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Christophe Cox - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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HUMANITARIAN DEMINING AND HARVARD BACH AND ANDREW SULLY
2016Co-Authors: Alan Poling, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Anti-persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende, Product OntwikkelingAbstract:We used giant African pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) as land mine-detection animals in Mozambique because they have an excellent sense of smell, weigh too little to activate mines, and are native to sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore are resistant to local parasites and diseases. In 2009 the rats searched 93,400 m2 of land, finding 41 mines and 54 other explosive devices. Humans with metal detectors found no additional mines. On average, the rats emitted 0.33 false alarm for every 100 m2 searched, which is below the threshold given by International Mine Action Standards for accrediting mine-detection animals. These findings indicate that Cricetomys are accurate mine-detection animals and merit continued use in this capacity. Key words: land mines, pouched rats, applied behavior analysis, animal learning, olfaction _______________________________________________________________________________ Military and paramilitary forces have planted millions of land mines since 1900. Many remain and do great harm by denying civilians access to their homes and land, as well as by causing bodily harm, death, and psychologica
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Effects of schedules of reinforcement on pouched rats' performance in urban search‐and‐rescue training
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2015Co-Authors: Timothy L. Edwards, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Kate B. La Londe, Alan PolingAbstract:Standard operating procedures have been developed to train Cricetomys to locate humans in collapsed structures and return to the release point on command. The present study demonstrated that the schedule of reinforcement for target location influences the rats' performance. Rats required more time to locate targets when no reinforcement was arranged for target location but less time to return to the release point. These findings suggest that training conditions should be based on the priority assigned to target location and return in an operational scenario.
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influences of castration on the performance of landmine detection rats Cricetomys gambianus
Journal of Veterinary Behavior-clinical Applications and Research, 2015Co-Authors: Timothy L. Edwards, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Alan PolingAbstract:Abstract Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling has employed pouched rats as mine-detection animals for approximately 10 years in sub-Saharan Africa, where the species is indigenous, and now plans to deploy the rats in areas where they are not indigenous. To prevent the possible introduction of an invasive species in those regions, all rats must be castrated before deployment. The research described in the present article was conducted to determine whether castration affects the performance of pouched rats as mine-detection animals. Five sex-, age-, and performance-matched pairs of pouched rats, 3 male pairs and 2 female pairs, were randomly divided into 2 groups: the experimental group undergoing castration procedures and the control group remaining out of training for the same duration as the experimental group. No statistically significant differences were found between the performance of experimental and control groups after the intervention despite high statistical power to detect such a difference, and equivalence tests suggest that any possible effects are of no practical significance.
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Pouched rats' (Cricetomys gambianus) detection of Salmonella in horse feces
Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 2014Co-Authors: Amanda Mahoney, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Negussie Beyene, Timothy L. Edwards, Kate B. Lalonde, Alan PolingAbstract:A total of 5 giant African pouched rats detected 10- (95.3% sensitivity) and 100-fold dilutions (78.8% sensitivity) of broth from cultured Salmonella enterica serovar Saint Paul inoculated into dried horse feces. All rats demonstrated some generalization to more dilute concentrations and analyzed 50 samples in less than 20 minutes. These findings suggest that further research examining the use of pouched rats to detect Salmonella is merited.
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis volatiles for diagnosis of tuberculosis by Cricetomys rats
Tuberculosis (Edinburgh Scotland), 2012Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Christophe Cox, Robert S. Machang’u, Bart Weetjens, Thorben Nawrath, Doris Lazar, Maureen Jubitana, Amanda Mahoney, Dian Kuipers, January WeinerAbstract:Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in regions with limited resources depends on microscopy with insufficient sensitivity. Rapid diagnostic tests of low cost but high sensitivity and specificity are needed for better point-of-care management of TB. Trained African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys sp.) can diagnose pulmonary TB in sputum but the relevant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific volatile compounds remain unknown. We investigated the odour volatiles of Mtb detected by rats in reference Mtb, nontuberculous mycobacteria, Nocardia sp., Streptomyces sp., Rhodococcus sp., and other respiratory tract microorganisms spiked into Mtb-negative sputum. Thirteen compounds were specific to Mtb and 13 were shared with other microorganisms. Rats discriminated a blend of Mtb-specific volatiles from individual, and blends of shared, compounds (P = 0.001). The rats' sensitivity for typical TB-positive sputa was 99.15% with 92.23% specificity and 93.14% accuracy. These findings underline the potential of trained Cricetomys rats for rapid TB diagnosis in resource-limited settings, particularly in Africa where Cricetomys rats occur widely and the burden of TB is high.
