Are Bayview lab mice on the loose?

Elrino Street man claims research animals are escaping Bayview labs

by Sara Blumberg

Titus Kiruki of Elrino Street says he was in his home when he saw a mouse from the corner of his eye.

After killing the rodent, he noticed something peculiar about the animal’s ear.

“From the markings, I knew it was a lab mouse,” he said.

As a former employee at the animal research labs at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center, he’s convinced the mouse escaped from the hospital.


“This poses a serious health risk if they’re escaping,” he said.

When mice are used in research, they are tagged using a series of notches on the ear. In addition, the mouse’s tail is also clipped. The identification system is universal, so that researchers can identify the mouse if it is transported from hospital to hospital.

While dangling the mouse tail-first, Kiruki described the distinct clippings on the animal’s head and tail.

“A normal rodent wouldn’t have these things on it,” he said.

The findings disturbed Kiruki because of the types of tests conducted on the specimens.

Bayview conducts various studies using such animals in the course of researching a wide range of diseases and vaccines, Kiruki said.

If one got out and was infected, it could pose serious health risks to the community, he said.

After finding the mouse, Kiruki got to work calling animal control and Bayview itself.

Bayview claimed that all its lab mice were accounted for, he said.

He has kept the mouse in his freezer as evidence.

Kiruki also contacted Elaine Welkie, president of the Bayview Community Association.

After hearing about the incident, Welkie called Bayview to see what was going on.

“Of course I was concerned about it; I wanted to know what was going on,” she said.

Welkie also said that in 12 years at the association president, she has never encountered a problem like this.

Like all communities, Bayview continues to have a rodent problem.

“Many people think a mouse like this would just be another rodent; it’s hard to tell if it actually came from the hospital if you aren’t looking for the signs,” he said.

Kiruki says that it’s hard to recognize a lab mouse since the markings are small.

After hearing the news, the Bayview medical staff performed their own investigation into the matter.

The hospital concluded that the rodent didn’t come from their research facility.

To be sure of their the findings, the hospital offered to examine the mouse, but was not given permission to do so, according to Bayview spokeswoman Karen Tong.

Kiruki says the hospital offered to pick up the rodent, not to examine it.

“It’s funny; they say it didn’t come from them, but they offered to take it from me,” he said.

Tong stressed that the likelihood of a mouse getting out of the Bayview research facilities is very small.

In addition to daily checks, personnel have installed live traps in the hospital, along with door sweeps to prevent a specimen from crawling out.

Kiruki continues to call around asking for help on his findings.

After calling the Baltimore City Health Department and other city officials, he’s concluded that everyone wants the issue to go away.

“Everyone tells me just to throw the rodent away,” he said.

For two weeks, the mouse has remained in his deep freezer.

Kiruki refuses to throw the mouse away for fear the problem could get worse.

As he takes a small stick, he folds back the mouse’s ear to show the markings.

“Someone could get very sick if the mice are getting out,” he said.

http://dundalkeagle.com/component/content/article/2-slideshow/37619-are-bayv

Alliance for Animals and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals File Complaint Over Crimes Against Animals

AFA and PETA filed a complaint with the Dane County District Attorney’s office on June 9, 2011, documenting over a decade of violations of Wisconsin’s Crimes Against Animals stemming from research involving staged animal fights in the Stephen C. Gammie  and the Catherine A. Marler labs.
The Wisconsin statute is easy to understand:

951.08 Instigating fights between animals.

(1) No person may intentionally instigate, promote, aid or abet as a principal, agent or employee, or participate in the earnings from, or intentionally maintain or allow any place to be used for a cockfight, dog fight, bullfight or other fight between the same or different kinds of animals or between an animal and a person. This section does not prohibit events or exhibitions commonly featured at rodeos or bloodless bullfights.

951.08 (2) No person may own, possess, keep or train any animal with the intent that the animal be engaged in an exhibition of fighting.

951.08 (3) No person may intentionally be a spectator at a cockfight, dog fight, bullfight or other fight between the same or different kinds of animals or between an animal and a person.

951.18 Penalties.

951.18 (2) Any person who violates s. 951.08 (2m) or (3) is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. Any person who violates s. 951.08 (1) or (2) is guilty of a Class I felony for the first violation and is guilty of a Class H felony for the 2nd or subsequent violation.

