A retrospective study on whelping seasonality of the Cirneco dell'Etna dog in Sicily, Italy.

Previous to this study, there is no data relating to the reproductive physiology of the Cirneco dell'Etna breed. The birth date of 141 bitches and 104 sires registered at the National Agency of the Italian Kennel Club (ENCI) from all Sicilian breeders, and data related their fertile matings, which produced 266 whelps over a 14-year period, (2009-2022) were collected. Total whelping produced 1069 pups. The mean bitch age at first whelping was 39.13 ± 21.7 months and the mean litter size was 3.84 ± 2.08. The birth period of the bitches and sires was significantly influenced by the month of the year (p < 0.01), as was the distribution of the first (p < 0.05) and subsequent whelping periods (p < 0.01). Whelping distributions show a significant difference between the highest peak in April (which roughly corresponds to a period of heat in February) and in July (which roughly corresponds to a period of heat in May) and the lowest peak in March. No influence of month on litter size and sex ratio was found. Available data suggests that some ancient breeds such as the Cirneco dell'Etna may show seasonal patterns as a vestige of the stricter seasonality of its closest relative the wolf.

The influence of lunar cycle at the time of conception on sex offspring distribution in dogs.

The effect of seasonal variation and lunar cycles on reproductive parameters in dogs is unknown. Lunar cycles have important effects on several biological events. Controversy exists about the influence of lunar cycles on offspring sex ratio. This study examined the sex offspring distribution of 973 puppies (48% females and 52% males) from 150 bitches in Italy between 2015 and 2020. A two-way ANOVA followed by post-hoc t-test (Bonferroni correction) was used to analyze the influence of season and lunar phase on offspring sex ratio at conception. Sex offspring distribution was not affected by season, whereas lunar phase had a significant effect (p< .05). During the new moon, the proportion of male puppies born was significantly lower than during the full moon phase (p < .05). We conclude that season had no effect on sex offspring distribution. The new moon phase at conception appeared to be related to a lower male sex ratio at birth. Further studies assessing additional factors will help provide a better understanding of the lunar cycle differences observed in the sex ratio distribution of dogs.

Behavior test for seven-week old puppies (Canis familiaris): Inter-rater reliability and factors associated with test performance.

Behavioral development in domestic dogs has been investigated for predicting suitability for service dog work or for matching with the "right" families as well as for identifying predispositions to behavioral problems. Findings from the scientific literature seem to confirm that conducting behavioral tests at 7 weeks of age is too early to reliably predict the temperament and personality of a dog. However, this period for domestic dogs is sensitive for early life learning and conditions during this time could have important consequences in adulthood. The aims of this study were to evaluate inter-rater reliability of a simple standardized test and to investigate which factors influence the behavioral reaction of puppies. 105 seven-week old puppies were exposed to five subtests: social attraction, following, retrieving, sudden appearance, noise. During each task, the behaviour of each pup was scored on a 3-5 point scale that reflected the suitability of the pup's reaction to the task. Scores were evaluated for a single subtest and for two aggregate indicators (i.e. response to a person: social attraction subtest and following subtest and response to object and noise: retrieving subtest, sudden appearance subtest and noise subtest). Three assessors independently scored the dogs' reactions for each task. Inter-rater reliability of the three assessors were analyzed with Fleiss' Kappa and Kendall's coefficient, which showed a high inter-rater reliability in 4 of 5 tasks. The ordered logistic regression was carried out to obtain a proportional odds model that was used to model the relationship between sex, litter size, stimulating environment, parity of mother, adequate maternal behavior and high scores. Litter size and maternal parity were associated with test performance in response to a person. The variance of effect of litter was high in response to object and noise. Taken together, our results suggest that using this scoring system there is sufficient inter-rater reliability in the test and litter size and mother experience influences task performances related to dog-human interaction.

Performance of Radiomics Features in the Quantification of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis from HRCT.

