We report a nematode electrotactic-response valve (NERV) to control the locomotion of Caenorhabditis elegans (C. elegans) in microfluidic devices. This nonmechanical, unidirectional valve is based on creating a confined region of lateral electric field that is switchable and reversible. We observed that C. elegans do not prefer to pass through this region if the field lines are incident to its forward movement. Upon reaching the boundary of the NERV, the incident worms partially penetrate the fi...

Animal Behavior  Zoology  Mathematical Biology  Veterinary Medicine  Cell Biology  Parasitology  Developmental Biology  Evolutionary Studies  Bioengineering  Bioinformatics  Environmental Sciences  Biophysics 

Doi:10.1063/1.3570629

Infections from parasitic nematodes (or roundworms) contribute to a significant disease burden and productivity losses for humans and livestock. The limited number of anthelmintics (or antinematode drugs) available today to treat these infections are rapidly losing their efficacy as multidrug resistance in parasites becomes a global health challenge. We propose an engineering approach to discover an anthelmintic drug combination that is more potent at killing wild-type Caenorhabditis elegans wor...

Neuroscience  Marine Biology  Toxicology  Taxonomy  Microbiology  Ecosystem Science  Biodiversity  Developmental Biology  Bioengineering  Environmental Sciences  Animal Behavior  Agricultural Science  Biotechnology  Computational Biology  Food Science & Technology  Parasitology  Plant Science  Synthetic Biology 

Doi:10.1126/sciadv.aao1254

In this paper, we present a movement-based assay to observe adaptability in Caenorhabditis elegans locomotion behavior. The assay comprises a series of sinusoidal microchannels with a fixed wavelength and modulating (increasing or decreasing) amplitude. The channel width is comparable to the body diameter of the organism. Worms are allowed to enter the channel from the input port and migrate toward the output port. Within channel sections that closely match the worm's natural undulations, the wo...

Animal Behavior  Agricultural Science  Veterinary Medicine  Parasitology  Plant Science  Soil Science  Biodiversity  Bioengineering 

Doi:10.1063/1.3604391

In this paper, we explore the use of microfluidic paper-based analytical devices (？PADs) to study the behavior of Caenorhabditis elegans. We show how these devices can be fabricated on paper and plastic substrates, as well as how to load, visualize, and transfer single and multiple nematodes. We also demonstrate the use of anthelmintic drug, levamisole, to perform chemical testing on C. elegans. Furthermore, we provide a custom program that is able to recognize individual worms on the ？PADs in r...

Animal Behavior  Computational Biology  Microbiology  Cell Biology  Parasitology  Plant Science  Soil Science  Developmental Biology  Bioengineering  Environmental Sciences  Biophysics 

Doi:10.1063/1.5005829

With preliminary classification, there are five behavioral functions for rapid eye movement(REM) sleep after puberty, which are memory retention, drive dissipation, muscular efficiency, heat control and adaptive immobility. For these diversities, it is newly suggested in this mini-review to categorize the REM sleep into two types respectively as atonic and brain REM sleep. In concrete words, the atonic REM sleep was acquired early in platypus, ostrich, and reptiles, responsible for the adaptive ...

Neuroscience  Animal Behavior  Psychiatry & Psychology 

Doi:10.5350/Sleep.Hypn.2016.18.0113

Many observations have demonstrated that the hypothalamic neuroendocrine change determines the chronological sequence of aging in mammals. However, it remains uncertain on the mechanism to account for the hypothalamic aging manifestations. In this article, it is pointed out that, as constantly exposed to sunshine and oxygen, the skin would undergo both telomere-shortening and oxidative senescent processes. The senescent alterations of skin, such as attenuation in electrodermal activities, would ...

Neuroscience  Animal Behavior  Zoology  Developmental Biology 

Doi:10.1016/j.slsci.2016.09.004

The study was conducted in Dangila district, Awi Zone of the Amhara regional state to determine the microbial quality and chemical composition of raw milk in the urban and peri urban of Dangila town.. For chemical composition and microbial quality laboratory analysis milk from 30 farms, 15 from urban and 15 from peri urban were collected and analysed. General Linear Model (GLM) of Statistical Analysis System (SAS) was employed to analyse the chemical composition and microbial quality data. The l...

Animal Behavior