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The Psychological Effects of Medical Research on Animal Subjects and the Ramifications for the Applicability of the Research Results
Contributor(s):: Morgan A. Damm
Historically, animals have been used in medical research to bring about many of the medical breakthroughs and advances seen today. The successful studies are accompanied by numerous, often concealed, failed studies that are inapplicable to human medicine due to stress and distress changing the...
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Antimony: The Use, Rights, and Regulation of Laboratory Animals
Contributor(s):: Brenda L. Thomas
'In recent years, the problem, plight, and philosophy behind the use of animals in laboratories, schools, and industries has caused many to formulate an opinion on animal experimentation. It is simple to postulate a Monday morning quarterback philosophy - merely weigh the...
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Influence of pet ownership on opinions towards the use of animals in biomedical research
Contributor(s):: Hagelin, J., Johansson, B., Hau, J., Carlsson, H. E.
The present study investigated the relationship between pet ownership and opinions on the use of animals in medical research. A questionnaire was answered by 484 schoolteacher students and 156 preschool teacher students from Uppsala University, Sweden [date not given]. Animal use was found to be...
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A study of three IACUCs and their views of scientific merit and alternatives
Contributor(s):: Graham, K.
Two ethical issues facing Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs) today are assessing scientific merit and the use of alternatives in research proposals. This study evaluated 3 IACUCs using a 19-question survey, with a 77.8% response rate. Although 76% of members answered that...
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A tail of two monkeys: social housing for nonhuman primates in the research laboratory setting
Contributor(s):: Seelig, D.
Despite great adaptability, most nonhuman primates require regular tactile contact with conspecifics for their psychological well being. By illustrating the inherent value of social contact and by providing clues to the best ways of satisfying this need, behavioral studies are useful in designing...
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Animal experimentation in cancer research: a citation analysis
Contributor(s):: Dagg, A. I.
Cancer research involves the use of millions of nonhuman animals and billions of dollars in public funds each year, but cures for the disease remain elusive. This article suggests ways to reduce the use of animals and save money by identifying articles that garnered few citations over the 9 years...
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Behavioral and hormonal consequences of transporting giant pandas from China to the United States
Contributor(s):: Snyder, R. J., Perdue, B. M., Powell, D. M., Forthman, D. L., Bloomsmith, M. A., Maple, T. L.
Zoological institutions strive to ensure the welfare of nonhuman animals in captivity. Part of this effort involves reducing the level of distress experienced by an animal to the greatest extent possible. However, some necessary zoo management practices such as transportation induce stress...
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Combination therapy reduces self-injurious behavior in a chimpanzee ( Pan troglodytes troglodytes ): a case report
Contributor(s):: Bourgeois, S. R., Vazquez, M., Brasky, K.
Self-injurious behavior (SIB) remains a severe and intractable abnormal behavior for nonhuman primates in diverse settings and is a significant concern for veterinarians and behavioral scientists. To date, no single pharmacological, behavioral, social, or environmental intervention method has...
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Compassion for animals in the laboratory: impairment or refinement of research methodology?
Contributor(s):: Reinhardt, V.
There are now signs in the United States as well as in Europe that the importance of a positive human-nonhuman animal relationship in research laboratories is appreciated more seriously. In addition to knowledge and skills, primary attributes of animal research personnel must be feelings of...
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Effects of environmental enrichment for mice: variation in experimental results
Contributor(s):: Weerd, H. A. van de, Aarsen, E. L., Mulder, A., Kruitwagen, C. L. J. J., Hendriksen, C. F. M., Baumans, V.
This study focused on the effects of different enriched environments for mice in a number of behavioural and physiological parameters in 2 routine laboratory testing procedures: potency testing for tetanus vaccine and stress-induced hyperthermia. The variability in the results was studied by...
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Environmental enrichment alters the behavioral profile of ratsnakes ( Elaphe )
Contributor(s):: Almli, L. M., Burghardt, G. M.
This study investigated the effects of environmentally enriched and standard laboratory housing conditions on behavioral performance in 16 subadult ratsnakes (Elaphe obsoleta) using a split-clutch design. In a problem-solving task, snakes housed in enriched environments (EC) exhibited shorter...
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Genetic engineering and other factors that might affect human-animal interactions in the research setting
Contributor(s):: Comber, J., Griffin, G.
Evidence exists, particularly in the welfare literature of nonhuman animals on the farm, that the interaction between nonhuman animals and the personnel who care for them can have a strong effect on the animals' behavior, productivity, and welfare. Among species commonly used for biomedical...
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Genetically modified laboratory animals - what welfare problems do they face?
Contributor(s):: Buehr, M., Hjorth, P. J., Hansen, A. K., Sandoe, P.
In this article, we respond to public concern expressed about the welfare of genetically modified (GM) non-human animals. As a contribution to the debate on this subject, we attempt in this article to determine in what situations the practice of genetic modification in rodents may generate...
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Global harmonization of pain and distress classification systems: current analysis and opportunity for change
Contributor(s):: Purves, K. E.
When humans suffer pain or distress, they are generally able to describe their experience to others, including doctors. Medical professionals are also able to convey the likelihood of pain and distress to humans who are voluntarily participating in clinical research trials. The same is not true...
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Noise exposure, music, and animals in the laboratory: a commentary based on Laboratory Animal Refinement and Enrichment Forum (LAREF) discussions
Contributor(s):: Patterson-Kane, E. G., Farnworth, M. J.
The effects of noise, in general, and music, in particular, on the behavior and welfare of animals in the laboratory deserve a great deal of empirical study. However, many laboratories must develop their current practices on the basis of sparse and conflicting data. With this commentary we seek...
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Noncompliance with Public Health Service (PHS) policy on humane care and use of laboratory animals: an exploratory analysis
Contributor(s):: Gomez, L. M., Conlee, K. M., Stephens, M. L.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) is a major biomedical research-funding body in the United States. Approximately 40% of NIH-funded research involves experimentation on nonhuman animals (Monastersky, 200811. Monastersky, R. 2008, April 18. Protesters fail to slow animal research. The...
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Outcome of cats adopted from a biomedical research program
Contributor(s):: DiGangi, B. A., Crawford, P. C., Levy, J. K.
Adoption of companion animals retired from biomedical research projects can provide an alternative, humane method for their disposition. For more than a decade, the University of Florida College of Veterinary Medicine has allowed investigators to arrange for the adoption of nonhuman animals used...
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Overcoming the barriers to the retirement of Old and New World monkeys from research facilities
Contributor(s):: Kerwin, A. M.
In this commentary I aim to raise awareness among researchers and sanctuary directors to potential barriers to retiring Old and New World monkeys from research facilities. I define a barrier as an opinion or stereotype that prevents primate retirement from occurring on a regular basis. By...
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Pair housing for female longtailed and rhesus macaques in the laboratory: behavior in protected contact versus full contact
Contributor(s):: Baker, K. C., Crockett, C. M., Lee, G. H., Oettinger, B. C., Schoof, V., Thom, J. P.
Pair housing for caged macaques in the laboratory generally allows unrestricted tactile contact but, less commonly, may involve limited contact via grooming-contact bars or perforated panels. The purpose of using this protected contact housing, which prevents entry into pair-mates' cages,...
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Phenotype characterization and welfare assessment of transgenic rodents (mice)
Contributor(s):: Mertens, C., Rulicke, T.
Methods of transgenesis in vertebrate animals in the laboratory involve the stable addition or selective substitution of defined genes into the germline. Although there is a continuous and remarkable development in transgenic technology-the quality of transgenes, gene-targeting vectors, and...
