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The relationship between beaked whales and certain anthropogenic sounds remains poorly understood and of great interest. Although Cuvier’s beaked whales (Ziphius cavirostris) are widely distributed, little is known of their behavior and population structure throughout much of their range. We conducted a series of five combined visual-acoustic marine mammal surveys from 2006 to 2008 in the southern San Nicolas Basin, a site of frequent naval activity off the southern California coast, west of San Clemente Island. The study area was defined by a 1,800 km2 array of 88 bottom-mounted hydrophones at depths up to 1,850 m. The array was used to vector visual observers toward vocalizing marine mammal species. Thirty-seven groups of Cuvier’s beaked whales were encountered during the study period. The overall encounter rate was one group for every 21.0 h of survey effort, and was as high as one group per 10.2 h of effort during the October 2007 survey. Whales were encountered in the deepest portion of the study area, at a mean bottom depth of 1,580 m (SD 138). The average group size was 3.8 individuals (SD 2.4), which was higher than has been reported from other studies of this species. Twenty-four groups were observed over multiple surfacings (median = 4 surfacings, range 2–15). The mean encounter duration of extended sightings was 104 min (SD 98, range 12–466 min) and the mean distance moved over the course of sightings was 1.66 km (SD 1.56, range 0.08–6.65 km). Temporal surfacing patterns during extended encounters were similar to dive behavior described from Cuvier’s beaked whales carrying time-depth recording tags. Seventy-eight photographic identifications were made of 58 unique individuals, for an overall resighting rate of 0.26. Whales were sighted on up to 4 days, with duration from first to last sighting spanning 2–79 days. For those whales sighted on subsequent days, the mean distance between subsequent sightings was 8.6 km (SD 7.9). Individuals resighted over 2–3 days were usually in association with previous group members. Approximately one-third of groups contained more than one adult male, and many of the repeated associations involved adult males. These observations suggest the basin west of San Clemente Island may be an important region for Cuvier’s beaked whales, and also one which affords an unusual opportunity to collect detailed data on this species. Given its status as an active military range, it can also provide the ability to monitor the behavior of individuals in the presence of naval sonar, a critical step in the management of this and other beaked whale populations worldwide.

Serologic evidence of Yersinia enterocolitica infection was sought by agglutination testing in serum samples from several populations, including Haida Indians, Red Cross blood donors, and Caucasian patients with rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and Reiter's syndrome. No evidence was found to indicate that yersinial infection was etiologically related to Haida spondylitis or Reiter's syndrome. Four of 28 patients with acute arthritis were diagnosed from serologic evidence as having Yersinia-related arthritis.

THE following very brief record of the Round Table Debates is — with one exception — chronological so far as the sequence of meetings is concerned, but not in its presentation of the discussions within each meeting. The interests of brevity, as well as of clarity, have dictated certain logical groupings which, in spite of some necessary omissions, have allowed of a systematic presentation of the main structure of the debates, recurring themes of thought, and outstanding points made.

We describe a standard set of quantity names and symbols related to the estimation of kinetic parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced T(1)-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data, using diffusable agents such as gadopentetate dimeglumine (Gd-DTPA). These include a) the volume transfer constant K(trans) (min(-1)); b) the volume of extravascular extracellular space (EES) per unit volume of tissue v(e) (0 < v(e) < 1); and c) the flux rate constant between EES and plasma k(ep) (min(-1)). The rate constant is the ratio of the transfer constant to the EES (k(ep) = K(trans)/v(e)). Under flow-limited conditions K(trans) equals the blood plasma flow per unit volume of tissue; under permeability-limited conditions K(trans) equals the permeability surface area product per unit volume of tissue. We relate these quantities to previously published work from our groups; our future publications will refer to these standardized terms, and we propose that these be adopted as international standards.

Ninety-one elderly male residents of a skilled nursing facility were classified as nonbacteriuric (41%), intermittently bacteriuric (34%), or continuously bacteriuric (25%) on the basis of urine cultures obtained over a 3-year period. Bacteriuric and nonbacteriuric residents were similar in age, number of diagnoses and medications, and mobility. However, bacteriuric residents were more frequently confused or demented, whether continuously bacteriuric (78%) or intermittently bacteriuric (62%) compared with nonbacteriuric residents (42%) (p less than 0.04). In addition, bacteriuria was significantly associated with incontinence of bladder (96% of continuous, 66% of intermittent, and 25% of nonbacteriuric; p less than 0.001) and bowel (52%, 39%, and 5.5%, respectively; p less than 0.002). At 6 years of follow-up there were no differences in survival among the three groups. Urinary tract infection caused or contributed to only two (2.9%) deaths. Thus, in this population, bacteriuria was associated with higher functional disability but not with increased mortality.