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We will be exhibiting our physiologgers, measuring heart rate, activity and temperature at SICB 2023! We are looking forward to meeting everybody! Come by our booth for a chat on how they may suit your study, or to take part in our Raffle!
One of the fundamental behaviours of mammalian species is sexual behaviour, which is crucial for the survival of the species. Sexual hormones are known to be implicated in behavioural changes during the reproductive cycle. What remains in the dark is the underlying cellular functions and connections linked to the reproductive cycle. The ventrolateral part of the hypothalamus is essential location for sexual behaviour and recent studies show complex diversity of the cells in this area. In a current study, published in Neuron, scientists show the effect of activating or deactivating the cholecystokinin A receptor in the cells of the hypothalamus has on sexual behaviour.
The Scandinavian brown bear (Ursus arctos) has adapted to harsh winter conditions in northern Scandinavia by going into hibernation. During hibernation, different biological rhythms in activity and temperature have been noticed which are naturally regulated by environmental factors such as daylight. Research of various rhythms in wild animals has contributed greatly to the field of ecology, but little focus has been on the physiology behind these rhythms. In a current study the changing rhythms in activity, body temperature and heart rate were in focus. Furthermore, the influence of which endogenous and exogenous factors had an impact on the rhythmicity of previous mentioned parameters were investigated.
Do you want to see more from SPS 22 conference? Download a poster written by our product expert, Ásgeir Bjarnason, in collaboration with Pfizer. It shows how you can use Star-Oddi's loggers for cardiovascular screening using minimally invasive and low-cost solutions.
Unriddling the mechanism behind torpor and hibernation is of interest and could be medically beneficial in treating many species including humans. Mice have been used as study animals of torpor and they only enter torpor when challenged with food deprivation or a combination of cold surroundings and food deprivation. The house musk shrew (Suncus murinus) has shown intermittent low body temperature without food restriction and short light period. The purpose of a recent study was to determine if the House musk shrew could be a novel animal for these kinds of studies.
Increased incidence of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) in shift-workers may potentially indicate an imbalance in temporal energy supply and demand. In the current study, various methods were used to evaluate the difference between normal ad libitum (AL) feeding vs time restricted feeding using the light phase as a model for shift work.
The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) is an important indicator for the health of freshwater and coastal ecosystems. Contrary to the Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus sp.) which dies after spawning, the Atlantic salmon spawns more than once in its lifetime. The success of this repeated spawning depends on the ability to migrate between fresh water and marine feeding grounds where the fish is exposed to variety of human made stressor.
Star-Oddi will be exhibiting at OCEANS Conference & Exposition 2022 in Hampton Road, Virginia, USA, on October 17-20, 2022.
Following the successful launch of our wide salinity range in the small size DST CTD and CT logger series last year, we now offer a wider range in our low conductivity range logger. It now covers a conductivity range from 0.1 to 6 mS/cm, allowing for fresh to slightly saline water applications.
In the times of climate change and other challenges in environmental temperature that impact the ecology and conservation of animals, amphibians and reptiles are extremely vulnerable to these changes. Being ectotherms, the ambient temperature affects their body temperature directly and impacts fundamental functions as metabolic rate, physiology, and behaviour. This shows in their performance and fitness.
There are two main antigens of influenza viruses, the hemagglutinin (HA) and the neuraminidase (NA) surface glycoprotein. In the past the NA has been disregarded or placed in the background of vaccine design. While lowering the severity of the disease, NA antibodies are infection tolerant, while HA antibodies directly neutralize the virus infection. For a number of years, when the HA component of vaccines did does not match the HA of circulation seasonal strains, the hypothesis was that an antigenically matched NA protein could make up for a lower vaccine efficacy.
Increased animal welfare is important for the aquaculture industry since the aim is to improve the health of the farmed fish and reduce stressful events that can lead to degraded product quality and, in worst case, mortality.
We are happy to announce an anti-biofouling device, copper grid, for our popular DST CTD and DST CT salinity loggers. It helps decrease biofouling on the conductivity sensor to a large degree.
We are soon heading to France to attend two conferences where we will exhibiting our small, implantable, data loggers that can measure variables such as heart rate, activity, temperature and depth. If you are going, we hope to see you there.
