Passive acoustic listening stations (PALS) show rapid onset of ecological effects of harmful algal blooms in real time.

Monitoring ecological changes in marine ecosystems is expensive and time-consuming. Passive acoustic methods provide continuous monitoring of soniferous species, are relatively inexpensive, and can be integrated into a larger network to provide enhanced spatial and temporal coverage of ecological events. We demonstrate how these methods can be used to detect changes in fish populations in response to a Karenia brevis red tide harmful algal bloom by examining sound spectrum levels recorded by two land-based passive acoustic listening stations (PALS) deployed in Sarasota Bay, Florida, before and during a red tide event. Significant and temporally persistent decreases in sound spectrum levels were recorded in real time at both PALS in four frequency bands spanning 0.172-20 kHz after K. brevis cells were opportunistically sampled near the stations. The decrease in sound spectrum levels and increase in K. brevis cell concentrations also coincided with decreased catch per unit effort (CPUE) and species density per unit effort (SDPUE) data for non-clupeid fish and soniferous fish species, as well as increased reports of marine mammal mortalities in the region. These findings demonstrate how PALS can detect and report in real time ecological changes from episodic disturbances, such as harmful algal blooms.

Overview of US Maternal Mortality Policy.

The United States maternal mortality rate has been rising for many years putting the US out of step with peer countries. There are many complex reasons for the rise in maternal deaths and recent data has demonstrated that there is a disproportionate risk for women of color. This article provides an overview of current policy and policy issues aimed at improving the maternal mortality rate in the United States.

Signal-specific amplitude adjustment to noise in common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Anthropogenic underwater noise has increased over the past century, raising concern about the impact on cetaceans that rely on sound for communication, navigation and locating prey and predators. Many terrestrial animals increase the amplitude of their acoustic signals to partially compensate for the masking effect of noise (the Lombard response), but it has been suggested that cetaceans almost fully compensate with amplitude adjustments for increasing noise levels. Here, we used sound-recording DTAGs on pairs of free-ranging common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) to test (i) whether dolphins increase signal amplitude to compensate for increasing ambient noise and (ii) whether adjustments are identical for different signal types. We present evidence of a Lombard response in the range 0.1-0.3 dB per 1 dB increase in ambient noise, which is similar to that of terrestrial animals, but much lower than the response reported for other cetaceans. We found that signature whistles tended to be louder and with a lower degree of amplitude adjustment to noise compared with non-signature whistles, suggesting that signature whistles may be selected for higher output levels and may have a smaller scope for amplitude adjustment to noise. The consequence of the limited degree of vocal amplitude compensation is a loss of active space during periods of increased noise, with potential consequences for group cohesion, conspecific encounter rates and mate attraction.

Effectiveness of a brief adjunctive yoga intervention for short-term mood and psychiatric symptom change during partial hospitalization.

OBJECTIVE: Evidence concerning the effectiveness of yoga in partial hospital programs is limited. Yet, partial hospitals provide treatment at a critical juncture by bridging inpatient and outpatient care. The present study tested the effectiveness of a single-session group yoga intervention for short-term mood and psychiatric symptom change in participants attending a 1- to 2-week partial hospital program. METHOD: Participants included 104 partial hospital patients who participated in the single-session yoga intervention and completed a measure of positive/negative affect before and after the group. Participants, as well as partial hospital patients who did not attend the yoga intervention (n = 438), completed measures of depression and anxiety symptoms at admission and discharge from the program. At discharge, they also rated their perceived improvement and the overall quality of the care they received. RESULTS: Participants who attended the yoga intervention experienced significant improvements in positive and negative affect during the group. They did not show greater improvements in symptoms of anxiety or depression over the course of treatment compared to individuals who did not attend the group. Yoga intervention participants nonetheless gave higher ratings to the quality of the care they received. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: Findings demonstrated that attending a single yoga session during partial hospitalization was associated with short-term mood benefits, and with enhanced overall perceptions of treatment. Further research is needed to determine the conditions under which participation in yoga during partial hospitalization could contribute to symptom change in this context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Resting Metabolic Rate and Lung Function in Wild Offshore Common Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, Near Bermuda.

Diving mammals have evolved a suite of physiological adaptations to manage respiratory gases during extended breath-hold dives. To test the hypothesis that offshore bottlenose dolphins have evolved physiological adaptations to improve their ability for extended deep dives and as protection for lung barotrauma, we investigated the lung function and respiratory physiology of four wild common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) near the island of Bermuda. We measured blood hematocrit (Hct, %), resting metabolic rate (RMR, l O2 ⋅ min-1), tidal volume (VT, l), respiratory frequency (fR, breaths ⋅ min-1), respiratory flow (l ⋅ min-1), and dynamic lung compliance (CL, l ⋅ cmH2O-1) in air and in water, and compared measurements with published results from coastal, shallow-diving dolphins. We found that offshore dolphins had greater Hct (56 ± 2%) compared to shallow-diving bottlenose dolphins (range: 30-49%), thus resulting in a greater O2 storage capacity and longer aerobic diving duration. Contrary to our hypothesis, the specific CL (sCL, 0.30 ± 0.12 cmH2O-1) was not different between populations. Neither the mass-specific RMR (3.0 ± 1.7 ml O2 ⋅ min-1 ⋅ kg-1) nor VT (23.0 ± 3.7 ml ⋅ kg-1) were different from coastal ecotype bottlenose dolphins, both in the wild and under managed care, suggesting that deep-diving dolphins do not have metabolic or respiratory adaptations that differ from the shallow-diving ecotypes. The lack of respiratory adaptations for deep diving further support the recently developed hypothesis that gas management in cetaceans is not entirely passive but governed by alteration in the ventilation-perfusion matching, which allows for selective gas exchange to protect against diving related problems such as decompression sickness.

