Mississippi\u27s Beaver Control Assistance Program, 1989-1994

Responding to landowner requests, the 1989 Mississippi Legislature created the Beaver Control Advisory Board and mandated it to develop a program which would ensure the control of beaver damage throughout Mississippi. The Advisory Board is comprised of the administrative heads of five state agencies: the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks (chairperson), the Department of Transportation, the Cooperative Extension Service, the Forestry Commission, and the Department of Agriculture and Commerce. In cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Animal Damage Control (ADC) program, the Advisory Board developed the Beaver Control Assistance Program (BCAP). BCAP is designed to provide assistance with the management of beaver damage on private, county, and state-owned lands and is funded through a combination of federal, state, county, and landowner funds. Actual administrative authority of BCAP rests with the Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks, however, the enabling state legislation allows the program administration to be transferred to a federal agency. As a result, ADC administers BCAP under the guidance of the Advisory Board. Through a combination of technical assistance and direct control, ADC works in cooperation with the BCAP Advisory Board to alleviate beaver-caused damages throughout Mississippi. County enrollment in BCAP has grown from 22 participants in 1989 to 50 in 1994 and cooperative funding has increased by 44%. With increasing beaver populations and predicted decreases in the commercial fur harvest, the demand for BCAP services is likely to increase

131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) therapy for residual neuroblastoma: a mono-institutional experience with 43 patients

Incomplete response to therapy may compromise the outcome of children with advanced neuroblastoma. In an attempt to improve tumour response we incorporated 131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) in the treatment regimens of selected stage 3 and stage 4 patients. Between 1986 and 1997, 43 neuroblastoma patients older than 1 year at diagnosis, 13 with stage 3 (group A) and 30 with stage 4 disease (group B) who had completed the first-line protocol without achieving complete response entered in this study. 131I-MIBG dose/course ranged from 2.5 to 5.5 Gbq (median, 3.7). The number of courses ranged from 1 to 5 (median 3) depending on the tumour response and toxicity. The most common acute side-effect was thrombocytopenia. Later side-effects included severe interstitial pneumonia in one patient, acute myeloid leukaemia in two, reduced thyroid reserve in 21. Complete response was documented in one stage 4 patient, partial response in 12 (two stage 3, 10 stage 4), mixed or no response in 25 (ten stage 3, 15 stage 4) and disease progression in five (one stage 3, four stage 4) Twenty-four patients (12/13 stage 3, 12/30 stage 4) are alive at 22–153 months (median, 59) from diagnosis. 131I-MIBG therapy may increase the cure rate of stage 3 and improve the response of stage 4 neuroblastoma patients with residual disease after first-line therapy. A larger number of patients should be treated to confirm these results but logistic problems hamper prospective and coordinated studies. Long-term toxicity can be severe. © 1999 Cancer Research Campaig

Incorporating Depredation Permits Into Integrated Damage Management Plans for Aquaculture Facilities

Increasing bird depredation at aquaculture facilities in Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, and Mississippi creates economic hardships for many fish farmers. Solutions to bird depredation at these facilities require the development of integrated damage management plans that will reduce damage levels while insuring minimal impacts to bird populations. Damage management plans developed for fish farmers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Animal and Health Plant Inspection Service, Animal Damage Control (ADC) program always include non-lethal control recommendations. If nonlethal control is ineffective or only marginally effective in reducing damage, the management plans may also recommend the issuance of depredation permits by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). The purpose of the permits is to enhance the effectiveness of non-lethal control methods. Birds typically included on depredation permit requests include double-crested cormorants, great blue herons, and great egrets. Concern has been expressed that depredation permits have negative impacts on the populations of fish-eating birds. However, records from the USFWS indicate that from 1989 - 1993, only 35% - 66% of the birds which fish farmers were authorized to take were actually killed. Despite the fact that some birds are being killed, populations of cormorants, herons, and egrets are increasing

REDUCING BLACKBIRD-HUMAN CONFLICTS IN AGRICULTURE AND FEEDLOTS: NEW METHODS FOR AN INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT APPROACH

In the United States, blackbirds are abundant and widely distributed. with their winter populations estimated to be between 500 million and 1 billion. Annual damage to grain, fruit, and berry crops from blackbirds exceeds $100 million in direct costs. Additional costs, not estimated, include those spent to prevent human health and safety hazards and those from damage abatement efforts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture\u27s Wildlife Services (WS) is charged with reducing the magnitude of health. safety, nuisance, agriculture, and feedlot/dairy problems caused by these birds. WS\u27 goal is to improve profitability to agricultural producers, enhance the human health and safety, and protect the environment through the development of new or improved management strategies. In this paper, we outline WS research and operational needs to resolve the health, safety, nuisance, and agricultural problems caused by blackbirds. We also discuss needs and actions to protect desirable migratory birds from the negative impacts of blackbirds

