Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Amy L. Miller, Johnny V. Roughan
Summary: This study used welfare monitoring methods to determine the welfare of mice developing lung cancer and explored the impact of non-aversive handling on welfare and result consistency. The findings showed that lung cancer caused changes in behavior and reduced food consumption, indicating declining welfare. However, non-aversive handling did not have a significant effect on welfare or result consistency.
Article
Agriculture, Dairy & Animal Science
Anna S. Ratuski, Daniel M. Weary
Summary: Environmental enrichment has been extensively studied in laboratory rodents, but there is no consensus on its definition and goals. Inconsistent use of the term creates challenges in assessing the quality of the environment, which can hinder improvements for laboratory animals. A metareview of 29 articles on environmental enrichment for rodents was conducted to understand its definitions, goals, risks, and requirements. The majority of articles conceptualize enrichment as a means to enhance natural behavior and improve animal welfare, while also addressing perceived risks and requirements. It is suggested to use more specific and value-neutral terminology to enhance clarity in future research.
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Lena Bohn, Louisa Bierbaum, Niklas Kaestner, Vanessa Tabea von Kortzfleisch, Sylvia Kaiser, Norbert Sachser, S. Helene Richter
Summary: This study investigated the effect of novelty when applying structural enrichment to laboratory mice. The results showed that mice with access to structurally enriched environments spent more time in the enriched cages and entered them faster than mice without any structural enrichment. There was only one significant difference between novelty and complexity conditions, with novelty mice spending more time in their extra cages during week 3. Further research is needed to explore the potential benefits of novelty beyond complexity.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Veterinary Sciences
Katharina Aulehner, Cathalijn Leenaars, Verena Buchecker, Helen Stirling, Katharina Schoenhoff, Hannah King, Christine Haeger, Ines Koska, Paulin Jirkof, Andre Bleich, Marion Bankstahl, Heidrun Potschka
Summary: This study systematically analyzes the current evidence base of behavioral parameters such as grimace scale, burrowing, and nest building for assessing post-surgical pain in mice and rats. The findings suggest that grimace scale is the most commonly used parameter for evaluating post-surgical pain in rodents. However, there are still gaps in knowledge regarding the application of these parameters in different strains, age levels, and surgical procedures.
FRONTIERS IN VETERINARY SCIENCE
(2022)
Review
Neurosciences
Hannah King, Maria Reiber, Vanessa Philippi, Helen Stirling, Katharina Aulehner, Marion Bankstahl, Andre Bleich, Verena Buchecker, Aylina Glasenapp, Paulin Jirkof, Nina Miljanovic, Katharina Schoenhoff, Lara von Schumann, Cathalijn Leenaars, Heidrun Potschka
Summary: This review examined 2235 studies published between 2009 and 2019 on the management of craniotomy-associated pain in laboratory mice and rats. The results showed a lack of adequate analgesia and a low reporting rate of pharmacologic pain management, with monotherapeutic approaches being more common. These findings highlight the need for enhanced training for individuals working with animal models of experimental intracranial surgery.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Review
Biology
Susan D. D. Healy, Maria Cristina Tello-Ramos, Marie Hebert
Summary: Successful reproduction in birds relies on 'good' nest building. The diversity of nests among the 10,000 bird species suggests that nest design depends on microhabitat, life history, and behavior. Understanding the driving factors behind nest diversity is a research priority, aided by museum collections and field and laboratory data. Phylogenetic analyses and datasets of nest traits are shedding light on nest evolution, but there are still unanswered functional questions. The next major challenge is to analyze the developmental and mechanistic aspects of nest building itself, rather than just nest morphology.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Maria Reiber, Ines Koska, Claudia Pace, Katharina Schonhoff, Lara von Schumann, Rupert Palme, Heidrun Potschka
Summary: Evidence suggests that behavioral patterns in mice only stabilize once they reach adulthood. This study investigated the course of behavioral patterns in different age groups, particularly during adolescence, and found age- and sex-specific differences in certain behaviors. The study also identified age-related changes, such as a decline in saccharin preference in female mice. The data sets provide guidance for future behavioral studies and the development of severity assessment measures in young mice.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Odoardo Picciolini, Maria Lorella Gianni, Laura Messina, Nicola Pesenti, Monica Fumagalli, Laura Gardon, Chiara Squarza, Fabio Mosca, Camilla Fontana, Matteo Porro
Summary: Infants born preterm have a high risk of neurodevelopmental delay. The Neurofunctional Assessment (NFA) can evaluate their neurodevelopment. This study examined the association between each NFA domain assessed at 3 months of corrected age (CA) and neurodevelopment at 2 years of CA using the Griffiths Mental Developmental Scales Extended Revised (GMDS-ER). The study also introduced the NFA complexity score (CS) to help identify infants at higher risk of later neurodevelopmental delay.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Mark C. Mainwaring, Jeno Nagy, Mark E. Hauber
Summary: The study reveals that species in which females build nests alone have shorter breeding seasons and breed at higher latitudes, contrary to predictions. Furthermore, species in which females lay larger clutch sizes and incubate eggs alone are more likely to have nests built by females alone, opposing the idea that reproductive contributions are not traded-off between sexes. However, sex-specific nest building contributions were predictably related to nest site and structure, indicating that species in which females build nests alone were more likely to have open cup nests compared to species where both parents build.
BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ornithology
Abraao B. Leite, Agustin Camacho, Mercival R. Francisco
Summary: This study reveals that nest attachment mode is associated with variation in relative brain size of passerine birds, while nest type has no impact. Nest attachment mode is closely related to habitat, migration, and phylogeny. Top suspended nests are associated with species close to maximum relative brain size, while Rim suspended nests are linked to brain size radiations and exploration of new ecological niches.
Article
Instruments & Instrumentation
Weizhi Xu, Faheem Maqbool, Vinod Kumar, James R. Falconer, Cedric S. Cui, Trent M. Woodruff, Karin Borges, Andrew K. Whittaker, Maree T. Smith, Felicity Y. Han
Summary: A sustained-release formulation of ketamine, known as KSL, was developed with high loading and demonstrated prolonged release in mice after intravenous administration. The formulation showed high encapsulation efficiency and drug loading, achieving 100% release in vitro within 8 hours.
DRUG DELIVERY AND TRANSLATIONAL RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Tayyab Ahmad
Summary: Green Building (GB) projects aim to address socio-environmental issues in building construction and operation. This study identifies and explores success factors for GB projects through interviews with 75 experts across six regions. A network of 73 success factors and 82 sub-factors is developed, highlighting the significance of factors such as team collaboration, client proficiency, and early engagement. The robustness analysis emphasizes the need to consider success factors collectively.
JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING
(2023)
Article
Geography, Physical
Yuan Hu, Zhibin Wang, Zhou Huang, Yu Liu
Summary: PolyBuilding is a polygon Transformer that can directly predict the vector representation of buildings from remote sensing images. It utilizes an encoder-decoder transformer architecture to simultaneously predict the bounding boxes and polygons for building instances. By learning the relations among polygon queries and encoding context information from the image, the model can predict a final set of building polygons with a fixed vertex number.
ISPRS JOURNAL OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY AND REMOTE SENSING
(2023)
Article
Construction & Building Technology
Raquel Matos, Fernanda Rodrigues, Hugo Rodrigues, Anibal Costa
Summary: Assessing building performance and prioritizing maintenance using BIM can help extend materials' service life and contribute to a sustainable built environment.
JOURNAL OF BUILDING ENGINEERING
(2021)
Article
Computer Science, Information Systems
Sifei Han, Lingyun Shi, Russell Richie, Fuchiang R. Rich Tsui
Summary: Automatically measuring document similarity is crucial in natural language processing. The article introduces a method called Siamese Attention-augmented Recurrent Convolutional Neural Network (S-ARCNN) that combines multiple neural network architectures. The evaluation using the Quora Question Pairs dataset demonstrates the potential advantage of S-ARCNN in processing longer documents.
INFORMATION SCIENCES
(2022)
Editorial Material
Veterinary Sciences
Beat M. Riederer, Paulin Jirkof
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2021)
News Item
Veterinary Sciences
Paulin Jirkof, Jose Sanchez-Morgado, Jordi L. Tremoleda
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2021)
Editorial Material
Veterinary Sciences
Paulin Jirkof, Annemarie Lang, J-P Mocho, Jose Sanchez-Morgado, Jordi L. Tremoleda
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2021)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Viktoria Schreiner, Pascal Detampel, Paulin Jirkof, Maxim Puchkov, Jorg Huwyler
Summary: The study utilized a PLGA-based buprenorphine depot formulation, showing stability and feasibility but requiring aseptic manufacturing protocols. The findings indicate that this novel drug depot formulation has promising potential for industrial production and commercialization.
JOURNAL OF DRUG DELIVERY SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Mattea S. Durst, Margarete Arras, Rupert Palme, Steven R. Talbot, Paulin Jirkof
Summary: In this study, the combination of local anesthesia and systemic analgesia in mice did not show significant advantages in terms of post-surgical pain and recovery compared to animals treated with either local anesthesia or Paracetamol alone.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2021)
Review
Endocrinology & Metabolism
Angelique Wolter, Anna E. Rapp, Mattea S. Durst, Laura Hildebrand, Max Loehning, Frank Buttgereit, Katharina Schmidt-Bleek, Paulin Jirkof, Annemarie Lang
Summary: Accurate reporting is essential in animal experiments to ensure reliability and reproducibility of data, with initiatives like the ARRIVE guidelines providing a roadmap for sufficient reporting. Small rodents, particularly mice, are commonly used in bone healing research, with various factors influencing outcomes. Systematic analysis showed high reporting accuracy for certain experimental details but insufficient reporting for others, highlighting the importance of consistent and reliable reporting for scientific quality and animal welfare in mouse fracture surgeries.
