浅论实验动物兽医的职责及实践

随着我国实验动物科学和动物试验的迅速发展,实验动物兽医的需求越来越大。实验动物兽医的角色多种多样,广义地讲可以是任何具有兽医资质且从事实验动物管理、繁育、疾病诊断防治、动物试验和研究的人员。通常实验动物兽医是指实验动物临床兽医或实验动物主管兽医。实验动物兽医的天职是确保动物的健康和福利,并支持高质量的动物试验研究。本文从实验动物兽医工作的必要性、实验动物兽医的发展、实验动物兽医的资质、职责等几个方面,并结合合同外包研发机构中兽医的实践阐述了实验动物兽医的工作性质、任务和内容。     

A Global Estimate of the Number of Coral Reef Fishers

Overfishing threatens coral reefs worldwide, yet there is no reliable estimate on the number of reef fishers globally. We address this data gap by quantifying the number of reef fishers on a global scale, using two approaches - the first estimates reef fishers as a proportion of the total number of marine fishers in a country, based on the ratio of reef-related to total marine fish landed values. The second estimates reef fishers as a function of coral reef area, rural coastal population, and fishing pressure. In total, we find that there are 6 million reef fishers in 99 reef countries and territories worldwide, of which at least 25% are reef gleaners. Our estimates are an improvement over most existing fisher population statistics, which tend to omit accounting for gleaners and reef fishers. Our results suggest that slightly over a quarter of the world’s small-scale fishers fish on coral reefs, and half of all coral reef fishers are in Southeast Asia. Coral reefs evidently support the socio-economic well-being of numerous coastal communities. By quantifying the number of people who are employed as reef fishers, we provide decision-makers with an important input into planning for sustainable coral reef fisheries at the appropriate scale.     

Wie viele Arten? Der Stand der Forschung gegen Ende des Jahrhunderts

How many species have emerged in the whole history of life? We trace the various attempts to answer this question. After reviewing the existing calculations and demonstrating the method we look at the debate about species richness in the Phanerozoic. Finally we present a recalculation of the total number of animals based upon new estimates of the Recent species richness. It is suggested that up to 10 billion animal species might have emerged in the whole history of life, with 200 million being a more conservative estimate. According to the last figure and other data, man has “successfully” eliminated not less than 0,3% of all the animal species that ever existed.     

Global colorectal cancer burden in 2020 and projections to 2040

As the third most common malignancy and the second most deadly cancer, colorectal cancer (CRC) induces estimated 1.9 million incidence cases and 0.9 million deaths worldwide in 2020. The incidence of CRC is higher in highly developed countries, and it is increasing in middle- and low-income countries due to westernization. Moreover, a rising incidence of early-onset CRC is also emerging. The large number of CRC cases poses a growing global public health challenge. Raising awareness of CRC is important to promote healthy lifestyle choices, novel strategies for CRC management, and implementation of global screening programs, which are critical to reducing CRC morbidity and mortality in the future. CRC is a heterogeneous disease, and its subtype affiliation influences prognosis and therapeutic response. An accurate CRC subtype classification system is of great significance for basic research and clinical outcome. Here, we present the global epidemiology of CRC in 2020 and projections for 2040, review the major CRC subtypes to better understand CRC molecular basis, and summarize current risk factors, prevention, and screening strategies for CRC.     

The Global Burden of Trachoma: A Review

Trachoma is the commonest infectious cause of blindness worldwide. Recurrent infection of the ocular surface by Chlamydia trachomatis, the causative agent, leads to inturning of the eyelashes (trichiasis) and blinding corneal opacification. Trachoma is endemic in more than 50 countries. It is currently estimated that there are about 1.3 million people blind from the disease and a further 8.2 million have trichiasis. Several estimates for the burden of disease from trachoma have been made, giving quite variable results. The variation is partly because different prevalence data have been used and partly because different sequelae have been included. The most recent estimate from the WHO placed it at around 1.3 million Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). A key issue in producing a reliable estimate of the global burden of trachoma is the limited amount of reliable survey data from endemic regions.     

Analysis of status and countermeasures of cancer incidence and mortality in China

Cancer is the leading cause of human deaths in the world and produces serious economic burdens. On September 12, 2018, the academic journal A Cancer Journal for Clinicians published an article about the latest statistics of cancers worldwide, which provided a status report on the global burden of 36 cancers in 185 countries worldwide. Cancer has also become a serious public health problem in China and caused more and more attention of the government and people in recent years. This review analyzes the incidence, mortality and prevalent trend of cancers in China, discusses the reasons behind this status, and reviews the potential countermeasures for cancer prevention and control in China.     

