Estimating hybridization in the wild using citizen science data: A path forward.

Genomic evidence of introgression in natural populations has reinvigorated the study of hybridization in recent years. Still, it is largely unknown how frequently individual organisms mate across species lines. Recently, Justyn et al. suggested that eBird, one of the world's largest citizen science databases, may supply adequate data for estimating hybridization rates. Here, we compare Justyn et al.'s estimates-and their conclusions that hybridization is rare-with estimates from museum and molecular data. We also estimate hybridization using eBird observations from areas and times when hybridization is possible, namely, in contact zones during the breeding season. These estimates are all considerably higher than those reported in Justyn et al., emphasizing that inferences from multiple datasets can differ radically. Finally, we demonstrate an approach for predicting the location of hybrid zones using eBird data, which can be done with high confidence and with unprecedented resolution. We show that citizen science data, far from settling the question of how frequently bird species hybridize, instead offer a promising step toward more focused study of hybrid zones.

Infections Associated with Temporary External Fixation.

Infections associated with external fixation are thought to be related to the fixator construct, the length of time a fixator is on the limb and the injury severity score (ISS). Patients who had temporary external fixation applied for lower extremity fractures were included. Charts were reviewed for prevalence of infection, loss of reduction or other external fixator modification. Other variables were length of time the fixator was applied and the length of hospitalization. Seventy-five patients with 80 fractures met our study criteria. Of 80 fractures, 23 (28.8%) were associated with infection at the fracture site. Average time to conversion from external fixation to definitive fixation was 13.23 ± 19.8 for infected fractures and 20.03 ± 17.08 (p = 0.137) for those without infection. We did not find that the length of time a fixator was applied was associated with an increased infection rate of the fracture site, the pin sites or other regions. (Journal of Surgical Orthopaedic Advances 29(2):73-76, 2020).