By extrapolation from studies of physicians, knowledge and practice of laboratory animal medicine and science are expected to become progressively more outdated the longer practitioners are out of school. Keeping up with current literature and practice is a challenge that necessitates the use of many different sources of continuing education. Both veterinarians and physicians consistently list journals as the most beneficial source of new information. Accordingly, they must select from the veterinary and biomedical literature articles that report original studies and systematic reviews and recognize and respond to valid new knowledge to improve diagnostic and therapeutic approaches and maintain consistent clinical skills. Other objectives include selecting journals for general information and for information relevant or specific to one's field of research. Lastly, candidates for board certification need to read articles from journals that potentially provide the basis for questions on the examination. 'High-impact' journals should be identified, and articles should be reviewed critically. In a survey of recent candidates for laboratory animal medicine board examination, these journals included Contemporary Topics (now JAALAS), Comparative Medicine, ILAR Journal, and Laboratory Animals. Strategies for coping with the challenge of staying current with the literature include wise use of technology, journal clubs, and consultation with colleagues. A laboratory animal practitioner can become a better scientist and clinician by evaluating the research performed by others. Thorough, critical review of biomedical literature is paramount to these goals.

The turnover of veterinary technicians within an animal resources program averaged 33% annually over 18 y, peaking at 67% in 1998 to 1999. Insufficient retention of veterinary technicians led to diversion of veterinarian effort to technical tasks and to increased allocation of administrative resources for supervising and managing an expanding team of veterinary technicians. To identify factors and trends related to poor retention, address any causes, and reduce turnover, a retrospective analysis of employment records was done. The retention of veterinary technicians was significantly greater for the 9 technicians hired from veterinary private practice rather than for any of 3 other general sources: promotions from the animal care staff, transfers from other research institutions, and miscellaneous sources. Veterinary technician turnover was reduced from a mean of 60% over 1995 to 1999 to an average of 26% during 2000 to 2004. Higher retention was associated with management practices that included renewed concentration on recruiting and interviewing strategies and emphasis on training and career development including merit raises for technician certification through the American Association for Laboratory Animal Science. Higher retention yielded correspondingly greater experience on the job as the mean tenure increased from 1.1 y in 2000 to 2.8 y in 2004. The most valued attributes related to employment by veterinary technicians as determined by survey were to do meaningful work, earn a good living, and have a committed team of coworkers.

To understand and better manage attendance and overtime for a team of veterinary technicians, a retrospective analysis of the attendance and time card records was done over a 2-y period. The findings show that veterinary technicians were in the workplace for a combination of straight time and overtime hours for approximately 89% of all compensated hours. The remainder of paid compensation was for vacation (4%), holidays (4%), and sick leave (3%). This team of veterinary technicians earned significantly more overtime hours, as much as 9% of total annual compensated hours, than the reported 3% standard for animal resources programs nationwide. The majority of overtime hours (61%) were for assigned weekend and holiday duty and after-hours veterinary medical emergencies. Veterinary technicians expended sick leave at 75% of the amount accrued and at a statistically significantly rate 65% higher than the national average for unscheduled absences for hourly personnel in animal resources programs. Because the direct cost of absenteeism may exceed $645 per employee annually and because work inappropriately done at premium pay outside of business hours is a controllable expense, sound management of attendance and overtime is important in cost containment for animal resources programs.

We assessed space use by 2 pairs of captive female rhesus monkeys recently transferred into 2 enclosures moderately larger than their former traditional research cages and providing elevated perches at or above human eye level for all monkeys. This new space did not affect the ongoing biomedical research in which these captive monkeys were involved, and we sought to determine whether they used the elevated positions preferentially, as do wild animals. The frequency and duration of visits at each of the 9 distinct regions within these enclosures was calculated during 30-min morning and evening sessions over 20 d. We found that the monkeys frequented all regions of their enclosures in a similar manner during both morning and evening sessions. However, the duration spent at each region varied significantly between morning and evening sessions, with high perches being chosen preferentially in the evenings. Overall, the monkeys spent the majority of their time at elevated positions. These results support the view that access to functional vertical space provides a preferred environment for species-specific behavior and is an option that should be considered by other research facilities.

