348 research outputs found
Characterization of Kemp's Ridley Sea Turtles in the Florida Big Bend Area: Final report
The Kemp's ridley (Lepidochelys kempo is considered the most endangered of
the seven extant marine turtle species (Ross et al. 1989). The US Fish and Wildlife
Service (USFWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) estimate the
breeding population at 1,500 to 3,000 individuals. The nesting population has been
reduced from approximately 40,000 on one day to no more than 700 annually
(Magnuson et al. 1990, USFWS & NMFS 1992). Conservation measures for the
species have focused on the protection of the nesting beach, captive rearing (head
starting), and the implementation of turtle excluder devices (TEDs) on shrimp nets. Five
hundred to 5,000 ridleys are still taken incidentally yearly by shrimp trawls (Magnuson et
al. 1990). Lack of knowledge about early life stages of the Kemp's ridley sea turtle
currently hinders recovery efforts for this federally listed species. (Document has 18 pages.
Risk factors associated with detailed reproductive phenotypes in dairy and beef cows
peer-reviewedThis article was first published in animal, Volume 8, Issue 05, May 2014, pp 695-703, © The Animal Consortium 2014The objective of this study was to identify detailed fertility traits in dairy and beef cattle from transrectal ultrasonography records
and quantify the associated risk factors. Data were available on 148 947 ultrasound observations of the reproductive tract from
75 949 cows in 843 Irish dairy and beef herds between March 2008 and October 2012. Traits generated included (1) cycling at
time of examination, (2) cystic structures, (3) early ovulation, (4) embryo death and (5) uterine score; the latter was measured on a
scale of 1 (good) to 4 (poor) characterising the tone of the uterine wall and fluid present in the uterus. After editing, 72 773
records from 44 415 dairy and beef cows in 643 herds remained. Factors associated with the logit of the probability of a positive
outcome for each of the binary fertility traits were determined using generalised estimating equations; linear mixed model analysis
was used for the analysis of uterine score. The prevalence of cycling, cystic structures, early ovulation and embryo death was
84.75%, 3.87%, 7.47% and 3.84%, respectively. The occurrence of the uterine heath score of 1, 2, 3 and 4 was 70.63%, 19.75%,
8.36% and 1.26%, respectively. Cows in beef herds had a 0.51 odds (95% CI = 0.41 to 0.63, P<0.001) of cycling at the time of
examination compared with cows in dairy herds; stage of lactation at the time of examination was the same in both herd types.
Furthermore, cows in dairy herds had an inferior uterine score (indicating poorer tone and a greater quantity of uterine fluid
present) compared with cows in beef herds. The likelihood of cycling at the time of examination increased with parity and stage of
lactation, but was reduced in cows that had experienced dystocia in the previous calving. The presence of cystic structures on the
ovaries increased with parity and stage of lactation. The likelihood of embryo/foetal death increased with parity and stage of
lactation. Dystocia was not associated with the presence of cystic structures or embryo death. Uterine score improved with parity
and stage of lactation, while cows that experienced dystocia in the previous calving had an inferior uterine score. Heterosis was
the only factor associated with increased likelihood of early ovulation. The fertility traits identified, and the associated risk factors,
provide useful information on the reproductive status of dairy and beef cows.Funding from the Department of Agriculture, Food and Marine Research Stimulus Fund (RSF 11/S/133) and the OptiMIR project is gratefully acknowledged
Herpetofaunal Inventories of the National Parks of South Florida and the Caribbean: Volume II. Virgin Islands National Park
Amphibian declines and extinctions have been documented around the world, often in protected
natural areas. Concern for this alarming trend has focused attention on the need to document all species of
amphibians that occur within U.S. National Parks and to search for any signs that amphibians may be
declining. This study, an inventory of amphibian species in Virgin Islands National Park, was conducted
from 2001 to 2003. The goals of the project were to create a georeferenced inventory of amphibian
species, use new analytical techniques to estimate proportion of sites occupied by each species, look for
any signs of amphibian decline (missing species, disease, die-offs, etc.), and to establish a protocol that
could be used for future monitoring efforts.
