ATW August 2022 : simplebooklet.com

POSTER PRESENTATIONSAssessing pain in models of Rheumatoid ArthritisSamuel Singleton, Meriam Nefla, Ngaire Dennison, Simon Arthur and Tim HalesRefinements to health monitoringHannah Jones and Rebecca KingBiosecurity risks and the pre-implantation embryo; lessons from the mouseJean Cozzi, Mendy Verrier and Jimmy MancipEnvironmental enrichment for a small colony of ratsNick Blackburn, Gemma Cronshaw and Mike MitchellOestr us checking – increasing productivity and embracing the 3RsSamantha Hoskins and Jack BrownUsing habituation to reduce str ess for rats being transported short distancesSarah TaylorShining a light on rearing pigmentless ZebrafishJacqueline Glover, Thom Berriman, Dimitra Mantzorou, William Havelange,Sam Berry and Bruno Correia da SilvaThe jacket with pulling power – a novel approach to early stage evaluationof magnetic nanoparticlesAlison Ritchie, James Dixon, Phil Clarke and Anna GrabowskaiiCONTENTSIndex to AdvertisersABPI ..................................................................x,xi LBS ..................................................................iiAS-ET ...............................................................OBC Somni Scientific ................................................ivDatesand Ltd......................................................IFC Special Diets Services .....................................viiiInstitute of Animal Technology ...............................vii Tecniplast UK Ltd .............................................xiiIPS Product Supplies Ltd.....................................IBCAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page ii131134137Let us choose which food enrichment we prefer – enrichment from a mouse perspective Tom FewlassMedicated jelly as a replacement for injectables and the use of Maropitant to manageitchy skin in mice Mark Donaldson-Wing The evolution of how Guinea pigs are housed at high containment in the Biological Investigations Group Leilah Emm and Joanne HeydonCONGRESS 22 PLATFORM PRESENTATIONS ABSTRACTS141Animal Technology – supporting the Technician CommitmentCALL FOR PAPERSl take an active part in the leading annual meeting for Animal Technologistsl present a paper and qualify for free attendance at Congressl make this your debut presentation year – ﬁrst time presenter papers are only 20 minutes long and as well as a free congress there is a prize for the one judged to be the bestl send your ideas today on the Submission form available from www.iat.org.ukl ﬁnal date for submissions: Friday 28th October 2022Contact: congress@iat.org.ukCongress2023CONGRESS Invitation to Participate21st March – 24th MarchFront cover photo: The Living Biobank – Kevin Dolan Memorial Lecture, presented by Tullis Matson, Nature’s Safe.74

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77August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarevOFFICERSPresidentDr Robin Lovell-Badge CBE FRSImmediate Past PresidentProfessor Sir Richard Gardner MA PhD FRSBFIAT (Hon) FRSVice-PresidentsSenga Allan MIAT RAnTech, David Anderson MRCVS,Stephen Barnett BA MSc FIAT (Hon) CBiol FRSBRAnTech, Miles Carroll PhD, Paul Flecknell MA Vet MBPhD DLAS DipLECVA MRCVS FIAT (Hon), PennyHawkins PhD BSc, Wendy Jarrett MA, Judy MacArthur-Clark CBE BVMS DLAS FRSB DVMS (h.c.) DipECLAMFRAgS DipACLAM MRCVS, Fiona McEwen BSc BVM&SMSc MRCVS, Tim Morris BVetMed PhD DipACLAMDipECLAM CBiol FRSB CertLAS MRCVS, Clive PageOBE PhD BSc, Jan-Bas Prins PhD MSc, Vicky RobinsonCBE BSc PhD, Paul Sanders MIAT RAnTech, DavidSpillane FIAT, Gail Thompson RLATG, RobertWeichbrod PhD RLATGLife MembersKen Applebee OBE FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech,Charlie Chambers MIAT RAnTech, Roger Francis MScFIAT RAnTech, Pete Gerson MSc FIAT RAnTech,Cathy Godfrey FIAT RAnTech, John Gregor y BSc (Hons)FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech, Patrick Hayes FIAT DipBARAnTech, Robert Kemp FIAT (Hon) RAnTech,Phil Ruddock MIAT RAnTech, Ted Wills FIAT (Hon)RAnTechHonorary MembersMark Gardiner MIAT RAnTech, Sarah Lane MSc FIAT,Sue McHugh BSc FIAT, Norman Mortell BA (Hons)MIAT RAnTech, Wendy Steel BSc (Hons) FIATMembers of CouncilMatthew Bilton, Kally Booth, Steven Cubitt,Simon Cumming, Haley Daniels, Glyn Fisher,Nicky Gent, Alan Graham, Linda Horan, Sam Jameson,Elaine Kirkum, Adele Kitching, Theresa Langford,Sylvie Mehigan, Steve Owen, Alan Palmer, AllanThornhill, John Waters, Lynda Westall, Carole Wilson,Adrian WoodhouseCouncil OfficersChair: Linda Horan BSc (Hons) MIAT RAnTechVice Chair: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechHonorary Secretary:Simon Cumming BSc FIAT RAnTechHonorary Treasurer: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechChair of Board of Educational Policy:Steven Cubitt MSc FIAT RAnTechChair Registration & Accreditation Board:Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechATW Editor: Jas Barley MSc FIAT RAnTechBulletin Editor: Carole Wilson BSc MIATATW/Bulletin Editorial Board:IAT REPRESENTATIVESAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 4/2/21 13:19 Page vvOFFICERSPresidentDr Robin Lovell-Badge CBE FRSImmediate Past PresidentProfessor Sir Richard Gardner MA PhD FRSBFIAT (Hon) FRSVice-PresidentsSenga Allan MIAT RAnTech, David Anderson MRCVS,Stephen Barnett BA MSc FIAT (Hon) CBiol FRSBRAnTech, Miles Carroll PhD, Paul Flecknell MA Vet MBPhD DLAS DipLECVA MRCVS FIAT (Hon), PennyHawkins PhD BSc, Wendy Jarrett MA, Judy MacArthur-Clark CBE BVMS DLAS FRSB DVMS (h.c.) DipECLAMFRAgS DipACLAM MRCVS, Fiona McEwen BSc BVM&SMSc MRCVS, Tim Morris BVetMed PhD DipACLAMDipECLAM CBiol FRSB CertLAS MRCVS, Clive PageOBE PhD BSc, Jan-Bas Prins PhD MSc, Vicky RobinsonCBE BSc PhD, Paul Sanders MIAT RAnTech, DavidSpillane FIAT, Gail Thompson RLATG, RobertWeichbrod PhD RLATGLife MembersKen Applebee OBE FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech,Charlie Chambers MIAT RAnTech, Roger Francis MScFIAT RAnTech, Pete Gerson MSc FIAT RAnTech,Cathy Godfrey FIAT RAnTech, John Gregor y BSc (Hons)FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech, Patrick Hayes FIAT DipBARAnTech, Robert Kemp FIAT (Hon) RAnTech,Phil Ruddock MIAT RAnTech, Ted Wills FIAT (Hon)RAnTechHonorary MembersMark Gardiner MIAT RAnTech, Sarah Lane MSc FIAT,Sue McHugh BSc FIAT, Norman Mortell BA (Hons)MIAT RAnTech, Wendy Steel BSc (Hons) FIATMembers of CouncilMatthew Bilton, Kally Booth, Steven Cubitt,Simon Cumming, Haley Daniels, Glyn Fisher,Nicky Gent, Alan Graham, Linda Horan, Sam Jameson,Elaine Kirkum, Adele Kitching, Theresa Langford,Sylvie Mehigan, Steve Owen, Alan Palmer, AllanThornhill, John Waters, Lynda Westall, Carole Wilson,Adrian WoodhouseCouncil OfficersChair: Linda Horan BSc (Hons) MIAT RAnTechVice Chair: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechHonorary Secretary:Simon Cumming BSc FIAT RAnTechHonorary Treasurer: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechChair of Board of Educational Policy:Steven Cubitt MSc FIAT RAnTechChair Registration & Accreditation Board:Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechATW Editor: Jas Barley MSc FIAT RAnTechBulletin Editor: Carole Wilson BSc MIATATW/Bulletin Editorial Board:IAT REPRESENTATIVESAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 4/2/21 13:19 Page vCouncil OfﬁcersChair: Linda Horan BSc (Hons) MIAT RAnTechVice Chair: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechHonorary Secretary: Simon Cumming BSc FIAT RAnTechHonorary Treasurer: Glyn Fisher FIAT RAnTechChair of Board of Educational Policy: Steven Cubitt MSc FIAT RAnTechChair Registration & Accreditation Board: Ken Applebee OBE FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech ATW Editor: Jas Barley MSc FIAT RAnTechBulletin Editor: Carole Wilson BSc MIATATW/Bulletin Editorial Board: Jas Barley (Chair), Nicky Gent, Patrick Hayes, Diane Hazlehurst, Elaine Kirkum, Carole Wilson, Lynda WestallBranch Liaison Ofﬁcer:Kally Booth MIAT RAnTechEFAT Representatives:Glyn Fisher, Robin Labesse MIAT RAnTech, Toby SandersWebsite Coordinator:Allan Thornhill FIAT RAnTechAnimal Welfare Group:John Waters (Chair), Carmen Abela, Kally Booth, Nicky Gent, Sam Jameson, Sylvie Mehigan, Steve OwenBoard of Educational Policy:Steven Cubitt (Chair), Adele Kitching (Secretary), Diane Hazlehurst, Robin Labesse, Tina O’Mahoney Communications Group:Adrian Woodhouse (Chair), Carmen Abela, Kally Booth, Hannah Easter, Sam Jameson, Wendy Jarrett, Elaine Kirkum, Teresa Langford, Sylvie Mehigan, Toby Sanders, Allan Thornhill, Lynda WestallVice-PresidentsSenga Allan MIAT RAnTech, David Anderson MRCVS, Stephen Barnett BA MSc FIAT (Hon) CBiol FRSB RAnTech, Miles Carroll PhD, Penny Hawkins PhD BSc, Wendy Jarrett MA, Judy MacArthur-Clark CBE BVMS DLAS FRSB DVMS (h.c.) DipECLAM FRAgS DipACLAM MRCVS, Fiona McEwen BSc BVM&S MSc MRCVS, Tim Morris BVetMed PhD DipACLAM DipECLAM CBiol FRSB CertLAS MRCVS, Clive Page OBE PhD BSc, Jan-Bas Prins PhD MSc, Vicky Robinson CBE BSc PhD, Paul Sanders MIAT RAnTech, David Spillane FIAT, Gail Thompson RLATG, Robert Weichbrod PhD RLATGLife MembersKen Applebee OBE FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech, Charlie Chambers MIAT RAnTech, Roger Francis MSc FIAT RAnTech, Pete Gerson MSc FIAT RAnTech, Cathy Godfrey FIAT RAnTech, John Gregory BSc (Hons) FIAT CBiol FRSB RAnTech, Patrick Hayes FIAT DipBA RAnTech, Robert Kemp FIAT (Hon) RAnTech, Phil Ruddock MIAT RAnTech, Ted Wills FIAT (Hon) RAnTechHonorary MembersMark Gardiner MIAT RAnTech, Sarah Lane MSc FIAT,Stuart Mackrell FIAT RAnTech, Sue McHugh BSc FIAT, Wendy Steel BSc (Hons) FIAT Members of CouncilCarmen Abela, Ken Applebee, Kally Booth, Steven Cubitt, Simon Cumming, Haley Daniels, Glyn Fisher, Nicky Gent, Alan Graham, Diane Hazlehurst, Linda Horan, Sam Jameson, Elaine Kirkum, Adele Kitching, Robin Labesse, Theresa Langford, Sylvie Mehigan, Tina O’Mahony, Toby Sanders, Allan Thornhill, John Waters, Lynda Westall, Carole Wilson, Adrian Woodhouse

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BRANCH SECRETARIES 2022Cambridge: Tony Davidge cambridgebranch@iat.org.ukEdinburgh: Kery-Anne Lavin-Thomson edinburghbranch@iat.org.ukHuntingdon, Suffolk & Norfolk: Jo Martin hssbranch@iat.org.ukIreland: Lisa Watson irelandbranch@iat.org.ukLondon: Rebecca Towns londonbranch@iat.org.ukMidlands: Ian Fielding midlandsbranch@iat.org.ukNorth East England: Zoe Smith and John Bland northeastbranch@iat.org.ukNorth West: Nicky Windows cheshirebranch@iat.org.ukOxford: Adam Truby oxfordbranch@iat.org.ukSurrey, Hampshire & Sussex: Francesca Whitmore shsbranch@iat.org.ukWest Middlesex: Josefine Woodley westmiddxbranch@iat.org.ukWales & West: Rhys Perry waleswestbranch@iat.org.ukWest of Scotland: Joanne King westscotlandbranch@iat.org.ukIAT OFFICERS M AY BECONTACTED VIA:IAT Administrator:admin@iat.org.ukOR VIA THE IAT WEBSITE AT :www.iat.org.ukOR THE REGISTERED OFFICE:5 South Parade, Summertown,Oxford OX2 7JLAdvertisement Managers:PRC Associates LtdEmail: mail@prcassoc.co.ukAlthough every effort is made to ensure that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appear in thejournal, the Institute of Animal Technology wish to expound that the data and opinions appearing in the articles,poster presentations and advertisements in ATW are the responsibility of the contributor and advertiser concerned.Accordingly the IAT, Editor and their agents, accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any suchinaccurate or misleading data, opinion, statement or advertisement being published. Furthermore the opinionsexpressed in the journal do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Institute of Animal Technology.© 2022 Institute of Animal TechnologyAll rights reserved. No par t of this publication may be reproduced without per mission from the publisher.CPD Officer: Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechRegistration and Accreditation Board:Glyn Fisher (Chair), John Gregor y,Cathy Godfrey, Kathy Ryder (Home Office),Stuart StevensonObserver: Ngaire Dennison (LAVA)Congress Committee:Alan Graham (Chair), Haley Daniels, Adele Kitching,Allan Thornhill, John WatersDiversity Officer:Haley Daniels MBA MSc MIAT RAnTech CIPDUK Biosciences ASG Representative/Home Office:Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechviAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page viRegistration and Accreditation Board:Ken Applebee (Chair), Glyn Fisher, Charlie Chambers, John Gregory, Cathy Godfrey, Kathy Ryder, Wendy Steel, Stuart StevensonObserver: Ngaire Dennison (LAVA)Congress Committee:Alan Graham (Chair), Haley Daniels, Adele Kitching,Allan Thornhill, John WatersEquity, Diversity and Inclusion Ofﬁcer:Haley Daniels MBA MSc MIAT RAnTech CIPDIndex to AdvertisersBRANCH SECRETARIES 2022Cambridge: Tony Davidge cambridgebranch@iat.org.ukEdinburgh: Kery-Anne Lavin-Thomson edinburghbranch@iat.org.ukHuntingdon, Suffolk & Norfolk: Jo Martin hssbranch@iat.org.ukIreland: Lisa Watson irelandbranch@iat.org.ukLondon: Rebecca Towns londonbranch@iat.org.ukMidlands: Ian Fielding midlandsbranch@iat.org.ukNorth East England: Zoe Smith and John Bland northeastbranch@iat.org.ukNorth West: Nicky Windows cheshirebranch@iat.org.ukOxford: Adam Truby oxfordbranch@iat.org.ukSurrey, Hampshire & Sussex: Francesca Whitmore shsbranch@iat.org.ukWest Middlesex: Josefine Woodley westmiddxbranch@iat.org.ukWales & West: Rhys Perry waleswestbranch@iat.org.ukWest of Scotland: Joanne King westscotlandbranch@iat.org.ukIAT OFFICERS M AY BECONTACTED VIA:IAT Administrator:admin@iat.org.ukOR VIA THE IAT WEBSITE AT :www.iat.org.ukOR THE REGISTERED OFFICE:5 South Parade, Summertown,Oxford OX2 7JLAdvertisement Managers:PRC Associates LtdEmail: mail@prcassoc.co.ukAlthough every effort is made to ensure that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appear in thejournal, the Institute of Animal Technology wish to expound that the data and opinions appearing in the articles,poster presentations and advertisements in ATW are the responsibility of the contributor and advertiser concerned.Accordingly the IAT, Editor and their agents, accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any suchinaccurate or misleading data, opinion, statement or advertisement being published. Furthermore the opinionsexpressed in the journal do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Institute of Animal Technology.© 2022 Institute of Animal TechnologyAll rights reserved. No par t of this publication may be reproduced without per mission from the publisher.CPD Officer: Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechRegistration and Accreditation Board:Glyn Fisher (Chair), John Gregor y,Cathy Godfrey, Kathy Ryder (Home Office),Stuart StevensonObserver: Ngaire Dennison (LAVA)Congress Committee:Alan Graham (Chair), Haley Daniels, Adele Kitching,Allan Thornhill, John WatersDiversity Officer:Haley Daniels MBA MSc MIAT RAnTech CIPDUK Biosciences ASG Representative/Home Office:Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechviAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page viDatesand Ltd .................................................IFCInstitute of Animal Technology ................74, 80, 81, 114-115, 118-119, 124, 142, OBCIPS Product Supplies Ltd ................................IBCLBS Serving Biotechnology Ltd .........................76Somni Scientiﬁc .............................................. 75Tecniplast UK Ltd ............................................82BRANCH SECRETARIES 2022Cambridge: Tony Davidge cambridgebranch@iat.org.ukEdinburgh: Kery-Anne Lavin-Thomson edinburghbranch@iat.org.ukHuntingdon, Suffolk & Norfolk: Jo Martin hssbranch@iat.org.ukIreland: Lisa Watson irelandbranch@iat.org.ukLondon: Rebecca Towns londonbranch@iat.org.ukMidlands: Ian Fielding midlandsbranch@iat.org.ukNorth East England: Zoe Smith and John Bland northeastbranch@iat.org.ukNorth West: Nicky Windows cheshirebranch@iat.org.ukOxford: Adam Truby oxfordbranch@iat.org.ukSurrey, Hampshire & Sussex: Francesca Whitmore shsbranch@iat.org.ukWest Middlesex: Joseﬁne Woodley westmiddxbranch@iat.org.ukWest of Scotland: Joanne King westscotlandbranch@iat.org.uk78

