44 results about "Vivarium" patented technology

The System for Continuous Observation of Rodents in Home-cage Environment (SCORHE) was developed to quantify activity levels and behavior patterns for mice housed within a home cage that, optional, may be disposed in a commercial ventilated cage rack. The SCORHE home-cage in-rack design provides daytime and night-time monitoring with the stability and consistency of the home-cage environment. The dual-video camera custom hardware design makes efficient use of space, does not require home-cage modification, and is animal facility user-friendly. In various embodiments, a software application integrates the two video streams to extract several mouse activity measures.

A wireless, sterilizable scale comprising a moving module, on which an animal sits or explores, and a fixed module that measures the weight of the animal on the moving module. The fixed module comprises a compliant membrane or gasket, through which the weight of the moving modules and animal is mechanically coupled. The fixed module comprises three load cells arranged in a triangle so as to support the moving module, through the membrane, such that its tilt is limited. The fixed module is sealed by the membrane and comprises the load cells, batteries and electronics. The fixed module, including an internal moving platform, may be chemically sterilized. The moving module may be sterilized using heat sterilization. IR communication transmits a series of weight values at two different data rates. The scale may be in a sterile cage free of electrical penetrations. A system comprises a vivarium comprising such cages.

A vivarium and assembly for maintaining an aquatic area, wetlands, and dry land. The assembly is an enclosure for adhering to a transparent sidewall of an aquarium tank to provide sidewalls, a dry wall and a dividing wall positioned between the dry wall and the aquarium tank wall to define an aquatic area by the aquarium tank wall and a wetlands area by the dry wall. The enclosure can be surrounded by dry land area. A filtering system includes a water passage between the aquatic area and the wetland area; a water pump connected for pumping water out of the wetland area and back into the aquatic area; a particulate filter between the wetland area and the pump; and an organic filter in the wetland area, the organic filter being a living wetland plant rooted in a growing medium.

The field of this invention is classifying animal behaviors. In particular the fields of this invention include using animals in vivariums, such as rodents, particularly mice. Animal behaviors are classified according to behaviors consistent with healthy or unhealthy organs or locations within organs, such as the brain. Injected neoplastic cells may be used to create an unhealthy organ or location within an organ. Classifications also include responses to different therapies. The behavior of the animals is observed using fully automatic, continuous monitoring using per-cage sensors, where behavior recording is free of human, manual actions. Observed behavior is consistent with healthy or unhealthy behaviors specific to the injection site. Both positive and negative baseline behaviors are collected, typically using the same system or method. Classification is responsive to differences between treated and untreated animals, comparing to both the positive and negative baselines, using multi-dimensional analysis.

The invention concerns an at least partially transparent container for use as an aquarium, herbarium, terrarium, vivarium or the like. The container is characterized therein that it constitutes a building unit that is adapted for engaging complimentarily shaped containers so as to form a display arrangement. The container includes a substantially continuous interior surface defining a chamber for housing fish and / or plants and / or animal or insect matter and / or decorative or ornamental matter; radiused corner zones between interior surfaces of neighboring walls of the container, and at least one sealable aperture extending through a wall of the container for permitting access to the fish and / or plants and / or animal or insect matter and / or decorative or ornamental matter within the container. The invention extends to an aquarium, herbarium, terrarium or vivarium arranged within a transparent and hollow glass brick, as well as to a method of manufacturing a terrarium.

The field of this invention is classifying animal behaviors. In particular the fields of this invention include using animals in vivariums, such as rodents, particularly mice. In a vivarium cage, mice generate ultrasonic vocalizations and video behaviors. Their phenotype may also change. Starting with known cognitions or emotions, then comparing the vocalizations, changes to phenotype and video behaviors identification, classification and correlations of cognition or emotion may be generated. These new identifications, classifications and correlations are then used to update the starting set of cognition and emotion of the study animals, in a continuous feedback.

An animal cage is described suitable for automated use in a vivarium. The cage comprises a study animal; bedding; pathogens; a wireless, a sterilizable scale comprising a sterile case comprising a flexible, penetrated membrane; and a penetrating fastener penetrating the membrane. The comprises four internal volume areas with respect to pathogen content: (1) volume between the membrane and a weighing platform, free of bedding; (2) a sterile volume inside the scale case below the membrane; (3) a vertical channel fluidly connecting the inside of the cage with the first volume; and (4) the inside of the cage outside of the above three volumes. These four volumes are sterilely isolated from air outside the cage. Electronics in the scale communicate wirelessly, through the cage, to cage-associated electronics outside the cage, using narrow beam communications free of device-ID specific protocol. The scale may be disassembled, sterilized in a fluid, re-assembled, and re-used in a different cage.

