Pathology of Wildlife and Zoo Animals is a comprehensive resource that covers the pathology of wildlife and zoo species, including a wide scope of animals, disease types and geographic regions. It is the definitive book for students, biologists, scientists, physicians, veterinary clinicians and pathologists working with non-domestic species in a variety of settings. General chapters include information on performing necropsies, proper techniques to meet the specialized needs of forensic cases, laboratory diagnostics, and an introduction into basic principles of comparative clinical pathology. The taxon-based chapters provide information about disease in related groups of animals and include descriptions of gross and histologic lesions, pathogenesis and diagnostics. For each group of animals, notable, unique gross and microscopic anatomical features are provided to further assist the reader in deciding whether differences from the domestic animal paradigm are "normal." Additional online content, which includes text, images, and whole scanned glass slides of selected conditions, expands the published material resulting in a comprehensive approach to the topic.

Evolutionary medicine has been steadily gaining recognition, not only in modern clinical research and practice, but also in bioarchaeology (the study of archaeological human remains) and especially its sub-discipline, palaeopathology. To date, however, palaeopathology has not been necessarily recognised as particularly useful to the field and most key texts in evolutionary medicine have tended to overlook it. This novel text is the first to highlight the benefits of using palaeopathological research to answer questions about the evolution of disease and its application to current health problems, as well as the benefits of using evolutionary thinking in medicine to help interpret historical disease processes. It presents hypothesis-driven research by experts in biological anthropology (including palaeopathology), medicine, health sciences, and evolutionary medicine through a series of unique case studies that address specific research questions. Each chapter has been co-authored by two or more researchers with different disciplinary perspectives in order to provide original, insightful, and interdisciplinary contributions that will provide new insights for both palaeopathology and evolutionary medicine. Palaeopathology and Evolutionary Medicine is intended for graduate level students and professional researchers in a wide range of fields including the humanities (history), social sciences (anthropology, archaeology, palaeopathology, geography), and life sciences (medicine and biology). Relevant courses include evolutionary medicine, evolutionary anthropology, medical anthropology, and palaeopathology.

Insects are seldom mentioned in discussions surrounding human history, yet they have dramatically impacted today's societies. This book places them front and center, offering a multidisciplinary view of their significance. Diseases vectored by insects have killed more people than all weapons of war. Fleas are common pests, but some can transmit illnesses such as the bubonic plague. In fact, three pandemics can be traced back to them. Epidemics of typhus have been caused by lice. Conversely, humans have also benefitted from insects for millennia. Silk comes from silkworms and honey comes from bees. Despite the undeniably powerful effects of insects on humans, their stories are typically left out of our history books. In The Silken Thread, entomologists Robert. N. Wiedenmann and J. Ray Fisher link the history of insects to the history of empires, cultural exchanges, and warfare. The book narrows its focus to just five insects: a moth, a flea, a louse, a mosquito, and a bee. The authors explore the impact of these insects throughout time and the common threads connecting them. Using biology to complement history, they showcase these small creatures in a whole new light. On every page, the authors thoughtfully analyze the links between history and entomology. The book begins with silkworms, which have been farmed for centuries. It then moves to fleas and their involvement in the spread of the plague before introducing the role lice played in the Black Death, wars, and immigration. The following section concerns yellow fever mosquitos, emphasizing the effects of yellow fever in the Americas and the connection to sugar and slavery. After discussing the importance of western honey bees, the authors tie these five insects together in an exciting closing chapter.

Parasites that manipulate the behaviour of their hosts represent striking examples of adaptation by natural selection. This field of study is now moving beyond its descriptive phase and into more exciting areas where the processes and patterns of such dramatic adaptations can be better understood. This innovative text provides an up-to-date, authoritative, and challenging review of host manipulation by parasites that assesses the current state of developments in the field and lays out a framework for future research. It also promotes a greater integration of behavioral ecology with studies of host manipulation (behavioral ecology has tended to concentrate mainly on behaviour expressed by free living organisms and is far less focused on the role of parasites in shaping behaviour). To help achieve this, the editors adopt a novel approach of having a prominent expert on behavioral ecology (but who does not work directly on parasites) to provide an afterword to each chapter.

