Behavior, Stress & Genetics
BIOMARKERS
Behavioral Coding
Code Behaviors (States & Events)
Integrate Video and Physiology
Calculate Statistics and Assess Reliability
Transcription
Ideal for Focus and Discussion Groups
Search for Key Phrases or Words
Import Transcriptions to NVivo or Atlas
EQUIPMENT
Observer XT allows for the integration of audio and visual files with various physiological readings. The user can define various behaviors to identify during the analysis of the data and subsequently record the time of these behavioral occurrences with their corresponding physiological readings. Linking the behaviors recorded in audio and video files allows for predictions in behavior to be made from physiological data, and vice versa. Observer XT is useful for studies such as parent-child interactions, infant studies, and medical research.
The Olympus AS-2400 PC Transcription kit provides easy transcription of new or previously recorded audio files. Once transcribed, the software allows users to search for key words or phrases which can be useful for finding specific evidence from a study. In addition to locating key phrases, the Olympus Transcription software can quantify the information in the transcription by building data displays.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
BEHAVIORAL CODING
Quantitative analysis of audio and video files collected in research settings. Physiology and behaviors can be viewed simultaneously and in sync for detailed analysis of research subjects and behavior related events.
TRANSCRIPTION
Qualitative analysis of audio and video files collected in research settings. Transcription solutions accelerate clinical documentation, delivery and accuracy.
BIOMARKERS
Neuroendocrine
Cortisol
Alpha-Amylase
DHEA – (Dehydroepiandrosterone)
Adrenaline
Noradrenaline
Dopamine
Aldosterone
Serotonin
Neuropeptide-Y
Galvanic Skin Response (GSR)
also referred to as Electrodermal Activity (EDA)
Metabolic
Cholesterol
Albumin
Waist-Hip Ratio
HGB A1C – (Glycosylated hemoglobin)
CRP – (C-reactive protien)
IL-1β – (Interleukin-1β)
IL-6 – (Interleukin-6)
TNF-α – (Tumor necrosis factor alpha)
IGF-1 – ( Insulin like growth factor 1)
EQUIPMENT
Passive Drool
SalivaBio’s Passive Drool saliva collection method includes everything you need to reduce mess, increase compliance, accelerate your sample collection, and preserve your sample integrity. Complete with cryovial, saliva collection aid, and sample collection instructions, this saliva collection system is ready to use in the field or on-site. Passive drool is a saliva collection method for collecting whole saliva (also called “mixed” saliva). Passive drool is considered by many researchers to be the gold standard when collecting saliva samples for biological testing.
Oral Swab
Experience convenient collection from adults and children over 6 years of age with SalivaBio’s Oral Swab (SOS) Method. This easy to use and interference-free oral swab method has been meticulously designed to outperform any other saliva collection swab available, which is why it remains the industry standard for saliva collection by swab method. Each swab device comes individually wrapped to minimize the possibility of environmental contaminants, causes no change in sample pH, and has verified recoveries. The volume of sample recovered is typically in the range of 200-1000 µL.
Children’s Swab
Experience convenient collection children from 6 months to 6 years of age (or from animals) with SalivaBio’s Children’s Swab (SCS) Method.The Children’s Swab method performs safely and effectively and features a 125mm swab which is long enough to hold one end firmly while placing the other end in subject’s mouth (thus eliminating any choking hazard). The Children’s Swab’s thin diameter (8mm) suits smaller mouths, and the durable polymer withstands chewing. Each swab comes individually wrapped to minimize the possibility of environmental contaminants, causes no change in sample pH, and has verified recoveries. The volume recovered is typically in the range of 200-1000 µL.
Infant Swab
Experience convenient collection from children less than 6 months of age with SalivaBio’s Infant’s Swab (SIS) Method.The SIS Method affords you consistent, safe, effective and interference-free swab saliva collection. The SIS method features a 90mm swab which is long enough to hold one end firmly while placing the other end in subject’s mouth (thus eliminating any choking hazard). The SIS’s thin diameter (6.3mm) suits smaller mouths, and the durable polymer withstands chewing. Each swab comes individually wrapped to minimize the possibility of environmental contaminants, causes no change in sample pH, and has verified recoveries. The volume of sample recovered is typically in the range of 200-1000 µL.
EDTA Blood Collection Tubes
Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) tubes are used in the collection of blood for medical testing purposes. EDTA tubes have either a purple or a lavender top. The interior of the tube is coated with EDTA or contains an 8 percent EDTA liquid solution. EDTA works to stop the coagulation of blood by attracting calcium ions in the blood. These calcium ions are a vital part of the clotting process. EDTA tubes are used for routine blood testing such as hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, red blood cell count and platelet count.
