NEC Society Statement on the Watson vs. Mead Johnson Verdict

Given the litigation involving products used to feed and support the growth of preterm infants and the direct implication for infants who are at risk of and who have been affected by necrotizing enterocolitis, the NEC Society has released a statement

NECROTIZING ENTEROCOLITIS (NEC) SOCIETY

 

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NEC SOCIETY STATEMENT ON THE WATSON VS. MEAD JOHNSON VERDICT

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CREDIT: NEC SOCIETY

Given the litigation involving products used to feed and support the growth of preterm infants and the direct implication for infants who are at risk of and who have been affected by necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC), the NEC Society previously released a statement on the lawsuits. This statement addresses the Watson case.

Necrotizing enterocolitis is a devastating intestinal inflammatory disease that can affect premature or otherwise medically fragile infants during their first weeks and months of life. Upon diagnosis, many babies have only hours or days before their intestines become necrotic, progressing to sepsis, multisystem organ failure, and, ultimately, death. NEC is a complex, multifactorial disease. There is no single cause, no clear etiology, no cure, and no known way to eliminate the risks of NEC for medically fragile infants.

The NEC Society is the leading nonprofit working to accelerate the science and prevent this disease. The NEC Society intimately understands the devastation of NEC and the urgent need for more research and protective care practices. Our organization was founded by a family who lost their child to NEC, and our staff, Board, and Patient-Family Advisory Council are composed of families who have been personally affected by the disease. The NEC Society’s Key Opinion Leaders and Scientific Advisory Council are the experts in the field and internationally recognized physician-scientists who have dedicated their careers to neonates at risk of NEC. We are the only organization that brings together patient-families and clinician-scientists to accelerate NEC research, education, and advocacy.

Mother’s own milk (MOM) provides the most protection against NEC. If MOM is not available, then pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM) offers the next best protection. The NEC Society collaborates with key nonprofit partners working to ensure all babies in the intensive care unit (ICU) have equitable access to MOM or PDHM. We are working tirelessly to advance equity for babies. We are committed to revealing why, even with the protection of MOM and PDHM, some babies still tragically develop and die from NEC. The NEC Society is compelled to advance the science so we can prevent this devastating disease.

With or without MOM or PDHM, premature and medically fragile infants must receive adequate nutrition to support their complex and exceptional nutritional needs. The ICU is inherently risky for infants, and NEC is one of many devastating health risks. In the ICU, feeding decisions are medical decisions. It is imperative for medical decisions to be made by those who practice medicine in partnership with patient-families. The medical team, in collaboration with patient-families, should decide how babies are fed in the ICU. These medical feeding decisions aim to protect against NEC while providing optimal nutrition for discharge and long-term health outcomes. Neonatal feeding decisions should be made at patients’ bedsides, not in courtrooms.

Verdicts like the Watson case may prompt ICUs to reconsider their approaches to feeding neonatal patients, but not necessarily in a way that better protects infants from NEC. Moreover, such litigation may result in unintended harmful consequences for babies and the elimination of potentially beneficial therapy choices. Accordingly, the NEC Society does not use or support litigation to influence medical care decisions.

The NEC Society is working tirelessly to accelerate research and empower patient-families and clinician-scientists with resources and tools to ensure every infant in the ICU receives the most equitable, protective care that not only protects against NEC but also builds a solid foundation for long-term growth and development so every baby can thrive. We are building the pathway toward a world without NEC by keeping babies and families centered in everything we do. We invite you to learn more and join us at NECsociety.org

Micah, before he developed necrotizing enterocolitis. Micah died from complications of NEC just before his 1st birthday.

CREDIT

NEC Society

DOI

10.37921/085558joiebx 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Commentary/editorial

Black women hospitalised in USA with blood infection resistant to last-resort antibiotic at increased risk of death

 NEWS RELEASE 19-APR-2024

EUROPEAN SOCIETY OF CLINICAL MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

Nationwide analysis of a large, geographically diverse cohort of adults in the USA suggests increased risk for hospital-acquired carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales bloodstream infections among racial and ethnic minorities may be due in part to hospitalisations for underlying comorbidities and associated with racial and biological sex inequities

**ECCMID has now changed name to ESCMID Global, please credit ESCMID Global Congress (Barcelona, Spain, 27-30 April) in all future stories**

New research being presented at this year’s ESCIMD Global Congress (formerly ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain (27-30 April), finds that the odds of death in Black women with a bloodstream infection (BSI) caused by carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE)—a family of the world's most intractable drug-resistant bacteria—was twice that of Black men or White women even after adjusting for age, BSI source, liver disease, hospital onset, race and gender and the race-gender interaction.

