UMass Amherst marmoset monkey lab that drew PETA's ire closes
In a message posted to her own website, Agnès Lacreuse says caring for primates requires top-quality infrastructure and resources. She is grateful to the National Institutes of Health and others for more than $6 million in federal funding.
'However, current efforts to destroy science and slash research funding undermine my ability to continue support for nonhuman primate research at UMass,' she said.
The lab is finishing up a research project concerning the topic of breast cancer.
'Above all, my heart goes out to each one of the beloved monkeys who helped advance scientific knowledge and improve the lives of humans and other animals,' she said.
The University of Massachusetts released a written statement:
'The lab, whose work has been dedicated to studies that advance the knowledge of the aging process with a focus on Alzheimer's disease and women's health (including breast cancer treatments), recently completed NIH grant-funded research using non-human primates. The funded experiments ended as planned, within the scheduled end of the grant.'
PETA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, declared victory in a news release.
'We were determined to close this laboratory and end the torture of these tiny monkeys, and we did,' says PETA Senior Vice President Kathy Guillermo. 'Lacreuse's reign of terror is over.'
PETA described how Lacreuse's laboratory staff drilled holes in marmosets' skulls to implant electrodes, cut into their necks and threaded wires through their bodies.
Stories by Jim Kinney
Sports betting brought trouble for gamblers, not jobs for Mass., UMass research finds
After word of potential Mercy sale, Baystate CEO reassures staff but points to nondisclosure, confidentiality
Pridelands on Main St., outdoor beer garden funded through ARPA, drawing crowds
Read the original article on MassLive.
Solve the daily Crossword
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
23 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A teen's headaches weren't going away. Doctors found a surprising cause
Logan Coleridge was used to taking hits in football. He'd been playing since he was 6 years old and had sustained several concussions. But after a helmet-to-helmet impact during his freshman year of high school in August 2023, he started having debilitating symptoms. The New Jersey teen said he was very dizzy and had trouble balancing. His memory was "terrible," and he had a "severe" light sensitivity, he said, along with "terrible headaches." Previously a strong student, he now struggled to focus in the classroom and couldn't remember school assignments or what he read in class. "I've got concussions in my past, and it wasn't like a normal one," Logan said. "I knew it was something else." More alarmingly, Logan wasn't getting better. Several months of physical therapy had no effect, said Becky Coleridge, Logan's mom. A neurologist who had been treating Logan since his diagnosis with abdominal migraines the year before prescribed two medications, both of which had negative side effects. An orthopedic doctor suggested looking at his neck. Other practitioners had no answers. Coleridge wanted doctors to prescribe an MRI, but wasn't able to get one. Meanwhile, Logan was missing school almost every week. Over-the-counter medications couldn't dull the headaches, and they were becoming more frequent. In early spring 2024, Logan was able to see a concussion specialist after a particularly bad headache kept him from going to school. "The first thing he said was 'Nobody's given this kid an MRI?'" Becky Coleridge remembered. The specialist prescribed the scan, as well as an X-ray of Logan's neck. The Coleridges thought the scans might show Logan had an issue with his occipital nerve, which runs from the neck to the scalp. The results were much harder to hear: Logan was diagnosed with an arteriovenous malformation, or AVM. It was a condition that he and his parents had never heard of before. "Everything we read was very scary," Becky Coleridge said. "At that moment, we realized the danger he had been in." What is an arteriovenous malformation? An AVM is an abnormal tangle of blood vessels in the brain, said Dr. Andrew Russman, head of the Cleveland Clinic's stroke program, who was not involved in Logan's care. AVMs put "a lot of pressure on the vein side" and can produce a variety of symptoms, he said. The biggest risk with an AVM is rupture, where the vessels burst and cause bleeding in the brain. In a case like Logan's, where the AVM hasn't ruptured, there can still be symptoms. Those symptoms can affect a person's motor skills, sensory and visual perception, language abilities and the way they walk, Russman said. The effects can vary depending on where in the brain the AVM has formed, Russman said. The Coleridges had two options to treat Logan: Radiation therapy, a non-invasive technique that uses focused radiation beams to target and slowly destroy the AVM, or surgery. Radiation therapy could take too long, the family decided, and so they decided to have Logan treated by Dr. Howard Riina, a cerebrovascular neurosurgeon at NYU Langone. "He couldn't go to school. His whole life was impacted by these headaches," Riina said. "They wanted an immediate solution." Riina said the AVM, which was on a "headache spot" in the occipital region of the brain, was likely the root of Logan's symptoms. People are born with AVMs, Riina said, and they grow as the body grows, which can cause increased symptoms. "Obviously, you don't want to have multiple things going on in your head, but the concussion is what led to the imaging, which led to