Spinal cord infarction attributed to SARS-CoV-2, with post-acute sequelae of COVID-19: A case report.

BACKGROUND: While stroke and lower extremity venous thromboemboli have been commonly reported following acute infection with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), spinal cord infarction or ischemia has been extremely rare. Findings of long coronavirus disease (COVID) in this select population have not been studied. CASE SUMMARY: We present the case of a 70-year-old female with sudden onset of trunk and lower extremity sensorimotor loss due to spinal cord infarction, attributed to acute infection with SARS-CoV-2. Diagnostic work up confirmed a T3 complete (ASIA impairment Scale A) paraplegia resulting from a thrombotic infarct. Her reported myalgias, neuropathic pain, spasticity, bladder spasms, and urinary tract infections exceeded the frequency and severity of many spinal cord injury (SCI) individuals of similar age and degree of neurologic impairment. In her first year after contracting COVID-19, she underwent 2 separate inpatient rehabilitation courses, but also required acute hospitalization 6 additional times for subsequent infections or uncontrolled pain. Yet other complications of complete non-traumatic SCI (NTSCI), including neurogenic bowel and temperature hypersensitivity, were mild, and pressure injuries were absent. She has now transitioned from the acute to chronic phase of spinal cord injury care, with subsequent development of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection (PASC). CONCLUSION: This individual experienced significant challenges with the combined effects of acute T3 NTSCI and acute COVID-19, with subsequent progression to PASC.

Next-generation technologies unlock new possibilities to track rangeland productivity and quantify multi-scale conservation outcomes.

Historically, relying on plot-level inventories impeded our ability to quantify large-scale change in plant biomass, a key indicator of conservation practice outcomes in rangeland systems. Recent technological advances enable assessment at scales appropriate to inform management by providing spatially comprehensive estimates of productivity that are partitioned by plant functional group across all contiguous US rangelands. We partnered with the Sage Grouse and Lesser Prairie-Chicken Initiatives and the Nebraska Natural Legacy Project to demonstrate the ability of these new datasets to quantify multi-scale changes and heterogeneity in plant biomass following mechanical tree removal, prescribed fire, and prescribed grazing. In Oregon's sagebrush steppe, for example, juniper tree removal resulted in a 21% increase in one pasture's productivity and an 18% decline in another. In Nebraska's Loess Canyons, perennial grass productivity initially declined 80% at sites invaded by trees that were prescriptively burned, but then fully recovered post-fire, representing a 492% increase from nadir. In Kansas' Shortgrass Prairie, plant biomass increased 4-fold (966,809 kg/ha) in pastures that were prescriptively grazed, with gains highly dependent upon precipitation as evidenced by sensitivity of remotely sensed estimates (SD ± 951,308 kg/ha). Our results emphasize that next-generation remote sensing datasets empower land managers to move beyond simplistic control versus treatment study designs to explore nuances in plant biomass in unprecedented ways. The products of new remote sensing technologies also accelerate adaptive management and help communicate wildlife and livestock forage benefits from management to diverse stakeholders.

Tracking spatial regimes as an early warning for a species of conservation concern.

In this era of global environmental change and rapid regime shifts, managing core areas that species require to survive and persist is a grand challenge for conservation. Wildlife monitoring data are often limited or local in scale. The emerging ability to map and track spatial regimes (i.e., the spatial manifestation of state transitions) using advanced geospatial vegetation data has the potential to provide earlier warnings of habitat loss because many species of conservation concern strongly avoid spatial regime boundaries. Using 23 yr of data for the lek locations of Greater Prairie-Chicken (Tympanuchus cupido; GPC) in a remnant grassland ecosystem, we demonstrate how mapping changes in the boundaries between grassland and woodland spatial regimes provide a spatially explicit early warning signal for habitat loss for an iconic and vulnerable grassland-obligate known to be highly sensitive to woody plant encroachment. We tested whether a newly proposed metric for the quantification of spatial regimes captured well-known responses of GPC to woody plant expansion into grasslands. Resource selection functions showed that the grass:woody spatial regime boundary strength explained the probability of 80% of relative lek occurrence, and GPC strongly avoided grass:woody spatial regime boundaries at broad scales. Both findings are consistent with well-known expectations derived from GPC ecology. These results provide strong evidence for vegetation-derived delineations of spatial regimes to serve as generalized signals of early warning for state transitions that have major consequences to biodiversity conservation. Mapping spatial regime boundaries over time provided interpretable early warnings of habitat loss. Woody plant regimes displaced grassland regimes starting from the edges of the study area and constricting inward. Correspondingly, the relative probability of lek occurrence constricted in space. Similarly, the temporal trajectory of spatial regime boundary strength increased over time and moved closer to the observed limit of GPC lek site usage relative to grass:woody boundary strength. These novel spatial metrics allow managers to rapidly screen for early warning signals of spatial regime shifts and adapt management practices to defend and grow habitat cores at broad scales.

HELMINTH INFECTIONS IN NORTHERN BOBWHITES (COLINUS VIRGINIANUS) FROM A LEGACY LANDSCAPE IN TEXAS, USA.

The Northern Bobwhite ( Colinus virginianus ) has declined across its range. The primary cause of this decline is thought to be habitat loss and fragmentation. However, there is speculation that factors such as parasites may play a role. South Texas recently was designated a Legacy Landscape of National Significance for Northern Bobwhite Conservation and is a region with some of the highest bobwhite densities in the US. Limited studies on bobwhite parasites have been conducted in this crucial landscape. We documented helminth parasites infecting bobwhites in South Texas, identified those that are known to be pathogenic to quail, documented pathologic responses to infection, and evaluated infections related to host intrinsic and extrinsic factors. We examined 209 bobwhites and found nine species of helminths including two known to cause tissue damage in bobwhites: Tetrameres pattersoni and Oxyspirura petrowi. The cecal nematode Aulonocephalus pennula was numerically dominant and had the greatest prevalence, intensity, and abundance. Prevalence and abundance of A. pennula were significantly greater in adult than juvenile bobwhites, whereas host sex was not an important factor. Prevalence of A. pennula was significantly greater during the 2012-13 hunting season than the 2013-14 season. The abundance of A. pennula also was significantly greater in bobwhites with greater mass within each age cohort. This research provides insight regarding the factors that influence helminth infections in bobwhites from South Texas and highlights the importance of broad-scale surveys when assessing helminth infections across large regions.