Infant mice (Mus musculus) born to dams housed in isolation throughout pregnancy (IsoPreg) begin differentially approaching homenest bedding over clean bedding on Postnatal Day 6. Offspring of dams housed with 2 other potentially pregnant conspecifics (SocPreg) display such homing behavior on Day 4. Earlier onset of homing reflects facilitated olfactory responsiveness in SocPreg pups, rather th...

In social animals, signals released from fearless conspecifics attenuate fear responses, namely social buffering. The presence of conspecific odor can suppress the expression of freezing response of conditioned mice. The present study investigated if physical social experience is required for this social buffering effect. The mice were exposed to donors, donor bedding (collected from cages of d...

Choice of livestock bedding has been shown to affect density of filth fly maggots. Here, laboratory experiments indicate that bedding type can also affect natural enemies of the flies, specifically the parasitoid wasps Spalangia endius Walker and Urolepis rufipes (Ashmead) (Hymenoptera: Pteromalidae) parasitizing a natural host, the house fly Musca domestica L. (Diptera: Muscidae). For both par...

It has been argued that mice should be housed at 30 °C to best mimic the thermal conditions experienced by humans, and that the current practice of housing mice at 20-22 °C impairs the suitability of mice as a model for human physiology and disease. In the current paper we challenge this notion. First, we show that humans routinely occupy environments about 3 °C below their lower critical tempe...

Suppose X is a nonsingular projective scheme, Z a nonsingular closed sub-scheme of X. Let˜X be the blowup of X centered at Z, E0 the pull-back of a general hyperplane in X, and E the exceptional divisor. In this paper, we study projective em-beddings of˜X given by divisors De,t = tE0 − eE. When X satisfies a necessary condition, we give explicit values of d and δ such that for all e > 0 and t >...

The effects of naturally occurring microsomal enzyme inducers on hepatocellular drug-metabolizing enzyme systems and also upon the incidence of "spontaneous" liver tumors in CF-1 mice were investigated, using animals maintained on semisynthetic diet and filter-paper bedding as controls. The administration of dieldrin, a potent microsomal enzyme inducer with tumorigenic properties in livers of C...

Housing adult rats on ground corncob bedding impedes male and female mating behavior and causes acyclicity in females. The suppressive effects on ovarian cyclicity are mimicked by a mitogenic agent purified from the ground corncob bedding material (corn mitogen; CM), which stimulates the proliferation of estrogen receptor (ER)-positive (MCF-7 cells) and ER-negative (MDA-MD-231 cells) breast can...

lation cannot arise. We welcome the authors' recommendation that growth problems be identified at an early age in a community height screening programme. Once screening has been carried out on initial height however, there is little to be gained from waiting a year and screening on velocity using the 25th centile as a cut off, as in the Oxford study. First, the normal short child, on the third ...

Requirements of the organic pig farming create an opportunity to offer good life for animals. The space requirements give animals the possibility to exhibit species-specific behavior and provide them opportunity for more exercise. Bedding and roughage are important in helping to reduce production stress. The most difficult question in a veterinary point of view is how to manage the animal healt...

Effects of bedding with recycled sand and season on lying behaviors, hygiene, and preferences of late-lactation Holstein cows were studied. It was hypothesized that recycled sand will decrease lying time and increase hygiene scores due to increased moisture content and organic matter, and thus a preference for the control sand will be evident. Cows (n = 64) were divided into 4 groups (n = 8 per...