Retrospective study of laboratory-based surveillance of rabies in wild and domestic animals in the southern United States, 2010-2021.

We performed a retrospective study of all case submissions for the rabies virus (RABV) direct fluorescent antibody test (DFAT) requested of the Tifton Veterinary Diagnostic and Investigational Laboratory (Tifton, GA, USA) between July 2010 and June 2021. Submitted were 792 samples from 23 animal species from 89 counties in Georgia, and 4 neighboring counties in Florida, 1 in South Carolina, and 1 in Alabama. In 13 (1.6%) cases, the DFAT result was inconclusive; 779 (98.4%) cases had a conclusive (positive or negative) test result. Of these 779 cases, 79 (10.1%) tested positive across 10 species. The remaining 700 (89.9%) cases were negative. The main reason for submission for RABV testing was human exposure to a potentially rabid animal in 414 (52.3%) cases. Among the 79 positive cases, 74 (93.7%) involved wildlife; raccoons (51 cases; 68.9%) were the primary host confirmed with RABV infection, followed by skunk and fox (8 cases each; 10.8%), bobcat (5 cases; 6.8%), and bats (2 cases; 2.7%). Only 5 domestic animals (6.3% of the positive cases) tested positive during our study period; one from each of the bovine, canine, caprine, equine, and feline species. Hence, the sylvatic cycle plays the predominant role in circulating RABV infection in our study area.

Habitat suitability maps for Australian flora and fauna under CMIP6 climate scenarios.

BACKGROUND: Spatial information about the location and suitability of areas for native plant and animal species under different climate futures is an important input to land use and conservation planning and management. Australia, renowned for its abundant species diversity and endemism, often relies on modeled data to assess species distributions due to the country's vast size and the challenges associated with conducting on-ground surveys on such a large scale. The objective of this article is to develop habitat suitability maps for Australian flora and fauna under different climate futures. RESULTS: Using MaxEnt, we produced Australia-wide habitat suitability maps under RCP2.6-SSP1, RCP4.5-SSP2, RCP7.0-SSP3, and RCP8.5-SSP5 climate futures for 1,382 terrestrial vertebrates and 9,251 vascular plants vascular plants at 5 km2 for open access. This represents 60% of all Australian mammal species, 77% of amphibian species, 50% of reptile species, 71% of bird species, and 44% of vascular plant species. We also include tabular data, which include summaries of total quality-weighted habitat area of species under different climate scenarios and time periods. CONCLUSIONS: The spatial data supplied can help identify important and sensitive locations for species under various climate futures. Additionally, the supplied tabular data can provide insights into the impacts of climate change on biodiversity in Australia. These habitat suitability maps can be used as input data for landscape and conservation planning or species management, particularly under different climate change scenarios in Australia.

Granulomatous dermatitis caused by Exserohilum mcginnisii infection in a cow.

A 5-y-old, Piedmontese cow had a 4-mo history of ongoing development of skin masses. This was the only cow affected in a herd of 20 cows. Up to 12, hairless, red-to-black, raised nodules-to-plaques were distributed along the dorsum and tail head. Biopsies were taken for histopathology and ancillary testing. An ulcerated skin section contained dermal infiltrates of eosinophils, plasma cells, neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes, and multinucleate giant cells, and pyogranulomas. Fungal hyphae were seen within the dermis, multinucleate giant cells, and pyogranulomas. In pyogranulomas, fungi were surrounded by a Splendore-Hoeppli reaction. Dematiaceous (pigmented) hyphae were rarely observed with H&E-stained and unstained (cleared and mounted) sections, but stained well with a Fontana-Masson stain. Exserohilum mcginnisii was identified by fungal culture, followed by PCR assay and sequencing. Exserohilum is a dematiaceous fungus that causes disease in humans and rarely in animals. The use of unstained sections and Fontana-Masson stain are important to demonstrate pigment because dematiaceous fungi have little melanin and appear as hyaline hyphae histologically. PCR assay and sequencing aid in the differentiation and classification of fungal species. To our knowledge, E. mcginnisii dermal granulomas have not been reported previously in cattle.

Proliferative strongyloidiasis in a colony of colubrid snakes.

