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An individually ventilated cage (IVC) is used to keep an animal separated from other animals and possible exposures, including exposure by air.
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(November 2012) |
An individually ventilated cage (IVC) is used to keep an animal separated from other animals and possible exposures, including exposure by air.
In laboratory animal husbandry, there is a huge demand for animals that have been kept in disease free conditions and housed in barrier units such as individually ventilated cages. This is very important because when animals are used for scientific research, particularly drug-related research, the animals must provide accurate and valid results. Using an animal that is ill may cause the severity limit to be exceeded. If the animal already has a disease and then undergoes experimentation of a substance that also produces effects on the animals health, it could potentially worsen the effects of the agent being tested causing the animal to experience more suffering than necessary. The animals may produce false results which may prove vital at a later stage, e.g., in drug trials on humans. Not only that, the experiment will have to be performed again and the previous animals would have ended up being killed. Special caging systems are often used alongside many other barriers to keep unwanted materials out of range of the animals.
The IVC-systems in which the animals are kept in ensures they are fully protected by use of HEPA-filters (high efficiency-particulate air) that defends them from all micro-organisms. A process of sterilisation of all items to be passed in to the barrier unit including bedding material, food etc. must be performed.
The cages are usually made out of high tech special synthetic polycarbonates. Although this material allows various methods of sterilising and disinfecting to be carried out, repeated sterilisation can cause discolouration and brittleness.
The cages are constructed and designed in a specific way to ensure an absolute microparticle free inner environment. This generally includes a cage bottom, a cage top (with a food hopper and water bottle holder incorporated) and a filter lid. It is also designed to allow maximum comfort of the animal and to provide a secure, chew proof environment. An external ventilation unit supplies the cages with fresh HEPA-filtered air which passes through the filter lids. The ventilation-system mostly consists of two tubes for ingoing and outgoing air.
Individual cages, with no environmental enrichment, make it impossible for any animal to carry out species-specific behaviour and are a huge drawback in the terms of animal welfare. In natural conditions, many animals live in groups, but individual cages prevent that. However, that said, multiple sizes of IVCs are available for holding either 1–5 animals or in larger cages 12–15 per cage.
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. HVAC system design is a subdiscipline of mechanical engineering, based on the principles of thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, and heat transfer. "Refrigeration" is sometimes added to the field's abbreviation as HVAC&R or HVACR, or "ventilation" is dropped, as in HACR.
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An air handler, or air handling unit, is a device used to regulate and circulate air as part of a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system. An air handler is usually a large metal box containing a blower, heating or cooling elements, filter racks or chambers, sound attenuators, and dampers. Air handlers usually connect to a ductwork ventilation system that distributes the conditioned air through the building and returns it to the AHU. Sometimes AHUs discharge (supply) and admit (return) air directly to and from the space served without ductwork
Nuclear War Survival Skills or NWSS, by Cresson Kearny, is a civil defense manual. It contains information gleaned from research performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory during the Cold War, as well as from Kearny's extensive jungle living and international travels.
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A biosafety cabinet (BSC)—also called a biological safety cabinet or microbiological safety cabinet—is an enclosed, ventilated laboratory workspace for safely working with materials contaminated with pathogens requiring a defined biosafety level. Several different types of BSC exist, differentiated by the degree of biocontainment they provide. BSCs first became commercially available in 1950.
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Engineering controls are strategies designed to protect workers from hazardous conditions by placing a barrier between the worker and the hazard or by removing a hazardous substance through air ventilation. Engineering controls involve a physical change to the workplace itself, rather than relying on workers' behavior or requiring workers to wear protective clothing.
The health and safety hazards of nanomaterials include the potential toxicity of various types of nanomaterials, as well as fire and dust explosion hazards. Because nanotechnology is a recent development, the health and safety effects of exposures to nanomaterials, and what levels of exposure may be acceptable, are subjects of ongoing research. Of the possible hazards, inhalation exposure appears to present the most concern, with animal studies showing pulmonary effects such as inflammation, fibrosis, and carcinogenicity for some nanomaterials. Skin contact and ingestion exposure, and dust explosion hazards, are also a concern.
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The Corsi–Rosenthal Box, also called a Corsi–Rosenthal Cube or a Comparetto Cube, is a design for a do-it-yourself air purifier that can be built comparatively inexpensively. It was designed during the COVID-19 pandemic with the goal of reducing the levels of airborne viral particles in indoor settings.