Transcutaneous direct current cardioversion in a foal with lone atrial fibrillation

There are rare published reports of atrial fibrillation (AF) in foals, all of which are associated with structural heart disease or within the adaptive period of newborns. This report describes a 3-month-old Thoroughbred filly with AF and a structurally normal heart on echocardiography. Medical cardioversion of the foal's AF was attempted with three 20mg/kg doses of quinidine sulfate therapy without success. Timed, transcutaneous, direct current cardioversion was successfully performed using adhesive patches on the midthorax in conjunction with intravenous procainamide at a total dose of 20mg/kg. A normal sinus rhythm was maintained through discharge from the hospital and at recheck 5 months after cardioversion. Transcutaneous direct current cardioversion presents a feasible alternative to quinidine sulfate or transvenous electrical cardioversion in young or lower body weight equids.     

A United States national prioritization framework for tree species vulnerability to climate change

Climate change is one of several threats that will increase the likelihood that forest tree species could experience population-level extirpation or species-level extinction. Scientists and managers from throughout the United States Forest Service have cooperated to develop a framework for conservation priority-setting assessments of forest tree species. This framework uses trait data and predictions of expected climate change pressure to categorize and prioritize 339 native tree species for conservation, monitoring, management and restoration across all forested lands in the contiguous United States and Alaska. The framework allows for the quantitative grouping of species into vulnerability classes that may require different management and conservation strategies for maintaining the adaptive genetic variation of the species within each group. This categorization is based on risk factors relating to the species’ (1) exposure to climate change, (2) sensitivity to climate change, and (3) capacity to adapt to climate change. We used K-means clustering to group species into seven classes based on these three vulnerability dimensions. The most vulnerable class encompassed 35 species with high scores for all three vulnerability dimensions. These will require the most immediate conservation intervention. A group of 43 species had high exposure and sensitivity, probably requiring conservation assistance, while a group of 69 species had high exposure and low adaptive capacity, probably needing close monitoring. This assessment tool should be valuable for scientists and managers determining which species and populations to target for monitoring efforts and for pro-active gene conservation and management activities.