Editorial Material
Veterinary Sciences
Annemarie Lang, Paulin Jirkof, J-P Mocho, Jose Sanchez-Morgado, Jordi L. Tremoleda
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2022)
Editorial Material
Veterinary Sciences
P. Jirkof, A. Lang, J. P. Mocho, J. Sanchez-Morgado, J. L. Tremoleda
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2021)
Review
Psychology, Biological
Alexandra Gkrouzoudi, Anastasia Tsingotjidou, Paulin Jirkof
Summary: Telemetric monitoring is widely used in various scientific fields, but concerns have been raised about the low to moderate quality of reporting in studies involving implanted ECG telemetry devices in mice. Although specific telemetry study characteristics were reported well, there has been little improvement in overall reporting quality since the publication of the ARRIVE guidelines in 2010.
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Orthopedics
Michel Paul Johan Teuben, Sascha Halvachizadeh, Yannik Kalbas, Zhi Qiao, Nikola Cesarovic, Miriam Weisskopf, Henrik Teuber, Miriam Kalbitz, Paolo Cinelli, Roman Pfeifer, Hans-Christoph Pape
Summary: This study investigated the effect of different reaming protocols on the immune characteristics of fracture hematoma in pigs. The results showed that the use of Reamer Irrigator Aspirator device (RIA) resulted in lower apoptosis rates of immune cells in the hematoma and lower expression of neutrophil receptors. Moreover, RIA induced transient local hypothermia, which was negatively correlated with apoptosis of hematoma immune cells and neutrophil activation.
JOURNAL OF ORTHOPAEDIC RESEARCH
(2022)
Review
Veterinary Sciences
Alexandra Gkrouzoudi, Anastasia Tsingotjidou, Paulin Jirkof
Summary: Telemetric monitoring is widely used in scientific fields, but concerns about the reporting quality and adoption of surgical refinement measures in animal research persist.
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2023)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Marianne Spalinger, Marlene Schwarzfischer, Anna Niechcial, Kirstin Atrott, Andrea Laimbacher, Paulin Jirkof, Michael Scharl
Summary: The use of analgesics in DSS-induced colitis models is currently discouraged due to potential interactions. However, this study found that tramadol and paracetamol can be viable options without interfering with colitis severity. Tramadol had minor effects on colitis, while paracetamol improved overall appearance. Metamizole, on the other hand, significantly reduced water uptake and caused weight loss.
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2023)
Letter
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Nikola Cesarovic, Miriam Weisskopf, Thorald Stolte, Nina Trimmel, Melanie M. Hierweger, Tobias Hoh, Jasper Iske, Conny Waschkies, Jia Lu Chen, Eva van Gelder, Andrea Leuthardt, Lukas Glaus, Yannick Rosch, Christian T. Stoeck, Petra Wolint, Dominik Obrist, Sebastian Kozerke, Volkmar Falk, Maximilian Y. Emmert
CIRCULATION RESEARCH
(2023)
Article
Veterinary Sciences
Angelique Wolter, Paulin Jirkof, Christa Thoene-Reineke, Anna E. Rapp, Annemarie Lang
Summary: Assessment of rearing behavior as an indicator for pain in mouse fracture models showed that rearing duration significantly decreased after osteotomy in male and female mice, but was not affected by anesthesia/analgesia alone. However, our study did not provide sufficient evidence to support altered rearing behavior as an indicative sign for pain in this model.
LABORATORY ANIMALS
(2023)
Review
Medicine, Research & Experimental
Stevie van der Mierden, Cathalijn H. C. Leenaars, Erin C. Boyle, Florenza L. Ripoli, Peter Gass, Mattea Durst, Vivian C. Goerlich-Jansson, Paulin Jirkof, Lydia M. Keubler, Steven R. Talbot, Anne Habedank, Lars Lewejohann, Rene H. Tolba, Andre Bleich
Summary: Evaluating stress in laboratory animals is crucial for animal welfare, with measuring corticosterone being a common method. A mapping review and database were presented to provide a complete overview of studies measuring endogenous corticosterone in mice, with findings showing significant effects of sex, time, and control type on basal corticosterone concentrations.
ALTEX-ALTERNATIVES TO ANIMAL EXPERIMENTATION
(2021)