Indeterminate status of West African populations of inshore common bottlenose dolphins <i>Tursiops truncatus</i> caution against opportunistic live-capture schemes

The limited information available on the status of inshore common bottlenose dolphins Tursiops truncatus along the coasts of West Africa is reviewed. Although reported from at least ten countries, it is unclear whether their distribution is continuous. Population structure and genetics have not been studied, however cranial morphology suggests that the West African dolphins differ from North Sea bottlenose dolphins. Mean group sizes are small (3.19 – 12.91 individuals/group) and are smallest in Guinea-Bissau. There are no estimates of abundance but by analogy with a well-studied population in Sarasota, Gulf of Mexico, the Guinea-Bissau population may number only in the hundreds. It is essential that scientific estimates be obtained through dedicated surveys. In some areas of Guinea-Bissau with a high density of fishing activities, bottlenose dolphins are now less frequently encountered than they were in the recent past. Key parameters besides abundance, including population identity, bycatch levels and other anthropogenic threats need to be documented and quantified before any deliberate exploitation is considered. A small-scale, botched live-capture operation in Senegal in 2003, in which all dolphins died, serves as warning against such opportunistic schemes. In management terms, live-capture operations are equivalent to hunting and multi-year, large-scale removals of bottlenose dolphins in Guinea-Bissau would have the potential to effectively extirpate the wild population from its waters

Human transformations of the Wadden Sea ecosystem through time: a synthesis

Todayrsquos Wadden Sea is a heavily human-altered ecosystem. Shaped by natural forces since its origin 7,500 years ago, humans gradually gained dominance in influencing ecosystem structure and functioning. Here, we reconstruct the timeline of human impacts and the history of ecological changes in the Wadden Sea. We then discuss the ecosystem and societal consequences of observed changes, and conclude with management implications. Human influences have intensified and multiplied over time. Large-scale habitat transformation over the last 1,000 years has eliminated diverse terrestrial, freshwater, brackish and marine habitats. Intensive exploitation of everything from oysters to whales has depleted most large predators and habitat-building species since medieval times. In the twentieth century, pollution, eutrophication, species invasions and, presumably, climate change have had marked impacts on the Wadden Sea flora and fauna. Yet habitat loss and overexploitation were the two main causes for the extinction or severe depletion of 144 species (~20% of total macrobiota). The loss of biodiversity, large predators, special habitats, filter and storage capacity, and degradation in water quality have led to a simplification and homogenisation of the food web structure and ecosystem functioning that has affected the Wadden Sea ecosystem and coastal societies alike. Recent conservation efforts have reversed some negative trends by enabling some birds and mammals to recover and by creating new economic options for society. The Wadden Sea history provides a unique long-term perspective on ecological change, new objectives for conservation, restoration and management, and an ecological baseline that allows us to envision a rich, productive and diverse Wadden Sea ecosystem and coastal society

Care and education in adolescents with sleep and eating disorders: Experience of the Mediterranean Adolescent Center

Eating disorders and school refusal behavior with delayed sleep phase are pathologies associated with very different or even inverse school problems. It is through these two prisms that we will develop the idea of school care, which is being set up in the innovative framework of the Mediterranean Area of the Adolescent, integrating a National Education Unit within the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry unit. This specific care seems to us interesting in the adolescent because it allows a work in «natural» environment of certain difficulties related to the different psychiatric disorders and seems to us as a help to the revival of the adolescent process

Soin et scolarité chez les adolescents souffrant de troubles du sommeil et du comportement alimentaire : expérience de l’Espace Méditerranéen de l’Adolescent

Les troubles du comportement alimentaire et le refus scolaire anxieux avec retard de phase du sommeil sont des pathologies associées à des problématiques scolaires très différentes voire inverses. C’est à travers ces deux prismes que nous développerons l’idée du soin scolaire qui se met en place dans le cadre innovant de l’Espace Méditerranéen de l’Adolescent intégrant une unité de l’éducation nationale au sein du service de pédopsychiatrie de l’adolescent. Ce soin spécifique nous semble intéressant chez l’adolescent puisqu’il permet un travail en milieu « naturel » de certaines difficultés liées aux différents troubles psychiatriques et nous semble être une aide à la relance du processus adolescent

J Can Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry

Objective: Anxiety-based school refusal in adolescence is a complex, sometimes difficult to treat disorder that can have serious academic and psychiatric consequences. The objective of this qualitative study was to explore how teens with this problem and their parents experience the psychiatric care received. Methods: This qualitative multicenter study took place in France, where we conducted semi-structured interviews with adolescents receiving psychiatric care for anxiety-based school refusal and with their parents. Data collection by purposive sampling continued until we reached theoretical sufficiency. Data analysis was thematic. Results: This study included 20 adolescents aged 12 to 18 years and 21 parents. Two themes emerged from the analysis: (1) the goals of psychiatric care with two sub-themes, "self-transformation" and problem solving; and, (2) the therapeutic levers identified as effective with two sub-themes: time and space and relationships. Conclusion: Our results show a divergence between parents and teens in their representations of care and especially of its goals. Therapeutic and research implications about the terms of return to school within psychiatric care and also the temporality of care are discussed

