November 2015 - This Month in JoVE: Drosophila Social Space, Structured Rehabilitation for Multifunctional Prosthetics, and Thermal Imaging in Wild Birds

Protocol

A Structured Rehabilitation Protocol for Improved Multifunctional Prosthetic Control: A Case Study

Aidan Dominic Roche^1,2, Ivan Vujaklija^3,4, Sebastian Amsüss^3,4, Agnes Sturma^1,5, Peter Göbel⁶, Dario Farina^3,4, Oskar C. Aszmann^1,2

¹Christian Doppler Laboratory for Restoration of Extremity Function, ²Department of Surgery, Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Medical University of Vienna, ³Department of Neurorehabilitation Engineering, Bernstein Focus Neurotechnology Göttingen, ⁴University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg-August University, ⁵University of Applied Sciences FH Campus Wien, ⁶Research & Development, Otto Bock Healthcare Products GmbH

As prosthetic development moves towards the goal of natural control, harnessing amputees’ inherent ability to learn new motor skills may enable proficiency. This manuscript describes a structured rehabilitation protocol, which includes imitation, repetition, and reinforcement learning strategies, for improved multifunctional prosthetic control.

Conditions Affecting Social Space in Drosophila melanogaster

Alison R. McNeil¹, Sam N. Jolley¹, Adesanya A. Akinleye², Marat Nurilov², Zulekha Rouzyi², Austin J. Milunovich³, Moria C. Chambers³, Anne F. Simon¹

¹Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, ²Department of Biology, York College/CUNY, ³Department of Entomology, Cornell University

The effect of genes and environment on social space of Drosophila melanogaster can be quantified through a powerful but straightforward analytical paradigm. We show here different factors that can affect this social space, and thus need to be taken into consideration when designing experiments in this paradigm.

Thermal Imaging to Study Stress Non-invasively in Unrestrained Birds

Paul Jerem, Katherine Herborn, Dominic McCafferty, Dorothy McKeegan, Ruedi Nager

Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health and Comparative Medicine, College of Medical, Veterinary & Life Sciences, University of Glasgow

There is a need for a non-invasive assessment of stress. This paper describes a simple protocol using thermal imaging to detect a significant response in eye-region temperature in wild blue tits to a mild acute stressor.