Conservation of long-tailed macaques: Implications of the updated IUCN status and the CoVID-19 pandemic

The often synanthropic long-tailed macaque (Macaca fascicularis) is listed in Appendix II of CITES and was recently updated to Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List. The update was highly anticipated, as it can have wide-reaching implications for long-tailed macaque conservation and trade. Long-tailed macaques have suffered from intensive capture for biomedical research since the 1960s. From 2008–2019, at least 450,000 live long-tailed macaques, and over 700,000 “specimens” from an unknown number of individuals were part of this trade, with over 50,000 termed as wild-caught. These official trade numbers exclude laundering of wild-caught individuals as captive bred, harvesting for breeding center upkeep, their capture for the pet trade, hunting for consumption, and culling due to human-macaque conflicts. With Fooden’s population estimate of 3 million long-tailed macaques in Southeast Asia in 2006, this is likely not sustainable. In some areas, they have already been extirpated because of this trade, as detected by a survey of 200 km of suitable habitat in Cambodia in 2008. Long-tailed macaques are one of the most geographically widely dispersed and adaptable primate species. However, their flexibility and preference for the forest edge draws them to anthropogenic habitats, where their visibility results in assumptions of overabundance, as was demonstrated on Java in 2009 and 2017. Long-tailed macaques face many threats, and there is an urgent need for systematic demographic and range surveys across Southeast Asia, as well as investigation into local, regional and national perceptions of long-tailed macaques. Current conservation foci should include dynamic widespread synanthropic species, such as long-tailed macaques, which are often targets of intensive trade and other threats. Insights from such studies may be critical for effective conservation and management in the 21st century

Statin initiation and acute kidney injury following elective cardiovascular surgery: a population cohort study in Denmark

OBJECTIVES: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication of cardiac surgery. Statins may prevent post-surgical AKI, yet methodological concerns about existing studies raise questions about the magnitude of a protective effect. We sought to determine the effect of initiating a statin prior to elective cardiac surgery on post-surgical AKI in a regional Danish surgical cohort. METHODS: We identified adults who underwent cardiac surgery during 2006-11 using the Western Denmark Heart Registry. Presurgical medication use, pre- and post-surgical serum creatinine (sCr) measures, and other patient characteristics were obtained from Danish population-based registries. Post-surgical AKI was assessed using sCr measures within 5 days of surgery. The adjusted risk ratio (RR) of AKI and 95% confidence interval (CI) were estimated for patients who initiated a statin within 100 days prior to surgery compared with patients without prior statin use; long-term statin users were excluded to reduce healthy-user bias. Subanalyses were stratified by surgery type: coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and non-CABG surgeries. RESULTS: We identified 1929 CABG and 1775 non-CABG patients. AKI occurred in 25% of CABG and 28% of non-CABG surgeries, and in 29% of the non-users and 21% of the statin initiators. Half of CABG patients and 9% of non-CABG patients initiated a statin prior to surgery. The adjusted RRs for the effect of statin initiation on AKI were as follows: all surgeries combined, RR = 0.86 (95% CI: 0.74, 0.98); CABG, RR = 0.88 (0.74, 1.05); non-CABG RR = 0.87 (0.68, 1.11). CONCLUSIONS: Presurgical statin initiation is associated with a reduction in AKI risk after cardiac surgery

Perspectives on conservation impacts of the global primate trade

MFH and DRKN are grateful to Animal Protection Denmark and MFH to the Carlsberg Foundation (grant number CF21-0473). AMM thanks the Whitley Fund for Nature, The Rufford Small Grants, The International Primate Protection League, and Mr. Martin Stanley for their long-term financial support toward night monkey conservation.The global trade in nonhuman primates represents a substantial threat to ecosystem health, human health, and primate conservation worldwide. Most of the primate trade involves trade for pet-keeping, consumption, or biomedical experimentation. We present an overview of international primate trade through five case studies; each describes a different facet of this trade. We draw on published scientific literature, media outlets, and open access datasets, including the CITES Trade Database to build these case studies. Case study 1 describes the role of introduced island populations of Macaca and Chlorocebus in trade for biomedical experimentation; case study 2 covers the global health threats posed by the primate trade, including zoonotic disease transmission once animals enter the trade pipeline; case study 3 addresses the ways that changing patterns of primate trade, from local markets to online, have increased the demand for primates as pets; case study 4 recognizes the role that local environmental activism can play in mitigating trade; and case study 5 shows variation between global regions in their contribution to the primate trade. We recommend greater oversight of primate trade, especially domestic trade within primate range countries, and real-time reporting to CITES to accurately track primate trade. Effective conservation-focused regulations that can minimise the negative effects of primate trade must be tailored to specific regions and species and require transparency, careful regulation, field research, and an understanding of the magnitude of this trade.Peer reviewe

