Attempted Predation of a Child by a Gray Wolf, Canis lupus, near Icy Bay, Alaska

On 26 April 2000 a six-year-old boy was attacked and repeatedly bitten by a Gray Wolf (Canis lupus) in a logging camp near Icy Bay, Alaska. The animal’s behavior during the attack clearly contained elements of predation. The wolf was killed shortly after the attack and found to be in normal physical condition; tests for rabies and canine distemper were negative. Low densities of ungulate prey and increased energetic demands associated with denning may have influenced the wolf’s behavior, but we believe the wolf’s habituation to people was a more significant factor contributing to the attack. Food-conditioning may have facilitated the habituation process, but there was no evidence the attack resulted from a food-conditioned approach response

Honneth, Butler and the Ambivalent Effects of Recognition

This paper examines the ambivalent effects of recognition by critically examining Axel Honneth’s theory of recognition. I argue that his underlying perfectionist account and his focus on the psychic effects of recognition cause him to misrepresent or overlook significant connections between recognition and power. These claims are substantiated by (1) drawing from Butler’s theory of gender performativity, power and recognition; and (2) exploring issues arising from the socio-institutional recognition of trans identities. I conclude by suggesting that certain problems with Butler’s own position can corrected by drawing more from the Foucauldian aspects of her work. I claim that this is the most promising way to conceptualise recognition and its complex, ambivalent effects

Hyperimmune immunoglobulin for hospitalised patients with COVID-19 (ITAC): a double-blind, placebo-controlled, phase 3, randomised trial

BACKGROUND: Passive immunotherapy using hyperimmune intravenous immunoglobulin (hIVIG) to SARS-CoV-2, derived from recovered donors, is a potential rapidly available, specific therapy for an outbreak infection such as SARS-CoV-2. Findings from randomised clinical trials of hIVIG for the treatment of COVID-19 are limited. METHODS: In this international randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial, hospitalised patients with COVID-19 who had been symptomatic for up to 12 days and did not have acute end-organ failure were randomly assigned (1:1) to receive either hIVIG or an equivalent volume of saline as placebo, in addition to remdesivir, when not contraindicated, and other standard clinical care. Randomisation was stratified by site pharmacy; schedules were prepared using a mass-weighted urn design. Infusions were prepared and masked by trial pharmacists; all other investigators, research staff, and trial participants were masked to group allocation. Follow-up was for 28 days. The primary outcome was measured at day 7 by a seven-category ordinal endpoint that considered pulmonary status and extrapulmonary complications and ranged from no limiting symptoms to death. Deaths and adverse events, including organ failure and serious infections, were used to define composite safety outcomes at days 7 and 28. Prespecified subgroup analyses were carried out for efficacy and safety outcomes by duration of symptoms, the presence of anti-spike neutralising antibodies, and other baseline factors. Analyses were done on a modified intention-to-treat (mITT) population, which included all randomly assigned participants who met eligibility criteria and received all or part of the assigned study product infusion. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04546581. FINDINGS: From Oct 8, 2020, to Feb 10, 2021, 593 participants (n=301 hIVIG, n=292 placebo) were enrolled at 63 sites in 11 countries; 579 patients were included in the mITT analysis. Compared with placebo, the hIVIG group did not have significantly greater odds of a more favourable outcome at day 7; the adjusted OR was 1·06 (95% CI 0·77–1·45; p=0·72). Infusions were well tolerated, although infusion reactions were more common in the hIVIG group (18·6% vs 9·5% for placebo; p=0·002). The percentage with the composite safety outcome at day 7 was similar for the hIVIG (24%) and placebo groups (25%; OR 0·98, 95% CI 0·66–1·46; p=0·91). The ORs for the day 7 ordinal outcome did not vary for subgroups considered, but there was evidence of heterogeneity of the treatment effect for the day 7 composite safety outcome: risk was greater for hIVIG compared with placebo for patients who were antibody positive (OR 2·21, 95% CI 1·14–4·29); for patients who were antibody negative, the OR was 0·51 (0·29–0·90; pinteraction=0·001). INTERPRETATION: When administered with standard of care including remdesivir, SARS-CoV-2 hIVIG did not demonstrate efficacy among patients hospitalised with COVID-19 without end-organ failure. The safety of hIVIG might vary by the presence of endogenous neutralising antibodies at entry. FUNDING: US National Institutes of Health

