Group items tagged

The alpha-gal-free pig has one express purpose for now: to develop medical products, like blood thinners, that won't set off adverse reactions.

Damaged leg muscles grew stronger and showed signs of regeneration in three out of five men whose old injuries were surgically implanted with extracellular matrix derived from pig bladder, according to a new study. Early findings are from a human trial of the process as well as from animal studies.

In a striking advance that helps open the door to organ transplants from animals, researchers have created gene-edited piglets cleansed of viruses that might cause disease in humans.

Almost 80% of all antibiotics in the United States aren't taken by people. They're given to cows, pigs, and chickens to make them grow more quickly or as a cheap alternative to keeping them healthy. These drugs could give rise to superbugs-bacteria that can't be treated with modern medicine-and things are only getting worse. In 2013, more than 131,000 tons of antibiotics were used in food animals worldwide; by 2030, it will be more than 200,000 tons. In a paper published today in Science, epidemiologist Thomas Van Boeckel of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich and colleagues outline the growing threat-and what can be done about it. Boeckel spoke to us about his team's work. This interview has been edited for clarity and length.

For the first time, biologists have succeeded in growing human stem cells in pig embryos, shifting from science fiction to the realm of the possible the idea of developing human organs in animals for later transplant.

Odyssey of life animations: human, pig, chicken, and fish embryos

Scientists once shied away from naming research animals, and many of the millions of mice and rats used in U.S. research today go nameless, except for special individuals. But a look at ​many facilities suggests that most of the ​other ​891,161 ​U.S. ​research animals ​have proper names​, including nonhuman primates, dogs, pigs, rabbits, cats, and sheep​.

In 2012, the World Health Organisation classified colistin, the most widely used polymyxin, as being critically important for human health. But that didn't stop farmers around the world, especially in China, from using large quantities of colistin to fatten up pigs and chickens. Now Yi-Yun Liu at the South China Agricultural University in Guangzhou and colleagues have discovered the first known resistance gene for colistin that is able to move freely from one bacterium to another.

Article on transgenic livestock

Managing manure to reduce emissions can be economically viable for larger enterprises or cooperative facilities that use the captured methane to generate heat and electricity. For small operators, the offset value alone is unlikely to warrant the large capital cost of infrastructure. This activity contributes to carbon farming. Agriculture is responsible for 14% of Australia's greenhouse gas emissions and is the dominant source of methane and nitrous oxide, accounting for 56% and 73%, respectively, of Australia's emissions.