text: Severity: Scale 3 has a moderate degree of severity, as it is not a fatal disease, though it can decrease the quality of life.
  Test Overview: Primary lens luxation (PLL) is thought to be heritable in most breeds in which it is seen, although clinical signs are generally not seen until the dog is an adult. Secondary lens luxation is not heritable, and occurs secondary to another disease process within the eye. In the terrier breeds (such as the Jack Russell terrier) PLL is associated with an inherited degeneration of the zonules, or the thin ligaments that suspend the lens in place behind the iris (the coloured part of the eye) and in front of the vitreous (a clear, gel-like substance). The genetic mutation has been characterised in a number of breeds, and a genetic test is available. Lens luxation refers to the lens being in an abnormal position inside the eye. Clinical signs in the fox terrier are usually not seen until the dog is in middle age, and include a sudden onset of pain (squinting, tearing etc), redness, and cloudiness of the cornea. The lens may partially or fully luxate into the front chamber of the eye, causing acute glaucoma (increased pressure within the eye). Sometimes the lens may fall backwards into the posterior (back) chamber of the eye, which may displace the vitreous forwards. This may then also lead to a blockage of drainage of fluid from the eye and a secondary glaucoma. Glaucoma (increased fluid pressure within the eye) is a common consequence of lens luxation, and can rapidly lead to blindness. Lens luxation is a veterinary emergency, and if you notice the signs of PLL in your dog’s eye you should see your vet immediately. Diagnosis is by examination of the inside of the eye by a veterinarian, and possibly an ultrasound of the eye. Treatment of PLL is aimed at reducing the fluid pressure within the eye and preserving vision in acute cases, then removing the lens surgically. Blind eyes may be removed to treat pain. Genetic testing is available for the screening of breeding animals, so that two carriers (or any affected animals) are not bred. Although the disease is treated as a recessive one, carrier animals will also occasionally develop lens luxation.
  Recommended Screening: 1. Recommend the use of genetic testing to screen all breeding animals prior to entering into breeding programs (e.g. at 1 year of age). 2. Direct examination of the eye by a veterinarian, recommend yearly at annual examination.
  LOS ANGELES (AP)  A mistrial was declared Wednesday for a Long Beach man charged with arranging the murder of his pregnant girlfriend to avoid paying child support.
  A Superior Court jury pronounced itself hopelessly deadlocked in the murder trial of Derek Smyer. A judge ordered him back to Superior Court in October for a hearing to determine if he should stand trial again, City News Service reported.
  Smyer, 35, was arrested and charged a decade after the Sept. 25, 2001 killings of 27-year-old Crystal Taylor and her unborn son in Hawthorne.
  Prosecutors said Smyer arranged to have Taylor shot in the head because she was 5½ months pregnant with his child and refused to have an abortion.
  “It was really the baby that Smyer wanted dead,” prosecutor Danette Meyers told the jury in closing arguments last month.
  “Her (Taylor’s) only crime was … to say, ‘I’m gonna have this baby’ and she paid for it with her life,” Meyers said.
  The alleged gunman, Skyler Moore, 34, is awaiting trial. He already is serving a life sentence for another 2001 killing.
  LOS ANGELES (AP)  Los Angeles County officials have approved a plan to convert an armory into a year-round facility for homeless women.
  The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to repurpose the armory in the Sylmar area of the San Fernando Valley.
  The Los Angeles Times reports (http://lat.ms/2xTFebS ) the new facility, which could open as soon as December, will provide “bridge housing,” consisting of shelter and support services to help transition women into permanent housing.
  The newspaper says its creation comes amid a shortage of shelter beds and a debate in the county over whether to provide short-term beds or long-term housing.
  The building owned by the U.S. National Guard has been used as an emergency winter shelter for two decades.
  Carey-Fineman-Ziter (CFZ) syndrome is a rare condition characterized by the association of hypotonia, Moebius sequence (bilateral congenital facial palsy with impairment of ocular abduction), Pierre-Robin sequence (micrognathia, glossoptosis, and high-arched or cleft palate), unusual face, and growth delay.
  Most patients had non-specific peripheral (myopathy) or central (brain anomaly) causes of hypotonia. Some had a non-specific myopathy, with consequent severe scoliosis. Other features, reported in one or two patients with CFZ, included brain anomalies (ventriculomegaly, reduced white matter, neuronal heterotopias, small foci of necrosis with microcalcifications, small pons and brainstem with enlarged pre-pontine and pontocerebellar cisterns), absence of the pectoralis major muscle with an ulnar deviation of the hand (Poland sequence), laryngostenosis, unexplained intermittent arterial hypertension with facial flushing and sweating, hydronephrosis, glanular hypospadias, and talipes equinovarus. Intelligence may be normal but mental disability has been reported. One patient also presented with a gastrointestinal disturbance with biopsy-proven villous atrophy.
  Diagnosis can be made on the basis of clinical features, but magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is necessary to detect the brain anomalies.
  Although CFZ syndrome has been reported in two pairs of sibs, suggesting an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance, the recurrence risk does not seem to be as high as 25%.
  Scoliosis necessitated rod placement in one patient during adolescence, and in another case induced restrictive lung disease and death from pneumonia at 37 years of age.
  Light holiday classics, a very merry sing-along, and seasonal favorites make for a jubilant evening shared with friends and the Oregon Symphony. Special Concert