1399 results about "Small animal" patented technology

A collar to be worn on an object or a large or small animal has been designed incorporating (D)GPS technology. The operation of the device includes programming the three dimensional boundary into the memory of the device and simply installing the collar on the animal. As the animal approaches the preprogrammed boundary, a first alarm sounds when the subject is within an arbitrary user defined distance, and a second more drastic alarm such as a shock correction is applied when the subject approaches a second position closer to the boundary. Means to easily program the device are also included in the system. The device has the capability to call or transmit important information such as location, speed, identity, and medical parameters, etc. to a station automatically or when polled. All necessary analog and digital circuitry, microprocessor, programming, communications hardware are integrated into the collar. The device also has applications in land, air and sea navigation, farming, construction, tracking stolen vehicles, and keeping track of children. This device could also be embedded in a specialized lawnmower that would know where your yard ended and your neighbor's began, and traverse around all obstacles in the yard. Important Military applications would include warning and directing soldiers of front line boundaries, minefield mapping and 3-D direction around MOA's for aircraft.

A method for generating an enhanced ultrasound image comprises intravenously administering to a subject a plurality of microbubbles of sufficient diameter to lodge in the microvasculature of a subject. An ultrasound image of a portion of the subject is generated wherein the image is enhanced by one or more of the administered microbubbles that has lodged in the microvasculature of the imaged portion. An ultrasound contrast media composition comprises a plurality of gas filled microbubbles. At least about 5% of the microbubbles have a diameter of at least about 4 microns (μm), and wherein the composition is suitable for intravenous administration. The administered microbubbles are of sufficient diameter to lodge in the microvasculature of a subject and can be used enhance ultrasound images small animal subjects including mice, rats and rabbits. The described methods and compositions can be used to enhance ultrasound images produced using high frequency ultrasound.

A garment for the transporting, observing, entertaining, training, and displaying of small animals, reptiles and insects (gerbils, mice, snakes, tarantulas, spiders, lizards, etc.) in the tunnels of the garment while on the shoulders of their owners. The garment consists of a see-through, mesh washable fabric panel on top and a brightly colored washable panel underneath, attached to each other using releasable fasteners. The fasteners also provide means to construct tunnel walls and nesting areas for the small animal. The fasteners further provide attachment to the garment tunnel's floor and walls for toys and other paraphernalia to entertain the pet and adorn the garment. This garment allows the owner to hold, observe, and transport his pet without damaging or soiling his clothes while his pet has a tunnel in which to play and rest safely. Also the owner can remove toys, food and nesting material in order to launder the garment.

In one aspect, the present invention provides a housing system for conducting high throughput animal experiments. The housing system includes a home cage, at least one rotatable turnstile enclosed by housing to form two or more isolation chambers, a means for animal identification, and one or more action stations functionally coupled to one or more isolation chambers. The turnstile includes a plurality of one or more separation members rotatable about a vertical axis, each isolation chamber bounded by one or more separation members. The action stations contain one or more devices facilitating completion of at least one animal-directed or experimentor-initiated action. In a preferred embodiment, the home cage is sufficiently sized to house a plurality of small animals, such as mice. Tunnel passageways may be connected to the home cage, including one or more tunnel passageways containing a rotatable turnstile. Additional embodiments include rotatable turnstiles, rotatable turnstile assemblies, and methods of conducting high throughput animal experiments using the devices and systems described herein.

A small animal imaging system comprising a base element and a camera coupled to the base element, the camera being sized to image the eye of a small animal. A light-emitting diode is also included coupled to the base element. An OCT imaging apparatus is also included coupled to the base element. An X-Y scanner is also included coupled to the base element in communication with the OCT imaging apparatus.

An adjustable harness for an animal with a girth strap comprising a support base with a guide D-ring. A right and a left shoulder strap pass through the D-ring forming a double layer strap ending in a leash attachment. The shoulder straps pass proximally over the shoulders of the animal down the chest and through a sternum slide having two top slots and one bottom slot. The shoulder straps enter through the top slots and exit through the bottom slot, forming a second double layer strap, which is joined to the girth strap at the center of the belly. The girth strap is adjustable. The effective working length of the shoulder straps are adjustable through a slide stop on the first double layer strap. The shoulder straps are slid through the sternum slide to place the slide at the center of the chest, below the trachea. This adjustability is especially useful for lithe animals such as cats, ferrets, rabbits and dogs.

