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Theme D Posters: Education and Information ResourcesD1: An Alternative Model for Laboratory Surgical Training Objective: Rats, rabbits, cats, and even dogs have been used as laboratory training models for practicing microvascular and other kinds of surgical procedures, because of the need for vascular filling, pulsation, and ability of bleeding, which cannot be found in other models. Thousands of rats and other small animals are dying each year for this reason, even though it is possible to use an alternative that has high reliability to mimic the characteristics of the human vascular tree in alive status, particularly pulsation, vascular filling, and ability of manipulating, suturing, and bleeding management. Methods: I introduce a new model that utilizes the human cadaveric anatomy under dynamic filling of the vessels (veins and arteries) and liquids in the body cavities. All kinds of surgical approaches, dissection, vascular anastomosis and repair, aneurysm clip applications, and intra parenchyma resection were performed. Conclusion: This model, which has not been used before, uses the normal human anatomy and vascular dynamic filling that resemble a real-life surgery from the training perspective, allowing a wide range of exercises and repeated practice without the need to kill animals. D2: Nobody Knows: A Proposal for Data Collection as a Necessary Condition for Evidence-based Ethical Review New developments in animal research, especially in the field of biotechnology and genomics, give rise to moral concerns by the public, and consequently, in the political arena. Therefore, comprehensive insight into data about animal research is imperative for all parties concerned. In an on-site study (1999) in three transgenic units, and in a study (2001) involving 17 research institutes in The Netherlands, it was concluded that data, relevant to ethical review and political decision-making, were only insufficiently available from research institutes, because the collected data were neither complete nor standardized. A comprehensive list of relevant categories for data collection will be proposed, and a structure for an electronic database will be presented and compared to other designs. A relevant database should give insight into the health and welfare of the individual animal and into the longitudinal interrelations over several generations of animals in breeding programs in experiments. D3: The European Resource Centre for Alternatives in HE (Eurca: http://www.eurca.org) This is an exciting new joint project that aims to help teachers to be more creative in teaching and learning approaches, to foster high quality training for science students, and to significantly reduce the number of animals used unnecessarily in teaching. These goals will be achieved by:
The presentation will focus on how this project could meet the needs of teachers, strategies that could be employed to assemble the academic advocates, and strategies to encourage evaluative studies and international cooperation. D4: A New Computer-Aided Learning (Cal) Program to Teach Better Experimental Design Over 50 million animals are used in biomedical research each year. For both ethical and economic reasons, it is important that research scientists use animals efficiently and in the minimum numbers consistent with achieving the scientific objectives of the study. A new, highly interactive, CAL program to teach better experimental design (details are available at http://www.sheffbp.co.uk) will be described. It runs on PC's (minimum specification: 166 MHz Intel Pentium II processor, Windows 95/98/NT4, 32 Mb RAM, 16 bit color graphics). Briefly the content covers: Introduction-highlights poor design in animal experiments; Choice of Animal Model-explores the use of different strains and animal models; The Experimental Unit-importance and critical nature; Eliminating Bias-how to remove systematic differences between treatment groups; Applying Valid Statistics–application, choice, and use of statistical tests, parametric versus non-parametric tests, defining hypotheses, interpreting P, and analyzing variance (ANOVA); Improving Precision–ensuring uniformity, randomized blocking, power analysis, and resource equation method; Increasing the Range of Applicability-enabling wider interpretation of findings, and multi-factorial design; Planning and Organizing-key issues; Software Tools & References–other information resources; Self-Assessment Activity-a series of case studies and true/false questions with feedback. D5: Zebet Database on Alternatives to Animal Experiments on the Internet Scientists are required by law to explore every possibility to use alternatives to animal experiments (cf. German Animal Protection Law and EU Directive). For this reason, the German Center for the Documentation and Validation of Alternative Methods (ZEBET) has made available its database on the Internet: the ZEBET Database on Alternatives to Animal Experiments (in English) at http://www.bgvv.de/datenbanken/db-infod/zebet-info-e.htm. The main aim is to provide information on alternatives to scientists and to the representatives of the relevant authorities, and thus, to help them comply with animal welfare laws. The ZEBET Database contains reports that have been evaluated by ZEBET's scientific staff, according to the concept of the Three R's established by Russell and Burch in 1959. The reports describe for each method the current status of development or validation and the degree of acceptance for scientific or regulatory purposes. The database contents are updated on a regular basis, and new reports are added. ZEBET Database is available free of charge; it offers a complete service for searching, with the option to search in several databases simultaneously, e.g. MEDLINE and ZEBET Database. D6: National Library of Medicine's Alternatives to Animal Testing Database on the Web The Alternatives to the Use of Live Vertebrates in Biomedical Research and Testing Bibliography was first published in the summer of 1992, with the purpose of