A benchmark for computational analysis of animal behavior, using animal-borne tags.

Background: Animal-borne sensors ('bio-loggers') can record a suite of kinematic and environmental data, which are used to elucidate animal ecophysiology and improve conservation efforts. Machine learning techniques are used for interpreting the large amounts of data recorded by bio-loggers, but there exists no common framework for comparing the different machine learning techniques in this domain. This makes it difficult to, for example, identify patterns in what works well for machine learning-based analysis of bio-logger data.

Two decades of three-dimensional movement data from adult female northern elephant seals.

Northern elephant seals (Mirounga angustirostris) have been integral to the development and progress of biologging technology and movement data analysis, which continue to improve our understanding of this and other species. Adult female elephant seals at Año Nuevo Reserve and other colonies along the west coast of North America were tracked annually from 2004 to 2020, resulting in a total of 653 instrument deployments. This paper outlines the compilation and curation process of these high-resolution diving and location data, now accessible in two Dryad repositories.

Three-Dimensional Vascular Structure of Caudal and Dorsal Fins of a Dwarf Sperm Whale.

Previous studies have described two distinct vascular systems in cetacean fins. However, these studies have been limited to Delphinoidea species, with little information on their three-dimensional structures. In this study, the anatomical analysis of the caudal and dorsal fins of a dwarf sperm whale was conducted using X-ray computed tomography and gross dissection with staining, providing the first confirmation of the two vascular systems in the fins of the family Kogiidae.

The Itappachi Universal Motion Platform for Accurate Dose Measurement in Thoracoabdominal Radiotherapy.

We developed the "Itappachi" universal motion platform for measuring radiation doses under simulated respiratory motion in radiation therapy. The interplay effect, resulting from respiratory motion, degrades dose delivery precision in advanced treatments such as volumetric modulated arc therapy. The Itappachi platform is designed for precise dose measurement in dynamic scenarios through its ability to simulate respiratory motion.

Intervention in gut microbiota increases intestinal γ-aminobutyric acid and alleviates anxiety behavior: a possible mechanism via the action on intestinal epithelial cells.

The role of the gut microbiota in the gut-brain axis has attracted attention in recent years. Some gut microbiota produces γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA), a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in mammals, , but the correlation between gut microbiota composition and intestinal GABA concentration, as well as the action of intestinal GABA , are poorly understood. Herein, we found that the intestinal GABA concentration was increased in mice by the intervention of the gut microbiota with neomycin or TMC3115 (TMC3115).