Doccol Apps

1. Install on Android

The app needs Android 7.0 or newer.

1. On your phone, open stroke-app.doccol.com and tap Download for Android (on a computer, scan the QR code on that page with the phone's camera).
2. When the download finishes, tap the file (or find stroke-research-toolkit-1.4.0.apk in Downloads).
3. The first time, Android asks to allow installs from your browser or file app (Install unknown apps). Allow it for that app, go back, and tap Install. You can switch the permission off again afterwards.
4. Open Doccol from the app list. When asked, allow notifications — the surgery timer and reply notifications need them.

Installing a newer APK over an older one keeps your data (experiment log, timers, settings). Only download from this site, Google Play or the App Store; the page's Verify the download line shows the file's SHA-256 checksum if you want to check it.

2. iPhone

The iPhone version is in preparation. Apple only allows iPhone apps to be installed from the App Store, so it will be linked on the Apps page once it is published. It has the same features as the Android app.

3. Updates

• Most improvements arrive inside the app. Tap Check for updates at the bottom of the Home screen; if an update is found it downloads and asks to Restart now.
• Some updates need a new app version. Then Home shows a banner, or Check for updates offers New version available → Download. Install it over the current app (Android: same steps as in section 1); your data stays.

4. Signing in

Most tools work without an account. You sign in with your existing doccol.com website account — there is no separate app password. Tap Sign in at the top of Home.

No doccol.com account? Use Create a Doccol account on the sign-in screen (it opens the website). Forgot the password? Forgot password? resets it on the website.

5. Home screen

• Account row — who is signed in; tap for My account or Sign in.
• New from Doccol — occasional announcements of Doccol's own products. Tap to see more, or ✕ to hide that card.
• Research Headlines card with the latest papers for your interests.
• Tiles: Products & Quotes, Filament selector, Microcatheter selector, Bench Tools, Model Troubleshooting, Community Board, Contact Doccol.
• At the bottom: website, privacy policy, terms of use and Check for updates.
• Every screen has a Feedback button at the top right (see section 18).

6. Research Headlines

The newest stroke-model papers from PubMed, newest first.

• Filter by your interests — choose species, models and topics; papers are matched by keywords in the title, abstract and MeSH terms. Clear all interests shows everything.
• Your own words — add terms such as ferroptosis or aged; papers must mention at least one. These words are kept on your phone only.
• Tap a paper to open it at the publisher or PubMed.
• Papers mentioning Doccol — a searchable list of published papers that mention Doccol products (search by title, journal or author), from open full-text indexes. The Google Scholar button opens the most complete list, including subscription journals.
• Weekly digest: switch on Weekly research headlines for my interests under Notifications to get a push on Monday mornings.

7. Filament & microcatheter selectors

Filament selector

1. Choose Species (mouse or rat), enter Body weight, choose the Occlusion type (transient or permanent), and answer Fragile vessels? (aged, irradiated, obese, some strains) and Surgeon experience.
2. Tap Suggest filaments. The app shows the coated tip diameter, bare filament size and coating length from Doccol's sizing chart.
3. Matching catalog numbers — the full catalog numbers for each suggested size and coating (e.g. 602156PK10; PK = pack size, Re = reusable). Tap one to see it in the shop.

Microcatheter selector

1. Choose the Target artery and enter Body weight.
2. Tap Suggest microcatheters for the catalog items that fit (from Doccol's chart of the maximum outer diameter by body weight), shown with their full catalog numbers (standard 150 mm length), outer/inner diameter and material.
3. Signed in, you can add a size straight to your cart.

Where Doccol's charts have no data for a weight or artery, the selector says so and offers Ask Doccol or Contact us instead of guessing. Suggestions are a starting point — your own pilot results come first.

8. Surgery timer

Bench Tools → Surgery timer. Alarms ring like an alarm clock, also with the phone locked.

