Bowhead Whale Distribution in the Southeastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf, Summer 1979

The distribution of bowhead whales in the southeastern Beaufort Sea and Amundsen Gulf was determined from observations aboard commercial resupply vessels. Fifty-four to sixty-two whale sightings were recorded on the 2150 km (1160 nm) of transects. Distribution of whale sightings along transects was clumped. The proportion of whales seen near ice was significantly greater than the proportion of transect surveyed near ice. Our observations and interviews indicate that bowheads are seen over a period of several weeks in many areas where they are seen annually. Both the locations and seasonality of whale occurrence appear similar to distribution patterns extracted from sightings of nearly a century ago.Key words: Beaufort Sea - Admundsen Gulf, bowhead, cetacea, vessel transects, whaleMots clés: mer de Beaufort, golfe Admundsen, baleine boréale, cétacés, sectionnement par navire, balein

Benthic Prey in a Bowhead Whale from the Northern Bering Sea

Stomach contents were examined from a bowhead whale, Balaena mysticetus, killed at Gambell, Alaska, on 1 May 1982. It contained an estimated 20-40 litres of recently ingested prey, principally gammarid amphipods (91.7% of the volume of a 157-ml subsample) and cumaceans (7%). All identified prey were primarily epibenthic forms. The stomach of this whale was significant in several respects: (1) it contained the largest amount of food recorded in any whale taken and examined in spring; (2) it provided the first direct evidence of bowheads feeding in the Bering Sea; and (3) the contents indicated that benthic prey are sometimes intentionally fed upon.Key words: Balaena mysticetus, benthic prey, Bering Sea, bowhead whale, feeding, gammarid amphipodsMots clés: Balaena mysticetus, proie benthique, mer de Béring, baleine boréale, alimentation, amphipodes gammaridé

Use of diagnosis codes for detection of clinically significant opioid poisoning in the emergency department: A retrospective analysis of a surveillance case definition

Abstract Background Although fatal opioid poisonings tripled from 1999 to 2008, data describing nonfatal poisonings are rare. Public health authorities are in need of tools to track opioid poisonings in near real time. Methods We determined the utility of ICD-9-CM diagnosis codes for identifying clinically significant opioid poisonings in a state-wide emergency department (ED) surveillance system. We sampled visits from four hospitals from July 2009 to June 2012 with diagnosis codes of 965.00, 965.01, 965.02 and 965.09 (poisoning by opiates and related narcotics) and/or an external cause of injury code of E850.0-E850.2 (accidental poisoning by opiates and related narcotics), and developed a novel case definition to determine in which cases opioid poisoning prompted the ED visit. We calculated the percentage of visits coded for opioid poisoning that were clinically significant and compared it to the percentage of visits coded for poisoning by non-opioid agents in which there was actually poisoning by an opioid agent. We created a multivariate regression model to determine if other collected triage data can improve the positive predictive value of diagnosis codes alone for detecting clinically significant opioid poisoning. Results 70.1 % of visits (Standard Error 2.4 %) coded for opioid poisoning were primarily prompted by opioid poisoning. The remainder of visits represented opioid exposure in the setting of other primary diseases. Among non-opioid poisoning codes reviewed, up to 36 % were reclassified as an opioid poisoning. In multivariate analysis, only naloxone use improved the positive predictive value of ICD-9-CM codes for identifying clinically significant opioid poisoning, but was associated with a high false negative rate. Conclusions This surveillance mechanism identifies many clinically significant opioid overdoses with a high positive predictive value. With further validation, it may help target control measures such as prescriber education and pharmacy monitoring