Bart Weetjens - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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HUMANITARIAN DEMINING AND HARVARD BACH AND ANDREW SULLY
2016Co-Authors: Alan Poling, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Anti-persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende, Product OntwikkelingAbstract:We used giant African pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) as land mine-detection animals in Mozambique because they have an excellent sense of smell, weigh too little to activate mines, and are native to sub-Saharan Africa, and therefore are resistant to local parasites and diseases. In 2009 the rats searched 93,400 m2 of land, finding 41 mines and 54 other explosive devices. Humans with metal detectors found no additional mines. On average, the rats emitted 0.33 false alarm for every 100 m2 searched, which is below the threshold given by International Mine Action Standards for accrediting mine-detection animals. These findings indicate that Cricetomys are accurate mine-detection animals and merit continued use in this capacity. Key words: land mines, pouched rats, applied behavior analysis, animal learning, olfaction _______________________________________________________________________________ Military and paramilitary forces have planted millions of land mines since 1900. Many remain and do great harm by denying civilians access to their homes and land, as well as by causing bodily harm, death, and psychologica
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Effects of schedules of reinforcement on pouched rats' performance in urban search‐and‐rescue training
Journal of applied behavior analysis, 2015Co-Authors: Timothy L. Edwards, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Kate B. La Londe, Alan PolingAbstract:Standard operating procedures have been developed to train Cricetomys to locate humans in collapsed structures and return to the release point on command. The present study demonstrated that the schedule of reinforcement for target location influences the rats' performance. Rats required more time to locate targets when no reinforcement was arranged for target location but less time to return to the release point. These findings suggest that training conditions should be based on the priority assigned to target location and return in an operational scenario.
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influences of castration on the performance of landmine detection rats Cricetomys gambianus
Journal of Veterinary Behavior-clinical Applications and Research, 2015Co-Authors: Timothy L. Edwards, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Alan PolingAbstract:Abstract Anti-Persoonsmijnen Ontmijnende Product Ontwikkeling has employed pouched rats as mine-detection animals for approximately 10 years in sub-Saharan Africa, where the species is indigenous, and now plans to deploy the rats in areas where they are not indigenous. To prevent the possible introduction of an invasive species in those regions, all rats must be castrated before deployment. The research described in the present article was conducted to determine whether castration affects the performance of pouched rats as mine-detection animals. Five sex-, age-, and performance-matched pairs of pouched rats, 3 male pairs and 2 female pairs, were randomly divided into 2 groups: the experimental group undergoing castration procedures and the control group remaining out of training for the same duration as the experimental group. No statistically significant differences were found between the performance of experimental and control groups after the intervention despite high statistical power to detect such a difference, and equivalence tests suggest that any possible effects are of no practical significance.
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Pouched rats' (Cricetomys gambianus) detection of Salmonella in horse feces
Journal of Veterinary Behavior, 2014Co-Authors: Amanda Mahoney, Christophe Cox, Bart Weetjens, Negussie Beyene, Timothy L. Edwards, Kate B. Lalonde, Alan PolingAbstract:A total of 5 giant African pouched rats detected 10- (95.3% sensitivity) and 100-fold dilutions (78.8% sensitivity) of broth from cultured Salmonella enterica serovar Saint Paul inoculated into dried horse feces. All rats demonstrated some generalization to more dilute concentrations and analyzed 50 samples in less than 20 minutes. These findings suggest that further research examining the use of pouched rats to detect Salmonella is merited.
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis volatiles for diagnosis of tuberculosis by Cricetomys rats
Tuberculosis (Edinburgh Scotland), 2012Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Christophe Cox, Robert S. Machang’u, Bart Weetjens, Thorben Nawrath, Doris Lazar, Maureen Jubitana, Amanda Mahoney, Dian Kuipers, January WeinerAbstract:Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in regions with limited resources depends on microscopy with insufficient sensitivity. Rapid diagnostic tests of low cost but high sensitivity and specificity are needed for better point-of-care management of TB. Trained African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys sp.) can diagnose pulmonary TB in sputum but the relevant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific volatile compounds remain unknown. We investigated the odour volatiles of Mtb detected by rats in reference Mtb, nontuberculous mycobacteria, Nocardia sp., Streptomyces sp., Rhodococcus sp., and other respiratory tract microorganisms spiked into Mtb-negative sputum. Thirteen compounds were specific to Mtb and 13 were shared with other microorganisms. Rats discriminated a blend of Mtb-specific volatiles from individual, and blends of shared, compounds (P = 0.001). The rats' sensitivity for typical TB-positive sputa was 99.15% with 92.23% specificity and 93.14% accuracy. These findings underline the potential of trained Cricetomys rats for rapid TB diagnosis in resource-limited settings, particularly in Africa where Cricetomys rats occur widely and the burden of TB is high.