SST Blood Collection Tubes
There are two kinds of SST tubes. One tube has a Gold stopper and the other has a Red-Gray Marble stopper. These tubes have a clot activator on the glass and a polymer gel as the separator. These tubes are used to separate the blood cells from the serum. The tube must be inverted five times following blood collection. This mixes the blood with the clot activator that lines the inside of the tube. The clot activator ensures that clotting occurs within 30 minutes after collection.
The Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) is a laboratory procedure used to reliably induce stress in human research participants. It is a combination of procedures that were previously known to induce stress, but previous procedures did not do so reliably. It was created in 1993 at the University of Trier by Clemens Kirschbaum and colleagues. Clemens Kirschbaum and his colleagues at the University of Trier sought to overcome these limitations by combining different stress-generating tasks in a highly standardized format, which included elements of public speaking, mental arithmetic, and anticipation. They also needed to design a task that would be mild enough to be approved by most human subjects protection committees. Their task, which they named the Trier Social Stress Test, consistently produced very large physiological effects in the majority of their participants, thus overcoming the limitations of earlier research. They first reported on the test in 1993, in the journal Neuropsychobiology.
Biopac and MIndware hardware and analysis suites
Skin conductance, also known as galvanic skin response (GSR), electrodermal response (EDR), psychogalvanic reflex (PGR), skin conductance response (SCR), or skin conductance level (SCL), is a method of measuring the electrical conductance of the skin, which varies depending on the state of sweat glands in the skin.
Sweating is controlled by the sympathetic nervous system, so skin conductance is used as an indication of psychological or physiological arousal. If the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system is highly aroused, then sweat gland activity also increases, which in turn increases skin conductance. In this way, skin conductance can be used as a measure of emotional and sympathetic responses. There has been a long history of electrodermal activity research, most of it dealing with spontaneous fluctuations or reactions to stimuli. Autonomic sympathetic changes alter sweat and blood flow, which in turn affects GSR and GSP. SCR is used widely in psychological research due to its low cost and high utility. Oftentimes, the galvanic skin responses are combined with the recording of heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure because they are all autonomic dependent variables. Closely associated with the visceral and neural activity occurring during emotion are certain significant changes in the electrical properties of the body. When perspiration breaks out on the surface of the body during emotion, two important changes occur in the electrical properties of the skin: (1) the tissues actually generate an electromotive force (voltage) and (2) the electrical resistance of the skin is changed. These changes, which may be measured with great sensitivity by special electrical apparatus, constitute the galvanic skin response (GSR). Fear, anger, startle response, orienting response and sexual feelings are all among the emotions which may produce similar GSR responses.
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Physiological stress is an organism’s response to a stressor such as an environmental condition or a stimulus. Stress is a body’s method of reacting to a challenge. According to the stressful event, the body’s way to respond to stress is by sympathetic nervous system activation which results in the fight or flight response. The body cannot keep this state for long periods of time. The parasympathetic system returns the body’s physiological conditions to normal. In humans, stress typically describes a negative condition or a positive condition that can have an impact on a person’s mental and physical well-being.
There is a relationship between sympathetic activity and emotional arousal, although one cannot identify which specific emotion is being elicited. Since the sweat glands respond to a part of the nervous system that is not under conscious control, the galvanic skin response in combination with blood pressure and respiration is a highly sensitive objective indicator that an emotional response is taking place.
Physiological stress can be measured in many ways to monitor the body’s current load. PTSD, diabetes, blood pressure and cardiac output are a few of the disease states that can be corrected with the appropriate intervention.
BIOMARKERS
Power Statistics
VLF – (Very low frequency)
LF – (Low frequency)
HF/RSA – (High frequency/Respiratory sinus arrhythmia ratio)
HR – (Heart rate)
Respiration Rate
IBI – (Interbeat interval series)
PEP – (Pre-Ejection Period)
LVET – (Left Ventricular Ejection Time)
PEP/LVET – (Systolic Time Ratio)
PEP + LVET – (Electromechanical Systole)
Stoke Volume
Cardiac Output
Heart Rate
CAB – (Cardiac Autonomic Balance)
CAR – (Cardiac Autonomic Regulation)
EQUIPMENT
This product was designed to be the workhorse of most laboratories. It contains 8 user configurable slots providing up to 32 channels of custom signal conditioning. These slots can be configured using any combination of the six available BioNex modules. It also supports high speed data acquisition, simultaneous digital input / output, stimulus generation, and flexible triggering options. Available amplifiers include: Impedance cardiography and GSC, 3 Channel biopotential for ECG and GSC, 4 Channel high level interface for external analog inputs and a 4 Channel transducer for respiration.
