From:
"Sukie Crandall"
Date: 2008-04-07 18:16:59 UTC
Subject: [ferrethealth] Re: My ferrets are fighting..help!
To: ferrethealth@yahoogroups.com
I don't think this is a can of worms at all. Learning is fun and useful! Many thanks, Ailigh.
Forgive me for having further questions on how terminology can be changed to be
improved for better accuracy and therefore better help for list members.
Earlier I sent this but Yahoogroups seems to be a bit hosed today. (Often that is not
Yahoogroups' fault; very often -- as happened with Samrtgroups before the purchasers of
that service dissolved it -- it is because people with unprotected computers have
infections that cause massive bursts of mail to be sent to specific addresses such as ones
at Yahoogroups on a given date.)
Anyway, here is my post that never arrived:
So, if I understand, Ailigh, you are giving the sage advice to not get trapped by common
interpretations of terms and actions which were originally misapplied.
Cool! Unless I misunderstand you, I think that in some way also echoes what Dr. Sandra
Kudrak-Mitchell recently said in relation to health studies vs. health suppositions: know
difference of the hypotheses (suppositions/suggestions) from what has been thoroughly
demonstrated for best results. All in all, I think that is excellent advice. It doesn't mean
that terms or suggestions have to be ignored, but it means knowing their limitations.
So, while a ferret may usually wind up the top of the heap (or the top of the heap in a
specific situation as when Hubble, who normally lets others have power, is willing to stand
up for Foamy Fries) that can't be seen as dominance in a wolf sort of way, not in relation
to what is NOW known of wolves and not in relation to what people ONCE THOUGHT they
knew of wolves...
Instead, think of it more like the squabbling of children. Still, in that situation and among
ferrets we have found in 27 years with ferrets that some do take most of the power and
some do behave in what for humans would be a more mature/responsible fashion.
So, if there is more correct alternative terminology that would be very useful to have
because it could lead to more valuable and more constructive discussions. It's like using
the term "Neural Crest Genetics Variation" rather than "Waardensburg" or "WS" for better
accuracy in relation to a common genetics situation with ferrets.
Pointers to possible references or those who study that sort of behavior so maybe we can
all look up the resources needed to learn more?
I think you may be referring to the "Star Gene" and neotany hypotheses ("Star Gene" itself
is a genetically incorrect term and refers to a range of Neural Crest Genetic Variations
which increase in rate among domesticated animals. It has been postulated -- and I
recall that someone was working on a study but do not know if the study is completed yet
-- that Neural Crest Genetic Variations may cause changes to adrenal glands including
less rapid production of adrenalin (epinephrin) and production of that adrenal product in
lower amounts. As such it may make those genetic lines less aggressive and therefore
more able to get along. (It may also result in other changes to that gland -- perhaps
increasing vulnerability -- and may affect the health (in either direction?) of other organs
which in the wild species would be more often getting bursts of adrenaline more often.)
Much of that work was done in foxes.
BTW, do not confuse the old "STAR Gene" hypothesis with the StAR Gene (small "t") or
Steriogenic Acute Regulatory Protein Gene.
Another "By the Way": Epigenetics involves how environment can affect genetics in what is
sometimes a very marked way, for example, in certain agouti body and coloration type
rodent studies increasing the amount of a specific soy component in the diet of the
pregnant mothers makes the pups darker in fur coloration, leaner in build, less prone to
becoming overweight, and less prone to cardiovascular and diabetic vulnerabilities.
A few links for things mentioned in this post so if some do not work for readers others
should. I have NOT read all of these and do not have access to all of these!
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/YG3069
http://www.americanscientist.org/template/AssetDetail/assetid/15642
http://www.floridalupine.org/publications/PDF/trut-fox-study.pdf
http://www.grandin.com/references/genetics.html
http://reactor-core.org/taming-foxes.html
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/72/4/267
http://grande.nal.usda.gov/ibids/index.php?
mode2=detail&origin=ibids_references&therow=680190
http://8e.devbio.com/article.php?id=223
http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/full/95/3/185
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/SG18617
http://ansci.colostate.edu/files/Behavior/BehGenetics1998.pdf
http://iospress.metapress.com/content/8tfghlmbh0prypfy/
http://inpress.icm.edu.pl/cgi-bin/sciserv.pl?
collection=wdruku&journal=00913022&issue=varticlesinpressinone&article=nfp_tehedgie
nsac
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/FHL4358
BTW, for John Lewington's latest vet text I contributed some information about some of
our past ferrets but the editor compressed it is ways which do not always hold to the
meaning or observations, for example, turning multiple individuals into one. For some
reason I was also listed as a breeder in that section which is not true; we took in ferrets
with extreme genetic handicaps for a a while back when Steve and I could afford that.
I am unsure if the following is related:
BEGIN QUOTE
Cancer Biol Ther. 2005 Nov;4(11):1270-4. Epub 2005 Nov 18.
Comment in:Cancer Biol Ther. 2005 Dec;4(12):1417-8.Activating mutations in c-KIT and
PDGFRalpha are exclusively found in gastrointestinal stromal tumors and not in other
tumors overexpressing these imatinib mesylate target genes.
Burger H, den Bakker MA, Kros JM, van Tol H, de Bruin AM,Oosterhuis W, van den Ingh HF,
van der Harst E, de Schipper HP, Wiemer EA, Nooter K.
Department of Medical Oncology, Erasmus Medical Center Rotterdam-Josephine Nefkens
Institute, Rotterdam, The Netherlands. h.burger@erasmusmc.nl
<mailto:h.burger@erasmusmc.nl>
Previous studies have shown that Imatinib mesylate (Gleevec), a selective tyrosine kinase
inhibitor of c-KIT and platelet-derived growth factor receptors (PDGFR), is highly effective
in c-KIT/CD117-positive gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST), especially in those
having activating mutations in c-kit exon 11. In addition, gain-of-function mutations in
the juxtamembrane domain (exon 12) and the kinase activation loop (exon 18) of
PDGFRalpha were found in GISTs. Importantly, the presence and type of these mutually
exclusive c-KIT or PDGFRalpha mutations were found to be associated with the response
to imatinib. Here, we examined the prevalence of c-kit exon 11 and PDGFRalpha exons
12 and 18 mutations in other tumor types known to express these tyrosine kinase
receptors in order to explore which other cancer types may potentially benefit from
imatinib treatment. We determined the mutational status of these commonly mutated
exons by direct sequencing in 11 different tumor types (in total: 215 unrelated cases),
including GIST, chordoma, and various distinct tumors of lung, brain and its coverings,
and skin cancer. Of the 579 exons examined (211 c-kit exon 11, 192 PDGFRalpha exon
12, 142 PDGFRalpha exon18, 17 PDGFRbeta exon 12 and 17 PDGFRbeta exon 18), only
12 (all GIST) harbored mutations (10 c-kit exon 11 and 2 PDGFRalpha exon18). From
these data we conclude that activating c-KIT and PDGFR mutations are sporadic in human
cancers known to overexpress these tyrosine kinase receptor genes and suggest that,
except in GIST, this overexpression is not correlated with activating mutations. The latter
may imply that these wild-type c-KIT and PDGFR tumor types will probably not benefit
from imatinib treatment.
END QUOTE
Sukie (not a vet)
Recommended ferret health links:
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/ferrethealth/
http://ferrethealth.org/archive/
http://www.afip.org/ferrets/index.html
http://www.miamiferret.org/fhc/
http://www.ferretcongress.org/
http://www.trifl.org/index.shtml
http://homepage.mac.com/sukie/sukiesferretlinks.html
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