Parasites that manipulate the behaviour of their hosts represent striking examples of adaptation by natural selection. This field of study is now moving beyond its descriptive phase and into more exciting areas where the processes and patterns of such dramatic adaptations can be better understood. This innovative text provides an up-to-date, authoritative, and challenging review of host manipulation by parasites that assesses the current state of developments in the field and lays out a framework for future research. It also promotes a greater integration of behavioral ecology with studies of host manipulation (behavioral ecology has tended to concentrate mainly on behaviour expressed by free living organisms and is far less focused on the role of parasites in shaping behaviour). To help achieve this, the editors adopt a novel approach of having a prominent expert on behavioral ecology (but who does not work directly on parasites) to provide an afterword to each chapter.

RNA viruses provide unique insights into the patterns and processes of evolutionary change in real time. The study of viral evolution is especially topical given the growing awareness that emerging and re-emerging diseases (most of which are caused by RNA viruses) represent a major threat to public health. However, while the study of viral evolution has developed rapidly in the last 30 years, relatively little attention has been directed toward linking work on the mechanisms of viral evolution within cells or individual hosts, to the epidemiological outcomes of these processes. This novel book fills this gap by considering the patterns and processes of viral evolution across their entire range of spatial and temporal scales. The Evolution and Emergence of RNA Viruses provides a comprehensive overview of RNA virus evolution, with a particular focus on genomic and phylogenetic approaches. This is the first book to link mechanisms of viral evolution with disease dynamics, using high-profile examples in emergence and evolution such as influenza, HIV, dengue fever, and rabies. It also reveals the underlying evolutionary processes by which emerging viruses cross species boundaries and spread in new hosts.

Under continual attack from both microbial pathogens and multicellular parasites, insects must cope with immune challenges every day of their lives. However, this has not prevented them from becoming the most successful group of animals on the planet. Insects possess highly-developed innate immune systems which have been fine-tuned by an arms race with pathogens spanning hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary history. Recent discoveries are revealing both an unexpected degree of specificity and an indication of immunological memory - the functional hallmark of vertebrate immunity. The study of insect immune systems has accelerated rapidly in recent years and is now becoming an important interdisciplinary field. Furthermore, insects are a phenomenally rich and diverse source of antimicrobial chemicals. Some of these are already being seriously considered as potential therapeutic agents to control microbes such as MRSA. Despite a burgeoning interest in the field, this is the first book to provide a coherent synthesis and is clearly structured around two broadly themed sections: mechanisms of immunity and evolutionary ecology. This novel text adopts an interdisciplinary and concept-driven approach, integrating insights from immunology, molecular biology, ecology, evolutionary biology, parasitology, and epidemiology. It features contributions from an international team of leading experts. Insect Infection and Immunity is suitable for both graduate students and researchers interested in insect immunity from either an evolutionary, genetical, physiological or molecular perspective. Due to its interdisciplinary and concept-driven approach, it will also appeal to a broader audience of immunologists, parasitologists and evolutionary biologists requiring a concise overview.

Many infectious diseases of recent concern, including malaria, cholera, plague, and Lyme disease, have emerged from complex ecological communities, involving multiple hosts and their associated parasites. Several of these diseases appear to be influenced by human impacts on the environment, such as intensive agriculture, clear-cut forestry, and habitat loss and fragmentation; such environmental impacts may affect many species that occur at trophic levels below or above the hostcommunity. These observations suggest that the prevalence of both human and wildlife diseases may be altered in unanticipated ways by changes in the structure and composition of ecological communities. Predicting the epidemiological ramifications of such alteration in community composition will require strengthening the current union between community ecology and epidemiology.

This volume presents techniques used by researchers from all branches of biology to study daily changes at a molecular level in many physiological systems. The chapters are organized into three parts and cover topics such as measuring and modeling physiological and behavioral rhythms; genome-wide analyses in circadian biology, and imaging and manipulating brain clocks. Written in the highly successful Methods in Molecular Biology series format, chapters include introductions to their respective topics, lists of the necessary materials and reagents, step-by-step, readily reproducible laboratory protocols, and tips on troubleshooting and avoiding known pitfalls. Cutting-edge and practical, Circadian Clocks: Methods and Protocols is a valuable tool for any researcher interested in learning more about this developing field.

