The STCA Health Committee has provided information regarding a Thyroiditis Genetic Marker Study being conducted. To become an active participant please download the information from the STCA Health Committee page.
Return to Discount Days! Enter the discount code StPats93 between March 11th and March 17th in the online order form and receive a 25% discount on your order.
We are setting up an OFA database to record results of the American Staffordshire Terrier NCL-A Cerebellar Ataxia test. Eddie Dziuk, Chief Operating Officer of OFA has extended a courtesy to the Am Staff community to encourage registration in this new database. He has agreed to waive the recording fee for for a 6 month period for those dogs who have an existing OFA record (hips, cardiac, thyroid, elbows, etc.) This fee will be waived on eligible dogs until June 30th, 2009. If you are registering an affected dog, this does not apply. There is never a fee for registering an affected dog.
To record your dog’s test results with OFA, go to the OFA website, click on “OFA Applications”, then click on “DNA Based Genetic Disease application”. Print out the application and mail to OFA with a copy of your dogs’s certificate. OFA will record your test results and issue you an OFA certificate and number.
We are in the process of setting up an arrangement with Optigen where you may choose the option to automatically have the results of your test sent to OFA. The discount fee will be $7.50 if you register this way. If you choose to receive the test results first and register with OFA on your own, the fee is $15.00. You would need to print out the application from the OFA website and send it in with the fee and a copy of your dog’s certificate.
At this time, the automatic registration system with Optigen is not in place, so if you want to record your dog’s results, you must mail them in to OFA with the application. We do expect that the application system will be adjusted shortly, however, their system will not accomodate the waiver of the fee that OFA is giving us until June 30th. If your dog is eligible for a free OFA recording, you must mail in the application with the dog’s certificate. After June 30th, the normal fee schedule will be in effect.
I would like to thank Eddie Dziuk for extending this courtesy to us, and I hope that everyone will take advantage of this database as a good resource for sharing valuable information which is vital for the future of our breed.
Faith Beiser
STCA Health Committee
Optigen is now acting as an agent for the French company Antagene. They are accepting and processing DNA samples for the cerebellar ataxia test in Am Staffs and sending them to the Antagene lab in France for testing. At this time, it is unknown if the test will be conducted here in the US in the future. The arrangement Antagene has with Optigen mandates that all US samples go through Optigen. Antagene will no longer acccept US samples sent directly to France. To receive a 20% discount on the test, DNA cheek swabs can be obtained by bringing your AmStaff to any all breed Optigen DNA collection clinic. For an additional 5% discount, you may apply for the test on line. Visit the Optigen website www.optigen.com for a list of upcoming clinics and applications.
Faith Beiser
I do have some more information I can share with you all about this test. The burning questions people are asking are “How good is the test?” and “Will it become available in the US?”
Taking the first question first – How good is the test? Scientific work is evaluated when data is submitted in a manuscript for publication by a journal. Following submission, the journal editors send the manuscript to external reviewers who read it and give their opinion on its value. The editors’ decision on whether to publish the work is based on these reviews and once published, of course everyone can read it and judge for themselves. This has not yet taken place for this work but will in the near future. Until that time the French group have asked me not to reveal specifics of the research, and it is fair to say that the external review process has not yet occurred. However, there are a few things I can say. Firstly, working independently, both my group and the French group identified the same chromosomal region, and narrowed the disease down to the same handful of genes. It seems unlikely that two separate research groups would reach that same point if the research was incorrect. Secondly, the data they have shared with me suggests the test is very sensitive and specific.
The second question is very pertinent to you all – (Will a test become available in the US?) and the answer to that question is yes, it is possible that the test will become available right here in the US. When I get more specific information on this I will pass it on. In the meantime, be aware that Labrador breeders use the same lab, Antagene, to test for a myopathy (the mutation was identified in France) with no problems.
Natasha Olby
