To compare the quality of home video recording with inpatient telemetry (IPT) to evaluate our current Home Video Telemetry (HVT) practice.

Understanding the long-distance movement of bats has direct relevance to studies of population dynamics, ecology, disease emergence, and conservation.

Horizontal behavior of highly migratory marine species is difficult to decipher because animals are wide-ranging, spend minimal time at the ocean surface, and utilize remote habitats. Satellite telemetry enables researchers to track individual movements, but population level inferences are rare due to data limitations that result from difficulty of capture and sporadic tag reporting. We introduce a Bayesian modeling framework to address population level questions with satellite telemetry data when data are sparse. We also outline an approach for identifying informative variables for use within the model. We tested our modeling approach using a large telemetry dataset for Shortfin Makos (Isurus oxyrinchus), which allowed us to assess the effects of various degrees of data paucity. First, a permuted Random Forest analysis is implemented to determine which variables are most informative. Next, a generalized additive mixed model is used to help define the relationship of each remaining variable with the response variable. Using jags and rjags for the analysis of Bayesian hierarchical models using Markov Chain Monte Carlo simulation, we then developed a movement model to generate parameter estimates for each of the variables of interest. By randomly reducing the tagging dataset by 25, 50, 75, and 90 percent and recalculating the parameter estimates, we demonstrate that the proposed Bayesian approach can be applied in data-limited situations. We also demonstrate how two commonly used linear mixed models with maximum likelihood estimation (MLE) can be similarly applied. Additionally, we simulate data from known parameter values to test each model's ability to recapture those values. Despite performing similarly, we advocate using the Bayesian over the MLE approach due to the ability for later studies to easily utilize results of past study to inform working models, and the ability to use prior knowledge via informed priors in systems where such information is available.

Photodynamic therapy (PDT) offers several advantages for treating cancers, but its efficacy is highly dependent on light delivery to activate a photosensitizer. Advances in wireless technologies enable remote delivery of light to tumors, but suffer from key limitations, including low levels of tissue penetration and photosensitizer activation. Here, we introduce DeepLabCut (DLC)-informed low-power wireless telemetry with an integrated thermal/light simulation platform that overcomes the above constraints. The simulator produces an optimized combination of wavelengths and light sources, and DLC-assisted wireless telemetry uses the parameters from the simulator to enable adequate illumination of tumors through high-throughput (<20 mice) and multi-wavelength operation. Together, they establish a range of guidelines for effective PDT regimen design. In vivo Hypericin and Foscan mediated PDT, using cancer xenograft models, demonstrates substantial suppression of tumor growth, warranting further investigation in research and/or clinical settings.

To evaluate the feasibility of telementoring for aquablation by comparing the outcomes of onsite versus telemetry proctoring.

To evaluate in glaucoma patients the feasibility and use of remote monitoring of intraocular pressure (IOP) with an implanted telemetry sensor during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown.

Telemetry-based movement research has become central for learning about the behavior, ecology and conservation of wide-ranging species. Particularly, early telemetry studies were conducted on vultures and condors due to three main reasons: i) these birds capture the curiosity of humans, ii) their large body size allows researchers to deploy large telemetry units, and iii) they are of high conservation concern. This has resulted in a great number of scientific articles that remain scattered throughout the literature. To achieve a more cohesive view of vultures and condors movement behavior, we review all telemetry studies published up to 2017. We first present a descriptive summary of the technical and design characteristics of these studies (e.g. target species, tagging location, number of individuals tagged) and go on to discuss them under a common conceptual framework; the Movement Ecology Paradigm. The articles found (N = 97) were mainly published in the last decade and based on the tagging of individuals from 14 species (61% of the extant species) and 24 countries. Foraging was the most in-depth investigated movement phase (25 studies), with studies covering several species, using both phenomenological and mechanistic approaches and tackling the role of different drivers of movement. In contrast, commuting and natal dispersal phases were only superficially investigated (3 and 8 studies, respectively). Finally, studies dealing with the conservation and management also comprised a large portion of the reviewed articles (24 studies). Telemetry studies have revealed relevant details of vultures and condors movements, with highly accurate measurements of flight energetics and a better understanding of the morphological, physiological and context-dependent drivers that underlie the movement decisions of these birds. However, we also detected several information gaps. We expect this review helps researchers to focus their efforts and funds where more information is needed.

