Ecological and anthropogenic drivers of waterfowl productivity are synchronous across species, space, and time.

Knowledge of interspecific and spatiotemporal variation in demography-environment relationships is key for understanding the population dynamics of sympatric species and developing multispecies conservation strategies. We used hierarchical random-effects models to examine interspecific and spatial variation in annual productivity in six migratory ducks (i.e., American wigeon [Mareca americana], blue-winged teal [Spatula discors], gadwall [Mareca strepera], green-winged teal [Anas crecca], mallard [Anas platyrhynchos] and northern pintail [Anas acuta]) across six distinct ecostrata in the Prairie Pothole Region of North America. We tested whether breeding habitat conditions (seasonal pond counts, agricultural intensification, and grassland acreage) or cross-seasonal effects (indexed by flooded rice acreage in primary wintering areas) better explained variation in the proportion of juveniles captured during late summer banding. The proportion of juveniles (i.e., productivity) was highly variable within species and ecostrata throughout 1961-2019 and generally declined through time in blue-winged teal, gadwall, mallard, pintail, and wigeon, but there was no support for a trend in green-winged teal. Productivity in Canadian ecostrata declined with increasing agricultural intensification and increased with increasing pond counts. We also found a strong cross-seasonal effect, whereby more flooded rice hectares during winter resulted in higher subsequent productivity. Our results suggest highly consistent environmental and anthropogenic effects on waterfowl productivity across species and space. Our study advances our understanding of current year and cross-seasonal effects on duck productivity across a suite of species and at finer spatial scales, which could help managers better target working-lands conservation programs on both breeding and wintering areas. We encourage other researchers to evaluate environmental drivers of population dynamics among species in a single modeling framework for a deeper understanding of whether conservation plans should be generalized or customized given limited financial resources.

Longitudinal outcomes of final kissing balloon inflation in coronary bifurcation lesions treated with a single stent.

Background: Final kissing balloon inflation (FKBI) is a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) technique that is considered mandatory to improve outcomes in two-stent strategies, but its use in single-stent bifurcation PCI remains controversial. Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, we identified patients with coronary bifurcation lesions treated with one stent from January 2012 to March 2021 at a single academic medical center. Incidence rates per 1,000 patient-years (IR1000) were calculated for the outcomes of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), stent thrombosis (ST), target lesion revascularization (TLR), coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and cardiac readmission between patients who received FKBI and those who did not over a median follow up of 2.3 years. Studied outcomes were adjusted for all baseline clinical and procedural characteristics. Results: This study included 893 consecutive patients of which 256 received FKBI and 637 did not. The IR1000 for MI were 51.1 and 27.6 for patients who received FKBI and patients who did not, respectively (adjusted HR = 2.44, p = 0.001). The IR1000 for death were 31.2 and 52.3 for patients who received FKBI and patients who did not, respectively (adjusted HR = 0.68, p = 0.141). The incidence rates of ST, TLR, CABG, and cardiac readmissions were similar between patients who received FKBI and those who did not. Conclusions: These results suggest that performing FKBI in a one-stent technique was associated with higher rates of myocardial infarction, particularly in the first 6 months, and no difference in death, ST, TLR, CABG, and cardiac readmission rates.

The Benefit of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Before Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: A Multicenter Retrospective Outcome-Based Study.

There is inadequate evidence regarding the role of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The current American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology guidelines are limited to class 2A recommendations for pre-TAVR revascularization in the setting of hemodynamically significant left main (LM), proximal left anterior descending (pLAD), or extensive bifurcation disease regardless of angina status. We performed a multicenter, retrospective, observational study assessing the benefit of PCI in patients with coronary artery disease who underwent transfemoral TAVR for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. Patients were divided into 2 cohorts: (1) patients who did not undergo pre-TAVR PCI within the preceding 12 months (no-PCI group) and (2) patients who received pre-TAVR PCI within the preceding 12 months (PCI group). The primary outcome was defined as the composite end point of in-hospital and 30-day adverse events, including all-cause mortality, cardiac arrest, and myocardial infarction. Subgroup analyses were performed on patients with LM and/or pLAD disease and other high-risk features, including angina and heart failure. Comparisons were made between 1,809 consecutive patients (1,364 in the no-PCI group and 445 in the PCI group). There were no differences between the 2 cohorts regarding the primary composite outcome (2.0% vs 2.8%, p = 0.918) or individual secondary outcomes. Although LM/pLAD disease, New York Heart Association classes III to IV, and Society of Thoracic Surgeons risk score ≥8 were all independent predictors of the primary outcome, none of the subgroups demonstrated a benefit favoring PCI. In conclusion, there is no observed benefit from PCI within 12 months pre-TAVR in patients with severe aortic stenosis and concomitant coronary artery disease, including patients with LM/pLAD disease.