1. First time: tap Allow notifications if shown. On Android also allow Alarms & reminders for the app (the link opens the setting), otherwise alarms can be late. Then use Send a test alert in 1 minute and lock the phone to check it rings.
2. Under New timer: optional Animal ID, choose Transient (reperfusion) or Permanent.
3. Transient: set the Occlusion time (preset or minutes, up to 720), a Warning before reperfusion and optional Interval alerts during occlusion. Permanent: optional Check-in alerts (up to 12 h).
4. Tap Start occlusion timer. You can run several timers at once (one per animal).
5. When an alarm rings: Stop, Snooze 1 min or Reset timer — from the notification or inside the app. Timers can also be paused, resumed or removed.
6. At reperfusion tap Reperfused now (permanent: Stop timer); remaining alerts are cancelled.
7. Type notes in the Quick log (e.g. 37.1 °C, iso 1.5%); timestamps are added. Save to log stores the timer record in your experiment log.

Keep the app installed and notifications on during surgery. Removing a timer cancels its alarms and deletes its quick log unless you saved it.

9. Neuro scores

• Which neuro score? — answer three questions about your study (species, expected injury, survival time) to get suggested and also-used scales, plus behaviour tests to add.
• Neuro score calculators — Bederson, Longa, Garcia and mNSS (rat and mouse versions). Score item by item; the total is added up for you and can be saved to an animal in the experiment log.

10. Infarct volume calculator

1. Enter each slice's Infarct, Ipsi hemi and Contra hemi areas (+ Slice adds rows), or use Paste table / CSV to paste columns from ImageJ or a spreadsheet; the preview lets you say which column is which.
2. Set the Slice thickness — the same for all, or per slice for unequal spacing.
3. Tap Calculate: uncorrected and edema-corrected infarct volume, infarct as % of the contralateral hemisphere, hemisphere volumes and edema %. An alert shows when edema exceeds the threshold you set.
4. Save to log stores the result with an animal.

How to measure slice areas explains the measuring step (TTC images, ImageJ).

11. Experiment log

• Create a New study (e.g. tMCAO 60 min — drug X vs vehicle), add animals, and record results — neuro scores, infarct volumes and timer records saved from the other tools.
• Export a study to CSV for your spreadsheet or statistics software.
• When infarct volumes in a study vary a lot, the study shows a variability note linking to the matching troubleshooting entry.

The experiment log is stored only on your phone — Doccol never receives it, and it is not restored if you lose or reset the phone. Use Save backup file regularly (pick a folder such as Downloads or Documents, or save to cloud storage) and Restore from backup file on a new phone. Restoring replaces the log on that phone.

12. Video library

Peer-reviewed surgery and method videos, marked by species and access (Open access, Subscription, or text free with video needing a subscription). Tapping a video opens the journal's site.

13. Model troubleshooting & Ask Doccol

Model Troubleshooting has two tabs.

Ask Doccol (sign-in required)

1. Describe your problem in your own words — species, strain, weight, filament, occlusion time and what you see help most. Sending a question means you agree to the notice shown above the input.
2. Ask Doccol answers step by step from Doccol's knowledge base: likely causes first, then less common ones. Quick-reply buttons help you answer its follow-up questions. Tap a source to read the knowledge entry it used.
3. Tap Solved it or Didn't help. If it can't solve the problem, or you want a person, tap Talk to a person — Doccol's support team gets the conversation and replies by email.
4. End & email transcript closes the conversation and emails a copy to you and to Doccol support. Past conversations lists earlier ones.

Ask Doccol is an AI assistant. It can make mistakes; check important points with Doccol's team or the cited sources. There is a daily question limit.

Basic Knowledge (works offline)

Doccol-reviewed entries for common problems (e.g. no infarct, high mortality, subarachnoid hemorrhage, suture won't advance, variability), each with Likely causes and Recommended actions, and Still stuck? Ask Doccol about this. Reference holds background pages on the MCAO model and TTC staining. The app keeps the last downloaded version for use without internet.

