A Good Death? Report of the Second Newcastle Meeting on Laboratory Animal Euthanasia.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Hawkins P
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5035945 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:The study of bacteriophages (viruses of bacteria) includes a variety of approaches, such as structural biology, genetics, ecology, and evolution, with increasingly important implications for therapeutic and industrial uses. Researchers working with phages in France have recently established a network to facilitate the exchange on complementary approaches, but also to engage new collaborations. Here, we provide a summary of the topics presented during the second meeting of the French Phage Network that took place in Marseille in November 2016.
| S-EPMC5408693 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Evidence indicates that carbon dioxide (CO2) induces negative affective states (including anxiety, fear and distress) in laboratory rodents, but many countries still accept it for euthanasia. Alternative methods (e.g. inhalant anaesthetic) may represent a refinement over CO2 but are not widely adopted. We conducted an online survey of Canadian and European laboratory animal professionals and researchers (n = 592) to assess their attitudes towards the use of CO2 and alternative methods for rodent euthanasia using quantitative 7-point scale (from 1 (= strongly oppose) to 7 (= strongly favour) and qualitative (open-ended text) responses. CO2 was identified as the most common method used to kill rodents, and attitudes towards this method were variable and on average ambivalent (mean ± SD score on our 7-point scale was 4.4 ± 1.46). Qualitative analysis revealed four themes relating to participant attitude: (a) the animal's experience during gas exposure; (b) practical considerations for humans; (c) compromise between the animal's experience and practical considerations; and (d) technical description of the procedure or policies. Many participants (51%) felt that there were alternatives available that could be considered an improvement over CO2, but perceived barriers to implementing these refinements. Qualitative analysis of these responses revealed five themes: (a) financial constraints; (b) institutional culture; (c) regulatory constraints; (d) research constraints; and (e) safety concerns. In conclusion, concerns regarding the use of CO2 often focused on the animal's experience, but barriers to alternatives related to operational limitations. New research is now required on to how best to overcome these barriers.
| S-EPMC8669199 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The Asian Prostate Cancer (A-CaP) Study is an Asia-wide initiative that has been developed over the course of 2 years. The study was launched in December 2015 in Tokyo, Japan, and the participating countries and regions engaged in preparations for the study during the course of 2016, including patient registration and creation of databases for the purpose of the study. The Second A-CaP Meeting was held on September 8, 2016 in Seoul, Korea, with the participation of members and collaborators from 12 countries and regions. Under the study, each participating country or region will begin registration of newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients and conduct prognostic investigations. From the data gathered, common research themes will be identified, such as comparisons among Asian countries of background factors in newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients. This is the first Asia-wide study of prostate cancer and has developed from single country research efforts in this field, including in Japan and Korea. At the Second Meeting, participating countries and regions discussed the status of preparations and discussed various issues that are being faced. These issues include technical challenges in creating databases, promoting participation in each country or region, clarifying issues relating to data input, addressing institutional issues such as institutional review board requirements, and the need for dedicated data managers. The meeting was positioned as an opportunity to share information and address outstanding issues prior to the initiation of the study. In addition to A-CaP-specific discussions, a series of special lectures was also delivered as a means of providing international perspectives on the latest developments in prostate cancer and the use of databases and registration studies around the world.
| S-EPMC5551923 | biostudies-other
Project description:The phrase "essentially contested concept" (ECC) entered the academic literature in 1956 in an attempt to better characterize certain contentious concepts of political theory. Commonly identified examples of contested concepts are morality, religion, democracy, science, nature, philosophy, and certain types of creative products such as the novel and art. The structure proposed to identify an ECC has proven useful in a wide variety of deliberative discourse in the social, political, and religious arenas where seemingly intractable but productive debates are found. Where a strongly held moral position is contradicted by law, a portion of the citizenry see the law as illegitimate and do not feel compelled to respect it. This paper will attempt to apply the analytic structure of ECC to the concept of animal wellbeing at the time of slaughter specifically a "good death." The results of this analysis supports an understanding that the current slaughter debate is a disagreement in moral belief and normative moral theory. The parties to the dispute have differing visions of the "good." The method of slaughter is not an essentially contested concept where further discourse is likely to result in a negotiated resolution. The position statements of veterinary organizations are used as an example of current discourse.
| S-EPMC5742793 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The fundamental goal of the growing open science movement is to increase the efficiency of the global scientific community and accelerate progress and discoveries for the common good. Central to this principle is the rapid disclosure of research outputs in open-access peer-reviewed journals and on pre-print servers. The next bold step in this direction is open laboratory notebooks, where research scientists share their research - including detailed protocols, negative and positive results - online and in near-real-time to synergize with their peers. Here, we highlight the benefits of open lab notebooks to science, society and scientists, and discuss the challenges that this nascent movement is facing. We also present the implementation and progress of our own initiative at openlabnotebooks.org, with more than 20 active contributors after one year of operation.