Fights between mice have been instigated at the UW-Madison for over a decade. Mice have been kept for this purpose. Mice have been trained through multiple fights with other mice known to be winners or losers. Researchers have earned money from instigating the fights and have paid others in their labs from those earnings. Other university staff and probably students have been spectators at the fights.

Fights between mice are not genteel affairs. Wounding and even death are common results. A BBC video of a fight between mice is available here.


Coming on the heels of the university’s legal problems surrounding the illegal sheep decompression deaths, this new complaint makes clear that the university has a long history of disdain for or ignorance of Wisconsin State laws against cruelty to animals.

The university has now slipped a measure into the state budget bill by way of the University System Omnibus Motion. Item 27:

Liability Protections for Scientific Researchers: Specify that current law provisions prohibiting crimes against animals would not apply to persons engaged in bona fide scientific research at an educational or research institution or persons who are authorized or otherwise regulated under federal law to utilize animals for these purposes.

In short, the University does not want to follow Wisconsin's Crimes Against Animals laws.

What you can (MUST) do:

Contact your state legislators today. Ask them to request a formal Report on Item 27 of the University System Omnibus Motion passed in the Joint Finance Committee as part of the state budget bill.
Don't know your legislators? Click here. It's easy.

Telll them that the language of item 27 is confusing. Are all persons engaged in research at the university exempt from all the state’s anti-cruelty laws all the time wherever they are? Will the university be able to stage dog fights if item 27 becomes law? Tell them that the state has an obligation to regulate the use of animals and protect them from cruelty, especially at the state university.

You can read the complaint here.

http://www.allanimals.org/fighting_mice.html

PETA honors Guayama mayor for saving monkeys

Bioculture can’t take primates away from home now

March 1, 2011
by Peggy Ann Bliss

When Glorimari Jaime Rodríguez, mayor of Guayama, approved two historic ordinances prohibiting the exportation, breeding and use of monkeys for experiments in her city she put an effective end to the plans of Bioculture Puerto Rico, Inc., to capture more than 4,000 monkeys from the island of Mauritius, confine them cruelly in cages, force them to reproduce in Guayama and sell their progeny to foreign laboratoris to use in painful and lethal experiments. For this effort Mayor Jaime will be honored with the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals Compassion Award.

"Mayor Jaime knows that Bioculture's plans would have been disastrous for her community and for the animals," said Kathy Guillermo, vice president of PETA's lab research division.

"Thanks to her, there apparently will be no legal road for Bioculture to take the monkeys away from their home in the jungle, raise them in Guayama and sell their offspring to laboratories for cruel experiments."

In addition to the Guayama legislation, last year the Puerto Rico Senate approved a resolution sponsored by Sen. Melinda Romero Donnelly,urging government agencies of the United States to "deny [to Bioculture] any request for a license to import monkeys to Puerto Rico."

The island legislature had simultaneously submitted bills to make it impossible for any other municipality to open its doors to doing business with Bioculture. However, the question could be moot if their importation could be blocked completely.

Animal advocates had complained that in Mauritius, babies were forcefully taken from their mothers before the natural weaning process, causing extreme anxiety and stress. They also point out that while the tests on the animals are not always painful or fatal, monkeys are social animals who cannot survive caging for years. It was also noted that when the testing is completed, the animals usually have nowhere to go and must be euthanized. For more information or to see the prize awarded to Guayama's mayor, visit the Web at PETA.org or the PETA blog.

http://www.prdailysun.com/news/PETA-honors-Guayama-mayor-for-saving-monkeys

More problems at Primate Products

Check out the link (below).... I think all parties have a lot to answer for and why would CDC send monkeys to a place that isn't responsible enough to care for them and then gives them to yet another place that obviously didn't know how to care for them and according to the report, didn't give them any guidance either.

Why would they send a second group after knowing the first group was in a crisis situation?

Obviously no one bother to check to see if either facility was qualified.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Attempt-to-save-101-lab-monkeys-get-botched-at-least-21-die-112112904.html





__._,_.___

More problems at Primate Products

Check out the link (below).... I think all parties have a lot to answer for and why would CDC send monkeys to a place that isn't responsible enough to care for them and then gives them to yet another place that obviously didn't know how to care for them and according to the report, didn't give them any guidance either.

