Where do Great White Egrets Casmerodius albus emerging in Germany originate? : First evidence from satellite tracking of a bird and from new ring recoveries

Der Silberreiher trat bis zum Ende des 20. Jahrhunderts in Deutschland nur als Ausnahmeerscheinung auf, zählt seither jedoch zu den regelmäßigen Gastvögeln im Winterhalbjahr. Vereinzelt kommt es auch zu Übersommerungen. Die Herkunft dieser Vögel ist weitgehend unbekannt. Erstmals in Mitteleuropa konnte von uns ein Silberreiher mit einem Satellitensender versehen und von Februar 2007 bis zum Ende der Datenaufnahme für diesen Bericht im April 2010 verfolgt werden. Der Vogel überwinterte dreimal in Ostdeutschland und hielt sich 2008 und 2009 während der Brutzeit sehr ortstreu über mehrere Monate in der Ukraine auf. Diesen ortstreuen Phasen zur Brutzeit folgten jeweils nachbrutzeitliche Wanderungen über mehrere 100 km, die als Mauserzug interpretiert werden. Erst im Laufe des Oktobers fand der eigentliche Zug ins Überwinterungsgebiet statt. Ringfunde aus der Zeit nach dem deutlichen Bestandsanstieg in Deutschland geben außerdem erste Hinweise darauf, dass die im Nordosten Deutschlands als Gastvögel auftretenden Silberreiher auch aus Westfrankreich und Polen stammen können und dass zumindest in Süddeutschland Vögel aus den traditionellen ungarischen Brutgebieten auftreten.Until the end of the 20th Century the Great White Egret was a rare vagrant in Germany. Today, it is a regular winter guest with a few birds staying during summer. The origin of these birds is largely unknown. For the first time in Central Europe we could attach a satellite transmitter to a Great White Egret and follow the bird from February 2007 until end of data registration for this manuscript in April 2010. The bird three times stayed for winter in Eastern Germany and spent the breeding seasons 2008 and 2009 in a relatively small area in the Ukraine. These phases with few movements were followed by migrations of several hundred kilometers which can be interpreted as moult migration before migration to the wintering site during October took place. Ring recoveries from the time since the increase of Great White Egret numbers in Germany also give first evidence that birds emerging in Northeastern Germany may also originate from western France and Poland and that in southern Germany at least birds from the traditional Hungarian breeding sites may occur

Four-year satellite tracking of a White Stork Ciconia ciconia since independence : description of an odyssey

Ein nestjunger Weißstorch aus der Gegend von Kaliningrad, Russland, wurde im Juli 2000 in der Biologischen Station Rybatschij aufgezogen und im September verspätet freigelassen. Im Rahmen eines Projektes zur Untersuchung des Orientierungsvermögens wurde er mit einem Satellitensender (14554) ausgestattet. Obwohl die Weißstörche aus dem Kaliningrader Gebiet normalerweise nach SO ziehen, wanderte der besenderte Vogel nach SW ab, überquerte das Mittelmeer von Frankreich nach Tunesien, verbrachte seinen ersten Winter und zweiten Sommer in Nordafrika und seinen zweiten Winter im Tschad-See-Gebiet im Norden von Nigeria und Kamerun. Im Sommer 2002 hielt er sich auf der Iberischen Halbinsel auf, im Winter 2002/2003 im äußersten Süden Spaniens. Im Sommer 2003 kehrte der Storch im Alter von 3 Jahren in das Verbreitungsgebiet osteuropäischer Weißstörche zurück – nach Nordpolen, nur 220 km südwestlich von seinem Geburtsort, wo er möglicherweise brütete. Der Wegzug 2003 verlief über die für osteuropäische Weißstörche typische Ostroute. In Afrika zog der Storch weit nach Westen – bis in den West-Tschad – sodass sich sein Winterquartier nur 175 km von dem Gebiet entfernt befand, das er 2002 über die Westroute erreicht hatte.A White Stork from the Kaliningrad region of Russia was taken into captivity as a nestling in 2000, raised at the Biological Station Rybachy and released after a retention experiment in September. The bird was tagged with a satellite transmitter 14554 as part of an investigation of the orientation abilities of juvenile White Storks. In the first autumn, the bird moved towards the SW, even though the normal migratory direction for the storks from Kaliningrad is SE. The bird crossed the Mediterranean from France to Tunisia, and spent its first winter and second summer in North Africa. It spent its second winter in the Lake Chad area, in northern Nigeria and Cameroon. In summer 2002 it was in the Iberian peninsula, in winter 2002/2003 in the southernmost part of Spain. At the age of 3 years this bird returned to the distribution area of East European White Storks. It spent the summer (possibly bred) in northern Poland, 220 km SSW of its natal site. Autumn migration 2003 followed the eastern flyway typical of East European White Storks. When in Africa, the bird moved far to the W, to western Chad, so that its wintering area 2003 was only 175 km away from the area that had been reached in 2002 via the western flyway

