KineWheel-DeepLabCut Automated Paw Annotation Using Alternating Stroboscopic UV and White Light Illumination.

Uncovering the relationships between neural circuits, behavior, and neural dysfunction may require rodent pose tracking. While open-source toolkits such as DeepLabCut have revolutionized markerless pose estimation using deep neural networks, the training process still requires human intervention for annotating key points of interest in video data. To further reduce human labor for neural network training, we developed a method that automatically generates annotated image datasets of rodent paw placement in a laboratory setting.

Cognitive training of mice attenuates age-related decline in associative learning and behavioral flexibility.

Identifying factors that influence age-related cognitive decline is crucial, given its severe personal and societal impacts. However, studying aging in human or animal models is challenging due to the significant variability in aging processes among individuals. Additionally, longitudinal and cross-sectional studies often produce differing results.

LabNet hardware control software for the Raspberry Pi.

Single-board computers such as the Raspberry Pi make it easy to control hardware setups for laboratory experiments. GPIOs and expansion boards (HATs) give access to a whole range of sensor and control hardware. However, controlling such hardware can be challenging, when many experimental setups run in parallel and the time component is critical.

Spatial cognition in a virtual reality home-cage extension for freely moving rodents.

Virtual reality (VR) environments are a powerful tool to investigate brain mechanisms involved in the behavior of animals. With this technique, animals are usually head fixed or secured in a harness, and training for cognitively more complex VR paradigms is time consuming. A VR apparatus allowing free animal movement and the constant operator-independent training of tasks would enable many new applications.

A circle-monitor for computerised assessment of visual neglect in peripersonal space.

Unlabelled: Current assessment of visual neglect involves paper-and-pencil tests or computer-based tasks. Both have been criticised because of their lack of ecological validity as target stimuli can only be presented in a restricted visual range. This study examined the user-friendliness and diagnostic strength of a new "Circle-Monitor" (CM), which enlarges the range of the peripersonal space, in comparison to a standard paper-and-pencil test (Neglect-Test, NET).