Modeling eye-head gaze shifts in multiple contexts without motor planning.

During gaze shifts, the eyes and head collaborate to rapidly capture a target (saccade) and fixate it. Accordingly, models of gaze shift control should embed both saccadic and fixation modes and a mechanism for switching between them. We demonstrate a model in which the eye and head platforms are driven by a shared gaze error signal. To limit the number of free parameters, we implement a model reduction approach in which steady-state cerebellar effects at each of their projection sites are lumped with the parameter of that site. The model topology is consistent with anatomy and neurophysiology, and can replicate eye-head responses observed in multiple experimental contexts: 1) observed gaze characteristics across species and subjects can emerge from this structure with minor parametric changes; 2) gaze can move to a goal while in the fixation mode; 3) ocular compensation for head perturbations during saccades could rely on vestibular-only cells in the vestibular nuclei with postulated projections to burst neurons; 4) two nonlinearities suffice, i.e., the experimentally-determined mapping of tectoreticular cells onto brain stem targets and the increased recruitment of the head for larger target eccentricities; 5) the effects of initial conditions on eye/head trajectories are due to neural circuit dynamics, not planning; and 6) "compensatory" ocular slow phases exist even after semicircular canal plugging, because of interconnections linking eye-head circuits. Our model structure also simulates classical vestibulo-ocular reflex and pursuit nystagmus, and provides novel neural circuit and behavioral predictions, notably that both eye-head coordination and segmental limb coordination are possible without trajectory planning.

A Novel Wearable Device for Continuous Temperature Monitoring & Fever Detection.

Objective: Continuous temperature monitoring in high-risk patients can enable healthcare providers to remotely track patients' temperatures, promptly detect fevers and timely intervene to improve clinical outcomes. We evaluated if a novel wearable, continuous temperature monitor (Verily Patch) can reliably estimate body temperature and early detect fevers in an outpatient setting in patients at a high risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) who recently underwent chemotherapy and autologous stem cell transplantation (ASCT). Methods: 86 patients at a high risk for FN were prospectively enrolled at Mayo Clinic, MN. Patients wore the device in their axilla region for 7 days post ASCT and recorded self-measured oral temperatures every 3 hours. Patients were also followed using clinical standard-of-care procedures with daily oral temperature assessment. The clinic- and patient-assessed oral temperatures were used to develop and evaluate Verily Patch's body temperature and early fever detection algorithms using a K-fold cross-validation approach. Results: The Verily Patch reliably measured body temperatures with an error of 0.35 ± 0.88°F in comparison to clinic- and patient-assessed oral temperatures. The sensitivity and specificity of the patch in detecting clinic-assessed fever episodes was 90.2% and 87.8%. The patch detected 14.3 times the number of clinic-assessed fever episodes with a median lead time of 4.3 hours. Conclusion: Patient self-monitoring of temperature and fever incidents suffers from low accuracy and is impractical for extended periods of time. Continuous temperature monitoring by a wearable device (such as Verily Patch) has the potential to overcome these challenges resulting in better patient clinical outcomes and more cost-effective care.