providing a survey of the literature in a format that facilitates easy access. This bibliography includes citations from published articles, books, book chapters, and technical reports. Citations are organized under subject categories. The bibliography features citations that deal with methods, tests, assays, or procedures that may prove useful in establishing alternatives to the use of intact vertebrates. Citations are selected and compiled by searching TOXLINE and MEDLINE at the National Library of Medicine. The bibliography is updated periodically, and 22 issues are available from the Specialized Information Services web site. All the files have now been consolidated to create one file and the format was converted from HTML and plain text documents to SGML-tagged documents. The file is searched with the TOXNET search engine and its CGI interface, which has a relevancy-ranked full text search capability and a built-in framework to search multiple databases within the TOXNET system. A search query is sent to the CGI program, which, in turn, passes the query to the search engine and retrieves a list of records found in the database. The CGI program then generates the "Search Results" page and other useful navigational links, such as "Download," "Sort," "History," and so forth. For future updates, references will be harvested through the Entrez Utility by sending PubMed Unique Identifiers to retrieve the documents in XML-tagged format, which will facilitate easy translation into SGML-tagged data format. D7: Conscientious Objection and the Role of Students in Curricular Change Many students find that the practice of harmful animal use conflicts with their ethics and damages the learning environment. At universities where alternatives are not the norm, students may choose to conscientiously object and to ask for humane alternatives. This can be a challenging situation for teachers. Nevertheless, such choices are not made easily and usually involve students who exhibit a high level of motivation and a strong commitment to their education. Many have thought about the issues critically, and by addressing the ethical questions inherent in the use of animals are often amongst the most practiced in negotiating the ethical landscape. The qualities of compassion, an uncompromising mind, a sense of personal responsibility, and the capacity for leadership should be welcomed by teachers and other professionals. Conscientious objectors may choose to research the literature on knowledge and skills acquisition, write proposals for alternative approaches, or arrange extra-curricular training. Some have forced teachers to re-assess their position, leading to the successful adoption of alternatives or the development of new products with student participation. Teachers should, therefore, value students who conscientiously object, and recognize the opportunities that can arise. All parties should be aware of the potential for win-win solutions. D8: Are School Science Competition Rules Fair to Animals? Animals are widely used in school science fair projects, from observational studies to invasive toxicity and carcinogenesis protocols. Science fair rules regarding animal use are not consistent; for example, the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair allows regulated animal use, while the Intel Science Talent Search specifically prohibits vertebrate research. This paper examines animal use in American science fairs from scientific, ethical, and pedagogical perspectives. The ethical basis of animal use in science fair competition should reflect its dual roles: promotion of scientific education and production of research. Science fair projects primarily replicate existing knowledge. Research ethics relating to animal use therefore should not be directly transplanted to the educational arena, as high school science projects are unlikely to generate genuine benefits to human health as typically required in cost/benefit analysis. It is proposed that science fair regulation should reflect current pedagogical ethics which emphasize respect for life. Consequently, science fairs should prohibit animal studies that cause harm or distress. An extensive array of humane observational animal studies is available, affording novel opportunities for scientific achievement. D9: The Application of Alternatives, Addressing Difficulties that Arise The question of the opportunity and need to use alternatives does not arise any more among lecturers in our department. If it is possible to teach specific skills without killing animals, it is necessary to use the non-lethal alternative method. The students use alternatives with interest and obvious pleasure and seem to find them, in many cases, more effective than traditional methods of teaching. However, there are some difficulties in introducing alternatives:
In concert with the traditional methods of teaching physiology at our university, we plan, despite our financial difficulties, to create our own programs to use alongside the best alternative programs already available from other countries. We look to the future with optimism. D10: The Use of Alternative Programs in Training the Students of Pedagogical University The Ecological and Health-Improvement Center affiliated with the Kharkiv State Pedagogical University is building an Alternatives Library (library of the latest teaching aids) to be used by the students learning biology on the three faculties: the faculty of natural sciences, the faculty of primary education, and the faculty of pre-school education. Donated by the RSPCA/InterNICHE, the Alternatives Library's products made it possible to increase considerably the efficiency of learning and teaching processes, made possible a twofold reduction in animals used in experiments, contributed to the change of the topics in student's scientific projects, and improved scientific activity researchers in Zoology, Botany, Anatomy, and Physiology of the Animals and Human Departments of the University. In our opinion, new curriculum enhancements based on the alternative products promote a