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Background: Carotid body tumors (CBTs) are rare benign tumors that arise from the chemoreceptor tissue located at the carotid bifurcation that require excision if symptomatic. Depending on the size and location of the tumor, the carotid artery may need to be repaired after resection. This study aims to assess whether CBT excision with artery resection had higher rates of 30-day postoperative outcomes compared with CBT excision without artery resection. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study. Patients were identified in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) registry from 2005 to 2017. They were divided into two groups, based on Current Procedural Terminology (CPT®) codes: group A had CBT excision without carotid artery excision (CPT code 60600) and group B with carotid artery excision (CPT code 60605). Patient demographic characteristics, co-morbidities, and 30-days postoperative outcomes were compared between the two groups. Categorical data were analyzed using Pearson’s X2 or Fisher exact tests and presented as proportions (percentages). Continuous data were analyzed using parametric or non-parametric tests as appropriate. Statistical significance was defined as p < 0.05. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS statistical software package. Results: A total of 463 patients were identified, 410 (88.4%) in group A and 53 (11.4%) in group B. Overall, there were 291 (62.9%) women. A higher proportion of women underwent CBT excision only, compared to men (91.1% [265/291] vs. 84.3% [145/172], p < 0.0001). Demographics and comorbidities were similar between groups. There was no significant difference in the 30-day postoperative outcomes. The reoperation rate was higher in group B (3.8% vs. 1.5%, p = 0.334), while the readmission rate was higher in group A (3.2% vs. 0% p = 0.269), and both were not significantly different. Overall morbidity and serious morbidity were higher in group B (7.5% vs. 5.9%, p = 0.626) and lower in group A (5.7% vs. 3.9%, p = 0.544), respectively, but were not significantly different. Operative time (mean, SD) was higher in group B (187 ± 107 vs. 138 ± 66 min, p < 0.001). However, the median (IQR) of hospital length of stay (LOS) was similar (2 [1, 4] vs. 2 [1, 3] days, p = 0.134). Conclusions: Overall, no difference was noted in the 30-day postoperative outcome between the two surgical approaches of CBT. However, operative time was longer when artery resection was performed. Further research to determine the factors predicting the need for carotid artery resection among patient gender is needed.

Wildlife strikes in aviation represent a serious economic concern; however, in some jurisdictions, the costs associated with this phenomenon are not collected or shared. This hampers the industry’s ability to quantify the risk and assess the potential benefit from investment in effective wildlife hazard management activities. This research project has applied machine learning to the problem by training a random forest algorithm on wildlife strike cost data collected in the United States and predicting the costs associated with wildlife strikes in Australia. This method estimated a mean annual figure of AUD 7.9 million in repair costs and AUD 4.8 million in other costs from 2008 to 2017. It also provided year-on-year estimates showing variability through the reporting period that was not correlated with strike report numbers. This research provides a baseline figure for the Australian aviation industry to assess and review current and future wildlife hazard management practices. It also provides a technique for other countries, airlines, or airports to estimate the cost of wildlife strikes within their jurisdictions or operational environments.

Temporal mismatches among plants and pollinators, driven by climate change, are considered a potential cause of population declines of these mutualists. However, field studies demonstrating population declines as a result of climate-driven phenological mismatches are uncommon, and the extent to which mismatches will be a problem in the future remains unclear. We revisit predicted consequences of climate-driven phenological mismatch in plant-pollinator systems by identifying nine previously-applied assumptions that are violated or insufficiently understood in real systems. Briefly, the assumptions are: (1) Dates of first-flowering (DFF) or dates of first activity (DFA) correctly describe phenology, and disparities between DFF and DFA represent the magnitude of mismatch. (2) “Optimal” matches are measured correctly. (3) Advancement of DFF or DFA will be the primary phenological change in the future. (4) Future phenological shifts will be independent for each species. (5) All plant-pollinator interactions are equally effective. (6) Populations of plants and pollinators are limited by mutualistic interactions. Some previous models have also assumed that the effects of future mismatches will not be influenced by (7) emergence of novel interactions, (8) competition or facilitation from altered co-flowering and co-flight, and (9) phenotypic plasticity and rapid adaptive evolution of phenology. Those assumptions affect the direction, extent, and accuracy of predicted consequences of future phenological mismatch. In discussing them, we identify important topics for future research in pollination ecology.

Two non-pigmented, motile, Gram-negative marine bacteria designated R9SW1T and A3d10T were isolated from sea water samples collected from Chazhma Bay, Gulf of Peter the Great, Sea of Japan, Pacific Ocean, Russia and St. Kilda Beach, Port Phillip Bay, the Tasman Sea, Pacific Ocean, respectively. Both organisms were found to grow between 4 °C and 40 °C, between pH 6 to 9, and are moderately halophilic, tolerating up to 20% (w/v) NaCl. Both strains were found to be able to degrade Tween 40 and 80, but only strain R9SW1T was found to be able to degrade starch. The major fatty acids were characteristic for the genus Marinobacter including C16:0, C16:1ω7c, C18:1ω9c and C18:1ω7c. The G+C content of the DNA for strains R9SW1T and A3d10T were determined to be 57.1 mol% and 57.6 mol%, respectively. The two new strains share 97.6% of their 16S rRNA gene sequences, with 82.3% similarity in the average nucleotide identity (ANI), 19.8% similarity in the in silico genome-to-genome distance (GGD), 68.1% similarity in the average amino acid identity (AAI) of all conserved protein-coding genes, and 31 of the Karlin's genomic signature dissimilarity. A phylogenetic analysis showed that R9SW1T clusters with M. algicola DG893T sharing 99.40%, and A3d10T clusters with M. sediminum R65T sharing 99.53% of 16S rRNA gene sequence similarities. The results of the genomic and polyphasic taxonomic study, including genomic, genetic, phenotypic, chemotaxonomic and phylogenetic analyses based on the 16S rRNA, gyrB and rpoD gene sequence similarities, the analysis of the protein profiles generated using MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry, and DNA-DNA relatedness data, indicated that strains R9SW1T and A3d10(T) represent two novel species of the genus Marinobacter. The names Marinobacter salarius sp. nov., with the type strain R9SW1(T) ( = LMG 27497(T) = JCM 19399(T) = CIP 110588(T) = KMM 7502(T)) and Marinobacter similis sp. nov., with the type strain A3d10(T) ( = JCM 19398(T) = CIP 110589(T) = KMM 7501T), are proposed.