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Journal of the American Association For... Jan 2022Swine are widely used in biomedical research, translational research, xenotransplantation, and agriculture. For these uses, physiologic reference intervals are extremely...
Swine are widely used in biomedical research, translational research, xenotransplantation, and agriculture. For these uses, physiologic reference intervals are extremely important for assessing the health status of the swine and diagnosing disease. However, few biochemical and hematologic reference intervals that comply with guidelines from the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute and the American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology are available for swine. These guidelines state that reference intervals should be determined by using 120 subjects or more. The aim of this study was to generate hematologic and biochemical reference intervals for female, juvenile Yorkshire swine () and to compare these values with those for humans and baboons (). Blood samples were collected from the femoral artery or vein of female, juvenile Yorkshire swine, and standard hematologic and biochemical parameters were analyzed in multiple studies. Hematologic and biochemical reference intervals were calculated for arterial blood samples from Yorkshire swine ( = 121 to 124); human and baboon reference intervals were obtained from the literature. Arterial reference intervals for Yorkshire swine differed significantly from those for humans and baboons in all commonly measured parameters except platelet count, which did not differ significantly from the human value, and glucose, which was not significantly different from the baboon value. These data provide valuable information for investigators using female, juvenile Yorkshire swine for biomedical re- search, as disease models, and in xenotransplantation studies as well as useful physiologic information for veterinarians and livestock producers. Our findings highlight the need for caution when comparing data and study outcomes between species.
Topics: Animals; Female; Hematologic Tests; Reference Standards; Reference Values; Swine
PubMed: 34903312
DOI: 10.30802/AALAS-JAALAS-21-000014 -
Journal of Infection and Public Health 2019Rabies is a fatal viral disease that continues to threaten human and animal health in endemic countries. Rabies is endemic in animals in the Arabian Peninsula. Although...
BACKGROUND
Rabies is a fatal viral disease that continues to threaten human and animal health in endemic countries. Rabies is endemic in animals in the Arabian Peninsula. Although Saudi Arabia is the largest country on the Peninsula, little has been reported in the country about rabies situation.
METHODS
A total of 199 animals suspected of rabies from 2010 to 2017, were examined for rabies infection using the Direct Fluorescent Antibody Test (DFAT).
RESULTS
There were 158 (79.4%) positive cases of rabies of the examined animals, Most positive cases were found in Al-Qassim (63), Eastern region (48), Riyadh (25) and Al-Madina (10). Rabies was diagnosed in Procavia capensis and monkeys (Papio hamadryas hamadryas) in Saudi Arabia for the first time. In addition, infected livestock, especially camels, sheep and goat that pose a risk to veterinarians and farmers which increases the risk of potential zoonosis of rabies in Saudi Arabia.
CONCLUSION
These findings indicate that Rabies in Saudi Arabia remain a public health problem and dogs and camels are the main reservoir and continue to present health risks for both human and animals throughout the country, underscoring the importance of applying rabies control measures to animals and humans.
Topics: Animals; Camelus; Disease Reservoirs; Dogs; Endemic Diseases; Goats; Humans; Livestock; Papio; Public Health; Rabies; Saudi Arabia; Sheep; Zoonoses
PubMed: 31079702
DOI: 10.1016/j.jiph.2018.10.005 -
American Journal of Physiology. Lung... Dec 2014Much of the progress in improved neonatal care, particularly management of underdeveloped preterm lungs, has been aided by investigations of multiple animal models,... (Review)
Review
Much of the progress in improved neonatal care, particularly management of underdeveloped preterm lungs, has been aided by investigations of multiple animal models, including the neonatal baboon (Papio species). In this article we highlight how the preterm baboon model at both 140 and 125 days gestation (term equivalent 185 days) has advanced our understanding and management of the immature human infant with neonatal lung disease. Not only is the 125-day baboon model extremely relevant to the condition of bronchopulmonary dysplasia but there are also critical neurodevelopmental and other end-organ pathological features associated with this model not fully discussed in this limited forum. We also describe efforts to incorporate perinatal infection into these preterm models, both fetal and neonatal, and particularly associated with Ureaplasma/Mycoplasma organisms. Efforts to rekindle the preterm primate model for future evaluations of therapies such as stem cell replacement, early lung recruitment interventions coupled with noninvasive surfactant and high-frequency nasal ventilation, and surfactant therapy coupled with antioxidant or anti-inflammatory medications, to name a few, should be undertaken.