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79August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareBRANCH SECRETARIES 2022Cambridge: Tony Davidge cambridgebranch@iat.org.ukEdinburgh: Kery-Anne Lavin-Thomson edinburghbranch@iat.org.ukHuntingdon, Suffolk & Norfolk: Jo Martin hssbranch@iat.org.ukIreland: Lisa Watson irelandbranch@iat.org.ukLondon: Rebecca Towns londonbranch@iat.org.ukMidlands: Ian Fielding midlandsbranch@iat.org.ukNorth East England: Zoe Smith and John Bland northeastbranch@iat.org.ukNorth West: Nicky Windows cheshirebranch@iat.org.ukOxford: Adam Truby oxfordbranch@iat.org.ukSurrey, Hampshire & Sussex: Francesca Whitmore shsbranch@iat.org.ukWest Middlesex: Josefine Woodley westmiddxbranch@iat.org.ukWales & West: Rhys Perry waleswestbranch@iat.org.ukWest of Scotland: Joanne King westscotlandbranch@iat.org.ukIAT OFFICERS M AY BECONTACTED VIA:IAT Administrator:admin@iat.org.ukOR VIA THE IAT WEBSITE AT :www.iat.org.ukOR THE REGISTERED OFFICE:5 South Parade, Summertown,Oxford OX2 7JLAdvertisement Managers:PRC Associates LtdEmail: mail@prcassoc.co.ukAlthough every effort is made to ensure that no inaccurate or misleading data, opinion or statement appear in thejournal, the Institute of Animal Technology wish to expound that the data and opinions appearing in the articles,poster presentations and advertisements in ATW are the responsibility of the contributor and advertiser concerned.Accordingly the IAT, Editor and their agents, accept no liability whatsoever for the consequences of any suchinaccurate or misleading data, opinion, statement or advertisement being published. Furthermore the opinionsexpressed in the journal do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor or the Institute of Animal Technology.© 2022 Institute of Animal TechnologyAll rights reserved. No par t of this publication may be reproduced without per mission from the publisher.CPD Officer: Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechRegistration and Accreditation Board:Glyn Fisher (Chair), John Gregor y,Cathy Godfrey, Kathy Ryder (Home Office),Stuart StevensonObserver: Ngaire Dennison (LAVA)Congress Committee:Alan Graham (Chair), Haley Daniels, Adele Kitching,Allan Thornhill, John WatersDiversity Officer:Haley Daniels MBA MSc MIAT RAnTech CIPDUK Biosciences ASG Representative/Home Office:Alan Palmer MIAT RAnTechviAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page viAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareEditorialJas BarleyChair of the Editorial BoardLooking back over issues of the Journal through its various identities, one thing is apparent and that is the contribution thatoverseas authors have made to the content. Topics have varied from dealing with exotic species, lack of sophisticated equipment,different attitudes to everyday problems, staff training and education and disease outbreaks. However, the resolute thathas beenconstant throughout, despite the differences across the world, is the love and concern for the animals being cared for.Many include interesting photographs but I unfortunately am unable to use them as the quality of images is so poor whenrepr oduced, to the extent in some cases, they become worthless.Obviously, things have changed over seven decades and the technology described in contributions from overseas is less differentfrom what we use in the UK. This issue welcomes contributions from Australia, the Czech Republic and Iran as well, of coursefrom the UK. Since ATW became an Open Access publication and is being published electronically, it is enjoying a wider audienceand is attracting more contributions than usual. Not all are relevant to our profession, but knowledge is transferable so whatseems ‘off beat’ today may become useful in the future. However, as Editor I will always strive to maintain the quality of ourpublications and the usefulness to our readers.In this issue we include the RSPCA 2019 Rodent and Rabbit Welfare group meeting report. The 26th meeting that the RSPCA haveorganised focussed on ‘sentience, positive welfare and psychological well being’. The report contains contributions from 11presenters as well as notes on the interactive discussion session on sentience that closed the meeting.A paper from Iran, a first as far as I can see for the Journal, on r educing the negative effects of methionine on bone parametersin broilers’ embryos may seem of little relevance but it offers a better understanding of how methionine affects bone structur ewhich is important to most species. Similarly, Feline Assisted Therapy as described by the team at the University of Life SciencesPrague does not appear to fall into the realms of Animal Technology but it gives us a better understanding of how animals can havea positive effect on some people, which in thecurrent situation may be of significant benefit to a wider population. Our final paperfrom the team at Western Sydney University, details the care of the Children’ Python and two species of Bearded Dragons. Notperhaps the run of the mill laboratory animals but just as important to many Animal Technologists globally as mice and rats. If youkeep reptiles at home or know of someone who is contemplating one as a pet these papers make useful reference documents. Wealso offer twopapers from previous issues of the Journal which were very different in appearance and content than today’s Journalof Animal Technology and Welfare and not only because of the change of title. Issues were printed in black and white and in the veryearly days were produced by hand. The paper from France on Physical Hazards in the laboratory animal house will bring back manymemories for some of the older technicians, myself included, but not necessarily good ones. The use of ether as an anaestheticwhich I know is still used in some countries where resources are limited, for human sur gery, presented a very real danger to bothanimals and staff. Disease in laboratory animal units was often a recurring problem, bacterial infections such as Pseudomonas asdescribed in the reprint of the article were still presenting Animal Technologists with problems as late as the end of the 1980s. Whenimporting animals and tissues from overseas it is important to realise that they may be carrying disease not seen in the UK forseveral decades. In recent times, Ectromelia was introduced into a unit in the USA via antibodies produced overseas. Precautionsmust be taken until such time as you are sure that the animals and tissues are clear of any underlying infections.We are also able to offer in this issue an interesting Tech-2-Tech article by Seonagh Henderson of the University of Glasgow, ona novel technique of cage cleaning which hasa positive effect on the welfare of laborator y rats. Finally, we included several postersprepared for AST2020 but sadly at the moment remain unpresented.Thanks again to all of our authors, past and present, both internationally and here in the UK. There would not have been 70 yearsof the Journal without you. Here is to the next seven decades and beyond.THE INSTITUTE OF ANIMAL TECHNOLOGYETHICAL STATEMENT“In the conduct of their Professional duties, Animal Technologists have a moral and legalobligation, at all times, to promote and safeguard the welfare of animals in their care,recognising that good laboratory animal welfare is an essential component of goodlaboratory animal technology and science.The Institute recognises and supports the application of the principles of the 3Rs(Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) in all areas of animal research.”ixAugust20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page ixI am writing this in the middle of a heatwave when the UK Meteorological Ofﬁce has issued its ﬁrst ever Extreme Heat ‘red’ warning, predicting that the temperatures will be in the high 30˚ area and may exceed 40˚C This takes me back to my early career during the drought of 1976 we often found ourselves as Animal Technologists working in temperatures above 35˚ and having to start work at 5a.m., as the animal rooms became unbearably hot and staff and animals were showing signs of heat exhaustion. Ten years later at another establishment it was possible to tell the time of day by the temperature in the room where the sun was blasting through the northern lights on the roof. Fortunately, with the advent of the Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986 or ASPA as it is commonly called, climate control at least in animal rooms became the norm in the UK and latterly in Europe due to the European Directive (EU’s Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientiﬁc purposes).Part of the RSPCA Rodent Welfare Group 2021 report included in this issue deals with aggression in animals. The contribution from Brianna Gaskill lists how aggression may be increased in mice by factors such as temperature, humidity and the time of year. It is obvious that environmental control is important for both animals and humans alike. It also reminds us that not all facilities outside of Europe have climate control in their animal accommodation leading to Animal Welfare issues as well as problems for personnel.Also included in this issue is material resulting from IAT Congress 2022, the ﬁrst face-to-face meeting for three years following the arrival of COVID 19 in our lives. I am delighted to include a paper based on a ﬁrst-time presenter’s platform presentation by Claire Dobinson in which she describes the use of ultrasound imaging to identify neuroblastoma tumours. Claire was awarded the Jack Mundy prize 2022 for a First Time Presenter. Another paper also from the First Time presenters session is from Claire Pearce. This deals with the consideration and reporting of adverse effects and in particular how it is important to understand when they go from being an expected adverse effect to unexpected.Two posters displayed at Congress 2022 have been converted into Tech-2-Tech articles. Amy Brogden and Katy Mosket-Brettell from the University of Birmingham discuss Culture of Care from Animal Technicians’ perspectives. The second from the team at the University of Bristol, fronted by Julia Bartlett demonstrates how handling and dosing methods can be reﬁned for rats and mice. This poster was also displayed at the Steve Moore Memorial Poster Competition organised by the IAT North West Branch. Prizes for posters were also on the cards for Claire Dobinson, she had a fantastic Congress as you can imagine, and Hayley Robinson who were recipients from the two prizes sponsored by LBS Biotech and both are included in this edition of ATW. Claire’s poster deals with the use of ultrasound imaging to reﬁne the technique of tumour detection in Neuroblastoma mouse models. The treatments for Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhoea (ICD) in Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta) is the topic of Hayley’s poster. EditorialJas BarleyChair of the Editorial BoardAugust 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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83August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareIntroductionThe RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group has held a one-day meeting every autumn for the last 28 years, so that its members can discuss current welfare research, exchange views on welfare issues and share experiences of the implementation of the 3Rs of Replacement, Reduction and Reﬁ nement with respect to rodent use.This year’s meeting was held online for the second year running and attracted nearly 500 registrants from all over the world. The day included sessions on ‘Evaluating Enrichment’ and ‘Better Welfare Equals Better Science’. This report summarises the meeting and ends with a list of action points for readers to consider raising at their own establishments.Evaluating enrichmentThis session began by highlighting a new, online resource to help Animal Technologists evaluate enrichment. This was followed by presentations on experimental design, Animal Welfare science methods, examples of enrichments to trial and a tool for auditing outcomes.Introducing the Evaluating Environmental Enrichment online resource for Animal TechnologistsKhia Dobbinson, NC3Rs, UK When trying a new form of environmental enrichment, assessing whether it improves Animal Welfare is a vital part of the process. However, assessing enrichment within a research setting may not always be straightforward and it can be hard to know where to start. The NC3Rs has worked with the RSPCA, the Institute of Animal Technology (IAT) and Animal Technologists to create an online resource to support those who want to evaluate environmental enrichment. The resource is ﬁ lled with practical support and example study protocols that can be adapted for different species and individual requirements. The resource includes guidance that can be adapted for different settings in an accessible, practical and time saving format. It is designed to cover all stages of the process of evaluating enrichment, from choosing an enrichment and planning an evaluation to data Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group MeetingCHLOE STEVENS1, KHIA DOBBINSON2, ELOISA BROOK3, OLIVER BURMAN4, JOHN HOBBS5, CIARA LARKIN6, KATE SHENTON7, STUART PEIRSON8, BRIANNA GASKILL9and PENNY HAWKINS11Animals in Science Department, Science Group, RSPCA, Wilberforce Way, Southwater, West Sussex, RH13 9RS UK2National Centre for the Replacement, Reﬁ nement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs), Gibbs Building, 215 Euston Road, London, NW1 2BE UK3GSK, Laboratory Animal Medicine, Medicines Research Centre, Gunnels Wood Road, Stevenage, Hertfordshire SG1 2NY UK 4 Animal Behaviour, Cognition & Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, UK5 University College Dublin, Bellﬁ eld, Dublin 4, Ireland6 School of Biotechnology, Dublin City University, Dublin 9, Ireland7 AstraZeneca, UK8Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi), Nufﬁ eld Department of Clinical Neuroscience (NDCN, West Wing, John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford OX3 9DU University of Oxford, UK9Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research, Purdue University, 610 Purdue Mall, West Lafayette, IN, 47907 USACorrespondence: chloe.stevens@rspca.org.ukAugust 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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84Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020collection and implementing and sharing ﬁndings, to ensure that users are supported every step of the way.Before starting any evaluation, investing time in planning will help make the project easier and, the resource provides guidance on key points to consider before starting, such as who should be involved, what the overall aim of the project is, the equipment needed, where to ﬁnd more relevant background information and how to conduct literature searches. A project plan sheet is also provided to help with this and to promote clear communication with all colleagues involved in the project. The resource also outlines different approaches to evaluating enrichment, such as behavioural monitoring, with guidance on creating an ethogram (list of species-appropriate behaviours) and, examples of published studies and ‘walkthroughs’ of protocols which show the step-by-step methodical process that should be followed. Each example protocol includes data collection sheets which can be adapted for your own use, as well as example and general ethograms and links to further resources for a range of common laboratory species, including rodents. There is also guidance on the different stages of data handling and analysis, starting with examining the raw data in Microsoft Excel, collating and summarising data, and creating informative data plots and graphs. The resource does not assume any prior knowledge, so users without experience in Microsoft Excel or with data analysis will still be able to use these resources. A crucial part of conducting any study, including ones evaluating enrichment, is to understand the limitations of your study design and understand ways to improve the scientiﬁc quality, such as the use of randomisation and blinding. These are discussed and demonstrated in the resource and further information on this is also given in the next section of this report.Early reviews from Animal Technologists have said the resource is useful and motivating, so why not have a look at the resource, discuss it with other staff and start planning your own enrichment evaluation today!https://nc3rs.org.uk/evaluating-enrichmentExperimental Design: what happens when things change?Eloisa Brook, GSK, UKGood experimental design is a key part of robust experiments, enabling you to draw sound conclusions, make data-driven decisions and generally get the most out of the data you are collecting. The three key aspects, or pillars, of good experimental design are sample size, randomisation and blinding. Sample size refers to the number of animals that are going to be in your study. This can be determined by thinking about your success criteria (what are you going to be measuring and how are you quantifying it?), how you are going to estimate any variability in your measurements and how much power you want your experiment to have. All of these should be thought about before setting up the study.The next pillar is randomisation – randomly assigning animals to different groups. To do randomisation, you will need to know what your study design will actually look like - how many groups will you have and how many animals in each group? A simple approach is to randomly assign three animals to each group (although the welfare implications of randomising also need to be considered, as this can affect social hierarchies and lead to increased levels of aggression.1 Animals should always be randomly assigned using a computer, to avoid bias – this can be done very simply using the randomisation function in Microsoft Excel or there are various useful pieces of software which can be used for this (see the end of this section). The ﬁnal pillar of good experimental design is blinding – ensuring that measurements and assessments are done without prior knowledge of what that animal has experienced. This is especially important when there is any possibility of subjectivity in measurements - if there is a chance that a measure could be interpreted differently by different people, then the person measuring that endpoint should be doing it ‘blind’. This may not always be possible depending on the experimental conditions but this is the ideal situation to aim for. An example of this is for assessment of clinical signs – ideally the person assessing clinical signs should not have known what has happened to that animal. The ultimate goal is blind dosing of your animals, where dosing refers to the treatment you are trying to assess the effects of – this could be drug or other compound dosing but could also refer to the enrichment condition or the type of handling.Unless you have the statistical expertise yourself, it is good practice to consult a statistician to help with these fundamental principles of robust experimental design. If someone with relevant expertise is not available at your institution, consultant statisticians are available, or a scientiﬁc colleague should be able to advise you. Ensuring that good practices are in place means that key decisions and inferences can be made from your data as planned. However, although you may plan your study to ﬁt with the ideal situations described above, sometimes things change which affect how the study is carried out. This may be because there are fewer animals available than expected, methods change, the equipment needed is unavailable or even due to unpredictable constraints Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meeting

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85August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareReport of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meetinglike social distancing. Understanding these changes and how they affect your study, will inform what conclusions you can draw from your data. For example in a study we designed to test the effects of three different types of enrichment, we had to change our original design of mice experiencing the enrichments in a different order to a design where all the mice experienced the enrichments in the same order. In this study design, we cannot say whether any welfare beneﬁts were entirely due to the enrichments or whether there were other effects on a particular week that also affected welfare and confounded the results. In conclusion, it is important to be aware that sometimes things do change which will affect your study design. When this happens, remember that it is not the end of the world, but that changes do matter, so understanding what the effects of these changes are will help to ensure your study is still robust and useful. And ﬁnally, when in doubt, consult a statistician! Free tools for sample size and randomisation:Sample Size and Randomisation:NC3Rs Experimental Design AssistantSample Size Only:Invivo StatPowerandSampleSize.comPS Power and Sample SizeBenchmark 6ix SigmaRandomisation Only:Random.Org/ListsResearch RandomizerGraphpad.comRandomization.comSealed EnvelopeRRAppThe appliance of Animal Welfare scienceOliver Burman, Animal Behaviour, Cognition & Welfare Research Group, School of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, UKAnimal Welfare science gives us lots of possible approaches that we can use to evaluate enrichment. Three common behaviour-based approaches are behavioural monitoring, preference testing and motivation testing. These approaches can be used to ask different questions, so selecting the right approach for your situation is important. It is also worth spending time on designing your study to maximise the scientiﬁc quality and therefore the robustness of your results.The ﬁrst approach, behavioural monitoring, involves observing animals with and without the enrichment to see how their behaviour changes. Before starting any study like this, there are lots of things to decide. You will need to think about which enrichment(s) you want to test, how long for and what your experimental design will be – for example, you could do a between-subjects comparison (where one group is in enriched and one group is in standard conditions) or a within-subjects comparison (where all animals are observed as a baseline before being given the enrichment, then observed with the enrichment and then observed again once the enrichment is removed). You will also need to decide which behaviours you are going to observe. Using an ethogram – a table of clearly deﬁned behaviours – can be helpful here and many are available for different species which can be modiﬁed for your study. A ﬁnal consideration is who will observe the animals and when – you may need to consider when your animals are most likely to be active and will need to check that you and any other observers are consistently recording behaviour in the same way.After conducting this kind of study, you need to interpret the meaning of the behaviours you have observed. A good starting point is to create some graphs. Choose a graph that best represents the question you are asking – for example, if you want to know whether the percentage of rats sleeping under the hopper is higher in standard conditions compared to when housed with enrichment, then you could plot this as a bar graph that allows an easy visual comparison of the same behaviour in the two different housing conditions. At this stage, it is important to stick to the predictions you initially made and to look at all your results together, rather than examining each result individually, as it is likely to be much more informative to consider changes in several different behaviours together. Remember that a behavioural change does not necessarily imply better welfare, especially if it is short-lived. The next type of behavioural approach for evaluating enrichment is to conduct a preference or choice test - these tests are a way to ‘ask’ animals what conditions they prefer. As with behavioural monitoring, there are lots of things to consider before you start – which different options will you provide for them to choose between and, how many options will you have? How will you measure preference? You will need to ensure you provide all the essentials, such as food and water, in all conditions so that animals are not biased towards a particular choice. You will also need to consider what the animals have previously experienced, whether animals might initially fear a new condition (neophobic) that they actually go on to prefer once they have experienced it and how different individuals/sexes/ages/strains might differ in their preferences. There are also some limitations to what these types of tests can tell you – an animal can only choose the most preferred of the available options, so it may be that both options are actually aversive and the animal is picking the least aversive of the options available.

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86Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Motivation tests, which ‘ask’ animals how much they want something, have similar considerations as preference tests. These kinds of tests allow you to ﬁnd out how hard an animal will work for access to a condition or resource, for example by using doors of different weights that the animals must push open. These sorts of tests can be quite costly and complex to carry out and measurement of ‘effort’ from the animal can be hard to interpret but, they can help determine which resources are valued more and allow different resources to be titrated against one another.Although a lot can be learned from each of these approaches, it is important to emphasise that they are not mutually exclusive. Combining different approaches, such as carrying out a preference test followed by behavioural monitoring can allow you to integrate your results and make it easier to interpret your results. Even when interpretation is not straightforward, it is also important to give animals the beneﬁt of the doubt - if you are unsure whether the enrichment conveys a beneﬁt, as long as there are no negative effects, it is better to provide it than not.Finally, we should note that it would be almost impossible for anyone to assess all possible enrichments for all possible combinations of strain, sex, age or group size for every species. However, we can all help to ﬁll in the gaps, if we work together in a systematic and robustly scientiﬁc way and properly communicate our ﬁndings.The 3Hs: Happiness, Home and Hammocks – how our programme of environmental enrichment for animals and staff is impacting on our shared environment, welfare and daily livesJohn Hobbs, University College Dublin, IrelandIn UCD Biomedical Facility we always strive to improve our animals’ welfare and environment. In 2019 we started a programme which involved introducing and trialling several different forms of reﬁnement, including enrichment, reﬁned handling and rat tickling.A form of enrichment we tried was the use of hammocks for our rat cages. Initially we introduced hammocks to eight cages, four for each sex. We found that adult males tended to chew on and shred hammocks but the females used them for nesting. We also tried some hammocks in breeding cages and found that males would rest in them, while mothers used them to look after the young pups. Once they had been introduced into the breeding cages and the ﬁrst cage after the pups had been weaned, we tended to see rats moving all nesting material into the hammock and nesting in them until the hammock needed to be replaced. As an enrichment item, these hammocks worked well, as they were relatively cheap, machine washable, autoclavable and reusable.Our next form of reﬁnement that we implemented was increasing the amount of habituation to handling that our rats received. This habituation involved gentle handling of the rats, touching the rat on different parts of the body, gently restraining the rat without scrufﬁng, and touching the rat with a syringe with no needle on it to get the animals used to these procedures. We noticed several beneﬁts, including that the animals showed less fear, less stress and more voluntary engagement with the handlers. We also found that staffs’ levels of conﬁdence in handling the animals increased, so staff felt less stress, resulting in more empathy and a more relaxed environment for all involved and better human-animal relationships. This has been an important part of our work to continuously improve and develop our Culture of Care.The third type of reﬁnement we trialled was rat tickling. We started with a few cages of 25 day old male and female rats and increased the numbers over time. We mimicked playﬁghting as the rats did when they were pre-weaned pups.2 This was done any time the rats were removed from their cages with our aim being to improve handling and reduce stress. We observed positive responses in males after three days and in females after ﬁve days. These positive responses included signs that the rats were anticipating and waiting for the tickling, were less likely to hide or avoid handlers, would come back to the handlers’ hand seeking to be tickled again and the females showed excitement through their ears twitching. This reﬁnement increased empathy towards the animals from the staff, and was enjoyed by the staff and the research groups as well as the animals. One of our most recent reﬁnements has been to introduce the use of playpens. We used old hypoxic chambers for the pens and ﬁlled them with an assortment of old wooden and plastic houses, ladders to access upper levels, a sandpit and hammocks. We also buried treats in the sand and the nesting material to encourage foraging behaviour. We started by introducing three boxes of male rats to the playpen for 40-minute sessions but this quickly increased to 20 boxes of rats within a few weeks. The rats clearly enjoyed having access to the playpens and were observed cleaning and grooming themselves and had visibly cleaner coats and tails over time. After about three sessions we also noticed the rats would wait at the door of the pen when the time was up showing they had become used to this routine. We have recently sourced another playpen which we plan to begin using for female rats. It has been noted that there can be a risk of compassion fatigue in animal care staff,3 so we were pleased to see that these changes gave everyone a lift, especially Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meeting

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87August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareReport of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meetingduring lockdown. The increased interactions with the animals, the noticeable welfare beneﬁts and the active participation and engagement of the staff and researchers with the programme has helped improve our shared environment and increased the emphasis on our Culture of Care. Auditing environmental enrichment – designing an adaptable tool for tracking enrichment strategies Ciara Larkin, Dublin City University, IrelandEnvironmental enrichment is a key component of any Animal Welfare programme. Periodic reviews of enrichment ensure that good practice is being implemented and that new information has been considered. It also enables us to track and assess the impact of any changes that have been introduced. When our Animal Welfare Body recommended that our rats were given more enrichment, we decided to conduct such a review. We developed an auditing worksheet to help us do this, that has been successfully implemented at our institution. This gave us a clear baseline, before we implemented any new enrichment strategy.We structured our auditing worksheet to examine each of ﬁve categories of enrichment in turn – social, physical, nutritional, sensory and occupational enrichment.4,5 We also included sections on the worksheet for administrative information, such as the room and species, as well as some questions about standardisation and reporting. Because current practice may be different in different areas of an establishment, it may be necessary to run the audit more than once. We ran ours three times – once for rats and twice for mice housed in different areas. Although our audit focussed on rodents, the worksheet is adaptable for different species, as some enrichment strategies will be species-speciﬁc.The ﬁrst section covers social enrichment. Most laboratory animals are social and are capable of complex social interactions. This level of complexity is almost impossible to replicate in the research environment but some social enrichment should still be provided. The worksheet uses a mixture of simple questions and dropdown responses to allow the user to record information about the social environment of the animals, such as whether animals are housed in single-species rooms, group size and compatibility, the opportunity for positive species-speciﬁc social behaviours like grooming and play and group stability. There is also a section to record whether any animals have to be singly housed, what the justiﬁcation is for this and, what additional strategies have been used to minimise harm, such as providing extra nesting material to assist thermoregulation.The next section of the worksheet examines physical enrichment – these are items that are added to the cage to increase the complexity of the environment and help give animals a sense of choice and control over their environment. They may include litter and nesting material, nest boxes and shelters, and climbing structures (including ropes and hammocks). The worksheet user can record the use of these objects and is asked to consider object placement, whether the objects are regularly changed and, whether the focus is on novelty or complexity. The values of novelty and environmental complexity are the subject of some debate and may differ between (or even within) establishments, so the spreadsheet provides an easy way of measuring what works for you and your animals.Many wild animals spend more than 50% of their time foraging but this time is greatly reduced in laboratory housing, so nutritional enrichment can help increase the amount of time performing this natural behaviour. This section of the worksheet examines what kinds of food are provided (do you provide whole foods, such as seeds or nuts?), whether strategies such as hiding food in the litter are in place and whether toys or manipulanda which contain food are being used. There are also open questions about monitoring bodyweight and the placement of the enrichment within the cage.We then looked at sensory enrichment. Sensory systems are highly specialised and have evolved to support animals in the environment to which they are adapted. Animal and human senses can be very different, so we must ensure we are examining conditions from the perspective of the animal. For example, albino rodents are highly light sensitive and may require a low light refuge. They also perceive a different auditory range to humans (e.g. rodents can hear ultrasound) and rats and mice have different auditory ranges from each other. Olfactory cues are known to be important for rodent reproduction and aggression. However in addition to needing to control adverse sensory experiences, some species also enjoy sensory stimulation, so the worksheet includes an open section for detailing any sensory enrichment.The ﬁnal type of enrichment is occupational enrichment. These are enrichments that encourage physical activity, like exercise wheels, or cognitive stimulation, such as puzzles or toys. Some items provide multiple types of enrichment, e.g. providing food in a KONG toy could be considered occupational, sensory and nutritional enrichment. Human-animal interactions such as training or tickling can also be considered occupational enrichment. These can all be recorded on the worksheet.At the end of the worksheet is a section on standardisation and reporting. Here we look for details of relevant standard operating procedures to ensure enrichment is incorporated into the day-to-day running

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88Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020of our unit. Although the effect of enrichment on experimental variation is complex, transparent reporting is important for replicability and for collaborations with others. Recording information in this way can also help minimise the potential harms associated with trial-and-error testing and, especially in establishments where staff turnover is high, ensures that the current generation learns from the positive and negative experience of their predecessors.In conclusion, auditing enrichment ensures that good practices are in place, gives a platform for incorporating new understanding, and allows tracking of improvements over time. Our primary goals were to create a practical tool that facilitated the identiﬁcation of those changes that produce real improvements and that supported lasting change, incorporating 3Rs principles and stimulating collaboration, so we have decided to make the worksheet freely available. If you would like a copy of this document, you can email me at ciara.larkin28@mail.dcu.ie.Action points from Session 1:– Think about whether there is a need to trial environmental enrichment for rodents at your facility – are you uncertain whether they are beneﬁting from a current reﬁnement or would you like to gather evidence for a new enrichment?– When designing a study to evaluate environmental enrichment, ensure you have a clear plan in place before you start.– Use resources such as the NC3Rs’ Evaluating Enrichment tool to help plan, carry out, analyse, implement and disseminate the results of your study.– Always ensure that animal numbers are sufﬁcient to be statistically signiﬁcant, and incorporate randomisation and blinding into your study design whenever necessary and feasible.– Discuss your study design with someone with statistical expertise if necessary, particularly if circumstances force you to change your study design.– Consider trialling the use of reﬁnements like hammocks, increased habituation to handling, rat tickling and the use of playpens in your facility to help improve the wellbeing of both animals and staff.– Review the use of enrichment in your facility and keep records of what has been trialled, what has worked and what has not.Better welfare equals better scienceThis session began by looking at aggression in male mice and its impact on welfare and science; ﬁrst taking an epidemiological approach and then focussing on aggression within oncology studies. The third presentation provided an update on new research into the effects of light on mouse behaviour and welfare.Triggered: the epidemiology of male mouse aggressionBrianna Gaskill, Novartis, USAMice are a social species and guidelines for laboratory animal housing in the UK, EU and USA all recommend social housing for mice. However, excessive aggression in laboratory mice is widespread and injuries from ﬁghting are a common cause of premature death.6,7 High levels of aggression can also destabilise dominance hierarchies, induce immune suppression, cause poor overall welfare and lead to undesirable variation in data, all major issues for both animal welfare and the quality of the science.Aggression is not a straightforward topic – there seem to be many factors that can contribute to it and understanding these factors is complex. An epidemiological approach can be a powerful way to address these complex problems. It involves using the natural variation in a population of mice to look at how different risk factors contribute to problems like aggressive behaviour, in a way that would be impossible to control for in a single experiment. We examined controlled studies in the literature to identify potential risk factors which might trigger aggression. We then documented these variables in all of the mice and cages we observed – for example, genetic differences in aggression are widely reported, so we tested the effect of this by documenting the strain of the mice we observed.8 Other key triggers or potential triggers include the number of mice in the cage, husbandry factors such as cage type and bedding, the type of ear identiﬁcation method, other potentially painful procedures, temperature, humidity, time of year, the presence of different enrichments, row height and the orientation of the cage to the wall as a way of measuring different levels of human trafﬁc.9–12 To collect our data, we surveyed mouse cages at a research institution. We selected rooms to maximise variability of the data, then randomly selected racks within the room and visually assessed each cage within that rack. We recorded data for all the variables mentioned above, examined each cage individually and then observed the entire rack for ﬁve minutes after all the cages had been assessed. We designated cages as ‘ﬁghting’ if we observed bouts of ﬁghting behaviour and also looked for characteristic lesions on the rump, tail and tail base.Of the 2679 cages we observed, 841 contained group-housed males, which were used as our ﬁnal dataset. Fighting was observed in 116 of these (13.8%).We found that husbandry conditions had the single biggest effect: IVC cages containing corncob bedding had signiﬁcantly higher levels of aggression than static Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meeting

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89August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareReport of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meetingcages containing woodchip bedding. Unfortunately, we were unable to tease apart these effects further. Genetics also had an effect, with C57BL/6 mice showing higher levels than Swiss mice or other background types. C57BL/6 mice had much higher levels of aggression than expected, as they were similar to FVB mice, a strain which is generally considered highly aggressive. Another factor that affected aggression was cage location, we found that aggression was higher in cages at the top of the rack than at the bottom and, those housed in racks parallel to the wall over those that were perpendicular. Finally, aggression was found to be seasonal, peaking in the summer months.Despite having been chosen due to reported studies suggesting these factors can affect aggression, we did not ﬁnd any evidence that aggression was affected by temperature, humidity, the number of mice in the cage, enrichment presence or type, surgery or the use of ear punches over tail tattooing for identiﬁcation.Surprisingly, the presence of ﬁght wounds was not a good indicator of ﬁghting, wounds were observed in only 16 of the 116 ‘ﬁghting’ cages (13.8%) which suggests that staff might need to undertake more direct observation to get a better understanding of the prevalence of ﬁghting. Other ways in which staff can implement changes based on these results may be limited - we cannot do much about genetics, row height or the time of year. However, knowing which cages are more likely to be at risk can help staff monitor aggression more effectively and housing systems, bedding and rack orientation may be changeable. Overall, the single most important predictor of aggression was housing (IVC+Corncob). Controlled studies will be needed in future to further tease out these effects and to follow up on the other results of this study but this highlights why changes in husbandry and housing must be done carefully with appropriate monitoring and should be backed up by evidence.Recognising male mouse aggression and reducing the incidence and impact of ﬁghting on oncology studiesKate Shenton, AstraZeneca, UKMale mouse aggression is a common problem in laboratory environments. Aggression can cause injury, stress and anxiety and, can mean individuals are prevented from accessing resources like food and water, leading to reduced bodyweight and dehydration. This can lead to signiﬁcant effects on data variability, as a stressed mouse is not a normal mouse and this variability may be wrongly attributed to study effects if the aggression is not identiﬁed. Fighting can also lead to mice being killed (by other mice) or euthanised (for welfare reasons due to ﬁght injuries) and thus the data from these mice can be lost. Aggression can also be stressful and distressing for staff working with male mice, especially as it may be difﬁcult to make decisions over whether to separate mice, who to separate and when to separate them. Managing aggressive mice also takes time, which can increase the pressure on staff. To help minimise the incidence and impact of ﬁghting, on our mice and on the studies they are used in, we have developed guidelines for working with male mice. These are based on recognised actions that help avoid known triggers for ﬁghting, based on our pooled experiences and the published literature. They include having male-only housing rooms and procedure areas, placing food on the cage ﬂoor to minimise food guarding, additional nesting materials, cleaning gloves between cages and using reﬁned handling techniques like tunnel handling. We have noted some observations which may reduce aggression but need to be investigated further, such as aggression being lower in quieter rooms. We’ve also developed a host of resources to assist staff making decisions on housing, such as posters and booklets which cover both physical and behavioural indicators and consider strain differences and possible study effects. We have found that using our single-housing record to record the incidence of aggression is invaluable for monitoring aggression. If a mouse is singly housed for any reason, the reason for separation and any further details like sex and strain are added to the sheet. This allows patterns to be seen and the extent of single housing in our facility to be easily accessed, including information on injuries and behaviours observed. The information is also accessible to scientists so they can see what has happened to the mice in their studies.Another approach we have used to reduce aggression was to make changes to one of our standard protocols for oncology studies. In this protocol, mice are implanted with tumour cells and the tumours are allowed to grow for a time (referred to as the select phase). The mice are then randomly allocated to study groups according to tumour volume to avoid bias. This randomisation process meant that mice were being mixed across cages which led to more ﬁghting due to the disruption of stable social hierarchies. This was sometimes made worse because some mice were in the select phase for quite a long time and so were more mature when they were allocated to studies and more prone to ﬁghting. With this design, it was not unusual to have to separate out 30-50% of the cages involved in a study. This observation of an increase in ﬁghting was supported by our use of the single housing record, so we knew this was not just based on a perception. To address this issue, we took a whole-establishment approach, working with scientists, personal and project licence holders, our Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) and a statistician. Our discussions led us to trial a