The majority primate births occur during the inactive period of the day. Birthing influences the mother’s body temperature in a distinct way, marked by a drop in maternal body temperature during labor followed by a distinct increase in body temperature in the hours right after the birth.
Due to the many challenges scientists face when it comes to studying mesocarnivores living in extreme cold environment, like the Canadian lynx (Lynx canadensis), little is known on their energy expenditure, behaviour, and metabolic responses to the environment. In this study the scientist investigated patterns of energy expenditure especially in relation to their body size, environmental conditions, and activity.
Aquaculture farming of Atlantic Salmon has seen a steady growth globally supplying ocean-based protein with continuously increasing scale of the operation. Bigger production systems and more exposed locations put pressure on the industry to maintain fish welfare and improve farming operations such as fish handling which is believed to be a major cause for mortality in sea cages.
Little is known about the effect of angling-induced hook damage to the gills in fish. In a recent study, researchers looked at parental care behavior and reproductive fitness, as well as heart rate performance in male smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) with compromised branchial and coronary blood flow. Negative effects were expected on all three parameters, which turned out was not the case.
Kisspeptin is known to influence fertility and metabolism. In a study made by scientists at the School of Human Sciences in the University of Western Australia and Department of OBGYN and Reproductive Sciences at UC San Diego. They compared transgenic mice that totally lacked kisspeptin (Kiss1r-KO), with wild type (WT) mice and for the first time mice that have about 95% reduction in Kiss1 transcript levels (Kiss1-Cre).
In a study conducted by scientists in Chile at Instituto de Ciencias Ambientales y Evolutivas, Center of Applied Ecology and Sustainability (CAPES), Millenium Institute for Integrative Biology, and Instituto de Biología, core body temperature was used to determine torpor and hibernation periods in Monito del Monte marsupials (Dromiciops gliroides) during winter. Torpor bouts were detected both in lab settings and in the field.
The memory size in the Starmon tilt logger has now been doubled and is 6.7 million measurements per sensor; acceleration-tilt (3-D), depth and temperature. This durable titanium logger is ideal for analysing movements of subsea gear, whether for profiling or long-term monitoring.
We will be exhibiting at the Oceanology International in London, UK, on March 15-17, 2022. Our experts in booth #C300 will be demonstrating CTDs and multi sensors and will be happy to finally meet you in person!
Star-Oddi will be exhibiting at the AQUACULTURE 2022 in San Diego, USA, on February 28 - March 4. Visit our booth #517 and check out our world-leading heart rate, activity, depth and temperature loggers!
The cardiovascular system plays a key role in the ability of fish to survive and thrive in their environment. In a recent study, researchers expected to demonstrate that swimming activity measured with accelerometers was a determinant of cardiac activity measured through heart rate.
Heart rate is commonly used as an indicator for animal welfare in relation to circadian rhythm. In a study conducted by scientists at Universidad de Salamanca and Universidad de Zaragoza, it is used as an indicator for changes of the circadian rhythm of cows that were subjected to rotational grazing between low density grazing and high density grazing for a short period of time.
Many researchers have been investigating if ferrets are a suitable model for COVID-19 research as it is for influenza. A study carried out by researchers at Centre for Infectious Disease Control, Animal Research Centre, and Microscope Consultancy in the Netherlands investigates if there is a connection between age and inoculation route.
Gregarious animals can be temporarily affected by fever and other physical responses to infection. This can offer other members of the group a competitive advantage. To study the effects of illness in a group of vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus), social behavior and body temperature of 43 animals was monitored over an extended period of time.
Our loggers are used to measure a wide variety of animal species but scientists getting data from two animals in one deployment is a first for us. A Baltic cod (Gadus morhua) was tagged as part of the international tagging project TABACOD in 2018. The tag was one of Star-Oddi’s DST micro-TD loggers that measure temperature and depth.
It has been showed that juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) held in pairs form dominance hierarchies in which subordinate individuals experience chronic social stress accompanied by lower thermal tolerance.
We are proud to announce enhanced wide salinity range in our popular DST CTD and CT logger series. The enhanced range covers conductivity ranges from 3 to 68 mS/cm, allowing a wide variety of monitoring applications. This can, for example, be beneficial in situations where salinity fluctuates from low to high salinity.