Topics: Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Antioxidants; Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia; Disease Models, Animal; Humans; Inflammation; Papio; Pulmonary Surfactants; Respiration, Artificial; Ureaplasma; Ureaplasma Infections
PubMed: 25281639
DOI: 10.1152/ajplung.00171.2014 -
Journal of Medical Primatology Dec 2016Obesity in pregnancy (MO) is a risk factor for maternal and/or fetal cardiovascular system disorders. This study evaluated maternal CVS expression of microRNA-29 family...
BACKGROUND
Obesity in pregnancy (MO) is a risk factor for maternal and/or fetal cardiovascular system disorders. This study evaluated maternal CVS expression of microRNA-29 family and its target molecules in MO to test the hypotheses: CVS miR-29 concentrations are increased in pregnancy and decreased in MO.
METHODS
Non-pregnant (n=4), pregnant obese (POb, n=4), and pregnant non-obese (PnOb, n=4) baboons (Papio spp.) were studied. Maternal left ventricle (LV), left atrium (LA), and aortic arch (AA) were collected at the end of gestation. Expression of MiR-29 and elastin (ELN) mRNA were quantified.
RESULTS
LA miR-29 (a, c) expression was highest in PnOb. In the LV, miR-29b expression trended lower (P=.059) for PnOb animals. ELN mRNA expression correlated positively with miR-29b expression in AA (r=.76, P=.03).
CONCLUSION
Maternal obesity diminishes miR-29 adaptation to pregnancy. Pharmacologic, tissue-specific targeting of miRNA-29 may represent a strategy for prevention and treatment of MO complications.
Topics: Animals; Female; MicroRNAs; Monkey Diseases; Myocardium; Obesity; Papio; Pregnancy
PubMed: 27627870
DOI: 10.1111/jmp.12236 -
Primates; Journal of Primatology Jul 2023In this "tale" I summarize the major landmarks of my 50-year career watching wild olive baboons (Papio anubis). I review some major discoveries, like baboon hunting and... (Review)
Review
In this "tale" I summarize the major landmarks of my 50-year career watching wild olive baboons (Papio anubis). I review some major discoveries, like baboon hunting and baboon social strategies of competition and defense, that only a creature with a "mind" could manage. My efforts expanded beyond science to include community-based conservation because quite early on these baboons experienced many of the threats of the Anthropocene. My research expanded to include studying crop-raiding by naïve groups of baboons, the first scientific translocation of a primate species, and a detour to study the invasion of a non-indigenous cactus, Opuntia stricta. Throughout I worked with local communities to find solutions to problems that the baboons created, and also to develop new options for their livelihoods. As the baboon research became a long-term project, it depended on a team of Kenyan research assistants who made possible the simultaneous monitoring of up to six baboon troops as well as extensive ecological monitoring. Knowing the ecology, including the impact of the sedentarization of pastoralists in the area, meant we could interpret the process of invasion by a non-indigenous cactus for the first time. Ecological periods allowed comparisons of the same troop over time and different baboon groups during the same ecological phase. Although I began my work before hypothesis testing was the preferred approach, once the paradigm changed, I continued to study and learn what matters to baboons from their perspective. As a result of observing them for 50 years, the baboons showed me that evolution often does not work the way that I had been taught, and it took all my detours and studies to convince me that anecdotes, when they are systematic and comparative, are not stories to be discounted, but evidence, much like Darwin's natural history. Natural history can reassemble the pieces that quantitative hypothesis testing has teased apart to provide its larger meaning. Today, the lone scientist, like me, is an anachronism because no one person has expertise in the many fields needed to understand and save the primates we care about.
Topics: Animals; Papio; Kenya; Papio anubis
PubMed: 37165179
DOI: 10.1007/s10329-023-01060-1 -
ELife Apr 2021In a population of wild baboons, a new way to assess biological age reveals a surprising effect of social hierarchy.
In a population of wild baboons, a new way to assess biological age reveals a surprising effect of social hierarchy.
Topics: Animals; Hierarchy, Social; Papio
PubMed: 33929318
DOI: 10.7554/eLife.68790 -
Scientific Reports Apr 2020Language processing involves the ability to master supra-regular grammars, that go beyond the level of complexity of regular grammars. This ability has been hypothesized...