Symbologies suitable for use marking codes on rodent tails are disclosed, for both machine-readable and human-readable codes, and those codes combined. Codes comprising both a human-readable and a machine-readable portion may associate with an animal ID within one study, and a study ID within a vivarium, respectively. A human-readable code uses a subset of an alphanumeric symbol set. A machine-readable code uses a vine-code with a visible spine aligned with the rodent's tail. Both symbologies support a system for deleting symbols and correcting codes marked in error. Both symbologies use symbol sets comprising only horizontal and vertical line segments. Both symbologies include a sparse mapping table for mapping marking codes to animal and study ID, and for error detection and for code re-use.

A vivarium and assembly for maintaining an aquatic area, wetlands, and dry land. The assembly is an enclosure for adhering to a transparent sidewall of an aquarium tank to provide sidewalls, a dry wall and a dividing wall positioned between the dry wall and the aquarium tank wall to define an aquatic area by the aquarium tank wall and a wetlands area by the dry wall. The enclosure can be surrounded by dry land area. A filtering system includes a water passage between the aquatic area and the wetland area; a water pump connected for pumping water out of the wetland area and back into the aquatic area; a particulate filter between the wetland area and the pump; and an organic filter in the wetland area, the organic filter being a living wetland plant rooted in a growing medium.

An animal monitoring device and method comprising an animal cage and associated electronics slab is described. The device is suitable for use in a modular vivarium implemented in one or two racks adjacent to walls in a holding pod. There is a one-to-one relationship between fixed slabs and removable cages. A single camera provides range of functions: its field of view includes the entire area of the cage accessible to an animal; it may observe water level in a water bottle; it may observe food level in a food tray; it may view activity on an exercise device; it may read the rear of cage card. The shape of the food tray is specialized to meet these requirements. An inner-cage frame holds elements in fixed locations within the cage. The cage is free of electronic penetrations. Supply and return air for the cage passes through the slab.

A method of predicting severity of multiple sclerosis (MS) in an animal in a vivarium is described. Animal activity data is collected at multiple times during the night. Sequential time regions of the night are identified as high-activity, activity-drop, or low-activity regions. Embodiments are described to quantify a drop, during the night, of an animal's activity level. These quantified activity-drop scalars for consecutive nights are accumulated in an animal health dataset. Then, an MS severity index function is applied to this dataset that, in response to the level of activity change and the speed of activity change, predicts or measures severity of MS in the animal. One embodiment quantifies an activity-drop by fitting straight-line curves through the data in the three nightly regions. Another embodiment uses a Fourier transform on a circle and a linear combination. Another embodiment compares areas under data curves in the regions. Animals may be housed in cages with other animals.

A method of early detection of multiple sclerosis (MS) in an animal in a vivarium is described. Animal activity data is collected at multiple times during the night. Sequential time regions of the night are identified as high-activity, activity-drop, or low-activity regions. Embodiments are described to quantify a drop, during the night, of an animal's activity level. These quantified activity-drop scalars for consecutive nights are accumulated in an animal health dataset. Then, a health detection function is applied to this dataset that, in response to the level of activity change and the speed of activity change, predicts or detects MS in the animal. One embodiment quantifies an activity-drop by fitting straight-line curves through the data in the three nightly regions. Another embodiment uses a Fourier transform on a circle and a linear combination. Another embodiment compares areas under data curves in the regions. Animals may be housed in cages with other animals.

The field of this invention is measuring efficacy of cancer treatments. In particular the fields of this invention include studies of drug efficacy, use of animals in medical studies, use of animals in vivariums, and use of rodents, particularly mice. Cells from a neoplasm are injected into subject test animals in a specific organ or a specific location of a specific organ, such as the brain. Some of the subject animals receive therapeutic treatments. The behavior of the animals is observed using fully automatic, continuous monitoring using per-cage sensors, where behavior recording is free of human, manual actions. Observed behavior is consistent with healthy or unhealthy behaviors specific to the injection site. Both positive and negative baseline behaviors are collected, typically using the same system or method. Efficacy is measured by comparing treatments under test to both the positive and negative baselines, using multi-dimensional analysis.