“These findings are deeply troubling,” says lead author Dr Felicia Ruffin from Duke University School of Medicine in Durham, North Carolina, USA. “Studies are rare that describe these disparities, and our analyses found that it is being both female and Black that is associated with an increased risk of dying.”

“Our study did not address the reasons for these disparities, but differences in comorbid conditions affecting the immune response emerged as a possibility for the differences in the outcomes. Additional research is needed to uncover the social determinants of health outcomes. Barriers to access to medical care, socioeconomic status, differences in antibiotic use, and health literacy about antimicrobial-resistance (AMR) may also contribute to these disparities, all of which can be associated with racial and biological sex inequities.”

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that 2.8 million people become infected each year with antibiotic-resistant bacteria, resulting in at least 35,000 deaths [1]. Enterobacterales are the largest group of disease-causing bacteria in humans. Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CREs) are resistant to commonly prescribed antibiotics called carbapenems, which are considered the drugs of last resort for treating severe infections. In the USA, about 2-3% of Enterobacterales associated with healthcare infections are resistant to carbapenems [2].

Infections caused by these organisms are associated with high death rates among hospitalised patients, up to 50% in some studies [3]. However, the relationships between race and sex on clinical outcomes after bloodstream infections caused by CREs are not known.

To find out more, researchers examined data from 362 patients treated at 29 US hospitals in 17 states including the District of Columbia (DC)for bloodstream infections caused by CDC-defined CRE (in vitro resistance to one or more carbapenems – including ertapenem – without any requirement for cephalosporin resistance) between April 2016 and November 2019.

All patients were enrolled in the CRACKLE-2 study (the second Consortium on Resistance Against Carbapenems in Klebsiella and other Enterobacteriaceae)—a prospective, multicentre, cohort study with consecutive enrolment of hospitalised patients [3].

Of the 362 patients (aged 49 to 71 years) included in the study, 117 (32%) were Black, and 60 (17%) were Black women; 245 (68%) were White, and 104 (29%) were White women (see table 1 in notes to editors).

Black patients were more likely to be admitted to the hospital from long-term care facilities (32% vs 20%), to have peripheral vascular (17% vs 6%) or cerebrovascular disease (26% vs 12%), and to be haemodialysis dependent (17% vs 8%). White patients had higher rates of liver disease (17% vs 7%) and cancers (39% vs 16%; see table 1 in notes to editors).

Researchers analysed whether race, sex, and the interaction of race and sex, and clinical variables were associated with 30-day mortality.

Prior studies have shown that the 30-day mortality rate after CRE bloodstream infections was between 24% to almost 50% [4]. In this cohort, the overall 30-day mortality rate from any cause in the entire cohort was 28% (101/362). This included 35% (21/60) of Black female patients and 23% (24/104) of White female patients, and 18% (10/57) of Black male patients and 33% (46/141) of White male patients.

After adjusting for potential confounders, including age, bloodstream infection source, liver disease, and hospital-onset, the analysis found that race and sex were not individually associated with 30-day mortality. However, the interaction between race and sex was found to be an independent predictor of 30-day mortality (see table 2 in the notes to editors).

Specifically, Black female patients had higher odds of death within 30 days compared to White female patients (2.15 times increased risk) and Black male patients (2.59 times increased risk). Trends towards increased mortality were also observed in White males compared with White females and Black males, but these were not statistically significant after accounting for other differences between patients.

Dr Ruffin says, “Our findings that Black women experience higher mortality after (CRE) bloodstream infections compared with White women and Black men illustrates the importance of combining race and sex when evaluating racial and sex-related disparities in infectious disease outcomes in future studies.”

“The distribution of comorbid conditions was different between Black and White patients and may contribute to disparities. The root causes of disparities in AMR infections will require larger sample sizes and more in-depth analyses of the sources of infection in patient groups. Interventions are needed that address the management of comorbidities that increase patients’ risk for infection.”

