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Presents various papers relating to veterinary medicine released in Great Britain as of July 19, 2003. Studies on culicoides pulicaris as a vector for bluetongue virus; Survey of foodborne pathogens in Swedish wildlife; Hepatitis due to reovirus-like infection in farmed halibut.

The article reports developments related to the research on animal diseases in Great Britain. A study shows that pigs that are being transported to slaughter are more likely to die during transportation when the environmental temperature is high. One study shows that listeria monocytogenes causes neurological disease in cattle. Another study revealed that helminths appear to have a little effect to limit the development of anthelmintic resistance.

A systematic sample of 2800 articles published between 1970 and 2000 in 14 major biomedical journals was analysed to assess the implementation of the 'Three Rs' (replacement, reduction and refinement) in biomedical research. During this period the total number of articles published annually by the journals more than doubled, but the proportion of studies using animals decreased by 30 per cent. There was a significant increase, from 21 per cent to 35 per cent, in the proportion of animal studies which made use of untreated euthanased animals as donors of biological materials, a gradual decrease in the number of chronic studies on animals, and a 50 per cent decrease in the average number of animals used per published paper. There was an improvement in the reporting of the specification of the animals' husbandry, conditions of care and environment. Parameters of importance for the evaluation of the scientific quality of the research and the welfare of the animals were generally poorly reported, but the proportion of papers with adequate information on most of the parameters analysed increased between 1970 and 2000. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reports on the Royal Society's call for the closer scrutiny of scientific research proposals to prevent the development of biological weapons in Great Britain. Need to filter basic research; Need for scientific journals to identify papers where the potential harm of publications outweighed the potential benefits; Call for the scientific community to increase awareness of the ethical and legal requirements relating to research.

Discusses the Animal Procedures Committee's report on the cost-benefit assessment conducted under the Animals Act 1986 of Great Britain. Objectives of the cost-benefit assessment; Committee's view on experiments involving animals; Factors that are important in cost-benefit assessment; Basic errors in study design of several published papers.

Reports that the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) has finalized its Science and Innovation Strategy for the next three years beginning 2003. Integration of all the scientific activities of DEFRA; Objectives of the program.

The author reflects on the practice-based research (PBR) projects for veterinary in Great Britain. Among the projects include the VetCompass Programme of the Royal Veterinary College, the Small Animal Veterinary Surveillance Network (SAVSNET) of the University of Liverpool, and the Centre for Evidence Based Veterinary Medicine of the University of Nottingham. It mentions that the objectives of the research projects was to bridge the gap between research and veterinary professionals.

The article focuses on the results of the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2014 which show the quality and impact of research being conducted in universities in Great Britain. Topics include the importance of the outcome in determining how research fund will be allocated, in the ranking of universities, and in measuring the benefit of the work to the society particularly the veterinary profession.

In this article, the author discusses the significance of collaboration in infectious disease research in Great Britain. He mentions that the approach to infectious disease research requires efforts between human and veterinary medicine. He asserts that the infectious disease research is divided, with funding arrangements and government departments being separated on human or animal health lines.

Reports on the increase in the number of animals used in scientific research in Great Britain. Procedures licensed under the Animals Act 1986 implemented on live animals; Types of animals used in majority of procedures in 2002; Decrease in the proportion of procedures using genetically normal animals.