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 can lead to a variety of clinical manifestations, from asymptomatic to fatal. While scientists are still working on understanding this variation fully, viral control is currently considered to be affected by acquired immune effectors, antibodies and CD8+ T cells.
In early summer, large ungulates typically show a single seasonal peak for heart rate. A recent study performed at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, demonstrates that this does not hold true for female wild boars (Sus scrofa), using heart rate as a proxy for energy expenditure.
Water temperature is increasing and oxygen levels decreasing at sea-cage sites due to climate change. These conditions may become a challenge for the aquaculture industry as they negatively affect growth and welfare of marine sea-caged fish.
Anadromous fishes like salmon hatch and spend their juvenile period in freshwater. This is followed by migration to, and maturation in the sea. Adult fish then migrate back up rivers to reproduce in freshwater habitats. A researcher at Japan Fisheries Research and Education Agency has looked closer into the reverse migration and probing behaviour of pink salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha) after its return to fresh water.
Recent studies have suggested that an accumulation of sequence variations in the SARS-CoV-2 virus’ spike genome could cause current vaccines to lose efficacy.
We are pleased to announce that we have released a new activity logger in our popular micro size.
Finfish aquaculture has seen a great increase in recent decades with an estimated 369 species farmed worldwide, but physiological data is lacking on many of them. In a recent study, researchers at the Swedish University of Agricultural Science and University of Gothenburg highlight the importance of performing a long-term evaluation of free swimming fish in aquaculture.
Treatment with adjuvant tamoxifen has proven to increase breast cancer patient’s survival rate. However, it is not without considerable side effects. Patients on tamoxifen can, for example, experience hot flashes, changes in bone density and fatigue.
Researchers from the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) have, along with nine other institutes, discovered a novel deep-sea fish species in the Suruga Bay, Japan. In a recent paper, the scientists describe the discovery of a colossal slickhead (Narcetes shonanmaruae) which was detected unintentionally during research trips investigating the faunal diversity and environment in waters below 2,000 meters.
While most eyes are currently focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, scientists continue to try to learn more about other zoonotic diseases that have the potential to threaten public health. One of these diseases is Ebola, caused by the Ebola virus.
We are always striving to improve our product range to meet our customer's needs. Our most recent product updates involve improvements for our smallest and largest heart rate and activity loggers.
Upwelling is an oceanographic phenomenon that involves wind-driven motion of dense, cooler, and usually nutrient-rich water from deep water towards the ocean surface, replacing the warmer, usually nutrient-depleted surface water. Upwelling along the Tanzanian coast has long been suggested, and it is of importance as around 60 million people live within 100 km of the coastline. Many inhabitants are dependent on the ocean for employment and resource for food.
Biologgers are becoming increasingly popular to measure free-swimming fish. However, attaching or implanting these devices inevitably requires handling of the animals. Any handling of the study animal can lead to a stress response. To be able to interpret data correctly it is important to know how long it takes the fish to recover from handling, anaesthesia and surgery so that data from the recovery period can be excluded from the data analysis.
A large part of gaining a better understanding of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes Covid-19 is finding the most suitable animal models to study the effects of the disease. As primates are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom they have been one of the animal groups used to study the pathogenesis of the disease.
Research has been carried out investigating how artificial light at night impacts the ecosystem and its inhabitants, but the effects on aquatic invertebrates specifically are poorly understood. Light pollution is a fast-increasing threat to terrestrial and aquatic biodiversity and has, for example, been proven to disrupt diel cycle.
Measuring body temperature in animals is one method of measuring their response to changing environments. One of the methods used in the field is infrared thermography which measures the temperature on the body’s surface noninvasively, but it remains unclear whether these measurements reflect core body temperature accurately.
In 2016, two adult barracudina (Arctozenus risso) were caught off the Flemish Cap, Newfoundland, Canada. These specimens were special since they showed unusual attributes including loss of gill rakers and teeth and fragile jaw bones. Moreover, both fish also had ripening ovaries and testes, which confirms simultaneous hermaphroditism.
Extensive research has been carried out on exercise physiology of fish, especially on swimming abilities, metabolic rate, heart function and acid-base balance of salmonids. It is widely known that increased oxygen uptake rates and cardiac output support the aerobic metabolic need of exercising muscles until the maximum capacity of the cardiorespiratory system is reached.