The authors note several study limitations, including a focus on Black and white patients to the exclusion of other racial and ethnic groups, and the observational nature of the study, which may have missed other contributory factors. They also note that the study did not address the social determinants of health, so the results are unable to attribute causation.

For interviews with the report authors, please email Dr Felicia Ruffin, Duke University Medical School, North Carolina, US at felicia.ruffin@duke.edu

Alternative contact in the ESCMID Global Media Centre: Tony Kirby T) + 44(0)7834 385827 E) tony@tonykirby.com

Notes to editors:

[1] National Estimates for Antibiotic Resistance | CDC
[2] Clinicians: Information about CRE | HAI | CDC;
A Cohort Study of the Impact of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae Infections on Mortality of Patients Presenting with Sepsis - PMC (nih.gov)
[3] CRE Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales Handout (cdc.gov)
[4] SM-AMAC210379 1..11 (europepmc.org);
IDR_A_294282 731..742 (nih.gov);
Molecular and clinical epidemiology of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in the USA (CRACKLE-2): a prospective cohort study - The Lancet Infectious Diseases

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Research discussed in this publication is supported in part by the ARLG Grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) under Award Number UM1AI104681. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health. For more information about this trial, visit ClinicalTrials.gov and search identifiers NCT06181669.

This press release is based on poster abstract P1829 at the ESCMID Global Congress (formerly ECCMID). All accepted abstracts have been extensively peer reviewed by the congress selection committee. There is no full paper at this stage, but the authors are happy to answer your questions. The research has not yet been submitted to a medical journal for publication. 

For tables referred to above, click here

For full abstract click here

For full poster click here

 

 

 

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ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Apr-2024 

Shoe technology reduces risk of diabetic foot ulcers

Foot ulcers lead to more than 160,000 lower extremity amputations yearly

 NEWS RELEASE 19-APR-2024

UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT ARLINGTON

 

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RESEARCHERS HAVE DEVELOPED A NEW SHOE INSOLE TECHNOLOGY THAT HELPS REDUCE THE RISK OF DIABETIC FOOT ULCERS, A DANGEROUS OPEN SORE THAT CAN LEAD TO HOSPITALIZATION AND LEG, FOOT OR TOE AMPUTATIONS.

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CREDIT: PHOTO COURTESY UT ARLINGTON

Researchers have developed a new shoe insole technology that helps reduce the risk of diabetic foot ulcers, a dangerous open sore that can lead to hospitalization and leg, foot or toe amputations.

“The goal of this innovative insole technology is to mitigate the risk of diabetic foot ulcers by addressing one of their most significant causes: skin and soft tissue breakdown due to repetitive stress on the foot during walking,” said Muthu B.J. Wijesundara, principal research scientist at The University of Texas at Arlington Research Institute (UTARI).

Affecting about 39 million people in the U.S., diabetes can damage the small blood vessels that supply blood to the nerves, leading to poor circulation and foot sores, also called ulcers. About one-third of people with diabetes develop foot ulcers during their lifetime. In the U.S., more than 160,000 lower extremity amputations are performed annually due to complications from diabetic foot ulcers, costing the American health system about $30 billion a year. Those who have foot ulcers often die at younger ages than those without ulcers.

“Although many shoe insoles have been created over the years to try to alleviate the problem of foot ulcers, studies have shown that their success in preventing them is marginal,” Wijesundara said. “We took the research a step further by creating a pressure-alternating shoe insole that works by cyclically relieving pressure from different areas of the foot, thereby providing periods of rest to the soft tissues and improving blood flow. This approach aims to maintain the health of the skin and tissues, thereby reducing the risk of diabetic foot ulcers.”

In an article in the peer-reviewed International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds, Wijesundara and UTA colleagues Veysel Erel, Aida Nasirian and Yixin Gu, along with Larry Lavery of UT Southwestern Medical Center, described their innovative insole technology. After this successful pilot project, the next step for the research team will be refining the technology to make it more accessible for users with varying weights and shoe sizes.

“Considering the impact of foot ulcers, it’s exciting that we may be able to make a real difference in the lives of so many people,” Wijesundara said.