A method of measuring efficacy of treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS) in an animal in a vivarium is described. Animal activity data is collected at multiple times during the night. Sequential time regions of the night are identified as high-activity, activity-drop, or low-activity regions. Embodiments are described to quantify a drop, during the night, of an animal's activity level. These quantified activity-drop scalars for consecutive nights are accumulated in an animal health dataset. This dataset is compared to healthy animals or a standard of care to determine efficacy. One embodiment quantifies an activity-drop by fitting straight-line curves through the data in the three nightly regions. Another embodiment uses a Fourier transform on a circle and a linear combination. Another embodiment compares areas under data curves in the regions. Animals may be housed in cages with other animals.

A method of collecting data for treatment of disease in vivarium animals is described. Animal activity data is collected at multiple times during the night. Sequential time regions of the night are identified as high-activity, activity-drop, or low-activity regions. Embodiments are described to quantify an activity-drop, during the night, of an animal's activity level. These quantified activity-drop scalars for consecutive nights are accumulated in an animal health dataset. One embodiment quantifies an activity-drop by fitting straight-line curves through the data in the three nightly regions. Another embodiment uses a Fourier transform on a circle and a linear combination. Another embodiment compares areas under data curves in the regions. Animals may be housed in cages with other animals. Additional functions may be applied to the activity changes in the dataset to detect disease, measure severity, measure efficacy, or predict outcomes.

The field of this invention is classifying animal behaviors. In particular the fields of this invention include using animals in vivariums, such as rodents, particularly mice. Ultrasonic vocalizations of mice in a vivarium are compared to a predetermined set of positive phenotypes and to a predetermined set of negative phenotypes. The output of those comparisons are then compared to determine a metric of distance to classify vocalizations as closer to or more distant from elements of the positive or negative sets.

The field of this invention is classifying animal behaviors. In particular the fields of this invention include using animals in vivariums, such as rodents, particularly mice. In a vivarium cage, animals create ultrasonic vocalizations. In addition, their phenotype changes over time. The vocalizations, a current phenotype, and the cage environments are inputs to a multi-dimensional classifier using clustering algorithms to find multi-dimensional close relationships. Such close relationships may be identified as particular behavior.

An animal identification code is described comprising two numbers, one of which is encoded into a human-readable marking and the other of which is encoded into a machine-readable marking, where the two numbers and the two encodings are different. The combination of the two numbers, plus additional information not marked on a first animal, such as time of read, is looked up a first table to determine conditional validity and from there to a second table to determine a valid and unique animal ID associated with the animal, a primary key. The animal may be a rodent in a vivarium and the markings may be tattooed on the animal tail. The second marking may be a vine code with a spine where the spine is aligned with the animal tail. The first number may be unique within a first animal population such as an animal study. The combination of the first and second marking may be reused on a second animal wherein the lifetimes of the first and second animal do not overlap. The primary key is unique among all animals in a third population, dead or alive.

A peristaltic pump is provided for conveying a fluid pumping medium through a compressible hose. The pump is designed particularly for use in an aquarium, terrarium, or vivarium for metering fluids accurately and reliably by eliminating permanent tubing deformation and random stopping positions of rollers.

The System for Continuous Observation of Rodents in Home-cage Environment (SCORHE) was developed to quantify activity levels and behavior patterns for mice housed within a home cage that, optional, may be disposed in a commercial ventilated cage rack. The SCORHE home-cage in-rack design provides daytime and night-time monitoring with the stability and consistency of the home-cage environment. The dual-video camera custom hardware design makes efficient use of space, does not require home-cage modification, and is animal facility user-friendly. In various embodiments, a software application integrates the two video streams to extract several mouse activity measures.