We examined the effects of outdoor housing on self-injurious and stereotypic behavior in adult male rhesus macaques with a history of self-wounding that were previously singly housed indoors for at least 4 y prior to the study. Baseline behavioral observations were collected over 2.5 mo. In phase 1, animals were relocated outdoors in 1 of 2 experimental conditions, group-housed (n = 8) or single-housed (n = 5), for 6 wk. In phase 2, group-housed animals were observed outdoors for an additional 6 wk. Behavioral observations were done using focal sampling techniques. In phase 1, rates of self-biting and self-directed stereotypies and time spent displaying idiosyncratic self-directed stereotypies decreased significantly when group- and single-housed animals were housed outdoors. Rates of yawning and scratching were significantly decreased for group- and single-housed animals and, for group-housed animals, self-grooming decreased with outdoor housing. In phase 2, rates of self-biting, time engaging in idiosyncratic self-directed stereotypies, and yawning remained significantly lower during weeks 7 through 12 (outdoor housing) compared with those under indoor housing. Rates of scratching and time spent self-grooming decreased significantly during the first 6 wk but then returned to baseline levels. Our findings suggest that self-biting and self-directed stereotypic behavior in rhesus macaques with a history of self-injurious behavior is significantly reduced by outdoor housing regardless of whether animals are socially or individually housed.

N-type Ca²⁺ channel α_1B-deficient mice have increased activity (ambulation, repetitive behavior, and rearing combined), suggesting contribution by the N-type Ca²⁺ channel, localized in the plasma membrane and essential for neurotransmitter release, on motor activity. We evaluated the effect of a 6-wk postweaning period of either individual or group housing on the activity displayed in a novel environment with or without previous habituation. Without habituation, male homozygous α_1B-deficient mice showed significantly higher activity than wild-type controls, with no influence of the housing condition. When habituated, hyperactivity was seen in individually housed but not group-housed homozygous α_1B-deficient mice. The results indicate that controlling for housing condition can be important when phenotypically analyzing mutant mice.

Previous studies have suggested that the addition of flavored acetaminophen suspension (for example, Children's Tylenol) in the drinking water of rats may not be effective in producing postoperative analgesia because of low levels of consumption. However, these investigations neither measured analgesia nor compared the consumption by rats that had undergone surgery with that by unmanipulated rats. The present study reports that although unmanipulated rats naive to the taste of flavored acetaminophen do indeed drink significantly less of this liquid than tap water, they drank sufficient amounts of the acetominophen-containing solution to significantly raise pain thresholds, as measured by the hot-plate test. Moreover, rats that had undergone surgery drank significantly more acetaminophen solution than did those that had no surgery. These data suggest that oral self-administration of flavored acetaminophen by rats may be an appropriate means to reduce pain.

Doxorubicin administered to rats induces a dose-dependent cardiomyopathy. Both doxorubicin administration and the presence of indwelling catheters have been associated with thrombus formation. We sought to determine feasibility of drug delivery and degree of thrombogenesis related to long-term indwelling catheter use in a cardiotoxicity model. Rats receiving doxorubicin or saline via jugular catheters coated with end-point immobilized heparin were compared to rats receiving similar treatments via direct jugular intravenous injection (venotomy). Onset of cardiotoxicity, defined by reduction in fractional shortening to 45% or less, was determined by echocardiography. Thrombogenesis was assessed by observation of atrial thrombi and pulmonary emboli as determined by post-mortem and histologic examination. Significantly more of the doxorubicin-treated and catheterized group (87.5%) developed cardiotoxicity relative to the doxorubicin-treated–venotomized group (28.6%), as indicated by an earlier and more precipitous decline in fractional shortening in the doxorubicin-treated–catheterized rats. Despite this change, rats from catheterized groups demonstrated improved weight maintenance relative to venotomy groups. Although the number of pulmonary emboli did not differ significantly between groups, 50% of the doxorubicin-treated–catheterized animals developed vegetative endocarditis. Despite alteration of the model-induced cardiac disease, we submit that the more reliable and early induction of the desired endpoint, in addition to improved weight maintenance, represent model refinements. The ease of drug delivery with minimal restraint and no anesthesia is an additional and important benefit. The development of vegetative endocarditis represents an opportunity to study the formation and prevention of this condition.