14. Products, quotes & orders

• Search the Doccol catalog (e.g. mouse suture 20 g) — the same results as on doccol.com. New products are marked New. Signed in, you see your account's prices.
• Cart (sign-in required; it is the same cart as on the website). Prices in the cart are list prices; discounts, shipping and tax are calculated on the quote.
• Request a quote — add an optional note (PO to follow, grant number) and tap Create quote from cart. The quote is created in your doccol.com account with your discounts and shipping address, and Doccol's team is notified. Or Check out on doccol.com to order directly.
• My quotes — open a quote's PDF, Forward by email (e.g. to your purchasing office; the email comes from Doccol, says it was forwarded by you, and replies go to you), Reorder (copies the items to the cart) or open it on doccol.com.
• My orders — your doccol.com orders and their details.

15. Community board

1. Sign in, then choose a Username (My account). Posts show your username, not your name.
2. Read and accept the Community rules (shown again whenever they change).
3. Search existing questions, or ask: a title, the details (species, strain, sex, weight, filament, occlusion time, what you see), up to 4 topics and up to 4 photos. The app suggests existing answers that Might already answer your question.
4. Doccol's team aims to answer within one business day. Replies from Doccol are labelled Doccol Expert or Doccol Staff. You get a notification and/or email for each reply.
5. Use Report / block on a post or reply that is offensive, unsafe or misleading, or shares personal data — or block a user to stop seeing all their posts. Content with several reports is hidden until Doccol has reviewed it.

Photo location and camera details are removed on upload. Never post patient or personal data.

16. Notifications & email

In My account:

Replies from Doccol's team and account confirmations are always emailed. Surgery timer alarms are local to the phone and don't depend on these switches — only on the phone allowing the app's notifications.

17. My account & deleting it

• Name and email come from your doccol.com account; change them on the website (Open my account on doccol.com).
• Set or change your board Username; open My quotes and My orders; sign out.
• Delete my Stroke App account (confirm with your password) deletes your app profile and username, sign-ins and anything you uploaded; usage statistics and feedback are kept without any link to you, and it is removed from backups within 30 days. Your doccol.com account, orders, quotes and invoices are not changed — tick Also ask Doccol to close my website account if you want that too. Data stored only on the phone (experiment log, timers) is removed when you uninstall the app.

18. Feedback & contact

• Feedback (top right of every screen) — choose a category (something is wrong, idea, content, other) and add details. The app tells Doccol which page you were on. You can attach a screenshot of that page — off by default; check it shows nothing private.
• Contact Doccol — call, or send a message to the support team. Email support@doccol.com, phone 1-888-481-0842.

19. Your data

• On the phone only: experiment log, timers and quick logs, your own headline words, dismissed cards.
• On Doccol's server: your app account (linked to your doccol.com account), preferences, Ask Doccol conversations, board posts and photos, feedback.
• No third-party advertising or tracking. Details: privacy policy and terms of use. Knowledge-base texts are © Doccol Corporation.

20. Problems & answers

Android won't install the APK

Allow Install unknown apps for the browser or file app you opened it with (Settings → Apps → that app). If Android says the package conflicts with an existing app, the installed copy came from a different source; uninstall it first (back up your experiment log before!).

The timer alarm came late or didn't ring

Allow notifications for the app and, on Android, Alarms & reminders. Turn off battery optimisation for the app if your phone has it. Test with Send a test alert in 1 minute. The alarm uses the phone's alarm volume.

I don't get reply notifications

Check the switches in My account → Notifications and that the phone allows the app's notifications (Open app settings).

Sign-in fails

Use the same email and password as on doccol.com; reset it with Forgot password?. After several wrong passwords, sign-in pauses for a while.

A feature described here is missing

Tap Check for updates on Home; if a new app version is offered, install it.

Still stuck?

Use Feedback in the app or email support@doccol.com.