The Dual Wireless Respiration and ECG BioNomadix module pair consists of a matched transmitter and receiver pair optimized for respiration and electrocardiogram data; record one or both signals. The module pair is designed to emulate a “wired” connection from subject computer, with all the benefits of a fully-wireless recording system. Physiological signal data is transmitted at a rate of 2,000 Hz, providing high resolution waveforms at the receiver module’s output. The high signal to noise ratio and high time-based sampling resolution permit the pair to be used for precise respiratory studies and exacting heart rate variability studies. The combined pair is specifically designed to measure respiration activity associated with circumferential changes in the thoracic or abdominal regions of the torso. Raw ECG data from the pair is bandlimited from 0.05 Hz to 150 Hz, to provide a very high quality recording.
AcqKnowledge is an intuitive, interactive program that lets you instantly view, measure, transform, and analyze data. Perform complex data acquisition, stimulation, triggering, and automated analysis routines using simple pull-down menus and dialogs—no need to learn a programming language or new protocol. Online analysis settings, filters, and transformations provide real-time feedback, or you can choose from a wide variety of off-line analysis tools. Multiple display options are available during and after acquisition—just click on an icon to flip between Chart, Scope, X/Y, Overlapped segments, Histogram, or FFT. The software also includes quality presentation capabilities.
The Shimmer3 GSR+ (Galvanic Skin Response) unit provides connections and preamplification for one channel of Galvanic Skin Response data acquisition (Electrodermal Resistance Measurement – EDR/Electrodermal Activity (EDA). The GSR+ unit is suitable for measuring the electrical characteristics or conductance of your skin, as well as capturing a PPG signal and converting to estimate heart rate (HR), using the Shimmer ear clip or optical pulse probe.
The Galvanic Skin Response Sensor is used for realtime GSR Biofeedback. The Shimmer GSR+ sensor monitors skin conductivity between two reusable electrodes attached to two fingers of one hand caused by a stimulus the sweat glands become more active, increasing moisture on the skin and allowing the current to flow more readily by changing the balance of positive and negative ions in the secreted fluid (increasing skin conductance).
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Data acquisition begins with the physical phenomenon or physical property to be measured. Examples of this include temperature, respiration, light intensity, gas pressure, fluid flow, and force. Regardless of the type of physical property to be measured, the physical state that is to be measured must first be transformed into a unified form that can be sampled by a data acquisition system. The task of performing such transformations falls on devices called sensors. A data acquisition system is a collection of software and hardware that lets you measure or control physical characteristics of something in the real world. A complete data acquisition system consists of DAQ hardware, sensors and actuators, signal conditioning hardware, and a computer running DAQ software.
A sensor, which is a type of transducer, is a device that converts a physical property into a corresponding electrical signal (e.g., strain gauge, thermistor). An acquisition system to measure different properties depends on the sensors that are suited to detect those properties. Signal conditioning may be necessary if the signal from the transducer is not suitable for the DAQ hardware being used. The signal may need to be filtered or amplified in most cases.
Specific physiological signals can be significantly correlated to heart disease, myocardial infarction, kidney disease and diabetes to mention a few.
BIOMARKERS
DNA Methylation
MicroRNAs
Post-Translational Histone Modifications
Histone Variant
Telomere length
Gene expression: Taqman and SYBR green assays, PCR arrays, array cards
SNPs, Allele discrimination assays
We perform DNA and RNA purification and quantification upon request. We also assist investigators with protocol design and data analysis.
EQUIPMENT
QuantStudio™ 12K Flex Real-Time PCR System with Array Card block
CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE
Once nurture seemed clearly distinct from nature. Now it appears that our diets and lifestyles can change the expression of our genes. How? By influencing a network of chemical switches within our cells collectively known as the epigenome.
Epigenetics describes changes that are stable, but potentially reversible alterations in gene expression, that occur without permanent changes in DNA sequence and can still be passed on from generation to generation. Epigenetically controlled genes are activated or repressed without any change in DNA. This new understanding may lead us to potent new medical therapies. Epigenetic cancer therapy, for one, already seems to be yielding promising results.