Small carnivores contribute to rat control in oil palm plantations

Rapid expansion of oil palm cultivation in Southeast Asia raises concerns about biodiversity conservation. Moreover, rats are invasive pests in oil palm plantations, often causing substantial damages. In Indonesia, rat control is generally based on field treatment using anticoagulant rodenticides and/or on reinforcement of predation by barn owls (Tytoalba), by providing nest boxes within the plantation. Rodenticide use is costly for the producer and can indirectlypoison non-target species such as rat predators. Thus, biological control of rat pests should be promoted, both from conservation and production points of view. Within the assemblage of rat predators, small carnivores may contribute to rat population regulation. However the persistence of small carnivores within oil palm plantations, their habitat use, their diet and their contribution to rat control have been poorly investigated. We conducted a 3-year comparative study (2010-2012) in well-established oil palm plantations in Riau and Bangka provinces, in Indonesia: in both areas barn owl populationsare successfully reinforced, but in Riau rat populations have been maintained at an acceptable level without the use of rodenticide for more than 10 years, whereas in Bangka intensive rodenticide applications did not prevent high levels of rat damages. We compared those two contrasted systems in term of predator communities (barn owls and small carnivores) abundance and/or diet. In the poster, we will only present results related to small carnivores. Using a kilometric abundance index yielded from spotlight and faeces counts, we found that small carnivores were much more abundant in Riau plantations than in Bangka, and that the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) was the dominant species in Riau and absent from Bangka. Other species where found in our study sites, i.e. the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), the Malay civet (Vivera tangalunga) and the small-toothed palm civet (Artogalidia trivirgata), but, from literature review, only the leopard cat is known to feed mainly on rats when available. We investigated the diet at community level and we did not detect no significant differences in frequency of occurrence (FO) or volume of small mammal's food items in the faeces of small carnivores between Bangka and Riau; however, we found that the importance of vegetal food items in the diet of small carnivores was greater (p=0.035) in Bangka (FO=51.1%) than in Riau, (FO=30.9%), thereby reflecting differences in predator community composition between both areas. Our results on small carnivore community composition, abundance and diet suggest that rat prey intake from this predator community would be less in Bangka plantations than in Riau. Prey-predators relationship in agricultural landscape is a complex issue. It is a challenge to determine if predation by a peculiar population or community, such as small carnivores, may be contingent to a low level ofprey, or may be a necessary factor to limit prey population. Broadly, our results suggest that barn owls cannot regulate rat population on their own, and that small carnivores probably play an important role, in the framework of a multi-factor hypothesis. Therefore, in a view to improve rat control, the producer should adapt agricultural practices and favor appropriate landuse in order to enhance small carnivores (notably leopard cats) within oil palm plantations. But many questions remain before to be able to give precise recommendations on this issue (Does rodenticide have the opposite effect to the one intended? How much does the leopard cat rely on forest habitat for survival in oil palm landscape? What would be the negative effects of leopard cat introduction on Bangka Island?. For more information on the land-use and habitat preference issue, another poster will investigate spatial distribution of small carnivores within oil palm plantations. (Texte intégral

Spatial distribution of small carnivores within oil palm plantations

Small carnivores are known to contribute to rat control in oil palm plantations. A better knowledge of their distribution and habitat preferences would provide guidance for promoting their presence within oil palm landscapes. We conducted a 3-year study in well-established oil palm plantations in Riau and Bangka provinces, in Indonesia, and investigated several issues: what species of small carnivores occur within oil palm plantations; are they found deep within the oil palm or are they preferentially found near oil palm edge, i.e. closer to other habitats; are small carnivores attracted by forest fragments around oil palm plantations, and/or are they attracted by extensive areas of lowland forest in the surrounding landscape? Within two plantations in Riau and two plantations in Bangka, we assessed the spatial distribution of small carnivores at the community and species level. Using spotlighting and faeces counts, we used a one-tailed hypothesis test to determine the attractive effect of two focal habitats: oil palm edge and forest fragments. Within the two plantations in Riau, we estimated occupancy using camera trapping; we tested whether two covariates (distance to the edge of the oil palm habitat and distance from extensive area of lowland forest) affected the model parameters for each small carnivore species. We found no attractive effect of forest habitat or oil palm edge for the leopard cat (Prionailurus bengalensis) and the common palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), which can be encountered deep within the oil palm habitat, at least during night time. During the day time, 87% of leopard cat detections with camera traps were recorded ≤ 0.2 km from the edge of the oil palm. These results suggests that the oil palm plantation is important for food foraging at night for these two species, and we suspect that non-oil palm habitat is of greater importance during the day. The Malay civet (Viverra tangalunga) was rarely detected and only near the edge of the oil palm habitat; this suggests the great importance of forest habitat for this species. We did not detect any characteristic distribution pattern for the small-toothed palm civet (Artogalidia trivirgata), but the number of observations was very low for this species (n=4). At the community level, our analysis of faeces spatial distribution showed an attractive effect of forest and oil palm edge habitats. These results support the hypothesis that although the oil palm habitat might be suitable for some small carnivore species, such as the leopard cat and the common palm civet (where they supposedly forage at night), most species of small carnivores need forested habitat for their survival in oil palm landscapes. Small carnivores may be encouraged to utilise oil palm by creating suitable rest sites and by increasing habitat heterogeneity (including forest fragments and corridors) throughout the plantation. (Texte intégral