Acoustic telemetry has helped overcome many of the challenges faced when studying the movement ecology of aquatic species, allowing to obtain unprecedented amounts of data. This has made it into one of the most widely used methods nowadays. Many ways to analyse acoustic telemetry data have been made available and deciding on how to analyse the data requires considering the type of research objectives, relevant properties of the data (e.g., resolution, study design, equipment), habits of the study species, researcher experience, among others. To ease this decision process, here we showcase (1) some of the methods used to estimate pseudo-positions and positions from raw acoustic telemetry data, (2) methods to estimate residency and (3) methods to estimate two-dimensional home and occurrence range using geometric or hull-based methods and density-distribution methods, a network-based approach, and three-dimensional methods. We provide examples of some of these were tested using a sample of real data. With this we intend to provide the necessary background for the selection of the method(s) that better fit specific research objectives when using acoustic telemetry.

Recent retrospective clinical studies and animal experiments have suggested that cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) is important in glaucoma pathogenesis. Intraocular pressure (IOP) and CSFP are the driving components of the translaminar pressure (TLP), which directly effects the optic nerve head. This study measured the diurnal cycle of TLP using continuous wireless telemetry in nonhuman primates (NHPs), a common animal model of glaucoma.

Background Our Cardiac High Acuity Monitoring Program (CHAMP) uses home video telemetry (HVT) as an adjunct to monitor infants with single ventricle during the interstage period. This study describes the development of an objective early warning score using HVT, for identification of infants with single ventricle at risk for clinical deterioration and unplanned hospital admissions (UHA). Methods and Results Six candidate scoring parameters were selected to develop a pragmatic score for routine evaluation of HVT during the interstage period. We evaluated the individual and combined ability of these parameters to predict UHA. All infants with single ventricle monitored at home by CHAMP between March 2014 and March 2018 were included. Videos obtained within 48 hours before UHA were compared with videos obtained at baseline. We used binary logistic regression models and receiver operating characteristic curves to evaluate the parameters' performance in discriminating the outcome of interest. Thirty-nine subjects with 64 UHA were included. We compared 64 pre-admission videos to 64 paired baseline videos. Scoring was feasible for a mean of 91.6% (83.6%-98%) of all observations. Three different HVT score models were proposed, and a final model composed of respiratory rate, respiratory effort, color, and behavior exhibited an excellent discriminatory capability with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 93% (89%-98%). HVT score of 5 was associated with specificity of 93.8% and sensitivity of 88.7% in predicting UHA. Conclusions We developed a feasible and reproducible HVT score that can serve as a tool to predict UHA in infants with single ventricle. Future directions involve prospective, multicenter validation of this tool.

Refined vaccines and adjuvants are urgently needed to advance immunization against global infectious challenges such as HIV, hepatitis C, tuberculosis and malaria. Large-scale screening efforts are ongoing to identify adjuvants with improved efficacy profiles. Reactogenicity often represents a major hurdle to the clinical use of new substances. Yet, irrespective of its importance, this parameter has remained difficult to screen for, owing to a lack of sensitive small animal models with a capacity for high throughput testing. Here we report that continuous telemetric measurements of heart rate, heart rate variability, body core temperature and locomotor activity in laboratory mice readily unmasked systemic side-effects of vaccination, which went undetected by conventional observational assessment and clinical scoring. Even minor aberrations in homeostasis were readily detected, ranging from sympathetic activation over transient pyrogenic effects to reduced physical activity and apathy. Results in real-time combined with the potential of scalability and partial automation in the industrial context suggest multiparameter telemetry in laboratory mice as a first-line screen for vaccine reactogenicity. This may accelerate vaccine discovery in general and may further the success of vaccines in combating infectious disease and cancer.

Recent retrospective clinical and animal studies suggest that cerebrospinal fluid pressure (CSFP) is important in glaucoma pathogenesis. Intraocular pressure (IOP) and CSFP are the driving components of translaminar pressure (TLP = IOP - CSFP), which acts across the lamina cribrosa (LC) thickness to create the translaminar pressure gradient (TLPG = TLP/LC thickness).