A Case History of Wolf-Human Encounters in Alaska and Canada

Executive Summary Currently there are an estimated 59,000-70,000 wolves (Canis lupus) in Alaska and Canada. Past reviews of wolf-human interactions concluded that wild, healthy wolves in North America present little threat to human safety. However, since 1970 some cases have appeared in the published literature documenting wold aggression toward people. A wolf attack on a 6-year-old boy near Icy Bay, Alaska in April 2000 generated debate in Alaska that challenged previous assumptions regarding the potential danger of wolves to people. At that time there was no recently compiled record of wolf-human encounters for either Alaska or Canada. To provide a current perspective on wolf-human interactions, I compiled a case history that describes 80 wolf-human encounters in which wolves showed little fear of people. I obtained cases from biologists and law enforcement officers in Alaska and Canada, from public health records, from the published literature, and from interviews with private citizens who witnessed the events. I classified the 80 cases into 7 behavioral categories: 1) Agonism, 2) Predation, 3) Prey Testing or Agnostic Charges, 4) Self-Defense, 5) Rabies, 6) Investigative Searches, and 7) Investigative Approaches. Patterns of wold behavior described in this case history provide a reference for management of wolves where frequent wolf-human encounters occur. Thirty-nine cases contain elements of aggression among healthy wolves, 12 cases involve known or suspected rabid wolves, and 29 cases document fearless behavior among non-aggressive wolves. In 6 cases in which healthy wolves acted aggressively, the people were accompanied by dogs. Aggressive, non rabid wolves bit people in 16 cases; none of those bites was life-threatening, but in 6 cases the bites were severe

Calf mortality and population growth in the Delta caribou herd after wolf control

A program to control wolves (Canis lupus) in interior Alaska in 1993 and 1994 did not result in expected increases in calf survival in the Delta caribou (Rangifer tarandus) herd (DCH). Therefore, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game conducted a study to determine causes of calf mortality during 1995-1997 and monitored recruitment, mortality, and population size annually in the DCH for 6 years after wolf control ended. Despite removal of 60-62% of the autumn 1993 wolf population, wolves still killed 25% of 166 radiocollared calves between birth in mid- to late May and 30 September during 1995-1997. Although autumn calf:cow ratios in the DCH increased after wolf control, similar increases in calf:cow ratios occurred in the adjacent Denali Herd, where wolves were not controlled. Calf:cow ratios following wolf control in 1993 and 1994 were lower than ratios obtained in the same area after wolf control from 1976-1982. We identified 4 factors that contributed to continued low calf:cow ratios in the DCH following the 1993-1994 wolf control program: 1) other predators in combination (i.e., golden eagles [Aquila chrysaetos] and grizzly bears [Ursus arctos]) were the most significant mortality source for caribou calves, 2) the temporal and spatial extent for wolf removal was inadequate to effectively reduce wolf predation, 3) in 1987 the DCH shifted its main calving area, a move that may have increased predation by golden eagles and grizzly bears, and 4) natality rates and nutritional condition of caribou declined during the 5 years before wolf control coincident with a density-dependent population decline. We conclude that wolf control within the range of the DCH failed because the wolf trapping program did not remove enough wolves and was not conducted long enough to substantially reduce predation by wolves on caribou calves. In addition, wolves that lived outside the control area were responsible for about 40% of the wolf-caused mortality to collared caribou calves, and significant numbers of calves died from unknown, neonatal causes

Gender justice and the market: a transformative consumer research perspective

Despite growing awareness of the importance of gender equality in the advancement of global economies, the involvement of marketing and policy in (re)producing and resolving gender injustices remains understudied. This article proposes a transformative consumer research approach to studying gender-related issues. It develops the “transformative gender justice framework” (TGJF), which identifies perspectives from three enfranchisement theories: social and distributive justice, capabilities approach, and recognition theory. By applying a multiparadigmatic analysis, the authors encourage a dialogic and recursive approach so that scholars and policy makers can assess the interactions between structural, agentic, and sociocultural forces that underlie gender injustices. They argue the TGJF is necessary for full comprehension of the complex, systemic, glocalized, institutionalized, and embodied nature of gender injustices, as well as how policy, markets and marketing can both perpetuate and resolve gender injustices. To demonstrate the TGJF’s analytical power, the authors apply the framework to one site of gender injustice (i.e., the sex tourism industry), propose applications across additional sites, and discuss questions it raises for future research