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90Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020new approach to randomisation, in which mice are still randomised on a statistical basis by tumour volume, but are recruited to groups within their home cages, keeping the hierarchy stable. Although some ﬁghting leading to separation remained, this was vastly reduced (down to 0-5% of cages) and was almost always where one mouse in a cage of three was not recruited to a study, so the number of mice in the cage went from three to two, disrupting the hierarchy. We found that this approach was much less stressful for the mice and the change still allowed the scientiﬁc aims of the study to be achieved. In conclusion, our experience is that you are almost certainly going to see aggression if you work with male mice, so strategies need to be put in place to address this issue. With this in mind, we have further work planned which includes the development of a new app tool to make the process of box randomisation easier, accessible to all and applicable to all study types. We also have recruited a global male aggression team to keep driving progress, collect data and share information. Continuing to record as much data as possible and communicating about this data, are both vital elements of our ongoing work to assess, learn and improve the management of male mice.Effects of light on home cage activity and mouse behaviourStuart N. PeirsonSleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute (SCNi), Nufﬁeld Department of Clinical Neuroscience (NDCN), University of Oxford, UKMice are widely used in vision research and as a result we know a huge amount about the mouse visual system. For example, whilst the human retina is dominated by cones (photoreceptive cells responsible for colour vision) and has a cone-rich central region called the fovea, the mouse retina is dominated by rods (photoreceptive cells which detect low light) and has no fovea. This means that mice have much lower visual acuity than humans (in human terms they would be considered legally blind) and are more sensitive to low light. In addition, as mice lack a long-wavelength sensitive cone (L-cone) they have different sensitivity to colour and are much less sensitive to red light than humans (although this does not mean that mice cannot see red light). Research on the mouse visual system has also led to many advances in our understanding of the roles of the eye.The eye performs two general functions, it allows us to form images of the world around us which gives us our overall sense of sight and it allows us to detect the brightness of our environment. This latter function is very important for the regulation of circadian rhythms – the rhythmic changes in behaviour and physiology which happen over a roughly 24-hour period.13 These rhythms enable animals to anticipate and exploit regular changes in their environment. Circadian rhythms persist even in constant darkness, so we know that they are generated by an internal biological ‘clock’ but this biological clock is not exactly 24 hours, it has to be ‘set’ (entrained) to the environment by light. However even mice genetically altered to have no circadian clock show changes in activity under a light-dark cycle. This means that measuring activity under a light-dark cycle is not the same as measuring circadian rhythms because changes in activity can also be directly induced or suppressed by the action of light.Much of what we know about circadian rhythms and how they are affected by light, has been learned from studying mice. This is typically done by looking at wheel-running behaviour in the home cage. For example, if mice are kept in constant darkness, the onset of their wheel-running activity will drift earlier because the clock is no longer entrained. However exposing the mice to just 15 minutes of light at the beginning of the night is enough to delay the circadian clock and the onset of activity. By contrast, light exposure later in the night can advance the onset of activity.14 These effects are called phase shifts and we can use these responses to measure how the circadian clock responds to different light conditions. The size of the phase shift depends on both light intensity (brighter means a bigger phase shift) and wavelength (colour) with mice still showing circadian responses to red light, although they are less sensitive to it than other wavelengths of light. Even mice without ‘classical’ photoreceptors (rods and cones) show responses to light in this way. an observation that led to the discovery of another photoreceptor in the eye. These are intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells - cells which express a blue-light sensitive pigment called melanopsin and form a photoreceptive network across the retina, detecting light to entrain circadian rhythms.15 However mice which do not express melanopsin also show phase-shift responses which shows that under normal conditions circadian rhythms are regulated by a combination of light inputs from rods and cones into melanopsin-expressing cells.16We have recently been working in collaboration with Tecniplast on the effects of cage position and cage ﬁltering on light and activity. We have measured the light levels in both standard green line Individually Ventilated Cages (IVCs) and red cages across the rack, and found that light levels are much lower in the red cages and are lower in cages at the bottom of the rack than those at the top.17 We have also measured activity over seven days in different positions in the IVC rack. Our results show that mice in red cages are still clearly detecting the light as they are still showing nocturnal behaviour patterns, but their activity levels are blunted. We have also found that the onset of activity is much earlier in Report of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meeting

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91August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareReport of the 2021 RSPCA/UFAW Rodent Welfare Group Meetinga red cage than in a standard IVC cage and that mice in red cages show more activity during the light phase when animals are normally inactive or asleep.A ﬁnal piece of work we have recently carried out has been to look at whether mice want access to light. Mice have typically been regarded as photophobic so we tested this using an operant sensation seeking task. In this task, mice were placed in a test arena containing a lever which, when pressed, would turn on a light (Tam et al, in preparation). We found that mice placed in the arena would quickly learn this task, even though there was no reward associated with pressing the lever. This shows that mice do value having some access to light and ﬁnd it rewarding and in future it may be possible to train mice using this kind of stimulus as the reward.Action Points from Session 2– If working with male mice, familiarise yourself with known triggers for ﬁghting so that these can be minimised and be aware of indicators for ﬁghting or unrest in a cage.– Consider the use of a recording system which is accessible to all staff and researchers for keeping track of mice that have to be separated so that you can look for patterns and all staff and researchers are aware of what has happened to each mouse.– If you suspect male mouse aggression in your facility, you may need to undertake some direct observation, as ﬁght wounds may be a poor indicator of ﬁghting prevalence.– Housing and husbandry conditions can be a trigger for male mouse aggression, so any changes to these should be done carefully with appropriate monitoring over the course of the change. – Be aware that mice can see in red light, contrary to some misconceptions, that light exposure can affect activity patterns in mice, and that mice are not entirely photophobic – in fact, they will work for access to light.References1 Lidster K., Owen K., Browne W.J. and Prescott M.J. (2019). Cage aggression in group-housed laboratory male mice: an international data crowdsourcing project. Scientiﬁc Reports, Vol. 9, 15211.2 Cloutier S., LaFollette M.R., Gaskill B.N., Panksepp J. & Newberry R.C. (2018). Tickling, a Technique for Inducing Positive Affect When Handling Rats. Journal of Visualized Experiments, Vol. 135, e57190.3 LaFollette M.R., Riley M.C., Cloutier S. et al. (2020). Laboratory Animal Welfare Meets Human Welfare: A Cross-Sectional Study of Professional Quality of Life, Including Compassion Fatigue in Laboratory Animal Personnel. Frontiers in Veterinary Science, Vol. 7, 114.4 Bloomsmith M.A., Brent L.Y. and Schapiro S.J. (1991). Guidelines for developing and managing an environmental enrichment program for nonhuman primates. Laboratory Animal Science, Vol. 41, 372–377.5 Coleman K., Weed J.L. and Schapiro S.J. (2017). Psychological Environmental Enrichment of Animals in Research. In Animal Models for the Study of Human Disease (Second Edition) (Conn P.M., ed.), pp. 47–69. Academic Press.6 Weber E.M., Dallaire J.A., Gaskill B.N., Pritchett-Corning K.R. and Garner J.P. (2017). Aggression in group-housed laboratory mice: why can’t we solve the problem? Lab animal, Vol. 46, 157–161.7 Theil J.H., Ahloy-Dallaire J., Weber E.M. et al. (2020). The epidemiology of ﬁghting in group-housed laboratory mice. Scientiﬁc Reports, Vol. 10, 16649.8 Gaskill B.N., Stottler A.M., Garner J.P. et al. (2017). The effect of early life experience, environment, and genetic factors on spontaneous home-cage aggression-related wounding in male C57BL/6 mice. Lab animal, Vol. 46, 176–184.9 Greenberg, G. (1972). The effects of ambient temperature and population density on aggression in two inbred strains of mice, Mus musculus. Behaviour, Vol. 42, 119–130.10 Van Loo P.L.P., Kruitwagen C.L.J.J., Van Zutphen L.F.M., Koolhaas J.M. and Baumans V. (2000). Modulation of Aggression in Male Mice: Inﬂuence of Cage Cleaning Regime and Scent Marks. Animal Welfare, Vol. 9, 281–295.11 Baumans V., Schlingmann F., Vonck M. and van Lith H.A. (2002). Individually ventilated cages: beneﬁcial for mice and men? Contemporary topics in laboratory animal science / American Association for Laboratory Animal Science, Vol. 41, 13–19.12 Howerton C.L., Garner J.P. and Mench J.A. (2008). Effects of a running wheel-igloo enrichment on aggression, hierarchy linearity, and stereotypy in group-housed male CD-1 (ICR) mice. Applied animal behaviour science, Vol. 115, 90–103.13 Bell-Pedersen D., Cassone V.M., Earnest D.J. et al. (2005). Circadian rhythms from multiple oscillators: lessons from diverse organisms. Nature reviews. Genetics, Vol. 6, 544–556.14 Yoshimura T. and Ebihara S. (1996). Spectral sensitivity of photoreceptors mediating phase-shifts of circadian rhythms in retinally degenerate CBA/J (rd/rd) and normal CBA/N (+/+) mice. Journal of Comparative Physiology A, Vol. 178, 797–802.15 Hattar S., Lucas R.J., Mrosovsky N. et al. (2003). Melanopsin and rod-cone photoreceptive systems account for all major accessory visual functions in mice. Nature, Vol. 424, 76–81.16 Tam S.K.E., Brown L.A., Wilson T.S. et al. (2021). Dim light in the evening causes coordinated realignment of circadian rhythms, sleep, and short-term memory. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Vol. 118.17 Steel L.C.E., Tir S., Tam S.K.E. et al. (2022). Effects of Cage Position and Light Transmission on Home Cage Activity and Circadian Entrainment in Mice. Frontiers in Neuroscience, Vol. 15.

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92Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Abstract Within most animal research facilities there will be occasions when a project Standard Condition 18 report needs to be submitted if the severity limits speciﬁed in the licence or other controls stated have been or are likely to be breached. For example, breaches may occur if a new transgenic line exhibits an unknown phenotype that was not accounted for in the Project Licence (PPL) or if death has unexpectedly occurred as a direct result of a scientiﬁc procedure.Adverse effects are often experienced in research studies but at the time of publishing the results, they are rarely mentioned. The ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0,1 recommend detailing scientiﬁc implications of a study, including adverse effects but this is not part of the Essential 10 areas that should be covered in a publication. By sharing the unexpected adverse events more widely in the research community there is the opportunity to reﬁne techniques, thereby reducing the number of animals used and the potential pain, distress and lasting harm they may experience.This paper will address how research facilities could encourage the research community to share the unexpected adverse events they have encountered and how they overcame them to successfully meet the scientiﬁc aims and objectives of their research.Keywords: adverse effects, ARRIVE guidelines, reﬁnement, reduceIntroductionWhen considering adverse effects it is important to understand when they go from being an expected adverse effect to unexpected. The Animals in Science Regulation Unit (ASRU),2 recognises that during the course of research unexpected adverse effects may occur in the following situations:– An unanticipated source of pain, suffering, distress or lasting harm.– Not included in the harm beneﬁt analysis that underpins the project licence.– Animals undergoing procedures are found dead as a consequence of those procedures.– Mortality is not an authorised adverse effect in the relevant protocol. However there are situations where death is an authorised adverse effect and an example of this is myocardial infarction studies where is typically a 20% mortality rate. A Project Licence (PPL) Standard Condition 18 (SC18)3 requires the PPL holder to notify the Secretary of State if constraints on severity or observance of other controls as described in the PPL have been breached or are likely to be. Situations resulting in a SC18 notiﬁcation being completed range from mild behavioural abnormalities to death. The following questions need to be considered when deciding if a PPL SC18 notiﬁcation is required:– Is an animal experiencing adverse effects due to the regulated procedures being carried out?– Where the adverse effects observed speciﬁed in the PPL or are they truly unexpected?– Are the adverse effects exceeding the severity limit of the protocol or are they likely to?An informed decision needs to be made based on the knowledge of what an animal is known to have The adverse affect of adverse effectsCLAIRE PEARCE Biological Services, King’s College London, Hodgkin Building, Guy’s Campus, London, SE1 1UL UK Correspondence: Claire.pearce@kcl.ac.uk Based on a IAT Congress 22, Stephen Barnett First Time Presenters’ Session presentationAnimal Technology and Welfare August 2022

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93August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareThe Adverse affect of Adverse Effectsexperienced or likely to experience and consider what actions will be taken by those responsible for the animal. Protocols within PPLs have an overall severity limit ranging from non-recovery to severe. Examples of unexpected adverse effects and how these severities have been breached at KCL are:– Mild – Mice treated with a cannabinoid-related drug appeared to be sluggish and hypoactive approximately 1-hour post-dosing. The severity for this protocol was not a concern but the adverse effects observed had not been listed within the protocol.– Moderate – Mice were dosed with a carcinogen (4-NQO) in their drinking water for 16 weeks before reverting to standard water for a further 8 weeks. The mice experienced rapid weight loss, were cold to touch and in a moribund state. The severity of this protocol risked being breached with the adverse effects leaning towards severe severity. The adverse effects noted where not stated in the protocol.– Severe – Rats administered a single intraperitoneal dose of DSP-4 toxin as part of a study looking at the induction of cancer pain. Death was not an authorised adverse effect and was not necessary had there been adequate understanding and control of the adverse effects. Project licences detail the expected adverse effects that may occur during a speciﬁc protocol and these can be general in terms of the animals’ overall appearance and condition, or they can be more speciﬁc and provide information on how likely the adverse effects are to happen. Protocols in Project Licences clearly state the expected adverse effects that may occur due to the procedure being carried out on animals but there are instances where unexpected adverse effect can occur. In some cases, it may be possible with reﬁnements to overcome these events and for the study to reach completion with the objectives being achieved. The objectives of the present study are outlined below:– To demonstrate platforms currently available that could be used for sharing unexpected adverse effects.– To gather information regarding why the research community do not typically report unexpected adverse effects.– To ﬁnd an effective way to disseminate information relating to unexpected adverse effects.– To show the need for openness around unexpected adverse effects within journal publications.By achieving these objectives, Animal Welfare might be positively impacted by preventing unnecessary pain, suffering and lasting harm. MethodA key objective during this project was to ﬁnd an effective way to disseminate information regarding unexpected adverse effects to research communities. To be able to do this it was important to reach out to the research community at King’s College London to identify if they actively detailed unexpected events in their publications and what would cause them to not detail this information. In the ﬁrst instance a short anonymous questionnaire via Microsoft Forms was created for PPL holders to complete.1. Have you experienced any unexpected adverse effects during an experiment that involved regulated procedures on an animal?2. Have you submitted a Standard Condition 18 report to ASRU due to unexpected adverse effects?3. If you have experienced adverse effects, did you include them in any associated publications?4. Would you publish unexpected effects in any future publications? The questionnaire was sent to all active PPL holders at King’s. It was important that the questionnaire was anonymous to encourage PPL holders to provide honest and provide accurate feedback relating to unexpected adverse effects. Questions 1-3 were single answer questions. Question 4 required a long answer, and all participants were required to answer Question 4 regardless of whether they had experienced unexpected adverse effects. ResultsThe graph overleaf details the responses collected from the anonymous PPL questionnaire. It was important to ﬁnd out whether the research community would publish unexpected adverse effects moving forward. This question provided great insight into the reasons why they would or would not publish this these details. Limited word counts and publishers requiring manuscripts to be streamlined prevented researchers from publishing adverse effects. Other researchers would only publish the adverse effects if they felt they directly related to the animal model or experiment. Another interesting response explained they would not include adverse effects because it did not ﬁt the aim of the paper and the information was already available. They did not mention if they had looked at reﬁning the procedure to prevent the adverse effects from occurring or whether they had implemented any interventions.

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94Animal Technology and Welfare August 20208 ResultsThe graph below details the responses collected from the anonymous PPL questionnaire. Graph 1. KCL Research Community Feedback on the Reporting of Adverse Effect. It was important to find out whether the research community would publish unexpected adverse effects moving forward. This question provided great insight into the reasons why they would or would not publish this these details. Limited word counts and publishers requiring manuscripts to be streamlined prevented researchers from publishing adverse effects. Other researchers would only publish the adverse effects if they felt they directly related to the animal model or experiment. Another interesting response explained they would not 542891102468101214Have you experienced anyunexpected adverse effectsduring an experiment thatinvolved regulated procedureson an animal?Have you submitted a StandardCondition 18 report to ASRUdue to unexpected adverseeffects?If you have experiencedunexpected adverse effects didyou include them in anyassociated publications?NO. OF RESPONDENTSKCL Research Community Feedback on KCL Research Community Feedback on the Reporting of Adverse EffectYes NoGraph 1. KCL Research Community Feedback on the Reporting of Adverse Effect. Figure 1.Examples of responses from questionnaire.Would you publish unexpected effects in any future publications? Please answer even if you responded no to Q1-3.Possibly yes.Great question. Not sure - often there are very restrictive word limits etc, and manuscripts have to be very streamlined. I think if it was relevant to the main point of the paper then yes, otherwise probably no. But maybe we should!Yes, if I felt they were directly related to the model or experiment in question and may be important for other researchers to know. I have previously reported special diet modiﬁ cations used to help improve outcomes in disease models.Yes, included in publication to inform future studies and wider community. There was no need to report as rats were carefully monitored and culled immediately. The issue was discussed with the NVS internally.Yes, if I thought it would advance our scientiﬁ c understanding. Slightly depends on what the adverse effect was and how “preventable” it would be in the future. So, if it was just one animal and for example, something unfortunate happened during surgery that I thought was unlikely to happen to others, then I probably wouldn’t, although may mention it in a “protocols chapter”. However, if it affected several animals and could be prevented easily then I would deﬁ nitely mention it. The adverse events we encountered were linked to original set up of a new surgical technique, not due to the treatment we wanted to eventually test in our project. Any adverse event directly related to the test treatment would of course be reported in any publication of our data.I feel like it might depend on whether the adverse event is at all relevant to the procedure. I think I would, in the Methodology section. Good luck with the research!It depends on what the adverse effects were – whether related to the procedure or welfare of animals.We have not written these experiments up for publication because of the unexpected effects, which led us to halt the trial of the drug.No. this would not ﬁ t the aim of the paper. Also, the there was some literature that has previously reported and discussed the unexpected adverse effect.Yes, if relevant to topic and publication.Yes.The Adverse affect of Adverse Effects

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95August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareDiscussionFollowing recent ﬁndings relating to adverse effects at King’s College London, it has become evident that adverse effects are rarely included in publications where animals are used in research. This study therefore aimed to explore the platforms currently available for sharing unexpected adverse effects, reasons why adverse effects may not be reported by researchers, effective means of disseminating information and how to create better openness around this subject.This study found that there are various factors that prevent and/or inhibit the author from including details relating to animal care and monitoring and interpretation/scientiﬁc implications. Researchers had mentioned the requirements of the publishers and how this can impact what is included in publications. General searches of publications that include the use of animals in research do not mention the expected or unexpected adverse effects. Could this lack of inclusion be due to manuscript requirements and the lack of adherence to the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0.?2 It was important to assess what different publishers require on submission. Looking at three publishers it was evident there is inconsistency in this area. The British Journal of Pharmacology (BJP),4 submission requirements are very thorough and detailed. BJP speciﬁcally reference the adherence to the ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0.1 Authors must provide a scientiﬁc justiﬁcation for the animal species and model used for each study. An ethical statement for experimentation must be provided that is recognised worldwide. Inclusion of animal welfare assessments and interventions carried out during the course of the study are a requirement. Nature Scientiﬁc,5 requires the use of animals to be reported in accordance with the ARRIVE guidelines 2.0.1 However Nature Medicine,6 does not state that the animals used in research must be included but they do encourage the use of their protocol exchange system where researchers can deposit their tested protocols for others to use when replicating studies. Lastly eLife,7 Sciences also require ethical approval during the submission stage but does not require details of animal welfare or interventions that may have occurred. With the pandemic halting research for several months, KCL planned for research to restart on campus in July 2020 as restrictions began to ease. To enable this study plans were implemented. Study plans details the PPL and protocol steps being carried out and the known adverse effects that the animals may experience as well as the endpoints. Study plans are completed by the PPL holder or Personal Licence holder (PIL) and are submitted to the Deputy Director of Biological Services. This ensures the individual carrying out the study has the appropriate competencies and the plan of work is covered by the PPL. Following this the study plan is sent to the Named Animal Care and Welfare Ofﬁcer (NACWO) of the relevant facility for ﬁnal approval. Study plans are widely accessible by all animal care staff and the implementation of them has allowed for unexpected adverse effects to be more easily detected. When unexpected adverse effects have occurred these are discussed with the researchers, NACWO, Deputy Director and the Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) and a Home Ofﬁce Inspector, if necessary, to assess why they have occurred and what can be done to move forward in a positive direction. The ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0, are a great driving force in improving the reporting of animals used in research. The original guidelines have been reviewed since they were published in 2010 and the checklist has been updated with the classiﬁed items placed into two sets, the Essential 10 and the Recommended Set.1 Despite the improvement in the guidelines there is division between the Essential 10 and the Recommended set. While some publishers do adhere to the guidelines, particularly the Essential 10 there is a lack of inclusion of topics included within the Recommended Set which includes the adverse effects, interventions, welfare assessments and additional monitoring. In December 2021 ARRIVE published a series of actions for Universities, Journals and Funders. The Action Plans,8 encourage activities that organisations can undertake to implement the guidelines into their policies and procedures. The Action Plan for Universities8 includes three key actions for raising awareness and adherence to the guidelines. They include ensuring the institute has a public statement on its website endorsing the use of the guidelines, promoting the resources provided by the NC3Rs.9 The NC3Rs’ website is a great tool for new and updated resources that can be fed back to the research community and technicians. Lastly discussing SC18s,3 at Animal Welfare & Ethical Review Bodies (AWERBs) and the issues that arose and how they were dealt with. The Knowledge Hub is facilitated via the Animals in Science Committee (ASC).10 The knowledge hub is a great tool for AWERB members to connect while promoting best practice for animal use in science and supporting a positive culture of care to all aspects of animal welfare. Due to the information that may be shared the knowledge hub operates on a private platform and access is invite only. Unfortunately, this is a tool that is not well known within the research community and currently only has 115 members within the UK.At KCL change has started locally with the implementation of study plans which has provided greater understanding of the research for managers and technicians while also highlighting the expected adverse effects, it brings into focus the unexpected when they do occur. Ensuring SC18s are discussed during AWERB meetings to share knowledge with the committee. To be able to facilitate The Adverse affect of Adverse Effects

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96Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020change we plan to create an adverse effect repository to capture unexpected adverse effects and events occurring across the whole of Biological Services and enabling change within our Establishment. At a national level further adherence to the guidelines from publishers is needed and further inclusion of topics within the Recommended Set that clearly explain the animal experience, adverse effects and additional monitoring regimes. AWERB members should be encouraged to become members of the Knowledge Hub and share interventions, monitoring regimes and welfare assessments put in place to achieve the project aims and objectives. Lastly taking change to an international level we have the publishing of papers in worldwide journals and attending international conferences to not only learn but to share experiences.In conclusion, this study has found that publishers requirements often inﬂuence whether adverse effects, welfare assessments and interventions are included in paper submissions. This is often caused by word limits and the need for the paper to be streamlined. Other factors include whether the researcher considers the inclusion of this information relevant to other researchers and whether the adverse effects experienced could be prevented. Greater awareness of both the unexpected and expected adverse effects are needed to prevent other research groups from experiencing the same issues and animals potentially experiencing unnecessary pain, distress, and lasting harm. There are occasions where adverse effects can be overcome by implementing welfare assessments and interventions and it is this information that should be more widely available to the research community. By shining the light on this important topic, it is hoped that other institutions will begin to share adverse effects experienced internally and for publishers to see the positive impact sharing this information will have on the research community. AcknowledgementsSpecial thank you to my colleagues, especially Dr Julie Keeble, Deputy Director of Biological Services at King’s College London for her guidance and encouragement and the Management Team for their ongoing support. Our team of animal care staff who are at the forefront of the work and the ones initially noticing the adverse effects occurring. The PPL holders who took the time to complete the survey and provide an insight into publishing adverse effects and the PIL holders I work with daily to ensure the highest level of Animal Welfare.References1 ARRIVE Guidelines https://arriveguidelines.org 2 ASRU https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/animals-in-science-regulation-unit 3 Project Licence: Standard Conditions https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/project-establishment-licence 4 British Pharmacological Society https://bpspubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/14765381/author-guidelines.html5 Nature Science https://www.nature.com/nm/submission-guidelines/preparing-your-submission6 Nature https://www.nature.com/nm/submission-guidelines/preparing-your-submission 7 eLife Sciences https://reviewer.elifesciences.org/author-guide/initial 8 ARRIVE Action Plans https://arriveguidelines.org/resources/action-plans9 NC3Rs https://www.nc3rs.org.uk 10 Animals in Science Committee https://www.gov.uk/ government/organisations/animals-in-science-committee11 Percie du Sert, N, Hurst, V, et al. (2020). The ARRIVE guidelines 2.0: Updated guidelines for reporting animal research. PLOS Biology, 18(7), p.e3000410.The Adverse affect of Adverse Effects

