Zoo Animal Welfare: The Human Dimension

ABSTRACT

Standards and policies intended to safeguard nonhuman animal welfare, whether in zoos, farms, or laboratories, have tended to emphasize features of the physical environment. However, research has now made it clear that very different welfare outcomes are commonly seen in facilities using similar environments or conforming to the same animal welfare requirements. This wide variation is almost certainly due, at least in part, to the important effects of the actions of animal care staff on animal welfare. Drawing mostly on the farm animal literature, we propose that this “human dimension” of animal welfare involves seven components: (1) positive human–animal interaction, (2) consistency and familiarity of keepers, (3) treating animals as individuals and taking account of their personalities, (4) the attitudes and personalities of keepers, (5) the keepers’ knowledge and experience, (6) the keepers’ own well-being, and (7) the influence of facility design on how keepers and others interact with the animals. We suggest that attention to these human factors provides major scope for improving the welfare of animals in zoos.     

肝纤维化动物模型造模方法的研究进展

肝纤维化是肝脏受到损伤后细胞外基质合成、降解与沉积不平衡的一种修复反应。对肝纤维化进行早期诊断、早期治疗,预防肝硬化的发生、发展,对肝病患者的生命质量具有重要的意义。而肝纤维化动物模型的建立,既可深入全面地研究肝纤维化发病机制,又可为临床筛选防治肝纤维化药物提供基础研究。通过对常用的肝纤维化动物模型造模方法的阐述,为肝纤维化的基础实验研究和临床治疗提供参考。     

建立胎儿生长受限动物模型的研究进展

动物模型法对于人类疾病病因学及病理生理学的研究有着独特的作用。将动物模型法引入对胎儿生长受限（fetal growth restriction,FGR）的探索,不仅可以让我们观察FGR患者及胎儿在不同孕期各自的表现,还可以让我们对发病胎儿在出生后不同年龄阶段的自然表现进行继续研究。人们在FGR动物模型的建立和利用方面已经积累了大量的宝贵经验,这为进一步阐明FGR的病因学及发病机制创造了条件。     

Animal models to study Mycobacterium tuberculosis and HIV co-infection

Mycobacterium tuberculosis(M.tb) and human immunodeficiency virus(HIV) co-infection has become a public health issue worldwide. Up to now, there have been many unresolved issues either in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of M.tb/HIV coinfection or in the basic understanding of the mechanisms for the impairments to the immune system by interactions of these two pathogens. One important reason for these unsolved issues is the lack of appropriate animal models for the study of M.tb/HIV coinfection. This paper reviews the recent development of research on the animal models of M.tb/HIV co-infection, with a focus on the non-human primate models.     

Animal Care Courses: Helping Fulfill the Mandate of Animal Care Committees in Canada

Animal Care Committees (ACCs) at Canadian universities and research centers operate under the aegis of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) and its guidelines for the humane care and treatment of animals in teaching, research, and testing. All Canadian universities have at least one active committee. The committees are expected to assume an educative role beyond the provision of information concerning housing, maintenance, and appropriate conditions for the treatment of animals in research. This includes critical examination of the serious ethical issues involved in animal research within the context of the principles and practices endorsed by the CCAC. One-day animal care courses provided by ACCs at three Canadian universities are described. Comparisons are made between the content and structure of curricula and the ways these relate to the teaching and research mandate in each institution, focusing particularly on the teaching of ethics in each course. The implications for heightening awareness of ethical issues in animal research and improving the effectiveness of these courses are discussed.     

免疫性血小板减少性紫癜动物模型建立方法与应用评价

免疫性血小板减少性紫癜(immune thrombocytopenic purpura,ITP)是血液系统自身免疫性疾病,临床以皮肤、黏膜自发性出血为主要症状。鉴于ITP发病机理目前尚不清晰,因此,探讨人类ITP发病相近或相似的动物模型有助于对ITP发病机制的认识与治疗效果的评估。但就目前状况分析,被动型与主动型的ITP造模方法虽对研究ITP发病机制与药理学研究提供了研究工具,但也存在一些尚待解决的实际问题。因此,系统回顾ITP动物模型复制方法,并给予适当评价,有助于发现、应用并完善现有的动物模型,也能更好的探索新的ITP动物模型来研究发病过程与药物治疗的效应机制。     

