Cattle egrets regurgitate house mouse carcasses onto a mouse-free island: implications for rodent eradications

Context. Eradication of invasive rodents on islands typically results in positive conservation gains, and maintaining a rodent-free island requires elevated biosecurity, including prevention of assisted rodent arrival via watercraft, aircraft and animals such as birds. Cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) are widespread, and often fly several kilometres daily to roost and forage. They frequently swallow insects and vertebrates (including rodents) whole, and some regurgitate prey. Cattle egrets have been regularly observed flying between the Hawaiian Islands of Ni’ihau (where non-native mice and rats are established) and Lehua (where one species of non-native rat is established and was targeted during a recent eradication attempt). Aims. The objectives were to identify the species of rodent that cattle egrets regurgitate following transport between Ni’ihau and Lehua islands, and to determine if any of the rodent individuals regurgitated were alive once deposited onto Lehua Island following 1.1-km oversea flights. Methods. Eighty-five individual rodent carcasses (regurgitated by cattle egrets) were collected, preserved and identified to species using morphological characteristics and DNA sequencing. Key results. All rodents regurgitated by cattle egrets were dead upon collection on Lehua Island. Although the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) is the only rodent species on Lehua Island, and field staff suspected the regurgitated rodents were R. exulans, all 85 carcasses were identified as house mice (Mus musculus). Conclusions. This is the first evidence (that the authors know of) showing movement of rodent carcasses, via cattle egrets, between islands. Implications. Cattle egrets that deposit rodent carcasses onto rodent-free islands, or segments of islands, may confuse land managers and biosecurity professionals who are unaware of this phenomenon. House mice did not survive cattle egret ingestion,.1-km flight and regurgitation; therefore it is unlikely that live rodents would be introduced to rodent-free areas via cattle egrets

Conservation Value of Remnant Forest Patches: Tree Composition, Spatial Patterns, and Recruitment in the Ottoville Lowland Forest, American Samoa.

v. ill. 23 cm.QuarterlyNative forests increasingly have been reduced to remnant fragments on many Pacific islands. Island and continental ecosystems differ in a number of ways that may increase conservation value of such forest fragments on islands. However, few studies have examined performance of tree populations in Polynesian forest fragments. We tested potential conservation value of the largest contiguous patch of lowland lava flow forest on Tutuila, American Samoa, by determining uniqueness, potential vulnerability, and possible viability of the tree community therein. We recorded 1,186 treesb10 cm dbh (diameter at breast height) from 37 species in 12 transects (each 10 m wide) running from edge to edge across the forest, as well as 1,332 seedlings and 991 saplings within 62 miniplots (each 25 m2). Locations within the forest of all 462 treesb30 cm dbh, of the 10 most dominant species, were then plotted. The most dominant tree species was Pometia pinnata. Similarity indices between the study site and other protected forests on Tutuila were very low. Spatial distributions and abundances of adult trees, as well as the dispersed distribution of seedlings and saplings, suggested low vulnerability to spatially discrete disturbances. We found evidence of potential edge effects in seedling distributions of two species. Abundances of seedlings and saplings indicated a high potential for continued recruitment of characteristic tree species. Species composition of these recruits is largely composed of characteristic primary forest species rather than secondary forest or invasive species. These results show that even very small forest fragments may have substantial value for conservation, because they can combine high within-island uniqueness with a relatively high likelihood of persistence if left undisturbed

Multi-Objective Optimization with an Adaptive Resonance Theory-Based Estimation of Distribution Algorithm: A Comparative Study