The present invention provides a biological implantation RFID tag which can be subcutaneously implanted in a small animal without significantly stressing it and which exhibits improved communication performance, and an insertion jig used to implant the biological implantation RFID tag in the living body of a small animal. A biological implantation RFID tag is implanted in the living body of a small animal to transmit and receive an electromagnetic wave to and from the exterior of the living body to allow an ID assigned to the animal to be read. The biological implantation RFID tag includes an inlet having an IC chip that stores the ID and a main antenna, a support around which the inlet is wound to form an inlet portion, and an auxiliary antenna connected to the main antenna to extend it. Implanting the biological implantation RFID tag in the living body allows the inlet portion to be implanted in a subcutaneous tissue layer with most of the auxiliary antenna projecting out from the living body.

A dynamic dada sampling system and method is disclosed for in vivo small animal fluorescence molecular imaging and dual-modality molecular imaging. The system comprises a computer, a rotation stage for animal suspension driven by a motor, and a fluorescence excitation-detection apparatus. The fluorescence excitation-detection apparatus comprises a fluorescence excitation module and a fluorescence detection module. The CCD device of the fluorescence detection module is connected to a computer through an interface controller. The motor is connected to a computer through RS232 interface. The process of dynamic data acquisition is as follows: a fluorescent probe is injected into a small animal in order to target specific cells or tissues; a small animal is vertically hung on a rotation stage after anesthesia; the fluorescence imaging detection module acquires the emitting light continuously. The present invention can provide 360 degree imaging quickly, efficiently, and non-invasively.

The invention discloses a living small animal imaging system in a miniature CT and fluorescent tomography dual mode and an imaging method thereof. The living small animal imaging system in the miniature CT and the fluorescent tomography dual mode comprises a main control computer, an X-ray source and an X-ray detection device, an excitation source and an excitation light/fluorescent light detection device, and a rotary scanning device, wherein the X-ray source and the X-ray detection device, the excitation source and the excitation light/fluorescent light detection device, and the rotary scanning device are controlled by the main control computer. The invention can simultaneously acquire structure information by carrying out the miniature CT imaging on a small animal and fluorescent-labeled molecular information by carrying out the fluorescent tomography on small animals to enable the molecular information acquired by the fluorescent tomography to be accurately positioned in the smallanimal, thereby being beneficial to improving the diagnosis accuracy.

When a pedestrian candidate and an animal candidate that are detected from an image imaged by an imaging device mounted in a vehicle are in a specified relationship in said image (such as existing nearby), the animal candidate is considered to be an item related to the pedestrian candidate, in other words, a pair object. Attention-arousing output directed at the animal candidate configuring the pair object is not generated. Therefore, a vehicle vicinity monitoring device is provided that reduces the frequency of attention-arousing directed at an animal (for ex-ample, a small animal such as a dog) being walked by a human.

The invention belongs to the field of application of near-infrared laser, nuclear irradiation, electron and image rebuild in systematic biology and medicine. It is characterized in that high-specificity nuclear species and fluorescent probe are implanted in live animal to realize double mark of muscle deep layer or internal organ tumor cell. The emission signal of nuclear species is checked by sensitive electron-multiplier phototube in array copulation position of scintillation crystal; feeble fluorescent signal generated by visible light or infrared agitation is checked by high quantum yield CCD camera. The two checking systems are orthogonally arranged in the same surface, the live nuclear species and fluorescent signal can be checked simultaneously through rotary image cavity, and double module three dimensional tomography image of small animal can be rebuilt with software algorism. The invention is characterized by multi-image forming modules, abundant information and simple operation.

The invention discloses a method for directional cross-border detection and mixing line detection in a video. The method includes the following steps of S1, inputting a monitoring video, S2, initializing the video, wherein the mixing line and an interesting region are set in the video, and the minimum filtering movement target area is selected according to the resolution ratio of the input video to be detected, S3, detecting the foreground, wherein movement targets are detected and tracked, and the movement target needing to be detected is filtered out, S4, carrying out mixing line detection or cross-border detection, wherein the cross-border detection comprises the two phenomena of intrusion detection and fleeing detection, S5, carrying out the S3 and the S4 repeatedly for every later new movement target. By means of the method for directional cross-border detection and mixing line detection in the video, the movement targets are filtered, targets which do not need to be detected such as birds and small animals are excluded, detection accuracy is improved, detections of leaving and the movement direction of the movement target can be achieved on the basis of mixing line detection and intrusion detection, detection is fully functional, and the method better meets actual application requirements.