the diagnosis of the AVM, which was probably what was causing the headaches all along," he said. Raising awareness and "focusing on a new beginning" Logan underwent surgery on July 17, 2024, nearly a year after his symptoms began. Riina performed a craniotomy and removed the AVM. Three days later, Logan was discharged from the hospital to continue his recovery at home. Logan said it was a "lonely" way to spend his summer vacation. Even as his recovery progressed, he couldn't participate in the sports he loved. "I couldn't really do the things that I love normally doing, like exercising, playing football was a big thing for me. I was just stuck in bed, pretty much having minimal activity," Logan said. Now, Logan has only the occasional headache, and the pain can be treated with medication. He has follow-ups at NYU Langone, but Riina said everything has come back clear. The Coleridges are working to encourage early testing: Becky Coleridge said she wishes Logan had received an MRI earlier so that months of suffering and confusion could have been avoided. This year has been a complete turnaround, Logan said. He no longer misses school. He celebrated his 16th birthday and took driving lessons. This summer, he spent almost every day at the beach with friends. This month, he's gearing up for a return to the football field. "The whole experience was a fork in the road for me that I had to get through," Logan said. "I'm leaving that time in my life in the past and focusing on a new beginning." Global stock markets react to Trump's sweeping tariffs in effect now Israel's Security Cabinet approves plan to take over Gaza City Why Trump is calling for Intel CEO's immediate resignation Solve the daily Crossword
CNET
25 minutes ago
- CNET
'Alien: Earth' Is Surprisingly Cinematic, a Bit Gross and a Whole Lot of Awesome
If you ask me, it's a great time to be an Alien fan. Last year's Alien: Romulus offered a fun, nostalgic taste of what made the Alien movies so iconic. It was the perfect appetizer for what's coming next. Of course, I am speaking about Alien: Earth. It's been about five years since FX officially announced the Noah Hawley project and, now, with the show just days away from premiering (the first two episodes drop on Tuesday, Aug. 12, on Hulu, FX and Disney Plus), I am here to squash your worries. Alien: Earth is good. In fact, it's pretty epic. Heck, I'd go so far as to say it's the best Alien story I've seen since James Cameron put Sigourney Weaver in a power loader back in 1986. Needless to say, I have a lot to say about the eight episodes I've seen -- and I'm going to do so as spoiler-free as possible. Still, if you want to avoid any details about the show, I advise you to tread lightly. Read more: Hulu to Fully Combine With Disney Plus and Expand Globally: What We Know FX Networks Alien: Earth does something no other installment of the franchise has dared to do: It puts the majority of the story on Earth. The year is 2120, just two years before Ellen Ripley's (Weaver) fight for survival takes place on the Nostromo. In this world, five tech corporations govern the people: Prodigy, Weyland-Yutani, Lynch, Dynamic and Threshold. Up until now, we've only heard of Weyland-Yutani. Adding the other companies to the mix and exploring their political conflicts and fight for power opens up the story and broadens things a bit from the usual monster-versus-innocent-crew-members formula we've come to expect from an Alien story. Timothy Olyphant plays an aging synthetic named Kirsh in Alien: Earth. FX Networks The Xenomorph is still very much the focal point of the series, don't get me wrong. However, Alien: Earth introduces a few new concepts to the mix: Cyborgs (humans augmented with machine parts), hybrids (synthetic bodies controlled by human consciousness) and a collection of insidious space insects that add new horrors besides the face-hugging variety. You can't really replicate the initial shock that audiences felt after watching Alien for the first time. Sure, a chest-bursting sequence in an Alien movie can be unsettling to watch. But these gruesome scenes are expected and have become formulaic. Hawley knows this and that's why he and his team brought an assortment of creepy-crawlies to the mix. The result is gross and gory; the inclusion of these space bugs delivers a collection of body horror sequences that left me, more than once, shouting in disgust at the TV. That's high praise coming from me. Babou Ceesay plays Morrow, a cyborg security officer employed by Weyland-Yutani in Alien: Earth. FX Networks Building an original world such as this is only as enthralling as the characters who populate it and the talent slate really delivers the emotional stakes on all accounts. While Timothy Olyphant is the biggest name on the call sheet, each of the main players -- Sydney Chandler (who plays Wendy), Alex Lawther (who plays Hermit), Samuel Blenkin (who plays Boy Kavalier) and Babou Ceesay (who plays Morrow) -- delivers tenfold. Audiences have never seen Olyphant play a character like the synthetic Kirsh. He's enigmatic in his stillness and leaves you regularly guessing whose side he is on. As wonderful as he is, it's Chandler who carries the show. Wendy is the emotional entry point for the audience and probably the most complex of all the characters. She is also an advanced synthetic human infused with the consciousness of a child. Her youthful discovery of the world around her bumps up against her newfound responsibility to Prodigy, the company in charge of her synth existence. She strives to reconcile her human identity of the past while trying to make sense of her technological one of the present. Yeesh, talk about an identity crisis. The Alien franchise has regularly pondered whether humanity deserves to survive. The series asks the same question, whether it's in the face of the alien invaders or the corporatations bending the understanding of what it even means to be human. Sydney Chandler stars as Wendy, an experimental synth, in Alien: Earth. FX Networks Transhumanism, mortality, corporate control and the perils of unchecked technological advancements are some of the heady themes explored here. As big as some of these creative swings get, you shouldn't worry: aliens are still killing people. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Stylistically, Alien: Earth regularly references the first two Alien movies. That said, there is ample room to create something new and explore uncharted ground in the process. And the show does just that. The result is a program that is grand in scope, and while familiar visuals and aesthetics are featured throughout, Alien: Earth is delightfully different. This brings me to the Xenomorph. I'm not sure how practical the effects are in reference to the iconic creature (it's clear in some scenes that there's a person inside of a costume), but there are shots featured throughout the show that present the monster in a unique perspective, unlike anything I've seen before. And instead of waiting multiple episodes before the big bad is revealed, it's set loose in the pilot episode. Through his TV work with Fargo and Legion, Noah Hawley has established a tone and flavor for his projects, and that offbeat energy can most definitely be found here. His fingerprints are all over this show (he even makes an on-screen cameo), and this is mostly a good thing. That said, if I were to really nitpick, it'd be the slow-burn pacing featured throughout the season that I'd take issue with. Still, that's a minor flaw to me, which is totally made up for with every banging needle drop that closes out each episode. It's probably evident that I am a huge Alien fan. I get the references and smile every time I see a style note or referential homage. That said, the show is surprisingly low on Easter eggs, which is great. It respects and honors what came before it without getting lost in the minutiae. Alien: Earth has equal appeal to newbies who have never seen an Alien movie and die-hard franchise fanatics like myself. Sydney Chandler plays Wendy in FX's Alien: Earth on Hulu. FX Networks I can honestly say this series is unlike anything I've seen in the Alien universe. It's familiar while also being new; it's different without being destructive to the lore. Alien fans have trudged through one disappointing movie after another to get here. Alien: Earth is a win, and I'm ecstatic. You could even say my chest is bursting with joy. It only took four decades to get here. I guess good things really do come to those who wait.
Gizmodo
25 minutes ago
- Gizmodo
Wild Pigs in California Are Turning Neon Blue on the Inside, Officials Warn
Unexpected exposure to rodenticide is turning California's wild pigs blue, state authorities say. 'I'm not talking about a little blue,' Dan Burton, owner of a wildlife control company in Salinas, California, told The Los Angeles Times. 'I'm talking about neon blue, blueberry blue.' Burton was one of the first trappers to discover that local wild pigs had turned blue on the inside. A subsequent investigation by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) found that the pigs had consumed the anticoagulant rodenticide diphacinone, a poison used by farmers to control populations of unwanted rats, mice, squirrels, and other small animals. These substances often contain dye to identify them as poison, the CDFW reported, which likely explains how the pigs ended up with blue-colored muscle and fat. Burton's own investigations found that the poisoned pigs seemed to be frequenting squirrel bait stations, which local farmers were using to control the squirrel populations targeting their crops. However, since the poisoned bait had tiny doses of diphacinone, the pigs, despite turning blue, weren't outwardly acting sick. Eating animals poisoned by this rodenticide could result in secondary exposure to the poison, the CDFW said. As such, the agency is warning hunters to not consume any wild animals with signs of blue contamination and to report any sightings of such animals to officials. Overall, the agency advised hunters to exercise extra caution around areas with rat control programs, as it is also possible that exposed animals may not necessarily be blue. 'Hunters should be aware that the meat of game animals, such as wild pig, deer, bear and geese, might be contaminated if that game animal has been exposed to rodenticides,' said Ryan Bourbor, pesticide investigations coordinator at CDFW, in the statement. This isn't the first time that officials have identified wild pigs poisoned by rat poison. In 2018, a study by the CDFW found traces of rodenticide in about 8.3% of wild pigs spotted lurking around agricultural or residential areas with rat control programs. Other research from 2011 and 2023, respectively, found that cooking meat poisoned with diphacinone did not eliminate the contamination, and people and animals that consume the meat can exhibit signs of rodenticide poisoning, such as lethargy. In 2024, California prohibited the use of diphacinone, with exceptions for specific instances at certified sites, as part of legislation meant to protect wildlife from unintentional poisoning. CDFW is asking anyone who encounters wild animals with blue fat or tissues to report their sightings to the agency at [email protected] or (916) 358-2790.
