Invertebrate Diet of Breeding and Nonbreeding Crested Caracaras (Caracara cheriway) in Florida

We compared the invertebrate component of the diet of breeding and nonbreeding northern Crested Caracaras (Caracara cheriway) during the breeding season, January through April, in Florida, using pellet analysis. Pellets from breeding adults were collected at active nests and pellets of nonbreeding caracaras were collected from beneath a communal roost. During the breeding season, breeding and nonbreeding caracaras consumed invertebrate prey from a minimum of 61 genera and a total of 33 families from eight orders. Nonbreedingcaracaras consumed greater total numbers of invertebrates, more different prey types, and a greater diversity of invertebrates than did breeding caracaras. Pellets of nonbreeding caracaras contained more invertebrates per pellet, and carrion insects occurred more frequently in pellets of nonbreeding caracaras. Our findings suggest hypotheses regarding the possible role of intraspecific competition in the use of particular habitats and food resources by breeding and nonbreeding caracaras in Florida. Breeding pairs of caracaras are highly territorial and primarily feed nestlings larger-sized vertebrate prey, and field observations indicated that territorial adults can exclude young (nonbreeding) birds from their breeding areas; thus, diet differences may reflect social structure within this population. If pairs of breeding adults exclude conspecifics from important food resources or foraging habitats, nonbreeders may hunt arthropods or rely on carrion by necessity, especially if nonbreeders occur in suboptimal habitat in which other prey are less available

Warren McCulloch and the British cyberneticians

Warren McCulloch was a significant influence on a number of British cyberneticians, as some British pioneers in this area were on him. He interacted regularly with most of the main figures on the British cybernetics scene, forming close friendships and collaborations with several, as well as mentoring others. Many of these interactions stemmed from a 1949 visit to London during which he gave the opening talk at the inaugural meeting of the Ratio Club, a gathering of brilliant, mainly young, British scientists working in areas related to cybernetics. This paper traces some of these relationships and interaction

Risk of diabetes mellitus among users of immune checkpoint inhibitors: A population‐based cohort study

Background Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) are increasingly established cancer therapeutics, but they are associated with new-onset diabetes mellitus (DM). Such risks have not been adequately quantified, and between-class and -sex differences remain unexplored. Methods This was a prospective cohort study of cancer patients receiving any ICI in Hong Kong between 2013 and 2021. Patients with known DM were excluded. Due to few patients using other ICIs, only programmed cell death 1 inhibitors (PD-1i) and programmed death ligand 1 inhibitors (PD-L1i) were compared, alongside between-sex comparison. When comparing PD-1i against PD-L1i, patients with the use of other ICIs or both PD-1i and PD-L1 were further excluded. Inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) was used to minimize between-group covariate imbalances. Results Altogether, 3375 patients were analyzed (65.2% males, median age 62.2 [interquartile range 53.8–69.5] years old). Over a median follow-up of 1.0 [0.4–2.4] years, new-onset DM occurred in 457 patients (13.5%), with a 3-year risk of 14.5% [95% confidence interval 13.3%, 15.8%]. IPTW achieve acceptable covariate balance between sexes, and between PD-1i (N = 622) and PD-L1i (N = 2426) users. Males had significantly higher risk of new-onset DM (hazard ratio 1.35 [1.09, 1.67], p = 0.006), while PD-1i and PD-L1i users did not have significantly different risks (hazard ratio vs PD-L1i 0.81 [0.59, 1.11], p = 0.182). These were consistent in those with at least 1 year of follow-up, and on competing risk regression. Conclusion Users of ICI may have a substantial risk of new-onset DM, which may be higher in males but did not differ between PD-1i and PD-L1i

Simplifying the clinical classification of polymerase gamma (POLG) disease based on age of onset; studies using a cohort of 155 cases

Background: Variants in POLG are one of the most common causes of inherited mitochondrial disease. Phenotypic classification of POLG disease has evolved haphazardly making it complicated and difficult to implement in everyday clinical practise. The aim of our study was to simplify the classification and facilitate better clinical recognition. / Methods: A multinational, retrospective study using data from 155 patients with POLG variants recruited from seven European countries. / Results: We describe the spectrum of clinical features associated with POLG variants in the largest known cohort of patients. While clinical features clearly form a continuum, stratifying patients simply according to age of onset—onset prior to age 12 years; onset between 12 and 40 years and onset after the age of 40 years, permitted us to identify clear phenotypic and prognostic differences. Prior to 12 years of age, liver involvement (87%), seizures (84%), and feeding difficulties (84%) were the major features. For those with onset between 12 and 40 years, ataxia (90%), peripheral neuropathy (84%), and seizures (71%) predominated, while for those with onset over 40 years, ptosis (95%), progressive external ophthalmoplegia (89%), and ataxia (58%) were the major clinical features. The earlier the onset the worse the prognosis. Patients with epilepsy and those with compound heterozygous variants carried significantly worse prognosis. / Conclusion: Based on our data, we propose a simplified POLG disease classification, which can be used to guide diagnostic investigations and predict disease course