Correction to: Comprehensive benchmarking and ensemble approaches for metagenomic classifiers.

Following publication of the original article [1], the authors would like to highlight the following two corrections.

Comprehensive benchmarking and ensemble approaches for metagenomic classifiers.

BACKGROUND: One of the main challenges in metagenomics is the identification of microorganisms in clinical and environmental samples. While an extensive and heterogeneous set of computational tools is available to classify microorganisms using whole-genome shotgun sequencing data, comprehensive comparisons of these methods are limited. RESULTS: In this study, we use the largest-to-date set of laboratory-generated and simulated controls across 846 species to evaluate the performance of 11 metagenomic classifiers. Tools were characterized on the basis of their ability to identify taxa at the genus, species, and strain levels, quantify relative abundances of taxa, and classify individual reads to the species level. Strikingly, the number of species identified by the 11 tools can differ by over three orders of magnitude on the same datasets. Various strategies can ameliorate taxonomic misclassification, including abundance filtering, ensemble approaches, and tool intersection. Nevertheless, these strategies were often insufficient to completely eliminate false positives from environmental samples, which are especially important where they concern medically relevant species. Overall, pairing tools with different classification strategies (k-mer, alignment, marker) can combine their respective advantages. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides positive and negative controls, titrated standards, and a guide for selecting tools for metagenomic analyses by comparing ranges of precision, accuracy, and recall. We show that proper experimental design and analysis parameters can reduce false positives, provide greater resolution of species in complex metagenomic samples, and improve the interpretation of results.

Addressing canine and feline aggression in the veterinary clinic.

Handling aggressive dogs and cats in the veterinary clinic can be frustrating, time consuming, and injurious for both employee and animal. This article discusses the etiology of the aggressive dog and cat patient and how best to approach these cases. A variety of handling techniques, safety products, and drug therapy are reviewed.

Effects of reconcile (fluoxetine) chewable tablets plus behavior management for canine separation anxiety.

Canine separation anxiety is a common behavioral problem presented to veterinarians. Associated behaviors are distressing to both dog and owner, have the potential to disrupt the human-companion animal bond, and may lead to euthanasia. The results of this study demonstrate the clinical efficacy and safety of Reconcile (fluoxetine, 1 to 2 mg/kg/day [0.45 to 0.91 mg/lb/day]), in conjunction with behavior management, for the treatment of canine separation anxiety. The beef flavored chewable formulation was palatable to treated dogs and easy to administer. This study provides to veterinarians and owners valuable information about an effective separation anxiety treatment plan that combines use of Reconcile with behavior modification.

Sequence, annotation, and analysis of synteny between rice chromosome 3 and diverged grass species.

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) chromosome 3 is evolutionarily conserved across the cultivated cereals and shares large blocks of synteny with maize and sorghum, which diverged from rice more than 50 million years ago. To begin to completely understand this chromosome, we sequenced, finished, and annotated 36.1 Mb ( approximately 97%) from O. sativa subsp. japonica cv Nipponbare. Annotation features of the chromosome include 5915 genes, of which 913 are related to transposable elements. A putative function could be assigned to 3064 genes, with another 757 genes annotated as expressed, leaving 2094 that encode hypothetical proteins. Similarity searches against the proteome of Arabidopsis thaliana revealed putative homologs for 67% of the chromosome 3 proteins. Further searches of a nonredundant amino acid database, the Pfam domain database, plant Expressed Sequence Tags, and genomic assemblies from sorghum and maize revealed only 853 nontransposable element related proteins from chromosome 3 that lacked similarity to other known sequences. Interestingly, 426 of these have a paralog within the rice genome. A comparative physical map of the wild progenitor species, Oryza nivara, with japonica chromosome 3 revealed a high degree of sequence identity and synteny between these two species, which diverged approximately 10,000 years ago. Although no major rearrangements were detected, the deduced size of the O. nivara chromosome 3 was 21% smaller than that of japonica. Synteny between rice and other cereals using an integrated maize physical map and wheat genetic map was strikingly high, further supporting the use of rice and, in particular, chromosome 3, as a model for comparative studies among the cereals.

Effectiveness and comparison of citronella and scentless spray bark collars for the control of barking in a veterinary hospital setting.

This study was designed to evaluate the efficacy of a citronella bark collar and a new, scentless spray bark collar in a veterinary hospital or a similar kennel-type environment. Forty-one dogs were included in the study. The efficacy of each collar was evaluated independently in comparison to control as well as in a crossover design. Thirty of the dogs were evaluated with the citronella collar, with 76.7% showing a reduction in barking. Twenty-nine dogs were evaluated with the scentless collar, with 58.6% showing a reduction in barking. The improvement over the control collars was statistically significant with both the citronella and scentless collars.