News
Results of the Board elections are in!
The CGS Board of Directors is pleased to announce the results of
the 2016 election. Thank you to all the members who took the time
to vote!
Dr. Katie Tolbert is our new At-Large member, and officially
started her term at the CGS Luncheon at the ACVIM Form in Denver.
Congratulations to Katie!
CGS Board membership:
President: Craig Ruaux
President-Elect: Albert Jergens
Past-President: Jörg Steiner
Secretary/Treasurer: Jan Suchodolski
Webmaster: Kate Arnell
At Large I: Keith Richter
At Large II: Katie Tolbert
ONGOING RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS:
Please find the link below to access Dr. Garcia-Mazcorro's new
research involving fecal microbiota transplantation:
https://www.dovepress.com/articles.php?article_id=27224
Please find the link below to access an article written about
Ellen Everson and her CGS ACVIM Poster Presentation Award!
GUTSEA Announcement for 2017!
The 2017 GUTSEA meeting will be held Feb 25 - Mar 2nd in Kauai,
Hawaii. Please refer to the GUTSKI/GUTSEA link on this
website for more information.
GUTSKI
2016
GUTSKI 2016 was a great success! It was held again the
Woodspur Lodge in Winter Park, CO. There was a record 31
scientific abstracts presented, with lively and collaborative
discussion after each one. We would like to thank our sponsors:
Nestle Purina, Nutramax Laboratories, Zoetis, VCA Antech, and Karl
Storz. Many thanks also to Royal Canin USA for sponsoring the
travel awards to Gutski 2016. Thanks to Keith Richter, Bob
Sherding, and Jan Suchodolski for organizing this wonderful
event!
Digestive
Diseases Week 2016
The conference was held in San Diego, CA with 20 CGS members in
attendance for the CGS dinner sponsored by Exegi Pharma.
DDW this year was a memorable experience with more than
16,000 gastroenterologists in attendance and well over 5,000
research abstracts presented. The conference will be held in
2017 May 6-9th in Chicago, Ilinois.
Award
Winners for 2016!
ACVIM oral and poster presentations - the winners are:
First Place Oral Presentation: Emily Gould, for her
presentation entitled "EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF OMEPRAZOLE ON
SERUM CALCIUM, MAGNESIUM, GASTRIN AND BONE IN CATS”
Dr. Gould is a Masters student at the University of
Tennessee, working under the mentorship of Dr. Katie Tolbert.
In this study, Dr. Gould investigated the impact of omeprazole,
using BID dosing for 60 days, on serum calcium, magnesium and
gastrin concentrations and bone density in a group of healthy cats.
This study goes some way towards addressing some important
questions regarding the potential side-effects of omeprazole use in
cats, particularly with the more recent recommendations to
institute BID dosing of this drug. Dr. Gould and coworkers reported
no significant change in calcium, magnesium or bone mineral content
following treatment, while serum gastrin concentrations were
significantly increased following omeprazole dosing.
An additional interesting observation, available for only two
cats in this study, was the presence of quite marked rebound
gastric hyperacidity after abrupt withdrawal of omeprazole, a
finding that may have implications for the withdrawal of this
medication in clinical patients.
Second Place Oral Presentation: Sara Wennogle, for her
presentation entitled "HISTOPATHOLOGIC CHARACTERISTICS OF
INTESTINAL BIOPSIES FROM DOGS WITH CHRONIC ENTEROPATHY WITH AND
WITHOUT HYPOALBUMINEMIA”
Dr. Wennogle is a Small Animal Internal Medicine resident at
Colorado State University’s veterinary teaching hospital. This
project was performed under the mentorship of Dr. Craig Webb. In
this study, Dr. Wennogle used a blinded pathologist to apply the
WSAVA scoring system for small intestinal histopathology to a
collection of banked tissue samples from dogs with a variety of
inflammatory gastrointestinal diseases. The investigators compared
the prevalence of a variety of histopathological findings, such as
crypt distention, villus stunting and lacteal dilation (to name a
few) in dogs with and without hypoalbuminemia (albumin <3g/dL).
Many of the parameters assessed were significantly more prevalent
in the dogs with hypoalbuminemia, consistent with prior
observations that this finding is commonly a poor prognostic sign
in patients with chronic enteropathies. These findings bolster the
argument for more aggressive and earlier intervention in dogs with
protein-losing enteropathies secondary to inflammatory
gastrointestinal disease.