A life-history spectrum of population responses to simultaneous change in climate and land use.

Climate and land use change are two of the primary threats to global biodiversity; however, each species within a community may respond differently to these facets of global change. Although it is typically assumed that species use the habitat that is advantageous for survival and reproduction, anthropogenic changes to the environment can create ecological traps, making it critical to assess both habitat selection (e.g. where species congregate on the landscape) and the influence of selected habitats on the demographic processes that govern population dynamics. We used a long-term (1958-2011), large-scale, multi-species dataset for waterfowl that spans the United States and Canada to estimate species-specific responses to climate and land use variables in a landscape that has undergone significant environmental change across space and time. We first estimated the effects of change in climate and land use variables on habitat selection and population dynamics for nine species. We then hypothesized that species-specific responses to environmental change would scale with life-history traits, specifically: longevity, nesting phenology and female breeding site fidelity. We observed species-level heterogeneity in the demographic and habitat selection responses to climate and land use change, which would complicate community-level habitat management. Our work highlights the importance of multi-species monitoring and community-level analysis, even among closely related species. We detected several relationships between life-history traits, particularly nesting phenology, and species' responses to environmental change. One species, the early-nesting northern pintail (Anas acuta), was consistently at the extreme end of responses to land use and climate predictors and has been a species of conservation concern since their population began to decline in the 1980s. They, and the blue-winged teal, also demonstrated a positive habitat selection response to the proportion of cropland on the landscape that simultaneously reduced abundance the following year, indicative of susceptibility to ecological traps. By distilling the diversity of species' responses to environmental change within a community, our methodological approach and findings will help improve predictions of community responses to global change and can inform multi-species management and conservation plans in dynamic landscapes that are based on simple tenets of life-history theory.

Costs associated with transradial access and same-day discharge after percutaneous coronary intervention: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Transradial access for PCI (TRI) along with same day discharge (SDD) is associated with varying estimates of cost savings depending on the population studied, the clinical scenario and application to low-risk vs high-risk patients. A summary estimate of the true cost savings of TRI and SDD are unknown. We searched the PubMed, EMBASE®, CINAHL® and Google Scholar® databases for published studies on hospitalization costs of TRI and SDD. Primary outcome of interest in all included studies was the cost saving with TRI (or SDD), inflation-corrected US$ 2018 values using the medical consumer price index. For meta-analytic synthesis, we used Hedges' summary estimate (g) in a random-effects framework of the DerSimonian and Laird model, with inverse variance weights. Heterogeneity was quantified using the I2 statistic. The cost savings of TRI from four US studies of 349,757 patients reported a consistent and significant cost saving associated with TRI after accounting for currency inflation, of US$ 992 (95% CI US$ 850-1,134). The cost savings of SDD from six US studies of 1,281,228 patients, after inflation-correcting to the year 2018, were US$ 3,567.58 (95% CI US$ 2,303-4,832). In conclusion, this meta-analysis demonstrates that TRI and SDD are associated with mean cost reductions of by approximately US$ 1,000/patient and US$ 3,600/patient, respectively, albeit with wide heterogeneity in the cost estimates. When combined with the safety of TRI and SDD, this meta-analysis underscores the value of combining TRI and SDD pathways and calls for a wide-ranging practice change in the direction of TRI and SDD.

Transradial Access for High-Risk Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Implications of the Risk-Treatment Paradox.

[Figure: see text].

Unrecognized perforation into the anterior interventricular vein complicating PCI for anterior STEMI: An unexpected detour.

Large iatrogenic coronary artery perforations require rapid management; however, operators must be able to recognize guidewire perforation into cardiac veins in order to avoid causing further complications with standard salvage strategies.

Sex Differences in Acute Bleeding and Vascular Complications Following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Between 2003 and 2016: Trends From the Dartmouth Dynamic Registry.

