Characterization and Comparison of Injuries Caused by Accidental and Non‐accidental Blunt Force Trauma in Dogs and Cats

Motor vehicle accidents (MVA) are often difficult to distinguish from non‐accidental injury (NAI). This retrospective case–control study compared animals with known MVA trauma against those with known NAI. Medical records of 426 dogs and cats treated after MVA and 50 after NAI were evaluated. Injuries significantly associated with MVA were pelvic fractures, pneumothorax, pulmonary contusion, abrasions, and degloving wounds. Injuries associated with NAI were fractures of the skull, teeth, vertebrae, and ribs, scleral hemorrhage, damage to claws, and evidence of older fractures. Odds ratios are reported for these injuries. MVA rib fractures were found to occur in clusters on one side of the body, with cranial ribs more likely to fracture, while NAI rib fractures were found to occur bilaterally with no cranial–caudal pattern. Establishing evidence‐based patterns of injury may help clinicians differentiate causes of trauma and may aid in the documentation and prosecution of animal abuse.     

大鼠血液中HbCO随吸入CO浓度和时间的变化

目的研究不同一氧化碳(carbon monoxide,CO)浓度下中毒大鼠的行为学特征、存活时间、碳氧血红蛋白(carboxyhemoglobin,HbCO)饱和度变化规律,为法医学实践中CO中毒死亡案件提供实验依据。方法将160只SD大鼠随机分为4组。自制染毒装置,使大鼠分别在CO浓度为1 250、3 750、6 250 mg/m~3及持续通入CO状态下染毒致死亡。观察不同CO浓度中毒大鼠的行为学特征,记录存活时间,采用分光光度法检测心血HbCO饱和度,并提取脑、心脏、肺、肝等器官进行组织病理学观察。结果 CO中毒大鼠的行为学特征表现为肢体瘫软、反应迟钝。随着CO浓度的升高,大鼠存活时间逐渐缩短,心血HbCO饱和度逐渐升高。在CO浓度为1 250 mg/m~3条件下,发现3例心血HbCO饱和度明显低于致死饱和度,其余各组未发现心血HbCO饱和度低于致死饱和度的情况。结论建立的不同浓度下CO中毒死亡动物模型,操作简单,重复性好,为进一步研究CO中毒及其他吸入性有毒气体的法医学研究奠定了基础。     

病毒受体及其研究进展

介绍了病毒受体的基本生物学特性,重点阐述了噬菌体展示、免疫共沉淀及酵母双杂交等病毒受体研究方法,综述了几种重要动物病毒细胞膜受体的研究进展,并对病毒受体研究的发展前景进行了展望。     

Domestic Predation of an Elder: A Fatal Dog Attack Case

We present the case of a 91‐year‐old woman lived alone at her home with two domestic dogs, that is,, a Labrador Retriever and a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and found dead. The investigation of the scene revealed that the Bull Terrier's jawbone and chest were covered with blood. The autopsy revealed multiple, histologically confirmed, life‐threatening skin and bone lacerations without scavenging marks. The punctures and tearing of each of the wounds on the skin were compatible with bites. A left humeral fracture and multiple fractures of the right facial bones were observed. The death was attributed to external hemorrhages due to several dog bites. A veterinary physical and behavioral examination indicated that the Bull Terrier was involved in the attack. A domestic predation hypothesis was deemed here most likely due to the presence of food supplies at the scene, the dog's previous history of attack, and the breed of the dog.     

Animal cruelty and firesetting as behavioral markers of fearlessness and disinhibition: putting two-thirds of Macdonald’s triad to work

The purpose of this study was to determine whether animal cruelty and firesetting can serve as markers of fearlessness and disinhibition, respectively. File data gathered on 496 male sex offenders were analyzed in an effort to test two hypotheses, a countervailing hypothesis and a narrowness hypothesis. Results pertaining to the countervailing hypothesis revealed that animal cruelty correlated significantly better with fearlessness than with disinhibition and firesetting correlated significantly better with disinhibition than with fearlessness. A multiple regression analysis controlling for age at time of discharge, participant race, and offender category (pure rapist and pure child molester) also confirmed this hypothesis. Corroborating the narrowness hypothesis, animal cruelty and firesetting failed to predict violent offending after controlling for fearlessness and disinhibition, respectively. These results suggest that animal cruelty may serve as a marker for fearlessness and callous–unemotional traits, whereas firesetting may serve as a marker for disinhibition and low self-control.     

