April 26th, 2012 by Mary Wood
National Institutes of Health….Office of Extramural Research….Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
Recordings of OLAW webinars and supporting materials are posted on the Education Resources webpage. Here you will find two new webinars.
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On April 19, OLAW presented “Performance Standards” as part of the Online Seminars series for IACUCs and IOs. View this webinar to learn about developing and applying performance standards as recommended in the 8th Edition of the Guide, including considerations for social housing and enrichment, plus cage/pen space.
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On April 18, OLAW presented “Research Involving Animals” at the NIH Regional Seminar on Program Funding and Grants Administration. This webinar provides guidance to grants administrators, researchers new to NIH funding, and graduate students on policies related to research activities involving animals.
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Performance Standards – April 19, 2012
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Research Involving Animals – NIH Regional Meeting: Program Funding & Grant Administration – April 18, 2012
- Overview: Provides guidance to grants administrators, researchers new to NIH funding, and graduate students on policies related to research activities involving animals.
- Speakers: Eileen Morgan, Division of Assurances and
Axel Wolff, MS, DVM, Division of Compliance Oversight, OLAW, NIH
- View “Research Involving Animals” (Windows Media Player – 1 hr 18 minutes)
- Supporting materials:
Tags: Animal Welfare, NIH, research
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February 15th, 2012 by Mary Wood
NIH Office of Extramural Research (OER)
…Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare (OLAW)
……New VAS Factsheet to Assist Applicants
Preparing the Vertebrate Animal Section (VAS) -
a new factsheet developed by OLAW to assist applicants in completing the VAS of grant applications, contract proposals and cooperative agreements for submission to the NIH.
Provides an overview of the requirements for each of the 5 points of the VAS.
The VAS factsheet can be found on the OLAW homepage under Fast Facts or downloaded (PDF).
Additional information can be found in the VAS worksheets for Grant Applications and Contract Proposals (PDF).
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Tags: Animal Welfare, NIH
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December 16th, 2011 by Mary Wood
Nesdill D, Adams KM.
J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah, SAlt Lake City, UT 84115-0860, USA. daureen.nesdill@utah.edu
Abstract
Under the US Animal Welfare Act, principal investigators who propose to use animals in their research must demonstrate that they have considered alternatives to potentially painful or distressful procedures when submitting applications to Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees (IACUCs). IACUCs requires that applicants conduct a current literature search to determine if alternatives are available to substitute the proposed animal use and, if the proposed study involves pain or distress, that more humane procedures, as they are described in the literature, be considered. This paper suggests literature search strategies that can be considered for use in order to comply with this IACUC requirement. PMID: 22023923
- Simple and useful table excerpted from paper follows, edited to include links.
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- DATABASE subject publisher
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| Agricola |
Agriculture, aquaculture, veterinary medicine |
US National Agricultural Library |
| Biosis |
Biological sciences |
Thomson Reuters |
| CAB |
Agriculture, aquaculture, veterinary medicine |
CABI |
| Inspec |
Bioengineering |
Inst Engineering and Technology |
| Medline / PubMed |
Health, medicine, pharmacy |
US National Library of Medicine |
| Zoological Record |
Zoology |
Thomson Reuters |
| . |
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| .
WEBSITES |
organization |
description |
| Altbib |
US National Library Medicine |
Resources for alternatives to toxicity testing |
| Altweb |
Johns Hopkins University |
Guide to conducting a literature search for the 3Rs |
| Animal Welfare Information Center |
USDA National Agricultural Library |
Resources about alternatives and humane animal care in research, teaching, testing, and exhibition |
| Blood Sampling Microsite |
NC3Rs |
Information on different blood sampling techniques for many common lab animal species |
| EURCA |
European Resources Centre for Alternatives in Higher Education |
Database searchable by category, supplier, or type; review of alternatives by others who have used them |
| Go3R |
Transinsight & BfR |
A beta site for specialized searches into the 3Rs |
| ICCVAM |
NTP NICEATM |
Summaries of alternative test method evaluation projects |
| NORINA |
Norecopa |
Database indexing alternatives and supplements to the use of animals in teaching and training |
Tags: Animal Welfare, databases, NIH
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December 7th, 2011 by Mary Wood
and OLAW Updates/Issues 29 New FAQs
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NIH Guide Notices
Notice Number: NOT-OD-12-020
Adoption and Implementation of the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals, 8th edition
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OLAW
updated FAQs
related to Applicability of PHS Policy, IACUC Composition, Functions and Authority, Protocol Review, Program Review and Inspection of Facilities, Animal Use and Management, and Institutional Responsibilities.