Several sampling methods were used to accomplish these goals. Visual encounter surveys and
anuran vocalization surveys were conducted in all habitats throughout the park to estimate the proportion
of sites or proportion of area occupied (PAO) by amphibian species in each habitat. Line transect methods
were used to estimate density of some amphibian species and double observer analysis was used to refine
counts based on detection probabilities. Opportunistic collections were used to augment the visual
encounter methods for rare species. Data were collected during four sampling periods and every major
trail system throughout the park was surveyed.
All of the amphibian species believed to occur on St. John were detected during these surveys.
One species not previously reported, the Cuban treefrog (Osteopilus septentrionalis), was also added to
the species list. That species and two others (Eleutherodactylus coqui and Eleutherodactylus lentus) bring
the total number of introduced amphibians on St. John to three. We detected most of the reptile species
thought to occur on St. John, but our methods were less suitable for reptiles compared to amphibians.
No amphibian species appear to be in decline at this time. We found no evidence of disease or of
malformations. Our surveys provide a snapshot picture of the status of the amphibian species, so
continued monitoring would be necessary to determine long-term trends, but several potential threats to
amphibians were identified. Invasive species, especially the Cuban treefrog, have the potential to decrease
populations of native amphibians. Introduced mammalian predators are also a potential threat, especially
to the reptiles of St. John, and mammalian grazers might have indirect effects on amphibians and reptiles
through habitat modification. Finally, loss of habitat to development outside the park boundary could
harm some important populations of amphibians and reptiles on the island
Simultaneous Attainment of High Electron and Ion Temperatures in ITB-Discharges with ECCD on ASDEX Upgrade
Influence of non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and Zeeman effects on magnetic equilibrium reconstruction using spectral motional Stark effect diagnostic
The Motional Stark Effect (MSE) diagnostic is a well established technique to infer the local internal magnetic field in fusion plasmas. In this paper, the existing forward model which describes the MSE data is extended by the Zeeman effect, fine-structure, and relativistic corrections in the interpretation of the MSE spectra for different experimental conditions at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. The contribution of the non-Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (non-LTE) populations among the magnetic sub-levels and the Zeeman effect on the derived plasma parameters is different. The obtained pitch angle is changed by 3°…4° and by 0.5°…1° including the non-LTE and the Zeeman effects into the standard statistical MSE model. The total correction is about 4°. Moreover, the variation of the magnetic field strength is significantly changed by 2.2% due to the Zeeman effect only. While the data on the derived pitch angle still could not be tested against the other diagnostics, the results from an equilibrium reconstruction solver confirm the obtained values for magnetic field strength
Characterization of copy number variants in a large multibreed population of beef and dairy cattle using high-density single nucleotide polymorphism genotype data
Copy number variants (CNVs)
are a form of genomic variation that changes
the structure of the genome through deletion or
duplication of stretches of DNA. The objective
of the present study was to characterize CNVs in
a large multibreed population of beef and dairy
bulls. The CNVs were called on the autosomes
of 5,551 cattle from 22 different beef and dairy
breeds, using 2 freely available software suites,
QuantiSNP and PennCNV. All CNVs were classified into either deletions or duplications. The
median concordance between PennCNV and
QuantiSNP, per animal, was 18.5% for deletions
and 0% for duplications. The low concordance
rate between PennCNV and QuantiSNP indicated
that neither algorithm, by itself, could identify
all CNVs in the population. In total, PennCNV
and QuantiSNP collectively identified 747,129
deletions and 432,523 duplications; 80.2% of all
duplications and 69.1% of all deletions were present only once in the population. Only 0.154% of
all CNVs identified were present in more than 50
animals in the population. The distribution of the
percentage of the autosomes that were composed
of deletions, per animal, was positively skewed,
as was the distribution for the percentage of the
autosomes that were composed of duplications,
per animal. The first quartile, median, and third
quartile of the distribution of the percentage of
the autosomes that were composed of deletions
were 0.019%, 0.037%, and 0.201%, respectively.