Lycorma delicatula (White) (Hemiptera: Fulgoridae), spotted lanternfly (SLF), is an invasive pest that feeds and oviposits on numerous woody and herbaceous plants important to agricultural, forest, ornamental, and nursery industries. Describing and understanding SLF movements is key to implementing surveillance and control strategies for this pest and projecting population spread. We used radio telemetry (RT) and harmonic radar (HR) to track the movements of individual SLF at field sites in eastern Pennsylvania and northwestern New Jersey. SLF equipped with HR or RT tags were tracked in 2019 and 2020 from adult emergence until oviposition time, and their movements are described. Although the bulkier RT tags disproportionately affected the distance traveled by males, which are smaller than females, both males and females were more likely to be lost due to signal attenuation when affixed with the lighter-weight HR tags. Females were tracked moving longer distances than males, with maximum distances of 434 m by a single female and 57 m by a single male. A significant positive relationship was found between their height in trees and the distance of subsequent movement. Adult SLF were found in trees predominantly at heights between 6-9 m high. For the fraction of SLF found at eye level, males, but not females, significantly moved above eye level in the weeks prior to mating, likely resulting in the observed sex ratio shift that defines the Early-2 stage. During mating time, tracked SLF were significantly higher than 8 m and oriented to trees where tight aggregations of SLF were present. This orientation towards tight aggregations started when mating began and peaked in the following 2.5 weeks for males in Late-1 and the beginning of Late-2 (after oviposition began), whereas females started this orientation behavior a half-week after males, and this activity peaked for two weeks. Male and female SLF adults exhibited slight differences in host preference, and strong preferences for wild grape, black walnut, sweet birch, and tree-of-heaven were observed. The HR-tagged nymphs moved up to 27.6 m over a five-day period in a cornfield. Nitinol wire HR tags performed better than Wollaston process or tungsten wire tags. SLF movement parameters in the field are described.

A successful integration of the automated blood sampling (ABS) and telemetry (ABST) system is described. The new ABST system facilitates concomitant collection of physiological variables with blood and urine samples for determination of drug concentrations and other biochemical measures in the same rat without handling artifact.

In Great Britain, roughly half of people with at least one long-standing illness (LSI) live in low-income households. Lower-income households are at risk of fuel poverty and living in a colder house, which can worsen certain health conditions, causing related morbidity and mortality. This pilot study aimed to assess whether raising occupants' awareness of indoor temperatures in the home could initiate improved health and well-being among such vulnerable residents.

A new telemetric system for the electrochemical monitoring of dissolved oxygen is showed. The device, connected with two amperometric sensors, has been successfully applied to the wireless detection of the extracellular oxygen in the central complex of freely-walking Gromphadorhina portentosa. The unit was composed of a potentiostat, a two-channel sensor conditioning circuit, a microprocessor module, and a wireless serial transceiver. The amperometric signals were digitalized and sent to a notebook using a 2.4 GHz transceiver while a serial-to-USB converter was connected to a second transceiver for completing the communication bridge. The software, running on the laptop, allowed to save and graph the oxygen signals. The electronics showed excellent stability and the acquired data was linear in a range comprised between 0 and -165 nA, covering the entire range of oxygen concentrations. A series of experiments were performed to explore the dynamics of dissolved oxygen by exposing the animals to different gases (nitrogen, oxygen and carbon dioxide), to low temperature and anesthetic agents (chloroform and triethylamine). The resulting data are in agreement with previous O2 changes recorded in the brain of awake rats and mice. The proposed system, based on simple and inexpensive components, can constitute a new experimental model for the exploration of central complex neurochemistry and it can also work with oxidizing sensors and amperometric biosensors.

Studying diet is fundamental to animal ecology and scat analysis, a widespread approach, is considered a reliable dietary proxy. Nonetheless, this method has weaknesses such as non-random sampling of habitats and individuals, inaccurate evaluation of excretion date, and lack of assessment of inter-individual dietary variability. We coupled GPS telemetry and scat analyses of black bears Ursus americanus Pallas to relate diet to individual characteristics and habitat use patterns while foraging. We captured 20 black bears (6 males and 14 females) and fitted them with GPS/Argos collars. We then surveyed GPS locations shortly after individual bear visits and collected 139 feces in 71 different locations. Fecal content (relative dry matter biomass of ingested items) was subsequently linked to individual characteristics (sex, age, reproductive status) and to habitats visited during foraging bouts using Brownian bridges based on GPS locations prior to feces excretion. At the population level, diet composition was similar to what was previously described in studies on black bears. However, our individual-based method allowed us to highlight different intra-population patterns, showing that sex and female reproductive status had significant influence on individual diet. For example, in the same habitats, females with cubs did not use the same food sources as lone bears. Linking fecal content (i.e., food sources) to habitat previously visited by different individuals, we demonstrated a potential differential use of similar habitats dependent on individual characteristics. Females with cubs-of-the-year tended to use old forest clearcuts (6-20 years old) to feed on bunchberry, whereas females with yearling foraged for blueberry and lone bears for ants. Coupling GPS telemetry and scat analyses allows for efficient detection of inter-individual or inter-group variations in foraging strategies and of linkages between previous habitat use and food consumption, even for cryptic species. This approach could have interesting ecological implications, such as supporting the identification of habitats types abundant in important food sources for endangered species targeted by conservation measures or for management actions for depredating animals.

