The fat-tailed jird is a small gerbilline rodent found in North Africa. As its name suggests, it has a distinctive blunt tail, which has recently been shown to be an effective site for the development of cutaneous leishmaniasis. Felt et al. describe the process by which they raised a jird research colony from wild stock in Cairo, Egypt, providing information on the biology, breeding, husbandry and diseases of this species. See
page 256
With the goal of refining analgesia dosage requirements in rats, Cooper et al. carried out two experiments that compared ketoprofen regimens used in numerous research institutions. To identify the preferred dosing schedule, they compared the effects of one preoperative dose of ketoprofen with those of two perioperative doses. In a second experiment, they compared the effects of two different dosages of ketoprofen. The authors evaluated rats' responses to the analgesia by comparing post-surgical weight loss and food and water consumption. See
page 271