We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology to amplify the 16S rRNA gene, the intergenic spacer, and most of the 23S rRNA gene from 6 isolates (2 mice, 1 hamster, 1 rat, and 2 rabbit isolates) of the Tyzzer's disease agent (Clostridium piliforme) and C. colinum. Sequence similarity searches of GenBank identified 45 closely related bacteria, which we used for phylogenetic analysis by parsimony and maximum-likelihood methods using Escherichia coli to root the resulting phylogram. Microorganisms identified as C. piliforme form 3 clusters within a single clade; the nearest related distinguishable species is C. colinum. Other bacterial clades closely related to C. piliforme are clostridia previously identified by molecular methods in the bovine, porcine, and human gastrointestinal tracts. DNA sequence alignment highlighting sequence differences were used to design a rodent and rabbit C. piliforme-specific PCR assay, which targets a 639-basepair region at the 3′ end of the 16S rRNA gene and the 5′ end of the intergenic spacer. We used this PCR assay to examine 4 rat fecal samples from C. piliforme-seropositive rats and reexamine 2 rabbit fecal samples previously identified as containing DNA sequences consistent with C. piliforme infection by 16S PCR assay. Our new assay did not detect the presence of C. piliforme DNA sequences in either the rat or rabbit fecal DNA samples, consistent with the absence of clinical disease in the colonies evaluated.

Surgical ovariectomy is commonly performed to support studies involving the rhesus macaque (Macaca mulatta). Traditionally, these procedures have been performed via laparotomy. We developed a laparoscopic approach to reduce surgical pain, decrease convalescence times, and reduce the total number of animals necessary to obtain valuable scientific data in studies requiring repeated intra-abdominal access in conjunction with ovariectomy. We used our new technique to perform laparoscopic ovariectomy on 8 adult female rhesus macaques; 2 additional animals underwent ovariectomy via laparotomy; data for these prospective groups were compared with retrospective data from conventionally ovariectomized macaques. The surgical time (ST; mean = standard error) for the laparoscopic procedures was 68 ± 3 min, with a return-to-group time (RTG) of 8 ± 1 d. In comparison, ST for the retrospective group was 54 ± 3 min, with a mean RTG of 33 ± 5 d (range, 15 to 60 d). ST differed significantly between groups. ST for the laparoscopic procedure was longer (mean difference, 14 min; 95% confidence interval, 6 to 21 min), but laparotomized animals consistently had higher RTG (6 d for the prospective group [n = 2] and 25 d for the retrospective group [n = 9]). All study animals had estradiol levels of less than 5.6 pg/ml at 6 mo after surgery. We therefore conclude that laparoscopic ovariectomy of rhesus macaques is a safe and effective technique that may reduce postoperative recovery times.

Recent years have seen a worldwide resurgence in serious infections caused by group A streptococci. This group includes Streptococcus pyogenes, one of the most common pathogens among children which causes diverse suppurative infections, such as pharyngitis, as well as nonsuppurative infections with sequelae, such as rheumatoid fever and rheumatic heart disease. S. pyogenes produces several superantigen-like erythrogenic toxins, which are believed to be associated with pyrogenicity, erythromatous skin reactions, and various immunologic and cytotoxic effects. These toxins also can cause myocardial necrosis. In addition, recently reported streptococcal infections in obstetric human patients appear to be clinically different from classic puerperal sepsis. Here, we report a case of spontaneous streptococcal infection in a pregnant female rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). In addition to lesions consistent with bacteremia and toxic shock, this animal had severe cardiac lesions resembling those described in humans with rheumatic heart disease. S. pyogenes was isolated from intracardiac blood, liver, placenta, and fetal tissues. This isolate also had a unique M protein gene.