Food provisioning increases the risk of injury in a long-lived marine top predator.

Food provisioning of wildlife is a major concern for management and conservation agencies worldwide because it encourages unnatural behaviours in wild animals and increases each individual's risk for injury and death. Here we investigate the contributing factors and potential fitness consequences of a recent increase in the frequency of human interactions with common bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) in Sarasota Bay, Florida. A rising proportion of the local long-term resident dolphin community is becoming conditioned to human interactions through direct and indirect food provisioning. We investigate variables that are affecting conditioning and if the presence of human-induced injuries is higher for conditioned versus unconditioned dolphins. Using the most comprehensive long-term dataset available for a free-ranging bottlenose dolphin population (more than 45 years; more than 32 000 dolphin group sightings; more than 1100 individuals), we found that the association with already conditioned animals strongly affected the probability of dolphins becoming conditioned to human interactions, confirming earlier findings that conditioning is partly a learned behaviour. More importantly, we found that conditioned dolphins were more likely to be injured by human interactions when compared with unconditioned animals. This is alarming, as conditioning could lead to a decrease in survival, which could have population-level consequences. We did not find a significant relationship between human exposure or natural prey availability and the probability of dolphins becoming conditioned. This could be due to low sample size or insufficient spatio-temporal resolution in the available data. Our findings show that wildlife provisioning may lead to a decrease in survival, which could ultimately affect population dynamics.

Evaluation of potential protective factors against metabolic syndrome in bottlenose dolphins: feeding and activity patterns of dolphins in sarasota bay, Florida.

Free-ranging bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) living in Sarasota Bay, Florida appear to have a lower risk of developing insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome compared to a group of dolphins managed under human care. Similar to humans, differences in diet and activity cycles between these groups may explain why Sarasota dolphins have lower insulin, glucose, and lipids. To identify potential protective factors against metabolic syndrome, existing and new data were incorporated to describe feeding and activity patterns of the Sarasota Bay wild dolphin community. Sarasota dolphins eat a wide variety of live fish and spend 10-20% of daylight hours foraging and feeding. Feeding occurs throughout the day, with the dolphins eating small proportions of their total daily intake in brief bouts. The natural pattern of wild dolphins is to feed as necessary and possible at any time of the day or night. Wild dolphins rarely eat dead fish or consume large amounts of prey in concentrated time periods. Wild dolphins are active throughout the day and night; they may engage in bouts of each key activity category at any time during daytime. Dive patterns of radio-tagged dolphins varied only slightly with time of day. Travel rates may be slightly lower at night, suggesting a diurnal rhythm, albeit not one involving complete, extended rest. In comparison, the managed dolphins are older; often fed a smaller variety of frozen-thawed fish types; fed fish species not in their natural diet; feedings and engaged activities are often during the day; and they are fed larger but fewer meals. In summary, potential protective factors against metabolic syndrome in dolphins may include young age, activity, and small meals fed throughout the day and night, and specific fish nutrients. These protective factors against insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are similar to those reported in humans. Further studies may benefit humans and dolphins.

Difficulties in establishing routine amniocentesis for preterm labor evaluation.

After a recent practice change implementing amniocentesis into the evaluation of preterm labor (PTL) or preterm premature rupture of membranes (PPROM), actual performance of the procedure was tracked. Fifty-nine patients were admitted with these diagnoses. Twenty-three patients (39%) were offered amniocentesis and 36 patients (61%) were not offered amniocentesis as part of the clinical protocol. Seven (30%) patients of those offered an amniocentesis underwent the procedure. The predominant reasons for not performing an amniocentesis were patient refusal and provider discomfort. In conclusion, implementation of amniocentesis to evaluate for subclinical infection/inflammation in the setting of PTL or PPROM proved difficult, as only 7 of 59 (11.9%) patients admitted with these diagnoses actually received an amniocentesis.

The search for meaning-Symptoms and transvaginal sonography screening for ovarian cancer: predicting malignancy.

BACKGROUND: The mortality rate of ovarian cancer is greater than that of all other major gynecologic malignancies. Detecting ovarian cancer at an early and curable stage long has been an objective of oncologists. Recently, it was reported that certain symptom patterns are informative for the presence of ovarian malignancy. In this article, the authors report on how symptoms and ultrasound predict ovarian malignancy. METHODS: Two hundred seventy-two women who were participating in annual transvaginal sonography (TVS) screening were selected from among 31,748 women who were enrolled. Symptom results were correlated with ultrasound and surgical pathology findings. RESULTS: TVS performed better than symptoms analysis for detecting malignancies (sensitivity, 73.3% vs 20%), and symptoms analysis performed better for distinguishing benign tumors (specificity, 91.3% vs 74.4%). The use of TVS and symptoms analysis in series resulted in poorer identification of malignancy (sensitivity, 16.7%) but improved the ability to distinguish benign tumors (specificity, 97.9%). Decisions using either symptoms or TVS combined in parallel had small increases in sensitivity (+3.3%) and had coordinated, small decreases in specificity (-5.8%). CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms did identify ovarian malignancies, but not as well as TVS. The current findings indicated that: 1) tumors that are negative by both ultrasound and a symptoms index are likely to be benign (specificity, >97%), and 2) adding symptoms information that has weight equal to the weight of ultrasound only slightly improves the discrimination of malignancy (sensitivity increase, +3.3%). Thus, a major benefit in discriminating malignancy was achieved through ultrasound, whereas the absence of symptoms in conjunction with an abnormal ultrasound (characterized by a low morphology index) indicated that the mass was benign and that surgery may not be required. Finally, informative symptoms can be expected to be absent in 80% of patients with ovarian malignancies.