***

This work was supported by a $229,480 grant from the National Institute of Aging of the National Institutes of Health, grant number 7R21AG061471.

About one-third of people with diabetes develop foot ulcers during their lifetime. In the U.S., more than 160,000 lower extremity amputations are performed annually due to complications from diabetic foot ulcers, costing the American health system about $30 billion a year. Those who have foot ulcers often die at younger ages than those without ulcers.

CREDIT

Courtesy UT Arlington

JOURNAL

The International Journal of Lower Extremity Wounds

DOI

10.1177/15347346241234825 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

Development of Cyclic Pressure Offloading Insole for Diabetic Foot Ulcer Preventio

COI STATEMENT

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This work was supported by the National Institute of Aging of the National Institute of Health, (grant number 7R21AG06147).

 

URI-led team finds direct evidence of ‘itinerant breeding’ in East Coast shorebird species

Study of American woodcock confirms overlapping of migration and reproductive periods of the annual cycle

UNIVERSITY OF RHODE ISLAND

 

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URI DOCTORAL STUDENT COLBY SLEZAK PLACES A LEG BAND AND GPS TRANSMITTER ON A FEMALE AMERICAN WOODCOCK AT THE FRANCIS CARTER PRESERVE IN CHARLESTOWN, RHODE ISLAND.

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CREDIT: (PHOTOS COURTESY OF COLBY SLEZAK)

KINGSTON, R.I. – April 17, 2024 – Migration and reproduction are two of the most demanding events in a bird’s annual cycle, so much so that the vast majority of migratory birds separate the two tasks into different times of the year.

But a study by University of Rhode Island researchers has found direct evidence of a species – the American woodcock, a migratory shorebird from eastern and central North America – that overlaps periods of migration and reproduction, a rare breeding strategy known as “itinerant breeding.” Their work, backed by collaborators across the East Coast, was published today in the biological sciences journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“I think this is a very exciting moment for bird researchers,” said Colby Slezak, a URI Ph.D. student in biological and environmental sciences who led the study. “It’s interesting to see that these distinct periods in a bird’s annual cycle are not so cut and dried. We often think of migration, breeding, fall migration and wintering as separate events. But woodcock are combining two of these into one period, which is interesting because both are so energetically expensive.”

“Each year the period of migration is distinct from the period of breeding in the vast majority of migratory birds, presumably because doing so at the same time is simply too costly,” said Scott McWilliams, URI professor in natural resources science and principal investigator on the study. “This paper provides the best documented case of a migratory bird that is an itinerant breeder. Such itinerant breeding is exceptionally rare, and documenting exceptions often proves the rules of nature.”

The American woodcock – also called a timberdoodle, bogsucker, night partridge, and Labrador twister, among many more – is a migratory shorebird that occurs throughout eastern and central North America but its populations have been declining over the past half century. The species is known for its long, needlelike bill that can extract earthworms from deep in the ground and the males’ elaborate mating dance and “peent” call to attract females, Slezak said.

While there are about a dozen bird species in the world believed to be itinerant breeders, the study is the first to show direct evidence of the rare strategy. “They’ve suspected other species of being itinerant breeders, but this is the first time we’ve had detailed GPS-tracking data and on-the-ground verification of nests to confirm that this was happening.” said Slezak, of Broadalbin, New York.

To do that, the study benefitted from the work of scores of biologists from federal, state and non-governmental agencies along the American woodcock’s flyway, from the southern U.S. into Canada, who tagged more than 350 females with GPS transmitters between 2019 and 2022. That initiative was part of the University of Maine’s Eastern Woodcock Migration Research Cooperative.

Slezak, whose work on the study was part of his dissertation research, organized and analyzed the tracking data and alerted collaborators along the bird’s range to verify possible nesting locations. URI graduate students Liam Corcoran, Megan Gray and Shannon Wesson also worked on other aspects of the woodcock project, all part of a collaborative research program with biologists from the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Division of Fish & Wildlife.

“I was looking for really short movement patterns during the breeding season to find suspected nests,” Slezak said. “Relying on all of these collaborators from across the East Coast, I would reach out to them to tell them there was a suspected nest. They would travel out to the sites, sometimes quite far. It was amazing that we got the buy-in that we did.”

