REASONS FOR PERFORMING STUDY: Treatment for bacteraemia in foals must be started before the identity of the causative organism is known. Information aiding selection of effective antimicrobials should improve outcome. OBJECTIVES: To describe differences in clinical and clinicopathological data and outcome in foals with bacteraemia due to different classes of bacteria. METHODS: Records of foals with a positive blood culture, age < 10 days and presenting to a university hospital 1995-2004, were reviewed. Bacterial culture results, subject details, historical information, physical examination findings at admission and clinicopathological data generated during the first 48 h of hospitalisation were analysed. Results from foals with Gram-positive or Gram-negative organisms, single or mixed organism bacteraemias, and with bacteraemia due to 3 commonly isolated organisms were compared. RESULTS: Eighty-five foals met the inclusion criteria. Gram-negative organisms (n = 59) Gram-positive organisms (n = 13) or multiple organisms (n = 19) were cultured from individual foals. Foals with Gram-negative bacteraemia had lower total white blood cell and lymphocyte counts at admission than did those from which only Gram-positive bacteria were cultured. Mixed organism bacteraemia was associated with tachycardia, increased serum concentrations of sodium, chloride and urea nitrogen, acidosis, respiratory distress, recumbency on admission and nonsurvival. Actinobacillus spp. infections were associated with leucopenia, neutropenia, lymphopenia and depression on hospital admission. CONCLUSIONS AND POTENTIAL RELEVANCE: Recognising particular patterns of clinical and clinicopathological findings associated with infection with specific groups of bacteria may, in the future, aid antimicrobial selection and influence prognosis in bacteraemic foals. 相似文献
A prospective cohort study was used to estimate the incidence of West Nile virus (WNV) infection in a group of unvaccinated horses (n = 37) in California and compare the effects of natural WNV infection in these unvaccinated horses to a group of co-mingled vaccinated horses (n = 155). Horses initially were vaccinated with either inactivated whole virus (n = 87) or canarypox recombinant (n = 68) WNV vaccines during 2003 or 2004, prior to emergence of WNV in the region. Unvaccinated horses were serologically tested for antibodies to WNV by microsphere immunoassay incorporating recombinant WNV E protein (rE MIA) in December 2003, December 2004, and every two months thereafter until November 2005. Clinical neurologic disease attributable to WNV infection (West Nile disease (WND)) developed in 2 (5.4%) of 37 unvaccinated horses and in 0 of 155 vaccinated horses. One affected horse died. Twenty one (67.7%) of 31 unvaccinated horses that were seronegative to WNV in December, 2004 seroconverted to WNV before the end of the study in November, 2005. Findings from the study indicate that currently-available commercial vaccines are effective in preventing WND and their use is financially justified because clinical disease only occurred in unvaccinated horses and the mean cost of each clinical case of WND was approximately 45 times the cost of a 2-dose WNV vaccination program. 相似文献
Rice irrigation-water use was estimated in Mississippi (MS) and Arkansas (AR) in 2003 and 2004. Irrigation inputs were compared
on naturally sloping (i.e. contour-levee system) and mechanically graded fields. In MS, rice production consumed, on average,
895 mm water, but irrigation inputs were greatly affected by production system. Contour-levee systems accounted for 35% of
the production area and consumed 1,034 mm irrigation. Fields mechanically graded to a consistent slope of approximately 0.1%
(i.e. straight-levee systems) consumed 856 mm irrigation and accounted for 60% of the production area. Fields devoid of slope
(i.e. zero-grade system) accounted for 5% of the production area and consumed 382 mm irrigation. In AR, contour-levee rice
production consumed 789 mm compared to 653 mm with a straight-levee system. Using low pressure, thin wall (9–10 mil) disposable
irrigation tubing to deliver water to each paddy independently reduced irrigation inputs by 28% in MS and 11% in AR when compared
to a single-point (levee-gate) distribution system. 相似文献
Portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) spectrometry and magnetic susceptibility (MS) via magnetometer have been increasingly used with terrain variables for digital soil mapping. However, this methodology is still emerging in many countries with tropical soils. The objective of this study was to use proximal soil sensor data associated with terrain variables at varying spatial resolutions to predict soil classes using the Random Forest (RF) algorithm. The study was conducted on a 316-ha area featuring highly variable soil classes and complex soil-landscape relationships in Minas Gerais State, Brazil. The overall accuracy and Kappa index were evaluated using soils that were classified at 118 sites, with 90 being used for modeling and 28 for validation. Digital elevation models (DEMs) were created at 5-, 10-, 20-, and 30-m resolutions using contour lines from two sources. The resulting DEMs were processed to generate 12 terrain variables. Total Fe, Ti, and SiO2 contents were obtained using pXRF, with MS determined via a magnetometer. Soil class prediction was performed using the RF algorithm. The quality of the soil maps improved when using only the five most important covariates and combining proximal sensor data with terrain variables at different spatial resolutions. The finest spatial resolution did not always provide the most accurate maps. The high soil complexity in the area prevented highly accurate predictions. The most important variables influencing the soil mapping were MS, Fe, and Ti. Proximal sensor data associated with terrain information were successfully used to map Brazilian soils at variable spatial resolutions. 相似文献
There is debate among ecologists about whether total habitat area or patch arrangement contributes most to population and/or
community responses to fragmented or patchy landscapes. We tested the relative effects of patch area and isolation for predicting
bird occurrence in a naturally patchy landscape in the Bear River Mountains of Northern Utah, USA. We selected focal patches
(mountain meadows) ranging in elevation from 1,920 to 2,860 m and in size from 0.6 to 182 ha. Breeding birds were sampled
in each focal meadow during the summers of 2003 and 2004 using variable-distance point transects. Logistic regression and
likelihood-based model selection were used to determine the relationship between likelihood of occurrence of three bird species
(Brewer’s sparrow, vesper sparrow, and white-crowned sparrow) and area, isolation, and proximity metrics. We used model weights
and model-averaged confidence intervals to assess the importance of each predictor variable. Plots of area versus isolation
were used to evaluate complex relationships between the variables. We found that meadow area was the most important variable
for explaining occurrence for two species, and that isolation was the most important for the other. We also found that the
absolute distance was more appropriate for evaluating isolation responses than was the species-specific proximity metric.
