No abstract

Madagascar's lemurs, now deemed the most endangered group of mammals, represent the highest primate conservation priority in the world. Due to anthropogenic disturbances, an estimated 10% of Malagasy forest cover remains. The endangered Lemur catta is endemic to the southern regions of Madagascar and now occupies primarily fragmented forest habitats. We examined the influence of habitat fragmentation and isolation on the genetic diversity of L. catta across 3 different forest fragments in south-central Madagascar. Our analysis revealed moderate levels of genetic diversity. Genetic differentiation among the sites ranged from 0.05 to 0.11. These data suggest that the L. catta populations within south-central Madagascar have not yet lost significant genetic variation. However, due to ongoing anthropogenic threats faced by ring-tailed lemurs, continued conservation and research initiatives are imperative for long-term viability of the species.

SUMMARY During an outbreak of pertussis in the Cardiff area in 1974, 229 children with the disease were studied to assess the effect of immunisation upon its natural history and severity. The typical clinical features of pertussis, such as paroxysmal cough, whooping, vomiting, cyanosis, and irregular breathing, were less prevalent in both the immunised and the older children. Immunisation is the main factor in protecting against complications such as fits; and, together with older age, it protects against hospitalisation. Nevertheless, pertussis today can be just as severe as it was 40 years ago, and the vaccine remains the major factor ameliorating its natural history. The immunisation programme needs more active support by all child health workers.In 1974, public concern about the adverse complications of pertussis immunisation, with the consequent fall in the acceptance of immunisation, coincided with an outbreak of pertussis in the Cardiff area. This permitted a study of a considerable number of cases of the disease in both immunised and non-immunised children. This report is concerned with the effectiveness of the immunisation as measured by the severity of the disease in immunised and non-immunised children who contracted it. Patients and MethodsThe study population consisted of children up to the age of 16. They were either notified cases of pertussis, or affected contacts who had not been notified to the Medical Officer for Environmental Health (MOEH). A questionnaire was used to record details of the clinical manifestation of the disease. The original hospital notes of patients admitted to hopital were studied. Each child was visited three times or more. The immunisation history of each child was checked with records in the health authority offices and with general practitioners' records. A child was considered to have been fully vaccinated if a written record was found showing a completed primary course of three injections. Fourth and fifth injections, if given, were counted as boosters.If the case was clinically identified before or during the fourth week from the beginning of the disease, a swab was taken from the surface of the nasopharynx and immediately cultured on BordetGengou media (Oxoid CM267). The plates were then sent to the public health laboratory for bacteriological identification (Bradford et al., 1946). Virological investigation was not undertaken. ResultsThe study consisted of 229 children in 145 families, diagnosed and treated for pertussis. Notifications to the MOEH provided 89 children (39%). The remaining 140 children (61 %) were siblings, or other contacts, with pertussis, discovered as a result of visits to the families. Of the 229 children studied, 45 % were boys, more than 80% were under six years old, and 44 % were under two years old.Vaccination records showed that 116 (51 Y.) had not been vaccinated, 101 (44%) were fully vaccinated, and 12 (5%) were partially vaccinated. Nasopharyngeal swabs were obtained from 44 (19 %); one-quarter of these yielded Bordetella pertussis on c...

Population assessment techniques for soft-sediment infauna (invertebrates within the substrate) requires excavation of specimens, damaging or killing the specimen and surrounding habitat, while being time-consuming and costly. Rapid population assessments of some marine burrowing decapods have been possible by counting burrow openings to estimate abundance, and while they may be used as indicator species, these decapods are not ubiquitous to environments requiring monitoring. Additionally, the presence of other burrowing macrofauna (invertebrates living in the sediment and retained on 1mm mesh such as clams or large worms) may reduce the efficacy of burrow openings in estimating macrofauna abundance. As such, we assessed mudflats along the north coast of British Columbia, Canada, during summer 2017 to determine if macrofauna abundances could be estimated from burrow openings on the sediment surface in regions of low (n = 1 species) and high (n = 8 species) biodiversity. Abundance could not be estimated at the low diversity sites where only one macrofaunal species created burrows. At the high diversity site, species-specific models estimating abundance from burrow openings could not be constructed; however, the total number of burrow openings observed was useful in estimating total infaunal community abundance. As such, burrow openings may not be an effective tool in assessing species-specific abundances, but may be appropriate to estimate overall community changes.