Strongyloides are small rhabditid nematodes primarily associated with enteric disease in a variety of animal species, including reptiles. Strongyloides spp life stages were associated with a disease outbreak in a large breeding colony of snakes. Multiple Pantherophis and Lampropeltis colubrids exhibited respiratory distress, anorexia, stomatitis, facial deformation, and waning body condition that resulted in death or necessitated euthanasia. Postmortem examinations of 13 snakes revealed epithelial hyperplasia and inflammation of the alimentary and respiratory tracts associated with varying numbers of adult and larval nematodes and embryonated or larvated ova. In a subset of snakes, aberrant nematode migration was also observed in the eye, genitourinary system, coelom, and vasculature. Histomorphology and gross examination of parasitic adult female nematodes from host tissues were consistent with a Strongyloides spp. Sedimented fecal material from 101/160 (63%) snakes housed in the affected facility was positive for nematodes and/or larvated ova. Polymerase chain reaction amplification and sequencing of portions of the 18S and 28S ribosomal ribonucleic acid (RNA) genes and the internal transcribed spacer region of adult female parasites and positive fecal samples supported the diagnosis of strongyloidiasis. Strongyloides spp possess a unique life cycle capable of alternating between parasitic (homogonic) and free-living (heterogonic) stages, resulting in the production of directly infective larvae. Commonly utilized husbandry practices in reptile collections can amplify the numbers of infective larvae generated in the captive environment, increasing the risk for rhabditid hyperinfections. This report documents morbidity, mortality, and non-enteric disease manifestations due to Strongyloides hyperinfections in a captive colubrid snake colony.

Six years of demography data for 11 reef coral species.

Scleractinian corals are colonial animals with a range of life-history strategies, making up diverse species assemblages that define coral reefs. We tagged and tracked ~30 colonies from each of 11 species during seven trips spanning 6 years (2009-2015) to measure their vital rates and competitive interactions on the reef crest at Trimodal Reef, Lizard Island, Australia. Pairs of species were chosen from five growth forms in which one species of the pair was locally rare (R) and the other common (C). The sampled growth forms were massive (Goniastrea pectinata [R] and G. retiformis [C]), digitate (Acropora humilis [R] and A. cf. digitifera [C]), corymbose (A. millepora [R] and A. nasuta [C]), tabular (A. cytherea [R] and A. hyacinthus [C]) and arborescent (A. robusta [R] and A. intermedia [C]). An extra corymbose species with intermediate abundance, A. spathulata was included when it became apparent that A. millepora was too rare on the reef crest, making the 11 species in total. The tagged colonies were visited each year in the weeks prior to spawning. During visits, two or more observers each took two or three photographs of each tagged colony from directly above and on the horizontal plane with a scale plate to track planar area. Dead or missing colonies were recorded and new colonies tagged to maintain ~30 colonies per species throughout the 6 years of the study. In addition to tracking tagged corals, 30 fragments were collected from neighboring untagged colonies of each species for counting numbers of eggs per polyp (fecundity); and fragments of untagged colonies were brought into the laboratory where spawned eggs were collected for biomass and energy measurements. We also conducted surveys at the study site to generate size structure data for each species in several of the years. Each tagged colony photograph was digitized by at least two people. Therefore, we could examine sources of error in planar area for both photographers and outliners. Competitive interactions were recorded for a subset of species by measuring the margins of tagged colony outlines interacting with neighboring corals. The study was abruptly ended by Tropical Cyclone Nathan (Category 4) that killed all but nine of the more than 300 tagged colonies in early 2015. Nonetheless, these data will be of use to other researchers interested in coral demography and coexistence, functional ecology, and parametrizing population, community, and ecosystem models. The data set is not copyright restricted, and users should cite this paper when using the data.

Pathology in Practice.

In collaboration with the American College of Veterinary Pathologists.

Gender Norms, Control Over Girls' Sexuality, and Child Marriage: A Honduran Case Study.