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97August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2022 Animal Technology and WelfareAbstractDeafness is perceived by many in the workplace to be a barrier to employment. The imagined inability of a person with hearing loss to be able to communicate with hearing colleagues causes concern and deters managers from employing new staff who may be deaf. The enactment of the British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022 has raised the awareness of the need for effective communication between the deaf and hearing.Regular Deaf Awareness training and consultations with employees who have identiﬁed themselves as having hearing loss can overcome this barrier. Employers and colleagues must not assume that they know what is best for the deaf person. Some knowledge and patience are all that is required. Keywords: employment, deaf, hearing loss, deaf awareness IntroductionDeafness is the third most common disability in the world but you probably would not spot a Deaf/deaf person in a crowd. The recent publicity around British Sign Language Act 2022,1 has raised the awareness of the need for Deaf Awareness in all areas of everyday life but particularly in the workplace. The BSL Act 2022 received its Royal Assent in April 2022, and passed into law on the 28th June 2022. Although the numbers of the Deaf Community working within the Biomedical Research industry and who rely on BSL will be limited, the ﬁgures for deaf and hard of hearing employees will be much higher. To enable everyone to work more comfortably and productively and because people encountered in everyday life may be suffering from hearing loss, all employers should instigate a programme of Deaf Awareness Training. The impact of hearing loss at workBeing deaf or having hearing loss should not be a barrier to applying for and excelling in most jobs. However, when employers lack understanding about hearing loss and do not offer support, employees get both left out and left behind.The Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID)research,2 shows that more than half of people who are deaf or have hearing loss have felt that they have been treated unfairly at work and experienced teasing and mocking from their colleagues. RNID also found:– 7 in 10 said colleagues have not communicated effectively with them.– 60% had retired early and, of those people, 56% said that this was related to their hearing loss.The RNID 2018 survey of people with hearing loss shows that when managers and colleagues lack empathy and understanding it can lead to exclusion from social conversations in the workplace, isolation, stress and bullying. We also found that employees who are not supported to manage their hearing loss in the workplace can have fewer opportunities for promotion and are more likely to retire early due to the difﬁculties they face at work.According to this same research, concerns about employer attitudes towards hearing loss result in 54% of employees choosing not to tell their employer about their hearing difﬁculties which further distances staff from the support they need to reach their potential. When will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace GEORGE RAGGETT and JASMINE BARLEY Wiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association, 25 Portman Road, Bournemouth BH7 6EU UK Correspondence: admin@wdda.co.uk

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98Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020What is Deaf Awareness? Deaf Awareness is about promoting the positive aspects of deafness and social inclusion. When access and communications are good, deafness ceases to be a barrier to anything in life. Deaf Awareness is important, at its most fundamental level it facilitates a bridge between hearing and deaf people. Indeed, concentrated efforts to champion and utilise inclusivity will create a more diverse and open society and workplace. How do you know if someone is deaf? They may use sign language, or seem to ignore you, mishear you or repeatedly ask you to repeat things or to speak up. They may wear hearing aids, be accompanied by a Hearing Dog for deaf people (dogs wear dark red jackets with the Hearing Dog logo).3How deaf are you?Based on British Society of Audiology deﬁ nitions of hearing loss,4 this is the decibel hearing level range which each of these levels of deafness refer to:• mild (21–40 dB)• moderate (41–70 dB)• severe (71–95 dB)• profound (95 dB).All sounds are made up of different frequencies, measured in Hertz (Hz). The frequency of a sound affects the pitch that it is heard at. For example, the high notes on the right-hand side of a piano keyboard are examples of high-frequency sounds. It is possible to have the same level of deafness for all frequencies or to have different hearing levels at different frequencies. For example, someone may have more difﬁculty hearing higher frequency sounds.Speech consists of vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and consonants (the remaining letters), are made up of a range of frequencies.Consonants communicate most of the information when a person speaks and they are also what make speech intelligible and appear in the higher frequencies. Some Statistics The UK Census shows the UK population to be approximately 87 million,5-7 amongst this number thereare approximately 12 million people with varying degreesof hearing loss, which is 1:6 of the population.8Sources of information vary in the number of people who use BSL as a ﬁ rst language but estimates give the ﬁ gure at between 50-70,000. However, of the 12 million, 150,000 are classed as deafened (becoming profoundly deaf after learning a spoken language). Figure 1.A hearing Dog with his deaf friend. 6 Figure 1. A hearing Dog with his deaf friend. How deaf are you? Based on British Society of Audiology definitions of hearing loss,4 this is the decibel hearing level range each of these levels of deafness refer to: • mild (21–40 dB) • moderate (41–70 dB) • severe (71–95 dB) • profound (95 dB). When will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace

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99August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareWhen will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace There are also 24,000 people who are registered Deafblind but who are unlikely to have a profound dual loss, They may use a communicator guide for hands-on Block and Deafblind Manual Alphabet (DMA),9,10 451,211 people have a dual sensory loss and were born deaf and visually impaired and who may use Hands on BSL or Visual Frame signing.11,12What is British Sign Language?British Sign Language (BSL) is a visual means of communicating using gestures, facial expression and body language. Sign Language is used mainly by people who are Deaf or have hearing loss.BSL has its own grammatical structure and syntax, as a language it is not dependent nor is it strongly related to spoken English. For example, the syntax of BSL is different to English. In English someone would ask “What’s your name?”. In BSL the question would be “Name you what?”. This is described as a subject, object, verb syntax. BSL is the preferred language of the Deaf community. Signs in BSL may be regional just as English dialects are regional. BSL was recognised by the UK government as an ofﬁ cial minority language in 2003. Sign Supported English (SSE) Another form of signing used in Britain is known as Sign Supported English (SSE). SSE is not a language in its own right; it uses the same signs as BSL but they use the same syntax as spoken English. SSE is used to support spoken English especially within schools where children with hearing loss are learning English grammar alongside their signing or by deaf people who mix mainly with the hearing community. FingerspellingFingerspelling (or dactylology) is the representation of the letters and numerals of a language using the hands. There are many manual alphabets around the world, some using two hands as in BSL and others just with one hand. In BSL ﬁ ngerspelling is used to spell names with either syllables being pronounced silently as the word is spelt or the whole word is pronounced again silently at the end of the ﬁ nger spelling. British Sign Language Act 2022The British Sign Language Bill was introduced to the House of Commons by Rosie Cooper MP,13 and is now ofﬁ cially titled the British Sign Language Act 2022.*The bill has three main clauses:– Clause 1 provides legal recognition for British Sign Language (BSL) as a language of England, Wales and Scotland, – Clause 2 requires government to prepare and publishBSL reports, describing what the departments have done to promote the use of BSL in their communications with the public. The ﬁ rst of these should be published by 30 April 2023. Subsequent reports should be published at least once every three years.– Clause 3 requires the government to arrange for guidance to be published on how to promote and facilitate the use of BSL. This guidance could, for example, include advice for government departments on best practice for communicating with BSL users.BSL has been recognised as an ofﬁ cial language since 2003 but until now has not had the same legal status as other endemic British languages i.e. Welsh, Cornish, and Scottish Gaelic. The only UK region to have given full legal recognition to any form of sign language is Scotland, which gave BSL full support under the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015.14 In Northern Ireland, people have the option to use Irish Sign Language (ISL) which has the same status as BSL. Now that BSL is fully supported and recognised by the government, it means that ministers must promote it, as well as “facilitate the promotion, understanding, and use” of the language.The provisions of the Act include:– Recognising BSL as an ofﬁ cial language of the UK.– Creating a BSL Council to promote and advise on BSL and the use of BSL.– Create frameworks for the use of BSL in public services, such as healthcare.– Make it legally necessary for public bodies to abide by these frameworks and other guidelines issued by the BSL Council.– Giving the Secretary of State the duty of compiling regular reports on BSL, which must include descriptions on what each department has been doing to promote or facilitate the use of BSL when engaging with the general public.– Public announcements about policies or laws, or public health announcements, for example, must be accessible to BSL users.Based on these aims, the Act will improve access to interpreters, as well as enhance general awareness and maybe even BSL education. It may also improve access to employment for Deaf people.* BSL is already legally recognised in Scotland.

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101August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareWhen will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace Terminology The Deaf Community (Note the uppercase D)The term Deaf Community refers to the 50 – 70,000 people born profoundly deaf BSL users. They are proud of their language and culture and see themselves only as a linguistic minority. They do not feel disabled or that deafness needs a cure. They share the same experiences of schools for the Deaf, social clubs. history and culture. English is their second language, like a foreign language to them. Their command of written and spoken English may not be as good as their ability to use sign language. They get little beneﬁt from hearing aids. Hard of hearing (HOH) The vast majority (8 million) of deaf people are hard of hearing. They have some residual hearing and so most will use hearing aids to amplify sound. They will continue to communicate using spoken language and may be able to lipread. They do not associate themselves with the deaf community and will not normally use sign language.Hard of hearing people may not want to admit that they are losing their hearing because they are afraid of being stigmatised, thought to be stupid or incapable, losing their jobs or promotion prospects, thought of being old or disabled or generally being treated differently.Deafened This term is used to describe people who have become severely or profoundly deaf after learning to speak and often happens as a result of illness or an accident. Becoming deafened in adult life is a life-changing event with far-reaching consequences, not only for the deafened person, but also for their work colleagues, friends and family.Deaf-blindDeaf-blindness is a combination of sight and hearing loss that affects a person’s ability to communicate, access information and to move freely in their environment. It is also sometimes called ‘dual sensory loss’ or ‘multi-sensory impairment’. A deaf-blind person will not usually be totally deaf and totally blind but both senses will be reduced sufﬁciently to cause difﬁculties in everyday life. They may use a cane that is coloured with red/white stripes or checks and may use a communicator guide for hands on Block and Deaf-Blind manual Alphabet (DMB). If someone was born deaf and visually impaired they may use hands on BSL or Visual Frame.9.10 Unacceptable terms – Deaf and Dumb– Deaf as a post– Mutt and Jeff – Cloth Ears Causes of DeafnessThe World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by the year 2050 nearly 2.5.billion people around the globe are projected to have some degree of hearing loss and at least 700 million will require hearing rehabilitation. 15Although these causes of deafness can be encountered at different periods across the life span, individuals are most susceptible to their effects during critical periods in life. 15Prenatal Period: Genetic factors - include hereditary and non-hereditary hearing loss; intrauterine infections – such as rubella and cytomegalovirus infection. Perinatal period: Birth asphyxia (a lack of oxygen at the time of birth. Hyperbilirubinemia (severe jaundice in the neonatal period), low-birth weight, other perinatal morbidities and their management Childhood and adolescence: Chronic ear infections (chronic suppurative otitis media), collection of ﬂuid in the ear (chronic nonsuppurative otitis media), meningitis and other infectionsAdulthood and older age: Chronic diseases, smoking, otosclerosis, age-related sensorineural degeneration, sudden sensorineural hearing loss.Factors across the life span: Cerumen impaction (impacted ear wax), trauma to the ear or head, loud noise/loud sounds, ototoxic medicines, work related ototoxic chemicals, nutritional deﬁciencies, viral infections and other ear conditions, delayed onset or progressive genetic hearing loss. Noise induced hearing lossThe second biggest cause of deafness is exposure to loud noise which can be of signiﬁcance to staff within an animal facility for example noise from cage washers and other equipment. Some animals may also produce ear damaging noise in particular pigs who can produce noise well above 90 decibels when excited or frightened. Some Non-Human Primates (NHP) also produce high levels of noise.Causes of noise-induced hearing lossNoise-induced hearing loss is caused by being around very loud noises for a long time. This could include: • being in a noisy workplace • listening to loud music• loud bursts of sound, i.e. gunshot or explosions

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102Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020How to tell if sounds are too loudNoise levels are usually measured in dB(A), which is a decibel scale that mirrors the sensitivity of human ears to different levels and pitches of sound. Long exposure to sounds over 80dB(A) can damage your ears.In a real-life situation, you should be able to talk to someone who is 2 metres away without having to shout over background noise. If you cannot be heard over the background sounds, the noise levels could be hazardous. If you go somewhere where the sound level hurts your ears, you should leave.Noise-induced hearing loss preventionEmployers have a legal duty to protect your hearing under the Control of Noise at Work Regulations (2005), which protect you if you are in a noisy job. See the HSE website for details.16The regulations say that if you are exposed to loud noise at work, your employer must have noise levels assessed, and keep a record of the assessment. You will know that an assessment is needed if you have to shout to communicate with someone who is two metres away from you.If noise exposure reaches 80 decibels (dB), employers are legally bound to start taking action.If you work in a noisy environment – such as construction, manufacturing or in a music venue or if your work involves listening to loud sounds through headphones or earpieces – your employer should make sure that you have hearing protection. To prevent noise exposure, it is best to avoid loud sounds at work, at home or when you go out. There are steps you can take to protect your hearing.Hearing loss caused by exposure to loud sound is preventable.5 To reduce the risk of noise-induced hearing loss, adults and children can do the following:– Understand that noise-induced hearing loss can lead to communication difﬁculties, learning difﬁculties, pain or ringing in the ears (tinnitus), distorted or mufﬂed hearing, and an inability to hear some environmental sounds and warning signals– Identify sources of loud sounds that can contribute to hearing loss and try to reduce exposure– Adopt behaviours to protect their hearing:• avoid or limit exposure to excessively loud sounds• turn down the volume of music systems• move away from the source of loud sounds when possible• use hearing protection devices when it is not feasible to avoid exposure to loud sounds or reduce them to a safe level16 -18How can we help a deaf person? The rules for communicating face to face are the same regardless of whether the person is Deaf, deaf or hard of hearing person. Much of normal speech is not seen on the lips so words with similar sounds are difﬁcult to lipread, 80% of lipreading is guess work even for an experienced lip-reader.Exercise: Using a mirror look at yourself as you silently say the following words and see if you can see any difference in your mouth shape:Curl and Hurl, Hair and Pair. To improve understanding: – Get eye contact and face them 3-6 feet apart.– Speak slowly and clearly without exaggerating your mouth movements.– Do not cover your mouth.– Repeat what they miss or rephrase it. Use a gesture or mime. – Write letters in the air.– Write down words that are still not understood.– Draw a picture.– Use plain English so that it is easier to lip read.– Consider using a Human Aid to communication (HAC), an interpreter, lip speaker, speech to text reporter or guide to suit their needs. – Wear plain clothes and avoid accessories that may distract their attention.Making the working environment deaf friendlyProvide the best environment for communicationEffective communication requires a suitable environment with good lighting, soft furnishings to reduce vibration and a carpet (hearing aids amplify all sounds at the same levels and the sound of footsteps on an uncarpeted hard ﬂoor can sound like a series of explosions to a hearing aid wearer). Ideally a loop system should be ﬁtted in an area that can be used for conversations. Known as Audio induction loop systems, also called audio-frequency induction loops (AFILs) or hearing loops, they are an assistive listening technology for individuals with reduced ranges of hearing. Consisting of one or more physical loops of cable which are placed around a designated area, usually a room or a building. The cable generates an electromagnetic ﬁeld throughout the looped space which can be picked up by a telecoil-equipped hearing aid, a cochlear implant (CI) processor, or a specialised hand-held hearing loop receiver for individuals without telecoil-compatible hearing aids.There should be no background noise or distracting movement or smells. When will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace

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104Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020TelephonyIf both people have a text phone then they can obviously use text direct to each other. There are also apps available that will convert speech to text and many computer programmes such as PowerPoint also have this facility.Next Generation Text (NGT) is a telephone relay system where a hearing person talks and listens to the operator who types the conversation to the deaf persons’ text phone or mini com and then reads out loud the deaf persons typed reply to the hearing person. It is also possible to use Mobile messaging, between mobiles or mobile to a landline that is SMS enabled or of course email can be used. Other services such as a Video Sign relay service also sometimes known as a video interpreting service (VIS), is a video telecommunication service that allows deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired (D-HOH-SI) individuals to communicate over video telephones and similar technologies with hearing people in real-time, via a sign language interpreter. Other modern technologies such as Web cam, Skype, Zoom or instant messaging on line are alternative ways to communicate with a deaf person depending on their preference. Before making any changes to the workplace, managers and employers should consult members of staff who have identiﬁed as having hearing loss to identify speciﬁc problem areas. Instigate a Deaf Awareness training programme. Many local Deaf Associations will run training programmes which will supply ﬁrst hand experience of using lip reading, basic signs, ﬁngerspelling, etc. There are also online courses available. The Royal National Institute for the Deaf has various advice sheets which can be downloaded for free.19 Making your meeting Deaf AwareSimple steps will make a meeting more accessible for people who are deaf or have hearing loss. – Check in advance if anyone needs communication support.– Switch on any microphones and loop systems.– Arrange seats in a horseshoe shape so all attendees can see each other and identify more easily who is speaking.– Make sure anyone who has identiﬁed themselves as having hearing loss can sit without facing a window so that the sun is not shining in their face.– On a teleconference, make sure you say your name before speaking.– Use a meeting agenda to give a clear reference point for everyone to follow.– Put your hand up before speaking, so everyone can identify the speaker.– Make sure only one person is talking at a time.ConclusionPerceived difﬁculties in communicating with a person who has hearing loss can be overcome with relative ease if the will to do so exists. If 1:6 of the UK population are to be excluded from the workplace on the grounds of hearing loss then a wealth of ability, creativity and experience will be lost to employers. Deafness should not be a bar to employing a person nor should it affect progression in a job, the problem lies not with the deaf but with the hearing who have a preconceived idea of a deaf person’s abilities. Open your ears and minds and listen. References1 The British Sign Language Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk) accessed 29/06/2022.2 The impact of hearing loss at work – RNID accessed 30/06/2022.3 www.hearingdogsforDeafpeople.org.uk Hearing Dogs for Deaf People accessed 28.06/2020.4 Levels of deafness | Main types of deafness (ndcs.org.uk) accessed 30/06/2020.5 UK census 2021 – UK population ﬁgures https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/populationandmigration/populationestimates accessed 30/06/2022.6 Scotland Census 2021 population ﬁgures. Population | Scotland’s Census (scotlandscensus.gov.uk) accessed 30/06/2022.7 Northern Ireland Census population ﬁgures. https://www.nisra.gov.uk/statistics/census/2021-census accessed 30/06/2022.8 Royal National Institute for the deaf. Facts and ﬁgures - RNID accessed 20/06/2022 9 Deafblind Block alphabet. www.sense.org.uk Block alphabet – Sense accessed 30/06/2022.10 Deafblind Manual Alphabet (DMA) www.sense.org.uk Deafblind Manual – Sense accessed 30/06/2022.11 Hand under Hand Signing (hands on signing) Hand-under-hand signing - Sense accessed 30/06/2020 12 Visual Frame Signing. Visual frame signing – Sense13 Rosie Cooper MP https://www.rosiecooper.net/ accessed 20/06/202214 The British Sign Language (Scotland) Act 2015 https://www.gov.scot/policies/languages/british-sign-language. Accessed 20/06/2022. 15 World Health Organisation: causes of Deafness Deafness and hearing loss (who.int) accessed 20/06/2020. 16 Health and safety Executive Noise at Work. HSE: Noise at work – health and safety in the workplace acessed 20/06/2022.17 RNID Protect your hearing Protect your hearing – RNID accessed 30/06/2022. 18 Preventing Noise-Induced Hearing Loss | CDC.19 Employers-Guide.pdf (rnid.org.uk).When will you listen? Deaf Awareness in the workplace

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105August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2022 Animal Technology and WelfarePAPER SUMMARY TRANSLATIONSCONTENU DE LA REVUELes effets indésirables des effets indésirablesCLAIRE PEARCECorrespondance: Claire.pearce@kcl.ac.ukRésumé Dans la plupart des installations de recherche sur les animaux, il sera par fois nécessaire de soumettre un rapport de Condition 18 du projet si les limites de gravité spéciﬁées dans la licence ou d’autres mesures de contrôle mentionnées ont été ou sont susceptibles d’être dépassées. Par exemple, des violations peuvent se produire si une nouvelle lignée transgénique présente un phénotype inconnu qui n’a pas été pris en compte dans la licence du projet ou si la mort s’est produite de façon inattendue en raison d’une procédure scientiﬁque. Les effets indésirables sont souvent ressentis dans les études de recherche, mais ils sont rarement mentionnés au moment de la publication des résultats. Les directives ARRIVE 2,01 recommandent de détailler les implications scientiﬁques d’une étude, y compris les effets indésirables, mais cela ne fait pas partie des 10 domaines essentiels qui devraient être couverts dans une publication. En partageant plus largement les événements indésirables inattendus dans le milieu de la recherche, il est possible d’afﬁner les techniques, et de réduire ainsi le nombre d’animaux utilisés ainsi que les risques de douleur, de détresse et de dommages durables qu’ils pourraient subir. Cet article abordera la façon dont les installations de recherche pourraient encourager la communauté de recherche à partager les événements indésirables inattendus qu’elle a rencontrés et la manière dont elle les a surmontés pour atteindre avec succès les buts et objectifs scientiﬁques de sa recherche. Mots-clés: effets indésirables, directives ARRIVE, rafﬁnement, réduction★ ★ ★Quand allez-vous écouter? Sensibilisation à la surdité au travail GEORGE RAGGETT et JASMINE BARLEY Wiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association, 25 Portman Road, Bournemouth BH7 6EU Royaume-UniCorrespondance: admin@wdda.co.ukRésumé La surdité est perçue par beaucoup sur le lieu de travail comme un obstacle à l’emploi. L’incapacité imaginaire d’une personne atteinte d’une perte auditive à communiquer avec ses collègues est source de préoccupation et dissuade les responsables d’embaucher du personnel malentendant. L’adoption de la loi sur la langue des signes British Sign Language (BSL) Act 2022 a sensibilisé la population à la nécessité d’une communication efﬁcace entre les malentendants et les entendants. La formation régulière de sensibilisation à la surdité et les consultations avec les employés qui se sont identiﬁés comme ayant une perte auditive peuvent permettre de surmonter cet obstacle. Les employeurs et collègues ne doivent pas présumer qu’ils savent ce qui est le mieux pour la personne malentendante. Quelques connaissances et de la patience sont tout ce qui est nécessaire. Mots-clés: emploi, malentendants, perte auditive

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106Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020INHALTVERZEICHNISDie unerwünschten Auswirkungen von unerwünschten WirkungenCLAIRE PEARCE Korrespondenz: Claire.pearce@kcl.ac.uk Abstract In den meisten Tierforschungseinrichtungen wird es Fälle geben, in denen ein „Standard Condition 18“-Projektbericht vorgelegt werden muss, wenn die in der Genehmigung festgelegten Belastungsgrenzwerte oder andere Kontrollvorgaben verletzt wurden bzw. wahrscheinlich verletzt werden. Zu Verstößen kann es beispielsweise kommen, wenn eine neue transgene Linie einen unbekannten Phänotyp aufweist, der in der PPL nicht berücksichtigt wurde, oder wenn als direkte Folge eines wissenschaftlichen Verfahrens unerwartet ein Todesfall eingetreten ist. Unerwünschte Wirkungen treten bei Forschungsstudien häuﬁg auf, werden aber zum Zeitpunkt der Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse nur selten erwähnt. In den ARRIVE-Leitlinien 2.01 wird empfohlen, die wissenschaftlichen Konsequenzen einer Studie, einschließlich unerwünschter Wirkungen, detailliert darzulegen, doch ist dies nicht Teil der zehn wesentlichen Bereiche, die in einer Veröffentlichung behandelt werden sollten. Wenn unerwartete unerwünschte Ereignisse in der Forschungsgemeinschaft breiter bekannt gemacht werden, besteht die Möglichkeit, Methoden zu verbessern und so die Zahl der verwendeten Tiere und ihre potenziellen Schmerzen, Belastungen und dauerhaften Schäden zu reduzieren. In diesem Beitrag geht es darum, wie Forschungseinrichtungen die Forschungsgemeinschaft dazu bewegen können, mitzuteilen, welche unerwarteten unerwünschten Ereignisse ihnen begegnet sind und wie sie diese überwunden haben, um die wissenschaftlichen Ziele ihrer Untersuchungen zu erreichen.Schlagwörter: unerwünschte Wirkungen, ARRIVE-Leitlinien, Verbesserung, reduzieren★ ★ ★Bitte zuhören: Sensibilisierung für Hörbehinderungen am Arbeitsplatz GEORGE RAGGETT und JASMINE BARLEY Wiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association, 25 Portman Road, Bournemouth BH7 6EU, Vereinigtes KönigreichKorrespondenz: admin@wdda.co.ukAbstract Gehörlosigkeit wird von vielen Menschen am Arbeitsplatz als Hindernis für die Beschäftigung wahrgenommen. Die Vorstellung, dass eine hörgeschädigte Person nicht in der Lage ist, mit hörenden Kollegen zu kommunizieren, löst Bedenken aus und hält Manager von der Neueinstellung möglicherweise hörbehinderter Mitarbeiter ab. Die Verabschiedung des Gesetzes zur britischen Gebärdensprache (BSL) 2022 hat das Bewusstsein für die Notwendigkeit einer effektiven Kommunikation zwischen Gehörlosen und Hörenden geschärft. Regelmäßige Schulungen zur Sensibilisierung für Hörbehinderungen und Gespräche mit Mitarbeitern, die sich als hörbehindert zu erkennen gegeben haben, können diese Hemmschwelle überwinden. Arbeitgeber und Arbeitnehmer dür fen nicht davon ausgehen, dass sie wissen, was für gehörlose Personen am besten ist. Etwas Kenntnis und Geduld ist alles, was erforderlich ist. Schlagwörter: Beschäftigung, gehörlos, HörverlustPaper Summary Translations

