Q 14: The Naked Mole Rat

Naked Mole Rat

Yes, only a mother could love a creature this ugly, but these mammals are fascinating creatures.  So here are some (fill in the blank or select best option) questions...

1.   Genus and species is_____________  and this means literally ______________
2.  The are classified in the order rodentia but are actually not rats or mice, they are most closely related to __________ and ___________ and __________________
3.  Native to _________ they live entirely in subterranean tunnels
4.  Tunnels can reach (10 feet/ 10 yards/ 2km/ 2 miles) in length
5. In captivity a housing system must consist of _____  and _______ and _______and ________components.
6.  In captivity they must be kept warmer than other lab animals because ____________
7. Why would water bottles be contraindicated?________________
8. This is a colony animal with a unique social structure like bees, what is this structure called? _______
9. A breeding colony can consist of up to (10/30/100/300) animals but contains only ___  breeding female and ____ breeding males
10. Gestation period is approx _____________days
11. Litter size is 1x/ 2x / 3x/ that of  outbred rodents 
12. In captivity, limited  _______ may result in cessation of breeding 
13. The majority of the non-breeding mole rats are (male/female)
14. Animals should not be removed from the colony for more than a few minutes because________
15. Serious aggression between soldiers in the colony can result when ___________________
16. After the first 2 weeks of age, the diet of pre-weaning pups consists of _____________from ______________________ 
17.  Sexing naked mole rats is accomplished by _____________________
18. Their life span is _________________________________________
19. They lack ___________  and as a result are insensitive to dermal pain
20. Their unique social structure is the stimulus for research on ______________________________

See answers here! (or check the sidebar Q14)

The answers to the nutrition questions are now posted!   See right sidebar...

And just a sneak preview - these are coming next week so feel free to read about them over the weekend!

From Nature.com

Q 13: On nutrition: mostly rodents

1. Rodent diets are often sterilized by either autoclaving or irradiation.

Which isotope is most commonly used for irradiation?

a. Fluorine-18

b. Cobalt -60

c. Iodine-131

d. Palladium-103

e. Strontium -89

Hyperchlorinator

2. Water is often (i) acidified or (ii) hyperchlorinated.   What is the usual pH of (i) acidified or (ii) hyperchlorinated water?

a. (i) pH 1.5-2.0  (ii) pH 5.8-6.0

b  (i) pH  2.5-3.0 (ii) pH 5.0-5.6

c. (i) pH 2.5 – 3.0) (ii) pH 5.8-6.0

d  (i) pH 3.0-3.5 (ii) pH 5.0-5.6)

3. Which diet below is most accurately described as follows: prepared using high heat and high pressure steam, porous, cooked, and low density.

a. pelleted

b. extruded

c. purified

d. coleted

e (b and d)

f (a and c)

4. Which commonly-used dietary ingredients are most likely to contain these undesirable substances?

·      Nitrosamines?

·      Phytoestrogens? (2 possible answers)

·      Fusarium vomitoxin (2 possible answers)

·      Pesticides (choose the highest possibility)

5. Regarding fatty acids and fats

a. Which 2 fatty acids are essential for rodents?

b. What is a good vegetable-derived source of essential fatty acids?

c. What is the usual fat % recommended for rodent diets?

6. Regarding amino acids

a. What is a limiting amino acid?

b. What is the limiting amino acid for swine production?

c. Can too much of an amino acid be toxic?

7. Testing

Match the description/test (a-d) with the dietary component(1-4)

Soxhlet extractor

a. Kjeldahl or Dumas assay

b. Soxhlet apparatus

c. Ether extraction

d. nitrogen-free extract

e. surface plasmon resonance

 (1) Fat

 (2) protein

 (3) carbohydrate

 (4) none of these

8.  What is the difference between a fixed formula diet and a constant nutrition diet?

9.  What does the Maillard reaction do to the diet?

10.     a. Put the following in order from largest to smallest

·      metabolizable energy

·      gross energy

·      apparent digestible energy.

Alfalfa

          b.  True or false? 

·      I calorie is the energy required to raise 1g of water by 1degF

·      I joule = 4.184 calories

·      Another name for a Calorie is a kilocalorie

·      Proximate analysis is the division of diet into 6 categories

·      Crude protein is 16% Nitrogen

·      Alfalfa causes autoluminescence and can interfere with imaging studies

·      All of these are phytoestrogens: daidzein, genistein, coumestrol, lignans

·      Diet hardness consists of stiffness (puncture resistance) and abrasion resistance:  a texturometer measures stiffness.

Answers HERE (Q13)

ANSWERS to the SECOND PART OF ABNORMAL BEHAVIOR (Q9) NOW POSTED!

See right sidebar for the answers...

News from Americans for Medical Progress: Biomedical Research Awareness Day!

Biomedical Awareness Day at Johns Hopkins

2 weeks ago we celebrated the 2nd Biomedical Awareness Day (BRAD) at Johns Hopkins.  This program is the brainchild of Americans for Medical Progress (AMP) and Hayre Scholar Logan France (who is now a Hopkins lab animal resident). The first BRAD took place at vet schools throughout the US in 2016, and the program was expanded this year to include medical schools and international venues.  Logan is at pains to point out that it took 3 people to replace her this year (!).  At Hopkins we had a talk by renowned transplant scientist, Gerald Brandacher, activity tables throughout the university and hospital, and participation by our animal care staff, veterinarians and technicians.  As you can see from the pictures, (shared with us by AMP) the numerous signatures on the banners demonstrate overwhelming support from passers-by.   AMP is currently accepting applications for their Hayre Fellowship program and if you don't yet celebrate BRAD, encourages you to contact them if you wish to bring BRAD to your institution in 2018.  Planning is already underway.  Further information can be found at the AMP/BRAD facebook page or via the AMP website.

Fun Fact #12: statistics facts you really should know ...

Picture from mines.edu

Everyone’s favorite subject J:10 questions for which it might be useful to know the answers…

1. What is a reasonably accurate method of estimating sample size for an experiment? Which of these would you need to do this estimation?

            An estimate of variability

            Power

            p-value

            useful effect size 

2. What is the difference between the following observational studies?

            Cohort

            Cross sectional

            Case control

3. Which of the study types in Q2 would best describe this study…

In a colony consisting of rhesus and pigtail macaques, look at the historical records and sort them into diarrhea and no-diarrhea groups.  Determine the proportion of rhesus and pigtails in each group.

4.  What is the dependent variable in Q3?   (hint – another term for dependent variable is outcome measure)

5. True or false: if statistical evaluation of your study results in you rejecting the null hypothesis, you can deduce that there is a meaningful effect of your treatment.

6. True or false: a high (ie larger #) p value reduces the chance of false negatives but increases the chance of false positives.

7.  You calculate the confidence interval (CI) for an experiment comparing the means of 2 samples using a p value of 0.05:  

•  The CI does not span zero and 
• The 2 values of the confidence interval are far apart

How would you interpret these 2 findings ?

8. Which of these are considered to be continuous data?

• a. degree of liver fibrosis
• b. liver enzyme values
• c. fish species
• d. # of dogs in each US State
• e. number of male students in a classroom

9. Which of these statistical tests would generally be used on continuous data?

• a.  ANOVA
• b. Shapiro-Wilk Normality test
• c. Students’ t test
• d. Mann Whitney
• e. Kruskal Wallis

10. If you are comparing the means of 4 samples with one dependent variable (data are continuous), which statistical test are you most likely to use?


Answers on the right sidebar: Q #12