The Medallion Rottweiler
Health Information
Bloat Information
The primary indicator that your dog may bloat seems to be age and having a primary relative who has bloated. I would think if our dog HAS a primary relative who has bloated, we would want to pay special attention to the mechanical and dietary influences for bloat. It is an interesting bit of research.... Bloat Part 1 Bloat Part 2
IBD or IBS??? What is this???
IBD or IBS is short for Irritable Bowel Disease or Irritable Bowel Syndrome. This is becoming more popular with our dogs and dogs in general. If you are interested in more information on this, please contact Carol Krickeberg. IBD/IBS is controllable by diet.
Recent Study Progress report pdf file
The Medallion Rottweiler Health Research Charitable Trust Fund
(MRHRCTF) committee is pleased to announce AKC Canine Health
Foundation’s (AKC/CHF) approval of a grant proposal to include
Rottweilers in a study of tumor suppressor genes in the canine. The
MRC proposal is an extension of a 3-year research project approved by
AKC/CHF's peer review board and is being conducted by Dr. Jaime
Modiano of Texas A&M University at College Station, Texas.
Inclusion of Rottweilers will begin this fall, at the beginning of
the second year of this project. Dr. Modiano and his lab will be
moving to Denver, Colorado this August as he has accepted a new
position there.
Dr. Modiano began his education in pre-med at Texas A&M, obtained both his PhD in immunology and VMD (veterinary medical doctor) degree in 1991 at the University of Pennsylvania. He then completed a residency in veterinary clinical pathology at Colorado State University, and did his post-doc work at the National Jewish Center for Immunological and Respiratory Medicine in Denver in 1995. From 1995 until August, Dr. Modiano is on staff at the College of Veterinary Medicine at TAMU.
Dr. Modiano’s honors and awards include the National Dean’s List, Who’s Who in Medicine/Veterinary Medicine, 1st prize in the Phi Zeta Veterinary Honor Society Paper Competitions in 1988, 1989, 1990, and 1991, National Research Service Award and a Clinical Investigator Development Award from the National Institute of Health.
The proposal written between MRC and Dr. Modiano is a supplement to the original grant proposal titled "Significance of Tumor Suppressor Genes in Canine Cancer" – grant # 1626. The cancers targeted by the project include osteosarcoma (bone cancer) and lymphohemopoietic tumors (lymphosarcoma, histiocytosis, and leukemia – cancers of white blood cells). These tumor types are known to occur in higher incidence in Rottweilers.
This study will investigate the cancer susceptibility in families or breeds of dogs. According to Dr. Modiano’s proposal, genetic susceptibility is most likely to be due to a process called "loss of heterozygosity". Individuals inherit two copies of each gene, one from the sire and one from the dam. Each copy is called an "allele". A family or a breed may have, through the course of time, lost a functional allele of a tumor suppressor gene through mutation. (There are multiple causes of genetic mutation, including drugs, toxins in environment, etc.) The affected individuals are heterozygous – i.e. they have two different alleles and only one is functional. These individuals will not develop disease (cancer) unless the second, functional copy of the tumor suppressor gene is mutated in a cell that retains the capacity to divide.
Dr. Modiano also mentions that expression of another tumor suppressor protein by activation of its related gene is associated with a favorable response to therapy in people with osteosarcoma. This protein appears to be a promising target for genetic therapy of osteosarcoma.
Arrangements will be made with Dr. Modiano and veterinary clinics and hospitals that will participate in the study for collection of tissue and blood from affected dogs. Affected dogs (25) belonging to MRC members are eligible for participation in the study. Additional samples will be taken from dogs related to the affected dogs and from unaffected, unrelated Rottweilers representative of the breed.
Donations to help fund this very promising project can be made out to the MRHRCTF and sent to BJ Thompson – please identify this as a donation to the cancer research project. All donations are tax-deductible. The MRHRCTF committee would also like to extend its sincere appreciation to the Mile High Rottweiler Club for their donation to this project.