Based on GPS tracking of more than 200 females, the URI study found that more than 80% of the tagged females nested more than once during migration – some up to six times. During northward migration, females traveled an average of 800 kilometers between first and second nests, and shorter distances between subsequent nests, the study said. During 2021-22, URI researchers oversaw onsite verification of 26 nests from 22 females. Four females nested more than once, three of which migrated a substantial distance northward after their first nest attempt, the study said.

“There are many records of woodcock males singing along their migration routes, which has always been a mystery because it’s energetically expensive,” said Slezak. “With this new data on females, we’re seeing that females are also nesting in the south early, moving north and nesting as they go. So, these males are probably getting breeding opportunities along the way.”

While migration and reproduction take a lot of energy, American woodcock reduce the cost in other ways, Slezak said. They have shorter migration distances than other species and have the flexibility of using various young-forest habitats. Also, females are larger than males and their eggs are small relative to the size of the females.

“A lot of birds probably can’t do it because they don’t have these lower reproductive costs that woodcock have evolved to do,” he said.

Another evolutionary driver of itinerant breeding in woodcock could be predation. While they use a variety of habitats – wetlands, young forests with different tree types – they often nest near edges of open fields, leaving them prone to numerous predators.

“We think most of these post-nesting migratory movements are in response to predation events,” he said. “They’re sitting on the nest and something comes and eats the eggs. The female takes off and keeps migrating north before trying to nest again. What we don’t know is: if the female has a successful nest, does she stop nesting the rest of the year?”

Despite steady declines in woodcock populations and their preferred young forest habitat over the last half century, the study offers a glimmer of hope for woodcock, and other itinerant breeders facing the challenges of ongoing human development and climate change.

“Itinerant breeders may be more flexible in their response to environmental change because they are willing to breed in a wide variety of places,” said Slezak. “So as long as some suitable habitat remains, the consequences may be less.”

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JOURNAL

Proceedings of the Royal Society B Biological Sciences

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Unconventional life history in a migratory shorebird: desegregating reproduction and migration

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

17-Apr-2024

Study uncovers neural mechanisms underlying foraging behavior in freely moving animals

RICE UNIVERSITY

 

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VALENTIN DRAGOI PROFESSOR OF ELECTRICAL AND COMPUTER ENGINEERING AT RICE UNIVERSITY, PROFESSOR OF NEUROSCIENCE AT WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE AND SCIENTIFIC DIRECTOR OF THE METHODIST/RICE CENTER FOR NEURAL SYSTEMS RESTORATION.
 

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CREDIT: (PHOTO BY JEFF FITLOW/RICE UNIVERSITY)

HOUSTON – (April 19, 2024) – While foraging, animals including humans and monkeys are continuously making decisions about where to search for food and when to move among possible sources of sustenance.

“Foraging behavior is something we perform daily when we go to the grocery store to pick up food, and we make choices based on the degree of reward each choice provides. It’s a classical problem common to every species on the planet,” said Valentin Dragoi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice, professor of neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College and scientific director of the Methodist/Rice Center for Neural Systems Restoration.

In a paper published in Nature Neuroscience, Dragoi and collaborators investigate the brain processes involved in searching for food.

“In this study, we describe the use of a new integrated wireless system for recording brain activity in the frontal areas of their brain and for oculomotor and behavioral tracking. We examine in real time how this ubiquitous task of foraging unfolds, which is something we naturally perform every day,” Dragoi said.

Macaques are a genus of monkeys native to Asia, North Africa and Southern Europe (Gibraltar). They most often eat fruit, seeds and other plant-based food. “We study macaques,” Dragoi said, “because foraging is a natural behavior and the macaque brain is quite similar to the human brain in terms of organization and function.”

Until now, it was difficult to examine the neural basis of foraging in naturalistic environments because previous approaches relied on restrained animals performing trial-based foraging tasks. Dragoi and his research partners allowed unrestrained macaques to freely interact with reward options while wirelessly recording neural activity in their prefrontal cortex.

“Animals decided when and where to forage based on whether their predictions of reward were fulfilled or violated. The predictions were not based exclusively on a history of reward delivery, but also on the understanding that waiting longer improves the chance of reward,” Dragoi said.

