Juvenile idiopathic epilepsy (JIE) in Arabian foals resembles benign-familial neonatal convulsion (BFNC) syndrome, a rare idiopathic epilepsy of new-born humans. BFNC syndrome exhibits genetic heterogeneity, as has been hypothesised to occur in Arabian foals, and is known to be caused by mutations in the voltage-gated potassium channel subunit KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 genes. The close phenotypic […]
Continue ReadingAs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) reduces its use of chimpanzees in invasive biomedical research, it is moving more chimps to retirement homes. But the agency could face a problem in paying for their continuing support. At the beginning of 2013, the NIH announced that it would move 113 chimpanzees it owns from the […]
Continue ReadingBACKGROUND Low food availability leading to reductions in Body Condition Score (BCS; 0 indicates emaciation and 5 obesity) in sheep often coincides with low temperatures associated with the onset of winter in New Zealand. The ability to adapt to reductions in environmental temperature may be impaired in animals with low BCS, in particular during pregnancy […]
Continue ReadingAppropriate emergency disaster preparedness is a key priority for agricultural agencies to allow effective response to serious avian disease outbreaks. There is a need to develop rapid, humane, and safe depopulation techniques for poultry that are widely applicable across a range of farm settings. Whole barn depopulation with carbon dioxide (CO(2)) has been investigated as […]
Continue ReadingWhich native species will survive for future generations is a dilemma that can be solved by society, not society, a leading ecologist has said. Hugh Possingham, director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions (CEED) at the University of Queensland, said that world-first Australian research was showing that it was now possible to […]
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