What's hot in animal biosafety?

In recent years, the emergence or re-emergence of critical issues in infectious disease and public health has presented new challenges and opportunities for laboratory animal care professionals. The re-emergence of bioterrorism as a threat activity of individuals or small groups has caused a heightened awareness of biosecurity and improved biosafety. The need for animal work involving high-risk or high-consequence pathogens and for arthropod-borne diseases has stimulated renewed interest in animal biosafety matters, particularly for work in containment. Application of these principles to animals retained in outdoor environments has been a consequence of disease eradication programs. The anticipated global eradication of wild poliovirus has prompted the promulgation of new biosafety guidelines for future laboratory and animal work. Increased concern regarding the use of biologically derived toxins and hazardous chemicals has stimulated a new categorization of facility containment based on risk assessment. Recognition that prion disease agents and other high-consequence pathogens require safe handling and thorough destruction during terminal decontamination treatment has led to the development of new biosafety guidelines and technologies. The implementation of these guidelines and technologies will promote state-of-the-art research while minimizing risk to laboratory animals, researchers, and the environment.     

The global burden of snakebite: a literature analysis and modelling based on regional estimates of envenoming and deaths

Background

Envenoming resulting from snakebites is an important public health problem in many tropical and subtropical countries. Few attempts have been made to quantify the burden, and recent estimates all suffer from the lack of an objective and reproducible methodology. In an attempt to provide an accurate, up-to-date estimate of the scale of the global problem, we developed a new method to estimate the disease burden due to snakebites.

Methods and Findings

The global estimates were based on regional estimates that were, in turn, derived from data available for countries within a defined region. Three main strategies were used to obtain primary data: electronic searching for publications on snakebite, extraction of relevant country-specific mortality data from databases maintained by United Nations organizations, and identification of grey literature by discussion with key informants. Countries were grouped into 21 distinct geographic regions that are as epidemiologically homogenous as possible, in line with the Global Burden of Disease 2005 study (Global Burden Project of the World Bank). Incidence rates for envenoming were extracted from publications and used to estimate the number of envenomings for individual countries; if no data were available for a particular country, the lowest incidence rate within a neighbouring country was used. Where death registration data were reliable, reported deaths from snakebite were used; in other countries, deaths were estimated on the basis of observed mortality rates and the at-risk population. We estimate that, globally, at least 421,000 envenomings and 20,000 deaths occur each year due to snakebite. These figures may be as high as 1,841,000 envenomings and 94,000 deaths. Based on the fact that envenoming occurs in about one in every four snakebites, between 1.2 million and 5.5 million snakebites could occur annually.

Conclusions

Snakebites cause considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. The highest burden exists in South Asia, Southeast Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa.     

Insights on cross-species transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from structural modeling

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is responsible for the ongoing global pandemic that has infected more than 31 million people in more than 180 countries worldwide. Like other coronaviruses, SARS-CoV-2 is thought to have been transmitted to humans from wild animals. Given the scale and widespread geographical distribution of the current pandemic and confirmed cases of cross-species transmission, the question of the extent to which this transmission is possible emerges, as well as what molecular features distinguish susceptible from non-susceptible animal species. Here, we investigated the structural properties of several ACE2 orthologs bound to the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein. We found that species known not to be susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection have non-conservative mutations in several ACE2 amino acid residues that disrupt key polar and charged contacts with the viral spike protein. Our models also allow us to predict affinity-enhancing mutations that could be used to design ACE2 variants for therapeutic purposes. Finally, our study provides a blueprint for modeling viral-host protein interactions and highlights several important considerations when designing these computational studies and analyzing their results.     

The experiments with laboratory animals from a bioethical point of view--history, modern time, perspectives

The origin of laboratory animal science was called forth by violent development of experimental biology and medicine in the XIX century on the one hand, and on the other hand by the necessity to have standard healthy animals for experiments with strictly definite biological characteristics. With this aim in view management technology and animal use in experiments have been constantly improved. "Laboratory animal" notion has been formed by the end of the XIX century. At the beginning of laboratory animal science development ethical problems were not as urgent as they are now. It is established that the three Rs bioethical conception of W.M.S. Russel and R.L. Burch (1959) has influence on modern state and perspectives of the development of animal experimental methods. It is shown that the existence of laboratory animal protection laws and the reflection in them of compulsory ethical review of scientific project and statistics of used laboratory animals is absolutely necessary.     