Animal Models in Toxicology is a single-source reference for the use of animal models in toxicology. Chapters cover nine species used in toxicology and experimental biology. With contributions from experts in toxicology, toxicological pathology, and species-specific metabolism, each of these chapters provides an excellent introductory "course" along with guidance to the literature for a more detailed understanding. This edition includes five new chapters. The first of these provides specific and detailed guidance on the humane, efficient, and effective performance of necropsies for laboratory animals. Other new chapters discuss new technologies available for laboratory animal research-imaging technologies, use of telemetry in animal studies, transgenic animal models, and immunology endpoint for assessment. Also provided is an overview of the increasingly complex laws and regulations that govern how laboratory animals are obtained, maintained, and utilized. A helpful appendix provides a quick guide to commercial sources of laboratory animals.

This is the Second Edition of a well-received book that reflects a fresh, integrated coverage of the concepts and scientific measurement of stress and welfare of animals including humans. This book explains the basic biological principles of coping with many forms of adversity. The major part of this work is devoted to explaining scientifically usable concepts in stress and welfare. A wide range of welfare indicators are highlighted in detail with examples being drawn from man and other species. The necessity for combining information from disciplines is emphasized with a one-health, one-welfare approach. This information forms the basis for a synthesis of new ideas. Among the issues covered are: - How brain and body systems regulate using feelings, physiological responses, behaviour and responses to pathology - Limits to adaptation - Assessing positive and negative welfare during both short-term and long-term situations - Ethical problems and suggested solutions A proper assessment of animal welfare is essential to take informed decisions about what is morally acceptable in terms of practice and in the development of a more effective legislation. This work encapsulates a very wide body of literature on scientific aspects of animal welfare and will thus prove a valuable asset for animal welfare scientists, psychologists, students and teachers of all forms of biology, behaviour, medicine, veterinary medicine and animal usage.

Fungal growths affect both human and animal well-being. Many natural pathogens of laboratory animals alter host physiology, rendering the host unsuitable for experimental uses. While the number and prevalence of few pathogens have declined considerably, many still turn up in laboratory animals and represent unwanted variables in research. Investigators using laboratory animals in biomedical experimentation should be aware of the profound effects that many of these agents can have on research. What does the future hold regarding the natural pathogens of laboratory animals? The selection of an animal model must carefully address issues of the type of human disease to mimic, the parameters to follow, and the collection of the appropriate data to answer those questions being asked. Overall, animal models of fungal infection will continue to deepen our understanding of how these infections occur. This book provides a valuable source of information to biological and biomedical scientists and to clinical and doctoral researchers working in the area of fungal infections and diseases of laboratory animal species.

The first volume in the new Cambridge Handbooks in Behavioral Genetics series, Behavioral Genetics of the Mouse provides baseline information on normal behaviors, essential in both the design of experiments using genetically modified or pharmacologically treated animals and in the interpretation and analyses of the results obtained. The book offers a comprehensive overview of the genetics of naturally occurring variation in mouse behavior, from perception and spontaneous behaviors such as exploration, aggression, social interactions and motor behaviors, to reinforced behaviors such as the different types of learning. Also included are numerous examples of potential experimental problems, which will aid and guide researchers trying to troubleshoot their own studies. A lasting reference, the thorough and comprehensive reviews offer an easy entrance into the extensive literature in this field, and will prove invaluable to students and specialists alike.

This third and final volume in the acclaimed Fish Diseases and Disorders trilogy addresses infectious diseases of finfish and shellfish caused by viruses, bacteria and fungi. Topics covered include infectious pancreatic necrosis virus, infectious hematopoictic necrosis virus, viral diseases of cold and warm-water fish, rickettsial and chlamydial infections, furunculosis, motile aeromonads, vibriosis, flavobacterial diseases and shellfish diseases. Written by experts in each discipline and updated throughout to reflect new developments in the field, including new chapters on alphaviruses, oncogenic viruses and genomics and proteomics, this is a must-have reference for fish health specialists and veterinarians, microbiologists, zoologists and researchers and students in aquaculture.

The book describes the natural history of myxoma virus in American rabbits and the history of its introduction into European rabbits at length. The changes in rabbit and virus over the last forty years provide the classical example of coevolution of a virus and its vertebrate host and a paradigmatic model for the understanding of an emerging infectious disease. Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus has been spreading in Australia for only three years, but in some areas has been very effective. Written by leading world experts in animal virology and the history of medicine.

