Claims
- 1. A computer system for mining a plurality of experimentally-derived information to identify a pattern, said system comprising:
(i) one or more measurement databases including information representative of behavioral and physiological measurements, and (optionally) one or more of neurological and biochemical measurements, observed from previous experiments with animals treated with drugs and/or exposed to an environmental cue or any other type of treatment different from that given to normal, control and/or sham-treated animals; (ii) a query server program that receives query behavioral, neurological, biochemical and/or physiological data from one or more users of the system; (iii) a database searching program that compares query data with a signature derived from said previous animal experiments represented in said measurement database(s); and (iv) a reporting program that generates reports including information representative of the degree of correlation, if any, between said query data and said signature.
- 2. A computer-implemented method of identifying potential modes of action of a candidate drug, the method comprising:
(i) providing a computer system including:
(a) one or more measurement databases including information representative of behavioral and physiological measurements, and (optionally) one or more of neurological and biochemical measurements, observed for previous experiments with animals treated with drugs, having predetermined genetic traits and/or exposed to an environmental cue or any other type of treatment different from normal, control and/or sham-treated animals; (b) a query server program that receives query behavioral, neurological, biochemical and/or physiological data from one or more users of the system; (c) a database searching program that compares query data with entries from said previous animal experiments represented in said measurement database(s), and (d) a reporting program that generates reports including information representative of the degree of correlation from said comparison step, if any, between said query data and said data entries in said measurement database(s); (ii) providing access to said computer system by users to input query data; and (iii) providing an interface between said users and said reporting program for reporting to said user correlations, if any, between said query data input by said user and activity of said drugs or classes thereof, environmental cues and/or genetic traits.
- 3. A method for predicting potential modes of action of a test compound, the method comprising:
(i) generating a database of information representative of behavioral and physiological measurements, and (optionally) one or more of neurological and biochemical measurements, from animals having predetermined genetic traits and treated with drugs and/or exposed to an environmental cue or any other type of treatment different from normal, control and/or sham-treated animals; (ii) defining a set of predictor variables which characterize said information in said database, said set of predictor variables defining correlations between said measurements and said drugs, predetermined genetic traits and/or exposure to environmental cues; (iii) deriving a signature that represents a probability relationship between a response of an animal to a test compound and said set of predictor variables, said relationship derived through using at least one automated non-linear algorithm; and (iv) utilizing said signature of step (iii) to predict potential effects of said test compound on behavioral, neurological, biochemical and/or physiological measurements of said animals treated with said test compound.
- 4. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the signature is a Markov signature.
- 5. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the signature is a neural net.
- 6. The system of claim 1 or method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the signature is generated by one or more data-mining techniques selected from the group consisting of an association rules method, a data classification method, a sequence pattern mining method and a clustering method.
- 7. The system of claim 1 or method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the signature is generated by a principal component analysis method, a K-means and fuzzy clustering method, a serial linkage method, a nearest neighbor method, a logistic regression method, a support vector machine method, a Bayes classification method, and/or a Kohonen self organizing maps clustering method.
- 8. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the database includes behavioral data representative of one or more of sleeping, grooming, locomotion, ambulatory movements, non-ambulatory movements, arousal, foot misplacement, rearing, stereotypic behavior, digging, anxiety, intake, pain sensitivity, convulsions, learning, short term memory, long term memory, task switching, attention, discrimination, motivation, response inhibition, reward sensitivity, avoidance, startle, tolerance and withdrawal.
- 9. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein neurological data includes one or more of EEG data, data concerning changes in CNS structures and/or function (including size and location of necrotic tissue), occurrence of seizures, level of blood flow to CNS tissue, glucose consumption by CNS tissue, oxygen consumption by CNS tissue, somatosensory evoked potentials (SSEPs), and intracellular current flow.
- 10. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the physiological data includes one or more of gut motility data, body weight data, temperature data, EKG cardiac response data comprising output and/or QT interval, and respiration data comprising rate, O2 and/or CO2.
- 11. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, used as part of a discovery program for new therapeutic candidates.
- 12. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, used as part of a discovery program for detecting unanticipated neurological or psychiatric applications for drugs that were previously investigated for use in other therapeutic areas.
- 13. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, used as part of a profiling program for assessing potential side-effects of therapeutic candidate drugs.
- 14. The system or method of claim 13, used for determining the potential for one or more of: interactions among over-the-counter (OTC) medicines; interactions between prescription medicines and OTC medicines; interactions among prescription medicines; interactions between any kind of medicine and various foods, beverages, vitamins, and mineral supplements; common characteristics between predetermined drug groups and foods, beverages, medicines; distinguishing characteristics among certain drug groups; unusual reactions for medicines; and determining which types of patients are likely to be at risk when using a particular medicine.
- 15. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the database and (optionally) the signature are updated to include the query data.
- 16. The system of claim 1 or method of claims 2 or 3, wherein the database is an annotated database including information representative of the mechanism of action of drugs for which behavioral information has been included in the database.