PURPOSE: This study explores links among marianismo, girls' mobility and sexuality, and child marriage among adolescent girls in rural areas of Honduras. METHODS: We analyze quantitative and qualitative data collected in 2008-2016 for a longitudinal cohort study of rural Honduran adolescent girls. These data include interviews (n = 10 married before age 18) and surveys (n = 563; 155 married early). We also use qualitative data from focus groups in 2016 that included students, parents, teachers, and community members (n = 120). RESULTS: We find that girls who scored higher on a scale of traditional gender norms were more likely to marry early. Furthermore, our qualitative findings indicate that girls experienced control over their mobility and their sexuality because of rigid gender norms prevalent in their communities. The control girls experience clashes with undergoing psychosocial changes that are associated with increased desire for autonomy and intimacy as well as increased awareness of their sexuality. In some cases, girls believed that marriage was better than staying in their restrictive households, and/or they viewed marriage as the only way to have a romantic relationship. DISCUSSION: Rigid gender norms that promote excessive regulation of girls' behavior and sexuality influence girls' decision-making processes to enter child marriage. Educational initiatives that challenge sexist gender norms and explain and normalize attraction and intimacy during adolescence should be a central component of child marriage prevention programming for adolescents, parents, and community members.

Cytologic, histopathologic, and clinical features of granulomatous colitis in a French Bulldog.

A young French Bulldog was presented with clinical signs of chronic gastrointestinal disease, unresponsive to medical therapies. Parasite screenings and abdominal ultrasound failed to identify the etiology of the clinical signs. Cytologic evaluation of a rectal scraping sample diagnosed presumptive granulomatous colitis (GC) based on the presence of numerous macrophages with characteristic abundant, pink, granular cytoplasm, which showed an intense pink color when stained with periodic acid-Schiff. Tissue biopsy samples and Escherichia coli fluorescence in situ hybridization analysis confirmed the cytologic diagnosis. The cytologic, histopathologic, and clinical features and staining properties of GC in a French Bulldog are reported. Rectal scraping should be considered a part of the diagnostic evaluation in patients with suspected GC.

AUSTWICKIA CHELONAE IN A WILD GOPHER TORTOISE (GOPHERUS POLYPHEMUS) AND EVIDENCE OF POSITIVE SELECTION ON THE DIPHTHERIA-LIKE TOXIN GENE.

Austwickia (Dermatophilus) chelonae is a filamentous, Gram-positive Actinobacteria in the Dermatophilaceae family. It has caused fatal granulomatous disease in diverse captive reptile species on three continents, but its presence in wild or free-ranging populations was unknown. An adult female gopher tortoise (Gopherus polyphemus) was presented euhydrated, but cachectic and infested with ticks, with two firm, encapsulated masses over the cranioventral neck and right stifle. The tortoise had moderate nonregenerative anemia and evidence of inflammation; plasma biochemistry data was within normal limits. Fine needle aspirate of the neck lesion revealed abundant necrosis and aggregates of cocci. Computed tomography delineated the masses and revealed an additional mass adjacent to the left zygomatic bone. After surgical excision, histology identified chronic granulomas with intralesional filamentous bacteria. Pan-bacterial 16S rRNA PCR and sequencing of the masses identified A. chelonae. Despite treatment with oxytetracycline and ceftazidime, the tortoise deteriorated and was euthanatized. An esophageal lesion consistent with A. chelonae was seen on postmortem examination, although it was determined that the tortoise ultimately succumbed to fungal pneumonia caused by Metarhizium robertsii, an entomopathogenic biotoxin sprayed as insect control. This case reveals A. chelonae is present in free-ranging chelonians in North America. This organism produces a toxin gene similar to diphtheria toxin, one of the most potent known biotoxins, which has not been previously identified outside the genus Corynebacterium. Novel PCR primers were designed for the toxin and rpoB genes, which were amplified and sequenced from two cases and compared with two available genomes. Selection analysis revealed that the toxin gene is under positive selection, which implies it interacts significantly with the immune system, making it a good candidate for immunodiagnostic test development.

Reconceptualizing Symbolic Magnitude Estimation Training Using Non-declarative Learning Techniques.

