The effect of endurance training on mitochondrial function in Siberian huskies and Alaskan huskies

Teams of Alaskan huskies and Siberian Huskies are used to pull sleds and compete in long-distance races such as Finnmarksløpet (1200 km) and the Iditarod (1600 km). That is an elite athlete performance, and their ability to conduct such extreme endurance challenges under arctic conditions is poorly understood. A previous study has shown that Alaskan huskies possibly have the highest values of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation (255±38 pmol/s*mg) and electron transfer system (254±37 pmol/s*mg) ever recorded in a mammalian skeletal muscle. This current study aimed to determine respiratory capacity in skeletal muscles from Siberian huskies and Alaskan huskies, off-season (August) and at the end of the racing season (March/April) to highlight physiological adaptations in the respiratory capacity of skeletal muscles arising as a result of selective breeding amongst huskies, as well as potential difference in the acclimatization responses to endurance training. Micro biopsy samples from M. biceps femoris were taken from non-raced and raced Siberian huskies and Alaskan huskies (2022–2023), and tissue homogenates were prepared for high resolution respirometry analyzes as well as citrate synthase activity assays to determine mitochondrial density. Respiratory capacity in skeletal muscle mitochondria from Siberian huskies and Alaskan huskies was higher during racing season as compared to off-season. Group mean values of electron transfer system (E) and oxidative phosphorylation (P) for were (P: 175.2±89.5, E: 164.2±92.1 pmol/s*mg) for raced Alaskan huskies and (P: 190.4±52.9, E: 180.0±56.7 pmol/s*mg) for raced Siberian huskies. The increase in aerobic capacity possibly results from a measured increase in muscle mitochondrial density, indicating a clear acclimatization response to endurance training. Alaskan huskies were shown to have higher respiratory capacity in their skeletal muscles as compared to that of Siberian huskies, based on carbohydrates associated substrates, possibly due to difference in their genetics. This was shown by a higher carbohydrate associated mitochondrial capacity for ETS (E) and OXPHOS (P) for non-raced Alaskan huskies (E: 63.0±45.5, P: 56.0±36.3 pmol/s*mg) as compared to non-raced Siberian huskies (E: 24.39±18.30, P: 23.5±16.2 pmol/s*mg). Non-raced Alaskan huskies had large sex differences in oxygen consumption which may be explained by mitochondrial substrate preference. This study is the first to determine mitochondrial respiration in Siberian huskies, while the mitochondrial respiration determined in the Alaskan huskies are in line with the earlier findings. Future studies should aim at investigating sexual dimorphism preference as well as substrate preference for Siberian husky mitochondria

DARK SYSTEMS: REPROGRAMMING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE REGULATIONS TO PROMOTE FAIRNESS AND EMPLOYMENT NONDISCRIMINATION

Automated decision-making (“ADM”) systems, whether deploying artificial intelligence, machine learning, or other algorithmic processes, have become ubiquitous in modern life, but their use is often unnoticed or invisible to society at large. Currently no federal laws require notice or disclosure to individuals when an ADM is used to collect their data, evaluate them, or make determinations about their lives. This is particularly concerning for the employment relationship because notice and transparency are essential for personal privacy, and the surreptitious use of ADM systems deprives applicants and employees of the ability to understand employers’ decision-making processes and to seek redress under applicable antidiscrimination laws. Some state and local governments have recognized this danger and have taken initial steps to protect applicants and employees, while the European Union has proposed a sweeping AI regulation that would govern all phases of development of such systems there. This article proposes a system of regulations based on notice and transparency that takes into consideration existing laws governing the employment relationship and complements those laws in order to produce a legal framework that promotes applicant and employee rights, while also allowing flexibility for the development of ADM systems that benefits employees, employers, and society

From Mascot to Marine: The Long Walk to the American Military Dog Program

In World War II, the military dog became synonymous with patriotism and the fight for a free world. In the absence of a military dog program at the beginning of World War II, the United States was the exception amongst Western powers. The establishment of an official military dog program in the United States during World War II was a critical and inevitable step in the development of the country’s military. Through the creative collaboration of civilians and military personnel, the K9 Corps and Dogs for Defense organization produced trained military dogs that had immediate positive impacts on the battlefield and laid the foundations for a permanent military dog program within the United States. It is key that America’s military dog program be understood within the context of the place of dogs in American history. Furthermore, one cannot understand the creation of the first K-9 Corps without evaluating both the military and civilian actors involved in its creation. Dogs for Defense must be studied in tandem with the K-9 Corps, for only together can the workings of these complex organizations in their very infancy be quantified. The creation of the American military dog program in World War II laid the foundation for the continued utilization of the military dog, served as the proving ground for the capabilities of dogs, and expanded the understanding of how dogs might be used on the battlefield

Savages, Saviours and the Power of Story: The Figure of the Northern Dog in Canadian Culture

This research was motivated by a recent pattern in animal welfare texts in Canada that portray northern dogs as “savage” trouble-makers, and indigenous people as backward barbarians incapable of caring for the animals that share their spaces. With this comes the troublesome idea that, yet again, the only positive force in indigenous Canada is the civilizing force of outsider intervention: northern dogs need to be rescued; non-indigenous people are their rightful saviours. It is a story that has been circulating in the dominant culture in Canada for centuries, and has urgent implications for both human and non-human animals in Canada’s North. This dissertation consists of three sections. In the first section, I explore the roots of the colonial figure of the “noble canine savage” through representations in explorers’ journals, ethnographic films and tourism marketing texts. In section two, I consider how the represented dog differs in texts created within the framework of indigenous knowledge, including origin stories, indigenous cinema and elder testimony regarding the sled dog cull in Canada’s North in the mid-20th century. In section three, I return to the current media texts, and explore how they reproduce the racist rhetoric of the past. The aim of my study was to validate the indigenous view of northern dogs in order to better incorporate local stories into animal welfare projects in northern Canada. Future interventions in this regard may include the use of cultural exchange activities between indigenous and non-indigenous partners in such projects (e.g. between local community groups and visiting veterinary teams); prioritization of narrative approaches to relationship-building; and the use of more culturally sensitive language in public relations and marketing texts