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107August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarePaper Summary TranslationsINDICE DELLA REVISTAGli effetti avversi degli effetti avversiCLAIRE PEARCEAnimal Sciences and Technologies, Clinical Pharmacology and Safety Sciences, Bio-Pharmaceuticals R&D, AstraZeneca, Alderley Park, Regno UnitoCorrispondenza: Claire.pearce@kcl.ac.ukAbstract Talvolta, nella maggior parte dei centri di ricerca per animali, il titolare di un progetto potrebbe essere tenuto a presentare un resoconto Standard Condition 18 se i limiti di gravità speciﬁcati nella licenza o in altri controlli sono stati o saranno probabilmente superati. Ad esempio, le infrazioni possono veriﬁcarsi quando una nuova linea transgenica presenta un fenotipo sconosciuto non preso in considerazione nel gene PPL o se la morte si è veriﬁcata improvvisamente come conseguenza diretta di una procedura scientiﬁca. Gli effetti avversi si manifestano spesso negli studi di ricerca, ma al momento della pubblicazione dei risultati vengono raramente menzionati. Le Linee guida ARRIVE 2.01 consigliano di speciﬁcare nel dettaglio le implicazioni scientiﬁche di uno studio, compresi gli effetti avversi, ma ciò non fa parte dei 10 punti essenziali da contemplare in una pubblicazione. La più ampia condivisione di eventi avversi inaspettati all’interno della comunità di ricerca dà l’opportunità di afﬁnare le tecniche, riducendo pertanto il numero di animali utilizzati e il potenziale dolore, disagio e danno prolungato che potrebbero provare. La presente relazione spiegherà in che modo i centri di ricerca possono incoraggiare la comunità scientiﬁca a condividere gli eventi avversi inaspettati a cui hanno assistito e come li hanno superati per soddisfare efﬁcacemente le ﬁnalità e gli obiettivi scientiﬁci della loro ricerca.Parole chiave: effetti avversi, linee guida ARRIVE, perfezionamento, riduzione★ ★ ★Quando ascolterete? Consapevolezza della sordità sul lavoro GEORGE RAGGETT e JASMINE BARLEYWiltshire and Dorset Deaf Association, 25 Portman Road, Bournemouth BH7 6EU Regno UnitoCorrispondenza: admin@wdda.co.uk Abstract Per molti rappresentanti del mondo del lavoro, la sordità costituisce una barriera all’occupazione. L’incapacità immaginaria di una persona affetta da perdita dell’udito di comunicare con colleghi udenti è fonte di preoccupazione e scoraggia il direttivo ad assumere nuovo personale non udente. L’emanazione della legge inglese sulla Lingua dei Segni (BSL) del 2022 ha sottolineato la necessità di una comunicazione efﬁcace tra sordi e udenti. Consultazioni e corsi periodici sulla consapevolezza della sordità con dipendenti che hanno dichiarato di avere problemi uditivi possono superare questa barriera. Datori di lavoro e colleghi non devono presumere di sapere cosa sia meglio per la persona sorda: bastano solamente conoscenza e pazienza. Parole chiave: Occupazione, Sordità, Perdita dell’udito

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108Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Paper Summary TranslationsINDICE DE LA REVISTALos efectos adversos de los efectos adversosCLAIRE PEARCECorrespondencia: Claire.pearce@kcl.ac.ukResumen En la mayoría de centros de investigación con animales habrá ocasiones en las que se necesite presentar un informe sobre la condición estándar 18 del proyecto si los límites de severidad especiﬁcados en la licencia u otros controles declarados se han incumplido o hay riesgo de que se incumplan. Esto puede producirse, por ejemplo, si una nueva línea transgénica presentase un fenotipo desconocido que no se hubiese contabilizado en la PPL o si hubiera una muerte inesperada como resultado directo de un procedimiento cientíﬁco. En los estudios de investigación se experimentan efectos adversos con frecuencia, pero rara vez se mencionan en el momento de publicar los resultados. Las Directrices ARRIVE 2.01 recomiendan detallar las implicaciones cientíﬁcas de un estudio, incluyendo los efectos adversos, pero en el documento Essential 10 no aparece entre los diez elementos esenciales que deberían tratarse en una publicación. Al compartir más ampliamente los acontecimientos adversos inesperados en la comunidad investigadora, existe la oportunidad de reﬁnar las técnicas, reduciendo así el número de animales utilizados y el dolor, sufrimiento y daño duradero potenciales que estos puedan experimentar. Este estudio tratará cómo las instalaciones de investigación podrían alentar a la comunidad investigadora a compartir los eventos adversos inesperados que han encontrado y cómo los superaron para alcanzar con éxito los objetivos cientíﬁcos de su investigación.Palabras clave: efectos adversos, directrices ARRIVE, reﬁnamiento, reducir ★ ★ ★¿Cuándo escucharán?: Concienciación sobre la sordera en el lugar de trabajoGEORGE RAGGETT y JASMINE BARLEY Correspondencia: admin@wdda.co.ukResumen Muchos perciben la sordera en el entorno laboral como una barrera para la contratación. La incapacidad imaginaria de una persona con pérdida auditiva para comunicarse con compañeros oyentes preocupa a los gerentes y los disuade de contratar a personal nuevo sordo. La promulgación de la Ley de la Lengua de Signos Británica (BSL) de 2022 ha sensibilizado sobre la necesidad de una comunicación más efectiva entre sordos y oyentes. Formación regular para concienciar sobre la sordera y conversaciones con los empleados que se hayan identiﬁcado a sí mismos como personas con pérdida auditiva pueden ayudar a superar esta barrera. Los empleadores y compañeros no deben asumir que saben qué es mejor para la persona sorda. Algo de información y paciencia es todo lo que se necesita. Palabras clave: empleo, sordo, pérdida auditiva

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109August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2022 Animal Technology and WelfareBackgroundOver the last 18 months, COVID-19 has affected everyone, both at work and in their personal life. Within the space of a week, new work routines, home routines and general every day practices had to be altered or cancelled all together. The world of Biomedical Research and, in particular that of Animal Technologists was no exception to this. Staff in animal facilities were required to rapidly adapt, including having to reduce animal numbers, undergo changes in working patterns and work with restrictions on the number of people entering what used to be a busy and fast paced environment. There have been many features and discussions reﬂecting on how the pandemic affected Culture of Care in animal facilities but very few have been from the perspective of the technologists themselves. As technologists, we have undertaken a small survey at the University of Birmingham to investigate and reﬂect upon how individuals coped during this challenging period and how the Culture of Care for both staff and animals was affected. As part of our ﬁndings, we will present how the pandemic has taught us to be more aware of compassion fatigue and how we can use what we have learnt over the difﬁcult period, in the future.IntroductionBeing an Animal Technologist has had more than usual challenges recently. It has most certainly tested our ability to work together, our mental health and adaptability to the changes with which we have had to work. We as Animal Technologists do this job because we love animals, including our own pets, leading to the human-animal bond existing in many forms. 49Haven’t the time to write a paper but want to have something published? Then read on!This section offers readers the opportunity to submit informal contributions about anyaspects of Animal Technology. Comments, observations, descriptions of new or refinedtechniques, new products or equipment, old products or equipment adapted to new use,any subject that may be useful to technicians in other institutions. Submissions can bepresented as technical notes and do not need to be structured and can be as short or aslong as is necessary. Accompanying illustrations and/or photos should be high resolution.NB. Descriptions of new products or equipment submitted by manufacturers are welcomebut should be a factual account of the product. However, the Editorial Board gives nowarranty as to the accuracy or fitness for purpose of the product.What 3Rs idea have you developed?EMMA FILBYMira Building, University of Cambridge, University Biomedical Services,Charles Babbage Road, Cambridge CB3 0FSCorrespondence: emma.filby@admin.cam.ac.ukBased on an article written for the National Centre for the 3RsApril 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareTECH-2-TECHBackgroundEmma was invited to write an article as a 3Rschampion in NC3Rs ‘Tech 3Rs’ Issue 5, November2019.Here is her response describing how she has used anautomated system to reduce how frequently mousecage bedding is changed without compromisingcleanliness.IntroductionOur unit opened in 2017, during the procurement ofnew equipment we had the opportunity to purchase adigital ventilated rack system from Tecniplast UK. Thecages are referred to as the Digitally Ventilated Cage orDVC. This system uses the data collected by sensorsbelow the cage to flag when to clean out based on thechange in an electromagnetic signal. To have thisfunctionality we first needed to create an algorithmduring a learning phase.The learning phase: devising analgorithmWe held a meeting to agree what warranted a cage basechangebased on pictures to avoid being subjective. Wereferred to the Home Office Codes of Practice for thehousing and care of animals bred, supplied or used forscientific purposes (HOCoP) for advice on husbandrypractices to set our criteria, balancing hygiene and theimportance of olfactory cues to rodents and their needfor control over their environment.1We started the trial, noting when the cage reached thepoint it required a base change. We assessed airquality, what proportion of the cage base was wet andwhether the animals still had choice over theirenvironment and their ability to show spatial separationof different behaviours such as nesting and excretion,for example their nest was free of faeces. During the‘learning phase’ we asked our Named VeterinarySurgeon (NVS) and Home Office inspector (HOI) tocheck that they agreed with our assessment.APRIL_1-628207435_4-628196990.e$S:Animal Technology and Welfare 24/9/20 06:51 Page 49Culture of Care during COVID-19: Animal Technicians’ perspectivesAMY BROGDEN and KATY MOSKOT-BRETTELLBiomedical Services Unit, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT UK Correspondence: A.brogden@bham.ac.ukTECH-2-TECH

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110Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Important characteristics of Animal Technologists include showing kindness and consideration towards animals in our care, however with this comes the challenge of having to perform regulated procedures and humanely kill animals as part of our work. This can be both emotionally challenging, yet hard to explain this apparent contradiction to those outside of the industry. Due to the restrictions enforced during the pandemic lockdown, as with many animal facilities, the University of Birmingham had to change working practices and patterns at short notice, including the switch to maintaining lines as ‘tick-over’ colonies. Since gradually returning to a sense of normality, we have been able to reﬂ ect upon Culture of Care and the impact that COVID-19 has had on this. Deﬁ nitionsCulture Of Care– Culture of Care is not a new term but has been used increasingly in animal units over the past 10 years.– Hard to deﬁ ne in the context of an animal facility but broadly it means to work, physically and/or emotionally, to improve another’s situation, whether that is an animal or a human.– Having a good Culture of Care means that welfare is maximised and in turn this leads to better quality science. This requires people with the right attitudes, who receive appropriate training to maintain skills and knowledge, ensuring that Animal Welfare is at the forefront and striving to promote new good practice.Compassion Fatigue–Also known as secondary trauma stress (STS), an emotional state ﬁ rst recognised in the early 1990s.– Occurs due to providing ongoing care for individuals/animals who are experiencing a form of suffering. – Leads to the emotive state of feeling tired about the work we do. – Animal Technologists are vulnerable to this because they love animals and form bonds which are inevitablybroken.Can lead to poor performance and difﬁ culty completing tasks.Reasons behind the surveyWhen the lockdown was ﬁ rst announced, the biggest risk to Animal Welfare was reduced staff numbers due to self-isolation, as this could lead to insufﬁ cient technicians being available to perform daily health checks. To avoid the risk of one positive COVID-19 case leading to the whole team having to self-isolate, our technicians were divided into two teams, one working AM and the other a PM shift. There was to be a 15-minute window between the ﬁ rst team leaving and the second arriving and the two teams covered different areas in the facility where possible. This meant that in the worst case, we would lose half the total staff to self-isolation rather than everyone.This led to the establishment of a ‘BMSU WhatsApp group’ which was used to maintain communication. It became an effective and instant way of getting messages to each other without physical contact between teams. This was a very useful tool and also became a safe space where staff could support each other when it seemed that no one outside of the ‘technicians’ world’ would understand.Following the return to ‘normality’, we wanted to establish how this pressurised period of time had affected staff in the short term during the lockdown and whether there have been longer term impacts. We also wanted to explore whether anything beneﬁ cial had come from such a stressful period, for example the WhatsApp group. This remains in place as not only has it proved to be an effective way of maintaining communication around the building, but it also provides somewhere for the team to share news about life outside of work (such as the antics of our pets!) all of which helps to re-enforce our Culture of Care. 5 Compassion Fatigue - Also known as secondary trauma stress (STS), an emotional state first recognised in the early 1990’s. Culture of Care during COVID-19: Animal Technicians’ Perspectives

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112Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Q1. Were you kept updated with changes to working procedures and requirements during lockdownChart 1. Responses from technologists to survey question 1. Being aware of changes and the reasons behind them are important when trying to minimise worry during uncertain times.The majority of Animal Technologists felt that they had been frequently or always kept informed of changes. “Found it challenging when workload increased but work practices were not as quick to change.”“Work WhatsApp group created positivity amongst staff.”Was emotional support made available by your Establishment during the lockdown?Emotional support can take many forms and is personal to the individual. Whilst not everyone may take up the support, it is important that it is made available to those who want it.Almost all Animal Technicians had received an offer of emotional support, with the majority doing so informally with their colleagues.“Not seeing certain colleagues for a nearly a year was upsetting.”“We all became better team players. All supported each other.”“Got to know people on my team better.”10 of Care and compassion fatigue, alongside quotes from the free text boxes to provide additional insight. Q1. Were you kept updated with changes to working procedures and requirements during lockdown Chart 1. Responses to technologists to survey question 1. Being aware of changes and the reasons behind them are important when trying to minimise worry during uncertain times. 66.60%20%13.30%0%Yes, always FrequentlySometimes NeverQ.2 As restrictions ease are you feeling more or less positive than you did 6 months go?Gauging whether technologists feel positive about the future helps to determine whether we have a good Culture of Care in place and ensures that the risk of compassion fatigue is minimised.The vast majority of Animal Technologists are feeling more positive now than they did 6 months ago.12 Not seeing certain colleagues for a nearly a year was upsetting” “We all became better team players. All supported each other” “Got to know people on my team better” 80%13.30%6.60%Yes - Informally with collegues andpeersYes - Formal opportunities wereofferedChart 2. Technologists’ responses to survey question 2. 13 Q.2 As restrictions ease are you feeling more or less positive than you did 6 months go? Gauging whether technologists feel positive about the future helps to determine whether we have a good Culture of Care in place and ensures that the risk of compassion fatigue is minimised. The vast majority of Animal Technologists are feeling more positive now than they did 6 months ago. Chart 2. Technologists responses to survey question 2. Given me the opportunity to learn procedures that would otherwise be done by researchers” “It has created a better work and home life balance” 93.30%6.60%More LessGiven me the opportunity to learn procedures that would otherwise be done by researchers”“It has created a better work and home life balance.”“Hybrid model at work meant we as technicians got to progress personally by doing more procedural work.”Culture of Care during COVID-19: Animal Technicians’ Perspectives

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113August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareCulture of Care during COVID-19: Animal Technicians’ PerspectivesCulture of Care and the 3RsOverall, the survey revealed that most Animal Technologists have experienced a positive Culture of Care at the University of Birmingham and continue to do so. Staff are satisﬁ ed that they are surrounded by colleagues who care for one another and support each other through difﬁ cult times. There are also measures put in place to provide emotional support that they are aware of, and can use if they need more support than that of their peers. When we probed further into why we as Animal Technicians felt so positively about the Culture of Care it became apparent how intertwined this was with the Culture of Care experienced by the animals and our 3Rs efforts.15 Figure 2. Double decker rat play pen. Figure 2.Double decker rat play pen.For example, we have introduced a double decker rat play pen full of enrichment. Whilst the driver for this was the 3Rs, we have found that not only do the rats clearly enjoy being able to explore this area, as shown by them expressing natural behaviours, but the staff also take pleasure in trialling different types of enrichment and watching the rats in this environment.To provide an opportunity for a research animal to experience something that previously was not available to them helps to offset the risk of compassion fatigue as it gives technicians some time to enjoy observing the playful behaviours of the animals we care for so greatly. SummaryNo technologist, manager or director could have predicted what was going to happen in the lead up to, and during the COVID-19 pandemic; it is certainly a period of time no one will ever forget or want to witness again. However, within this, it is clear to see that staff felt looked after, and the efforts put in place helped them feel more positive as life began to return to the new ‘normal’. We believe that the University of Birmingham had a signiﬁ cant focus on the Culture of Care provided for staff during these difﬁ cult times and that due to this, staff felt supported and looked after by their management. Going forward, the facility continues to place an emphasis on the proactive implementation of the 3Rs with the additional beneﬁ t of knowing this also has a visible positive impact upon the Animal Technologists too. AcknowledgementsWe would like to thank all staff at the Biomedical Services Unit at the University of Birmingham for providing us with an insight in to their time in the industry.16 For example, we have introduced a double decker rat play pen full of enrichment. Whilst the driver for this was the 3Rs, we have found that not only do the rats clearly enjoy being able to explore this area, as shown by them expressing natural behaviours, but the staff also take pleasure in trialling different types of enrichment and watching the rats in this environment. Figure 3. Rats at play. Figure 3.Rats at play.

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It’s OK … NOT TO BE OKAY …Let’s Talk about ... Health and WellbeingTo continue the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Let’s Talk series, we are focussing on general health and wellbeing. Animal Technologists devote their careers to looking after animals used in medical research and the welfare of their animals is of paramount importance. Current quality Culture of Care policies centre around providing the best welfare to ensure laboratory animals have the best possible life, whilst contributing to a better understanding of some of the world’s major diseases.Whilst putting so much care and attention into their animals, it is quite easy to forget an important element of Culture of Care is the health and wellbeing of the Animal Technologists involved. You can only afford excellent care and compassion if you are well within yourself. The role of the Animal Technologist leads to a roller coaster of emotions and it is important to keep on top of these emotions to avoid emotional burn out.There has been considerable previous work conducted within the UK to establish parity of esteem between physical and mental health (Morton & O’Reilly, 2019, Mitchell et al 2017). Current mental health policies aim to improve mental health and wellbeing, prevent the onset of mental and emotional distress and increase resilience. The nature of the relationship between physical and mental health is interlinked with mental health inﬂuencing physical health and vice versa. Good health and wellbeing are important in ensuring that all Animal Technologists are able to give the best form of themselves to their animals and ensure compliance to standards of Animal Welfare as practiced within the UK. As identiﬁed in previous articles, we have discussed that It’s OK … not to be OKAY and if your health and wellbeing are being affected there are steps you can take.The ﬁve step approach is well documented (https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/guides-tools-and-activities/ﬁve-steps-to-mental-wellbeing/), and how can we embrace this within our industry?1. Connect with colleagues. Good relationships are important for your mental wellbeing. They can:- Help you build a sense of belonging and self-worth.- Give you an opportunity to share positive experiences and talk about the not so positive/challenging aspects of the Animal Technologist’s role.- Provide emotional support and accept support from others. The best people who understand what animal techs experience, are other Animal Technicians. Use them for support.- Try to set some time aside during the day to ensure you connect with others, at lunch or a tea break. - Try talking about issues outside of the workplace if it is a tough day.- See family or friends after work to switch off. If this is not possible use technology such as Teams, Zoom or FaceTime where you can see the person.- Use the journey home for reﬂection. 2. Be Active- Try to carry out some physical activity following a day at work which is important for physical and mental wellbeing.- Try exercise such as cycling, walking, swimming, running, going to the gym maybe with a friend. This will help to refocus your mind.Let’s Talk about ... Health and Wellbeingwww.iat.org.uk3. Learn new skills- This is vitally important within a role that may be repetitive at times and it is easy for your mind to wander. Learning new skills will ensure your mind is focussed on the task ahead. This will also help you with a sense of achievement and can be a focus point. This could also be extended to home life too, try cooking something new or adventurous, take up a new hobby or learn a new language. Just ﬁnd activities that you enjoy and are not pressured to do.4. Supporting others- If you are feeling like things are starting to get on top of you, remember you are not alone. The feelings you are having are not unique and others before you and after you will feel the same, this is the emotion of caring. Reach out to others, this will improve your mental wellbeing, as research suggests that the act of giving and kindness will improve your wellbeing by creating positive feelings and a sense of reward, also giving you a feeling of purpose. Do not underestimate how much reaching out to a colleague and offering support can help not just them but you also. Being that ear that your colleague may need, helps so much and you never know that maybe a shared experience could help.5. Pay attention to the present (Mindfulness)- In the throes of a busy and hectic schedule it can be quite easy to forget to pay attention to your own thoughts, feelings and your body. This awareness of your mind and body is commonly termed Mindfulness. Mindfulness has the potential to reduce depressive thoughts, increase emotional regulation, reduce anxiety and stress, improve memory, improve cognitive ability and lead to better physical health (https://www.verywellmind.com/the-beneﬁts-of-mindfulness-5205137) https://neweconomics.org/2011/07/ﬁve-ways-well-new-applications-new-ways-thinkingWhat to do if you feel you are not copingIt is important to seek help if you feel that things are getting on top of you. Please look at your employer’s policies on health and wellbeing and see what support is in place. If you do not feel comfortable approaching a colleague or employer then the following is helpful:https://www.mind.org.uk/information-support/guides-to-support-and-services/seeking-help-for-a-mental-health-problem/where-to-start/Please do not feel you are alone, reaching out just for a chat is really important, as you will ﬁnd someone who understands and maybe someone who has felt the same way as you and overcome their worries, to coin an old saying…..it’s good to talk.ReferencesMitchell A, hardy S & Shiers D (2017) Parity of Esteem: addressing the inequalities between mental and physical healthcare. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment 23(3):196-205. DOI:10.1192/apt.bp.114.014266Morton, JW & O’Reilly, M. (2019) Mental health, big data and research ethics: parity of esteem in mental health research from a UK perspective. Clinical Ethics 2019. (http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/51947/3/clinicalethicsrepository%2520version.pdf)Institute of Animal TechnologyCOUNCILEDI GroupEquity, Diversity and Inclusion

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116Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Preparing a PosterANDREW BLAKE TRIBUTE AWARDPreparing and presenting a Poster can be just as effective and as rewarding as an oral presentation but without the nerves associated with talking in front of hundreds of industry colleagues. The following guidelines will help you to prepare a good poster – and it may even win a prize!Preparation– Before you start you need to remember that your poster is presenting highlights of your work.– Always read through the provided information, included in the submission form. Here you will ﬁ nd speciﬁ c requirements of the meeting and the size and orientation of the poster boards. – It may be useful to mark out this area when you are planning, to get an idea of the space available.– Think about how you want to present your poster. For example, it could be a series of A4 sheets (often mounted on card or laminated) or a printed, glossy poster.– Talk to people at work about the facilities available to you and the time and costs involved.– You then need to work out the content. Read the study that you have done or the plan of the study that you are about to undertake and ask yourself:• are the statements or plan of work accurate?• what data do you need to illustrate your ﬁ ndings?• what are the key points you want to communicate?Remember, your poster should be a stand-alone, self explanatory representation of your work that is relatively simple and easy to follow. Structure and Design– Posters are a visual communication of your research so try to keep text to a minimum.– Use graphics, such as photos, ﬁ gures and tables to ‘tell your story’. – Avoid over complicated images. – Your ﬁ ndings need to be clear and also visible from a short distance away.– Try to guide your audience through the research by presenting information in a logical sequence.– Use arrows or numbers to direct them.Typical content and layout for a poster are shown below but you do not have to follow this exactly.Typical Poster LayoutTitle– The title should be short and attention grabbing if possible.– It should be clear from a distance of three metres.– Use bold, black typeface (about 24 font size).– Author names should be slightly smaller.– Include your facility name and logo and contact details. Abstract and Introduction– Display a brief abstract exactly as it was submitted to the Congress Committee.– Include a brief introduction to your poster or work if you think it adds something.Animal Technology and Welfare August 20223 Title / Logo / Authors Abstract and / or Introduction Conclusions Typical Poster Layout