Simplifying understory complexity in oil palm plantations is associated with a reduction in the density of a cleptoparasitic spider, Argyrodes miniaceus (Araneae: Theridiidae), in host (Araneae: Nephilinae) webs.

Expansion of oil palm agriculture is currently one of the main drivers of habitat modification in Southeast Asia. Habitat modification can have significant effects on biodiversity, ecosystem function, and interactions between species by altering species abundances or the available resources in an ecosystem. Increasing complexity within modified habitats has the potential to maintain biodiversity and preserve species interactions. We investigated trophic interactions between Argyrodes miniaceus, a cleptoparasitic spider, and its Nephila spp. spider hosts in mature oil palm plantations in Sumatra, Indonesia. A. miniaceus co-occupy the webs of Nephila spp. females and survive by stealing prey items caught in the web. We examined the effects of experimentally manipulated understory vegetation complexity on the density and abundance of A. miniaceus in Nephila spp. webs. Experimental understory treatments included enhanced complexity, standard complexity, and reduced complexity understory vegetation, which had been established as part of the ongoing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Function in Tropical Agriculture (BEFTA) Project. A. miniaceus density ranged from 14.4 to 31.4 spiders per square meter of web, with significantly lower densities found in reduced vegetation complexity treatments compared with both enhanced and standard treatment plots. A. miniaceus abundance per plot was also significantly lower in reduced complexity than in standard and enhanced complexity plots. Synthesis and applications: Maintenance of understory vegetation complexity contributes to the preservation of spider host-cleptoparasite relationships in oil palm plantations. Understory structural complexity in these simplified agroecosystems therefore helps to support abundant spider populations, a functionally important taxon in agricultural landscapes. In addition, management for more structurally complex agricultural habitats can support more complex trophic interactions in tropical agroecosystems

Attachment and coping in psychosis in relation to spiritual figures

Background: Studies have found higher levels of insecure attachment in individuals with schizophrenia. Attachment theory provides a framework necessary for conceptualizing the development of interpersonal functioning. Some aspects of the attachment of the believer to his/her spiritual figure are similar to those between the child and his/her parents. The correspondence hypothesis suggests that early child-parent interactions correspond to a person's relation to a spiritual figure. The compensation hypothesis suggests that an insecure attachment history would lead to a strong religiousness/spirituality as a compensation for the lack of felt security. The aim of this study is to explore attachment models in psychosis vs. healthy controls, the relationships between attachment and psychopathology and the attachment processes related to spiritual figures. Methods: Attachment models were measured in 30 patients with psychosis and 18 controls with the AAI (Adult Attachment interview) in relationship with psychopathology. Beliefs and practices related to a spiritual figure were investigated by qualitative and quantitative analyses. Results: Patients with psychosis showed a high prevalence of insecure avoidant attachment. Spiritual entities functioned like attachment figures in two thirds of cases. Interviews revealed the transformation of internal working models within relation to a spiritual figure: a compensation process was found in 7 of the 32 subjects who showed a significant attachment to a spiritual figure. Conclusions: Attachment theory allows us to highlight one of the underlying dimensions of spiritual coping in patients with psychosis

Antipsychotic drug use and community-acquired pneumonia

Antipsychotics are generally distinguished as atypical and typical agents, which are indicated in the treatment of acute and chronic psychoses and other psy

Family physicians\u27 professional identity formation: a study protocol to explore impression management processes in institutional academic contexts.

