Comparative life history patterns of female gorillas.

OBJECTIVES: Several theories have been proposed to explain the impact of ecological conditions on differences in life history variables within and between species. Here we compare female life history parameters of one western lowland gorilla population (Gorilla gorilla gorilla) and two mountain gorilla populations (Gorilla beringei beringei). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We compared the age of natal dispersal, age of first birth, interbirth interval, and birth rates using long-term demographic datasets from Mbeli Bai (western gorillas), Bwindi Impenetrable National Park and the Virunga Massif (mountain gorillas). RESULTS: The Mbeli western gorillas had the latest age at first birth, longest interbirth interval, and slowest surviving birth rate compared to the Virunga mountain gorillas. Bwindi mountain gorillas were intermediate in their life history patterns. DISCUSSION: These patterns are consistent with differences in feeding ecology across sites. However, it is not possible to determine the evolutionary mechanisms responsible for these differences, whether a consequence of genetic adaptation to fluctuating food supplies ("ecological risk aversion hypothesis") or phenotypic plasticity in response to the abundance of food ("energy balance hypothesis"). Our results do not seem consistent with the extrinsic mortality risks at each site, but current conditions for mountain gorillas are unlikely to match their evolutionary history. Not all traits fell along the expected fast-slow continuum, which illustrates that they can vary independently from each other ("modularity model"). Thus, the life history traits of each gorilla population may reflect a complex interplay of multiple ecological influences that are operating through both genetic adaptations and phenotypic plasticity.

Feasibility of virtual reality based training for optimising COVID-19 case handling in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Epidemics and pandemics are causing high morbidity and mortality on a still-evolving scale exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Infection prevention and control (IPC) training for frontline health workers is thus essential. However, classroom or hospital ward-based training portends an infection risk due to the in-person interaction of participants. We explored the use of Virtual Reality (VR) simulations for frontline health worker training since it trains participants without exposing them to infections that would arise from in-person training. It does away with the requirement for expensive personal protective equipment (PPE) that has been in acute shortage and improves learning, retention, and recall. This represents the first attempt in deploying VR-based pedagogy in a Ugandan medical education context. METHODS: We used animated VR-based simulations of bedside and ward-based training scenarios for frontline health workers. The training covered the donning and doffing of PPE, case management of COVID-19 infected individuals, and hand hygiene. It used VR headsets to actualize an immersive experience, via a hybrid of fully-interactive VR and 360° videos. The level of knowledge acquisition between individuals trained using this method was compared to similar cohorts previously trained in a classroom setting. That evaluation was supplemented by a qualitative assessment based on feedback from participants about their experience. RESULTS: The effort resulted in a COVID-19 IPC curriculum adapted into VR, corresponding VR content, and a pioneer cohort of VR trained frontline health workers. The formalized comparison with classroom-trained cohorts showed relatively better outcomes by way of skills acquired, speed of learning, and rates of information retention (P-value = 4.0e-09). In the qualitative assessment, 90% of the participants rated the method as very good, 58.1% strongly agreed that the activities met the course objectives, and 97.7% strongly indicated willingness to refer the course to colleagues. CONCLUSION: VR-based COVID-19 IPC training is feasible, effective and achieves enhanced learning while protecting participants from infections within a pandemic setting in Uganda. It is a delivery medium transferable to the contexts of other highly infectious diseases.

Feasibility of Virtual Reality based Training for Optimising COVID-19 Case Handling in Uganda.

Background Epidemics and pandemics are causing high morbidity and mortality on a still-evolving scale exemplified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Infection prevention and control (IPC) training for frontline health workers is thus essential. However, classroom or hospital ward based training portends an infection risk due to the in-person interaction of participants. We explored the use of Virtual Reality (VR) simulations for frontline health worker training since it trains participants without exposing them to infections that would arise from in-person training. It does away with the requirement for expensive Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) that has been in acute shortage and improves learning, retention and recall. This represents the first attempt in deploying VR-based pedagogy in a Ugandan medical education context. Methods We used animated VR-based simulations of bedside and ward-based training scenarios for frontline health workers. The training covered the wearing and stripping of PPE, case management of COVID-19 infected individuals and hand hygiene. It used VR headsets and Graphics Processing Units (GPUs) to actualize an immersive experience, via a hybrid of VR renditions and 360degrees videos. We then compared the level of knowledge acquisition between individuals trained using this method to comparable cohorts previously trained in a classroom setting. That evaluation was supplemented by a qualitative assessment based on feedback from participants about their experience. Results The effort resulted into a well-designed COVID-19 IPC VR curriculum, equivalent VR content and a pioneer cohort of trained frontline health workers. The formalized comparison with classroom-trained cohorts showed relatively better outcomes by way of skills acquired, speed of learning and rates of information retention ( P-value =4.0e-09) - suggesting the effectiveness and feasibility of VR as a medium of medical training. Additionally, in the qualitative assessment 90% of the participants rated the method as very good, 58.1% strongly agreed that the activities met the course objectives, and 97.7 % strongly indicated willingness to refer the course to colleagues. Conclusion VR-based COVID-19 IPC training is feasible, effective and achieves enhanced learning while protecting participants from infections within a pandemic context in Uganda. It is a delivery medium transferable to the contexts of other highly infectious diseases.

Dispersal and reproductive careers of male mountain gorillas in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda.

Dispersal is a key event in the life of an animal and it influences individual reproductive success. Male mountain gorillas exhibit both philopatry and dispersal, resulting in a mixed one-male and multimale social organization. However, little is known about the relationship between male dispersal or philopatry and reproductive careers in Bwindi mountain gorillas. Here we analyze data spanning from 1993 to 2017 on social groups in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, Uganda to examine the proportion of males that disperse, age of dispersal, pathways to attaining alpha status, fate of dispersing males and philopatric males, and male tenure length as well as make comparisons of these variables to the Virunga mountain gorilla population. We report previously undocumented cases of dispersal by immature males and old males and we also observed the only known case of a fully mature male immigrating into a breeding group. We used genetic tracking of known individuals to estimate that a minimum of 25% of males that disperse to become solitary males eventually form new groups. No differences were found between the Bwindi and Virunga population in the age of male dispersal, the proportion of males that disperse, the age of alpha male acquisition, and dominance tenure length. The lack of differences may be due to small sample sizes or because the observed ecological variability does not lead to life history differences between the populations. Males in both populations follow variable strategies to attain alpha status leading to the variable one-male and multimale social organization, including dispersal to become solitary and eventually form a group, via group fissioning, usurping another alpha male, or inheriting the alpha position when a previous group leader dies.