BACKGROUND: Women undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are at higher risk for bleeding and vascular complications than men. Multiple approaches have been utilized to reduce bleeding in the modern era of PCI, including radial access, reduced GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor use, increased vascular closure device use, smaller sheath size and novel antithrombotic regimens. Nevertheless, few studies have assessed the impact of these techniques on the gap between men and women for such complications following PCI. We sought to quantify bleeding and vascular complications over time between men and women. METHODS: We queried The Dartmouth Dynamic Registry for consecutive PCI's performed between January 2003 and June 2016. Demographic information, procedural characteristics, and in-hospital outcomes were collected and compared between men and women over the years. RESULTS: We reviewed 15,284 PCI cases, of which 4384 (29%) were performed in women. Radial access increased from none in 2003 to nearly 40% in 2016. Use of GP IIb/IIIa and femoral access decreased substantially over the same time. Bleeding and vascular complication rates decreased significantly in women (13.2% to 3%; 6.5% to 0.8%, respectively) and men (3.5% to 0.7%, 3.4% to 0.7%, respectively). The overall bleeding and vascular complication rates decreased more for women than men, narrowing the gender gap. CONCLUSIONS: The incidence of bleeding and vascular complications fell between 2003 and 2016 in both men and women. Vascular complications have become less common over time, and based on our analysis, there was no longer any difference between the sexes for this outcome. Bleeding following PCI has decreased in both sexes over time; however, women continue to bleed more than men.

Cardiac eigen imaging: a novel method to isolate cardiac activity in thoracic electrical impedance tomography.

OBJECTIVE: As the global burden of cardiovascular disease increases, proactive cardiovascular healthcare by means of accurate, precise, continuous, and non-invasive monitoring is becoming crucial. However, no current device is able to provide cardiac hemodynamic monitoring with the aforementioned criterion. Electrical impedance tomography (EIT) is an inexpensive, non-invasive imaging modality that can provide real-time images of internal conductivity distributions that describe physiological activity. This work explores and compares a standard approach of regular cardiac gated averaging (RCGA) and a newly developed method, cardiac eigen-imaging (CEI), based on the singular value decomposition (SVD) to isolate cardiac activity in thoracic EIT. APPROACH: EIT and heart-rate (HR) data were collected from 20 heart-failure patients preceding echocardiography. Features from RCGA and CEI images were correlated with stroke volume (SV) from echocardiography and image reconstruction parameters were optimized using leave-one-out (LOO) cross-validation. MAIN RESULTS: CEI per-pixel-based features achieved a Pearson correlation coefficient of 0.80 with SV relative to 0.72 with RCGA. CEI had 33 high-correlating pixels while RCGA had 8. High-correlating pixels tend to concentrate in the right-ventricle (RV) when referenced to a general chest model. SIGNIFICANCE: While both RCGA and CEI images had high-correlating pixels, CEI had higher correlations, a larger number of high-correlating pixels, and unlike RCGA is not dependent on the quality of the HR data collected. The observed performance of the CEI approach represents a promising step forward for EIT-based cardiac monitoring in either clinical or ambulatory settings.

Acute Kidney Recovery in Patients Who Underwent Transcatheter Versus Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement (from the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group).

Acute kidney recovery (AKR) is a recently described phenomenon observed after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and is more frequent than acute kidney injury (AKI). To determine the incidence and predictors of AKR between surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) and TAVR, we examined patients with chronic kidney disease and severe aortic stenosis who underwent SAVR or TAVR procedure between 2007 and 2017; excluding age <65 or >90, dialysis, endocarditis, non-aortic valve stenosis, or patients died within 48-hours postprocedure. AKR was defined as an increase of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) >25% and AKI as decrease in eGFR >25% at discharge. Stroke, mortality, major bleeding, transfusion, and length of stay were examined. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to examine predictors of AKR. There were 750 transcatheter and 1,062 surgical patients and 319 pairs after propensity matching. AKR was observed in 26% TAVR versus 23.2% SAVR, p = 0.062. Highest recovery was in patients with eGFR <30 for both TAVR (33.7%) and SAVR (34.5%) patients. Independent predictors of AKR were ejection fraction <50% (odds ratio [OR] 1.66, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.02 to 2.71, p = 0.042), female gender (OR 1.66, 95% CI 1.1 to 2.5, p = 0.015), and obesity (OR 1.5, 95% CI 1.04-2.3, p = 0.032). Diabetes was a negative predictor of AKR (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.36 to 0.84, p = 0.005). AKR was associated with improved secondary clinical outcomes compared with AKI. In conclusion, AKR is a generalizable phenomenon occurring frequently and similarly among transcatheter or surgical aortic valve patients. Diabetes is a negative predictor of AKR, possibly indicative of less reversible kidney disease.