MANAGEMENT OF CATTAIL (\u3ci\u3eTYPHA\u3c/i\u3e SPP.) STANDS WITH GLYPHOSATE TO DISPERSE BLACKBIRDS

In the Prairie Pothole Region of North Dakota and South Dakota, blackbirds (Icteridae) gather by the thousands in large premigratory roosts in late summer and early fall. Wetlands dominated by cattails (Typha spp.) provide ideal roosting habitat for these aggregations. Sunflower fields near large roosts can receive substantial damage. To eliminate potential roosting sites, Wildlife Services of the U.S. Department of Agriculture has implemented a cattail management program that aerially sprays dense cattail stands with the herbicide glyphosate m-(phosphonomethyl) glycine]. The continued viability of the program depends on a positive benefit-cost ratio and minimal environmental impacts. In this paper, we discuss the economics and ecological implications of cattail management in the northern Great Plains

Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots as a Dual-Purpose Wildlife Management Strategy

The National Sunflower Association has identified blackbird damage as a key reason for growers to abandon sunflower. In the 1980s, National Wildlife Research Center scientists showed that decoy p1antings of sunflower can significantly reduce bird damage to nearby commercial sunflower fields. For a variety of reasons, largely logistical and economic in nature, decoy sunflower fields did not become wide-spread. Over the last decade, new federal farm programs have placed more emphasis on wildlife conservation. Thus, decoy sunflower fields planted to ameliorate blackbird damage and establish habitat for wildlife might gamer broad support from both agricultural and conservation groups. We present preliminary data on avian use of ripening sunflower fields that support the notion of Wildlife Conservation Sunflower Plots (WCSP) as a broad-based dual-purpose wildlife management strategy. We also outline research plans designed to refine the concept of WCSP

CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS ON NEUROBLASTOMA TREATMENT WITH 131-I-METAIODOBENZYLGUANIDINE AT DIAGNOSIS

Results of treatment with 131-1-Metaiodobenzylguanidine (131-I-MIBG) in patients with resistant neuroblastoma appear encouraging if one considers that most of the patients had far advanced, intensively pre-treated disease. To further explore the potential role of this new drug in untreated patients, we treated 3 children with stage III neuroblastoma. All three of our cases received 131-I-MIBG at relatively low dose with the complete disappearance of the tumor mass in case 1, whereas in cases 2 and 3 CT scan showed a significant reduction of the tumor mass and, interestingly enough, no evidence of 131-I-MIBG uptake of a tracer dose in the remaining tumor. Particularly, in case 2, the persistence and subsequent progression of part of the tumor mass without 131-I-MIBG uptake after a therapeutic dose of 131-I-MIBG, which apparently destroyed the 131-I-MIBG-positive cell population, clearly suggest heterogeneity at diagnosis, with a dual neuroblastoma cell population, one with 131-I-MIBG uptake and the other without. Besides the biological implications of the 131-I-MIBG uptake heterogeneity in neuroblastoma at diagnosis, our findings suggest that in stage III neuroblastoma patients even a relatively small dose of 131-I-MIBG administered at diagnosis is sufficient to destroy either the primary tumor completely (case 1) or the part of the tumor (case 2 and 3) which shows 131-I-MIBG uptake, without any significant hematologic toxicity. Furthermore, a single course of 131-I-MIBG at the dosage employed does not appear to jeopardize the subsequent use of chemotherapy. In conclusion, if our data are confirmed by further investigation, 131-I-MIBG may be included as a front line drug shortly followed by chemotherapy in future treatment strategies of advanced neuroblastoma without or with minimal bone marrow filtration. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc

Identification of a novel de novo p.Phe932Ile KCNT1 mutation in a patient with leukoencephalopathy and severe epilepsy

BACKGROUND: More than half of patients with genetic leukoencephalopathies remain without a specific diagnosis; this is particularly true in individuals with a likely primary neuronal etiology, such as those in which abnormal white matter occurs in combination with severe epilepsy. PATIENT: A child with a severe early infantile epileptic encephalopathy and abnormal myelination underwent whole exome sequencing. RESULTS: Whole exome sequencing identified a heterozygous de novo mutation in KCNT1, a sodium-gated potassium channel gene. CONCLUSIONS: Severely delayed myelination was anecdotally reported in previous patients with KCNT1 mutations. This case reinforces that KCNT1 sequencing should be included in an investigation of patients with severely delayed myelination and epilepsy