Hemophagocytic syndrome associated with large granular lymphoma in an adult dog.

Hemophagocytic syndrome (HPS) is a rare disorder characterized by dysregulation of the immune response resulting in uncontrolled activation of macrophages with exacerbated phagocytosis of host cells. In dogs, the criteria for diagnosis include the presence of pancytopenia or bicytopenia in the peripheral blood and >2% hemophagocytic macrophages in bone marrow aspirates. When HPS is associated with lymphoma, it is called lymphoma-associated hemophagocytic syndrome (LAHS).

The effect of early life experience, environment, and genetic factors on spontaneous home-cage aggression-related wounding in male C57BL/6 mice.

Aggression is a major welfare issue in mice, particularly when mice unfamiliar to each other are first placed in cages, as happens on receipt from a vendor, and following cage cleaning. Injuries from aggression are the second leading cause of unplanned euthanasia in mice, following ulcerative dermatitis. Commonly employed strategies for reducing aggression-related injury are largely anecdotal, and may even be counterproductive.

Two of a Kind or a Full House? Reproductive Suppression and Alloparenting in Laboratory Mice.

Alloparenting, a behavior in which individuals other than the actual parents act in a parental role, is seen in many mammals, including house mice. In wild house mice, alloparental care is only seen when familiar sibling females simultaneously immigrate to a male's territory, so in the laboratory, when a pair of unfamiliar female wild mice are mated with a male, alloparenting does not occur because one female will typically be reproductively suppressed. In contrast, laboratory mice are assumed to alloparent regardless of familiarity or relatedness and are therefore routinely trio bred to increase productivity.

The Effect of Cage Space on Behavior and Reproduction in Crl:CD1(Icr) and C57BL/6NCrl Laboratory Mice.

Recommendations for the amount of cage space required for female mice with litters were first made in the 2011 Guide for the Care and Use of Laboratory Animals. We hypothesized that if a difference in mouse behavior and reproduction exists within the limits of commercially available caging, this difference would be detected between the smallest and largest cages. C57BL/6NCrl and Crl:CD1(Icr) breeding mice were randomly assigned to a cage treatment: LP 18790 (226 cm2); A RC1 (305 cm2); A N10 (432 cm2); T 1291 (800 cm2) and a breeding configuration: single (male removed after birth); pair (1 male + 1 female); or trio (1 male + 2 females) in a factorial design for 12 weeks.