It is well-documented that mathematics achievement is an important predictor of many positive life outcomes like college graduation, career opportunities, salary, and even citizenship. As such, it is important for researchers and educators to help students succeed in mathematics. Although there are undoubtedly many factors that contribute to students' success in mathematics, much of the research and intervention development has focused on variations in instructional techniques. Indeed, even a cursory glance at many educational journals and granting agencies reveals that there is a large amount of time, energy, and resources being spent on determining the best way to convey information through direct, declarative instruction. The proposed project is motivated by recent calls to expand the focus of research in mathematics education beyond direct, declarative instruction. The overarching goal of the presented experiment is to evaluate the efficacy of a novel mathematics intervention designed using principles taken from the literature on non-declarative learning. The intervention combines errorless learning and structured cue fading to help second grade students improve their understanding of symbolic magnitude. Results indicate that students who learned about symbolic magnitude using the novel intervention did better than students who were provided with extensive declarative support. These findings offer preliminary evidence in favor of using learning combination of errorless learning and cue fading techniques in the mathematics classroom.

An Indo-Pacific coral spawning database.

The discovery of multi-species synchronous spawning of scleractinian corals on the Great Barrier Reef in the 1980s stimulated an extraordinary effort to document spawning times in other parts of the globe. Unfortunately, most of these data remain unpublished which limits our understanding of regional and global reproductive patterns. The Coral Spawning Database (CSD) collates much of these disparate data into a single place. The CSD includes 6178 observations (3085 of which were unpublished) of the time or day of spawning for over 300 scleractinian species in 61 genera from 101 sites in the Indo-Pacific. The goal of the CSD is to provide open access to coral spawning data to accelerate our understanding of coral reproductive biology and to provide a baseline against which to evaluate any future changes in reproductive phenology.

Unique Mechanisms for the Availability of Declarative Memory Elements and the Strengthening of Cognitive Operations.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the role of memory for prior cognitive operations and availability of declarative memory elements in long-term semantic priming. The impetus for this investigation was the role of working memory (WM) in complex cognitive processing. Empirical estimates of WM are too limited to explain complex cognitive processes. Therefore, contemporary models of WM propose access to long-term memory (LTM) to expand these limits. The priming literature provides one theoretical mechanism for access to LTM: long-term semantic priming. However, explanations for long-term semantic priming include both increased availability of LTM elements and the facilitation of prior cognitive operations. Our goal was to examine if the facilitation of prior cognitive operations is dependent on the availability of previously encountered LTM elements. A task used in previous research proposed to capture the facilitation of cognitive operations coupled with a directed forgetting manipulation was used to examine this relationship. Three experiments were conducted to that end. All experiments resulted in facilitation of the procedure of categorization. Experiments 1 and 2 additionally found relatively poor recognition for items that participants were told to forget despite the fact that categorization was facilitated for related items. Experiment 3 resulted in similarly poor recognition for category names that participants were told to forget. Taken together, the experiments in this investigation demonstrate a clear separation between the cognitive operations and declarative elements of the categorization task. Namely, the continued availability of declarative elements is not necessary for the subsequent facilitation of categorization operations.

Public awareness of Mental Health First Aid and perception of community pharmacists as Mental Health First Aid providers.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to (1) identify the number of participants who screened positive for major depressive disorder, (2) assess the number of participants who have discussed or would like to discuss mental illness with a trained professional, (3) determine public awareness about Mental Health First Aid (MHFA), and (4) determine public perception regarding community pharmacists trained in MHFA. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey was administered at community pharmacies to participants aged 18 years and older who were able to speak and read in English. The 18-question survey was used to screen for major depressive disorder using the Patient Health Questionnaire-2 (PHQ-2) and to collect demographic information, mental health diagnoses, beliefs regarding current mental illness and treatment, desire and history of talking with a trained professional about mental illness, and MHFA awareness. In addition, data on comfortability talking to a pharmacist about mental illness was collected. Data were analyzed with an a priori α of 0.05. RESULTS: A total of 358 surveys were collected. Seven participants (2%) screened positive for depression using PHQ-2. One hundred eight participants (30.4%) reported a previous desire to speak to someone about mental illness; of these, only 41 (38.7%) and 63 patients (59.4%) reported speaking to a physician or therapist, respectively. Only 53 participants (15.4%) reported awareness of MHFA. Participants reported a higher level of comfortability (P < 0.01) speaking about mental illness with an MHFA-trained pharmacist. Similarly, participants more strongly agreed (P < 0.01) that pharmacists are qualified to discuss mental illness if trained in MHFA. Most participants believed pharmacists should be trained in MHFA (n = 260, 68.2%). CONCLUSION: Participants indicated comfortability discussing mental illness with community pharmacists trained in MHFA, revealing an opportunity for pharmacists to expand access to mental health services by being trained in MHFA and counseling about mental illness.