Regional patterns of diversity and estimates of global insect species richness

The total number of insect species in the world is an important if elusive figure. We use a fresh approach to estimate global insect species richness, based on biogeographic patterns of diversity of well or better documented taxa. Estimates generated by various calculations, all variations on a theme, largely serve to substantiate suggestions that insect species are likely to number around 10 million or less.     

How Global Is the Global Biodiversity Information Facility?

There is a concerted global effort to digitize biodiversity occurrence data from herbarium and museum collections that together offer an unparalleled archive of life on Earth over the past few centuries. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility provides the largest single gateway to these data. Since 2004 it has provided a single point of access to specimen data from databases of biological surveys and collections. Biologists now have rapid access to more than 120 million observations, for use in many biological analyses. We investigate the quality and coverage of data digitally available, from the perspective of a biologist seeking distribution data for spatial analysis on a global scale. We present an example of automatic verification of geographic data using distributions from the International Legume Database and Information Service to test empirically, issues of geographic coverage and accuracy. There are over 1/2 million records covering 31% of all Legume species, and 84% of these records pass geographic validation. These data are not yet a global biodiversity resource for all species, or all countries. A user will encounter many biases and gaps in these data which should be understood before data are used or analyzed. The data are notably deficient in many of the world's biodiversity hotspots. The deficiencies in data coverage can be resolved by an increased application of resources to digitize and publish data throughout these most diverse regions. But in the push to provide ever more data online, we should not forget that consistent data quality is of paramount importance if the data are to be useful in capturing a meaningful picture of life on Earth.     

Global species numbers of fungi: are tropical studies and molecular approaches contributing to a more robust estimate?

Recent estimates of the global species numbers of fungi suggest that the much-used figure of 1.5 million is low, and figures up to 5.1 million have been proposed in the last few years. Data emerging from tropical studies, and from large-scale sequencing of environmental samples, have the potential to contribute towards a more robust figure. Additional evidence of species richness is coming from long-term studies of particular non-tropical sites, and also from molecular phylogenetic studies revealing extensive cryptic speciation. However, uncertainties remain over fungus:plant species ratios and how they should be extrapolated to the global scale, and also as to the geographical distribution of fungi known only as sequences. Also unclear is the extent to which figures should be modified to allow for insect-associated fungi. The need for comprehensive studies, especially in the tropics, to address the uncertainties used in past extrapolations, is stressed. For the present, it is recommended that the phrase “at least 1.5, but probably as many as 3 million” be adopted for general use until some of the current uncertainties are resolved.     

Updated Global Burden of Cholera in Endemic Countries

BackgroundThe global burden of cholera is largely unknown because the majority of cases are not reported. The low reporting can be attributed to limited capacity of epidemiological surveillance and laboratories, as well as social, political, and economic disincentives for reporting. We previously estimated 2.8 million cases and 91,000 deaths annually due to cholera in 51 endemic countries. A major limitation in our previous estimate was that the endemic and non-endemic countries were defined based on the countries’ reported cholera cases. We overcame the limitation with the use of a spatial modelling technique in defining endemic countries, and accordingly updated the estimates of the global burden of cholera.Conclusion/SignificanceThe global burden of cholera remains high. Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for the majority of this burden. Our findings can inform programmatic decision-making for cholera control.     

Fifty years of violent war deaths from Vietnam to Bosnia: analysis of data from the world health survey programme

Objective To provide an accurate estimate of violent war deaths. Design Analysis of survey data on mortality, adjusted for sampling bias and censoring, from nationally representative surveys designed to measure population health. Estimated deaths compared with estimates in database of passive reports.Setting 2002-3 World health surveys, in which information was collected from one respondent per household about sibling deaths, including whether such deaths resulted from war injuries.Main outcome measure Estimated deaths from war injuries in 13 countries over 50 years.Results From 1955 to 2002, data from the surveys indicated an estimated 5.4 million violent war deaths (95% confidence interval 3.0 to 8.7 million) in 13 countries, ranging from 7000 in the Democratic Republic of Congo to 3.8 million in Vietnam. From 1995 to 2002 survey data indicate 36 000 war deaths annually (16 000 to 71 000) in the 13 countries studied. Data from passive surveillance, however, indicated a figure of only a third of this. On the basis of the relation between world health survey data and passive reports, we estimate 378 000 globalwar deaths annually from 1985-94, the last years for which complete passive surveillance data were available.Conclusions The use of data on sibling history from peacetime population surveys can retrospectively estimate mortality from war. War causes more deaths than previously estimated, and there is no evidence to support a recent decline in war deaths.     