Georgies F. Mgode - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Leptospira isolation in various animal hosts in Tanzania.
2015Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Herwig Leirs, Robert S. Machang’u, Ginethon G. Mhamphi, Abdul Katakweba, Loth S. Mulungu, Lies Durnez, Rudy A. Hartskeerl, Steven R. BelmainAbstract:Cricetomys sp. and shrews (Crocidura sp.) yielded significantly more isolates that other animal species.
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis volatiles for diagnosis of tuberculosis by Cricetomys rats
Tuberculosis (Edinburgh Scotland), 2012Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Christophe Cox, Robert S. Machang’u, Bart Weetjens, Thorben Nawrath, Doris Lazar, Maureen Jubitana, Amanda Mahoney, Dian Kuipers, January WeinerAbstract:Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in regions with limited resources depends on microscopy with insufficient sensitivity. Rapid diagnostic tests of low cost but high sensitivity and specificity are needed for better point-of-care management of TB. Trained African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys sp.) can diagnose pulmonary TB in sputum but the relevant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific volatile compounds remain unknown. We investigated the odour volatiles of Mtb detected by rats in reference Mtb, nontuberculous mycobacteria, Nocardia sp., Streptomyces sp., Rhodococcus sp., and other respiratory tract microorganisms spiked into Mtb-negative sputum. Thirteen compounds were specific to Mtb and 13 were shared with other microorganisms. Rats discriminated a blend of Mtb-specific volatiles from individual, and blends of shared, compounds (P = 0.001). The rats' sensitivity for typical TB-positive sputa was 99.15% with 92.23% specificity and 93.14% accuracy. These findings underline the potential of trained Cricetomys rats for rapid TB diagnosis in resource-limited settings, particularly in Africa where Cricetomys rats occur widely and the burden of TB is high.
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Serological and molecular characterization of leptospira serovar Kenya from captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) from Morogoro Tanzania
FEMS immunology and medical microbiology, 2004Co-Authors: Robert S. Machang’u, Christophe Cox, Georgies F. Mgode, Ginethon G. Mhamphi, Bart Weetjens, Justine A. Assenga, Ron Verhagen, S. Sondij, Marga G. A. Goris, R.a. HartskeerlAbstract:Two identical leptospiral isolates coded Sh9 and Sh25 obtained from the urine of captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus), destined for use as biodetector of antipersonnel landmines were typed as serovar Kenya using cross-agglutination absorption test and DNA fingerprinting with the insertion element sequences IS1533 and IS1500 derived primers. The two isolates were previously characterized using cultural and serological – microagglutination test as pathogenic leptospires of the serogroup Ballum, closely related to serovars Kenya and Peru. To our knowledge, this is the first reported in-depth characterization of leptospira isolates from Tanzania.
Robert S. Machang’u - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Leptospira isolation in various animal hosts in Tanzania.
2015Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Herwig Leirs, Robert S. Machang’u, Ginethon G. Mhamphi, Abdul Katakweba, Loth S. Mulungu, Lies Durnez, Rudy A. Hartskeerl, Steven R. BelmainAbstract:Cricetomys sp. and shrews (Crocidura sp.) yielded significantly more isolates that other animal species.