Dose escalation to high-risk sub-volumes based on non-invasive imaging of hypoxia and glycolytic activity in canine solid tumors:a feasibility study

INTRODUCTION: Glycolytic activity and hypoxia are associated with poor prognosis and radiation resistance. Including both the tumor uptake of 2-deoxy-2-[(18) F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and the proposed hypoxia tracer copper(II)diacetyl-bis(N(4))-methylsemithio-carbazone (Cu-ATSM) in targeted therapy planning may therefore lead to improved tumor control. In this study we analyzed the overlap between sub-volumes of FDG and hypoxia assessed by the uptake of (64)Cu-ATSM in canine solid tumors, and evaluated the possibilities for dose redistribution within the gross tumor volume (GTV). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scans of five spontaneous canine solid tumors were included. FDG-PET/CT was obtained at day 1, (64)Cu-ATSM at day 2 and 3 (3 and 24 h pi.). GTV was delineated and CT images were co-registered. Sub-volumes for 3 h and 24 h (64)Cu-ATSM (Cu3 and Cu24) were defined by a threshold based method. FDG sub-volumes were delineated at 40% (FDG40) and 50% (FDG50) of SUV(max). The size of sub-volumes, intersection and biological target volume (BTV) were measured in a treatment planning software. By varying the average dose prescription to the tumor from 66 to 85 Gy, the possible dose boost (D( B )) was calculated for the three scenarios that the optimal target for the boost was one, the union or the intersection of the FDG and (64)Cu-ATSM sub-volumes. RESULTS: The potential boost volumes represented a fairly large fraction of the total GTV: Cu3 49.8% (26.8-72.5%), Cu24 28.1% (2.4-54.3%), FDG40 45.2% (10.1-75.2%), and FDG50 32.5% (2.6-68.1%). A BTV including the union (∪) of Cu3 and FDG would involve boosting to a larger fraction of the GTV, in the case of Cu3∪FDG40 63.5% (51.8-83.8) and Cu3∪FDG50 48.1% (43.7-80.8). The union allowed only a very limited D( B ) whereas the intersection allowed a substantial dose escalation. CONCLUSIONS: FDG and (64)Cu-ATSM sub-volumes were only partly overlapping, suggesting that the tracers offer complementing information on tumor physiology. Targeting the combined PET positive volume (BTV) for dose escalation within the GTV results in a limited D( B ). This suggests a more refined dose redistribution based on a weighted combination of the PET tracers in order to obtain an improved tumor control

Nationwide Survival Benefit after Implementation of First-Line Immunotherapy for Patients with Advanced NSCLC—Real World Efficacy

SIMPLE SUMMARY: The expected change in overall survival (OS) in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) after the clinical implementation of immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy (ICI) has not been substantially investigated in large real-world cohorts outside randomized controlled trials (RCTs). In this nationwide study, we compared OS before and after the implementation of ICI and found that 3-year OS tripled from 6% to 18%. Patients receiving ICI had a lower OS than demonstrated in RCTs, except for patients with performance status (PS) 0. More than a fifth of the patients progressed early within the first six ICI cycles. Adverse prognostic factors were PS ≥ 1 and metastases to the bone and liver. ABSTRACT: Background The selection of patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) treatment remains challenging. This real-world study aimed to compare the overall survival (OS) before and after the implementation of ICIs, to identify OS prognostic factors, and to assess treatment data in first-line (1L) ICI-treated patients without epidermal growth factor receptor mutation or anaplastic lymphoma kinase translocation. Methods Data from the Danish NSCLC population initiated with 1L palliative antineoplastic treatment from 1 January 2013 to 1 October 2018, were extracted from the Danish Lung Cancer Registry (DLCR). Long-term survival and median OS pre- and post-approval of 1L ICI were compared. From electronic health records, additional clinical and treatment data were obtained for ICI-treated patients from 1 March 2017 to 1 October 2018. Results The OS was significantly improved in the DLCR post-approval cohort (n = 2055) compared to the pre-approval cohort (n = 1658). The 3-year OS rates were 18% (95% CI 15.6–20.0) and 6% (95% CI 5.1–7.4), respectively. On multivariable Cox regression, bone (HR = 1.63) and liver metastases (HR = 1.47), performance status (PS) 1 (HR = 1.86), and PS ≥ 2 (HR = 2.19) were significantly associated with poor OS in ICI-treated patients. Conclusion OS significantly improved in patients with advanced NSCLC after ICI implementation in Denmark. In ICI-treated patients, PS ≥ 1, and bone and liver metastases were associated with a worse prognosis