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Announcement in the Federal Register
“Effective January 1, 2012, institutions that receive Public Health Service (PHS) support for animal activities must base their animal care and use programs on the 8th Edition of the Guide and must complete at least one semi-annual program review and facilities inspection using the 8th Edition of the Guide as the basis for evaluation by December 31, 2012. “
Tags: Animal Welfare, NIH, research
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October 7th, 2011 by Mary Wood
Guidance for the Description of Animal Research in Scientific Publications (2011)
OLAW News Flash
Posted: September 28, 2011
NIH Office of Extramural Research, Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
Guidance for the Description of Animal Research in Scientific Publications
Authors: Institute for Laboratory Animal Research ILAR ; National Research Council NRC
The publication of research articles involving animal studies is central to many disciplines in science and biomedicine. Guidance for the Description of Animal Research in Scientific Publications outlines the information that should be included in scientific papers regarding the animal studies to ensure that the study can be replicated. The report urges journal editors to actively promote effective and ethical research by encouraging the provision of sufficient information.
National Academies News
Download the PDF Summary
Tags: Animal Welfare, NIH, research
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February 25th, 2011 by Mary Wood
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.Beginning September 2011, AAALAC (Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care) will use the following three primary standards to evaluate animal care and use programs. “… their adoption by AAALAC’s Board of Trustees as primary standards signifies the importance of these performance based guidelines in the accreditation process.”
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Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals (Guide 8th ed.), NRC 2011
Guide for the Care and Use of Agricultural Animals in Research and Teaching (Ag Guide), FASS 2010
Council of Europe ETS 123 (Appendix A, Appendix B)
Additional information about the changes to the program description, the proposed position statements, and related education and training may be found at the AAALAC site.
UC Davis is AAALAC accredited.
Tags: Animal Welfare, research
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January 20th, 2011 by Bruce Abbott
Listed authors include: Sandra Newbury, DVM (editor and chair) and Kate Hurley, DVM, both of the The Koret Shelter Medicine Program at the University of California, Davis Center for Companion Animal Health (CCAH).
From the press release from the Association:
The Association of Shelter Veterinarians (ASV) has just released “Guidelines for Standards of Care in Animal Shelters”, the first comprehensive report of its kind. The Guidelines are the outcome of two years of work including an exhaustive review of scientific literature by a task force of 14 shelter veterinarians. The authors hope that shelters and communities will look to this document to ensure that all animals in shelters everywhere are properly and humanely cared for. The Guidelines are intended as a positive tool for shelters and communities to review animal care, identify areas that need improvement, allocate resources and implement solutions so welfare is optimized, euthanasia is minimized, and suffering is prevented.
The foundation for the Guidelines is the “Five Freedoms”, developed in 1965 in the United Kingdom as a result of a report by the Brambell commission (which later became the Farm Animal Welfare Council) to address welfare concerns in agricultural settings. The Five Freedoms are now recognized to have much broader application across species. The Five Freedoms are:
• Freedom from Hunger and Thirst – by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor.
• Freedom from Discomfort – by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area.
• Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease – by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment.
• Freedom to Express Normal Behavior– by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind.
• Freedom from Fear and Distress – by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.
Tags: Animal Welfare, Veterinary Medicine
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January 11th, 2011 by Mary Wood
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Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition
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While the prepublication copy has been available to read online since June 2010 (previous blog post), the final version of the Guide is now available from the National Academies Press -
The Institute for Laboratory Animal Research of the National Academy of Sciences has published the Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals: Eighth Edition (Guide). To browse online or purchase the Guide, see the National Academies Press site. A PDF version of the Guide is available free for download on the OLAW website.
