Terrestrial lichen response to partial cutting in lodgepole pine forests on caribou winter range in west-central British Columbia

In west-central British Columbia, terrestrial lichens located in older, lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta) forests are important winter forage for woodland caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou). Clearcut harvesting effectively removes winter forage habitat for decades, so management approaches based on partial cutting were designed to maintain continuous lichen-bearing habitat for caribou. This study tested a group selection system, based on removal of 33% of the forest every 80 years in small openings (15 m diameter), and two irregular shelterwood treatments (whole-tree and stem-only harvesting methods) where 50% of the stand area is cut every 70 years in 20 to 30 m diameter openings. The abundance of common terrestrial lichens among the partial cutting and no-harvest treatments was compared across five replicate blocks, pre-harvest (1995) and post-harvest (1998, 2000 and 2004). The initial loss of preferred forage lichens (Cladonia, Cladina, Cetraria and Stereocaulon) was similar among harvesting treatments, but there was greater reduction in these lichens in the openings than in the residual forest. After eight years, forage lichens in the group selection treatment recovered to pre-harvest amounts, while lichen in the shelterwood treatments steadily increased from 49 to 57% in 1998 to about 70% of pre-harvest amounts in 2004. Although not part of the randomized block design, there was substantially less lichen in three adjacent clearcut blocks than in the partial cuts. Regression analysis pre- and post-harvest indicated that increased cover of trees, shrubs, herbs, woody debris and logging slash corresponded with decreased forage lichen abundance. In the short-term, forestry activities that minimize inputs of woody debris, control herb and shrub development, and moderate the changes in light and temperatures associated with canopy removal will lessen the impact on lichen. Implementation of stand level prescriptions is only one aspect of caribou habitat management. A comprehensive approach should consider all factors and their interactions to maintain a viable population of woodland caribou in west-central British Columbia

Arboreal forage lichen response to partial cutting of high elevation mountain caribou range in the Quesnel Higland of east-central British Columbia

Group selection silvicultural systems have been recommended for managing mountain caribou (Rangifer tarandus caribou) habitat in high elevation Engelmann spruce – subalpine fir forests in east-central British Columbia. We measured the response of arboreal lichen (a key winter forage) to harvesting of 30% of the forested area using three partial cutting treatments, which created small (0.03 ha), medium (0.13 ha), and large (1.0 ha) openings, and a no-harvest treatment. Treatments were replicated on four sites, and monitored over a ten year post-harvest period. The short-term loss of lichen associated with removal of approximately one third of the trees was partially offset by a significant (P=0.01) increase in lichen abundance on trees in the caribou feeding zone (up to 4.5 m) in the three partial cutting treatments relative to trees in the uncut forest. Differences among treatments in the change in lichen composition, as measured by the percentage of Alectoria sarmentosa and Bryoria spp., were marginally significant (P=0.10). The partial cutting treatments showing a greater likelihood of shifting towards more Bryoria spp. than no-harvest treatment (P=0.04). In the year of harvest (1993), larger trees were found to hold more lichen than smaller trees (P=0.04), and live trees supported more lichen than dead trees (P=0.01), but lichen loading was similar among tree species (P=0.51). Tree fall rates were similar among treatments, based on the ten year average (0.6–0.8% of sample trees per year). The results indicate that caribou foraging habitat is maintained in the residual forest when group selection systems that remove only 30% of the trees are applied. Information on the distribution of lichen is useful for developing stand level prescriptions. Providing lichen bearing habitat meets just one of the needs of caribou. A comprehensive approach that considers all factors and their interactions is essential to maintain and recover the threatened mountain caribou

Targeted Multispectral Filter Array Design for Endoscopic Cancer Detection in the Gastrointestinal Tract

Colour differences between healthy and diseased tissue in the gastrointestinal tract are detected visually by clinicians during white light endoscopy (WLE); however, the earliest signs of disease are often just a slightly different shade of pink compared to healthy tissue. Here, we propose to target alternative colours for imaging to improve contrast using custom multispectral filter arrays (MSFAs) that could be deployed in an endoscopic chip-on-tip configuration. Using an open-source toolbox, Opti-MSFA, we examined the optimal design of MSFAs for early cancer detection in the gastrointestinal tract. The toolbox was first extended to use additional classification models (k-Nearest Neighbour, Support Vector Machine, and Spectral Angle Mapper). Using input spectral data from published clinical trials examining the oesophagus and colon, we optimised the design of MSFAs with 3 to 9 different bands. We examined the variation of the spectral and spatial classification accuracy as a function of number of bands. The MSFA designs have high classification accuracies, suggesting that future implementation in endoscopy hardware could potentially enable improved early detection of disease in the gastrointestinal tract during routine screening and surveillance. Optimal MSFA configurations can achieve similar classification accuracies as the full spectral data in an implementation that could be realised in far simpler hardware. The reduced number of spectral bands could enable future deployment of multispectral imaging in an endoscopic chip-on-tip configuration.Comment: 29 page

Significant benefits of AIP testing and clinical screening in familial isolated and young-onset pituitary tumors

Context Germline mutations in the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-interacting protein (AIP) gene are responsible for a subset of familial isolated pituitary adenoma (FIPA) cases and sporadic pituitary neuroendocrine tumors (PitNETs). Objective To compare prospectively diagnosed AIP mutation-positive (AIPmut) PitNET patients with clinically presenting patients and to compare the clinical characteristics of AIPmut and AIPneg PitNET patients. Design 12-year prospective, observational study. Participants & Setting We studied probands and family members of FIPA kindreds and sporadic patients with disease onset ≤18 years or macroadenomas with onset ≤30 years (n = 1477). This was a collaborative study conducted at referral centers for pituitary diseases. Interventions & Outcome AIP testing and clinical screening for pituitary disease. Comparison of characteristics of prospectively diagnosed (n = 22) vs clinically presenting AIPmut PitNET patients (n = 145), and AIPmut (n = 167) vs AIPneg PitNET patients (n = 1310). Results Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut PitNET patients had smaller lesions with less suprasellar extension or cavernous sinus invasion and required fewer treatments with fewer operations and no radiotherapy compared with clinically presenting cases; there were fewer cases with active disease and hypopituitarism at last follow-up. When comparing AIPmut and AIPneg cases, AIPmut patients were more often males, younger, more often had GH excess, pituitary apoplexy, suprasellar extension, and more patients required multimodal therapy, including radiotherapy. AIPmut patients (n = 136) with GH excess were taller than AIPneg counterparts (n = 650). Conclusions Prospectively diagnosed AIPmut patients show better outcomes than clinically presenting cases, demonstrating the benefits of genetic and clinical screening. AIP-related pituitary disease has a wide spectrum ranging from aggressively growing lesions to stable or indolent disease course

Silvicultural System in a High-elevation

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