Behavioural and Physiological Correlates of the Canine Frustration Questionnaire

Frustration is a negative emotional state implicated in a range of canine behaviour problems. The Canine Frustration Questionnaire (CFQ) is the first psychometric tool developed to assess frustration tendencies in dogs based on owner report. However, to date, no published studies have assessed behavioural and physiological correlates of this trait. A novel behaviour test battery was developed to induce frustration in dogs, mapping onto the CFQ. Forty-four dogs were recruited and filmed whilst undertaking the test battery, and a CFQ was completed by each owner. Targeted behavioural measures were assessed from this footage, based on hypotheses aimed at evaluating convergent and discriminant validity with facets of the CFQ. In addition, a saliva sample was collected pre- and post-testing for 39 dogs, and a cortisol assay performed using ELISA to provide a physiological measure of arousal. A range of predicted behavioural test measures (e.g., vocalising and lunging) positively correlated with CFQ scores. For 22 dogs with pre-test salivary cortisol levels of <4 ng/mL (indicative of normal arousal at baseline), cortisol change and post-test cortisol levels positively correlated with the CFQ PC5 ‘Frustration coping’ score. These results provide further evidence of the validity of frustration tendencies as measured by owner report through the CFQ

The Canine Frustration Questionnaire—Development of a New Psychometric Tool for Measuring Frustration in Domestic Dogs (Canis familiaris)

Introduction: Psychometric tools have been developed for the assessment of behavioral and affective traits in non-human animals. Frustration can be defined as an emotional reaction experienced after a given expectation is violated. Frustration is a negative emotional state and whilst it probably plays a key role in certain behavior problems in dogs (e.g., aggressive behaviors), there appears to have been little attempt to scale this affective tendency. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to develop a tool to assess frustration tendencies in dogs. Materials and Methods: An online owner survey was developed. Items covered demographics, the training/behavioral history of the dog, and 33 frustration related items scored using a 5-point Likert scale. The questionnaire was disseminated via on-line channels over a 5-month period. Two thousand three hundred forty-eight respondents completed the questionnaire. Of these, 273 respondents completed it a second time 6 weeks later, and a separate 276 respondents completed it a second time 1 year later. Additionally, 92 paired responses were collected where two carers completed the questionnaire independently about the same dog. Intra- and inter-rater reliabilities were assessed prior to structuring the items using principal component analysis (PCA) with a Varimax rotation. Items were retained if they loaded > 0.4 on at least one of the components extracted using the Kaiser criterion. Results: Twenty-two items were deemed to be reliable enough to be used in the PCA and 21 items loaded on a biologically meaningful 5-principal component solution. There was a significant positive correlation between each principal component and the owners' general perception of their dogs' frustration tendencies, alongside other expected correlates. Conclusion: This is the first reliable psychometric tool for the assessment of frustration in dogs—the Canine Frustration Questionnaire (CFQ). Further validation with behavioral tests and physiological measures is ongoing

Pediatric meningiomas in The Netherlands 1974–2010: a descriptive epidemiological case study

The purpose of this study was to review the epidemiology and the clinical, radiological, pathological, and follow-up data of all surgically treated pediatric meningiomas during the last 35 years in The Netherlands. Patients were identified in the Pathological and Anatomical Nationwide Computerized Archive database, the nationwide network and registry of histopathology and cytopathology in The Netherlands. Pediatric patients of 18 years or younger at first operation in 1974-2009 with the diagnosis meningioma were included. Clinical records, follow-up data, radiological findings, operative reports, and pathological examinations were reviewed. In total, 72 patients (39 boys) were identified. The incidence of operated meningiomas in the Dutch pediatric population is 1:1,767,715 children per year. Median age at diagnosis was 13 years (range 0-18 years). Raised intracranial pressure and seizures were the most frequent signs at presentation. Thirteen (18 %) patients had neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). Fifty-three (74 %) patients had a meningioma World Health Organization grade I. Total resection was achieved in 35 of 64 patients. Fifteen patients received radiotherapy postoperatively. Mean follow-up was 4.8 years (range 0-27.8 years). Three patients died as a direct result of their meningioma within 3 years. Four patients with NF2 died as a result of multiple tumors. Nineteen patients had disease progression, requiring additional treatment. Meningiomas are extremely rare in the pediatric population; 25 % of all described meningiomas show biological aggressive behavior in terms of disease progression, requiring additional treatment. The 5-year survival is 83.9 %, suggesting that the biological behavior of pediatric menigiomas is more aggressive than that of its adult counterpart

Primary cerebellar glioblastoma multiforme

Glioblastoma multiforme in adults arising in the cerebellum is a rare tumor, well documented in only 13 cases in the literature. We report a fourteenth case, an 80-year-old female, and reassess the clinical and CT aspects of this tumor based on a review of the world's literature. The median age of patients is 53 years with a median survival of three months, which is less than adult cerebral hemisphere malignant gliomas.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45390/1/11060_2004_Article_BF00151226.pd

Products of cells from gliomas: IX. Evidence that two fundamentally different mechanisms change extracellular matrix expression by gliomas

Four human astrocytic gliomas of high grade of malignancy were each evaluated in tissue and in vitro for percentages of cells expressing glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), collagen type IV, laminin and fibronectin assessed by immunofluorescence with counterstaining of nuclear DNA. Percentages of cells with reticulin and cells binding fluorescein-labeled Ulex europaeus agglutinin were also assessed. In tissue, each extracellular matrix (ECM) component was associated with cells in the walls of abnormal proliferations of glioma vessels, and all four tumors had the same staining pattern. Two strikingly different patterns of conversion of gene product expression emerged during in vitro cultivation. (1). In the most common pattern, percentages of all six markers consistently shifted toward the exact phenotype of mesenchymal cells in abnormal vascular proliferations: increased reticulin, collagen type IV, laminin and fibronectin; markedly decreased glial marker GFAP and absent endothelial marker Ulex europaeus agglutinin. The simplest explanation of this constellation of changes coordinated toward expression of vascular ECM markers is that primary glioma cell cultures are overgrown by mesenchymal cells from the abnormal vascular proliferations of the original glioma. These cell cultures were tested for in situ hybridization (ISH) signals of chromosomes 7 and 10. Cells from one glioma had diploid signals. Cells from the other glioma had aneuploid signals indicating they were neoplastic; however, their signals reflected different numerical chromosomal aberrations than those common to neoplastic glia. (2). The second pattern was different. Cells with ISH chromosomal signals of neoplastic glia retained GFAP, and gained collagen type IV. Their laminin and fibronectin diminished, but persisted among a lower percentage of cells. Cloning and double immunofluorescence confirmed the presence of individual cells with glial and mesenchymal markers. A cell expressing GFAP in addition to either fibronectin, reticulin or collagen type IV is not a known constituent of glioblastoma tissue. This provides evidence of a second mechanism of conversion of gene expression in gliomas.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/45382/1/11060_2005_Article_BF01052843.pd