Why would they send a second group after knowing the first group was in a crisis situation?

Obviously no one bother to check to see if either facility was qualified.

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local-beat/Attempt-to-save-101-lab-monkeys-get-botched-at-least-21-die-112112904.html





__._,_.___

Rats living in fancier digs seek richer rewards

LOOKING UP
Some rats in this lab showed a rodent version of optimism — taking chances more often that chocolate would be available — after their living conditions were upgraded.N. Brydges


Give lab rats a week at the Rodent Ritz and they’re not thinking Cheerios so much anymore. They’re thinking chocolate.

Upgrading their real estate changed rats’ bias in guessing what to do about ambiguous cues in a lab test, says cognitive neuroscientist Nichola Brydges of the University of Edinburgh.

A week after moving into a bigger, better furnished cage, rats had grown more likely to take a chance that a confusing signal would lead to a bit of chocolate to eat — an indication of optimism — instead of just half a Cheerio. Rats had been trained that a wrong choice in responding to a cue would mean not getting any reward, so they had an incentive to choose correctly, Brydges and her colleagues report in an upcoming issue of Animal Behaviour.

Experiments have shown that like people, other animals can develop a pessimistic bias under adverse conditions. But, says Brydges, “It is rare for people to look at what makes animals optimistic.” The new rat study is the first to show a clear link between changing an animal’s environment and optimism, she says.

The research team developed a sophisticated means to test for bias in the rats, says Hanno Würbel of Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, who has analyzed the effects of animals’ lab conditions on experimental results. For example, the study protocol has built-in controls that rule out other possible explanations for the results such as differences in motivation among the rats. “I consider this the most convincing evidence of cognitive bias in animals, and of environmental effects on it, to date,” he says.

To probe for optimism, Brydges and her colleagues trained 12 rats to scamper over sandpaper and then go to one cup if the sandpaper had a fine grain or a different cup if it was coarse-grained. Researchers doled out a lush chocolate reward for one of the grades of sandpaper but the less-exciting cereal for the other. At each presentation of sandpaper, researchers put out just one treat, rewarding the rat only for the correct answer.

But the researchers occasionally presented an ambiguous cue, sandpaper with an intermediate grain. Rats still made a choice and scurried to one of the cups. Before the home makeovers, though, rats on average responded to ambiguous cues rather pessimistically, tending to guess that the right answer was the chocolate-filled cup only about one time in five on average. “I had expected 50/50,” Brydges says.

Half the rats, which stayed in standard laboratory housing, continued to guess the cereal cup was correct most of the time. The rest of the rats — whose new digs had extra-deep wood shavings and such amusements as wood blocks, cardboard tubes and even a plastic house — took a chance on the chocolate cup more than three times in five.

Würbel says he would like to see whether the findings hold in an expanded test. More interesting to him, though, is what would happen after a few weeks when the rats got used to the larger and more complex cage. “In rats,” he says, “it appears to be much more difficult than, for example, in mice to provide an environment that is stimulating enough for the animals to keep them active, inquisitive, and ... possibly ... happy.” It remains to be seen whether the chocolate-seeking optimism is due to the improvement in living conditions, or the passing novelty of the change in conditions.

Susan Milius

Rats living in fancier digs seek richer rewards

LOOKING UP
Some rats in this lab showed a rodent version of optimism — taking chances more often that chocolate would be available — after their living conditions were upgraded.N. Brydges


Give lab rats a week at the Rodent Ritz and they’re not thinking Cheerios so much anymore. They’re thinking chocolate.

Upgrading their real estate changed rats’ bias in guessing what to do about ambiguous cues in a lab test, says cognitive neuroscientist Nichola Brydges of the University of Edinburgh.

A week after moving into a bigger, better furnished cage, rats had grown more likely to take a chance that a confusing signal would lead to a bit of chocolate to eat — an indication of optimism — instead of just half a Cheerio. Rats had been trained that a wrong choice in responding to a cue would mean not getting any reward, so they had an incentive to choose correctly, Brydges and her colleagues report in an upcoming issue of Animal Behaviour.