The results indicate that foraging strategies are based on a cortical model of reward dynamics as animals freely explore their environment.

“We learned that we can predict choices even in complex situations by simply reading out the responses of dozens of neurons in the frontal lobe. This can potentially move in the direction of prosthetic devices to influence or bias choice, even noninvasively. More fundamentally, it allows us to understand how the brain works when engaged in this natural behavior,” Dragoi said.

Next, the Dragoi lab will combine foraging in a social context and record from two animals simultaneously while they cooperate to seek food as a reward. This is a daunting technical challenge but Dragoi believes he and his research partners are close to achieving such goals. This may enable a solution to the challenge of cortical implants to assist patients with brain dysfunction and enable their behavioral decisions.

The lead author of the article is Neda Shahidi, a former Ph.D. student in Dragoi’s lab, currently group leader at Georg-Elias-Müller-Institute for Psychology, Georg August-Universität, Göttingen. The co-authors, in addition to Dragoi, are Melissa Franch, postdoctoral research fellow in neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine; Arun Parajuli, data scientist at the University of Texas Health Science Center, Houston; Paul Schrater, professor of computer science and engineering at the University of Minnesota; Anthony Wright, professor of neurobiology and anatomy, McGovern Medical School, Houston; Assistant Professor, Electrical and Computer Engineering; Assistant Professor of Neuroscience, Baylor College of Medicine; Xaq Pitkow, assistant professor of ECE at Rice and assistant professor of neuroscience at Baylor College of Medicine.

The research was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health (5U01NS094368), The Robert and Janice McNair Foundation and DFG (CRC1528). The content in this press release is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH and other listed funders.

⎯ by Patrick Kurp, science writer at the Rice University George R. Brown School of Engineering

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This news release can be found online at news.rice.edu.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Peer-reviewed paper:

Population coding of strategic variables during foraging in freely moving macaques | Nature Neuroscience | DOI: 10.1038/s41593-024-01575-w

Authors: Neda Shahidi, Melissa Franch, Arun Parajuli, Paul Schrater, Anthony Wright, Xaq Pitkow and Valentin Dragoi

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41593-024-01575-w

Image downloads:

https://news-network.rice.edu/news/files/2024/04/240208_Dragoi_Fitlow_019-457ce01a4c12c800.jpg
CAPTION: Valentin Dragoi professor of electrical and computer engineering at Rice University, professor of neuroscience at Weill Cornell Medical College and scientific director of the Methodist/Rice Center for Neural Systems Restoration. (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)

About Rice:

Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation’s top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of architecture, business, continuing studies, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences and social sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 4,574 undergraduates and 3,982 graduate students, Rice’s undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is just under 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice is ranked No. 1 for lots of race/class interaction, No. 2 for best-run colleges and No. 12 for quality of life by the Princeton Review. Rice is also rated as a best value among private universities by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.

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JOURNAL

Nature Neuroscience

DOI

10.1038/s41593-024-01575-w 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Population coding of strategic variables during foraging in freely moving macaques

 

Lemur’s lament: When one vulnerable species stalks another

WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY IN ST. LOUIS

 

IMAGE: 

DIADEMED SIFAKA

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CREDIT: ONJA RAMILIJAONA

What can be done when one threatened animal kills another? Scientists studying critically endangered lemurs in Madagascar confronted this difficult reality when they witnessed attacks on lemurs by another vulnerable species, a carnivore called a fosa.

This dynamic can be particularly complex when the predation occurs in an isolated or poor-quality habitat, according to research from Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar.

In the new paper published in Ecology and Evolution, researchers describe how they were observing small groups of critically endangered diademed sifaka lemurs (Propithecus diadema) at Betampona Strict Nature Reserve when the predator struck.

“We were conducting our daily behavioral observations when we came across a very unusual sight — a predation attempt by a fosa, which is the biggest predator in Madagascar,” said WashU’s Giovanna Bonadonna, a postdoctoral research associate in biological anthropology in Arts & Sciences and the study’s co-first author.

“What we saw was very rare,” Bondadonna said. “There are other small carnivores in Madagascar, but they are not big enough to be able to prey upon an adult diademed sifaka because they are among the biggest lemurs. There are not so many predators that could actually get them.”