Proceedings of: 5th International Conference, LION 5, Rome, Italy, January 17-21, 2011.The introduction of learning to the search mechanisms of optimization algorithms has been nominated as one of the viable approaches when dealing with complex optimization problems, in particular with multi-objective ones. One of the forms of carrying out this hybridization process is by using multi-objective optimization estimation of distribution algorithms (MOEDAs). However, it has been pointed out that current MOEDAs have a intrinsic shortcoming in their model-building algorithms that hamper their performance. In this work we argue that error-based learning, the class of learning most commonly used in MOEDAs is responsible for current MOEDA underachievement. We present adaptive resonance theory (ART) as a suitable learning paradigm alternative and present a novel algorithm called multi-objective ART-based EDA (MARTEDA) that uses a Gaussian ART neural network for model-building and an hypervolume-based selector as described for the HypE algorithm. In order to assert the improvement obtained by combining two cutting-edge approaches to optimization an extensive set of experiments are carried out. These experiments also test the scalability of MARTEDA as the number of objective functions increases.This work was supported by projects CICYT TIN2008-06742-C02-02/TSI, CICYT TEC2008-06732-C02-02/TEC, CAM CONTEXTS (S2009/TIC-1485) and DPS2008-07029-C02-02.Publicad

Health and Human Rights Education in U.S. Schools of Medicine and Public Health: Current Status and Future Challenges

BACKGROUND: Despite increasing recognition of the importance of human rights in the protection and promotion of health, formal human rights education has been lacking in schools of medicine and public health. Our objectives were: 1) to determine the nature and extent of health and human rights (HHR) education among schools of medicine (SOMs) and public health (SPHs); 2) to identify perceived barriers to implementing HHR curricula; 3) to learn about deans' interests and attitudes toward HHR education, and; 4) to identify factors associated with offering HHR education. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted a cross-sectional survey among deans of all accredited allopathic SOMs and SPHs in the United States and Puerto Rico. Seventy-one percent of U.S. SOMs and SPHs responded. Thirty-seven percent of respondents indicated that their schools offered some form of HHR education. Main barriers to offering HHR education included competition for time, lack of qualified instructors and lack of funding. Among schools not offering HHR education, 35% of deans were interested in offering HHR education. Seventy-six percent of all deans believed that it was very important or important to offer HHR education. Multiple regression analysis revealed that deans' attitudes were the most important factor associated with offering any HHR education. CONCLUSION: Findings indicate that though a majority of deans of SOMs and SPHs believe that knowledge about human rights is important in health practice and support the inclusion of HHR studies in their schools, HHR education is lacking at most of their institutions. These results and the growing recognition of the critical interdependence between health and human rights indicate a need for SOMs and SPHs to work towards formal inclusion of HHR studies in their curricula, and that HHR competency requirements be considered to overcome barriers to its inclusion

InterMEL: An international biorepository and clinical database to uncover predictors of survival in early-stage melanoma

We are conducting a multicenter study to identify classifiers predictive of disease-specific survival in patients with primary melanomas. Here we delineate the unique aspects, challenges, and best practices for optimizing a study of generally small-sized pigmented tumor samples including primary melanomas of at least 1.05mm from AJTCC TNM stage IIA-IIID patients. We also evaluated tissue-derived predictors of extracted nucleic acids’ quality and success in downstream testing. This ongoing study will target 1,000 melanomas within the international InterMEL consortium.Medicin

Rationale and design of the Multidisciplinary Approach to Novel Therapies in Cardiology Oncology Research Trial (MANTICORE 101 - Breast): a randomized, placebo-controlled trial to determine if conventional heart failure pharmacotherapy can prevent trastuzumab-mediated left ventricular remodeling among patients with HER2+ early breast cancer using cardiac MRI