The first quartile, median, and third quartile of the
distribution of the percentage of the autosomes
that were composed of duplications were 0.013%,
0.028%, and 0.076%, respectively. The distributions of the number of deletions and duplications
per animal were both positively skewed. The interquartile range for the number of deletions per animal in the population was between 16 and 117,
whereas for duplications it was between 8 and
23. Per animal, there tended to be twice as many
deletions as duplications. The distribution of the
length of deletions was positively skewed, as was
the distribution of the length of duplications. The
interquartile range for the length of deletions in
the population was between 25 and 101 kb, and for
duplications the interquartile range was between
46 and 235 kb. Per animal, duplications tended to
be twice as long as deletions. This study provides a
description of the characteristics and distribution
of CNVs in a large multibreed population of beef
and dairy cattle
Impact of pharmaceutical promotion on prescribing decisions of general practitioners in Eastern Turkey
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Commercial sources of information are known to have greater influence than scientific sources on general practitioners' (GPs) prescribing behavior in under developed and developing countries. The study aimed to determine the self-reported impact of pharmaceutical promotion on the decision-making process of prescription of GPs in Eastern Turkey.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cross-sectional, exploratory survey was performed among 152 GPs working in the primary health centers and hospitals in Erzurum province of Eastern Turkey in 2006. A self-administered structured questionnaire was used. The questionnaire included questions regarding sociodemographics, number of patients per day, time per patient, frequency of sales representative visits to GPs, participation of GPs in training courses on prescribing (in-service training, drug companies), factors affecting prescribing decision, reference sources concerning prescribing and self-reported and self-rated effect of the activities of sales representatives on GPs prescribing decisions.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 152 subjects, 53.3% were male and 65.8% were working at primary health care centers, respectively. Mean patient per day was 58.3 ± 28.8 patients per GP. For majority of the GPs (73.7%), the most frequent resource used in case of any problems in prescribing process was drug guides of pharmaceutical companies. According to self-report of the GPs, their prescribing decisions were affected by participation in any training activity of drug companies, frequent visits by sales representatives, high number of patient examinations per day and low year of practice (p < 0.05 for all).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The results of this study suggest that for the majority of the GPs, primary reference sources concerning prescribing was commercial information provided by sales representatives of pharmaceutical companies, which were reported to be highly influential on their decision-making process of prescribing by GPs. Since this study was based on self-report, the influence reported by the GPs may have been underestimated.</p
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Laying the foundations for implementing Magnet principles in hospitals in Europe: A qualitative analysis
Background: Magnet hospitals, a concept developed in the U.S., have been associated with improved nurse recruitment and retention, and better patient outcomes. Magnet principles may be useful to address workforce challenges in European hospitals, but they have not been implemented or evaluated on a large scale in the European hospital context.
Objective: This study aims to explore the initial phase of implementing Magnet principles in 11 acute care hospitals in six European countries. The specific objectives of the study were to investigate the type of work that characterises the early phase of implementation and how implementation leaders engage with their context.
Methods: A multinational qualitative study was conducted, with data from 23 semi-structured, one-to-one interviews with implementation leaders in 11 acute care hospitals in six European countries. Thematic analyses guided the analysis of data.
Findings: Three themes of core work processes during the early phase of implementing Magnet principles in European hospitals were identified. The first theme, ‘Creating space for Magnet’, describes how work was directed towards creating both political and organisational space for the project. The second theme, ‘Framing to fit: understanding and interpreting Magnet principles’, describes the translational work to understand what the Magnet model entails and how it relates to the local hospital context. Finally, the third theme, ‘Calibrating speed and dose’, describes the strategic work of considering internal and external factors to adjust the process of implementation.
Conclusions: The first phase of implementation was characterised by conceptual and relational work; translating the Magnet concepts, considering the fit into existing structures and practices and making space for Magnet in the local context. Understanding the local context played an important role in shaping and guiding the navigation of professional and organisational tensions. Hospitals employed diverse strategies to either emphasise or downplay the role of nurses and nursing to facilitate progress in the implementation
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