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Mycobacterium tuberculosis volatiles for diagnosis of tuberculosis by Cricetomys rats
Tuberculosis (Edinburgh Scotland), 2012Co-Authors: Georgies F. Mgode, Christophe Cox, Robert S. Machang’u, Bart Weetjens, Thorben Nawrath, Doris Lazar, Maureen Jubitana, Amanda Mahoney, Dian Kuipers, January WeinerAbstract:Tuberculosis (TB) diagnosis in regions with limited resources depends on microscopy with insufficient sensitivity. Rapid diagnostic tests of low cost but high sensitivity and specificity are needed for better point-of-care management of TB. Trained African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys sp.) can diagnose pulmonary TB in sputum but the relevant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb)-specific volatile compounds remain unknown. We investigated the odour volatiles of Mtb detected by rats in reference Mtb, nontuberculous mycobacteria, Nocardia sp., Streptomyces sp., Rhodococcus sp., and other respiratory tract microorganisms spiked into Mtb-negative sputum. Thirteen compounds were specific to Mtb and 13 were shared with other microorganisms. Rats discriminated a blend of Mtb-specific volatiles from individual, and blends of shared, compounds (P = 0.001). The rats' sensitivity for typical TB-positive sputa was 99.15% with 92.23% specificity and 93.14% accuracy. These findings underline the potential of trained Cricetomys rats for rapid TB diagnosis in resource-limited settings, particularly in Africa where Cricetomys rats occur widely and the burden of TB is high.
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Serological and molecular characterization of leptospira serovar Kenya from captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus) from Morogoro Tanzania
FEMS immunology and medical microbiology, 2004Co-Authors: Robert S. Machang’u, Christophe Cox, Georgies F. Mgode, Ginethon G. Mhamphi, Bart Weetjens, Justine A. Assenga, Ron Verhagen, S. Sondij, Marga G. A. Goris, R.a. HartskeerlAbstract:Two identical leptospiral isolates coded Sh9 and Sh25 obtained from the urine of captive African giant pouched rats (Cricetomys gambianus), destined for use as biodetector of antipersonnel landmines were typed as serovar Kenya using cross-agglutination absorption test and DNA fingerprinting with the insertion element sequences IS1533 and IS1500 derived primers. The two isolates were previously characterized using cultural and serological – microagglutination test as pathogenic leptospires of the serogroup Ballum, closely related to serovars Kenya and Peru. To our knowledge, this is the first reported in-depth characterization of leptospira isolates from Tanzania.
K. Moutairou - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Calbindin localization in African giant rat kidney (Cricetomys gambianus).
Biochimica et biophysica acta, 1996Co-Authors: K. Moutairou, Nathalie Hayez, Viviane Pohl, Georgette Pattyn, Roland PochetAbstract:Cricetomys gambianus are rodents living in savanna and follow area. They can live with restricted drinking water eating fresh food. Therefore their kidney may have some adaptive mechanisms for ion/water homeostasis compared to usual laboratory rats. In this study we have looked for calbindin, an intracellular calcium binding protein previously found in distal convoluted tubules from all mammalian species that have been studied and able to increase, in vitro, Ca2+ reabsorption. We have shown by using in situ hybridization, immunoblotting and immunohistochemistry that calbindin was expressed in three different portions of the distal nephron of the African giant rat. Calbindin was found in distal convoluted tubules, in cortical collecting tubules and in outer medullary collecting ducts. By contrast, in laboratory rat, calbindin was only found in distal convoluted tubules and undetectable in medullary collecting ducts. Thick ascending limb of Henle's loop were calbindin negative as shown by double immunolabelling using anti-uromucoid (Tamm-Horsfall protein). As previously shown in laboratory rat and rabbit, transcellular Ca2+ movement seems to be facilitated by calbindin in renal tubules segments predominantly actively transporting Ca2+, it may be suggested that in African giant rat, outer medullary collecting ducts may also actively transport Ca2+. As calretinin, another intracellular calcium binding protein highly homologous to calbindin but whose function is still conjectural has been suspected to be expressed in kidney, we have looked and not found any calretinin in both adult rat species.
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Paneth cells of African giant rats (Cricetomys gambianus).
Cells Tissues Organs, 1994Co-Authors: Y. Satoh, K. MoutairouAbstract:The ultrastructure of Paneth cells of African giant rats (Cricetomys gambianus), which were captured on the savanna in western Africa, was studied. The Paneth cells of Cricetomys were clustered at the bottom of crypts of the small intestine, but not of the colon. In the normal state, Paneth cells had a few secretory granules showing high electron density. Small clear vesicles which are a characteristic in laboratory albino rats were not conspicuous. Vacuolated Paneth cells and secreted materials from the Paneth cells were frequently found. This suggests that the secretion of Paneth cells of Cricetomys is active in the natural state. No phagocytotic figures were observed. After atropine sulfate treatment, secretory granules increased in size and number, whereas the electron density decreased, similar to that of goblet cell granules. However, the granules were not stained by alcian blue or by PAS. Inhibition of secretory stimuli by atropine can alter the intracellular processing of secretory substances in Paneth cells.