Multi-year passive acoustic monitoring of coastal dolphins along the Israeli Mediterranean shallow shelf reveals the impact of marine fish farms and trawling patterns on their habitat utilization.

Dolphin preference and usage of various habitats along the Israeli shallow coastal shelf were investigated between 2019 and 2021 with passive acoustic monitoring devices. A hurdle model was used to examine the dolphins' visiting probability (chance of detection) and visit duration (length of stay once detected) across habitats, with diel cycle and season as explanatory variables. The influence of spatiotemporal prohibitions placed on trawler activity was also examined. It was found that dolphins exhibited higher presence in the vicinity of fish farms, up to three orders of magnitude, and even more so during periods when trawler activity was halted. The study also found a higher presence during the winter season and nighttime. Modeling did not find significant differences in the visiting probability or the visit duration between any non-farm-associated sites, including areas where trawling is prohibited. Further restrictions on the fishing industry may induce recovery of the benthic ecosystem and lower competition for resources, thus promoting higher dolphin presence in natural habitats along the shelf.

The effect of bactibilia on the course and outcome of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Although bactibilia is an important condition of acute cholecystitis, its effect on the course and outcome of the infectious gallbladder disease has rarely been studied, particularly in relation to the laparoscopic procedure. The current study attempts to learn more about the inter-relationship between bactibilia and laparoscopic cholecystectomy during acute cholecystitis. Demographic, preoperative, operative, and postoperative data were prospectively collected in every patient with acute cholecystitis treated in the department of surgery at the Bnai Zion Medical Center, Israel. Intraoperative biliary samples were collected under aseptic conditions at the time of operation for bacteriologic examination and were routinely cultured in aerobic and anaerobic media for 3 days. The study population was divided into culture-positive and culture-negative groups, and the collected parameters were compared between the groups. Age over 60 years, a palpable gallbladder, temperature over 37.5 degrees C, a white blood cell (WBC) count of more than 12,000/cc(3), and serum alkaline phosphatase higher than 100 U/dL were all found to be factors capable of predicting bactibilia. Bactibilia was a significant factor associated with total, as well as infectious, operative complications. Bactibilia is considered to indicate an advanced stage of acute cholecystitis. In cases of laparoscopic cholecystectomy for infectious gallbladder disease, bactibilia is strongly associated with total, as well as local, infectious complications. Preoperative conditions such as older age, elevated temperature, a palpable gallbladder, elevated WBC count, and elevated serum levels of alkaline phosphatase can serve as predictors of bactibilia and its consequent complications. Although the sensitivity and specificity of the predictive factors for bactibilia are limited to 63% and 67%, respectively, in their presence during acute cholecystitis, conservative wide-spectrum antibiotics as the first-line therapy is appropriate, and, upon regimen failure, laparoscopic surgery by an experienced surgeon is indicated as the adjusted therapy.