Tackling dengue fever: Current status and challenges

According to recent statistics, 96 million apparent dengue infections were estimated worldwide in 2010. This figure is by far greater than the WHO prediction which indicates the rapid spread of this disease posing a growing threat to the economy and a major challenge to clinicians and health care services across the globe particularly in the affected areas.This article aims at bringing to light the current epidemiological and clinical status of the dengue fever. The relationship between genetic mutations, single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and the pathophysiology of disease progression will be put into perspective. It will also highlight the recent advances in dengue vaccine development.Thus far, a significant progress has been made in unraveling the risk factors and understanding the molecular pathogenesis associated with the disease. However, further insights in molecular features of the disease and the development of animal models will enormously help improving the therapeutic interventions and potentially contribute to finding new preventive measures for population at risk.     

Attention to Local Health Burden and the Global Disparity of Health Research

Most studies on global health inequality consider unequal health care and socio-economic conditions but neglect inequality in the production of health knowledge relevant to addressing disease burden. We demonstrate this inequality and identify likely causes. Using disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) for 111 prominent medical conditions, assessed globally and nationally by the World Health Organization, we linked DALYs with MEDLINE articles for each condition to assess the influence of DALY-based global disease burden, compared to the global market for treatment, on the production of relevant MEDLINE articles, systematic reviews, clinical trials and research using animal models vs. humans. We then explored how DALYs, wealth, and the production of research within countries correlate with this global pattern. We show that global DALYs for each condition had a small, significant negative relationship with the production of each type of MEDLINE articles for that condition. Local processes of health research appear to be behind this. Clinical trials and animal studies but not systematic reviews produced within countries were strongly guided by local DALYs. More and less developed countries had very different disease profiles and rich countries publish much more than poor countries. Accordingly, conditions common to developed countries garnered more clinical research than those common to less developed countries. Many of the health needs in less developed countries do not attract attention among developed country researchers who produce the vast majority of global health knowledge—including clinical trials—in response to their own local needs. This raises concern about the amount of knowledge relevant to poor populations deficient in their own research infrastructure. We recommend measures to address this critical dimension of global health inequality.     

Impact of genomics on animal agriculture and opportunities for animal health

Livestock production is an important source of animal protein worldwide. In the developed world meat consumption will remain steady but demand is forecast to grow enormously in developing countries. The use of genomics will speed genetic improvement and increase levels of production quickly in the developed world but might face problems in the developing world, including scientific, economic and political challenges. Considerable increases in public and private research funding will be required to develop and utilize novel tools and collections of detailed trait information on appropriate animals. The development of policies protecting the environment and managing all genetic resources will also be needed. Advances in livestock genomics have major implications for increasing food output as well as improving human health.     

An analysis of the Home Office Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals, Great Britain 2004

The 2004 Statistics of Scientific Procedures on Living Animals were released by the Home Office in December 2005. They indicate that, for the third year running, there has been a significant increase in the number of laboratory animal procedures undertaken in Great Britain, and that increasing numbers of animals are involved. The overall trends in the use of toxicological and non-toxicological procedures involving animals are described. Particular emphasis is placed on the production and use of genetically modified animals, the production of biological materials, and acute toxicity testing. The use of non-human primates and dogs is also discussed. The implications of these latest statistics are considered with reference to the implementation of the Three Rs and their consequences for animal welfare.     

50 years of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR): 1953-2003

The history of the Institute for Laboratory Animal Research (ILAR) begins, as does all of laboratory animal science, with the ancient philosophers, anatomists, and physiologists whose work presaged the use of animals in biomedical research and the institutions that arose due to this use. Modern laboratory animal science and medicine began in the late 1940s and early 1950s as five Chicago-area institutions hired veterinarians to manage their animal facilities. Each of these men became instrumental in the founding of the organizations that collectively make up the laboratory animal science and medicine organizations. Nathan Brewer, one of the "Chicago five," was particularly influential in the founding of ILAR. His boss at the University of Chicago, Dr. Paul Weiss, a member of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), asked him to help establish a committee with the stated purpose of preparing recommendations to the NAS to develop an office to obtain information on sources of supply for research animals. This office became ILAR, and Brewer was chairman of its first report on the diseases of laboratory animals. He was also a founding diplomat and first president of the American College of Laboratory Animal Medicine. This history recognizes the thoughtful and energetic contributions of scientists and veterinarians to ILAR. It provides a 50-year overview of the programs and reports of ILAR and highlights examples where these reports have been adopted by scientists and federal agencies and incorporated into national laws and policies governing the use of animals in research both in the United States and in other countries.