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The Andrew Blake Tribute Award commemorates the work and life of Andrew Blake, who suffered from Friedrich’s ataxia, a hereditary condition described as one of the “worst of neurological diseases”. Andrew died in May 2002 aged 39. Andrew was passionate about the need to support scientists in their work and his commitment to speaking out against animal rights activists took up much of the last ten years of his life. He died shortly before he was to collect his MBE.ANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARDSPONSORED BY THE ABPIANDREW BLAKETRIBUTE AWARDDON’T KEEP YOUR GOOD IDEA TO YOURSELF!WE WANT TO HEAR ABOUT IT FOR THE 2023 AWARDDETAILS OF THE AWARD This Award is given annually, where sponsorship allows, to the Animal Technician/Technologist judged to have made the most significant contribution to improving standards in laboratory animal welfare over the previous twelve months. All qualified Animal Technologists are guided in their work by the Institute of Animal Technology’s Ethical Statement: In the conduct of their Professional duties Animal Technologists have a moral and legal obligation, at all times, to promote and safeguard the welfare of animals in their care, recognising that good laboratory animal welfare is an essential component of good laboratory animal technology and science. The Institute recognises and supports the application of the principles of the 3Rs (Replacement, Reduction, Refinement) in all areas of animal research. The Award is made to acknowledge the professional and personal commitment of Animal Technologists to improving standards in all aspects of laboratory animal care and welfare. THE PRIZE CONSISTS - CONGRESS 2023 FREE ATTENDANCEnext March WHICH WILL INCLUDE DISPLAYING YOUR POSTER(WITH THE OPTION TO ALSO GIVE AN ORAL PRESENTATION)- AN ENGRAVED GLASS PLAQUE - AND £250 CASH AWARDCLOSING DATE FRIDAY 30TH SEPTEMBER 2022 Need advice – or you wish to discuss anything regarding a possible entry? Then please email the IAT Administrator admin@iat.org.uk with your contact details and one of the organisers will respond and give you all the support you need.ARE YOU AN ANIMAL TECH?HAVE YOU BEEN PART OF A TEAM OR HAVE YOU REFINED ANIMAL CARE AND WELFARE IN YOUR FACILITY?ALL ANIMAL TECHNICIANS AND TECHNOLOGISTS, QUALIFIED AT ANY LEVEL AND PRIMARILY WORKING IN THE UK CAN ENTERCRITERIA – The topic of work that you describe in your application may be undertaken as part of a project and PRESENTED AS A POSTER.YOUR POSTER SUBMISSION SHOULD CONTAIN THE FOLLOWING HEADINGS: TITLE, AIM, METHOD, RESULTS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION, REFERENCES and ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Poster should also contain the content below:- Why did you undertake this work? (what was the potential problem you were trying to improve?) - How did you undertake it? (species, numbers, sex, materials used) - Describe in a comprehensive and concise manner that allows a complete understanding facilitating reproducibility. - Explain if the work contributes to one of the 3Rs. - Explain how the welfare of the animals was improved. - Describe the results you obtained including data generated with assessment. - Were there any statistics undertaken? Please provide this information. Include a brief CV outlining your overall contribution to the work. Please also list your supervisors or PPL holder if applicable for the work. Submit your Poster online via this link https://www.iat.org.uk/abta where you will see the Submission form for completion.To allow others to be able to replicate the work, please consult the ARRIVE guidelines: https://www.nc3rs.org.uk/arrive-guidelines

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121August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareReﬁ nement of handling and dosing methods for rats and miceFigure 2: Preliminary studies quantifying overt signs of stress in mice suggest this modiﬁ ed method is associated with better welfare. Aversion on release from restraint was signiﬁ cantly reduced and all other measures except vocalisation were lower for animals in the modiﬁ ed method group (n=6 per group).*p<0.05 Mann WhitneyU-testRestraint free oral dosing Rats and MiceMany scientiﬁ c procedures involving animals require theoral administration of test substances. Conventional 4 4 4 5 Figure 2: Preliminary studies quantifying overt signs of stress in mice suggest this modified method is associated with better welfare. Aversion on release from restraint was significantly reduced and all other measures except vocalisation were lower for animals in the modified method group (n=6 per group).*p<0.05 Mann WhitneyU-testFigure 7. Effect of IP dosing using the conventional scruff method (C) versus the modified method (M) on behavioural, physiologicaland psychological measures of stress.– Using simple assessment method overt signs of stress were recorded.– Researchers with different levels of experience were trained in the new method to assess how readily it could be used.methods of oral dosing require the animal to be restrained and the insertion of an oesophageal cannula. Restraint of the animal causes stress and the insertion of a cannula carries a risk of injury. Possible adverse events include tracheal dosing and oesophageal trauma (Procedureswithcare.org.uk,2022).2 Voluntary ingestion of drugs in palatable solutions enables restraint-free oral dosing of rats and mice. This reﬁ nement not only reduces the stress caused to the animal during the dosing procedure but also eliminates the potential risks associated with oral gavage dosing. This method also allows oral dosing to be delegated to non Personal Licence holders (PIL) to increase the resilience of dosing programmes in the case of increased staff absences.MethodA few days before you intend to start the dosing schedule, expose the animals to the palatable substance that you will be using in their home cage. An example would be 0.3mL 50% strawberry milk shake and 50% water. They may be reluctant to approach the syringe so, if necessary, the palatable substance may be placed on a surface in the cage and left for the animals to investigate in their own time. By the next day, the animals will know that the substance is safe and tasty and will be quicker to approach and drink from the syringe. Once they are happy drinking from the syringe you can start your dosing study.To make up drugs, you can follow your normal formulation protocol but substitute your usual vehicle for the diluted palatable substance. For example, we would dissolve the drug in water (50% of total vehicle volume) and then add strawberry milk shake (50% of total vehicle volume) once it has dissolved.During the dosing schedule the exact volume required for the animal is drawn up into the syringe. If the animals are group housed, then you can either separate the required animal for dosing or dose all animals in the cage at the same time using multiple syringes.8 Figure 3. Restraint free dosing of mouse in home cage. Figure 4. Typical palatable substances for restraint-free oral dosinginclude strawberry milkshake, peanut butter and condensed milk.Figure 3. Restraint free dosing of mouse in home cage.

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122Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Immediately after the animal has ingested all the required dose from the ﬁ rst syringe it is then presented with a second syringe containing approximately 0.2mL of vehicle solution (e.g. 50% strawberry milk shake and 50% water). At a second timepoint (usually late afternoon) all animals are presented with another syringe of approximately 0.5mL of vehicle solution.TroubleshootingThere are several common issues that prevent or discourage successful oral dosing using voluntary ingestion; our protocol mitigates against these in most cases.8 Figure 3. Restraint free dosing of mouse in home cage. Figure 4. Typical palatable substances for restraint-free oral dosinginclude strawberry milkshake, peanut butter and condensed milk.Figure 4.Typical palatable substances for restraint-free oral dosing include strawberry milkshake, peanut butter and condensed milk.9 Figure 5. Restraint-free dosing of rat.TroubleshootingThere are several common issues that prevent or discourage successful oral dosing using voluntary ingestion; our protocolmitigates against these in most cases.NeophobiaRats and mice are cautious when presented with news foods and may not drink a novel solution from a syringe when it is firstpresented. The palatable solution must be introduced about a weekFigure 5.Restraint-free dosing of rat.NeophobiaRats and mice are cautious when presented with new foods and may not drink a novel solution from a syringe when it is ﬁ rst presented. The palatable solution must be introduced about a week before any dosing is planned. The animals are given access to the solution in their home cage and once they discover that the solution is tasty; they will quickly adapt to drinking the solution directly from the syringe.Conditioned aversionDrugs that have aversive effects may cause the animals to associate that effect with the palatable solution which could lead to them refusing to ingest the solution. Some drugs also have a bitter aftertaste that may also discourage future voluntary ingestion. To prevent this, the animals are given a small amount of the solution without any drug or vehicle immediately after the treatment solution. The dilution of the palatable solution can also be adjusted to mask any unpleasant taste. The animals are also given as second dose of the plain solution at the end of the day. This way they are less likely to associate any effects of the drugs with the palatable solution.Dosing AccuratelyWhen drugs are mixed in to or placed on palatable substances and presented to the animals it can be difﬁ cult, in some cases, to determine the exact amount of drug that the animal has ingested. Our oral drugs are made up to an exact concentration and as animals are drinking from a syringe, the exact amount required for each animal can be drawn up and administered to the animal.Time and ResourcesThere is an understandable resistance to switching to dosing methods that might take additional time as this can add to already heavy workloads or even require extra stafﬁ ng. Once the animals are happy drinking from the syringes, this method can in fact save time as one person can easily dose two animals at the same time. An additional beneﬁ t is that, as there is no danger of causing harm to the animal, this dosing technique can be delegated to less experienced or unlicensed members of the team. This can increase ﬂ exibility in workloads and resilience to staff absence. Modiﬁ ed handlingRatsNot all substances can be administered orally and mostalternative dosing methods require the rat to be restrained.Handling and restraint can be a major source of stress Reﬁ nement of handling and dosing methods for rats and mice

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123August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and Welfarewhich is detrimental to the animal’s welfare. It can also make future dosing more difﬁ cult and increase the variability of subjects. If the stress caused to the animal during dosing can be lessened, then this could 13Figure 6. Modified handling for rat I.P. dosing.Figure 6.Modiﬁ ed handling for rat I.P. dosing.have a signiﬁ cant impact on the welfare of the animals and the reliability of the experiments. All members of our laboratory are taught to restrain and dose rats without having to use the standard scrufﬁ ng or two-person restraint (Procedures with Care) method. For intraperitoneal (I.P.) injections, the rat is held around the shoulders and gently pushed down against the handler’s chest, stomach or side. In this position the stomach is relaxed making I.P. injections less aversive and the rat is being controlled without it becoming agitated. Animals handled using this method have been shown to have a more positive affective state, decreased signs of aversion and lower stress hormone levels.2Results for (a) struggling, (b) vocalisation and (c) faecal counts during dosing in Lister Hooded (LH) 400–550 g, n = 8 per group, young Wistar,280-320g,n = 6 per group, Stock Wistar 400-5,00 g, n = 5 per group, Stud Wistar 550– 700 g, n = 5 per group and Sprague Dawley rats 290–320 g, n = 4 per group, All, n = 24 per group. Data shown as mean ± s.e.m. Plasma analysis of (d) corticosterone and (e) amphetamine for conventional (n = 6) and modiﬁ ed methods (n = 5; (insufﬁ cient blood to process was collected from one animal. Data shown as mean ± s.e.m.. (f) affective bias induced by intraperitoneal dosing by the conventional versus the Refinement of Handling and Dosing Methods for Rats and MiceJulia Bartlett, Jennifer Davies, Daryl Purawijaya, Justyna Hinchcliffe, Emma SJ Robinson School of Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, Biomedical Sciences Building, University of BristolModified Handling – MiceHandling mice by gripping the base of the tail has been shown to negatively impactanimal welfare by increasing anxiety and aversion to handling (Hurst & West (2010)). Wehave also observed that aggression between mice is targeted at the tail and hypothesise thatthis may be an ethological reason why mice are particularly averse to this interaction.Whilst alternative methods of handling (e.g. use of tunnels and cupping) are encouraged,they have not been universally adopted as many believe that gripping the tail is stillnecessary for restraint.We aimed to refine the dosing procedure by finding a handling method that allows the samelevel of control over the animal without gripping the base of the tail.• Mice were restrained for intraperitoneal dosing using either a conventional method usingthe tail or a novel method illustrated in figure 1.• A simple assessment of overt signs of stress were recorded.• Researchers with different levels of experience were trained in the new method to assesshow readily it could be used.Modified Handling - RatsNot all substances can be administered orally and most alternative dosingmethods require the rat to be restrained. Handling and restraint can be a majorsource of stress which is detrimental to their welfare. It can also make futuredosing more difficult and increase the variability of subjects. If the stress causedto the animals during dosing can be lessened then this could have a significantimpact on the welfare of the animals and the reliability of the experiment.All members of our lab are taught to restrain and dose rats without having to usethe standard scruffing or two person restraint (procedures with care) method. ForIntraperitoneal (I.P.) injections, the rat is held around the shoulders and gentlypushed down against the handler’s chest, stomach or side. In this position thestomach is relaxed, making I.P. injections less aversive, and the rat is beingcontrolled without it becoming agitated. Animals handled using this method havebeen shown to have a more positive affective state, decreased signs of aversionand lower stress hormone levels (Stuart & Robinson (2015)).Figure 5 – Restraint-free dosing of rat. Figure 3 – Restraint free dosing of mouse in home cageFigure 4 – typical palatable substances forrestraint-free oral dosing include: strawberrymilkshake, peanut butter and condensed milk.Figure 1:• Remove mouse from cage using a cupping method and place on forearm.• Place hand over mouse allowing it to push its head out between thumb and forefinger.• From this position you can scruff the mouse as you normally would.• At no point is the base of the animal’s tail held.Figure 6 – Modified handling for rat I.P. dosing.Figure 2: Preliminary studies quantifyingovert signs of stress in micesuggest this modified method isassociated with better welfare.Aversion on release fromrestraint was significantlyreduced and all other measuresexcept vocalisation were lowerfor animals in the modifiedmethod group (n=6 per group).*p<0.05 Mann Whitney U-testRestraint free Oral dosing – Rats and MiceMany scientific procedures involving animals require the oral administration of test substances. Conventional methods of oral dosingrequire the animal to be restrained and the insertion of an oesophageal cannula. Restraint of the animal causes stress and the insertion of a cannulacarries a risk of injury. Possible adverse events include tracheal dosing and oesophageal trauma (Procedureswithcare.org.uk, 2022). Voluntaryingestion of drugs in palatable solutions enables restraint-free oral dosing of rats and mice. This refinement not only reduces the stress caused to theanimal during the dosing procedure but also eliminates the potential risks associated with oral gavage dosing. This method also allows oral dosingto be delegated to non PIL holders to increase the resilience of dosing programmes in the case of increased staff absences.MethodA few days before you intend to start the dosing schedule, expose the animals to the palatable substance that you will be using in their home cage.An example would be 0.3mL 50% strawberry milkshake and 50% water. They may be reluctant to approach the syringe so, if necessary, thepalatable substance could be placed on a surface in the cage and left for the animals to investigate in their own time. By the next day, the animalswill know that the substance is safe and tasty and will be quicker to approach and drink from the syringe. Once they are happy drinking from thesyringe you can start your dosing study.To make up drugs, you can follow your normal formulation protocol but substitute your usual vehicle for the diluted palatable substance. Forexample, we would dissolve the drug in water (50% of total vehicle volume) and then add strawberry milkshake (50% of total vehicle volume) onceit has dissolved.During the dosing schedule the exact volume required for the animal is drawn up into the syringe. If the animals are group housed then you caneither separate the required animal for dosing or dose all animals in the cage at the same time using multiple syringes.Immediately after the animal has ingested all the required dose from the first syringe it is then presented with a second syringe containing approx.0.2mL of vehicle solution (e.g. 50% strawberry milkshake and 50% water). At a second timepoint (usually late afternoon) all animals are presentedwith another syringe of approx. 0.5mL of vehicle solution.TroubleshootingThere are a number of common issues that prevent or discourage successful oral dosing using voluntary ingestion; our protocol mitigates against these in most cases.NeophobiaRats and mice are cautious when presented with new foods and may not drink a novel solution from a syringe when it is first presented. Thepalatable solution has to be introduced about a week before any dosing is planned. The animals are given access to the solution in their home cageand once they discover that the solution is tasty; they will quickly adapt to drinking the solution directly from the syringe.Conditioned AversionDrugs that have aversive effects may cause the animals to associate that effect with the palatable solution which could lead to them refusingto ingest the solution. Some drugs also have a bitter aftertaste that may also discourage future voluntary ingestion. In order to prevent this, theanimals are given a small amount of the solution without any drug or vehicle immediately after the treatment solution. The dilution of the palatablesolution can also be adjusted to mask any unpleasant taste. The animals are also given a second dose of the plain solution at the end of the day. Thisway they are less likely to associate any effects of the drugs with the palatable solution.Dosing AccuratelyWhen drugs are mixed into or placed on palatable substances and presented to the animals it can be difficult, in some cases, to determinethe exact amount of drug that the animal has ingested. Our oral drugs are made up to an exact concentration and, as they are drinking from asyringe, the exact amount required for each animal can be drawn up and administered to the animal.Time and ResourcesThere is an understandable resistance to switching to dosing methods that might take additional time as this can add to already heavyworkloads or even require extra staffing. Once the animals are happy drinking from the syringes, this method can actually save time as one personcan easily dose two animals at the same time. An additional benefit is that, as there is no danger of causing harm to the animal, this dosingtechnique can be delegated to less experienced or unlicensed members of the team. This can increase flexibility in workloads and resilience to staffabsence.Tail-ScruffedArm- Scruffed0.00.51.01.5UrinationUrination Y/NTail-ScruffedArm- Scruffed0.00.51.01.5VocalisationVocalisation Y/NTail-ScruffedArm- Scruffed01234StrugglingStruggling 1-5Tail-ScruffedArm- Scruffed0.00.51.01.5Aversion on relea seAversion Y/N*Tail-ScruffedArm- Scruffed0.00.51.01.52.02.5Faecal CountFaecal countFigure 7 - Effect of IP dosing using the conventional scruff method (C) versus the modified method (M) on behavioural, physiological and psychological measures of stress.Results for (a) struggling, (b) vocalization and (c) fecal counts during dosing inLH = Lister hooded, 400–550 g, n = 8 per group, young Wistar, 280-320g, n = 6 pergroup, Stock Wistar 400-500 g, n = 5 per group, Stud Wistar 550–700 g, n = 5 pergroup and Sprague Dawley rats 290–320 g, n = 4 per group, All, n = 24 per group.Data shown as mean ± s.e.m. Plasma analysis of (d) corticosterone and (e)amphetamine for conventional (n = 6) and modified methods (n = 5; insufficientblood was collected from one animal to process). Data shown as mean ± s.e.m. (f)Affective bias induced by intraperitoneal dosing by the conventional versus themodified method as assessed in the ABT. Each data point represents an individualrat. Error bar, s.e.m., n = 15 rats. *p < 0.05, **p < 0.01, ***p < 0.001 (Stuart &Robinson (2015)).ReferencesHurst, J.L. & West, R.S. (2010). Taming Anxiety in Laboratory Mice. Nature MethodsOct;7(10):825-6Procedureswithcare.org.uk. (2022). Procedures With Care – Administration of Substances.[online] Available at: http://www.procedureswithcare.org.uk/administration-of-substances/[Accessed 07 February 2022].Stuart, S. & Robinson, E.S.J. (2015). Reducing the stress of drug administration: Implicationsfor the 3Rs. Scientific reports. 5. 14288. 10.1038/srep14288Figure 7.Effect of IP dosing using the conventional scruff method (C) versus the modiﬁ ed method (M) on behavioural, physiological and psychological measures of stress.Reﬁ nement of handling and dosing methods for rats and mice

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124Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020modiﬁ ed method as assessed in the ABT. Each data point represents s.e.m. (f) Affective bias induced by intraperitoneal dosing by the conventional method versus the modiﬁ ed method as assessed in the ABT. Each data point represents an individual rat. Error bar s.e.m, n=15 rats,*p<0.01, ***p<0.01 (Stuart & Robinson (2015)).2References1Hurst J.L., West R.S. (2010). Taming anxiety in laboratory mice. Nat Methods. 2010 Oct;7(10):825-6. doi: 10.1038/nmeth.1500. Epub 2010 Sep 12. PMID: 20835246.2Procedureswithcare.org.uk.(2022).Procedures WithCare–AdministrationofSubstances.[online] Availableat: http://www.procedureswithcare.org.uk/administration-of-substances/[Accessed 07 February 2022].3Stuart, S. and Robinson, E.S.J. (2015). Reducing the stress of drug administration: Implications for the3Rs. Scientiﬁ c reports.5.14288.101038/srep14288.Reﬁ nement of handling and dosing methods for rats and miceAnimal Technology – supporting the Technician CommitmentCALL FOR WORKSHOPSl take an active part in the leading annual meeting for Animal Technologistsldo you have an area of expertise? (i.e. work with a more unusual species, bio-security, management, health & safety, been involved in a new build, environmental enrichment, GA breeding, ageing animals, transport, etc)lcould you run a 1 - 3 hour interactive workshop and qualify for a free congress?l send your ideas today on the Submission form available from www.iat.org.uklﬁnal date for submissions: Friday 28th October 2022Contact: congress@iat.org.ukCongress2023CONGRESS Invitation to Participate21st March – 24th March151IntroductionA hallmark symptom of rheumatoid arthritis in humansis painful swollen joints. Pain can manifest before anyinflammation is noticeable1,2as well as persist longafter inflammation has resolved.3In rodent mode ls of arthritis, ankle or foo tpad width isa com monly us ed surrogate marker of pain (seeFigure 1).Measur ing footpad wi dth assumes that i ncreasedswelling is proportional to enhanced pain. A mildarthritis phenotype in which there is minimal swellingmay therefore inaccurately reflect the extent of painand discomfort.POSTER PRESENTATIONSOriginally presented at:IAT Congress 2019Assessing pain in models ofRheumatoid ArthritisSAMUEL SINGLETON,1MERIAM NEFLA,1NGAIRE DENNISON,1SIMON ARTHUR2and TIM HALES1School of Life Sciences, Division of Cell Signalling and Immunology, University of Dundee,Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK2MRSU and Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, Division of Systems Medicine, NinewellsHospital, University of Dundee, DD1 9SY, UKCorrespondence: s.z.singleton@dundee.ac.ukAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareFigure 1. Footpad width as a surrogate measure of pain in ar thritis models. Commonly used methods to assess painare footpad width (A), ankle width (B) or footpad ankle length (C).BCAAim: We aimed to determine how well pain correlated to footpad widths using the collagen antibody arthritismodel.August20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page 151

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125August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareThe use of Ultrasound imaging to reﬁne the technique of tumour detection in Neuroblastoma mouse modelsCLAIRE DOBINSONInstitute of Cancer Research, Biological Services Unit, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, SM2 5NG UKCorrespondence: Claire.Dobinson@icr.ac.ukPOSTER PRESENTATIONSOriginally presented at:IAT Congress 2022151IntroductionA hallmark symptom of rheumatoid arthritis in humansis painful swollen joints. Pain can manifest before anyinflammation is noticeable1,2as well as persist longafter inflammation has resolved.3In rodent mode ls of arthritis, ankle or foo tpad width isa com monly us ed surrogate marker of pain (seeFigure 1).Measur ing footpad wi dth assumes that i ncreasedswelling is proportional to enhanced pain. A mildarthritis phenotype in which there is minimal swellingmay therefore inaccurately reflect the extent of painand discomfort.POSTER PRESENTATIONSOriginally presented at:IAT Congress 2019Assessing pain in models ofRheumatoid ArthritisSAMUEL SINGLETON,1MERIAM NEFLA,1NGAIRE DENNISON,1SIMON ARTHUR2and TIM HALES1School of Life Sciences, Division of Cell Signalling and Immunology, University of Dundee,Dundee, DD1 5EH, UK2MRSU and Institute of Academic Anaesthesia, Division of Systems Medicine, NinewellsHospital, University of Dundee, DD1 9SY, UKCorrespondence: s.z.singleton@dundee.ac.ukAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareFigure 1. Footpad width as a surrogate measure of pain in ar thritis models. Commonly used methods to assess painare footpad width (A), ankle width (B) or footpad ankle length (C).BCAAim: We aimed to determine how well pain correlated to footpad widths using the collagen antibody arthritismodel.August20:Animal Technology and Welfare 12/8/20 07:54 Page 151Sponsored byAimOverall aim was to improve the outcome for children with solid tumours. Using the TH-MYCN transgenic Neuroblastoma mouse model, with targeted MYCN expression to develop spontaneous tumours.With the use of the portable ultrasound the aim is to Reduce the number of animals used and to Reﬁne our techniques for detecting tumours.Using Portable Ultrasound to reﬁne tumour detection and growth Before using Ultrasound we would use palpation techniques to detect tumour growth in the abdomen.Palpation• May cause harm and distress• Inaccurate• Time consuming• Possible internal injuries• Loss of data• Inconsistent measurements• Rough estimationsUltrasound• Quick • Less stress• Accurate• No lasting harm • Image data collection• Actual measurements• Detects abnormalities• ConsistentAugust 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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127August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarePoster PresentationsDetection and monitoring of tumour imagesLateral view of the abdomen 14 days apartFigure 6. Day of tumour detection.7 Figure 6. Day of tumour detection. Figure 7. Day mouse was culled.7 Figure 6. Day of tumour detection. 8 Figure 7. Day mouse was culled. Medial view of the abdomen 14 days apartFigure 8. Day of tumour detection. Figure 8. Day of tumour detection.Medial view of the abdomen 14 days apartPalpation v Ultrasound measurementsUltrasound measurements are signiﬁ cantly more accurate than palpations. With the ultrasound we are able to generate a number of dimensions, measurements and volumes of one tumour. With palpation we are only able to estimate one dimension and measurement with large variations between different people.Figure 9. Day mouse was culled.9 Figure 9. Day mouse was culled. Palpation v Ultrasound measurements Ultrasound measurements are significantly more accurate than palpations. With the ultrasound we are able to generate a number of dimensions, measurements and volumes of one tumour. With palpation we are only able to estimate one dimension and measurement with large variations between different people.AcknowledgementsAllan Thornhill, Head of Biological Services.10 AcknowledgementsAllan Thornhill, Head of Biological Services. Measured on Type XYVolume13/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 2 0 217/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 4 0 420/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 6 0 624/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 7 0 704/03/2022 00:00 Palpation 10 0 10Measured on Type XYVolume Type XYVolume13/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 0.24 0.29 0.0084 Medial 0.26 0.36 0.012217/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 2.68 3.01 10.8095 Medial 3.98 2.69 21.305320/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 6.78 5.36 123.1953 Medial 10.56 6.89 384.164424/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 8.94 7.29 291.3215 Medial 15.39 7.45 882.274127/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 10.92 9.92 591.4621 Medial 20.21 10.1 2062.642710 AcknowledgementsAllan Thornhill, Head of Biological Services. Measured on Type XYVolume13/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 2 0 217/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 4 0 420/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 6 0 624/02/2020 00:00 Palpation 7 0 704/03/2022 00:00 Palpation 10 0 10Measured on Type XYVolume Type XYVolume13/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 0.24 0.29 0.0084 Medial 0.26 0.36 0.012217/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 2.68 3.01 10.8095 Medial 3.98 2.69 21.305320/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 6.78 5.36 123.1953 Medial 10.56 6.89 384.164424/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 8.94 7.29 291.3215 Medial 15.39 7.45 882.274127/02/2020 00:00 Lateral 10.92 9.92 591.4621 Medial 20.21 10.1 2062.6427

