Cross-cultural virtual teams are on the rise, but can they communicate effectively?

Cultural differences can create barriers to communication; the lack of physical interaction can make it worse, writes Marion Festin

Use of a multistrain assay could improve the NTP carcinogenesis bioassay.

There are often large strain differences in the response of laboratory animals to toxic chemicals and carcinogens, with some strains being totally resistant to dose levels that cause acute toxicity and/or cancer in other strains. The current National Toxicology Program carcinogenesis bioassay (NTP-CB) uses only a single isogenic strain of mice and rats and may therefore miss some carcinogens. New short-term tests to predict mutagenesis and possible carcinogenesis are validated using data from the NTP-CB. If the animal data are inaccurate, it may hinder this validation. The accuracy of the NTP-CB could be improved by using two or more strains of each species without increasing the total number of animals. It would be possible to continue to use sample sizes of 48-50 animals, but subdivide these into groups of 12 animals of 4 different strains (48 animals total) per dose/sex group, for example, instead of 48 identical animals. This would quadruple the number of genotypes without any substantial increase in cost. Such a multistrain "factorial" design would, on average, be statistically more powerful then the present design and should increase the chance of detecting carcinogens that currently may give equivocal results or go undetected because the test animal strains happen to be specifically resistant. When strains differ in response, studies of differences in metabolism, pharmacokinetics, DNA damage/repair, cellular responses, and in some cases identification of genetic loci governing sensitivity may provide biological information on toxic mechanisms that would help in assessing human risk and setting permissible exposure limits. The NTP may have made the world a safer place for F344 rats and B6C3F1 mice.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS

Introduction to genetic monitoring

Why should we do genetic monitoring?There is a long history of both documented and anecdotal reports of genetic contamination of strains of laboratory animals. In all cases the results of contamination have resulted in serious damage to research projects. There have been reports of commercial breeders attempting to hide known cases of genetic contamination

How cultural norms and values shaped national responses to the COVID-19 pandemic

Global turmoil, local responses. Citizens in Asian countries spontaneously put on protective masks, Europeans were forced to stay home but protested lockdown (though enforcement was often lax) and the Swedes just carried on with their lives. Across the world, countries tackled the COVID-19 epidemic in very different ways. Why? Cultural norms and values strongly shaped behaviours, argue researchers Marion Festing, Tobias Schumacher and Yong-Yueh Lee

Survey of the quality of experimental design, statistical analysis and reporting of research using animals

For scientific, ethical and economic reasons, experiments involving animals should be appropriately designed, correctly analysed and transparently reported. This increases the scientific validity of the results, and maximises the knowledge gained from each experiment. A minimum amount of relevant information must be included in scientific publications to ensure that the methods and results of a study can be reviewed, analysed and repeated. Omitting essential information can raise scientific and ethical concerns. We report the findings of a systematic survey of reporting, experimental design and statistical analysis in published biomedical research using laboratory animals. Medline and EMBASE were searched for studies reporting research on live rats, mice and non-human primates carried out in UK and US publicly funded research establishments. Detailed information was collected from 271 publications, about the objective or hypothesis of the study, the number, sex, age and/or weight of animals used, and experimental and statistical methods. Only 59% of the studies stated the hypothesis or objective of the study and the number and characteristics of the animals used. Appropriate and efficient experimental design is a critical component of high-quality science. Most of the papers surveyed did not use randomisation (87%) or blinding (86%), to reduce bias in animal selection and outcome assessment. Only 70% of the publications that used statistical methods described their methods and presented the results with a measure of error or variability. This survey has identified a number of issues that need to be addressed in order to improve experimental design and reporting in publications describing research using animals. Scientific publication is a powerful and important source of information; the authors of scientific publications therefore have a responsibility to describe their methods and results comprehensively, accurately and transparently, and peer reviewers and journal editors share the responsibility to ensure that published studies fulfil these criteria

Global management programmes can help win the escalating ‘talent war’

As global talent is a key success factor for multinational corporations, investments made to attract and retain talent are large. Domitille Bonneton, Stephanie Katja Schworm, Marion Festing and Maral Muratbekova-Touron show how talent management practices can help retain high performers and high potential, who like other commodities have become even more scarce in these times of economic crisis