Our findings add clarity to the debate between ecologists regarding the relative importance of area and isolation in species
responses to patchy landscapes. 相似文献
We argue that thematic resolution, i.e., the level of categorical detail of a thematic map expressed by the number of classes
included in the map legend, is an inherent component of the scale at which a landscape is analyzed. Changing the number of
classes can change the configuration of the patch mosaic as much as changing the grain does. We address recent calls in this
and other journals to deepen research in this topic. In particular, we report how thematic resolution affects the patchiness
of mosaics representing natural landscapes, which have seldom been studied in this respect. We selected seven 50 × 50 km landscapes
within national parks, each representative of a world biome. We applied an object-based unsupervised classification to Landsat
TM imagery of these landscapes using increasing numbers of classes, between 2 and 50, and derived curves of mean patch size
and patch density for each site. Our results are consistent with previous findings in that the patchiness of output mosaics
increases monotonically with increasing thematic resolution, with a higher rate of increase up to eight classes that declines
until it becomes roughly constant for more than 16 classes. However, this constant rate of increase is still considerable,
meaning that, at least for natural landscapes, there is no threshold beyond which the patch-mosaic model is independent of
the conceptual filter applied. This dependence on human fiat calls for re-thinking the patch-mosaic paradigm. 相似文献
Plant eradication is difficult, particularly in remote, protected areas. The Southern Ocean Islands are very isolated and highly protected, but the flora contains many alien plants. Small restricted populations have been eradicated, but eradication of established species has proven difficult. A better understanding of the efficacy of control methods at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and their off‐target impacts may increase eradication success. With interest in controlling non‐native Poa annua in the region, we aimed to determine if physical and chemical methods can control P. annua (the sub‐Antarctic biotype) in sub‐Antarctic conditions and examined their impact on native plants. We quantified the effectiveness of physical control methods on P. annua in situ on sub‐Antarctic Macquarie Island through field‐based experiments and assessed their selectivity on P. annua compared with native grasses. We also quantified the effectiveness of several herbicides on P. annua at sub‐Antarctic temperatures and assessed their selectivity on native grasses. Of the four physical disturbance methods tested, none effectively reduced P. annua cover as one‐off treatments. Of the herbicide treatments, glyphosate and trifloxysulfuron sodium were effective and were less damaging to native grass species, indicating potential selectivity. Physical control was of limited effectiveness, but did not affect native species richness. An integrated weed management programme utilising the strategic use of selective herbicides with follow‐up chemical and physical intervention may balance control and biodiversity outcomes. This research highlights the importance of site‐specific testing of control methods and understanding off‐target impacts of control when managing alien plant species in protected areas. 相似文献
Landscape Ecology - Agricultural expansion is a principal driver of biodiversity loss, but the impacts on community assembly in agro-ecosystems are less clear, especially across regional scales at... 相似文献
Organisations acting to conserve and protect species across large spatial scales prioritise to optimise use of resources. Spatial conservation prioritization tools typically focus on identifying areas containing species groups of interest, with few tools used to identify the best areas for single-species conservation, in particular, to conserve currently widespread but declining species.
Objective
A single-species prioritization framework, based on temporal and spatial patterns of occupancy and abundance, was developed to spatially prioritize conservation action for widespread species by identifying smaller areas to work within to achieve predefined conservation objectives.
Methods
We demonstrate our approach for 29 widespread bird species in the UK, using breeding bird atlas data from two periods to define distribution, relative abundance and change in relative abundance. We selected occupied 10-km squares with abundance trends that matched species conservation objectives relating to maintaining or increasing population size or range, and then identified spatial clusters of squares for each objective using a Getis-Ord-Gi* or near neighbour analysis.
Results
For each species, the framework identified clusters of 20-km squares that enabled us to identify small areas in which species recovery action could be prioritized.
Conclusions
Our approach identified a proportion of species’ ranges to prioritize for species recovery. This approach is a relatively quick process that can be used to inform single-species conservation for any taxa if sufficiently fine-scale occupancy and abundance information is available for two or more time periods. This is a relatively simple first step for planning single-species focussed conservation to help optimise resource use.