结核分枝杆菌感染实验模型

结核分枝杆菌是引起人结核病的主要病原,全世界约有1/3人口感染结核分枝杆菌。尽管该病原可感染并引起许多动物疾病,但人类是其中心宿主。为研究结核分枝杆菌的致病机理及宿主对本病原的保护性和免疫病理学反应,选择合适的动物模型非常必要。本文阐述了结核病研究中常用的实验模型及各种模型的优缺点。实验模型的合理应用将促进我们对结核病的认识,从中获取的资料将有助于我们发现更好的预防和治疗方案。     

常用实验动物肝癌模型研究进展

肝癌动物模型是研究肝癌发病病因和机理的重要平台和手段,在肝癌研究过程中,肝癌动物模型的建立起着非常重要的作用,建立和提供良好的肝癌动物模型为今后进一步研究肝癌的致病机理,指导临床肝癌的诊断和治疗提供理论参考。     

Animal models of gastrointestinal inflammation and cancer

Inflammation and cancer are the two major disorders in the gastrointestinal tract. They are causally related in their pathogenesis. It is important to study animal models' causal relationship and, in particular, to discover new therapeutic agents for such diseases. There are several criteria for these models in order to make them useful in better understanding the etiology and treatment of the said diseases in humans. In this regard, animal models should be similar as possible to human diseases and also be easy to produce and reproducible and also economic to allow a continuous replication in different laboratories. In this review, we summarize the various animal models for inflammatory and cancerous disorders in the upper and lower gastrointestinal tract. Experimental approaches are as simple as by giving a single oral dose of alcohol or other noxious agents or by injections of multiple dosages of ulcer inducing agents or by parenteral administration or in drinking water of carcinogens or by modifying the genetic makeups of animals to produce relatively long-term pathological changes in particular organs. With these methods they could induce consistent inflammatory responses or tumorigenesis in the gastrointestinal mucosa. These animal models are widely used in laboratories in understanding the pathogenesis as well as the mechanisms of action for therapeutic agents in the treatment of gastrointestinal inflammation and cancer.     

光动力疗法治疗感染性疾病的动物模型

光动力疗法(photodynamic therapy,PDT)是利用特定波长的激发光照射生物靶标上的光敏剂,从而产生活性氧并有效杀伤多种耐药病原体的新型治疗方式,具有作用广、安全可控、不易耐受等优点。大量体外实验已证实了PDT疗效,但目前动物实验数据较少,且治疗参数不一,一定程度上影响了PDT在临床治疗中的广泛应用。本文综述近年来PDT用于体内抗感染治疗的动物模型构建、治疗方案设计等方面的研究进展,为未来PDT抗感染研究及临床应用提供参考。     

树鼩在医学生物学中的应用

目的树鼩是一种新型实验动物,由于它的许多分子与细胞结构近似于人类,已成功建立了多种人类病毒感染的动物模型,并在神经生物学、生殖生物学、免疫学和社会心理学等方面有相当广泛和深入的应用和研究。     

动物模型在肺部真菌病研究中的应用

真菌病成为日益严重的临床问题,深部真菌感染尤其是肺部真菌感染呈持续增多趋势。肺部真菌病往往发生于免疫低下或有基础疾病的患者,其具体发病机制尚不完全清楚。动物模型不仅为真菌病病因学研究提供有效的途径,还能在抗真菌药物、免疫调节剂及可能的疫苗的研究中提供多方面的帮助。动物实验中所观察到的病理改变可能对发病机理的探索有所帮助。实验动物研究有助于我们明晰各种参数的作用机理,比如抗原、暴露途径、基因背景即反应修饰在发病中的作用,进一步的,通过基因缺失或插入或结合,我们有可能了解某种特定的细胞、受体、介质在发病过程中的机理,其结果可能应用到人类疾病上。     

Animal care courses: helping fulfill the mandate of animal care committees in Canada

Animal Care Committees (ACCs) at Canadian universities and research centers operate under the aegis of the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) and its guidelines for the humane care and treatment of animals in teaching, research, and testing. All Canadian universities have at least one active committee. The committees are expected to assume an educative role beyond the provision of information concerning housing, maintenance, and appropriate conditions for the treatment of animals in research. This includes critical examination of the serious ethical issues involved in animal research within the context of the principles and practices endorsed by the CCAC. One-day animal care courses provided by ACCs at three Canadian universities are described. Comparisons are made between the content and structure of curricula and the ways these relate to the teaching and research mandate in each institution, focusing particularly on the teaching of ethics in each course. The implications for heightening awareness of ethical issues in animal research and improving the effectiveness of these courses are discussed.     

