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Experimental Control for the Ovariectomized Rat Model: Use of Sham Versus Nonmanipulated Animal
Contributor(s):: Kruger, Marlena C., Morel, Patrick C. H.
One of 2 models required by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for registration of a treatment for osteoporosis, the ovariectomized (OVX) rat model, is widely used in scientific studies investigating sex hormone-deficient bone loss. The use of control nonhuman animals is critical because bone...
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Assessing the External Validity of Successive Negative Contrast – Implications for Animal Welfare
Contributor(s):: Ellis, Sarah L. H., Riemer, Stefanie, Thompson, Hannah, Burman, Oliver H. P.
When unexpectedly switched from a preferred to a less-preferred food reward, non-human animals may decrease consumption below that when only receiving the less-preferred reward – a successive negative contrast (SNC) effect. SNC has been proposed as an animal welfare indicator, however, to be...
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Use of spontaneous behaviour measures to assess pain in laboratory rats and mice: How are we progressing?
Contributor(s):: Whittaker, Alexandra L., Howarth, Gordon S.
The understanding and recognition of pain in laboratory rats and mice has advanced considerably in recent times. However, there is evidence that despite these advances, analgesics are still relatively underutilised in these species. One possible contributing influence to this is the difficulty in...
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The inescapable problem of lab animal restraint | Garet Lahvis | TEDxMtHood
| Contributor(s):: Garet Lahvis
Garet Lahvis is a pioneer in academic research on the mental experiences of laboratory mice and is an internationally recognized scientific expert on empathy. Using sophisticated behavioral experiments, his laboratory discovered that mice enjoy living with other mice and they can also...
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Behaviour, stress and welfare of Sprague Dawley rats (Rattus norvegicus) on diet board feeding for 24 months
| Contributor(s):: Laaksonen, Sakari, Nevalainen, Timo, Ketola, Jukka, Hau, Jann, Nieminen, Pentti, Haasio, Kristiina, Kasanen, Iiris, Voipio, Hanna-Marja
Diet board (DB) feeding aims to reduce the health hazards associated with ad libitum (AL) feeding. Rats have to gnaw wood to detach food from the DB, reducing their food consumption. We studied the welfare effects of DB by measuring faecal corticosterone metabolites (FCM), elevated plus-maze...
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A cafeteria diet alters the decision making strategy and metabolic markers in Sprague-Dawley male rats
| Contributor(s):: Virtuoso, Alessandro, Forkman, Björn, Sarruf, David A., Tveden-Nyborg, Pernille, Sørensen, Dorte Bratbo
Consumption of diets rich in refined sugar and saturated fat has been linked with development of mild cognitive impairment and dementia in humans. Most cognitive paradigms used in biomedical research to investigate the relationship between obesity and cognition rely on food motivation and speed...
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New food baits for trapping house mice, black rats and brown rats
| Contributor(s):: Takács, Stephen, Musso, Antonia E., Gries, Regine, Rozenberg, Emma, Borden, John H., Brodie, Bekka, Gries, Gerhard
We have recently developed new food baits (SFU Mouse Bait, SFU Rat Bait) for trapping granivorous house mice, Mus musculus, and black rats, Ramis rattus, and for trapping omnivorous brown rats, Rattus norvegicus. Both baits contain synthetic long-range volatile food attractants that represent...
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A happier rat pack: The impacts of tickling pet store rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare
| Contributor(s):: LaFollette, Megan R., O’Haire, Marguerite E., Cloutier, Sylvie, Gaskill, Brianna N.
Rats find initial interactions with humans frightening, which can lead to negative affect, and poor welfare. A handling technique called "tickling", which mimics rat rough-and-tumble play, can be used to reduce these negative effects. When tickled, rats produce 50 kilohertz (kHz) ultrasonic...
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Effects of accelerated human music on learning and memory performance of rats
| Contributor(s):: Korsós, Gabriella, Horváth, Krisztina, Lukács, Anita, Vezér, Tünde, Glávits, Róbert, Fodor, Kinga, Fekete, Sándor György
A total of forty, 7-week-old male rats were exposed to the 'rodentized' version (twice as fast as and one octave higher than the original) of Mozart's Sonata for Two Pianos in D major for ten minutes a day for 10 weeks. One group (10 rats) received the musical stimuli before ('B'), another during...
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Trained Rats are Detecting Tuberculosis and Saving Lives | Georgies Mgode | TEDxKenmoreSquare
| Contributor(s):: Georgies Mgode
Tuberculosis (TB) is the number one global killer by an infectious disease. In Tanzania, a team is embracing an innovative and efficient method to speed up the diagnosis of TB that involves integrating super-sniffer rats to quickly identify patients. These trained rats are helping to save...
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Apopo
Apopo's mission is to develop detection rats technology to provide solutions for global problems and inspire positive social change.
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The effects of cage color and light intensity on rat affect during heterospecific play
| Contributor(s):: LaFollette, Megan R., Swan, Melissa P., Smith, Rebecca K., Hickman, Debra L., Gaskill, Brianna N.
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Pets, Purity and Pollution: Why Conventional Models of Disease Transmission Do Not Work for Pet Rat Owners
| Contributor(s):: Charlotte Robin, Elizabeth Perkins, Francine Watkins, Robert Christley
In the United Kingdom, following the emergence of Seoul hantavirus in pet rat owners in 2012, public health authorities tried to communicate the risk of this zoonotic disease, but had limited success. To explore this lack of engagement with health advice, we conducted in-depth, semi-structured...
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Tickling, a Technique for Inducing Positive Affect When Handling Rats
| Contributor(s):: Cloutier, S., LaFollette, M. R., Gaskill, B. N., Panksepp, J., Newberry, R. C.
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The Influence of Animal-Assisted Psychotherapy on the Establishment of the Therapeutic Alliance with Maltreated Children in Residential Care
| Contributor(s):: Nancy Parish-Plass
Background: A large proportion of maltreated children carry their experiences as secrets into adulthood, leading to the continuation of the maltreatment, developmental trauma, and prevention of treatment. Many undiscovered maltreated children are referred to therapy due to behavioral and...
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The impact of tickling rats on human-animal interactions and rat welfare
| Contributor(s):: Megan Renee LaFollette, Brianna N Gaskill (adviser)
Rats initially fear humans which can lead to negative affect, poor welfare, and difficult handling. Also, modeling and measuring positive affect states in rats can pose an additional challenge. Heterospecific play, or “tickling,” is a handling habituation technique that mimics rat...
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Tickling Rats: Differential Benefits for Pet Store Rats
| Contributor(s):: Whitney Blankenberger
Animal welfare and the effects of the human-animal bond are becoming increasingly important to researchers and the public. Animal use in biomedical research is indispensable and inevitably creates stressful situations for the animals. One way to mediate this stress and improve rat welfare is by...
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The Human-Animal Interaction Scale: development and evaluation
| Contributor(s):: Fournier, A. K., Berry, T. D., Letson, E., Chanen, R.
The purpose of this study was to develop the Human–Animal Interaction Scale (HAIS) and evaluate its reliability and validity. The HAIS is a 24-item self-report instrument designed to describe and quantify behaviors performed by humans and nonhuman animals during an episode of interaction...
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Effacing the human: Rachel Rosenthal, rats and shared creative agency
| Contributor(s):: Carrie Rohman
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Pet Behaviour Science | Open Access Journal
| Contributor(s):: David Menor
Pet Behaviour Science is a new open access journal, which publishes original papers relating to all aspects of the behaviour of pets, including their relationships with humans. As a multidisciplinary journal, Pet Behaviour Science welcomes submissions from the arts and humanities, behavioural and...