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>MANTICORE 101 - Breast (Multidisciplinary Approach to Novel Therapies in Cardiology Oncology Research) is a randomized trial to determine if conventional heart failure pharmacotherapy (angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor or beta-blocker) can prevent trastuzumab-mediated left ventricular remodeling, measured with cardiac MRI, among patients with HER2+ early breast cancer.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>One hundred and fifty-nine patients with histologically confirmed HER2+ breast cancer will be enrolled in a parallel 3-arm, randomized, placebo controlled, double-blind design. After baseline assessments, participants will be randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio to an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (perindopril), beta-blocker (bisoprolol), or placebo. Participants will receive drug or placebo for 1 year beginning 7 days before trastuzumab therapy. Dosages for all groups will be systematically up-titrated, as tolerated, at 1 week intervals for a total of 3 weeks. The primary objective of this randomized clinical trial is to determine if conventional heart failure pharmacotherapy can prevent trastuzumab-mediated left ventricular remodeling among patients with HER2+ early breast cancer, as measured by 12 month change in left ventricular end-diastolic volume using cardiac MRI. Secondary objectives include 1) determine the evolution of left ventricular remodeling on cardiac MRI in patients with HER2+ early breast cancer, 2) understand the mechanism of trastuzumab mediated cardiac toxicity by assessing for the presence of myocardial injury and apoptosis on serum biomarkers and cardiac MRI, and 3) correlate cardiac biomarkers of myocyte injury and extra-cellular matrix remodeling with left ventricular remodeling on cardiac MRI in patients with HER2+ early breast cancer.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Cardiac toxicity as a result of cancer therapies is now recognized as a significant health problem of increasing prevalence. To our knowledge, MANTICORE will be the first randomized trial testing proven heart failure pharmacotherapy in the prevention of trastuzumab-mediated cardiotoxicity. We expect the findings of this trial to provide important evidence in the development of guidelines for preventive therapy.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>ClinicalTrials.gov: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01016886">NCT01016886</a></p

Cattle egrets regurgitate house mouse carcasses onto a mouse-free island: implications for rodent eradications

Context. Eradication of invasive rodents on islands typically results in positive conservation gains, and maintaining a rodent-free island requires elevated biosecurity, including prevention of assisted rodent arrival via watercraft, aircraft and animals such as birds. Cattle egrets (Bubulcus ibis) are widespread, and often fly several kilometres daily to roost and forage. They frequently swallow insects and vertebrates (including rodents) whole, and some regurgitate prey. Cattle egrets have been regularly observed flying between the Hawaiian Islands of Ni’ihau (where non-native mice and rats are established) and Lehua (where one species of non-native rat is established and was targeted during a recent eradication attempt). Aims. The objectives were to identify the species of rodent that cattle egrets regurgitate following transport between Ni’ihau and Lehua islands, and to determine if any of the rodent individuals regurgitated were alive once deposited onto Lehua Island following 1.1-km oversea flights. Methods. Eighty-five individual rodent carcasses (regurgitated by cattle egrets) were collected, preserved and identified to species using morphological characteristics and DNA sequencing. Key results. All rodents regurgitated by cattle egrets were dead upon collection on Lehua Island. Although the Pacific rat (Rattus exulans) is the only rodent species on Lehua Island, and field staff suspected the regurgitated rodents were R. exulans, all 85 carcasses were identified as house mice (Mus musculus). Conclusions. This is the first evidence (that the authors know of) showing movement of rodent carcasses, via cattle egrets, between islands. Implications. Cattle egrets that deposit rodent carcasses onto rodent-free islands, or segments of islands, may confuse land managers and biosecurity professionals who are unaware of this phenomenon. House mice did not survive cattle egret ingestion,.1-km flight and regurgitation; therefore it is unlikely that live rodents would be introduced to rodent-free areas via cattle egrets

Single Ribosomal Protein Mutations in Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Analyzed by Mass Spectrometry

Mutations in several ribosomal proteins are known to be related to antibiotic resistance. For several strains of Escherichia coli, the mutated protein is known but the amino acid actually altered has not been documented. Characterization of these determinants for antibiotic resistance in proteins will further the understanding of the precise mechanism of the antibiotic action as well as provide markers for resistance. Mass spectrometry can be used as a valuable tool to rapidly locate and characterize mutant proteins by using a small amount of material. We have used electrospray and matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization–time of flight (MALDI–TOF) mass spectrometry to map out all 56 ribosomal proteins in E. coli based on intact molecular masses. We used this fingerprinting approach to locate variants of ribosomal proteins displaying a change in mass. In particular we have studied proteins responsible for streptomycin, erythromycin, and spectinomycin resistance in three strains of E. coli, and then we characterized each mutation responsible for resistance by analyzing tryptic peptides of these proteins by using MALDI-TOF and nanoelectrospray tandem mass spectrometry. The results provided markers for antibiotic resistance and demonstrated that mass spectrometry can be used to rapidly investigate changes in individual proteins from a complex with picomole amounts of protein