The organophosphorous compound soman is an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor that causes damage to the brain. Exposure to soman causes neuropathology as a result of prolonged and recurrent seizures. In the present study, long-term recordings of cortical EEG were used to develop an unbiased means to quantify measures of seizure activity in a large data set while excluding other signal types. Rats were implanted with telemetry transmitters and exposed to soman followed by treatment with therapeutics similar to those administered in the field after nerve agent exposure. EEG, activity and temperature were recorded continuously for a minimum of 2 days pre-exposure and 15 days post-exposure. A set of automatic MATLAB algorithms have been developed to remove artifacts and measure the characteristics of long-term EEG recordings. The algorithms use short-time Fourier transforms to compute the power spectrum of the signal for 2-s intervals. The spectrum is then divided into the delta, theta, alpha, and beta frequency bands. A linear fit to the power spectrum is used to distinguish normal EEG activity from artifacts and high amplitude spike wave activity. Changes in time spent in seizure over a prolonged period are a powerful indicator of the effects of novel therapeutics against seizures. A graphical user interface has been created that simultaneously plots the raw EEG in the time domain, the power spectrum, and the wavelet transform. Motor activity and temperature are associated with EEG changes. The accuracy of this algorithm is also verified against visual inspection of video recordings up to 3 days after exposure.

Radio telemetry systems are a useful way to continuously monitor broad electrical neuronal activity in behaving animals. It can also be used to study sleep disturbances or monitor seizure activity. Many different telemeter styles are available, but the more versatile and cost-efficient ones are the head mounted systems. They permit long-term recordings and allow more flexibility in the recordings. However, there are currently no such system available for non-human primate (NHP). In fact, the choices for NHP telemetry solutions are very limited. Here, we present a chronically implantable 3D printed chamber specifically designed to accommodate a rodent head-mounted system (RodentPACK) onto a NHP's head. We recorded EEG signal for more than a year, confirmed quality of the signal, and the ability to use the data to monitor sleep activity. We also used two of our epileptic animals to validate the embedded alarm system for real time seizure monitoring. While initially not designed for NHP, but with a minimum number of adaptions, this telemeter is in fact perfectly suitable for NHP experiments. Since early medical intervention during seizures is critical to avoid status epilepticus and to save the animal's life, real time seizures monitoring is becoming a safety requirement in many NHP studies. This method refines the current seizure monitoring methods for NHP and creates a flexible telemetry solution.

A wide array of technologies are available for gaining insight into the movement of wild aquatic animals. Although acoustic telemetry can lack the fine-scale spatial resolution of some satellite tracking technologies, the substantially longer battery life can yield important long-term data on individual behavior and movement for low per-unit cost. Typically, however, receiver arrays are designed to maximize spatial coverage at the cost of positional accuracy leading to potentially longer detection gaps as individuals move out of range between monitored locations. This is particularly true when these technologies are deployed to monitor species in hard-to-access locations.Here, we develop a novel approach to analyzing acoustic telemetry data, using the timing and duration of gaps between animal detections to infer different behaviors. Using the durations between detections at the same and different receiver locations (i.e., detection gaps), we classify behaviors into "restricted" or potential wider "out-of-range" movements synonymous with longer distance dispersal. We apply this method to investigate spatial and temporal segregation of inferred movement patterns in two sympatric species of reef shark within a large, remote, marine protected area (MPA). Response variables were generated using network analysis, and drivers of these movements were identified using generalized linear mixed models and multimodel inference.Species, diel period, and season were significant predictors of "out-of-range" movements. Silvertip sharks were overall more likely to undertake "out-of-range" movements, compared with gray reef sharks, indicating spatial segregation, and corroborating previous stable isotope work between these two species. High individual variability in "out-of-range" movements in both species was also identified.We present a novel gap analysis of telemetry data to help infer differential movement and space use patterns where acoustic coverage is imperfect and other tracking methods are impractical at scale. In remote locations, inference may be the best available tool and this approach shows that acoustic telemetry gap analysis can be used for comparative studies in fish ecology, or combined with other research techniques to better understand functional mechanisms driving behavior.