Artificial Intelligence in Multiphoton Tomography: Atopic Dermatitis Diagnosis

The diagnostic possibilities of multiphoton tomography (MPT) in dermatology have already been demonstrated. Nevertheless, the analysis of MPT data is still time-consuming and operator dependent. We propose a fully automatic approach based on convolutional neural networks (CNNs) to fully realize the potential of MPT. In total, 3,663 MPT images combining both morphological and metabolic information were acquired from atopic dermatitis (AD) patients and healthy volunteers. These were used to train and tune CNNs to detect the presence of living cells, and if so, to diagnose AD, independently of imaged layer or position. The proposed algorithm correctly diagnosed AD in 97.0 ± 0.2% of all images presenting living cells. The diagnosis was obtained with a sensitivity of 0.966 ± 0.003, specificity of 0.977 ± 0.003 and F-score of 0.964 ± 0.002. Relevance propagation by deep Taylor decomposition was used to enhance the algorithm’s interpretability. Obtained heatmaps show what aspects of the images are important for a given classification. We showed that MPT imaging can be combined with artificial intelligence to successfully diagnose AD. The proposed approach serves as a framework for the automatic diagnosis of skin disorders using MPT

Evaluation of Ceftaroline Activity against Heteroresistant Vancomycin-Intermediate Staphylococcus aureus and Vancomycin-Intermediate Methicillin-Resistant S. aureus Strains in an In Vitro Pharmacokinetic/Pharmacodynamic Model: Exploring the “Seesaw Effect”

A “seesaw effect” in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has been demonstrated, whereby susceptibility to β-lactam antimicrobials increases as glyco- and lipopeptide susceptibility decreases. We investigated this effect by evaluating the activity of the anti-MRSA cephalosporin ceftaroline against isogenic pairs of MRSA strains with various susceptibilities to vancomycin in an in vitro pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic (PK/PD) model. The activities of ceftaroline at 600 mg every 12 h (q12h) (targeted free maximum concentration of drug in serum [fCmax], 15.2 μg/ml; half-life [t1/2], 2.3 h) and vancomycin at 1 g q12h (targeted fCmax, 18 μg/ml; t1/2, 6 h) were evaluated against 3 pairs of isogenic clinical strains of MRSA that developed increased MICs to vancomycin in patients while on therapy using a two-compartment hollow-fiber PK/PD model with a starting inoculum of ∼107 CFU/ml over a 96-h period. Bacterial killing and development of resistance were evaluated. Expression of penicillin-binding proteins (PBPs) 2 and 4 was evaluated by reverse transcription (RT)-PCR. The achieved pharmacokinetic parameters were 98 to 119% of the targeted values. Ceftaroline and vancomycin were bactericidal against 5/6 and 1/6 strains, respectively, at 96 h. Ceftaroline was more active against the mutant strains than the parent strains, with this difference being statistically significant for 2/3 strain pairs at 96 h. The level of PBP2 expression was 4.4× higher in the vancomycin-intermediate S. aureus (VISA) strain in 1/3 pairs. The levels of PBP2 and PBP4 expression were otherwise similar between the parent and mutant strains. These data support the seesaw hypothesis that ceftaroline, like traditional β-lactams, is more active against strains that are less susceptible to vancomycin even when the ceftaroline MICs are identical. Further research to explore these unique findings is warranted.This work was funded by an investigator-initiated grant from Forest Laboratories. M.J.R. is funded in part by NIH R21A1092055-01. We thank Abbott Laboratories for the use of the fluorescence polarization immunoassay analyzer for determination of vancomycin concentrations. We also thank Alexander Tomasz (The Rockefeller University, New York, NY) for providing strains JH-1 and JH-9. M.J.R. has received grant support, consulted for, or provided lectures for Astellas, Cubist, Forest, Pfizer, Novartis, and Rib-X. B.J.W., M.E.S., and G.W.K. have no potential conflicts of interest to declare

Examining warfarin underutilization rates in patients with atrial fibrillation: Detailed chart review essential to capture contraindications to warfarin therapy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Atrial fibrillation affects an estimated 2.5 million Americans and incurs an average annual stroke risk of 4.5% per year. Despite warfarin reducing stroke risk by approximately 66%, prior studies show warfarin usage rates to be about 50%. However, the methods that define warfarin as "inappropriate underutilization" might not be sensitive enough to pick up relative contraindications. We assessed the inappropriate underutilization of warfarin in atrial fibrillation patients at our hospital by abstracting individual patient charts.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Medical records were reviewed to determine stroke risk factors, warfarin use, and documented contraindications to warfarin use in 364 consecutive patients with atrial fibrillation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Amongst 364 atrial fibrillation patients, 54.6% received warfarin anticoagulation. Overall, 29.5 % of patients had documented reasons for not prescribing warfarin. Primary reasons listed by treating physicians included: gastrointestinal bleed 10.7%, secondary/transient atrial fibrillation 8.2%, and fall risk 6.3%. Only 7.1% of the patients had no documented reasons for the lack of warfarin use.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Consistent with previous reports, 45.4% of patients in this atrial fibrillation cohort were not prescribed warfarin. However, after reviewing medical charts for documented reasons why warfarin was not used, the inappropriate underutilization rate was only 7.1%. These findings suggest that studies utilizing administrative database and ICD-9 CM coding might overestimate warfarin underutilization.</p