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128Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Animal Technology and Welfare August 2022IntroductionIdiopathic Chronic Diarrhoea (ICD) is an intestinal disorder prevalent in captive Non-Human primates (NHPs). It is characterised by recurrent loose stool in the absence of classically presented diarrhoeal causing pathogens (Westreich et al, 2019).1 Annually, ICD affectsupwards of 15% of NHPs in a colony, posing a serious clinical threat disturbing both research and stock (Blackwood et al, 2008).2 Monkey’s experiencing ICD are likely to suffer from severe dehydration, weight loss, and poor body condition. Often leading to a rapid decline in individual welfare accounting for 33% of euthanasia unrelated to research.2The Pathogenesis of ICD is poorly understood. It is complex and seemingly multifactorial. However, an inﬂ ammatory component is strongly implicated. Histopathologic analysis of colonic tissue specimens from primates suffering from ICD, indicate surface gut epithelium changes such as goblet cell depletion Exploring Treatments for Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhoea (ICD) In Rhesus Macaques (Macaca mulatta): A Systematic ReviewHAYLEY ROBINSONUK Health Security Agency, Porton Down, Salisbury, UKCorrespondence: Haley.Robinson@phe.gov.uk(Ardeshir et al., 2013).3 A compromised mucosal barrier allows for increased bacterial attachment leading to dysbiosis of the mucosal microbiota (Broadhurst et al 2012).4 A decreased microbial diversity causes an imbalance in normal gut ﬂ ora (Figure 1). Commensal bacteria may become pathogenic and trigger an immune response that leads to inﬂ ammation.MethodA systematic review was conducted on three different databases Research Gate, Web of Science, and Sematic Scholar. A carefully directed search query was utilised to retrieve the most relevant articles. (Figure 2) 3 Figure 1. Diagram depicting bacterial attachment to gut epithelium causing a decreased microbial diversity.4 Method A systematic review was conducted on three different databases Research Gate, Web of Science, and Sematic Scholar. A carefully directed search query was utilised to retrieve the most relevant articles. (Figure 2) Figure 2. Search string used. (Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhea OR ICD) captive “Rhesus macaques" +treatment Figure 1.Diagram depicting bacterial attachment to gut epithelium causing a decreased microbial diversity.4Figure 2.Search string used. The articles yielded were screened. All duplicates and irrelevant papers were removed. A strict inclusion and exclusion criteria was developed to select articles based on their relevance to the topic and their novel implications for use in an animal research centre. All randomised clinical trials exploring potential treatments that worked on stool consistency charts were selected. (Figure 3)The data collected was grouped in order of the most efﬁ cient and practical way of managing ICD in a research centre.Sponsored by(Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhea OR ICD) captive‘Rhesus macaques’ + treatment

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129August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarePoster PresentationsResultsSix randomised clinical trials (RCT), that included the use of a stool sample consistency charts, met the criteria and were included in the analysis. The RCT’s were separated into treatment categories and presented in the table below (Table 1). 5 Figure.3 Identification of eligible papers. Figure 3.Identiﬁ cation of eligible papers. Table 1.Characteristics of Randomised Clinical Trials. Potential TreatmentsNumber of randomised Clinical Trials YieldedArticle Author Patient CohortPrebioticsInsulin3 Ardeshir et al201132 Total (placebo N=14) (Treatment N=18)Ardeshir et al201232 Total (placebo N=16) (Treatment N=16)Ardeshir et al201432 Total (placebo N=16) (Treatment N=16)Coconut 1 Wilk, J.L. et al.,200810 Total (placebo N=5) (Treated N=5)Antibiotics10-day course of Tylosin2 Blackwood et al., 200821 (placebo N=10) (Treated N=11)Graph 1.Graph depicting the percentage of primates that had improved stool consistency for both treatment groups. Coconut (N=10), Antibiotic (N=21). 7 Graph.1 Graph depicting the percentage of primates that had improved stool consistency for both treatment groups. Coconut (N=10), Antibiotic (N=21). One RCT was eligible for coconut treatment. Only one primate out of five achieved a favourable response compared with two out of five for the placebo group. The outcome was not statistically significant. One RCT was eligible for Antibiotic Treatment (Tylosin). Seven out of eleven primates displayed clinical improvement when compared with the placebo where one out of ten showed improvement. The outcome was statistically significant. 20%63%40%10%0%10%20%30%40%50%60%70%Coconut Antibiotics TylosinPercentage of Rhesus Macaques that presented stool consistency improvemnetTreatmentTreatment group PlaceboData was subtracted from the articles and presented in theform of a graph (Graph 1). Clinical success was measured by improvement in stool consistency. The percentage of Rhesus macaques that showed improvement was calculated and compared with the placebo group.One RCT was eligible for coconut treatment. Only one primate out of ﬁ ve achieved a favourable response compared with two out of ﬁ ve for the placebo group. The outcome was not statistically signiﬁ cant.One RCT was eligible for Antibiotic Treatment (Tylosin). Seven out of eleven primates displayed clinical improvement when compared with the placebo where one out of ten showed improvement. The outcome was statistically signiﬁ cant. DiscussionCoconut The beneﬁ ts of coconut are attributable to its lauric acid component which has antimicrobial properties that supposedly contribute to a healthy gut microbiome. Although the article retrieved expressed a less than favourable outcome, the small sample size and the form coconut was delivered (coconut macaroons) may have impacted the results. Coconut oil has been proven to show clinical success in mouse-models with induced Colitis (Alok, 2013).5 Perhaps, exploration into different methods of coconut consumptions and treatment quantities could hold more favourable ﬁ ndings. In any case coconut potentially provides an attractive option for treatment, it is palatable non-invasive and can easily be incorporated into enrichment.Although all three RCT’s for prebiotics were eligible, the full articles were not accessible. Retrieving speciﬁ c data was unsuccessful. However, all three articles expressed statistical signiﬁ cance for treatment group when compared with the placebo group.5 Figure.3 Identification of eligible papers.

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130Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020AntibioticsAlthough the antibiotic Tylosin showed a signiﬁ cant improvement in faecal stools, 39% of primates suffered a relapse, suggesting continued use of treatment is necessary to maintain positive results. Long-term antibiotic use is associated with a host of disorders and the risk of developing antibiotic resistant bacteria. Furthermore, antibiotics may not be an ideal candidate for macaques on study as it may interfere with test compounds and have major impacts on results. PrebioticsPrebiotics are indigestible substances, usually a carbohydrate that promote the growth of healthy bacteria by supplying nutrition. Improved gut ﬂ ora reduces inﬂ ammation and alleviates symptoms. All three articles retrieved, expressed clinical improvement in treatment groups when compared to the placebo. A major drawback in this review was the failure to have full access to the data presented. Prebiotics like Inulin have been reported to cause side effects such as nausea and stomach pain in humans. Access to more research is essential in evaluating prebiotics as a treatment plan. Conclusions Considering the scale of ICD in primate colonies, the gap in the literature is prevalent. Clinical management of the disease is often difﬁ cult and unrewarding largely due to the lack of knowledge surrounding pathogenesis. Ideally, the best course action would be preventative care. A study by The National Primate Research Centre in California involving 1,930 R.macaques supported a relationship between stressors and the development of ICD. Particularly on primates that exhibit more gentle personality traits (Gottlieb et al, 2018).6 Applying reﬁ nement techniques and providing a fully enriched environment may well negate the effects of ICD. However, within research stressors such as procedures as well as rehousing and disturbances in social hierarchy is often unavoidable. In these cases, the necessity of research into treatment may be the only viable option. Treatment is essential in providing healthy candidates for research as well as improving welfare standards and accuracy of results.Future Work Currently, the Biological Investigation Group (BIG) in Porton Down uses probiotics to treat primates with chronic diarrhoea. Unlike prebiotics, probiotics provide the body with live bacteria that support the normal gut ﬂ ora to reduce inﬂ ammation. This systematic review did not yield any articles supporting the use of probiotics and outside research was scarce. Although it seemingly has a positive effect on primates housed in Porton Down 11 research was scarce. Although, it seemingly has a positive effect on primates housed in Porton Down UKHSA, more research is needed to provide an accurate evaluation of the current treatment being implemented. In the meantime, reducing stress and providing enrichment is the main focus of the BIG group (Figure 2). Until a prominent resolution is bought forth. Figure 4. Example of primate enrichment at the Biological Investigation Group, Porton Down. Figure 4.Example of primate enrichment at the BiologicalInvestigation Group, Porton Down. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA), more research is needed to provide an accurate evaluation of the current treatment being implemented. In the meantime, reducing stress and providing enrichment is the main focus of the BIG group (Figure 2).Until a prominent resolution is bought forth.References1Westreich, S.T., Ardeshir, A., Alkan, Z., Kable, M.E., Korf, I. and Lemay, D.G., (2019). Fecal metatranscriptomics of macaques with idiopathic chronic diarrhoea reveals altered mucin degradation and fucose utilization. Microbiome, 7(1), pp.1-17.2Blackwood, R.S., Tarara, R.P., Christe, K.L., Spinner, A. and Lerche, N.W., (2008). Effects of the macrolide drug tylosin on chronic diarrhoea in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Comparative medicine, 58(1), pp.81-87.3Ardeshir, A., Oslund, K.L., Ventimiglia, F., Yee, J., Lerche, N.W. and Hyde, D.M., (2013). Idiopathic microscopic colitis of rhesus macaques: quantitative assessment of colonic mucosa. The Anatomical Record, 296(8), pp.1169-1179.4Broadhurst, M.J., Ardeshir, A., Kanwar, B., Mirpuri, J., Gundra, U.M., Leung, J.M., et al (2012) Therapeutic Helminth Infection of Macaques with Idiopathic Chronic Diarrhea Alters the Inﬂ ammatory Signature and Mucosal Microbiota of the Colon. PLOS Pathogens November 15, 2012.5Alok, Pranav Chandra, (2013) Effect of Coconut Oil on Ulcerative Colitis in the Mouse Model. Masters Theses & Specialist Projects. Paper 1261.https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/12616Gottlieb, D.H., Del Rosso, L., Sheikhi, F., Gottlieb, A., McCowan, B. and Capitanio, J.P., (2018). Personality, environmental stressors, and diarrhoea in Rhesus macaques: an interactionist perspective. American Journal of Primatology, 80(12), p.e22908.Poster Presentations

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131August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareIntroductionThis study focussed on rodents, speciﬁ cally looking at food preferences as a source of rodent enrichment. The study method used was the preference test using two shapes of pasta and sunﬂ ower seeds.– The rodent preference test was monitored by visual observation to record the amount of mice interacting with each type of enrichment.– The mice were weighed and their teeth checked weekly to assess any impact on behaviour, health and the body condition score.– The beneﬁ t of giving the animals food enrichment may allow the animals to express natural behaviours of storing food within their nest and reduce stress and stereotypic behaviours. The enrichment may also be seen as a reward after handling and also assists technicians and researchers train the animals in our care.Let us choose which food enrichment we prefer’ – enrichment from a mouse perspectiveTOM FEWLASSDepartment of Biology, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD UKCorrespondence: tom.fewlass@york.ac.uk – Prior to deciding on this trial, the idea of giving food enrichment was discussed with the Named Animal Care Welfare Ofﬁ cer (NACWO) and the Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS), both agreed that this would be something worth trialling.Methodology Two cages of appropriate mice were selected, these were two cages of 5 female mice. This was some of our older wild type stock, DOB: 20/5/21. These mice were made identiﬁ able using tail marks. 3 Figure 1. Cage containing food enrichment. Methodology Two cages of appropriate mice were selected, these were two cages of 5 female mice. This was some of our older wild type stock, DOB: 20/5/21.These mice were made identifiable using tail marks. Figure 1. Cage containing food enrichment. 4 Figure 2. Study wild type mice. Prior to the introduction of the food enrichment, the mice were weighed and given a thorough health check. Using this information, we could compare further weight gain/ loss. Weighing would be performed on each following Monday until the end of the study. These two cages were both given access to each form of enrichment, this included: penne pasta, macaroni pasta and some sunflower seeds. This was given to the mice twice a week, on a Tuesday and Friday for four weeks. To avoid any data bias in the study, the location of each type of enrichment was moved to a different area of the cage. Figure 2. Study wild type mice. Prior to the introduction of the food enrichment, the mice were weighed and given a thorough health check. Using this information, we could compare further weight gain/ loss. Weighing would be performed on each following Monday until the end of the study. These two cages were both given access to each form of enrichment, this included: penne pasta, macaroni pasta and some sunﬂ ower seeds.This was given to the mice twice a week, on a Tuesday and Friday for four weeks.August 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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132Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020To avoid any data bias in the study, the location of each type of enrichment was moved to a different area of the cage.The observation stage was performed for both cages and the amount of mice interacting with each enrichment was recorded.I observed both cages for the ﬁ rst 5 minutes after introduction of the enrichment, then again after 15 mins, 30 mins and an hour following the introduction of the enrichment. During observations I would record how many mice from the top cage were at each enrichment at that time.5 The observation stage was performed for both cages and the amount of mice interacting with each enrichment was recorded. I observed both cages for the first 5 minutes after introduction of the enrichment, then again after 15 minutes (mins), 30 mins and an hour following the introduction of the enrichment. During observations I would record how many mice from the top cage were at each enrichment at that time. Figure 3+4. Mice interacting with the food enrichment. Data Figure 3 and 4.Mice interacting with the food enrichment. 6 Graph 1. Average number of mice interacting with different food types at study time points. Imediately 15 Minutes 30 Minutes 1 HourPasta Penne1 1 0 1Sunflower seed1 0 1 1Pasta Macaroni2 2 1 30123Amount of MiceAverage amount of mice at each food type at the time pointsGraph 1. Average number of mice interacting with different food types at study time points. DataChart 1. Mouse weights during study period. 5 The observation stage was performed for both cages and the amount of mice interacting with each enrichment was recorded. I observed both cages for the first 5 minutes after introduction of the enrichment, then again after 15 minutes (mins), 30 mins and an hour following the introduction of the enrichment. During observations I would record how many mice from the top cage were at each enrichment at that time. Figure 3+4. Mice interacting with the food enrichment. Data Cage/Animal NumberWeightsS122/2122/22/2021 29/11/2021 06/12/2021 13/12/2021 20/12/2021_1 (1 DOT)29.1 28.4 28.0 27.9 28.6_2 (2 DOTS)32.6 31.3 32.0 31.8 32.2_3 (3 DOTS)38.6 37.8 38.8 39.2 39.4_4 (1 LINE)28.3 27.7 28.8 29 28.7_5 (NO DOTS)23.6 23.5 23.4 23.6 23.1S127/21_1 (1 DOT)35.2 34.1 33.1 33.0 33.3_2 (2 DOTS)30.9 30.4 30.3 30.1 30.4_3 (3 DOTS)28.1 27.5 27.2 27.3 27.8_4 (1 LINE)27.8 26.8 27.1 27.3 27.1_5 (NO DOTS)30.1 29.0 29.7 29.9 29.1DiscussionBeneﬁ ts of using food as enrichment for mice:– Maintains healthy teeth.– Simulation of foraging behaviour.– Stimulates their brains to be more active, handling the food with forelimbs.Poster Presentations

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134Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Animal Technology and Welfare August 2022BackgroundIt is desirable to administer drugs by the least invasive route to (1) optimise welfare, (2) reduce the risk of injury to animal handlers and (3) minimise the impact of restraint and transient pain on physiological and experimental readouts. – Provision of medications in a palatable form to be consumed voluntarily is ideal for drugs that need to be given repeatedly e.g. for post-surgical pain relief. – Bio-Serv® Electro-Gel™ is an electrolyte-balanced hydration gel that has thermal reversing properties to enable preparation of medicated versions. – We tested whether commonly used drugs provided in Electro-Gel™ would be effective and tolerated by mice as a replacement to injectable versions, and to reduce the need for handling of mice.Medicated jelly as a replacement for injectables and the use of Maropitant to manage itchy skin in miceMARK DONALDSON-WINGMRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Ares Building, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge Biomedical Campus, Cambridge CB2 0QH UKCorrespondence: mwing@mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk–During a pilot study, which involved surgical implantationof radiotelemetric devices, we successfully trialled carprofen Electro-Gel™ Strawberry for post-surgical pain relief. – All mice were comfortable in the week post-surgery but typically started to scratch at surgical wounds during later stages of healing (around day 10) as scabs formed. This increased the risk of wound opening and infection. – 70% of mice in the pilot study were observed showing pruritus (itchy skin) after surgery which led to wound opening and mice having to be culled via Scheule 1 method. – A previous study (Williams-Fritz et al, 2011),1showed that the anti-emetic maropitant citrate was an effective anti-pruritic for mice suffering with ulcerative dermatitis. – We decided to trial Maropitant and (antibiotic) versions of strawberry Electro-Gel™ for managing post-surgical pruritus and infection in implanted mice. Extended study trial49 mice (C57BL/6 background) underwent several days of training with placebo strawberry Electro-Gel™ before surgical implantation.– During the 14-day surgical recovery period mice were singly housed in divided GM900 rat cages.– Mice received a single dose of Carprofen strawberry Electro-Gel™ on days 1,2,3,5,7,9,10,11 and 13.3 - We tested whether commonly used drugs provided in Electro-Gel™ would be effective and tolerated by mice as a replacement to injectable versions, and to reduce the need for handling of micePilot testing - During preliminary testing, control C57BL/6 mice were provided with placebo versions of both strawberry and orange Electro-Gel™ as enrichment. Mice consumed both flavours but preferred the strawberryversion.- During a pilot study, which involved surgical implantation of radiotelemetric devices, we successfully trialled carprofen Electro-Gel™ Strawberry for post-surgical pain relief. 3 - We tested whether commonly used drugs provided in Electro-Gel™ would be effective and tolerated by mice as a replacement to injectable versions, and to reduce the need for handling of micePilot testing - During preliminary testing, control C57BL/6 mice were provided with placebo versions of both strawberry and orange Electro-Gel™ as enrichment. Mice consumed both flavours but preferred the strawberryversion.- During a pilot study, which involved surgical implantation of radiotelemetric devices, we successfully trialled carprofen Electro-Gel™ Strawberry for post-surgical pain relief. Pilot testing – During preliminary testing, control C57BL/6 micewere provided with placebo versions of both strawberry and orange Electro-Gel™ as enrichment. Mice consumed both ﬂ avours but preferred the strawberry version.

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135August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarePoster Presentations– Maropitant Electro-Gel™ was provided as soon as scratching was observed as single daily doses for up to 3 consecutive days until the condition resolved.– Enroﬂ oxacin Electro-Gel™ was provided as a single daily dose for 3-5 days in incidences where there was a suspected high risk of infection (e.g. self-trauma requiring minor wound repair).Electro-Gel™ should be covered to prevent evaporation and may be kept refrigerated for up to 1 week.Each dose should be offered in a 35mm petri dish lid.Unconsumed ElectroGel™ should be removed from cages after 24h and replaced if necessary.Results – 47/49 implanted mice readily ate medicated strawberry Electro-Gel™; the remaining 2 mice ate medicated orange Electro-Gel™, especially if Bio-Serv® Rainbow Foraging Bits were mixed in.– 44/49 mice were treated with Maropitant for pruritus within the 14-day recovery period.– 3/49 mice were euthanised during the 14-day recovery period; these were females with late, self-trauma induced wound infection that did not resolve with Enroﬂ oxacin. – We found that recovery ranged between 6 – 17 days, with 27% of mice fully recovered within 10 days of treatment.Summary – The use of Electro-Gel™ over Injectables was a reﬁ nement and reduced the number of needle pricks a mouse received and reduced the need to handle the mice.– Mice freely ate medicated Electro-Gel™, and once acclimatised would freely eat it if offered months later.– Electro-Gel™, was an effective for providing 3 different drugs in a pain and stress-free way for singly housed mice.– Maropitant Electro-Gel™ appears to be successful for managing pruritus related to later stages of wound healing. We observed that 94% of mice treated with Maropitant recovered.– We found that the optimum treatment regime was to offer 3 days of Maropitant Electro-Gel™ followed by a 1 day break repeated 2 times.Further Use – We have since used Maropitant Electro-Gel™ for mice, undergoing different surgeries, that also scratched at their wounds post-surgery. This helped to prevent further wound deterioration.–Our Named Veterinary Surgeon (NVS) now advises on the use of medicated jellies for our stock mice that have wounds caused by over grooming or ﬁ ghting.Mouse weight (g) ElectroGel Dose (g) – max once daily21 0.3524 0.427 0.4530 0.533 0.5536 0.6Electro-Gel™ preparation Each 1oz pot of Electro-Gel™ contains 27ml.Step 1 – place sealed tub in hot water for 5 min to liquify.Step 2 – using sterile insulin syringe, add drug of choice as follows by injection through lid.0.16ml carprofen (50mg/ml Rimadyl solution)0.32ml maropitant (10mg/ml Cerenia solution)0.65ml (25mg/ml Baytril solution)Step 3 – seal needle puncture hole with tape and label/date.Step 4 – shake gel mixture to ensure even distribution.Step 5 – the liquid can now be dispensed into smaller volumes or left in the original container. Place in fridge for at least 20 min to return to gel state.Step 6 – provide gel dose to mice as follows:6 Electro-Gel™ preparation Each 1oz pot of Electro-Gel™ contains 27ml.Step 1 – place sealed tub in hot water for 5 min to liquify.Step 2 – using sterile insulin syringe, add drug of choice as follows by injectionthrough lid.

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137August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareIntroductionTuberculosis (TB) is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It usually attacks the lungs; however, TB can affect any part of the body such as spine, kidney, and brain. New interventions against TB are desperately needed globally to treat humans and animal models are important to progress new treatments to the clinic.Many different animal species are susceptible to infection with this organism. However, the most used experimental animal models are Guinea pigs, Non-Human Primates (NHPs) and mice. The Guinea pig model has been used for more than 100 years as a research tool. The disadvantage of TB studies in animals is that the disease progression is naturally slow and therefore the animals require need to be housed for longer periods of time. When housing any species within the facility, we always consider the 3Rs – namely Reduction, Replacement and Reﬁ nement. Improving the caging system has allowed us to promote improved animal welfare and observe the 3Rs.Improvements to the caging system will allow the animals to express their natural behaviours such as foraging, which keeps them active, alert and makes them feel happier in their environment.Historically TB studies are carried out in ﬂ exible ﬁ lm isolators which allow us to house a large number of Guinea pigs in pairs. Due to changes in housing requirements within the Code of Practice, we reassessed how Guinea pigs are housed for long term studies due to their increased size as they get older. We took this opportunity to explore changes that will positively inﬂ uence the welfare of the Guinea pigs.The evolution of how Guinea pigs are housed at high containment in the Biological Investigations GroupLEILAH EMM and JOANNE HEYDONUK Health Security Agency, Porton Down, Salisbury UKCorrespondence: joanna.heydon@phe.gov.ukFlexible ﬁ lm isolators can be difﬁ cult for technologists to work in, due to challenges with the need to move heavy cages, basic husbandry, cleaning out and removal of waste. Another major point is that the dexterity of staff is restricted when in the isolator due to the suit/gloves needing to be a standard size to ﬁ t all and layers of gloves you must wear when working makes it harder for basic tasks and procedures. MethodsPreviously, we housed Guinea pigs in pairs, where study design allowed, using RC2R cages (NKP-Isotec). (Figure 1). 4 Figure 1. Pair housed Guinea pigs and RC2R cage (NKP-Isotec) Figure 1.Pair housed Guinea pigs and RC2R cage (NKP-Isotec). 4 Figure 1. Pair housed Guinea pigs and RC2R cage (NKP-Isotec) August 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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138Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Our change was to house the Guinea pigs in bigger groups with more space. This resulted in moving the Guinea pigs into a ﬂ oor pen, which allowed them more space and to be housed into groups of 8. This was done within Containment level 2 (CL2) to trial. (Figure 2) Results The test trial of the Guinea pigs in the double tier caging proved successful. (Figure 3). Since then, we have completed two CL3 studies using this caging system. We have noticed the change of behaviour since they have been housed in these cages. The Guinea pigs now show more natural behaviours such as foraging, this is aided by being able to use a deeper substrate.We noticed that when the Guinea pigs were housed in the ﬂ oor pen, they became more active and alert and more interactive with the technicians entering the room each day. It also allowed us to make and provide more enrichment for them which they enjoyed thoroughly. As well as this, they were able to express their natural behaviour, due to having more room and places to hide and forage.Although this ﬂ oor pen was an improvement, it was impractical for Containment Level 3 (CL3). Some of the considerations taken into account was the volume and velocity of the air required at ﬂ oor level (in order to create a laminar ﬂ ow away from the operator) would have a detrimental effect on the animal’s welfare i.e. signiﬁ cant draughts. It would also be extremely challenging to maintain environmental conditions in line with ASPA. Also, the use of suitable substrate for bedding would be limited, ruling out the use of sawdust, nesting material etc.Even if this were mechanically possible, the containment boundary would be breached each time the animals needed to be handled, i.e the operator would have to enter the ‘contaminated’ zone upon each intervention.The ﬁ nal idea was to use our double tier caging system as we have used these previously at CL3 with different animal species. The system was ﬁ rst trialled with naïve Guinea pigs within the directional airﬂ ow CL3 suite.5 Our change was to house the Guinea pigs in bigger groups with more space. This resulted in moving the Guinea pigs into a floor pen, which allowed them more space and to be housed into groups of 8. This was done within Containment level 2 (CL2) to trial. (Figure 2) Figure 2: Floor pen used to house group housed Guinea pigs. We noticed that when the Guinea pigs were housed in the floor pen, they became more active and alert and more interactive with the technicians entering the room each day. It also allowed us to make and provide more enrichment for them which they enjoyed Figure 2.Floor pen used to house group housed Guinea pigs.7 Results The test trial of the Guinea pigs in the double tier caging proved successful. (Figure 3). Since then, we have completed two CL3 studies using this caging system. We have noticed the change of behaviour since they have been housed in these cages. The Guinea pigs now show more natural behaviours such as foraging, this is aided by being able to use a deeper substrate.Figure 3: Shows CL3 housing and a technologist taking an air reading in the CL3 suiteIn these cages at CL3, the maximum number of Guinea pigs housed in one cage was six. The other groups of cage mates that we housed was four and two. The groups which housed six Guinea pigs showed Figure 3.Shows CL3 housing and a technologist taking an air reading in the CL3 suite.In these cages at CL3, the maximum number of Guinea pigs housed in one cage was six. The other groups of cage mates that we housed was four and two. The groups which housed six Guinea pigs showed that they were more active and more sociable with one another. (Figure 4). Grooming between cage mates was observed within certain individuals where they licked and nibbled at each other’s coats. This behaviour helps with group bonding.7 Results The test trial of the Guinea pigs in the double tier caging proved successful. (Figure 3). Since then, we have completed two CL3 studies using this caging system. We have noticed the change of behaviour since they have been housed in these cages. The Guinea pigs now show more natural behaviours such as foraging, this is aided by being able to use a deeper substrate.Figure 3: Shows CL3 housing and a technologist taking an air reading in the CL3 suiteIn these cages at CL3, the maximum number of Guinea pigs housed in one cage was six. The other groups of cage mates that we housed was four and two. The groups which housed six Guinea pigs showed Figure 4.The Guinea pigs housed within the CL3 suite. In these larger cages we were able to assess and health check animals more efﬁ ciently as we could see behaviours more clearly in the home cage rather than placing the Guinea pig into a separate holding box – which can cause them stress. As they are prey animals, they are easily scared. Therefore, when individuals are picked up their respiratory rate may quicken which will Poster Presentations