Aquaculture farming of Atlantic Salmon has seen a steady growth globally. Bigger production systems and more exposed locations put pressure on the industry to maintain fish welfare and improve farming operations. This includes methods used for fish handling, which is believed to be a major cause of mortality in sea pens.
The marine oil and gas industry has been present in the Gulf of Mexico (GoM) since 1938. By 2018, it covered over 5.3 million hectares in U.S. waters alone, with more than 10,000 platforms and active rigs and 27,000 abandoned wells. In the southern GoM there are more than 2,000 offshore wells and thousands of miles of pipelines.
How animals handle changes in the environment differs from species to species. Different species sharing the same habitat can even show different responses to environmental changes.
Since early in the Covid-19 pandemic Star-Oddi has been supplying researchers with loggers for use in research on this novel virus. We are proud to be able to provide research tools for research on Covid-19 and place the highest priority on delivering them as quickly as possible.
The Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) is a set of rules for managing European fishing fleets and for conserving fish stocks. The landing obligation, meaning that you must bring all caught fish to land, of the new CFP has a “high survival”-exemption. This implies that it is permitted to discard fish with scientifically high chances of surviving both capture, handling and release.
Dominance is a strategy commonly used to improve an individual’s chances of reproductive success. It has been suggested that dominance may be related to physiological performance. However, so far there has been little research to back this up.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many research projects have been interrupted because scientists cannot access their equipment or workspace. However, a study published in Science shows that lockdown in India provides a unique opportunity to collect data that would otherwise be impossible to obtain.
Modern societies rely increasingly on shift work. Meanwhile, studies have shown that this sort of work can potentially negatively affect our health. It has, therefore, become increasingly important to understand whether shift work has a long-last effect on human health.
Understanding how animals living at high latitudes respond to changes in their environment has long interested researchers. In a recent study, scientists at the Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences looked at seasonal differences in temperature and heart rate in female moose in Scandinavia.
Iceland is now in a unique position compared to other countries with regards to the spread of COVID-19. The country has had extremely few deaths and nearly COVID-19 free, as no new cases of the virus have been reported for several days.
Our webinar Heart Rate Measurements in Fish: Methods, Surgery, and Experimental Design on May 7th was a great success. Nearly 90 participants listened to and interacted with the presenters during the webinar.
Bio-logging has proven to be a unique way to gather information on free ranging animals over short and long periods of time. However, many bio-logging devices required surgical interventions often followed by post-surgical prophylactic treatments. One of the treatments commonly used after surgical procedures in fish is the antibiotic enrofloxacin.
Climate change affects global biodiversity in many ways. Biodiversity is both declining and distributed differently across the globe, and the last untouched region may be the Antarctic. Researchers from Chile, Canada and USA recently reported findings of the first settlement of the Chilean blue mussel (Mytilus cf. platensis) in a shallow subtidal habitat of the South Shetland Islands in the Antarctic. This indicates a potential for coming invasions of the Antarctic ecosystem.
On May 7, 2020, Star-Oddi will host a webinar on heart rate measurements in fish. The webinar will focus on methods, surgery, and experimental design when working with heart rate loggers in fish. The workshop will take place through Zoom at 20:00-21:30 CEST/13:00-14:30 ET and is open to current users as well as anyone interested in heart rate measurements in fish.
Star-Oddi is proud to announce Starmon compass, a new compass heading data logger with high accuracy and a large memory. This robust logger is ideal for analysing heading direction and tilt movements on subsea gear and robotics.
As global warming increases it is becoming more and more important to understand how higher temperatures will affect both aquatic and terrestrial animals. A recent study, published by a research group from Rhodes University and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity.
Since Star-Oddi launched the first data loggers in 1993 our loggers have been used in a wide variety of research. After the release of our first implantable temperature sensor in 2003, one of the most prominent fields of research has been in the field of virology, including vaccine development.
While the Covid-19 pandemic has created uncertainty for people around the world we want to assure our customers that services at Star-Oddi remain the same.
Star-Oddi will be showcasing at the OI Oceanology International exhibition in London, December 1-3, 2020. If you are planning on going, then please be sure to visit us at stand C750.