Modern Management of ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

Disruption of intracoronary plaque with thrombus formation resulting in severe or total occlusion of the culprit coronary artery provides the pathophysiologic foundation for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Management of STEMI focuses on timely restoration of coronary blood flow along with antithrombotic therapies and secondary prevention strategies. The purpose of this review is to discuss the epidemiology, pathophysiology, and diagnosis of STEMI. In addition, the review will focus on guideline-directed therapy for these patients and review potential associated complications.

Reproductive consequences of climate variability in migratory birds: evidence for species-specific responses to spring phenology and cross-seasonal effects.

Climate change is altering global temperature and precipitation regimes, and the ability of species to respond to these changes could have serious implications for population dynamics. Flexible species may adjust breeding dates in response to advances in spring phenology. Furthermore, in migratory bird species, conditions experienced during the non-breeding season may have cross-seasonal effects during the subsequent breeding season. We evaluated species-specific responses to antecedent non-breeding (winter) and current breeding (spring) conditions. We used a data set composed of 21,230 duck nests from 164 sites in the Canadian Prairie Pothole Region, 1993-2011, to determine how environmental conditions influenced timing of nesting and subsequent nest survival in eight duck species representing varying life-histories. We tested how species responded in timing of nesting and nest survival, respectively, to El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) conditions experienced during the preceding non-breeding season (winter; Dec-Feb), and spring (Mar-Jun) temperature and moisture conditions on the breeding grounds. Ducks tended to nest earlier in warmer springs; however, in El Niño winters, with warmer spring temperatures, nesting tended to be later. We did not find evidence for direct effects of environmental variables on nest survival; however, evidence of indirect effects of winter conditions on nest survival for some species via strong direct effects on timing of nesting provides new insights into mechanisms for cross-seasonal effects on reproductive success.

Land-use change increases climatic vulnerability of migratory birds: Insights from integrated population modelling.

Knowledge of land-use patterns that could affect animal population resiliency or vulnerability to environmental threats such as climate change is essential, yet the interactive effects of land use and climate on demography across space and time can be difficult to study. This is particularly true for migratory species, which rely on different landscapes throughout the year. Unlike most North American migratory waterfowl, populations of northern pintails (Anas acuta; hereafter pintails) have not recovered since the 1980s despite extended periods of abundant flooded wetlands (i.e. ponds). The mechanisms and drivers involved in this discrepancy remain poorly understood. While pintails are similar to other ducks in their dependence on ponds throughout their annual cycle, their extensive use of croplands for nesting differentiates them and makes them particularly vulnerable to changes in agricultural land use on prairie breeding grounds. Our intent was to quantify how changes in land use and ponds on breeding grounds have influenced pintail population dynamics by developing an integrated population model to analyse over five decades (1961-2014) of band-recovery, breeding population survey, land-use and pond count data. We focused especially on the interactive effects of pond counts and land use on pintail productivity, while accounting for density-dependent processes. Pintail populations responded more strongly to annual variation in productivity than survival. Productivity was positively correlated with pond count and negatively correlated with agricultural intensification. Further, a positive interaction between pond count and agricultural intensification was insufficient to overcome the strong negative effect of agricultural intensification on pintail productivity across nearly all pond counts. The interaction also indicated that pintail populations were more negatively impacted by the decrease in ponds associated with climate change under higher agricultural intensification. Our results indicate that pintail populations have become more vulnerable to climate change under intensified land use, which suggests that future conservation strategies must adapt to these altered relationships. The interactive effects of land use and climate on demography should be considered more frequently in animal ecology, and integrated population models provide an adaptable framework to understand vital rates and their drivers simultaneously.

Recovery of Kidney Dysfunction After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (from the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group).