This book describes experimental animal models that mimic common human ocular diseases: herpetic keratitis, cataract, glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy, uveitis, retinitis pigmentosa, Graves' disease, and intraocular tumors. In conjunction, these models reflect the diversity and utility of tools used to study human disease. World expert clinicians discuss each model based on their clinical experience and the text is supported by numerous photos and diagrams. In describing the most pertinent animal models of ophthalmic diseases, this book will be of interest to ophthalmologists, vision researchers, fellows, residents and medical students.

"Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Second Edition" provides thorough, yet concise descriptions of viral, bacterial, fungal, parasitic and noninfectious diseases in an exhaustive number of fish species. Now in full color with over 500 images, the book is designed as a comprehensive guide to the identification and treatment of both common and rare problems encountered during the clinical work-up. Diseases are discussed following a systems-based approach to ensure a user-friendly and practical manual for identifying problems.

"Fish Disease: Diagnosis and Treatment, Second Edition" is the must-have reference for any aquaculturists, aquatic biologists, or fish health specialists dealing with diagnosing or treating fish diseases.

The highs and heartbreak of caring for the animals we love You never know who or what is going to walk, crawl or slither through the doors of veterinary hospital... Clumsy Luna the Greyhound and her fragile front legs; the tortoise in need of a prosthetic leg; Jock the Saint Bernard and his problematic eyelashes; Edward the Burmese cat and his extravagant diet; the burly farmer and the world's tiniest Chihuahua, Lulu-bell... there is never a dull day in the life of a vet nurse. As the people who care for them around the clock, vet nurses are uniquely placed to speak for their patients and help us understand what our pets are going through. From emergency shifts at a posh London practice to a busy country hospital treating all manner of wildlife - snakes, foxes, hedgehogs - to working with equine-surgeons and teaching the art of care to new generations of vet nurses in New Zealand, Tales of a Vet Nurse is about a life devoted to saving our beloved and unconditional friends. Along the way, Jade enlightens readers to the forbidden feasts of Labradors, the dangers of x-raying prize-winning showjumpers, and the most common pets she sees as hospital inpatients.

This manual explains how to diagnose and respond to a case or outbreak of African swine fever (ASF). It includes general information on the disease and its causes, including epidemiology, transmission pathways and geographic distribution. It presents the different phases chronologically, from detection and diagnosis (clinical signs, postmortem findings and differential diagnosis) to laboratory confirmation (main techniques for detecting both virus and antibodies).African swine fever is a contagious viral disease that affects pigs of all ages, inducing a haemorrhagic fever. It is most often recognized in the acute form with an associated lethality of up to 100 percent, and is a severe threat to pig production systems. Not only does it threaten food security and challenge the livelihoods of pig producers and other actors in the supply chain, but it can have major consequences on international trade.Since there is currently no effective vaccine or treatment, the manual suggests that the best strategy for countries/zones that are still free of the disease is to prevent entry of the virus through improved border control, awareness-raising and better biosecurity. Infected countries will also need to be able to implement quick outbreak controls though movement restrictions and stamping-out policies.

Despite the difficulty in comparing clinic-based human tests with animal model testing, there is still great value in pursuing translational approaches, as tests and treatment strategies might be developed to improve brain function in humans suffering from neurological conditions and knowledge obtained from human behavioral studies can be used to further improve the animal models of behavioral analysis. In Animal Models of Behavioral Analysis, expert neuroscientists focus on approaches to translate and compare behavioral tests used in animals with those used in humans not only to increase our understanding of brain function across species but also to provide objective performance measures and bridge the gap between behavioral alterations in humans with cognitive disorders and the correlating animal models of these conditions. Written in the Neuromethods series format, the chapters provide authoritative reviews of many commonly used approaches in the field today. Provocative and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Behavioral Analysis seeks to aid researchers in further developing these vital techniques in an effort to advance studies in both the clinic and the laboratory.

The development of treatment strategies that can help patients with spinal cord injury to regain lost functions and an improved quality of life is a major medical challenge, and experimental spinal cord research has to meet these challenges by resolving fundamental problems, establishing a basis for possible novel treatment strategies of spinal cord injury, and motivating their clinical translation. In Animal Models of Spinal Cord Repair, expert researchers examine a broad range of experimental models for research on spinal cord injury, how they have contributed to our current state of knowledge, and what their advantages are in the further advancement of spinal cord repair. With models from simple lamprey to non-human primates, the information presented is intended to guide the implementation of animal models for spinal cord repair as well as to raise the awareness of the relevance of experimental models which may not be in the current mainstream of this research. As a part of the Neuromethods series, this work contains the kind of detailed description and implementation advice to guarantee successful results in the laboratory. Comprehensive and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Spinal Cord Repair presents the background information and hands-on methods descriptions, as well as the basic and clinical issues, needed to stimulate and guide researchers with different backgrounds towards the development of improved strategies for functionally relevant repair of the injured human spinal cord.