Complete Genome Sequencing of Acinetobacter sp. Strain LoGeW2-3, Isolated from the Pellet of a White Stork, Reveals a Novel Class D Beta-Lactamase Gene

Whole-genome sequencing of Acinetobacter sp. strain LoGeW2-3, isolated from the pellet of a white stork (Ciconia ciconia), reveals the presence of a plasmid of 179,399 bp encoding a CRISPR-Cas (clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats and associated genes) system of the I-F type, and the chromosomally encoded novel class D beta-lactamase OXA-568

Hypoglycemia After Administration of Somatostatin Analog (SMS 201-995) in Metastatic Carcinoid

SMS 201-995 (Sandoz Pharmaceuticals. East Hanover NJ) is a synthetic peptide analog of native somatostatin that has been used to relieve .symptoms caused by neuroendocrine tumors. Reports have described an insulin suppressive effect of SMS 201-995 that results in elevations of blood glucose. We report a patient with a metastatic small bowel carcinoid and renal failure in whom mild symptomatic hypoglycemia occurred 30 to 60 minutes after SMS 201-995 administration. No increase in insulin or decreases in glucagon. Cortisol, or catecholamines were observed during these hypoglycemic episodes. Elevated levels of growth hormone fell gradually following SMS 201-995 administration and did not temporally correspond to the 30- to 60-minute nadir of blood glucose. However SMS 201-995 levels peaked during this 30- to 60-minute period. As clinical experience with this drug broadens, patients whose glucose control is dependent on counter-regulatory hormones should be monitored for the possibility of hypoglycemia

Translation of two-photon microscopy to the clinic: multimodal multiphoton CARS tomography of in vivo human skin

Two-photon microscopes have been successfully translated into clinical imaging tools to obtain high-resolution optical biopsies for in vivo histology. We report on clinical multiphoton coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) tomography based on two tunable ultrashort near-infrared laser beams for label-free in vivo multimodal skin imaging. The multiphoton biopsies were obtained with the compact tomograph “MPTflex-CARS” using a photonic crystal fiber, an optomechanical articulated arm, and a four-detector-360 deg measurement head. The multiphoton tomograph has been employed to patients in a hospital with diseased skin. The clinical study involved 16 subjects, 8 patients with atopic dermatitis, 4 patients with psoriasis vulgaris, and 4 volunteers served as control. Two-photon cellular autofluorescence lifetime, second harmonic generation (SHG) of collagen, and CARS of intratissue lipids/proteins have been detected with single-photon sensitivity, submicron spatial resolution, and picosecond temporal resolution. The most important signal was the autofluorescence from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide [NAD(P)H]. The SHG signal from collagen was mainly used to detect the epidermal–dermal junction and to calculate the ratio elastin/collagen. The CARS/Raman signal provided add-on information. Based on this view on the disease-affected skin on a subcellular level, skin areas affected by dermatitis and by psoriasis could be clearly identified. Multimodal multiphoton tomographs may become important label-free clinical high-resolution imaging tools for in vivo skin histology to realize rapid early diagnosis as well as treatment control

Seasonal niche tracking of climate emerges at the population level in a migratory bird.

Seasonal animal migration is a widespread phenomenon. At the species level, it has been shown that many migratory animal species track similar climatic conditions throughout the year. However, it remains unclear whether such a niche tracking pattern is a direct consequence of individual behaviour or emerges at the population or species level through behavioural variability. Here, we estimated seasonal niche overlap and seasonal niche tracking at the individual and population level of central European white storks (Ciconia ciconia). We quantified niche tracking for both weather and climate conditions to control for the different spatio-temporal scales over which ecological processes may operate. Our results indicate that niche tracking is a bottom-up process. Individuals mainly track weather conditions while climatic niche tracking mainly emerges at the population level. This result may be partially explained by a high degree of intra- and inter-individual variation in niche overlap between seasons. Understanding how migratory individuals, populations and species respond to seasonal environments is key for anticipating the impacts of global environmental changes

Estimating nest-switching in free-ranging wild birds: an assessment of the most common methodologies, illustrated in the White Stork (Ciconia ciconia)

Reliable estimates of nest-switching are required to study avian mating systems and manage wild populations, yet different estimation methods have rarely been integrated or assessed. Through a literature review and case study, we reveal that three common methods for assessing nest-switching blend different components, producing a wide range of estimates. Careful component definition and reporting are essential to properly estimate this behaviour