BACKGROUND: Despite significant differences in terms of medical training and health care context, the phenomenon of medical students\u27 declining interest in family medicine has been well documented in North America and in many other developed countries as well. As part of a research program on family physicians\u27 professional identity formation initiated in 2007, the purpose of the present investigation is to examine in-depth how family physicians construct their professional image in academic contexts; in other words, this study will allow us to identify and understand the processes whereby family physicians with an academic appointment seek to control the ideas others form about them as a professional group, i.e. impression management. METHODS/DESIGN: The methodology consists of a multiple case study embedded in the perspective of institutional theory. Four international cases from Canada, France, Ireland and Spain will be conducted; the \u22case\u22 is the medical school. Four levels of analysis will be considered: individual family physicians, interpersonal relationships, family physician professional group, and organization (medical school). Individual interviews and focus groups with academic family physicians will constitute the main technique for data generation, which will be complemented with a variety of documentary sources. Discourse techniques, more particularly rhetorical analysis, will be used to analyze the data gathered. Within- and cross-case analysis will then be performed. DISCUSSION: This empirical study is strongly grounded in theory and will contribute to the scant body of literature on family physicians\u27 professional identity formation processes in medical schools. Findings will potentially have important implications for the practice of family medicine, medical education and health and educational policies

Predictors of NOAC versus VKA use for stroke prevention in patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation: Results from GARFIELD-AF.

INTRODUCTION: A principal aim of the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF) was to document changes in treatment practice for patients with newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation during an era when non-vitamin K antagonist oral anticoagulants (NOACs) were becoming more widely adopted. In these analyses, the key factors which determined the choice between NOACs and vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are explored. METHODS: Logistic least absolute shrinkage and selection operator regression determined predictors of NOAC and VKA use. Data were collected from 24,137 patients who were initiated on AC ± antiplatelet (AP) therapy (NOAC [51.4%] or VKA [48.6%]) between April 2013 and August 2016. RESULTS: The most significant predictors of AC therapy were country, enrolment year, care setting at diagnosis, AF type, concomitant AP, and kidney disease. Patients enrolled in emergency care or in the outpatient setting were more likely to receive a NOAC than those enrolled in hospital (OR 1.16 [95% CI: 1.04-1.30], OR: 1.15 [95% CI: 1.05-1.25], respectively). NOAC prescribing seemed to be favored in lower-risk groups, namely, patients with paroxysmal AF, normotensive patients, and those with moderate alcohol consumption, but also the elderly and patients with acute coronary syndrome. By contrast, VKAs were preferentially used in patients with permanent AF, moderate to severe kidney disease, heart failure, vascular disease, and diabetes and with concomitant AP. CONCLUSION: GARFIELD-AF data highlight marked heterogeneity in stroke prevention strategies globally. Physicians are adopting an individualized approach to stroke prevention where NOACs are favored in patients with a lower stroke risk but also in the elderly and patients with acute coronary syndrome

Measurement of the tau lepton lifetime with the three-dimensional impact parameter method.

A new method is presented for the measurement of the mean $\tau$ lepton lifetime using events in which $\tau$'s are pair-produced and both $\tau$'s decay to hadrons and $\nu_\tau$. Based on the correlation between the two $\tau$'s produced at a symmetric $e^+ e^-$ collider, the 3DIP method relies on the three-dimensional information from a double-sided vertex detector and on kinematic constraints for the precise measurement of the $\tau$ decay angles. Using the data collected from 1992 to 1994 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a $\tau$ lifetime of $288.0 \pm 3.1 \pm 1.3$\fs is obtained from the sample in which both $\tau$'s decay to one charged track, and $292.8 \pm 5.6 \pm 3.0$\fs from the sample in which one $\tau$ decays to one prong and the other to three prongs. The results show small statistical correlations with those derived from other methods. When combined with the previously published ALEPH measurements, the resulting $\tau$ lifetime is $291.2 \pm 2.0 \pm 1.2$\fs

Measurement of the tau lepton lifetime with the three-dimensional impact parameter method.

A new method is presented for the measurement of the mean $\tau$ lepton lifetime using events in which $\tau$'s are pair-produced and both $\tau$'s decay to hadrons and $\nu_\tau$. Based on the correlation between the two $\tau$'s produced at a symmetric $e^+ e^-$ collider, the 3DIP method relies on the three-dimensional information from a double-sided vertex detector and on kinematic constraints for the precise measurement of the $\tau$ decay angles. Using the data collected from 1992 to 1994 with the ALEPH detector at LEP, a $\tau$ lifetime of $288.0 \pm 3.1 \pm 1.3$\fs is obtained from the sample in which both $\tau$'s decay to one charged track, and $292.8 \pm 5.6 \pm 3.0$\fs from the sample in which one $\tau$ decays to one prong and the other to three prongs. The results show small statistical correlations with those derived from other methods. When combined with the previously published ALEPH measurements, the resulting $\tau$ lifetime is $291.2 \pm 2.0 \pm 1.2$\fs