Coliform mastitis is a common issue in dairy cows that can affect both the wellbeing of the animal as well as the amount of milk it produces. A research group including scientists from Virginia Tech and DairyNZ Ltd. recently compared the effect of two commercially available J5 bacterin vaccines.
Star-Oddi recently became a member of the Ocean Protection Project run by the Big Blue Ocean Cleanup.
We recently released a smaller version of our popular activity loggers. Our activity loggers now come in two different sizes, milli and centi, and are suitable for a wide range of animal sizes.
When trying to understand the effects of physiological stress on organisms living within the sediment, it is of great importance to recognize the relationship between the behaviour of these organisms and the fluctuating stressors, such as salinity in the surrounding waters. This is difficult to study and quantify, especially as these organisms, i.e. clams, are living deep in the sediments.
To better meet the needs of a durable and robust device in demanding ocean environments, we now offer the Starmon TD (temp-depth) and Starmon tilt (acceleration-tilt-temp-depth) in titanium housing.
Cardiac function has been found to be a limiting factor when it comes to animals’ ability to cope with physiological challenges. Parental care is one such challenge which has not been widely assessed in wild animals.
Atlantic halibut (Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is widely distributed from the United States to Norway but is considered a “Species of Concern” in US waters. Not much is known about their movements and population, and in some years the abundance has been close to being below the detectability levels, according to NOAA Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
Star-Oddi will be showcasing at the OCEANS Conference in Seattle, October 28-30 2019. If you are going, then please be sure to visit us at booth #715.
Sleep is an essential part of our life and the longer we stay awake, the greater the urge to sleep becomes. Research has shown that following sleep deprivation we experience sleep that is longer and deeper than normal.
The Star-Oddi loggers are used in a variety of studies, including MSc projects. In one such project, Vanessa Hensley, a MSc student at The University of Maine, studied changes in body temperature of North American southern flying squirrels (Glaucomys volans).
Data loggers can provide valuable information to many types of animal studies. As with anything else, though, the quality of the results is dependant on the correct use of the devices.
Recreational fishing has long been a popular pastime in industrial countries. In recent years more focus has been put on reducing the impacts of recreational fishing on fish populations.
A study, carried out in Argentina, shows correlation between seawater temperature variations and changes in the plasma levels of three sex steroid hormones, related to reproduction of the narrownose smooth-hound shark (Mustelus schmitti).
On August 26-30, we will be exhibiting our loggers at the 12th European Ornithologists' Union Congress in Cluj-Napoca, Romania...
Heart rate loggers offer a novel way to record physiological changes in various animal species. To date, Star-Oddi's leadless heart rate loggers have been used successfully in at least 20 fish species...
Wolverines (Gulo gulo) are well adapted to the extreme conditions of their northern habitat. To learn more about the species’ ecophysiology researchers at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences, Stockholm University...
Welfare of fish in aquaculture is an important concern, as it is estimated to impact between 37 and 120 billion individuals every year, and is a growing concern for consumers, producers, interest groups and authorities...
Star-Oddi will be exhibiting at the Society for Experimental Biology’s annual meeting 2019 in Sevilla, Spain on July 2-5...
Oil and gas industries using airguns for offshore seismic exploration add to globally increasing anthropogenic noise levels in the marine environment...
Wild animal activities and their internal processes are energetically costly. The amount of energy they can obtain and use is inevitably limited, which means they need to make compromises...
Star-Oddi's leadless heart rate and temperature loggers are being used to record valuable physiological data in lumpfish...
We at Star-Oddi got the honor of having Bjarni Tryggvason, the only Icelander who has traveled to outer space, come visit us a few weeks ago...
We have released an updated version of our DST milli-HRT and DST centi-HRT, leadless heart rate, and temperature loggers...
Unlike conventional influenza vaccines, DNA vaccines can be produced rapidly for global coverage. This is a clear benefit should we be faced with an emerging influenza pandemic in the future...
Hibernating bears go through hyperphagia each year to gain fat reserves before hibernation. In a recent study, heart rate measurements were used to compare the metabolic rate between two bear species...
Star-Oddi's services remain the same throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. Our experts are on hand to discuss how Star-Oddi's loggers can benefit your research.
Book a meeting with us below.