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EOAD and ABCA Health Foundation Research


Journey
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Hi Maja, I'm not Mark but I'll jump in here. Many thanks for the offer.

The Principal Investigator in the research we are sponsoring (Dr.Hannes Lohi of the University of Helsinki, working in collaboration with Dr. James Mickelson at the University of Minnesota) is actually overseas also, so I don't think this would be a stumbling block. The samples we collect go through UMinn, where the DNA is extracted, but we will try to find out whether that is necessary, or whether you could submit directly to Dr. Lohi's laboratory.

I should probably mention in general that these researchers are members of an international consortium which makes possible confidential sharing of data from samples among its participants. So this research is able to draw on thousands of samples collected from border collies in different countries, in addition to the ones we in North America are able to provide.

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Yes, and I did send you samples from the first dog to your home address since I had no response from the ABCA web page. I hope those samples have been taken to the lab are helping with the study.

 

I tried to submit a new dog via the forms on the web page. No response. Tried to submit again. No response.

 

Encouraged someone else to submit, no response. He tried again, no response.

 

I am hearing the same from others on Facebook. Perhaps there is an issue with the web page? Is there an actual human reading those forms that people send in requesting their dog be included in the study?

 

I have been encouraging people to submit samples. I even paid for several dogs I don't own to be tested to see if they were going deaf and could contribute to the study. I test my dogs annually to track their hearing so, God forbid, if I have anymore issues I can submit samples from clearly documented dogs.

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I read the forms from the website. We have not had a lot of submissions by that means -- no more than 20 total, I would estimate. We have not had any from you, either for Freya or for the dog you're speaking about here, and it doesn't appear we've had one from your "friend," although without knowing his name I can't be totally sure.

 

I suppose it's possible that there's some kind of defect in the automated website transmission. In view of what you've written here, I will consult with the webmaster and try to figure out if there is a problem. But I can't help thinking that -- since you know Mark and I would be the people to contact to report a problem, and you know how to contact us -- it would be more constructive to have done that so that we could investigate whether there's a glitch before griping about how unresponsive we are on various public forums/Facebook.

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Eileen, I had already let you know that when I went to submit Freya on the web page I had no response. I tried again, still no response. That is when I had contacted you via PM. It was implied I did not get a response because she did not fall into one of the listed categories on the web page of desired dogs.

 

A few months ago I tried twice to submit another dog. Didn't hear back. My laptop was dying at that time, so thinking that was the issue I tried again. Never heard back.

 

I know two other people (don't want to publish their names here but initials are TM from the southwest and PP from New England) also tried to submit via the web page with my urging and had no response. I am bringing this up because there may genuinely be an issue with the submission process. Most people won't be as persistent as I am.

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Eileen, I had already let you know that when I went to submit Freya on the web page I had no response. I tried again, still no response.

 

 

I don't believe this is so. My recollection is that you posted about Freya (not by name, but that you had a dog to contribute) a number of times in various places, and either I contacted you privately about her or you contacted me privately about her, with no mention of your having submitted her on the website. If you HAD tried to submit her via the website and gotten no response, I think it's odd you wouldn't have mentioned that in post #10. ETA: Also, on re-reading the posts between #10 and #18, I see that you told Mark you DIDN'T fill out a form for Freya because she didn't seem to meet any of the criteria.

 

A TW (not TM) from the southwest submitted a form, and has contributed samples. No PP from New England.

 

I just now tried to troubleshoot the website function by filling out the form myself for an imaginary dog called Tester, and submitting it. I received the forwarded form about a minute later. There is no apparent malfunction.

 

I see nothing to be gained by continuing to go back and forth about this. I had my say, and so did you. It is what it is. I hope we can all support this research, as we all (and all our dogs) stand to benefit from it.

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I did know the ABCA study was still in progress.

 

In the meanwhile, there is another active study in Switzerland. I copied this below, hope it works. They are actively looking for samples now.

Hello everyone,

At this moment in Switzerland, Uni there is research for EOD. They are looking for samples from dogs who are having EOD but also direct and indirect related dogs.

My own studdog is related to EOD while he had a halfbrother with EOD and there father had a halfsister with EOD. I'm trying to ask the owners of my studdogs puppies to send blood for this research. I hope more people want to send blood for research

What you need to do :

* send 5mm blood to Switzerland
* send a copy of the pedigree of your dog
* send a form that you allowd them to use the blood
* send if possible a copy of the beartest/hearingtest of you're dog
* send by the sample a paper that the blood will use for the EOD research

We made a group with also a german version and we are willing to help with info/questions about how to send this samples and more. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1394533547332049/

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  • 5 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 months later...

Stumbled onto a report from the ACK club...they said in their board minutes that quote "(a test for Deafness is about to be announced)"...when I asked for validation or documentation I was told they spoke with "the ABCA folks". I don't believe this at all but find it odd they're printing such statements. Does/did the ABCA or the HEF speak with them? Where would they get such a thought?

Are we close to a test coming out? Any updates (that aren't confidential)?

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i can assure you that no one from the ABCA or the ABCA HEF has spoken to the BCSA about any topic, let alone one that has been funded by the working Border Collie community.  I suspect they got their information off this site, and probably more specifically this thread.

Mike Neary

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After reading the BCSA minutes Journey posted, my guess is that what happened here is this.  The person referred to as "Jim Nicholson" in the minutes is probably Dr. James Mickelson, a researcher at U Minn who is collaborating with Dr. Hannes Lohi on the HEF-supported hearing study.  The researchers have been making excellent progress on this project, and I suspect Jim might have made reference to this when discussing a different research topic with the BCSA, which got inflated in transit into "a test for deafness is about to be announced."

The Board of ABCA HEF is conferring closely with the researchers right now in hopes of being able to present to the ABCA members at the September annual meeting as full and correct a description as possible of the status of the research and the testing it is aimed at. We will be sharing whatever information we are free to share with all interested people at that time, as well as with the ABCA membership. 

 

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  • 1 month later...

Just to be clear:  There has been a research breakthrough, but work on developing a DNA test for EAOD is still ongoing.  It has not been completed yet.  The target date for completion and commercial availability is January of this coming year.  When it is available to the public, it will be announced.

For more information, see this thread.  

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