80 research outputs found

    Chronic Multi-Electrode Electromyography in Snakes

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    Knowledge about body motion kinematics and underlying muscle contraction dynamics usually derives from electromyographic (EMG) recordings. However, acquisition of such signals in snakes is challenging because electrodes either attached to or implanted beneath the skin may unintentionally be removed by force or friction caused from undulatory motion, thus severely impeding chronic EMG recordings. Here, we present a reliable method for stable subdermal implantation of up to eight bipolar electrodes above the target muscles. The mechanical stability of the inserted electrodes and the overnight coverage of the snake body with a sleeping bag ensured the recording of reliable and robust chronic EMG activity. The utility of the technique was verified by daily acquisition of high signal-to-noise activity from all target sites over four consecutive days during stimulus-evoked postural reactions in Amazon tree boas and Western diamondback rattlesnakes. The successful demonstration of the chronic recording suggests that this technique can improve acute experiments by enabling the collection of larger data sets from single individuals

    SnakeStrike: A Low-Cost Open-Source High-Speed Multi-Camera Motion Capture System

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    Current neuroethological experiments require sophisticated technologies to precisely quantify the behavior of animals. In many studies, solutions for video recording and subsequent tracking of animal behavior form a major bottleneck. Three-dimensional (3D) tracking systems have been available for a few years but are usually very expensive and rarely include very high-speed cameras; access to these systems for research is limited. Additionally, establishing custom-built software is often time consuming – especially for researchers without high-performance programming and computer vision expertise. Here, we present an open-source software framework that allows researchers to utilize low-cost high-speed cameras in their research for a fraction of the cost of commercial systems. This software handles the recording of synchronized high-speed video from multiple cameras, the offline 3D reconstruction of that video, and a viewer for the triangulated data, all functions previously also available as separate applications. It supports researchers with a performance-optimized suite of functions that encompass the entirety of data collection and decreases processing time for high-speed 3D position tracking on a variety of animals, including snakes. Motion capture in snakes can be particularly demanding since a strike can be as short as 50 ms, literally twice as fast as the blink of an eye. This is too fast for faithful recording by most commercial tracking systems and therefore represents a challenging test to our software for quantification of animal behavior. Therefore, we conducted a case study investigating snake strike speed to showcase the use and integration of the software in an existing experimental setup

    Bringing CASE in from the cold: the teaching and learning of thinking

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    Thinking Science is a two-year program of professional development for teachers and thinking lessons for students in junior high school science classes. This paper presents research on the effects of Thinking Science on students’ levels of cognition in Australia. The research is timely with a general capability focused on critical thinking in the newly implemented F-10 curriculum in Australia. The design of the research was a quasi-experiment with pre and post-intervention cognitive tests conducted with participating students (n = 655) from nine cohorts in seven high schools. Findings showed significant cognitive gains compared with an age matched control group over the length of the program. Noteworthy, is a correlation between baseline cognitive score and school Index of Community Socio-Educational Advantage (ICSEA). We argue that the teaching of thinking be brought into the mainstream arena of educational discourse and the principles from evidence-based programs such as Thinking Science be universally adopted

    Building a Digital Wind Farm

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    Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research Consortium: Accelerating Evidence-Based Practice of Genomic Medicine

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    Despite rapid technical progress and demonstrable effectiveness for some types of diagnosis and therapy, much remains to be learned about clinical genome and exome sequencing (CGES) and its role within the practice of medicine. The Clinical Sequencing Exploratory Research (CSER) consortium includes 18 extramural research projects, one National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI) intramural project, and a coordinating center funded by the NHGRI and National Cancer Institute. The consortium is exploring analytic and clinical validity and utility, as well as the ethical, legal, and social implications of sequencing via multidisciplinary approaches; it has thus far recruited 5,577 participants across a spectrum of symptomatic and healthy children and adults by utilizing both germline and cancer sequencing. The CSER consortium is analyzing data and creating publically available procedures and tools related to participant preferences and consent, variant classification, disclosure and management of primary and secondary findings, health outcomes, and integration with electronic health records. Future research directions will refine measures of clinical utility of CGES in both germline and somatic testing, evaluate the use of CGES for screening in healthy individuals, explore the penetrance of pathogenic variants through extensive phenotyping, reduce discordances in public databases of genes and variants, examine social and ethnic disparities in the provision of genomics services, explore regulatory issues, and estimate the value and downstream costs of sequencing. The CSER consortium has established a shared community of research sites by using diverse approaches to pursue the evidence-based development of best practices in genomic medicine

    A systematic review of non-hormonal treatments of vasomotor symptoms in climacteric and cancer patients

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    Diversification of temporal sewage loading concentration in tropical climates

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    The efficiency of the wastewater treatment is highly influenced by the characteristics of incoming raw wastewater into the treatment plant. The improper design resulted in inefficient treatment, of which consequently leading to the pollution and contaminant release to nearby water streams. High concentration of untreated or inefficiently treated effluent poses significant impacts to the health of both human and aquatic life. Wastewater characteristics based on real-time monitoring measurement in a catchment area, in particular at the inlet chamber of a sewage treatment plant (STP) not only provides precise data and information of pollutant loading behavior but also hypothesis the lifestyle and waste habit in the specific locations. In this research, the parameters of Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Ammonia Nitrogen (NH3-N) incoming raw wastewater samples were temporally monitored. The measurement campaign was conducted at two locations, at a Network Pumping Station (NPS) and connected STP with Population Equivalent (PE) of 1000 and 60000, respectively. The temporal variation for COD shows a regular pattern with distinct peaks, i.e., at morning and evening were identified. However, no temporal variation was observed for parameter NH3-N. The strength of the wastewater influent has a fairly low concentration of COD between 57 mg/L to 313 mg/L at NPS and 117 mg/L to 612 mg/L at STP. This value is lower than the commonly influent designed STP of COD concentration at 500 mg/L (Malaysian Sewerage Industry Guidelines (MSIG), Volume IV, Section 3). Comparison of wastewater pattern with temperate climate of South Korea showed a discrepancy in terms of peak time and concentration pattern
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