A Novel Exophiala Species Associated With Disseminated Granulomatous Inflammation in a Captive Eastern Hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis).

The genus Exophiala is composed of ubiquitous, pigmented, saprotrophic fungi and includes both terrestrial and waterborne species. Though Exophiala species are generally considered opportunistic pathogens, exophialosis can be an important cause of morbidity and mortality in aquatic and semi-aquatic species. Over a 6-year period, a captive 32-year-old male eastern hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis alleganiensis), was treated for recurring, slow growing, ventral midline cutaneous masses. Excisional biopsies were characterized histologically by granulomatous dermatitis with low numbers of intralesional, pigmented fungal conidia and hyphae. Bacterial and fungal cultures of the masses and skin were negative on two separate submissions. Polymerase chain reaction amplification of a short fragment of the fungal 28S large subunit (LSU) ribosomal RNA was positive with 100% nucleotide sequence identity to several species of Exophiala. Following recurrence after successive rounds of antifungal therapy, euthanasia was elected. At necropsy, similar dermal granulomatous inflammation and intralesional pigmented fungal elements as observed in excisional biopsies formed a thick band in the dermis and extended through the coelomic body wall. Visceral dissemination was noted in the lung and kidney. Postmortem DNA sequence analysis of a large portion of the fungal LSU as well as the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) from a portion of frozen affected dermis identified the fungus as a novel species, Exophiala sp. 1 (UTHSCSA R-5437).

Oral, Cloacal, and Hemipenal Actinomycosis in Captive Ball Pythons (Python regius).

Ball pythons (Python regius) are one of the most commonly kept and bred reptiles in captivity. In a large ball python breeding colony, a unique syndrome characterized by granulomatous inflammation of the cloaca and hemipenes (phalli) was observed in 140 of 481 (29.1%) breeding males, but only one of 1,446 breeding females. Lesions were absent in virgin males (n = 201) and virgin females (n = 293). On postmortem examination (n = 13, 12 males, 1 female), numerous well-defined mucosal and submucosal granulomas were present in the hemipenes (males) and cloaca (males and female). Extension into the coelomic cavity and liver was noted in a subset of these animals. An additional small subset of breeder animals (6/2027; 0.3%) presented with oral and mandibular swellings. Postmortem examination (n = 4, all female) showed oral lesions histologically indistinguishable from the cloacal/hemipenal lesions. Aerobic bacterial culture of a hepatic granuloma of one snake resulted in the isolation of filamentous, Gram-positive bacilli; amplification, and sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene and subsequent phylogenetic analysis of the isolate identified the bacterium as a novel species of Actinomyces. Screening of cloacal and oral granulomas using a specific, heminested 16S rRNA PCR assay confirmed the presence of the agent in all 17 snakes, as well as in cloacal swabs taken at the time of necropsy in 11/13 snakes. The Actinomyces sp. was also identified by PCR of cloacal swabs of unaffected snakes (n = 94) from the affected colony and two unrelated, grossly unaffected breeding colonies. In the affected colony, 65.5% of breeding animals (n = 23) but only 11.9% of virgin animals (n = 42) tested PCR positive, with breeding status being a significant predictor of bacterium presence (P < 0.00001). This study characterizes a granulomatous mucosal disease syndrome of breeding male ball pythons associated with a novel Actinomyces. In stark contrast to male snakes, the presence of the bacterium in both breeding and virgin females was very rarely associated with clinical disease. Though additional studies are necessary, these data suggest a role for the novel bacterium in the disease process, a predilection for clinical disease in male snakes, and the potential for sexual transmission of the disease.