Acute Kidney Recovery (AKR) is a potential benefit of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). We determined the incidence and predictors of AKR in a multicenter prospective registry of TAVI. After excluding patients on dialysis or who died within 48 hours postprocedure, we reviewed 1,502 consecutive patients underwent TAVI in Northern New England from 2012 to 2017. Patients were categorized into 3 groups based on the change in postprocedure estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): Acute Kidney Injury (AKI, decrease in eGFR >25%), AKR (increase in eGFR >25%) or no change in kidney function on discharge creatinine following TAVI. We then focused in patients with baseline chronic kidney disease (CKD defined as eGFR ≤60 ml/min; n = 755) and developed multivariate predictor models to determine the clinical and procedural variables associated with AKR. For the TAVI cohort (n = 1,502), the overall incidence of AKR was 17.8%. AKR was threefold higher in patients with eGFR ≤60 ml/min as compared to those with eGFR >60 ml/min (26.6% vs 8.9%, p < 0.001). In the CKD population, hospital complications were similar among patients with no change in renal function and AKR; patients with AKI had a higher rate of hospital mortality, pacemaker implantation, length of hospitalization, and transfusions. Using multivariable logistic regression, moderate to severe lung disease, eGFR < 50 ml/min and previous aortic valve surgery were found to be independent predictors of AKR. Patients with diabetes mellitus, baseline anemia, and Society of thoracic surgeons score >6.1 were less likely to develop AKR. In conclusion, AKR occurred in 1 of 4 of all TAVI patients with baseline CKD and was a more frequent phenomena than AKI. Patients with decreased lung function, previous aortic valve surgery and worse baseline renal function were more likely to demonstrate AKR, whereas patients with diabetes mellitus, baseline anemia, and higher Society of thoracic risk scores were less likely to see improvements in renal function after TAVI.

Patterns of in-hospital mortality and bleeding complications following PCI for very elderly patients: insights from the Dartmouth Dynamic Registry.

BACKGROUND: Very elderly patients (age ≥ 85 years) are a rapidly increasing segment of the population. As a group, they experience high rates of in-hospital mortality and bleeding complications following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, the relationship between bleeding and mortality in the very elderly is unknown. METHODS: Retrospective review was performed on 17,378 consecutive PCI procedures from 2000 to 2015 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. Incidence of bleeding during the index PCI admission (bleeding requiring transfusion, access site hematoma > 5 cm, pseudoaneurysm, and retroperitoneal bleed) and in-hospital mortality were reported for four age groups (< 65 years, 65-74 years, 75-84 years, and ≥ 85 years). The mortality of patients who suffered bleeding complications and those who did not was calculated and multivariate analysis was performed for in-hospital mortality. Lastly, known predictors of bleeding were compared between patients age < 85 years and age ≥ 85 years. RESULTS: Of 17,378 patients studied, 1019 (5.9%) experienced bleeding and 369 (2.1%) died in-hospital following PCI. Incidence of bleeding and in-hospital mortality increased monotonically with increasing age (mortality: 0.94%, 2.27%, 4.24% and 4.58%; bleeding: 3.96%, 6.62%, 10.68% and 13.99% for ages < 65, 65-74, 75-84 and ≥ 85 years, respectively). On multivariate analysis, bleeding was associated with increased mortality for all age groups except patients age ≥ 85 years [odds ratio (95% CI): age < 65 years, 3.65 (1.99-6.74); age 65-74 years, 2.83 (1.62-4.94); age 75-84 years, 3.86 (2.56-5.82), age ≥ 85 years: 1.39 (0.49-3.95)]. CONCLUSIONS: Bleeding and mortality following PCI increase with increasing age. For the very elderly, despite high rates of bleeding, bleeding is no longer predictive of in-hospital mortality following PCI.

Bivalirudin versus heparin, without glycoprotein inhibition, in percutaneous coronary intervention: A comparison of ischemic and hemorrhagic outcomes over 10years.