With slender bodies and long tails, fosas (or fossas, Crytoprocta ferox) have many cat-like features. They are great climbers and are sometimes compared to small cougars, though they are actually part of the weasel family.

The fosa is categorized as vulnerable by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, and is at risk of extinction, as are almost all of its lemur prey. Fosas also eat other small animals such as birds and rodents.

But they’re rarely caught in the act. Fosas are stealthy hunters. Researchers have mostly determined what fosas eat by examining bones and other evidence left behind in scat.

“We noticed that a female diademed sifaka that we were following after the first attack didn’t run away very far,” said Onja Ramilijaona, a PhD candidate at the University of Antananarivo and the other co-first author of the paper. “Instead she stayed still and remained vigilant, looking at the fosa.”

Ramilijaona also documented the later discovery of the remains of another diademed sifaka, presumed to have been killed by a fosa because of the condition of the remains and because of the way that branches had been broken in the area. Signs indicated a struggle in the trees.

The researchers also described other instances over a period of 19 months of observation when fosas appeared to stalk lemurs but were unsuccessful in bringing one down as food.

The impact of predation — combined with low reproductive rates and potentially high inbreeding of the lemur population of Betampona — could affect the survival of this species at this site, researchers said.

Created in 1927, Betampona was Madagascar’s first protected reserve and comprises about 22 square kilometers (about 5,400 acres) of rainforest on the east coast, surrounded by agricultural land. While the land itself is protected, this forest’s relatively small size and isolation mean that it can be difficult for plants and animals to continue to breed and survive at Betampona.

“Although Betampona is one of the best protected reserves in Madagascar, its isolation from other viable forests with lemur populations has created a predicament in which the critically endangered lemurs cannot engage in typical dispersal patterns, leading to genetic and demographic isolation,” said Lisa Kelley, executive director of the Saint Louis Zoo Wildcare Institute. “The need to study these populations for a possible genetic management study became clear several years back, once there were indications that there were few infant births and even fewer infant survivals.”

The impact of predation — combined with low reproductive rates and potentially high inbreeding of the lemur population of Betampona — could affect the survival of this species at this site. (Photo: Onja Ramilijaona)

The Saint Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden have conducted work at Betampona since the 1980s with the Madagascar Flora and Fauna Group, an international nonprofit, non-governmental organization that enables institutions to collaborate for the united purpose of conserving Madagascar’s biodiversity. Washington University, the Saint Louis Zoo and the Missouri Botanical Garden are also partners in the Living Earth Collaborative. This particular effort is part of a larger project in Madagascar made possible with funding from the Living Earth Collaborative and the Eric P. and Evelyn E. Newman Charitable Foundation.

“These most recent observations of fosa attacks are especially troubling, as the observation of predation attacks, especially by the elusive fosa, are very rare,” Kelley said.

“It leads to questions of why the fosa are so bold to predate on lemurs in front of humans, and whether the fosa leave Betampona to hunt elsewhere and then return, or whether they are targeting the lemurs within the reserve,” she said. “It is an incredible scenario in which you have a vulnerable species potentially over-predating on several critically endangered species.”

Senior authors on the study include Krista Milich and Emily Wroblewski, both assistant professors in the Department of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

“This population of diademed sifakas is already in bad shape,” Bonadonna said. “There is a huge predation pressure that was underestimated until we did this behavioral study. We were able to highlight inbreeding and other factors that may be behind the fact that this population cannot thrive at Betampona.

“It’s not that the fosa is the bad guy,” Bonadonna said. “It’s also in need of conservation. This study really highlights how complicated it can be. Human activities lead to changes in dynamics within ecosystems, having cascading effects beyond even what people realize. Despite the effort to conserve one species, it’s really the ecosystem and the balance of that ecosystem that is at stake once the habitat is compromised.”

Diademed sifaka, a critically endangered lemur in Madagascar.

CREDIT

Onja Ramilijaona

JOURNAL

Ecology and Evolution

DOI

10.1002/ece3.11248 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Observational study

ARTICLE TITLE

Response of diademed sifaka (Propithecus diadema) to fosa (Cryptoprocta ferox) predation in the Betampona Strict Nature Reserve, Madagascar

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

19-Apr-2024