- 17. A method for predicting potential modes of action of an environmental or genetic effect on an animal, the method comprising:
(i) generating a database of information representative of behavioral and physiological measurements, and (optionally) one or more of neurological and biochemical measurements, from animals having predetermined genetic traits and treated with drugs, and/or which have otherwise been exposed to an environmental cue or other type of treatment different from that experienced by normal, control and/or sham-treated animals; (ii) defining a set of predictor variables which define said information in said database, said set of predictor variables defining correlations between said measurements and said drugs, predetermined genetic traits and/or exposure to environmental cues; (iii) deriving a signature that represents a probability relationship between
(a) one or more of said measurements of an animal exposed to a test environmental effect or a predetermined genetic state, and (b) said set of predictor variables, said relationship derived through use of at least one automated non-linear algorithm; and (iv) utilizing said signature of step (iii) to predict potential modes of action of an environmental or genetic effect on a test animal based on said measurements from one or more of said test animals.
- 18. The method of claim 17, used for one or more purposes of assessing potential therapeutic effects of a drug, assessing potential toxic side effects of a drug, predict potential effects of a lesion, predict potential effects of acute or chronic\environmental manipulation, predict potential effects of mutagenesis.
- 19. A system for identifying potential therapeutic applications of test compounds comprising:
a) an apparatus for collecting behavioral and physiological measurements, and (optionally) one or more of neurological and biochemical measurements, from a test animal treated with said test compound, said data being stored in digital format in a memory storage device; b) a database comprising stored behavioral, neurological, biochemical and/or physiological data of animals (i) having the same or different predetermined genetic composition from said test animal and (ii) which have been exposed to either control conditions and/or treatment with compounds different from said test compounds; c) comparing said collected data with said stored data and determining the presence or absence of correlations; and d) on the basis of the presence or absence of said correlations determining a therapeutic utility for said test compound.
- 20. The method of claim 19 wherein said collected data includes observations not discernable to a human observer.
- 21. The method of claim 19 wherein said observations include quantitative measurements that do not correspond to a named behavior state.
- 22. The method of claim 19 wherein said collection step occurs continuously for at least 1 hour.
- 23. The method of claim 19 wherein at least part of said collected and stored data corresponds to a plurality of predetermined behavioral, neurological, biochemical and/or physiological activities.
- 24. The method of claim 23 wherein said predetermined activities include one or more of grooming, stretching, digging, sleeping, running, eating, drinking, twitching, startle response, swimming, jumping, climbing, walking, cowering, rearing, convulsions, avoidance, arousal, hanging, yawning, circling, chewing, pausing and withdrawal.
- 25. The method of claim 19 wherein said collected data includes one or more of QT interval, respiration rate, CO2 level, O2 level, weight, excretion rates, food intake rate, liquid intake rate, temperature, piloerection, perspiration, blood pressure, neural activity and heart rate.
- 26. The method of claim 19 wherein said collected data is collected through use of one or more digital cameras, scales, force transducers, telemetric device for measuring temperature and/or heart monitoring functions, electrical or mechanical sensors for determining when an animal drinks from a water supply and mechanisms for supplying visual or physical environmental cues.
- 27. A kit for automated monitoring of animal behavior, said kit being dimensioned for use with an animal observation area and comprising:
(i) at least one image capturing device arranged relative to said animal observation area so as to capture movement and bodily positions of an animal in said animal observation area; (ii) at least one animal stimulation module for stimulating said animal to produce a behavioral response; and (iii) one or more sensors for acquiring physiological data of said animal.
- 28. An animal cage system for automated monitoring of animal behavior, comprising:
(i). an animal observation area; (ii). at least one image capturing device arranged relative to said animal observation area so as to capture movement and bodily positions of an animal in said animal observation area; (iii). at least one animal stimulation module for stimulating said animal to produce a behavioral response; and (iv) one or more sensors for acquiring physiological data of said animal.
- 29. The apparatus of claim 27 or cage system of claim 28, wherein said animal stimulation module includes one or more of a light source, a visual cue screen, a lever, an electrical shock probe, an air puff port or a heated probe.
- 30. The apparatus of claim 27 or cage system of claim 28, wherein said sensors acquire physiological data for one or more of body weight, animal temperature, cardiac response, respiration, excretion rates, food intake rate, liquid intake rate, piloerection, perspiration, blood pressure and neural activity.
- 31. The apparatus of claim 27 or cage system of claim 28, further including software for comparing images of said animal from said one or more image capture devices and generating data representative of movement and/or bodily positions of said animal.
- 32. The apparatus or cage system of claims 31, wherein said data representative of movement and/or bodily positions of said animal includes time code information.
RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/291,039 filed May 15, 2001 and to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/326,271 filed Oct. 1, 2001, the specifications of which are incorporated by reference herein.
Provisional Applications (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
|
60291039 |
May 2001 |
US |
|
60326271 |
Oct 2001 |
US |