Shearwater Foraging in the Southern Ocean: The Roles of Prey Availability and Winds

Background Sooty (Puffinus griseus) and short-tailed (P. tenuirostris) shearwaters are abundant seabirds that range widely across global oceans. Understanding the foraging ecology of these species in the Southern Ocean is important for monitoring and ecosystem conservation and management. Methodology/Principal Findings Tracking data from sooty and short-tailed shearwaters from three regions of New Zealand and Australia were combined with at-sea observations of shearwaters in the Southern Ocean, physical oceanography, near-surface copepod distributions, pelagic trawl data, and synoptic near-surface winds. Shearwaters from all three regions foraged in the Polar Front zone, and showed particular overlap in the region around 140°E. Short-tailed shearwaters from South Australia also foraged in Antarctic waters south of the Polar Front. The spatial distribution of shearwater foraging effort in the Polar Front zone was matched by patterns in large-scale upwelling, primary production, and abundances of copepods and myctophid fish. Oceanic winds were found to be broad determinants of foraging distribution, and of the flight paths taken by the birds on long foraging trips to Antarctic waters. Conclusions/Significance The shearwaters displayed foraging site fidelity and overlap of foraging habitat between species and populations that may enhance their utility as indicators of Southern Ocean ecosystems. The results highlight the importance of upwellings due to interactions of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current with large-scale bottom topography, and the corresponding localised increases in the productivity of the Polar Front ecosystem

Acoustic and electroglottographic voice characteristics in chronic cough and paradoxical vocal fold movement

Objective: Chronic cough (CC) and paradoxical vocal fold movement (PVFM) may be associated with voice problems. Objective acoustic and electroglottographic (EGG) measures have the capacity to delineate these vocal characteristics. This study investigated acoustic and EGG voice features of CC and PVFM. Patients and Methods: Acoustic and EGG findings were compared among 5 groups of participants. The first 3 groups, CC (n = 56), PVFM (n = 8) and combined CC-PVFM (n = 55), included individuals with cough and respiratory symptoms that persisted despite medical treatment. Groups 4 and 5 included individuals with muscle tension dysphonia (n = 25) and healthy controls (n = 27). Results: Participants with CC/PVFM recorded reduced phonation times (p<0.001), greater jitter (p<0.001), reduced harmonic to noise ratio (p = 0.001), reduced phonation range (p = 0.007) and shorter closed phase of vocal fold vibration (p = 0.006) in comparison to healthy controls. Females with CC had reduced fundamental frequency in connected speech (p = 0.009). There was consistent overlap between the participants with CC and those with PVFM. Duration of closed phase and fundamental frequency were lower in the participants with CC and PVFM than in those with muscle tension dysphonia. Conclusion: These results confirm abnormalities in acoustic and EGG voice features in CC and PVFM

CICADA: Cough in children and adults: Diagnosis and assessment. Australian cough guidelines summary statement

*Cough is a common and distressing symptom that results in significant health care costs from medical consultations and medication use. *Cough is a reflex activity with elements of voluntary control that forms part of the somatosensory system involving visceral sensation, a reflex motor response and associated behavioural responses. *At the initial assessment for chronic cough, the clinician should elicit any alarm symptoms that might indicate a serious underlying disease and identify whether there is a specific disease present that is associated with chronic cough. *If the examination, chest x-ray and spirometry are normal, the most common diagnoses in ADULTS are asthma, rhinitis or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). The most common diagnoses in CHILDREN are asthma and protracted bronchitis. *Management of chronic cough involves addressing the common issues of environmental exposures and patient or parental concerns, then instituting specific therapy. *In ADULTS, conditions that are associated with removable causes or respond well to specific treatment include protracted bacterial bronchitis, angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor use, asthma, GORD, obstructive sleep apnoea and eosinophilic bronchitis. *In CHILDREN, diagnoses that are associated with removable causes or respond well to treatment are exposure to environmental tobacco smoke, protracted bronchitis, asthma, motor tic, habit and psychogenic cough. *In ADULTS, refractory cough that persists after therapy is managed by empirical inhaled corticosteroid therapy and speech pathology techniques. ©The Medical Journal of Australia 201

Assessment of cough in head and neck cancer patients at risk for dysphagia—An overview

info:eu-repo/semantics/publishe