Third Place Oral Presentation: Julia Honneffer, for her
presentation entitled "VARIATION OF THE MICROBIOME AND METABOLOME
ALONG THE CANINE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT”
Dr. Honneffer is currently a PhD student at Texas A&M
University, under the mentorship of Dr. Jan Suchodolski. In this
deep and complex study, Dr. Honneffer used Illumina sequencing of
bacterial 16sRNA genes to define the gastrointestinal microbiome,
and untargeted metabolomic analysis on gastrointestinal content
from various sites along the small intestine to characterize
microbiome structure and metabolic activity. Significant variation
in both microbiome structure and metabolic activity, particularly
with respect to microbial fermentation of sugars and amino acids,
were detected. This study very nicely illustrated both the
complexity of the normal microbiome as it varies along the
gastrointestinal tract, and the changing metabolic roles of the
microbiome at varying locations. This is important foundational
work for our developing understanding of the GI microbiome both in
health and in disease states.
The single Poster Presentation award is presented
to:
Ms Ellen Everson, for her poster entitled "EFFECT OF SERUM
CREATININE ON FELINE SERUM DGGR-LIPASE AND SERUM PANCREATIC LIPASE
IMMUNOREACTIVITY”
Ms. Everson is currently a DVM student at the University of
Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College. Ms. Everson worked under the
mentorship of Dr. Abrams-Ogg while performing this study, which
assessed the influence of renal function (determined using serum
creatinine concentrations) on serum activities of DGGR-Lipase and
serum concentrations of feline specific pancreatic lipase in cats.
Their results showed a weak positive correlation between serum
creatinine and DGGR-lipase activity, while there was no correlation
between creatinine and serum fPLI concentrations. Cats with
elevated creatinine showed a significantly higher median
DGGR-lipase activity, but there was a substantial overlap between
the high-creatinine (>190 µmol/L) group and cats with normal
(<190 µmol/L) creatinine. A trend was observed towards higher
Spec-fPL concentrations in the cats with elevated creatinine, but
this difference did not reach statistical significance. An overall
conclusion of the study was that, while reduced renal function (as
indicated by elevations in serum creatinine) may have a minor
effect on serum DGGR-lipase activity, and Spec-fPL (although the
study appeared underpowered to address this question), the
magnitude of change induced by reduced renal function was markedly
lower than the changes seen with pancreatic inflammatory disease,
and thus marked elevations in DGGR-lipase or Spec-fPL, even in an
azotemic cat, should not be attributed solely to reduced renal
function.
CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL!!!
CGS
Veterinary Student Summer Research Scholar Program
2016
This year, two grants were awarded. And the winners
are...
Mrs. Stephanie Smith, CSU class of 2018.
Mrs. Smith will work with her mentor Dr. Craig Webb this summer
evaluating an dysbiosis Index and fecal bile acid ratio of
diarrheic dogs that are treated with oral tylosin. The title of her
project is: “Impact of Tylosin on the Dysbiosis Index and Fecal
Bile Acid Profile of Dogs”.
Mrs. Hannah Klein, Texas A&M University Class of
2019.
Mrs. Klein will work with her mentor, Dr. Jan Suchodolski, this
summer evaluating an index (combination of several markers) that
can be used to distinguish between the forms of chronic enteropathy
in dogs. The title of her project is: “Classification of specific
chronic enteropathies in dogs“.
Please join us in congratulating Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Klein for
their accomplishment!
CGS/Royal Canin Professional Development Awards for travel to
GUTSKI 2016
Two travel grants have been awarded:
Dr. Tomomi Minamoto, PhD student at Texas A&M University GI
Lab
and
Dr. Sarah Schmid, 2nd year internal medicine resident at the
University of Tennessee
Congratulations to Tomomi and Sarah!!
CGS/Waltham Grant for 2016
This year’s grant is awarded to Dr. Lina María
Martínez-López from the University of Melbourne for her
project,
Characterisation of immunoglobulin-coated
(Ig-coated) bacteria in faeces from dogs with chronic
enteropathies.
Dr. Lina María Martínez-López is a PhD candidate under the
mentorship of Prof. Caroline Mansfield.
Congratulations to Dr. Lina María Martínez-López and
many thanks to Waltham for their continued generous support of this
grant!
CGS/Royal Canin
USA Professional Development Awards for travel to Digestive
Diseases Week 2016
This year’s awards are awarded to:
Dr. Jennifer Cartwright from the University of
Edinburgh. Dr. Cartwright is a 3rd year Resident at
the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
Jessica Elbert from Iowa State University. Jessica
Elbert is a 2nd year veterinary student under the
mentorship of Prof. Albert Jergens.
Congratulations to Jennifer Cartwright and Jessica Elbert and
many thanks to Royal Canin USA for their generous support of this
award!