Documenting the short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) clades historically present in British Columbia, Canada, through ancient DNA analysis of archaeological specimens.

The short-tailed albatross (Phoebastria albatrus) is a threatened seabird whose present-day range encompasses much of the North Pacific. Within this species, there are two genetic clades (Clades 1 and 2) that have distinctive morphologies and foraging ecologies. Due to a global population collapse in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the frequency of these clades among the short-tailed albatross population that historically foraged off British Columbia, Canada, is unclear. To document the species' historical genetic structure in British Columbia, we applied ancient DNA (aDNA) analysis to 51 archaeological short-tailed albatross specimens from the Yuquot site (Borden site number: DjSp-1) that span the past four millennia. We obtained a 141 bp cytochrome b sequence from 43 of the 51 (84.3%) analyzed specimens. Analyses of these sequences indicate 40 of the specimens belong to Clade 1, while 2 belong to Clade 2. We also identified a single specimen with a novel cytochrome b haplotype. Our results indicate that during the past four millennia most of the short-tailed albatrosses foraging near Yuquot belonged to Clade 1, while individuals from other lineages made more limited use of the area. Comparisons with the results of previous aDNA analyses of archaeological albatrosses from Japanese sites suggest the distribution of Clades 1 and 2 differed. While both albatross clades foraged extensively in the Northwest Pacific, Clade 1 albatrosses appear to have foraged along the west coast of Vancouver Island to a greater extent. Due to their differing distributions, these clades may be exposed to different threats.

Flexibility in a Crisis: How Strong Relational Coordination and Lean Literacy Helped Us Weather the COVID Storm.

Our city was significantly impacted by the initial COVID-19 outbreak in the United States. We describe how members of our Quality and Safety team were able to leverage skills in relational coordination and process improvement to respond to rapidly changing needs in a flexible and effective way.

Comparison of procalcitonin testing to a targeted audit-and-feedback strategy on prescribed durations of therapy for community-acquired pneumonia.

The procalcitonin (PCT) assay is FDA-approved to help guide antimicrobial treatment, however, conflicting data exist regarding its impact on durations of therapy. The purpose of this study was to compare the impact of PCT to a targeted audit-and-feedback (TAF) strategy on antibiotic durations of therapy for community-acquired pneumonia (CAP). A retrospective cohort study was conducted at two community teaching hospitals, one implementing PCT with routine audit-and-feedback and one implementing TAF recommending 5 days of therapy for uncomplicated CAP. Three hundred eleven patients with antibiotics ordered having an indication of pneumonia were included (Pre-TAF n = 80, Pre-PCT n = 80, Post-TAF n = 80, Post-PCT n = 71). Average duration of therapy was similar at baseline (Pre-TAF = 7.0 days vs Pre-PCT = 7.8 days, p = 0.1) and post-intervention (Post-TAF = 5.5 days vs Post-PCT = 5.4 days, p = 0.8) between groups. PCT and TAF were equally effective antimicrobial stewardship strategies in reducing total days of antibiotic therapy prescribed for CAP with no differences observed in patient outcomes.