Dogs and Monkeys Provides Unique Opportunities to Advance Solutions for Chagas Disease

Scientific and technical assistance on welfare aspects related to housing and health of cats and dogs in commercial breeding establishments

Deep learning models for interpretation of point of care ultrasound in military working dogs

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