BACKGROUND: Our study assesses the diagnostic value of different features extracted from high resolution computed tomography (HRCT) images of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. These features are investigated over a range of HRCT lung volume measurements (in Hounsfield Units) for which no prior study has yet been published. In particular, we provide a comparison of their diagnostic value at different Hounsfield Unit (HU) thresholds, including corresponding pulmonary functional tests. METHODS: We consider thirty-two patients retrospectively for whom both HRCT examinations and spirometry tests were available. First, we analyse the HRCT histogram to extract quantitative lung fibrosis features. Next, we evaluate the relationship between pulmonary function and the HRCT features at selected HU thresholds, namely -200 HU, 0 HU, and +200 HU. We model the relationship using a Poisson approximation to identify the measure with the highest log-likelihood. RESULTS: Our Poisson models reveal no difference at the -200 and 0 HU thresholds. However, inferential conclusions change at the +200 HU threshold. Among the HRCT features considered, the percentage of normally attenuated lung at -200 HU shows the most significant diagnostic utility. CONCLUSIONS: The percentage of normally attenuated lung can be used together with qualitative HRCT assessment and pulmonary function tests to enhance the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) diagnostic process.

Daily fluctuation of urine serotonin and cortisol in healthy shelter dogs and influence of intraspecific social exposure.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of intraspecific social exposure (socialization vs rest) and habituation factors on the levels of urinary serotonin and cortisol [corrected respectively for creatinine to give the serotonin-creatinine ratio (5-HT/Cr) and cortisol-creatinine ratio (C/Cr)] and how they fluctuate in dogs. The frequency of marking during social sessions was recorded to evaluate its relationship with physiological parameters. The effects of covariates on 5-HT/Cr and C/Cr were assessed using a linear mixed models. 5-HT/Cr values were higher at dawn than at dusk during resting days, however, this difference is less evident after socialization sessions. During rest days, there was a trend for a decrease in C/Cr between dawn and dusk, while during social exposure days there was an opposite trend. Significant interactions were found between social exposure vs rest (P = 0.0005) and social exposure vs sessions (P = 0.002). Urine marking was more frequent in male than female dogs. The frequency of urine marking also appeared to be positively associated with C/Cr. Non-invasive monitoring of physiological markers could be a useful tool in assessing behaviour modulation following intraspecific socialization exposure. C/Cr was characterized by high individual variability and interactions with examined factors. The identification of new markers such as serotonin for assessing welfare in dogs is highly desirable.

Assessment of survival in patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis using quantitative HRCT indexes.

BACKGROUND: The assessment of Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) using HRCT requires great experience and is limited by a significant inter-observer variability, even between trained radiologists. The evaluation of HRCT through automated quantitative analysis may hopefully solve this problem. The accuracy of CT-histogram derived indexes in the assessment of survival in IPF patients has been poorly studied. METHODS: Forty-two patients with a diagnosis of IPF and a follow up time of 3 years were retrospectively collected; HRCT and Pulmonary Function Tests (PFTs) performed at diagnosis time were analysed; the extent of fibrotic disease was quantified on HRCT using kurtosis, skewness, Mean Lung Density (MLD), High attenuation areas (HAA%) and Fibrotic Areas (FA%). Univariate Cox regression was performed to assess hazard ratios for the explored variables and a multivariate model considering skewness, FVC, DLCO and age was created to test their prognostic value in assessing survival. Through ROC analysis, threshold values demonstrating the best sensitivity and specificity in predicting mortality were identified. They were used as cut-off points to graph Kaplan-Meier curves specific for the CT-indexes. RESULTS: Kurtosis, skewness, MLD, HAA% and FA% were good predictors of mortality (HR 0.44, 0.74, 1.01, 1.12, 1.06; p = 0.03, p = 0.01, p = 0.02, p = 0.02 and p = 0.017 respectively). Skewness demonstrated the lowest Akaike's information criterion value (55.52), proving to be the best CT variable for prediction of mortality. Significant survival differences considering proposed cut-off points were also demonstrated according to kurtosis (p = 0.02), skewness (p = 0.005), MLD (p = 0.003), HAA% (p = 0.009) and FA% (p = 0.02) - obtained from quantitative HRCT analysis at diagnosis time. CONCLUSIONS: CT-histogram derived indexes may provide an accurate estimation of survival in IPF patients. They demonstrate a correlation with PFTs, highlighting their possible use in clinical practice.