OBJECTIVE: The choice of antithrombotic agent used during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is controversial. While earlier studies suggested a reduction in bleeding events with bivalirudin, these studies were confounded by the concomitant use of glycoprotein IIbIIIa inhibitors (GPI) in the heparin group. More recent studies have challenged the superiority of bivalirudin, pointing to an increased risk of stent thrombosis. Real-world data remains limited. METHODS: We queried our institutional catheterization laboratory database for all PCI cases performed between January 2003 and December 2012 using only heparin or only bivalirudin (no use of GPI). We collected data on relevant patient and procedural characteristics and compared both efficacy and safety outcomes. We adjusted for baseline differences using coarsened exacting matching. RESULTS: 8061 cases met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 34.9% were performed with heparin alone and 65.1% with bivalirudin. After adjusting for baseline differences, we found that those patients receiving heparin had a slightly lower risk of post-procedural abrupt vessel closure (0.1% vs 0.5%). All other outcomes favored bivalirudin including procedural success (97.2% vs 95.5%), transfusion within 72h (2.2% vs 4.8%), retroperitoneal bleeding (0.1% vs 0.8%), and all-cause mortality (0.9% vs 1.9%). Subgroup analysis suggested that outcomes were different only in non-elective cases and non STEMI cases. CONCLUSION: Heparin appears to offer the advantage of slightly reduced risk of abrupt vessel closure post-procedure but at the cost of increased hemorrhagic complications and all-cause mortality. This difference in outcomes may be limited to non-elective and non STEMI cases with femoral access.

HS3ST1 genotype regulates antithrombin's inflammomodulatory tone and associates with atherosclerosis.

The HS3ST1 gene controls endothelial cell production of HSAT+ - a form of heparan sulfate containing a specific pentasaccharide motif that binds the anticoagulant protein antithrombin (AT). HSAT+ has long been thought to act as an endogenous anticoagulant; however, coagulation was normal in Hs3st1-/- mice that have greatly reduced HSAT+ (HajMohammadi et al., 2003). This finding indicates that HSAT+ is not essential for AT's anticoagulant activity. To determine if HSAT+ is involved in AT's poorly understood inflammomodulatory activities, Hs3st1-/- and Hs3st1+/+ mice were subjected to a model of acute septic shock. Compared with Hs3st1+/+ mice, Hs3st1-/- mice were more susceptible to LPS-induced death due to an increased sensitivity to TNF. For Hs3st1+/+ mice, AT treatment reduced LPS-lethality, reduced leukocyte firm adhesion to endothelial cells, and dilated isolated coronary arterioles. Conversely, for Hs3st1-/- mice, AT induced the opposite effects. Thus, in the context of acute inflammation, HSAT+ selectively mediates AT's anti-inflammatory activity; in the absence of HSAT+, AT's pro-inflammatory effects predominate. To explore if the anti-inflammatory action of HSAT+ also protects against a chronic vascular-inflammatory disease, atherosclerosis, we conducted a human candidate-gene association study on >2000 coronary catheterization patients. Bioinformatic analysis of the HS3ST1 gene identified an intronic SNP, rs16881446, in a putative transcriptional regulatory region. The rs16881446G/G genotype independently associated with the severity of coronary artery disease and atherosclerotic cardiovascular events. In primary endothelial cells, the rs16881446G allele associated with reduced HS3ST1 expression. Together with the mouse data, this leads us to conclude that the HS3ST1 gene is required for AT's anti-inflammatory activity that appears to protect against acute and chronic inflammatory disorders.

Building the foundation for international conservation planning for breeding ducks across the U.S. and Canadian border.

We used publically available data on duck breeding distribution and recently compiled geospatial data on upland habitat and environmental conditions to develop a spatially explicit model of breeding duck populations across the entire Prairie Pothole Region (PPR). Our spatial population models were able to identify key areas for duck conservation across the PPR and predict between 62.1-79.1% (68.4% avg.) of the variation in duck counts by year from 2002-2010. The median difference in observed vs. predicted duck counts at a transect segment level was 4.6 ducks. Our models are the first seamless spatially explicit models of waterfowl abundance across the entire PPR and represent an initial step toward joint conservation planning between Prairie Pothole and Prairie Habitat Joint Ventures. Our work demonstrates that when spatial and temporal variation for highly mobile birds is incorporated into conservation planning it will likely increase the habitat area required to support defined population goals. A major goal of the current North American Waterfowl Management Plan and subsequent action plan is the linking of harvest and habitat management. We contend incorporation of spatial aspects will increase the likelihood of coherent joint harvest and habitat management decisions. Our results show at a minimum, it is possible to produce spatially explicit waterfowl abundance models that when summed across survey strata will produce similar strata level population estimates as the design-based Waterfowl Breeding Pair and Habitat Survey (r2 = 0.977). This is important because these design-based population estimates are currently used to set duck harvest regulations and to set duck population and habitat goals for the North American Waterfowl Management Plan. We hope this effort generates discussion on the important linkages between spatial and temporal variation in population size, and distribution relative to habitat quantity and quality when linking habitat and population goals across this important region.