Experiments have shown that like people, other animals can develop a pessimistic bias under adverse conditions. But, says Brydges, “It is rare for people to look at what makes animals optimistic.” The new rat study is the first to show a clear link between changing an animal’s environment and optimism, she says.

The research team developed a sophisticated means to test for bias in the rats, says Hanno Würbel of Justus-Liebig University in Giessen, Germany, who has analyzed the effects of animals’ lab conditions on experimental results. For example, the study protocol has built-in controls that rule out other possible explanations for the results such as differences in motivation among the rats. “I consider this the most convincing evidence of cognitive bias in animals, and of environmental effects on it, to date,” he says.

To probe for optimism, Brydges and her colleagues trained 12 rats to scamper over sandpaper and then go to one cup if the sandpaper had a fine grain or a different cup if it was coarse-grained. Researchers doled out a lush chocolate reward for one of the grades of sandpaper but the less-exciting cereal for the other. At each presentation of sandpaper, researchers put out just one treat, rewarding the rat only for the correct answer.

But the researchers occasionally presented an ambiguous cue, sandpaper with an intermediate grain. Rats still made a choice and scurried to one of the cups. Before the home makeovers, though, rats on average responded to ambiguous cues rather pessimistically, tending to guess that the right answer was the chocolate-filled cup only about one time in five on average. “I had expected 50/50,” Brydges says.

Half the rats, which stayed in standard laboratory housing, continued to guess the cereal cup was correct most of the time. The rest of the rats — whose new digs had extra-deep wood shavings and such amusements as wood blocks, cardboard tubes and even a plastic house — took a chance on the chocolate cup more than three times in five.

Würbel says he would like to see whether the findings hold in an expanded test. More interesting to him, though, is what would happen after a few weeks when the rats got used to the larger and more complex cage. “In rats,” he says, “it appears to be much more difficult than, for example, in mice to provide an environment that is stimulating enough for the animals to keep them active, inquisitive, and ... possibly ... happy.” It remains to be seen whether the chocolate-seeking optimism is due to the improvement in living conditions, or the passing novelty of the change in conditions.

Susan Milius

Plan to breed lab monkeys splits Guayama residents

December 1, 2009

By JILL LASTER
The Associated Press
GUAYAMA

Puerto Rico has such a bad history with research monkeys running amok that some residents are stunned that its government has tentatively approved a plan to import and breed thousands of primates for sale to U.S. researchers.

Bioculture Ltd., with facilities at 19 sites around the world, has secured construction permits and hopes to begin operating next summer in Guayama.

They want to turn the island into a major supplier of primates, much to the dismay of residents already dealing with a plague of patas monkeys — descendants of lab escapees — that run though backyards, stop traffic and destroy crops.

The company, based in the African island nation of Mauritius, says the operation will employ at least 50 people and buy fruit from local farmers, an important consideration on an island where unemployment is nearly 16 percent.

“This will help many people in the community,” said Olga Colón, a local school principal who has collected 300 signatures in support of the facility. She said Bioculture has pledged to buy supplies for her school.

But the project is opposed by many — from Guayama Mayor Glorimari Jaime to actor Benicio del Toro, who says it’s unethical to breed monkeys for research, and renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.

“We know now that monkeys have minds, personalities, and, above all, they have feelings,” Goodall said during a recent visit to Puerto Rico. “What we do for monkeys in medical research — if you were a monkey, it would be torture.”

Local residents have filed a lawsuit supported by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that says Bioculture failed to submit a full environmental impact statement or hold public hearings.

They say Bioculture allegedly paid fees for a $2 million project, when the project costs $12 million. The company denies the allegations.

A judge could decide as early as this week whether to order an injunction to halt construction. Either side could appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals.

The company expects to soon apply for permits to import monkeys to Puerto Rico.

Bioculture’s facility, the first in a U.S. jurisdiction, plans to start with 1,000 Macaques, natives of Southeast Asia, and eventually hold up to 3,000.

Puerto Rico has long struggled to control hundreds of patas monkeys, descendants of primates that escaped in recent decades from research projects and now thrive in the lush tropical environment.

No labs want the patas monkeys because they’re no longer right for research, and many are diseased. There isn’t much demand from zoos, either. So rangers from the island’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources trap and kill them.

Wilson Nazario Torres fears the people of Guayama will suffer like those in his hometown, Lajas, which has been overrun by patas monkeys.