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OLAW (NIH) offers no additional guidance since the June 4 Notice:
Until the 8th Edition of the Guide is published in its final form, the 1996 Edition will remain the official Guide for the purposes of implementation of the PHS Policy. OLAW will issue guidance on implementation of the 8th Edition of the Guide after it is published.
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AAALAC Guide Transition:
Position Statements
During the Fall 2011 trimester, AAALAC International will begin to use three primary standards to evaluate animal care and use programs: the ILAR Guide, the FASS Ag Guide, and the ETS 123. (This is a change from simply recognizing the ILAR Guide as the sole primary standard.)
Until that time, the 1996 version of the Guide will continue to be the main standard used by AAALAC to evaluate animal care and use programs.
Tags: Animal Welfare, NIH, research, Veterinary Medicine
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December 16th, 2010 by Mary Wood
Housing and care of aquatic species
: Zebrafish (Danio rerio)
Over the past two decades the use of zebrafish in research has been increasing. Zebrafish now rank as one of the major species used.
For example: Feng Y et al 2010 Live Imaging of Innate Immune Cell Sensing of Transformed Cells in Zebrafish Larvae: Parallels between Tumor Initiation and Wound Inflammation. PLoS Biol 8(12): e1000562. doi:10.1371/journal.pbio.1000562
However, specific husbandry requirements for zebrafish are still far from fully understood and protocols for feeding, grouping and breeding these animals, plus environmental factors such as water parameters and provision of environmental enrichment, can vary from laboratory to laboratory.
Investigation into the natural ecology of the zebrafish and its environmental preferences, and systematic efforts to establish optimal standards relating to the housing and care of zebrafish are only recently beginning. There is a clear desire for a fuller understanding of the behaviours and requirements of these animals and a need to better define the factors that may affect their welfare.
With this in mind, a resource published in November by the RSPCA Research Animals Department aims to:
- facilitate understanding of zebrafish behaviour and their requirements;
- highlight welfare considerations relating to breeding, supply, housing and care;
- identify, where possible, consensus for appropriate environmental and care conditions;
- provide recommendations for improving health, welfare and egg quality, and for reducing the potential for stress and suffering;
- stimulate discussion and research to identify ‘good practice’ in areas where current knowledge is sparse or inconclusive.
Additional RSPCA Resarch Animals Department Reports and Resources available online.
Similar guidelines and resources are available from NORECOPA
Related project: Harmonisation of the Care and Use of Fish in Research Gardermoen, Norway, September 2009
Tags: Animal Welfare, research, Veterinary Medicine
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October 18th, 2010 by Mary Wood
In their most recent NC3Rs News, the UK’s National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research announced a working group report in the Journal of Neuroscience Methods in press
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..Refining food and fluid control with macaques:
…Guidance published in Journal of Neuroscience Methods
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…The citation and abstract for the report appears as follows in PubMed:
…J Neurosci Methods. 2010 Sep 22. [Epub ahead of print]
…Refinement of the use of food and fluid control as motivational tools for macaques used in behavioural neuroscience research: Report of a Working Group of the NC3Rs.
Prescott MJ, Brown VJ, Flecknell PA, Gaffan D, Garrod K, Lemon RN, Parker AJ, Ryder K, Schultz W, Scott L, Watson J, Whitfield L.
National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), 20 Park Crescent, London W1B 1AL, UK.
This report provides practical guidance on refinement of the use of food and fluid control as motivational tools for macaques used in behavioural neuroscience research. The guidance is based on consideration of the scientific literature and, where data are lacking, expert opinion and professional experience, including that of the members of a Working Group convened by the United Kingdom National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs). The report should be useful to researchers, veterinarians and animal care staff responsible for the welfare of macaques used in food and fluid control protocols, as well as those involved with designing, performing and analysing studies that use these protocols. It should also assist regulatory authorities and members of local ethical review processes or institutional animal care and use committees concerned with evaluating such protocols. The report provides a framework for refinement that can be tailored to meet local requirements. It also identifies data gaps and areas for future research and sets out the Working Group’s recommendations on contemporary best practice. PMID: 20868708
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ScienceDirect Link to Full-Text
The 174 References represent an excellent bibliography of authoritative scientific literature on an elusive topic. Each entry is linked to the record in Scopus ScienceDirect, when possible.
Tags: Animal Welfare, research
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