Language processing involves the ability to master supra-regular grammars, that go beyond the level of complexity of regular grammars. This ability has been hypothesized to be a uniquely human capacity. Our study probed baboons' capacity to learn two supra-regular grammars of different levels of complexity: a context-free grammar generating sequences following a mirror structure (e.g., AB | BA, ABC | CBA) and a context-sensitive grammar generating sequences following a repeat structure (e.g., AB | AB, ABC | ABC), the latter requiring greater computational power to be processed. Fourteen baboons were tested in a prediction task, requiring them to track a moving target on a touchscreen. In distinct experiments, sequences of target locations followed one of the above two grammars, with rare violations. Baboons showed slower response times when violations occurred in mirror sequences, but did not react to violations in repeat sequences, suggesting that they learned the context-free (mirror) but not the context-sensitive (repeat) grammar. By contrast, humans tested with the same task learned both grammars. These data suggest a difference in sensitivity in baboons between a context-free and a context-sensitive grammar.
Topics: Animals; Humans; Learning; Papio papio; Pattern Recognition, Visual
PubMed: 32355252
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-64244-5 -
Science Advances Jan 2019Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional...
Recent studies suggest that closely related species can accumulate substantial genetic and phenotypic differences despite ongoing gene flow, thus challenging traditional ideas regarding the genetics of speciation. Baboons (genus ) are Old World monkeys consisting of six readily distinguishable species. Baboon species hybridize in the wild, and prior data imply a complex history of differentiation and introgression. We produced a reference genome assembly for the olive baboon () and whole-genome sequence data for all six extant species. We document multiple episodes of admixture and introgression during the radiation of baboons, thus demonstrating their value as a model of complex evolutionary divergence, hybridization, and reticulation. These results help inform our understanding of similar cases, including modern humans, Neanderthals, Denisovans, and other ancient hominins.
Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Biological Evolution; Female; Gene Flow; Genomics; Haplotypes; Humans; Hybridization, Genetic; Male; Papio; Phylogeny; Polymorphism, Genetic; Whole Genome Sequencing
PubMed: 30854422
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aau6947 -
Animals : An Open Access Journal From... Oct 2023Besides living as a free-ranging primate in the horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the hamadryas baboon has an important place in zoos and can be found in...
Besides living as a free-ranging primate in the horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, the hamadryas baboon has an important place in zoos and can be found in biomedical research centers worldwide. To be valuable as a non-human primate laboratory model for man, its anatomy should be portrayed in detail, allowing for the correct interpretation and translation of obtained research results. Reviewing the literature on the use of the baboon in biomedical research revealed that very limited anatomical works on this species are available. Anatomical atlases are incomplete, use archaic nomenclature and fail to provide high-definition color photographs. Therefore, the skeletons of two male hamadryas baboons were prepared by manually removing as much soft tissues as possible followed by maceration in warm water to which enzyme-containing washing powder was added. The bones were bleached with hydrogen peroxide and degreased by means of methylene chloride. Photographs of the various bones were taken, and the anatomical structures were identified using the latest version of the Nomina Anatomica Veterinaria. As such, the present article shows 31 annotated multipanel figures. The skeleton of the hamadryas baboon generally parallels the human skeleton, but some remarkable differences have been noticed. If these are taken into consideration when evaluating the results of experiments using the hamadryas baboon, justified conclusions can be drawn.
PubMed: 37835730
DOI: 10.3390/ani13193124 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Jan 2022Conventions form an essential part of human social and cultural behaviour and may also be important to other animal societies. Yet, despite the wealth of evidence that...
Conventions form an essential part of human social and cultural behaviour and may also be important to other animal societies. Yet, despite the wealth of evidence that has accumulated for culture in non-human animals, we know surprisingly little about non-human conventions beyond a few rare examples. We follow the literature in behavioural ecology and evolution and define conventions as systematic behaviours that solve a coordination problem in which two or more individuals need to display complementary behaviour to obtain a mutually beneficial outcome. We start by discussing the literature on conventions in non-human primates from this perspective and conclude that all the ingredients for conventions to emerge are present and therefore that they ought to be more frequently observed. We then probe the emergence of conventions by using a unique novel experimental system in which pairs of Guinea baboons () can voluntarily participate together in touchscreen-based cognitive testing and we show that conventions readily emerge in our experimental set-up and that they share three fundamental properties of human conventions (arbitrariness, stability and efficiency). These results question the idea that observational learning, and imitation in particular, is necessary to establish conventions; they suggest that positive reinforcement is enough. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'.
Topics: Animals; Language; Learning; Papio papio; Primates; Social Behavior
PubMed: 34894743
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0310