Movement is the way that animals interact with their environment and is under the organization and complex control of the brain and spinal cord. Multiple central nervous systems, including cortex, basal ganglia, cerebellum, and brainstem, interact to provide precise motor control and integration. Damage or disease within these systems cause profound motor disturbances in man, which can be effectively modeled in animals to develop a better understanding and treatment of the human condition. Animal Models of Movement Disorders introduces a variety of methods and techniques used to model and assess motor function in experimental animals from lower orders, such as drosophila and c. elegans, through vertebrate species including fish, to mammals, such as rodents and non-human primates. The most advanced contemporary models in each system are presented at multiple levels of analysis from molecular and genetic modeling, lesions, anatomy, neurochemistry, to imaging and behavior. Volume II of this detailed collection contains sections on the basal ganglia, neo- and allo-cortical systems, cerebellar and brain stem systems, as well as spinal cord systems. Comprehensive and meticulous, Animal Models of Movement Disorders serves as a valuable reference for those studying motor disorders by covering methodologies in detail and providing the information necessary to consider both the appropriate models and assessment tools that can most informatively answer the key experimental issues in the field.

Affecting over a hundred million individuals worldwide, retinal diseases are among the leading causes of irreversible visual impairment and blindness, and appropriate study models, especially animal models, are essential to furthering our understanding of the etiology, pathology, and progression of these endemic diseases. In Animal Models for Retinal Diseases, recognized experts in the field highlight valuable techniques as well as animal models for the prominent retinal diseases in order to aid in the evaluation, development, and improvement of therapeutic strategies. Beginning with an overview of the morphology of the retina, visual behavior, and genetics and genomics approaches for retinal research, the book continues by covering animal models for the research of specific human retinal diseases, e.g., retinal degeneration, age-related macular degeneration, retinopathy of prematurity, diabetic retinopathy, glaucoma, retinal ischemia, and retinal inflammation. As a volume in the successful Neuromethods series, the chapters provide authoritative reviews of the most commonly used approaches in the field. Vital and easy to use, Animal Models for Retinal Diseases serves to support the important future research of ocular investigators, ophthalmologists, and neuroscientists currently delving into this fascinating field of study.

With the loss of work days, the price of health care and payments for compensation, litigation, and malpractice, and the overwhelming cost of human suffering, chronic pain syndromes affect humanity enormously on both an economic and personal level. In Animal Models of Pain, expert investigators in the field provide a consolidated review of the current state of pain research by capturing the diversity of animal models that are used to investigate pain mechanisms, which range from surgical incision to mechanical compression and from spinal cord injury to cutaneous/local inflammation and beyond. As a volume in the respected Neuromethods series, this book delivers its vital content through detailed descriptions of a wide variety of step-by-step laboratory methods. Authoritative and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Pain seeks to lead scientists closer to the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life and relieving the unbearable burden of chronic pain for millions of people throughout the world.

Animal models of schizophrenia and other major psychiatric disorders have been sought for decades, and, as a result, we are now facing new vistas on pathophysiology that could lead to novel therapeutic approaches and even hint at possible preventive strategies. Animal Models of Schizophrenia and Related Disorders presents an overview of the information that can be obtained with several different models and a detailed account of how to generate such models in order to ensure that the manipulations used to model schizophrenia-relevant phenomena are used consistently across laboratories. This detailed volume features pharmacological models such as non-competing NMDA antagonists, emphasizing their use in vitro, neurodevelopmental models such as the neonatal ventral hippocampal lesion and the antimitotic MAM, models that reproduce environmental factors such as neonatal hypoxia, vitamin D deficits, and prenatal immune activation, as well as several different genetic model approaches. As a volume in the Neuromethods series, this volume contains the kind of detailed description and implementation advice that is crucial for getting optimal results. Practical and cutting-edge, Animal Models of Schizophrenia and Related Disorders highlights the successes in the use of animal models to gain insight on pathophysiological mechanisms of relevance to major psychiatric disorders in the hope of inspiring investigators to expand the research and test targets that could restore or ameliorate function.