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139August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfarePoster Presentationsaffect the clinical scoring system as each study used its own scoring system applicable to the study.The animals have also shown more positive behaviours which suggest that they are happy; behaviours include ‘popcorning’ and vocalisations such as ‘wheeking’ – this is a high-pitched sound which denotes happiness and excitement. ‘Popcorning’ is the behaviour where a Guinea pig leaps and jumps in the air, a head shake can also be seen. Using this caging, we have also seen that Guinea pigs like hides that are higher up and off the ﬂ oor. Through using different levels, it allows us to give the animals more exercise such as jumping – which promotes good muscle tone.The study director analysed the weights of the Guinea pigs in the different housing systems comparing the old caging to the new caging and plotted it on a graph. (Figure 5). The data showed that the rate of growth of Guinea pigs is the same in both the old and new caging system. However, the Guinea pigs in the new caging are consistently lower in weight compared to those in the old caging system – this difference may be because the animals in the new caging system are getting more exercise and animal to animal interaction, due to more space in the new cage system compared to the older caging system.10Figure 5: Shows the weight change between the new and old cage systems. DiscussionThe caging which housed pairs of Guinea pigs, is ideal for short term studies such as diphtheria and anthrax because the Guinea pigs arenot in there for a long time, so they do not grow to full size. The caging also works well for our studies when they are housed within CL3 isolators (Figure 6). These cages are easy to use as they are made from polypropylene which ensures that they are sturdy and robust. Using the material allows for the cages to be cleaned easily and as polypropylene is a non-porous material cages can be Figure 5.Shows the weight change between the new andold cage systems.DiscussionThe caging which housed pairs of Guinea pigs, is ideal for short-term studies such as diphtheria and anthrax because the Guinea pigs are not in there for a long time, so they do not grow to full size. The caging also works well for our studies when they are housed within CL3 isolators (Figure 6). These cages are easy to use as they are made from polypropylene which ensures that they are sturdy and robust. Using the material allows for the cages to be cleaned easily and as polypropylene is a non-porous material cages can be fumigated and put into an autoclave for sterilisation and then cleaning. However these cages are not ideal for long-term studies as there is a limit to what enrichment we can give them although a play tunnel and an aspen brick to chew on is provided. Whilst using the RC2R cages for the TB studies we found that as the animals are in there for a long time, the bedding became soiled easily and cages needed clean outs every other day. These cages also have potential to cause health issues for the Guinea pigs such as urine burns on their feet causing discomfort and infections.The ﬂ oor pens which we trialled for a few weeks worked well, we could house up to 8 Guinea pigs in there, still leaving plenty of space for animals to move and grow. These ﬂ oor pens are easy to assemble and clean – however, due to having plastic on the side panels and door they cannot be autoclaved due to it melting, so they could only be used within CL2.Although, the caging is suitable for the Guinea pigs, it is not compatible with the directional ﬂ ow CL3 system. However, the caging is ideal for making enough levels and sufﬁ cient spaces for animals to hide. The cleaning routine was easier and less stressful for the Guinea pigs due to us only cleaning them out once a week with ‘spot’ cleaning when needed, unlike when in the smaller housing which required cleaning out every other day. 12Figure 6: Guinea pigs housed in a CL3 flexible film isolator. Future workWith future studies, when housing animals within the RC2R cages the overall weight of both Guinea pigs must be under 250g. If the weight is over 250g only one Guinea pig can be housed in a RC2R cage.We would like to make bespoke cages for the directional flow suite that will make better use of the width of the bay and reduce the depth. This will be more ergonomic for the technicians.Figure 6.Guinea pigs housed in a CL3 ﬂ exible ﬁ lm isolator. Future workWith future studies, when housing animals within the RC2R cages the overall weight of both Guinea pigs must be under 250g. If the weight is over 250g only one Guinea pig can be housed in a RC2R cage.We would like to make bespoke cages for the directional ﬂ ow suite that will make better use of the width of the bay and reduce the depth. This will be more ergonomic for the technicians.Also, in the future, we aim to make more durable and practicable enrichment that can be decontaminated Bodyweight proﬁ les of Guinea pigsBodyweight (grams)Time (Days)Old caging systemNew caging system

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141August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAbstracts from IAT Congress 2022 Platform and Workshop presentations 29 March – 1 April 2022PLATFORM PRESENTATIONS The use of ultrasound imaging as a reﬁnement to early detection of neuroblastoma in mice and orthoptic injection techniquesClaire Dobinson BSU and Study Manager Institute of Cancer ResearchCorrespondence: claire.dobinson@icr.ac.ukThe use of ultrasound imaging as a reﬁnement to early detection of neuroblastoma in mice and orthoptic injection techniques Imaging modalities in cancer studies offer signiﬁcant 3Rs beneﬁts. We use portable ultrasound imaging for a number of procedures that would otherwise be more invasive and less accurate. In this presentation I compare the use of Ultrasound with MRI and palpation in the early detection of neuroblastoma in transgenic mice together with the reﬁnements offered when conducting orthotopic intracardiac injections. We have demonstrated that Ultrasound imaging can be a fast, efﬁcient and non-invasive tool to help in the reﬁnement of procedures. Adverse affects of adverse effectsClaire Pearce BSU Manager King’s College LondonCorrespondence: claire.pearce@kcl.ac.ukWithin the majority of animal research facilities there will be occasions when a project Standard Condition 18 report needs to be submitted if the severity limits speciﬁed in the licence, or other controls stated, have been, or are likely to be breached. For example, breaches may occur if a new transgenic line exhibits an unknown phenotype that was not accounted for in the PPL, or if death has unexpectedly occurred as a direct result of a scientiﬁc procedure. Adverse effects are often experienced in research studies but at the time of publishing the results, they are rarely mentioned. The ARRIVE Guidelines 2.0 recommend detailing scientiﬁc implications of a study, including adverse effects, but this is not part of the essential 10 areas that should be covered in a publication. By sharing the unexpected adverse events more widely in the research community there is the opportunity to reﬁne techniques, thereby reducing the number of animals used and the potential pain, distress and lasting harm they may experience. This talk will address how research facilities could encourage the research community to share the unexpected adverse events they have encountered and how they overcame them to successfully meet the scientiﬁc aims and objectives of their research. Breath sampling in mice: reducing stress for optimal resultsTheo Issitt, University of YorkCorrespondence: Theo.issitt@york.ac.uk Stress is intrinsically linked to respiratory function and alterations to breathing and lung architecture present immediately in the gases released. Because of this, animal handling, environment and any other factor affecting stress needs to be considered when researching the compounds found in breath. Therefore the use of animals for breath biomarker research must reduce stress for direct implications upon immediate results. This in turn affects scientiﬁc reproducibility, translatability in addition to ethical and welfare concerns. This talk will discuss how these challenges have been overcome through specialist chambers and methodological approaches to discover new biomarkers in the breath of mice bearing tumours. These biomarkers can then be discovered in the breath of humans to provide fast, non-invasive diagnostic tests.Deﬁning a good Culture of Care in an animal research facility and how this is translated into organisation practicesHelen Emery, University of LeicesterCorrespondence: Helen.emery@leics.ac.uk Culture of Care forms part of the regulatory requirements under Animals (Scientiﬁc Procedures) Act 1986 (ASPA) and has been under discussion for some time in animal research facilities in the UK. This talk identiﬁes gaps by explaining a Culture of Care in the context of an academic August 2022 Animal Technology and Welfare

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143August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and Welfareanimal research facility, understanding what could be learnt from health care organisations Culture of Care and the translation into organisational practices. A deﬁnitive description of ten organisational practices that inﬂuence organisations to be compliant has been identiﬁed. The support that Named Persons working under ASPA require from their organisation identiﬁes how they can demonstrate effective working and the promotion of Culture of Care. A theoretical training framework for all stakeholders supports them to understand their own responsibilities, contributing towards compliance and supporting the organisational vision and mission statement. Introducing two additional ‘Rs, Responsibility and Respect, provides a signiﬁcant link between the animal and stakeholders, thus identifying the organisational behaviour expected. Deﬁning a Culture of Care should involve the contribution of all stakeholders and provides animal research facilities with a deﬁnitive outline of how to deﬁne their own Culture of Care. Procurement planning in laboratory animal facilitiesPete Willan, Castium LtdCorrespondence: pete.willan@castium.co.ukAnimal Care Technicians, may be thinking... this doesn’t really affect me. However for many Animal Technologists and veterinarians whose careers eventually develop into a facility senior and/or management position, procurement can, and usually does, become a fundamental part of their roles, often with little, or no formal training or an understanding of the implications and responsibilities involved in the procurement process. Whether it’s buying some stationary for the ofﬁce, diet and bedding for the animals, or small and major equipment purchases, they may be responsible for spending many thousands of £GBP or in the case of Facility Design and Build, many millions of £GBP. This presentation will outline some of the processes involved, with a case study and potential training options. The low carbon animal facilitySteven CubittCorrespondence: steven@cctech.euAmongst all the challenges of the last 18 months, the move to zero/low carbon is one of many but over the next 10 years this is likely to be the most important topic. Animal research facilities are normally the most energy intensive buildings on the campus and the move to all electric energy can increase energy costs by up to a factor of 3. If these costs are to be fully recovered, this will have consequences which are yet to unfold. This presentation looks that the changes that will be required in construction, operation and compliance that are needed to start this journey to zero/low carbon.Controlling relative humidity – a way of improving breeding performance of an immunodeﬁcient mouse strain?Karen Ekkelund Peterson SCANBURCorrespondence: kep@Scanbur.comHome Ofﬁce Code of Practice for Housing and Care of Animals Bred, Supplied or Used for Scientiﬁc Procedures provides the guideline that relative humidity (RH) above 70% or below 40% should be avoided for prolonged periods. This is because RH levels below 30-40% in the laboratory rodent facility may increase the risk of certain physiological conditions in mice and rats, including skin and eye conditions and a delayed puberty in female mice. Likewise, a RH level above 60-70% seems to induce the ﬁrst oestrus earlier in mice. To investigate how control of RH varying within regulatory guidelines can have a beneﬁcial but non-harmful effect on breeding performance of nude mice, we controlled RH accurately at cage level, comparing to room-controlled RH, where the variation was greater. In collaboration with a commercial breeding facility, we collected productivity and RH data from a commercial breeding colony of immunodeﬁcient nude mice over a multigenerational breeding period. The ScanClime (SCANBUR A/S) was used to control RH at cage level in individually ventilated cages (IVCs) at a set point of 55% with an accuracy of maximum 3% under this set level. Thus, the humidity is always above 52%. The breeding performance in the ScanClime ventilated cages was compared to breeding performance in cages ventilated by a standard air handling unit not capable of humidifying, and the humidity in these cages was controlled at room level. RH in a humidity-controlled barrier room environment is controlled centrally, and the RH can ﬂuctuate within speciﬁed set points with variable weather conditions. Simultaneously and for comparison, productivity data was gathered over the same period from colonies of the same immunodeﬁcient nude strain housed in IVCs in the same barrier environment where humidity was controlled at the room level only. As a further level of control, multigenerational productivity data was also gathered over a period where humidity was controlled at the room level only, and the cage level humidity control afforded to a subset of the immunodeﬁcient nude colony within the barrier environment was not active. Productivity was measured as a monthly average in Production Index, deﬁned as the number of animals weaned per breeding female per week (homozygous animals only). We hypothesise that the higher RH control offered by the ScanClime (SCANBUR A/S) can have a beneﬁcial effect on colony productivity in particular in the winter months, when RH in the barrier environment can be lower. At the time of submitting this abstract, this difference between the RH in the room and in the cages is becoming distinct and measurable and it is our hypothesis that productivity data will follow.Congress 22 Abstracts

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144Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020Congress 22 AbstractsAnimal rights extremists, why we should all share the burden of this crisisMark O’Neill Security Advisor to the IATCorrespondence: iat6262@gmail.comIt is a long-standing tradition in this country that people have the right to protest and are free to gather together in order to demonstrate their views (even if some people may be uncomfortable with these views), as long as they do so within the law. Over the last 2 years we have seen an increase in Animal Rights activity and although we are only talking a small number of protesters, the tactics they use can be harmful to individuals and organisations. This presentation will provide individuals and organisations advice on how to deal with protesters and protect themselves from overt and covert protest.Animal Technicians and the Technician CommitmentSimon Breeden, University of YorkCorrespondence: Simon.breeden@york.ac.uk The Technician Commitment is a university and research institution initiative, led by a steering board of sector bodies, with support from the Science Council and the Technicians Make It Happen campaign. The Commitment aims to ensure visibility, recognition, career development and sustainability for technicians working in higher education and research, across all disciplines. Universities and research institutes are invited to become signatories of the Technician Commitment and pledge action against the key challenges affecting their technical staff. The presentation will give the background to the Technician Commitment identifying the signiﬁcant impact it has had since its launch in 2017 and update on recent activities including how it has been working with the IAT to support technicians in the sector.How little we knew … starting a lifetime in Animal TechnologyGraham Goodfellow, Agenda Resource Management This presentation will put forth a lifetime of experience, to share with the audience and set out that even the modest of accomplishments in a career can be very worthwhile. At the start of a career in Animal Technology, learning and understanding various practices, technical lessons mastered, aspects of the role that surprised or astonished plus early attempts at presenting a paper to peers (including the need for good audio-visual aids!) will all be addressed. Also and importantly, how new innovations have taken the industry forward and lastly as a summary, abiding memories. Pre-clinical cancer research: the processes, paradigms and prominence of in vivo modelsIsaac Johnson, Verinnogen Biotechnology ResearchCorrespondence: isaac.johnson@verinnogen.comThe world is on a mission to increase cancer survival, with huge strides having been made over the last few decades in prevention, detection, diagnosis, and treatment of this deadly disease. However, with the prognosis of some cancer types having changed little during this time (CRUK, 2014), there is still much more work to be done. With an estimated 10 million people dying of cancer every year worldwide, it’s no surprise that over $50 billion was invested in oncology research and development in 2018 (McKinsey). During this talk we will discuss what role in vivo models of cancer play in the development of new cancer therapies, with a focus on models used for efﬁcacy studies, as well as Verinnogen’s mission to aid cancer researchers and technicians worldwide with our technology.Veterinary care of invertebrate laboratory animalsSteven Trim. Venomtech LtdCorrespondence: s.trim@venomtech.co.ukInvertebrate medicine is still a niche area both in research and veterinary care, despite dedicated specialist publishing for many decades. Part of this is probably due to the complexity of answering simple questions of the invertebrate lab animal, such as, is the animal sick? is it in pain and how do I tell if the subject is dead? These all make the invertebrate lab animal a challenging proposition. Many tarantulas (properly called Theraphosids) can live much longer than many other lab animals and thus can become very long-term research subjects. However, because it is not yet commonplace to see invertebrates in veterinary care scientists need to search further aﬁeld for invertebrate medical advice. This is one area where the Veterinary Invertebrate Society (VIS) can get involved and connect technicians and scientists with vets with experience of invertebrates. The new frontiers in invertebrate medicine presented here show the progress being made in diagnosis, management and treatment of invertebrates with a bias towards large arachnids. This presentation will also deliver novel data from researching these fascinating lab animals and related information. This is part our memorandum of understanding between the VIS and the IAT to share expertise and improve the care for the animals we work with.

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145August 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareAugust 2020 Animal Technology and WelfareThe evolution of the rat playroomJoanne Mains, University of DundeeCorrespondence: j.mains@dundee.ac.ukOver the years the Culture of Care and welfare for laboratory animals has improved signiﬁcantly. We at the MSRU are constantly changing and adapting to provide the best possible welfare for the animals under our care. So we decided to set-up a rat playroom within our unit, it has developed over time and proven to be valuable in many circumstances. This includes socialisation with humans before re-homing, introducing adult rats before they are housed together and most importantly it allows the animals in our facility the ability to explore and exhibit their natural behaviours such as running, climbing, and foraging in a secure area. Despite being away from the conﬁnes of their cage, the rats desire for human interaction was something we weren’t expecting, but fully embraced. The difference in behaviour between strains was also something we weren’t expecting but we found quite fascinating. We understand that we are quite lucky to be able to provide our animals with such a space and that other units may not, so we have also investigated and experimented with different ways to provide the same level of welfare and enrichment in a much more conﬁned area. This presentation will explain more about the playroom and cage adaptations we have undertaken.Creating specialised antibodies from llamasGary Stephens, University of Reading Correspondence: g.j.stephens@reading.ac.ukCamelid species (including llamas, alpaca and camels) are known to produce small, specialised antibodies called nanobodies as well as conventional antibodies. There is a growing scientiﬁc interest in the potential therapeutic utility of using nanobodies as alternatives to conventional antibodies and other biological or small molecule drugs. Nanobodies are potentially more immunogenic, have improved efﬁcacy, are more economic and easier to deliver to their target than larger conventional antibodies. The ﬁrst nanobody drug, caplacizumab, was introduced in 2019 to treat a rare bleeding disorder. Interest in nanobody technology has been further enhanced during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, with several research institutes seeking to develop nanobodies from camelids. Llamas are social, pack animals and can be kept as part of a herd. The University of Reading has maintained a herd of llamas at its Centre for Dairy Research (CEDAR) farm facility since 2014. We currently have over 20 male and female llamas working with project partners from the pharmaceutical industry and research institutes such as Pirbright, The Crick Institute and the Rosalind Franklin Institute (RFI) in Oxford. We have recently worked with RFI to generate nanobodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Antibodies are raised in llamas by injecting isolated protein (such as the SARS-CoV-2 ‘spike protein’ responsible for mediating the binding of the virus to human host cells), together with a suitable adjuvant. Llama are held in a secure ‘crush’ for primary immunisation whereby antigen/adjuvant are injected intramuscularly at up to 4 sites on the llama shoulder/ neck. Booster immunisations (typically 2-4) are given every 3 weeks. Blood samples (~500 ml) containing antibodies/nanobodies to the antigen are taken at the end of the procedure. The blood is processed to isolate, select and expand suitable nanobody populations. Work with RFI in our llama, Fiﬁ, has generated nanobodies that have been shown to neutralise SARS-CoV-2 virus and variants in vitro (Huo et al., 2021); moreover, a mixture of these nanobodies showed potent therapeutic efﬁcacy in the in vivo Syrian hamster model of COVID-19, via both respiratory and intraperitoneal injection. Work with the isolated SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein provides a compelling example of the utility of using llamas to provide potentially life-saving medical interventions. The technical team involved in the procedures described, and their management of the llama herd at CEDAR further illustrates, the positive use of animals in research, for which the University of Reading was awarded Understanding Animal Research Openness Awards in 2019 and 2020. RFI and the University of Reading will also showcase this work at the Royal Society Summer Exhibition in July 2022.Reference Huo et al (2021). A potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralising nanobody shows therapeutic efﬁcacy in the Syrian golden hamster model of COVID-19. Nature Communications 12(1):5469The trials and tribulations of setting up a Chick Embryo Facility (CEF) as a replacement modelLinda Horan, University of StrathclydeCorrespondence: linda.horan@strath.ac.ukI’ll tell you what I want, what I really, really, want … and that is to see more replacements used before researchers move into protected animals. I became an NC3Rs Board member in 2019. Part of this role means I attend selected mid-term grant meetings. It was at one of these meetings that I met Dr Anne Herrmann who was an NC3Rs grant holder running a Chick Embryo Facility at the University of Liverpool. The chick embryo model is an excellent tool and I was fascinated by the model as it seemed to have so many potential applications from cancer research to drug discovery / toxicity, it also appeared to be relatively simple in its set-up. Further advantages over murine models include its cost effectiveness, its simplicity and immunodeﬁciency, which allows the engraftment of any xenogenic material. As the experiments are terminated at E14, the model is Congress 22 Abstracts

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146Animal Technology and Welfare August 2020classiﬁ ed as non-protected under the Animals Scientiﬁ c Procedures Act 1986 (amended 2012) and hence it is a valid animal reduction as well as replacement technique. Moreover, the chick embryo has the potential to be readily imaged in vivo. I engaged with some of my researchers and they were sold on the idea. We put in an application for an NC3Rs Skills and Knowledge Transfer grant, to set-up the technique at Strathclyde, and we were successful. This presentation will give an overview of the set-up of the facility at The University of Strathclyde, demonstrate a commonly used method in cancer research, as well as provide some information about the beneﬁ ts and limitations of this model. Managing moral stress: Learning from the use of ethical discussion groups and ethical decision making tools in veterinary practice Vanessa Ashall, University of YorkLess than half of the 48 People’s Dispensary for Sick Animals (PDSA) UK hospitals are completely satisﬁ ed with the level of staff discussion about ethically challenging cases (Wensley et al 2020). In this presentation I share the progress of a collaborative project which aims to evaluate the use of ethical discussion groups and ethical tools to reduce moral stress in PDSA veterinary teams. I highlight how such approaches might also prove beneﬁ cial in the laboratory animal setting. Through preliminary ﬁ ndings from an analysis of focus groups and individual interviews I identify the role of practical and relational barriers in creating veterinary moral stress (Reynolds et al, 2012). I highlight the complexity of relationships and responsibilities between humans in the veterinary setting, which may become better understood through sociological research. I show how these relationships may challenge current veterinary ethical approaches (Grimm et al 2018). Finally I illustrate some of the ways in which formal ethical discussion may beneﬁ t PDSA veterinary staff, even when it does not change clinical outcomes for animal patients. ReferencesGrimm, H. Bergadano, A. Musk, G.C. Otto, K. Taylor, P.M. Duncan, J.C. (2018). Drawing the line in clinical treatment of companion animals: recommendations from an ethics working party. Veterinary Record182(23):664. Reynolds, S.J., Owens, B.P. & Rubenstein, A.L. (2012). Moral Stress: Considering the Nature and Effects of Managerial Moral Uncertainty. J Bus Ethics 106, 491–502 (2012). Wensley, S., Betton, V., Martin, N. and Tipton, E. (2020). Advancing animal welfare and ethics in veterinary practice through a national pet wellbeing task force, practice-based champions and clinical audit. Veterinar y Record, 187: 316-316.ANDREW BLAKE TRIBUTE AWARD WINNER 2022Exploring environmental enrichment as a tool for assessing cognitive degeneration in ageing miceRosie Payne, University of Surrey Correspondence: r.payne@surrey.ac.ukEnvironmental enrichment is used to improve animal welfare, but could it be used for more? As mice age, their cognitive abilities decrease. We looked at our ageing colony and how mice at different life stages and of different genetic backgrounds interact with environmental enrichment. We evaluated not only the preference for different EE items, but also if the preference for EE items changes in different age groups. We also trialled the use of an EE strategy and evaluated the potential effect of routine exposure to EE on the level of interaction in different age groups. Our ﬁ ndings suggest that the use of repetitive EE does not affect the interaction level in adult and middle age mice, but it decreases signiﬁ cantly in the old groups over time. Also, interaction with EE item decreased signiﬁ cantly at an earlier stage (middle age) in some knockout lines and especially in one particular strain of mice whose phenotype has synaptic plasticity and memory lesions. This could suggest that standardised evaluation of EE interaction level has the potential to be used as an alternative method to assess cognitive impairment in mice. Our ﬁ ndings conﬁ rm the preference of mice for foraging and nesting EE items, as reported in literature, but add that preference doesn’t change with age. They also indicate that the level of interest with repetitive EE items decreases in old mice, while it is unaffected in younger animals. This seems to suggest that an adequate and varied EE programme should be put in place and monitored for ageing colonies to be effective and maintain adequate enrichment standards.

ATW August 2022

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