Bacteriological cultures on admission of the burn patient : to do or not to do, that's the question

A

Birds flee en mass from New Year’s Eve fireworks

Anthropogenic disturbances of wildlife, such as noise, human presence, hunting activity, and motor vehicles, are becoming an increasing concern in conservation biology. Fireworks are an important part of celebrations worldwide, and although humans often find fireworks spectacular, fireworks are probably perceived quite differently by wild animals. Behavioral responses to fireworks are difficult to study at night, and little is known about the negative effects fireworks may have on wildlife. Every year, thousands of tons of fireworks are lit by civilians on New Year’s Eve in the Netherlands. Using an operational weather radar, we quantified the reaction of birds to fireworks in 3 consecutive years. Thousands of birds took flight shortly after midnight, with high aerial movements lasting at least 45 min and peak densities measured at 500 m altitude. The highest densities were observed over grasslands and wetlands, including nature conservation sites, where thousands of waterfowl rest and feed. The Netherlands is the most important winter staging area for several species of waterfowl in Europe. We estimate that hundreds of thousands of birds in the Netherlands take flight due to fireworks. The spatial and temporal extent of disturbance is substantial, and potential consequences are discussed. Weather radar provides a unique opportunity to study the reaction of birds to fireworks, which has otherwise remained elusive

Field validation of radar systems for monitoring bird migration

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Advances in information technology are increasing the use of radar as a tool to investigate and monitor bird migration movements. We set up a field campaign to compare and validate outputs from different radar systems. Here we compare the pattern of nocturnal bird migration movements recorded by four different radar systems at a site in southern Sweden. Within the range of the weather radar (WR) Ängelholm, we operated a "BirdScan" (BS) dedicated bird radar, a standard marine radar (MR), and a tracking radar (TR). The measures of nightly migration intensities, provided by three of the radars (WR, BS, MR), corresponded well with respect to the relative seasonal course of migration, while absolute migration intensity agreed reasonably only between WR and BS. Flight directions derived from WR, BS and TR corresponded very well, despite very different sample sizes. Estimated mean ground speeds differed among all four systems. The correspondence among systems was highest under clear sky conditions and at high altitudes. Synthesis and applications. While different radar systems can provide useful information on nocturnal bird migration, they have distinct strengths and weaknesses, and all require supporting data to allow for species level inference. Weather radars continuously detect avian biomass flows across a wide altitude band, making them a useful tool for monitoring and predictive applications at regional to continental scales that do not rely on resolving individuals. BirdScan and marine radar's strengths are in local and low altitude applications, such as collision risks with man-made structures and airport safety, although marine radars should not be trusted for absolute intensities of movement. In quantifying flight behaviour of individuals, TR is the most informative.We acknowledge the support provided by COST – European Cooperation in Science and Technology through the Action ES1305 ‘European Network for the Radar Surveillance of Animal Movement’ (ENRAM) in facilitating this collaboration. The study received financial support from Gyllenstierna Krapperup ́s Foundation and the Centre for Animal Movement Research (CAnMove) financed by a Linnaeus grant (349-2007-8690) from the Swedish Research Council and Lund University

Chronic Prednisolone Treatment Aggravates Hyperglycemia in Mice Fed a High-Fat Diet but Does Not Worsen Dietary Fat-Induced Insulin Resistance

textabstractSynthetic glucocorticoids such as prednisolone have potent antiinflammatory actions. Unfortunately, these drugs induce severe adverse effects in patients, many of which resemble features of the metabolic syndrome, such as insulin resistance. In this study, we investigated whether adverse effects of prednisolone on glucose homeostasis are aggravated in mice with compromised insulin sensitivity due to a high-fat diet by applying various methods to analyze changes in insulin sensitivity in mice. C57BL/6J micewerefed a high-fat diet for 6wkandtreated with either prednisolone (10 mg/kg · d) or vehicle for the last 7 d. Insulin sensitivity and blood glucose kinetics were analyzed with state-of-the-art stable isotope procedures in different experimental conditions. Prednisolone treatment aggravated fasting hyperglycemia and hyperinsulinemia caused by high-fat feeding, resulting in a higher homeostatic assessment model of insulin resistance. In addition, prednisolone-treated high-fat diet-fed mice appeared less insulin sensitive by detailed analysis of basal glucose kinetics. Remarkably, using hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic or hyperglycemic clamp techniques, neither hepatic nor peripheral insulin resistance was worsened in the group that was treated with prednisolone. Yet analysis of hepatic glucose metabolism revealed that prednisolone did alter glycogen balance by reducing glycogen synthase flux under hyperinsulinemic as well as hyperglycemic conditions. In addition to elevated insulin levels, prednisolone-treated mice showed a major rise in plasma leptin and fibroblast growth factor 21 levels. Our data indicate that prednisoloneinduced adverse effects on glucose metabolism in high-fat diet-fed mice do not reflect impaired insulin sensitivity but may be caused by other changes in the hormonal regulatory network controlling glucose metabolism such as fibroblast growth factor 21 and leptin. Copyrigh