Seasonal contrasts in the response of coffee ants to agroforestry shade-tree management.

In many tropical landscapes, agroforestry systems are the last forested ecosystems, providing shade, having higher humidity, mitigating potential droughts, and possessing more species than any other crop system. Here, we tested the hypothesis that higher levels of shade and associated humidity in agroforestry enhance coffee ant richness more during the dry than rainy season, comparing ant richness in 22 plots of three coffee agroforestry types in coastal Ecuador: simple-shade agroforests (intensively managed with low tree species diversity), complex-shade agroforests (extensively managed with intermediate tree species diversity) and abandoned coffee agroforests (abandoned for 10-15 yr and resembling secondary forests). Seasonality affected responses of ant richness but not composition to agroforestry management, in that most species were observed in abandoned coffee agroforests in the dry season. In the rainy season, however, most species were found in simple-shade agroforests, and complex agroforestry being intermediate. Foraging coffee ants species composition did not change differently according to agroforestry type and season. Results show that shade appears to be most important in the dry seasons, while a mosaic of different land-use types may provide adequate environmental conditions to ant species, maximizing landscape-wide richness throughout the year.

Sensorineural hearing loss associated with Kawasaki disease.

In five children who met the diagnostic criteria for Kawasaki Disease, sensorineural hearing loss developed in association with the acute illness. The children, aged 7 months to 13 years, had deficits ranging from mild to profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss. There were no associated neurologic abnormalities, and immunologic investigations and magnetic resonance imaging failed to reveal a cause. Treatment regimens differed among the children, but none had high salicylate levels (greater than 20 mg/dl) or received other ototoxic medications. Antiinflammatory therapy was not obviously beneficial in any case, and four of the children have persistent hearing deficits. We conclude that auditory involvement may be a complication of Kawasaki disease; screening of clinically affected children should be considered.

Congenital hypothyroidism--signs and symptoms in the newborn period.

Infants with athyrotic hypothyroidism usually manifest signs and symptoms of hypothyroidism prior to or during the period in the newborn nursery. These features are variable and include: prolonged gestation with large size at birth, large posterior fontanel, respiratory distress, hypothermia, peripheral cyanosis, hypoactivity, poor feeding, lag in onset of stooling, abdominal distension with vomiting, protracted icterus, and/or edema. Retrospective assessment of newborn nursery records of three infants from the Collaborative Perinatal Project who were subsequently found to have congenital hypothyroidism disclosed that they had six, eight, and nine, respectively, of these features while in the newborn nursery. Evaluation of newborn records on 12 other infants, often less complete, who were later found to have congenital hypothyroidism disclosed that each infant had from one to seven of these signs and symptoms, with an average of 3.2 per infant. Thus the most important period for clinical consideration of athyrotic hypothyroidism is in the newborn nursery to initiate early thyroid replacement therapy in affected infants.