论宠物在遗嘱继承中的法律地位

动物在法律关系中的特殊主体地位应当获得承认,在此基础之上,宠物完全能够成为遗嘱继承中的遗产享有者参加继承关系。遗嘱继承中的特留份制度应得到充分尊重和保障。同时,通过信托制度便能够解决实践操作的具体问题。     

An Animal Model to Investigate Effectiveness and Safety of Conducted Energy Weapons (Including TASER® Devices)*

Abstract: Conducted energy weapons (CEWs) are used by law‐enforcement personnel to incapacitate individuals quickly and effectively, without causing lethality. CEWs have been deployed for relatively long or repeated exposures during law‐enforcement operations. The purpose of this technical note is to describe, in detail, some aspects of an anesthetized swine model used in our laboratory and to answer specific questions related to the model. In particular, tiletamine/zolazepam‐induced, propofol‐maintained anesthesia appears to be a useful technique for studying effects of CEW applications on muscle contraction and blood factors such as muscle enzymes. Because effects of CEWs on breathing have not been fully elucidated, a spontaneously breathing model is preferable to one in which mechanical ventilation is supplied. Placement of the swine in a supine position may facilitate measurement of muscle contractions, without compromising other physiological parameters.     

Can the hidden hand of the market be an effective and legitimate regulator? The case of animal welfare under a labeling for consumer choice policy approach

In Australia, labeling for consumer choice, rather than higher government regulation, has become an important strand of the policy approach to addressing food animal welfare. This paper illustrates the usefulness of “regulatory network analysis” to uncover the potentials and limitations of market‐based governance to address contentious yet significant issues like animal welfare. We analyzed the content of newspaper articles from major Australian newspapers and official policy documents between 1990 and 2014 to show how the regulatory network influenced the framing of the regulatory problem, and the capacity and legitimacy of different regulatory actors at three “flashpoints” of decisionmaking about layer hen welfare in egg production. We suggest that the government policy of offering consumers the choice to buy cage free in the market allowed large‐scale industry to continue the egg laying business as usual with incremental innovation and adjustment. These incremental improvements only apply to the 20 percent or so of hens producing “free‐range” eggs. We conclude with a discussion of when and how labeling for consumer choice might create markets and public discourses that make possible more effective and legitimate regulation of issues such as layer hen welfare.     

Agrarian transformation in the Russian breadbasket: contemporary trends as manifest in Stavropol'

A team of US and Russian geographers combines field observations with satellite imagery in an examination of how major trends in Russian agriculture are manifest in one of Russia's most productive agricultural regions: Stavropol' Kray. A nationwide pattern of agricultural consolidation during the 1990s (featuring rural depopulation and a reduction in cultivated area and herd sizes upon the termination of Soviet-era subsidization levels) has had decidedly different outcomes in different parts of the vast Russian countryside. This paper – using Stavropol' as a surrogate for regions which by physical attributes, location, and human capital are best positioned to support agricultural activity – identifies a number of developments that may signal a new growth trajectory for agriculture in Russia: evolving specialization of former socialized farms in response to market conditions (in Stavropol' involving the shrinkage of animal husbandry and the release of surplus labor); increased levels of absentee (corporate) ownership of farmland in the more favorable locations; decoupling of the economic fate of large farms (success) from local municipal budgets (deficiency); and the expansion of non-Russian ethnic communities in the countryside, with attendant land use changes.     

论动物的法律地位——兼谈动物福利法的立法构想

在倡导人与动物和谐共处的当今社会,增强动物福利观念,体现人文关怀,善养善宰动物,这不仅关系到人们的身体健康,也关系到人类自身的发展与进步。动物福利法的立法目的应是维护人类尊重生命、爱护生命的善良道德情操和保护动物的生命、福利。动物福利法的制定已经成为我国的必然,只有在吸取其他国家和地区动物福利立法的经验教训,明确动物福利法的目的之前提下,才能制定出一部符合时代要求和民族精神的动物福利法。