A Survey of the Fishes of the Mulberry River, Arkansas

Announcement of plans to dam Mulberry River, Arkansas, by the United States Army Corps of Engineers has generated some dispute. Most agruments against damming the stream revolve around environmental degradation and loss of aesthetic values. This report serves as a pre-impoundment survey of the fishes of the Mulberry River so that possible effects of impoundment can be more objectively assessed. Knowledge on the fishes of the Mulberry River is severely lacking. The first study was by Jordan and Gilbert (1886) who collected in the southern U.S. in July, August, and September, 1884. They collected in many streams in Arkansas including several tributaries of the Arkansas River

Vertebrate Natural History Notes from Arkansas, 2017

Because meaningful observations of natural history are not always part of larger studies, important pieces of information often are unreported. Small details, however, can fills gaps in understanding and also lead to interesting questions about ecological relationships or environmental change. We have compiled recent observations of foods, reproduction, record size, parasites, and distribution of 30 species of fishes, new records of distribution and parasites of 2 species of amphibians, and new records of distribution, parasites, reproduction and anomalies of 11 species of mammals

Pre- and Post Impoundment Ichthyoparasite Succession in a New Arkansas Reservoir

Helminth and crustacean parasites from 2,387 Micropterus dolomieui, M. punctulatus, and M. salmoides were utilized to monitor annual pre- and postimpoundment succession patterns spanning eight con- tinuous years in Beaver Reservoir, Arkansas. Incidence of infection by ichthyoparasites with direct life cycles (monogenetic trematodes, leeches, and crustaceans) generally increased following impoundment, although leeches remained relatively constant. Exceptions to this general pattern occurred. Incidence of ichthyoparasites with indirect life cycles (digenetic trematodes, cestodes, acanthocephalans, and nematodes) decreased immediately following impoundment with subsequent increases to a point equal or above that of preimpoundment, although exceptions occurred. Time for species adaptation to the reservoir environment varied, with some species disappearing and others occurring for the first time. Diversity indices indicated that a moderate parasite community was maintained in the White River two years prior to its impoundment to form Beaver Reservoir. During the first impoundment year the parasite community declined to the lowest postimpoundment level with the abrupt change in habitat. Throughout the following four post- impoundment years the parasite community gradually increased to become much larger and more complex than it was during preimpoundment. Parasite community succession stabilization occurred in the fifth postimpoundment year and continued the following year indicating the establishment of a climax ichthyoparasite community

Statistical analysis plan for the LAKANA trial: a cluster-randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blinded, parallel group, three-arm clinical trial testing the effects of mass drug administration of azithromycin on mortality and other outcomes among 1–11-month-old infants in Mali

BACKGROUND:The Large-scale Assessment of the Key health-promoting Activities of two New mass drug administration regimens with Azithromycin (LAKANA) trial in Mali aims to evaluate the efficacy and safety of azithromycin (AZI) mass drug administration (MDA) to 1–11-month-old infants as well as the impact of the intervention on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and mechanisms of action of azithromycin. To improve the transparency and quality of this clinical trial, we prepared this statistical analysis plan (SAP). METHODS/DESIGN: LAKANA is a cluster randomized trial that aims to address the mortality and health impacts of biannual and quarterly AZI MDA. AZI is given to 1–11-month-old infants in a high-mortality setting where a seasonal malaria chemoprevention (SMC) program is in place. The participating villages are randomly assigned to placebo (control), two-dose AZI (biannual azithromycin-MDA), and four-dose AZI (quarterly azithromycin-MDA) in a 3:4:2 ratio. The primary outcome of the study is mortality among the intention-to-treat population of 1–11-month-old infants. We will evaluate relative risk reduction between the study arms using a mixed-effects Poisson model with random intercepts for villages, using log link function with person-years as an offset variable. We will model outcomes related to secondary objectives of the study using generalized linear models with considerations on clustering. CONCLUSION: The SAP written prior to data collection completion will help avoid reporting bias and data-driven analysis for the primary and secondary aims of the trial. If there are deviations from the analysis methods described here, they will be described and justified in the publications of the trial results. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov ID NCT04424511. Registered on 11 June 2020

International multicenter evaluation of the DiversiLab bacterial typing system for Escherichia coli and Klebsiella spp.

Successful multidrug-resistant clones are increasing in prevalence globally, which makes the ability to identify these clones urgent. However, adequate, easy-to-perform, and reproducible typing methods are lacking. We investigated whether DiversiLab (DL), an automated repetitive-sequence-based PCR bacterial typing system (bioMérieux), is suitable for comparing isolates analyzed at different geographic centers. A total of 39 Escherichia coli and 39 Klebsiella species isolates previously typed by the coordinating center were analyzed. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis (PFGE) confirmed the presence of one cluster of 6 isolates, three clusters of 3 isolates, and three clusters of 2 isolates for each set of isolates. DL analysis was performed in 11 centers in six different countries using the same protocol. The DL profiles of 425 E. coli and 422 Klebsiella spp. were obtained. The DL system showed a lower discriminatory power for E. coli than did PFGE. The local DL data showed a low concordance, as indicated by the adjusted Rand and Wallace coefficients (0.132 to 0.740 and 0.070 to 1.0 [E. coli] and 0.091 to 0.864 and 0.056 to 1.0 [Klebsiella spp.], respectively). The central analysis showed a significantly improved concordance (0.473 to 1.0 and 0.290 to 1.0 [E. coli] and 0.513 to 0.965 and 0.425 to 1.0 [Klebsiella spp.], respectively). The misclassifications of profiles for individual isolates were mainly due to inconsistent amplification, which was most likely due to variations in the quality and amounts of the isolated DNA used for amplification. Despite local variations, the DL system has the potential to indicate the occurrence of clonal outbreaks in an international setting, provided there is strict adherence to standardized, reproducible DNA isolation methods and analysis protocols, all supported by a central database for profile comparisons

Building connectomes using diffusion MRI: why, how and but

Why has diffusion MRI become a principal modality for mapping connectomes in vivo? How do different image acquisition parameters, fiber tracking algorithms and other methodological choices affect connectome estimation? What are the main factors that dictate the success and failure of connectome reconstruction? These are some of the key questions that we aim to address in this review. We provide an overview of the key methods that can be used to estimate the nodes and edges of macroscale connectomes, and we discuss open problems and inherent limitations. We argue that diffusion MRI-based connectome mapping methods are still in their infancy and caution against blind application of deep white matter tractography due to the challenges inherent to connectome reconstruction. We review a number of studies that provide evidence of useful microstructural and network properties that can be extracted in various independent and biologically-relevant contexts. Finally, we highlight some of the key deficiencies of current macroscale connectome mapping methodologies and motivate future developments