Optimizations and Nuances in Neurosurgical Technique for the Minimization of Complications in Subdural Electrode Placement for Epilepsy Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Surgical intervention is an important therapeutic option for patients with intractable epilepsy and a well-characterized epileptogenic focus. Invasive monitoring with subdural electrodes is an effective technique for localizing epileptogenic foci. Previous studies reported varying complication rates, and these may deter more widespread adoption. We present potentially valuable technical nuances that may be associated with low complication rates. We assess the potential contribution of specific aspects of surgical technique to the reduction of complication rates. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed patients from the Rush University Surgical Epilepsy database who underwent craniotomies for invasive electroencephalography monitoring for medically intractable epilepsy using our technique. We analyzed and compared complication rates and techniques with those reported elsewhere. RESULTS: The sample group comprised 127 consecutive patients who underwent electrode implantation. The average monitoring period was 6 days. There were 5 complications (3.9%), including 1 subdural hematoma requiring surgery (0.8%), 1 infection (0.8%), 2 pulmonary emboli (1.6%), and 1 deep vein thrombosis (0.8%). There were no symptomatic cerebrospinal fluid leaks or permanent neurologic complications. These results compare favorably with published results. Analysis and comparison of our technique anecdotally suggest the importance of use of a subgaleal drain throughout the monitoring period, postoperative antibiotic coverage for 1 week, meticulous hemostasis, and secure suturing of the electrodes to the dura mater to minimize trauma to superficial vessels as potential contributors to improved complication rates. CONCLUSIONS: A very low incidence of major morbidity can be achieved in invasive electroencephalography monitoring with this protocol.

Neonicotinoid contamination of global surface waters and associated risk to aquatic invertebrates: a review.

Neonicotinoids, broad-spectrum systemic insecticides, are the fastest growing class of insecticides worldwide and are now registered for use on hundreds of field crops in over 120 different countries. The environmental profile of this class of pesticides indicate that they are persistent, have high leaching and runoff potential, and are highly toxic to a wide range of invertebrates. Therefore, neonicotinoids represent a significant risk to surface waters and the diverse aquatic and terrestrial fauna that these ecosystems support. This review synthesizes the current state of knowledge on the reported concentrations of neonicotinoids in surface waters from 29 studies in 9 countries world-wide in tandem with published data on their acute and chronic toxicity to 49 species of aquatic insects and crustaceans spanning 12 invertebrate orders. Strong evidence exists that water-borne neonicotinoid exposures are frequent, long-term and at levels (geometric means=0.13µg/L (averages) and 0.63µg/L (maxima)) which commonly exceed several existing water quality guidelines. Imidacloprid is by far the most widely studied neonicotinoid (66% of the 214 toxicity tests reviewed) with differences in sensitivity among aquatic invertebrate species ranging several orders of magnitude; other neonicotinoids display analogous modes of action and similar toxicities, although comparative data are limited. Of the species evaluated, insects belonging to the orders Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera and Diptera appear to be the most sensitive, while those of Crustacea (although not universally so) are less sensitive. In particular, the standard test species Daphnia magna appears to be very tolerant, with 24-96hour LC50 values exceeding 100,000µg/L (geometric mean>44,000µg/L), which is at least 2-3 orders of magnitude higher than the geometric mean of all other invertebrate species tested. Overall, neonicotinoids can exert adverse effects on survival, growth, emergence, mobility, and behavior of many sensitive aquatic invertebrate taxa at concentrations at or below 1µg/L under acute exposure and 0.1µg/L for chronic exposure. Using probabilistic approaches (species sensitivity distributions), we recommend here that ecological thresholds for neonicotinoid water concentrations need to be below 0.2µg/L (short-term acute) or 0.035µg/L (long-term chronic) to avoid lasting effects on aquatic invertebrate communities. The application of safety factors may still be warranted considering potential issues of slow recovery, additive or synergistic effects and multiple stressors that can occur in the field. Our analysis revealed that 81% (22/27) and 74% (14/19) of global surface water studies reporting maximum and average individual neonicotinoid concentrations respectively, exceeded these thresholds of 0.2 and 0.035µg/L. Therefore, it appears that environmentally relevant concentrations of neonicotinoids in surface waters worldwide are well within the range where both short- and long-term impacts on aquatic invertebrate species are possible over broad spatial scales.