Health Surveillance of immunodeficient animals

No abstract availabl

The defined laboratory animal and health monitoring

There is a definite need to set standard for health monitoring in order to obtain defined animals. Currently few laboratories can provide health monitoring schemes. However methods and operationalprocedures vary.GV-SOLAS has listed and published recommended methods to detect some pathogens. In the US, ILAR will publish a book with information on how diseases can affect research results. The FELASA working group on health monitoring isworking to achieve recommendations, which could be widely accepted.Health monitoring methods used were regarded as too variable, and some types of reports difficult to read. If health monitoring is practised in user units it is in most cases only limited Most users rely on services of specialized laboratories or on breaders’ reports. Transparency of all relevant information concerning animals and methods used for health monitoring (SOst) is vital.While standard textbooks in laboratory animal science use diseases as an example of a variable readily appreciated by scientists, it probably applies to clinical diseases only. However, there is ample evidence that this also holds true for subcIinical diseases.The cost of health monitoring appears high, and hence there is a need to set a minimum standard. One way to define an animal could be through identification of significant organisms regarded to interfere with a certain study. The detection ofsignificant organisms should result in due action. Health monitoring is a specialized field, which requires expertise, trained staff and established and periodically revised methods. In order to achieve international standardization in this field reference centers are preferable. To meet these demands WHO has appointed four ”WHO Collaborating Centres for Defined Laboratory Animals” (USA, Germany, USSR, Japan). Furthermore, ICLAS is currently revising its international ”Reference and Monitoring System for Laboratory Animals”

Visual Perceptual Difficulties and Under-Achievement at School in a Large Community-Based Sample of Children

Difficulties with visual perception (VP) are often described in children with neurological or developmental problems. However, there are few data regarding the range of visual perceptual abilities in populations of normal children, or on the impact of these abilities on children's day-to-day functioning. Methods Data were obtained for 4512 participants in an ongoing birth cohort study (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children; ALSPAC). The children's mothers responded to questions designed to elicit indications of visual perceptual difficulties or immaturity, when their children were aged 13 years. We examined associations with standardised school test results in reading and in mathematics at age 1314 years (SATS-KS3), accounting for potential confounders including IQ. Results Three underlying factors explained half the variance in the VP question responses. These correlated best with questions on interpreting cluttered scenes; guidance of movement and face recognition. The adjusted parameter estimates (95% CI) for the cluttered-scenes factor (0.05; 0.02 to 0.08; p<0.001) suggested positive associations with the reading test results whilst that for the guidance-of-movement factor (0.03; 0.00 to 0.06; p = 0.026) suggested positive association with the mathematics results. The raw scores were associated with both test results. Discussion VP abilities were widely distributed in this sample of 13-year old children. Lower levels of VP function were associated with under-achievement in reading and in mathematics. Simple interventions can help children with VP difficulties, so research is needed into practicable, cost-effective strategies for identification and assessment, so that support can be targeted appropriately

Should captive wild animals be used in research institutions?

No abstract availabl

A study of lung lesions in asymptomatic rabbits naturally infected with B. bronchiseptica

A histological study of lungs performed in 40 rabbits carrying a naturally acquired subclinical B. bronchiseptica infection revealed chronic inflammatory pulmonary lesions in 38 rabbits, B. bronchiseptica was the only agent consistently isolated from lungs. Pasteurella spp. was not isolated from any animal. B. bronchiseptica infected rabbits frequently displayed changes characterized by a simultaneous occurrence of focal chronic interstitial pneumonia, vascular and perivascular infiltration of monocytes and lymphoid cells, and inflammation ofbronchi and bronchioli

Intracytoplasmic inclusion bodies associated with vesicular ulcerative and necrotizing lesions of the digestive mucosa in fallow deer (Dama dama L.)

Intracytoplasmic epithelial inclusion bodies in the digestive mucosa of fallow deer (Dama dama L.) were found to most probably be the result of an unspecific degenerative or post mortal change. There are reasons to believe that this is true also for the inclusion bodies found in reindeer, roe deer and moose

Chronic inflammatory lung lesions in rabbits free of known respiratory pathogens

Chronic inflammatory lung lesions were studied in 58 purpose bred, clinically healthy rabbits that were found negative for Bordetella branchiseptica, Pasleurel/a multocida, Toxoplasma gondii, Encephalitozoon cuniculi, and lung worms. The changes found consisted of focal chronic interstitial pneumonia and chronic bronchitis and bronchiolitis, which were frequently associated with perivascular infiltrations of mononuclear leukocytes and vasculitis involving small lung vessels. The etiology of these alterations remains unknown