家兔心跳骤停复苏模型的研究进展

心跳骤停是临床医学中最为危急的事件之一,其发生发展过程涉及了一系列的病理生理学改变。近几年来,有关于心跳骤停复苏的研究有很多,也取得了一定的进展,但关于其各种不同类型心跳骤停的病理生理学改变的理解仍不是十分的全面,其有效地治疗药物和治疗手段也仍需要进一步的研究。因此,成功地制备与人类心跳骤停相似的动物模型就显得非常必要来,这不仅是深入研究心跳骤停复苏病理生理学改变的重要基础和研究途径,也是研制其治疗药物及方法的有效手段。本文重点讨论家兔各种类型心跳骤停复苏模型不同的研究方法。     

实验动物福利与人的保护

实验动物学是一门研究实验动物和动物实验的综合性学科。是生命科学研究的基础和支撑条件。随着社会经济的长足发展和生命科学研究的突飞猛进,国际交流与合作的不断加强,实验动物福利倍受人们的关注。进入21世纪后国际上又对从事实验动物饲养管理和动物实验的工作人员的防护问题提出了新的要求,这就要我们必须考虑到人与实验动物如何和谐相处,促进科学发展。既要做到加强动物福利,又要注意人的保护,找到二者之间的平衡点,加快实验动物科学的发展。     

Application of Genomics Tools to Animal Breeding

The main goal in animal breeding is to select individuals that have high breeding values for traits of interest as parents to produce the next generation and to do so as quickly as possible. To date, most programs rely on statistical analysis of large data bases with phenotypes on breeding populations by linear mixed model methodology to estimate breeding values on selection candidates. However, there is a long history of research on the use of genetic markers to identify quantitative trait loci and their use in marker-assisted selection but with limited implementation in practical breeding programs. The advent of high-density SNP genotyping, combined with novel statistical methods for the use of this data to estimate breeding values, has resulted in the recent extensive application of genomic or whole-genome selection in dairy cattle and research to implement genomic selection in other livestock species is underway. The high-density SNP data also provides opportunities to detect QTL and to encover the genetic architecture of quantitative traits, in terms of the distribution of the size of genetic effects that contribute to trait differences in a population. Results show that this genetic architecture differs between traits but that for most traits, over 50% of the genetic variation resides in genomic regions with small effects that are of the order of magnitude that is expected under a highly polygenic model of inheritance.     

RNA干扰在动物研究中的应用

RNA干扰(RNAi)是指具有同源性的双链RNA分子导入细胞后,使促进与之同源的mRNA发生特异性降解的现象。随着对RNAi分子机制研究深入,它将成为研究动物基因功能、蛋白质功能、基因治疗、基因药物的强有力的工具。     

人乳腺癌干细胞异种移植动物模型的制备和应用

越来越多的证据显示乳腺癌干细胞是导致乳腺癌发生、发展、复发和转移的根源。因此,模拟出与人乳腺癌发病机制相似的动物模型将对乳腺癌的治疗起着至关重要的作用。本文旨在介绍乳腺癌干细胞异种移植动物模型的制备方法、应用以及近年来的研究进展。     

缺血性中风动物模型研究现状

利用实验动物或细胞模型完全模拟人类的中风十分困难,动物模型与临床的拟合具有重要意义。本文对目前缺血性中风动物模型研究中的实验动物选择、模型评价标准及造模方法 ,以及主要局灶缺血模型的优缺点进行述评,为缺血性中风的基础和应用研究选择合适的实验动物模型提供参考。     

AIDS猕猴模型在HIV疫苗研究中的应用

对HIV疫苗的研究一直是国际上艾滋病方面研究的热点和难点。动物模型则为疫苗研究必不可缺少的重要工具,缺乏合适的动物模型很大程度上制约了AIDS疫苗的研究。目前在国际上SIV或SHIV感染的猕猴模型为最常用的AIDS研究模型,受猕猴背景及病毒特性等多种因素的影响,使得以上两种模型在HIV疫苗研究中仍存在一定的局限性。为了更好地发挥猕猴模型在HIV疫苗研究中的巨大潜力,开发理想的AIDS猕猴模型已成为目前HIV疫苗研究的首要任务。本文简要介绍了AIDS疫苗的研发策略、研发概况以及SIV/SHIV猕猴模型在HIV疫苗中的应用,并对其中存在的问题及其应用前景进行了探讨。