biocentric attitude and bioethical consciousness. D11: The Databases of the ECVAM-SIS Online The first version of the ECVAM Scientific Information Service (SIS) databases was published on the Internet in 2001, in accordance with the requirements of the European Commission*. The Internet version, accessible at http://ecvam-sis.jrc.it, includes selected databases and is designed to survey the response to the system by the users. Therefore, a questionnaire has been distributed, and access has been allowed to a selected user group, in order to obtain constructive comments for the further development of SIS. The Internet version provides access to the INVITTOX protocols, for which, SIS is responsible, and to the conclusions and recommendations of the ECVAM workshop reports. Specific searches on selected bibliographic references are also permitted. Furthermore, an overall view is given of all the information that can currently be obtained from SIS. An extended SIS Internet version is foreseen, taking into account the comments highlighted during the test phase, and will include almost all the SIS databases. D12: The ECVAM Thesaurus of Advanced Alternative Methods (TAAM) to Animal Experiments The first version of TAAM was finalized in 2001, as a project of the ECVAM Task Force on Alternatives Databases. TAAM has been generated in a semi-automatic manner, by selecting actual phrases that occur in documents and should, therefore, reflect the preferred terminology used by the authors of the articles. The resulting list consisted of 115,150 unique terms. Following various evaluation and discrimination steps, approximately 1,000 terms were retained for TAAM. In order to organize them in a hierarchical structure, the following categories have been established: Phenomena and Effects, Methods, Models and Strategies, Materials, Endpoints, Validation Methods, Governments, Organizations, Regulations and Regulatory Bodies, Animal Welfare Issues, Information Systems, Alternatives in Education, and Disease Conditions. This first version of TAAM focuses on toxicity testing, with the aim of verifying the response of potential users to the resulting thesaurus before extending it to additional topics. As planned, TAAM has already been circulated for comments to selected experts in the field of non-animal toxicity testing. TAAM will be published and made available on the Internet for practical application by the end-users. D13: Technology and Innovation: Creating the Ultimate Alternative for Non-invasive Dissection Traditionally, invasive dissection of euthanized animals was thought to be necessary and the best choice for developing student understanding of animal anatomy. However, recent developments in technology, particularly digital imaging, support alternative methods that will decrease the use of euthanized animals and possibly eliminate invasive dissection. Using a unique layering process in conjunction with detailed prosections of real anatomy, we can demonstrate directly the relationship between structures found at different depths of dissection. This is accomplished through the use of opacity sliders coupled with a visual technique called "digital phantoming." This combination creates the illusion of three-dimensions. It also allows the student to look through the animal and view numerous structures and their spatial relationship. Furthermore, special effects, such as morphing, allow us to simulate various physiological processes, such as muscle contraction and digestion. Animating nerve impulses, circulation, and respiration provides additional understanding of animal systems and their functioning. With this combination of educational tools, we can now provide the ultimate alternative in digital dissection and replace the use of euthanized animals. D14: Status of Laboratory Animal Science in Lithuania There are 22 institutions in Lithuania using laboratory animals for teaching and/or research. Lithuania has not signed the European Convention for protection of vertebrate animals for experimental and other scientific purposes, but this is just a matter of time. The only way to obtain a proper certificate according to the FELASA requirements was to attend courses organized by other European countries. Recently, Vilnius University has been granted TEMPUS-PHARE project for three years, and a regular course on Laboratory Animal Science was a part of this program. The program was based on requirements of FELASA. The 80-hour course was divided into 48 hours of lectures and 32 hours of laboratory works where students obtained practice in basic techniques of animal handling, surgical operation, and so forth. During the school spring break, a special course, "Young Biochemist" for high school students was organized at the Institute of Biochemistry. D15: Muscle Control, a Realistic Practical Course on Computer "Muscle Control" is a practical course on computer that teaches the student about the contraction behavior of a muscle by subjecting it to electrical stimuli. The user is the conductor of the experiments, and he or she will analyze data, draw conclusions, and explain them. The four chapters of a scientific report--introduction, materials & methods (including surgeries), results (include 4 experiments), and discussion and conclusions--form the main menu of the program. This allows the student to learn and classify information in the manner that a scientific report should be written. This multimedia program is an animal alternative that has already found its application in first-year students of Biomedical Sciences. The use of high-quality video during surgery and experiments, together with the scientific structure, makes this program a realistic representation and a worthwhile replacement of the live experiments on frogs. "Muscle Control" has been tested several times during development to allow adjustments requested by students. The use of variability in questions, feedback, awards, animations, auditory comments, and videos allows the student to learn in an active and engaging way.
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