Supplementary Material for: Severe Inflammatory Ophthalmopathy in a Euthyroid Patient during Nivolumab Treatment

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Nivolumab is a promising treatment in patients with advanced malignancies. Among immune-related adverse events, autoimmune thyroid disorders are frequently reported. <b><i>Patient:</i></b> A 61-year-old male patient had no history of familial or personal thyroid disease. In 2012, this patient, a heavy smoker, presented with non-small-cell lung cancer that was treated with radiotherapy and chemotherapy. In 2015, the cancer progressed with cervical compressive symptoms, and the patient was treated with nivolumab. <b><i>Results:</i></b> After 3 infusions, bilateral eyelid ptosis and bilateral conjunctival redness with chemosis were observed. Ophthalmologic examination revealed severe proptosis with complete ophthalmoplegia but with normal vision, color test, and optic disk. Thyroid function tests were normal (TSH = 0.65 mU/L, free T₄ = 15.4 pmol/L) without anti-thyroperoxidase or anti-TSH receptor antibodies. CT scan of the orbits confirmed marked bilateral proptosis with expansion of the orbital adipose tissue without significant thickening of extraocular muscles. T2-weighted MRI showed inflammation of orbital adipose tissue. Nivolumab treatment was withdrawn, and the patient received weekly intravenous high-dose methylprednisolone (1 g for 2 weeks, 500 mg for 4 weeks, and 250 mg for 5 weeks). After the first 3 cycles, significant improvement of left chemosis was observed whereas bilateral ptosis and ophthalmoplegia were unchanged. The patient was euthyroid without thyroid autoimmunity 1 week prior to his death due to massive hemoptysis. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> We report severe inflammatory ophthalmopathy in a euthyroid patient with non-small-cell lung cancer during nivolumab therapy. The occurrence of such ophthalmic adverse events is likely to increase during nivolumab therapy in patients with advanced malignancies

Diet and feeding habitats of camargue dabbling ducks: What has changed since the 1960s?

In the Camargue (southern France), drastic changes in wetlands have occurred (notably extension of agriculture and salt extraction) since the 1960s, which affect the resources available to migratory waterbirds. Winter diets of Mallard (Anas platyrhynchos) and Teal (A. crecca) in 2006-2008 were assessed by analyses of gullet contents. Using PCA-based methods, duck diets were described and the main feeding habitats used by each duck species were then determined with a typology analysis. The same four food items were most important (in terms of occurrence and average dry weight) in the diet of Mallard and Teal: Oryza sativa (rice), Echinochloa sp., Scirpus maritimus and Potamogeton pusillus seeds. However, Teal diet was more diversified, with eleven feeding habitat types, compared to only five in Mallard. Both species were found to be dependent on ricefields and ricefield-like habitats. Compared to previous studies in the same area between 1964 and 1981, permanent freshwater habitats now appear to be used more intensively by Mallard and Teal, while temporary marshes are used to a lesser extent. Since the 1960s, temporary marshes have been partially replaced by permanent freshwater in order to attract more ducks, mostly for hunting. The flexibility of duck diet in response to changing food availability may explain why duck populations have not decreased in the Camargue or in Europe despite changes in land use.Peer Reviewe

Female-biased sex ratio in moulting black-necked grebes podiceps nigricollis in Southern Spain

We tested if Black-necked Grebe, a species in which both sexes undertake moult-migration, have an unbiased sex ratio at a moulting site in Europe, as previously found in North America and as was expected for a species with biparental care. For this we used a unique long-term dataset of 5821 grebes captured for ringing throughout the moulting seasons of 2006-2012 in the Odiel salt-marshes (SW Spain). The grebes were sexed and classified as adults (74%) or juveniles (26%). Birds ringed at Odiel were recovered over a wide area up to central Russia and south to the Canary Islands and Morocco. We report on a unique case of a strongly biased sex ratio in a moult-migrating bird species with biparental care, in which adult females were significantly more abundant than adult males in all 7 years (1.6-4.2 females per male). Biased sex ratios were not found among juveniles. Differences between North America and Europe in the sex ratios of adult Black-necked Grebes at moulting sites may be explained by the much larger American moulting sites, which would facilitate an unbiased sex ratio in North America, but not in Europe. Moulting sites in Europe may reach carrying capacity because of their smaller size, forcing the late migrating individuals (adult females and juveniles) to move longer distances to sites farther from breeding areas, such us the Odiel salt-marshes.Peer Reviewe