The invention discloses an in-situ circulating treatment system for landscape lake water, and belongs to the technical field of landscape water purification. The system is composed of a surface runoff collecting tank, an ecological percolation tank, an enhanced purification unit, a circulating power system and a landscape lake water main body water area, wherein the enhanced purification unit consists of a bottom aeration device and a biological purification unit; the circulating power system consists of a circulating power pump and a circulating pipeline; an ecological box and a multi-stage aeration device are arranged in the landscape lake water main body water area; the surface runoff collecting tank is positioned at the lowest position of a landscape lakeshore terrain and is communicated with the ecological percolation tank; the ecological infiltration tank is arranged along the inner side of a landscape lakeshore; the enhanced purification unit is arranged near the communicating part of the surface runoff collecting tank and the ecological percolation tank; and the circulating power system is located in the center of the landscape lake body water area. The ecological percolation tank, a biological floating bed and the ecological box are all made of sponge concrete and have good water permeability, air permeability and water binding capacity. The system is suitable for various urban landscape lakes, realizes in-situ treatment of landscape lake water, improves the quality of the landscape lake water and increases the life happiness index of residents according to the water quality characteristics of the landscape lake water and the green and ecological design concepts, and has the advantages of low operation cost, easiness in control, environment friendliness and the like.

A projection apparatus for projection inside a vivarium environment (101) comprises a display member (107) and a projection surface (108) adapted to be positioned inside the dry or liquid environment within the vivarium (101) and a projector (104) positioned outside the vivarium environment (102) where at least part of one wall of the vivarium enclosure is transparent. The projector (104) is adapted to be positioned on its narrow edge and project an image on the projection surface utilizing a highly reflective surface (105) to redirect the projection and an additional lens, or lenses, (106) to further refine the image.

The invention discloses an efficient adjustable water body ecological restoration device, relates to the technical field of water body ecological restoration devices, and solves the problem of poor water body purification treatment effects of sewage discharge and other modes. The efficient adjustable water body ecological restoration device comprises an aeration machine for generating micro-nano bubbles and an ecological box. The aeration machine is connected with an aeration pipe. Bacillus natto bricks are arranged in the ecological box. The aeration pipe is inserted into the bacillus natto bricks. A partition plate with water permeable holes is arranged at the bottom of the ecological box; a water outlet pipe is connected to the side wall, below the partition plate, of the ecological box; water-permeable filler is arranged above the partition plate in the ecological box; and the upper end of the ecological box is communicated with a water inlet pipe communicated with an external water source. According to the invention, the water purification treatment effect can be improved.

An animal identification code is described comprising two numbers, one of which is encoded into a human-readable marking and the other of which is encoded into a machine-readable marking, where the two numbers and the two encodings are different. The combination of the two numbers, plus additional information not marked on a first animal, such as time of read, is looked up a first table to determine conditional validity and from there to a second table to determine a valid and unique animal ID associated with the animal, a primary key. The animal may be a rodent in a vivarium and the markings may be tattooed on the animal tail. The second marking may be a vine code with a spine where the spine is aligned with the animal tail. The first number may be unique within a first animal population such as an animal study. The combination of the first and second marking may be reused on a second animal wherein the lifetimes of the first and second animal do not overlap. The primary key is unique among all animals in a third population, dead or alive.

The invention relates to an intelligent ecological box. The box includes a plant cultivation box, an upper air inlet chamber and a lower air outlet chamber. The top of the box is provided with an upper air chamber baffle, a fluorescent light supplement device, the upper air chamber baffle and the plant cultivation box. The upper box space forms the upper air inlet chamber; the box space at the bottom of the plant culture box is the lower air outlet chamber; ventilation channels are provided on both sides of the outside of the box to form an air circulation system with the upper air inlet chamber and the lower air outlet chamber; the box A shading device is set on the upper side of the body; a sensor integrated control module is set inside the box, including a light collection control module, an air temperature and humidity collection control module, and a CO 2 Collection control module and soil moisture collection control module; the box is also equipped with a circuit control device, a water pump and a water storage device. The box has good insulation effect, can realize automatic control of the environment inside the box, greatly reduces labor, and keeps the environment inside the box in the most suitable state for plant growth, which can increase plant yield and reduce plant diseases, insect pests and pollution.

Methods of measuring attributes of animal urine, using a test pad comprising multiple test patches and urine detection patches in a BAYER pattern is described. The pad comprises different test patches, each surrounded by urine detection patches. When a camera, electronics and software automatically detect fresh urine from a color change of a detection patch, nearby test patches are read with a color camera, after a specific time delay, and compared to color reference spots. Multiple layers and isolation zones in the test pad allow urine to enter the test and detection patches, while keeping urine puddles from spreading. Once used, detection and test patches are not used again. An array of many detection and test patches allows the test pad to be used for multiple urine samples in one vivarium cage before replacing. Embodiments use a mix of IR and white light, and IR cameras and color cameras.