| S-EPMC6694453 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The Division of Cancer Prevention of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and the Office of Disease Prevention of the National Institutes of Health co-sponsored the Translational Advances in Cancer Prevention Agent Development Meeting on August 27 to 28, 2020. The goals of this meeting were to foster the exchange of ideas and stimulate new collaborative interactions among leading cancer prevention researchers from basic and clinical research; highlight new and emerging trends in immunoprevention and chemoprevention as well as new information from clinical trials; and provide information to the extramural research community on the significant resources available from the NCI to promote prevention agent development and rapid translation to clinical trials. The meeting included two plenary talks and five sessions covering the range from pre-clinical studies with chemo/immunopreventive agents to ongoing cancer prevention clinical trials. In addition, two NCI informational sessions describing contract resources for the preclinical agent development and cooperative grants for the Cancer Prevention Clinical Trials Network were also presented.
| S-EPMC8020174 | biostudies-literature
Project description:In the European Union (EU) millions of laboratory mice are used and killed for experimental and other scientific purposes each year. Although controversially discussed, the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) is still permitted for killing rodents according to the Directive 2010/63/EU. Within the scope of refinement, our aim was to investigate if isoflurane and sevoflurane are an appropriate alternative killing method to CO2 in mice. Different concentrations of CO2 (filling rates of 20%, 60%, 100%; CO2 20, 60, 100), isoflurane (Iso 2%, 5%) and sevoflurane (Sevo 4.8%, 8%) were compared in two mouse strains (NMRI, C57Bl/6J) using a broad spectrum of behavioral parameters, including the approach-avoidance test, and analyzing blood for stress parameters (glucose, adrenaline, noradrenaline). We focused in our study on the period from the beginning of the gas inlet to loss of consciousness, as during this period animals are able to perceive pain and distress. Our results show that only higher concentrations of CO2 (CO2 60, 100) and isoflurane (5%) induced surgical tolerance within 300 s in both strains, with CO2 100 being the fastest acting inhalant anesthetic. The potency of halogenated ethers depended on the mouse strain, with C57Bl/6J being more susceptible than NMRI mice. Behavioral analysis revealed no specific signs of distress, e. g. stress-induced grooming, and pain, i. e. audible vocalizations, for all inhalant gases. However, adrenaline and noradrenaline plasma concentrations were increased, especially in NMRI mice exposed to CO2 in high concentrations, whereas we did not observe such increase in animals exposed to isoflurane or sevoflurane. Escape latencies in the approach-avoidance test using C57Bl/6J mice did not differ between the three inhalant gases, however, some animals became recumbent during isoflurane and sevoflurane but not during CO2 exposure. The rise in catecholamine concentrations suggests that CO2 exposure might be linked to a higher stress response compared to isoflurane and sevoflurane exposure, although we did not observe a behavioral correlate for that. Follow-up studies investigating other fast-acting stress hormones and central anxiety circuits are needed to confirm our findings.
| S-EPMC6130864 | biostudies-literature
Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC5359324 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Background: There has been increased concern about the suitability of CO2 as a method for euthanasia of laboratory mice and rats, including the potential discomfort, pain or distress that animals may experience prior to loss of consciousness; time to loss of consciousness; best methods for use of CO2; and the availability of better alternatives. These discussions have been useful in providing new information, but have resulted in significant confusion regarding the acceptability of CO2 for rodent euthanasia. In some cases, researchers and veterinarians have become uncertain as to which techniques to recommend or use for euthanasia of laboratory mice and rats. Methods: The International Association of Colleges of Laboratory Animal Medicine (IACLAM) convened a taskforce to examine the evidence for adverse welfare indicators in laboratory rats and mice undergoing CO2 euthanasia using a SYRCLE-registered systematic review protocol. Of 3,772 papers identified through a database search (PubMed, Web of Science, CAB Direct, Agricola, and grey literature) from 1900 to 2017, 37 studies were identified for detailed review (some including more than one species or age group), including 15 in adult mice, 21 in adult rats, and 5 in neonates of both species. Experiments or reports were excluded if they only assessed parameters other than those directly affecting animal welfare during CO2 induction and/or euthanasia. Results: Study design and outcome measures were highly variable and there was an unclear to high risk of bias in many of the published studies. Changes in the outcome measures evaluated were inconsistent or poorly differentiated. It is likely that repeated exposures to carbon dioxide inhalation are aversive to adult rats and mice, based on avoidance behavior studies; however, this effect is largely indistinguishable from aversion induced by repeated exposures to other inhalant anesthetic gasses. Conclusion: There is insufficient evidence to permit an unbiased assessment of the effect of CO2 inhalation during euthanasia on welfare indicators in laboratory mice and rats. Additional well-designed, unbiased, and adequately powered studies are needed to accurately assess the welfare of laboratory mice and rats undergoing euthanasia via CO2 gas.
| S-EPMC7387666 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Gliomatosis cerebri (GC) is an aggressive glioma characterized by an invasive growth pattern and a dismal prognosis. The low incidence and non-specific symptoms at presentation pose unique challenges for early diagnosis and disease-specific research. There is no standard of care for the treatment of patients with a GC phenotype. Understanding the biology of this entity is a critical step in determining effective treatments. Toward this end, the Second International GC Group convened at National Institutes of Health, Bethesda on June 22nd-23rd 2017. This paper summarizes the main conclusions and recommendations for research priorities to fight this fatal condition.
| S-EPMC6301002 | biostudies-literature