The three that live in his back yard are so used to humans, he can’t scare them away.

“If this project was offered in any state in the United States, they wouldn’t allow it,” said Roberto Cintrón, a 46-year-old resident of Carmen, a Guayama neighborhood close to the facility site. “So they come to an isolated community, a neglected community, and offer jobs, and people buy it.”

Bioculture Vice President Moses Mark Bushmitz said some groups are just trying to stir up panic. It happens at all new facilities.

The Guayama facility is one of many already in the United States, he said, where about 70,000 research monkeys were used in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The company assures people in Carmen and all of the Guayama district that its monkeys can’t escape multiple levels of security.

“You have monkeys in MIT, you have monkeys in Harvard,” Bushmitz said.

“So why isn’t it an issue if the monkey will escape in Harvard, but it is an issue if a monkey will escape in Carmen?”

Bushmitz called the protesters a small minority.

“This area was neglected for so many years,” he said. “The people here have no chance. The young guys have no work.”

But Carla Cappalli, a local animal rights activist, says opponents will keep fighting, no matter what the judge rules.

“This is going to be a long case,” she said. “We’re going to fight this to the end.”

http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Plan-to-breed-lab-monkeys-splits-Guayama-residents

(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)

Plan to breed lab monkeys splits Guayama residents

December 1, 2009

By JILL LASTER
The Associated Press
GUAYAMA

Puerto Rico has such a bad history with research monkeys running amok that some residents are stunned that its government has tentatively approved a plan to import and breed thousands of primates for sale to U.S. researchers.

Bioculture Ltd., with facilities at 19 sites around the world, has secured construction permits and hopes to begin operating next summer in Guayama.

They want to turn the island into a major supplier of primates, much to the dismay of residents already dealing with a plague of patas monkeys — descendants of lab escapees — that run though backyards, stop traffic and destroy crops.

The company, based in the African island nation of Mauritius, says the operation will employ at least 50 people and buy fruit from local farmers, an important consideration on an island where unemployment is nearly 16 percent.

“This will help many people in the community,” said Olga Colón, a local school principal who has collected 300 signatures in support of the facility. She said Bioculture has pledged to buy supplies for her school.

But the project is opposed by many — from Guayama Mayor Glorimari Jaime to actor Benicio del Toro, who says it’s unethical to breed monkeys for research, and renowned primatologist Jane Goodall.

“We know now that monkeys have minds, personalities, and, above all, they have feelings,” Goodall said during a recent visit to Puerto Rico. “What we do for monkeys in medical research — if you were a monkey, it would be torture.”

Local residents have filed a lawsuit supported by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that says Bioculture failed to submit a full environmental impact statement or hold public hearings.

They say Bioculture allegedly paid fees for a $2 million project, when the project costs $12 million. The company denies the allegations.

A judge could decide as early as this week whether to order an injunction to halt construction. Either side could appeal the ruling to the state Court of Appeals.

The company expects to soon apply for permits to import monkeys to Puerto Rico.

Bioculture’s facility, the first in a U.S. jurisdiction, plans to start with 1,000 Macaques, natives of Southeast Asia, and eventually hold up to 3,000.

Puerto Rico has long struggled to control hundreds of patas monkeys, descendants of primates that escaped in recent decades from research projects and now thrive in the lush tropical environment.

No labs want the patas monkeys because they’re no longer right for research, and many are diseased. There isn’t much demand from zoos, either. So rangers from the island’s Department of Natural and Environmental Resources trap and kill them.

Wilson Nazario Torres fears the people of Guayama will suffer like those in his hometown, Lajas, which has been overrun by patas monkeys.

The three that live in his back yard are so used to humans, he can’t scare them away.

“If this project was offered in any state in the United States, they wouldn’t allow it,” said Roberto Cintrón, a 46-year-old resident of Carmen, a Guayama neighborhood close to the facility site. “So they come to an isolated community, a neglected community, and offer jobs, and people buy it.”

Bioculture Vice President Moses Mark Bushmitz said some groups are just trying to stir up panic. It happens at all new facilities.

The Guayama facility is one of many already in the United States, he said, where about 70,000 research monkeys were used in 2007, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The company assures people in Carmen and all of the Guayama district that its monkeys can’t escape multiple levels of security.