The small-animal mount assembly of the present invention can include a table member suitable for mounting a small animal. The table member can be selectively positionable into a desired table plane and can comprise at least one ECG pad and/or at least one grid of electronic heating elements disposed onto a top surface of the table pad. The assembly can also include a control apparatus electrically coupled to the at least one ECG pad and/or the at least one grid of electronic heating elements.

A small animal restraining tube comprises a tube configured to receive a small animal therein; a nosecone within the tube and coupled thereto and configured to abut the animal within the tube to confine the animal on one side of the tube; an endplate coupled to the tube and configured to confine a body portion of the animal on a side opposite the nosecone, whereby the body of the animal is confined within the tube between the nosecone and the endplate, the endplate including an opening there through configured to receive a tail of the animal when the animal is confined within the tube; and a tubular loader mechanism selectively coupled to the tube, wherein the loader mechanism is configured to selectively receive the animal therein and configured to transfer the animal to the retraining tube.

The invention relates to the technical field of medical experimental facilities, and discloses a small animal brain three-dimensional positioning system for magnetic resonance imaging scanning equipment. The system comprises a magnetic compatibility small animal brain three-dimensional positioning device used for conducting brain three-dimensional positioning on the head of a small animal and a magnetic resonance small animal radio frequency coil device which is used for receiving a magnetic resonance radio frequency signal in the X axis direction and transmitting the signal to a magnetic resonance imaging system. According to the system, in the piercing implementation process, magnetic resonance scanning can be carried out on an experimental animal, the magnetic resonance radio frequency signal is received through the small animal radio frequency coil, the signal is transmitted to the magnetic resonance imaging system, a magnetic resonance scanning image can be utilized for guiding and monitoring the piercing process, the magnetic resonance imaging scanning equipment can be utilized for guiding a small animal three-dimensional positioning operation or conducting positioning experiments such as piercing and stimulation exertion.

A tomography scanner has intentionally designed, well defined gaps between detector rings with image reconstruction obtained with the use of conventional tomography data processing. The scanner is particularly advantageous as a small animal PET scanner.

A novel functional imaging system for use in the imaging of unrestrained and non-anesthetized small animals or other subjects and a method for acquiring such images and further registering them with anatomical X-ray images previously or subsequently acquired. The apparatus comprises a combination of an IR laser profilometry system and gamma, PET and/or SPECT, imaging system, all mounted on a rotating gantry, that permits simultaneous acquisition of positional and orientational information and functional images of an unrestrained subject that are registered, i.e. integrated, using image processing software to produce a functional image of the subject without the use of restraints or anesthesia. The functional image thus obtained can be registered with a previously or subsequently obtained X-ray CT image of the subject. The use of the system described herein permits functional imaging of a subject in an unrestrained/non-anesthetized condition thereby reducing the stress on the subject and eliminating any potential interference with the functional testing that such stress might induce.

The invention relates to a multi-spectrum auto fluorescence fault imaging reconstruction method based on single view, which belongs to the optical molecular imaging field. The method is based on the diffusivity equation model, considers the uneven characteristics of small animal body, and simultaneously also considers the spectrum and the practical application characteristics of the auto fluorescence light source. In order to achieve the purpose, the multi-spectrum auto fluorescence fault imaging reconstruction method based on single view comprises the flowing steps: firstly, data acquisition; secondly, the dispersing processing of finite element; thirdly, the optimization of the selection of the feasible light source zone; fourthly, the reconstruction of the light source. The method overcomes the defects that the reconstruction light source of the auto fluorescence fault imaging reconstruction method is inaccurate, the reconstruction speed is low, the real-time processing is not convenient, and error can exist during the multi-spectrum data acquisition.

A small animal toilet pad that includes a base and one or more walls that extend upward from the base to protect floors, and adjacent walls, furniture and other objects from damage associated with animal and pet toilet habits. The base and wall(s) can be made from conventional liquid absorbent materials and can be in the form of woven or non-woven fabrics or webs, or laminated pads, mats sheets, etc. The base and/or wall(s) can include or contain stiffeners such as plastic panels, laminates or coatings, water proofed paper or cardboard panels, or similar reinforcing or stiffening elements whether as a continuous structure, grid, frame, etc. Alternatively, the wall(s) can be supported to adjacent structures by clips, hooks, ties, etc.

New MRI coil and resonators are disclosed based solely on superconducting inductive element and built-in capacitive elements as well as hybrid superconducting-metal inductive and capacitive elements having superior SNR. Single and multiple small animal MRI imaging units are also disclosed including one or more resonators of this invention surrounding one or more small animal cavities. Methods for making and using the MRI coils and/or arrays are also disclosed.