Child Marriages and Unions in Latin America: Understanding the Roles of Agency and Social Norms.

PURPOSE: Child marriages and unions can infringe upon adolescent and youth sexual and reproductive health (AYSRH). Interventions increasingly promote strategies to transform social norms or foster the agency of adolescent girls. Recent empirical studies call for further understanding of how social norms and agency interact in ways that influence these practices, especially in contexts where girls' agency is central. METHODS: A secondary cross-case analysis of three qualitative studies (in Brazil, Guatemala, Honduras) was conducted to inform the investigation of how norms and agency may relate in sustaining or mitigating child marriage. RESULTS: Social norms dictating how girls/young women and how men should act indirectly led to child marriages and unions. The data showed that (1) social norms regulated girls' acceptable actions and contributed to their exercise of "oppositional" agency; (2) social norms promoted girls' "accommodating" agency; and (3) girls exercised "transformative" agency to resist harmful social norms. CONCLUSIONS: Research should advance frameworks to conceptualize how social norms interact with agency in nuanced and context-specific ways. Practitioners should encourage equitable decision-making; offer confidential, adolescent-friendly AYSRH services; and address the social norms of parents, men and boys, and community members.

Designing connected marine reserves in the face of global warming.

Marine reserves are widely used to protect species important for conservation and fisheries and to help maintain ecological processes that sustain their populations, including recruitment and dispersal. Achieving these goals requires well-connected networks of marine reserves that maximize larval connectivity, thus allowing exchanges between populations and recolonization after local disturbances. However, global warming can disrupt connectivity by shortening potential dispersal pathways through changes in larval physiology. These changes can compromise the performance of marine reserve networks, thus requiring adjusting their design to account for ocean warming. To date, empirical approaches to marine prioritization have not considered larval connectivity as affected by global warming. Here, we develop a framework for designing marine reserve networks that integrates graph theory and changes in larval connectivity due to potential reductions in planktonic larval duration (PLD) associated with ocean warming, given current socioeconomic constraints. Using the Gulf of California as case study, we assess the benefits and costs of adjusting networks to account for connectivity, with and without ocean warming. We compare reserve networks designed to achieve representation of species and ecosystems with networks designed to also maximize connectivity under current and future ocean-warming scenarios. Our results indicate that current larval connectivity could be reduced significantly under ocean warming because of shortened PLDs. Given the potential changes in connectivity, we show that our graph-theoretical approach based on centrality (eigenvector and distance-weighted fragmentation) of habitat patches can help design better-connected marine reserve networks for the future with equivalent costs. We found that maintaining dispersal connectivity incidentally through representation-only reserve design is unlikely, particularly in regions with strong asymmetric patterns of dispersal connectivity. Our results support previous studies suggesting that, given potential reductions in PLD due to ocean warming, future marine reserve networks would require more and/or larger reserves in closer proximity to maintain larval connectivity.

Examining current or future trade-offs for biodiversity conservation in north-eastern Australia.

With the high rate of ecosystem change already occurring and predicted to occur in the coming decades, long-term conservation has to account not only for current biodiversity but also for the biodiversity patterns anticipated for the future. The trade-offs between prioritising future biodiversity at the expense of current priorities must be understood to guide current conservation planning, but have been largely unexplored. To fill this gap, we compared the performance of four conservation planning solutions involving 662 vertebrate species in the Wet Tropics Natural Resource Management Cluster Region in north-eastern Australia. Input species data for the four planning solutions were: 1) current distributions; 2) projected distributions for 2055; 3) projected distributions for 2085; and 4) current, 2055 and 2085 projected distributions, and the connectivity between each of the three time periods for each species. The four planning solutions were remarkably similar (up to 85% overlap), suggesting that modelling for either current or future scenarios is sufficient for conversation planning for this region, with little obvious trade-off. Our analyses also revealed that overall, species with small ranges occurring across steep elevation gradients and at higher elevations were more likely to be better represented in all solutions. Given that species with these characteristics are of high conservation significance, our results provide confidence that conservation planning focused on either current, near- or distant-future biodiversity will account for these species.