“You have monkeys in MIT, you have monkeys in Harvard,” Bushmitz said.

“So why isn’t it an issue if the monkey will escape in Harvard, but it is an issue if a monkey will escape in Carmen?”

Bushmitz called the protesters a small minority.

“This area was neglected for so many years,” he said. “The people here have no chance. The young guys have no work.”

But Carla Cappalli, a local animal rights activist, says opponents will keep fighting, no matter what the judge rules.

“This is going to be a long case,” she said. “We’re going to fight this to the end.”

http://www.prdailysun.com/news/Plan-to-breed-lab-monkeys-splits-Guayama-residents

(Submitted by Sally Tully-Figueroa)

Scientists hail Hobbie-J as 'cleverest rat'

Scientists say they have created the world's cleverest rat, called Hobbie-J, by modifying a single gene in a technique they believe could also be used to boost human brainpower.

By David Harrison
Published: 2:13PM GMT 21 Nov 2009

Hobbie-J, named after a Chinese cartoon character, can remember objects for three times longer than other rats and is better at finding its way through mazes.

The rat, when it was an embryo, was injected with genetic material to boost the NR2B gene which controls memory.

The success brings hope for future dementia patients, as it is thought the gene enhancement could one day be used in a drug treatment for human brain disorders.

Dr Joe Z Tsien, who led the experiment at the Medical College of Georgia, said: “Hobbie-J can remember information for longer. It’s the equivalent of me giving you a telephone number and somehow you remembering it for an hour.

“Our study provides a solid basis for the rationale that the NR2B gene is critical to enhancing memory. That gene could be used for memory-enhancing drugs.”

Dr Tsien undertook a similar experiment on a mouse named Doogie 10 years ago, but thie latest trial shows that memory enhancement can work on different types of mammals, potentially paving the way for human use.

Although it could take decades to develop a safe drug, dementia organisations in the UK welcomed the study.

Andrew Scheuber from the Alzheimer’s Research Trust said: “This research involving rats may lead to new ways to reduce the risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer’s or to ameliorate dementia symptoms.

"A treatment involving NR2B may have the potential to slow the deterioration that takes place in dementia patients, but it is too soon to tell.”

However, Dr John Hardy, professor of neuroscience at University College London, said the research would not help Alzheimer’s patients because they suffered from dying brain cells, not ineffective ones.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6622409/Scientists-hail-Hobbie-J-as-cleverest-rat.html

Scientists hail Hobbie-J as 'cleverest rat'

Scientists say they have created the world's cleverest rat, called Hobbie-J, by modifying a single gene in a technique they believe could also be used to boost human brainpower.

By David Harrison
Published: 2:13PM GMT 21 Nov 2009

Hobbie-J, named after a Chinese cartoon character, can remember objects for three times longer than other rats and is better at finding its way through mazes.

The rat, when it was an embryo, was injected with genetic material to boost the NR2B gene which controls memory.

The success brings hope for future dementia patients, as it is thought the gene enhancement could one day be used in a drug treatment for human brain disorders.

Dr Joe Z Tsien, who led the experiment at the Medical College of Georgia, said: “Hobbie-J can remember information for longer. It’s the equivalent of me giving you a telephone number and somehow you remembering it for an hour.

“Our study provides a solid basis for the rationale that the NR2B gene is critical to enhancing memory. That gene could be used for memory-enhancing drugs.”

Dr Tsien undertook a similar experiment on a mouse named Doogie 10 years ago, but thie latest trial shows that memory enhancement can work on different types of mammals, potentially paving the way for human use.

Although it could take decades to develop a safe drug, dementia organisations in the UK welcomed the study.

Andrew Scheuber from the Alzheimer’s Research Trust said: “This research involving rats may lead to new ways to reduce the risk of developing diseases like Alzheimer’s or to ameliorate dementia symptoms.

"A treatment involving NR2B may have the potential to slow the deterioration that takes place in dementia patients, but it is too soon to tell.”

However, Dr John Hardy, professor of neuroscience at University College London, said the research would not help Alzheimer’s patients because they suffered from dying brain cells, not ineffective ones.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/6622409/Scientists-hail-Hobbie-J-as-cleverest-rat.html