National regulations on animal experiments vary widely between countries but growing numbers of researchers in Britain believe that the procedures are in need of an overhaul. And a new report by a group of members of Britain’s upper house of parliament, the House of Lords, advises a shakeup that both speeds up consideration of researchers’ requests but opens up public scrutiny of such work. The...

There are strong scientific, ethical and legislative imperatives to replace animal experiments, rather than focusing efforts on improving them. Therefore, the Dr Hadwen Trust advocates that when systematic reviews identify weaknesses in animal experiments, the priority should be their replacement with more relevant non-animal methods. Individual researchers, universities, companies, funders and...

As a first step in firmly establishing laparoscopic hepatectomy, we introduce a porcine model of laparoscopic partial hepatectomy. This procedure has been successfully performed under the normal-pressure or low-pressure pneumoperitoneum condition supported by the full-thickness abdominal wall lifting technique. An ultrasonic dissector combined with electrocautery, newly developed by Olympus Opt...

Analyzing the time-course of several viral infections using mathematical models based on experimental data can provide important quantitative insights regarding infection dynamics. Over the past decade, the importance and significance of mathematical modeling has been gaining recognition among virologists. In the near future, many animal models of human-specific infections and experimental data...