Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
during the lifetime of the individual. Individual vital
statistics, including IDs of the individual and its parents,
sex, and dates of its birth and death, are kept in the registry
(following human vital statistics terminology). Registry
data are usually stored separately from other single-entry
data, such as necropsy records and genetic markers.
Multiple-entry data, on the other hand, are those which
derive from events or measures that may be repeated
throughout the lifetime of the individual animal. These
include information that comprises clinical, reproductive,
developmental, and experimental histories.
schedules, clinical and surgical case histories, reproductive
histories, morphometrics, information to satisfy regulatory
requirements and reporting, and animal-related grant and
financial accounts. Reports of history are critical, for indi-
viduals and groups, and could include data such as location,
weight, treatment, and viral status histories. The specific
information to be reported in these reports varies widely
from facility to facility, from use to use, and from user to
user, but this type of reporting, with as much flexibility in
structure as possible, should be a design criterion of any
animal records system.
Minimally Required Registry Data
There is a myriad of data that can be collected and stored,
of course, and the types, forms, and uses of all possible
colony information ranges far beyond the scope of this
chapter, but it is perhaps pertinent to discuss some
minimum standards for basic characterization, or registry,
information for each animal. Variables included in
a primate colony registry are often limited to those required
for demographic analysis, such as computation of birth and
death rates, and for construction of extended family trees
(pedigrees) used in genetic analysis. A set of these variables
is kept on a single computer file record for each individual
that has ever been resident in the colony. These should
include: animal identification code (historically unique, not
recycled), sire ID code, dam ID code, sex, birth date, date of
entry into the colony or facility, acquisition code (usually
establishing some source information), date of exit from
colony or facility, reason for exit (e.g. death, shipment),
taxonomic code (identifying species or subspecies), insti-
tution code (identifying broader ownership), and often
a local subgroup code or codes, providing information
about an animal's assignment or location within a facility
(
Dyke, 1993
).
Standard Demographic Measures
Published sources on demographic methods for nonhuman
primate populations are for the most part based on the
requirements of ecological research (e.g.
National Research
Council, 1981
), where estimating parameters from incom-
plete field data is a major concern. With suitable modifi-
cations, human population methods are more appropriate
for captive colonies that have maintained adequate registry
information. The study of the demography of human pop-
ulations has been successful for two reasons. First, extensive
experience with a wide variety of human data facilitates
standardized comparisons among populations and a mean-
ingful interpretation of analyses. Second, a long history of
research has produced highly developed methodology and
techniques for measurement and analysis (see
Barclay,
1958; Pollard et al., 1981
, for excellent elementary expo-
sitions of these methods). Although elaborate demographic
analyses are not necessary for day-to-day operations, they
often reveal patterns of mortality, fertility, and growth that
otherwise may go undetected.
A sensitive measure of colony mortality is the epide-
miologic life table, which is designed to take into account:
(1) the likelihood that individuals are of differing ages at
the beginning of the registry period; (2) the possibility that
individuals may join the population at some time after the
beginning of the registry period; (3) the possibility that
individuals leave the population before the end of the
registry period for reasons other than death (in epidemio-
logical terms, lost to follow-up); and (4) the virtual
certainty that individuals present in the population at the
end of the registry period (termed withdrawn alive) will be
of differing ages. Although not initially intended for pop-
ulation analysis, it is clear that epidemiological methods
are ideally suited for the construction of life tables for
nonhuman primate colonies. The general strategy for
analysis of these populations is to give a demographic (as
opposed to clinical) interpretation to epidemiological life
table measures. An additional advantage of the epidemio-
logical life table is that it permits estimates of standard
errors of its entries. This, like most mortality measures, can
be derived from single-entry records in the registry file.
REPORTS AND ANALYSES
The ultimate reason for identification and record keeping is,
of course, the need for monitoring the health, well-being,
and productivity of the colony. Colony status reports are
fundamental to any well-run colony and for the most part
can be generated from the colony vital statistics registry,
plus any number of additional multiple entry data files.
Day-to-day Management Reports
Management reports tend to be tailored to the needs of
individual colonies. Typically, these are produced both
periodically (that is, daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly) and
on demand, and include formatted summaries of informa-
tion from the registry and all other data files. Contents
include vital
statistics, project histories, experimental
