Streptococcus-derived CpsA-CpsC fusion protein induces apoptosis in cervical cancer cells through in silico and in vitro methods.

Detection canines are dogs purposely trained to identify numerous potential threats, including narcotics (), explosives (), pathogens (), and invasive species (, ). Deployment of successful detection dogs is crucial to national security, law enforcement, and the agricultural industry, and the demand for capable dogs continues to rise (). However, the significant time and costs invested in their development and subsequent selection, coupled with substantial attrition from training, present significant challenges to the widespread application of successful detection dogs as well as enhancement of their capabilities. Selection of detection dogs ideally suited for specific working roles relies primarily on assessments of behavioral characteristics (, ). Behavioral evaluations which observe dogs’ responses to various stimuli or environmental contexts are often used to characterize relevant traits (). These evaluations typically include a set of standardized tests in which the dog is given an ordinal score indicating gradations of an observed characteristic (, ), or the duration and frequency of specific behaviors can be coded and used to inform selection (). Many different characteristics have been linked to the successful working performance of detection dogs, including reward engagement (), motivation to work (), trainability () and lack of fear to novel or startling stimuli (). In detection dogs, suitability for operational work requires the presence of specific behavioral phenotypes across multiple domains. Namely, detection dogs must demonstrate characteristics associated with detection performance (e.g., task engagement, effective search techniques, cooperation with the handler) and environmental soundness (e.g., ability to navigate high stimulus environments or obstacles ()). The appropriate combination of these specific traits ensures that the dog exhibits stable and consistent detection performance in dynamic operational environments. A single metric serving as an overall assessment of a dog’s suitability for operational detection work may provide a simple but effective metric of a dog’s ability to succeed in the training program, but accurate representations of this metric would require input from experienced canine trainers that understand the necessary phenotypes for operational suitability. In addition, at different points in development, certain characteristics may have greater weight in judgments of suitability, so understanding how these assessments may change over time is also important to measure. Past studies evaluating characteristics associated with suitability for detection work have discussed the relevance of separate characteristics in determining the success of detection dogs (, ); however, there has been little evaluation of how overall assessments of suitability for operational work by trainers or evaluators may predict outcome in a training program, and how these assessments may factor in separate behavioral domains at various points across development.