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[Joe Garden <joegarden AT yahoo.com>]

http://news.discovery.com/animals/the-300-pound-gorilla-voluntarily-monitors-his-blood-pressure.html

300-Pound Gorilla Voluntarily Monitors His Blood Pressure

Imagine trying to monitor the blood pressure of a 300-pound gorilla. A
new device, described in the following release from Georgia Institute
of Technology Research News, makes that job a lot easier: 
Zoo Atlanta recently became the first zoological institution in the
world to obtain voluntary blood pressure readings from a gorilla. This
groundbreaking stride was made possible by the Gorilla Tough Cuff, a
blood pressure reading system devised through partnership with the
Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech
and Emory University. 

Created as a senior design project
by biomedical engineering undergraduates David Sotto, Nisha Bhatia,
Stephanie Drewicz and Scott Seaman, the prototype has now been
successfully tested on one of Zoo Atlanta's 22 western lowland
gorillas. The students also had guidance from Hanjoong Jo, the Ada Lee
and Pete Correll Professor in Biomedical Engineering and the Division
of Cardiology; and Professor Franklin Bost, the Coulter Department
director of design instruction.
"Zoo Atlanta is home to the nation's largest collection of gorillas,
so there is an ongoing responsibility to contribute to the zoological
community's understanding of their care," said Dennis Kelly, President
and CEO. "We are proud to have spearheaded an effort that will
ultimately benefit gorillas living in captive settings around the
world." 
The Gorilla Tough Cuff operates in the same manner as
the mechanism familiar to humans, with the patient slipping an arm into
a cuff. As the cuff inflates, the blood pressure reading is measured
and displayed on a monitor. The student design team's biggest set of
challenges, however, was constructing a durable, comfortable cuff large
enough to fit an adult male gorilla weighing upwards of 300 pounds. 

The
prototype system was comprised of a blood pressure cuff bolted to a
casing made of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic. The
casing was zip-tied to a rectangular mesh trap and the trap was
temporarily attached to the gorilla cage. The pressure cuff tubing was
connected to an off-the-shelf veterinary blood pressure monitor located
outside of the gorilla cage.
"We also built a safety mechanism
into the device so that the gorillas would not be injured if they
became alarmed or frightened and tried to remove their arm from the
cuff," said Sotto, who is currently a graduate student at Georgia Tech.

Once the prototype was complete, the Tough Cuff had its first
tester: Ozzie, a 48-year-old male western lowland gorilla. Gorillas
aren't typically keen on the idea of inserting their arms into
inflatable cuffs: Ozzie's accomplishment is the result of months of
patience and diligent voluntary positive reinforcement training on the
part of Zoo Atlanta's Primate Team. 
One of four geriatric
gorillas living at the Zoo (the others are Shamba, 50; Choomba, 48; and
Ivan, 47), Ozzie is at an age where he may be subject to health
concerns similar to those experienced by mature humans. Cardiac disease
is the leading cause of mortality in adult male gorillas living in
captive settings, and the new system will enable veterinarians to more
effectively monitor precursory signs such as high blood pressure. 

"This
is a great step forward in the medical management and care of captive
gorillas," said Dr. Sam Rivera, Associate Veterinarian at Zoo Atlanta.
"Our Veterinary and Primate Teams are extremely fortunate to have the
biomedical engineering department at Georgia Tech and Emory University
as a resource." 


The Gorilla Tough Cuff has already been
demonstrated for veterinarians and animal care professionals from
numerous other accredited zoos. The device could ultimately prove
invaluable to the more than 100 institutions around the world currently
housing the species.