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The 13th Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions [OB] Polar biology, Wed. 16 Nov.

Relatively little is known about spinner dolphins in Malaysian waters and the wider Southeast Asian region. This note represents the first known acoustic recording of the species sighted opportunistically in the northern Straits of Malacca. Over a brief 20 min sighting, 46 whistles were recorded and four tonal types were detected, with 54.4% being upsweep whistles. The whistle duration ranged from 36 to 977 ms and the frequency ranged from 6.6 to 23.8 kHz. Fifty-seven click trains with a mean interclick interval of 41.5 ± 19.3 ms were detected. These findings provide a baseline for future regional acoustic research on this species.

Synchronous digging activity and emergence from underground nests is important for sea turtle hatchlings, as it reduces predation risk and decreases energy consumption. However, patterns of underground hatching and diel digging activity prior to emergence are invisible and remain largely unknown. In this study, we acoustically monitored the activity of green turtle, Chelonia mydas, hatchlings from hatching to emergence in the field and laboratory. During the hatching period, we did not observe characteristic acoustic events corresponding to pipping and hatching. Hatchlings started digging even though there were still unhatched eggs above them, indicating that green turtles did not hatch as one synchronous group. This observation did not support our hypothesis that synchronized hatching facilitates synchronous emergence. Digging activity tended to increase at night as the hatchlings approached the sand surface and nest emergence became imminent. It is not surprising that there was diel variation in digging activity as the hatchlings approached the surface because diel fluctuations in sand temperature can provide a diel cue. Surprisingly, a diel change in digging activity was also observed when hatchlings were still at a sand depth where temperature remained relatively constant throughout the day (that is, a few days before emergence) and in the laboratory at a constant temperature. This study suggests that the diel activity pattern of hatchling green turtles may occur even in the absence of a diel temperature fluctuation cue.

Rockfish, which are well known for their site fidelity and homing ability, live sympatrically with many conspecifics. Conspecifics may be external drivers influencing rockfish movement, and rockfish may move cohesively while travelling. We tested whether rockfish formed a group when returning to their original habitat after artificial displacement and examined the routes they travelled to return home. A fine-scale multi-individual simultaneous positioning method was used to observe the movement trajectories of tagged fish. Our results showed that tagged fish, released in groups, returned to their original habitat (5 of 8 fish) but generally did not travel with other individuals. There was one exception in which 2 individuals moved together for ~100 s immediately after release. These 2 fish had no designated leader, alternating as leader and follower. Our hypothesis was partially corroborated by these rockfish possibly travelling cohesively. The returning fish tended to travel along the sea bottom and the coastline, independent of current; thus, they likely used visual cues, rather than olfactory or social cues, to return home.

We proposed a simple hyperbolic positioning method that does not require solving simultaneous quadratic equations. Moreover, we introduced the mathematical concept of a “pencil” into analytical calculations in the hyperbolic positioning method for a better understanding. In many recent studies using positioning biotelemetry, the specific procedure for intersection calculation of hyperbolas has rarely been described. This might be one of two major obstacles, with the other being clock synchronisation among receivers, for positioning biotelemetry users, including potential users. We focus only on the intersection calculation in this paper. Therefore, we propose a novel method and introduce the mathematical concept into analytical calculations. The computing performances of the novel method, an analytical method applying the concept of a pencil, and an approximating method using the Newton-Raphson method were compared regarding positioning correctness, accuracy, and calculation speed. In the novel method, hyperbolas were represented using the parameter θ, which was treated as a discrete variant. The finer the tick-width of the parameter θ, the more accurate was its positioning, but it took slightly longer to calculate. By setting the tick-width to 0.01°, a simulated trajectory was correctly and accurately localised, as in the analytical method which always correctly returned the accurate solution. The approximating method has a major limitation concerning correctness. It returns a single solution regardless of two intersections of hyperbolas; however, the positioning is accurate when the hyperbolas intersect at a single point. This study approached one major difficulty in positioning biotelemetry and will help biotelemetry users overcome this drawback with a simple and intuitive understanding of hyperbolic positioning.

We performed a retrospective survey and verification of the medical records of death cases of children (and adolescents; aged18 years) between 2014 and 2016 in pediatric specialty training facilities in Japan. Of the 2,827 registered cases at 163 facilities, 2,348 cases were included. The rate of identified deaths compared with the demographic survey, was 18.2%-21.0% by age group. The breakdown of deaths was determined as follows: 638 cases (27.2%) were due to external factors or unknown causes, 118 (5.0%) were suspected to involve child maltreatment, 932 (39.7%) were of moderate or high preventability or were indeterminable. Further detailed verification was required for 1,333 cases (56.8%). Comparison of the three prefectures with high rates of identified deaths in Japan revealed no significant differences, such as in the distribution of diseases, suggesting that there was little selection bias. The autopsy rate of deaths of unknown cause was 43.4%, indicating a high ratio of forensic autopsies. However, sufficient clinical information was not collected; therefore, thorough evaluations were difficult to perform. Cases with a moderate or high possibility of involvement of child maltreatment accounted for 5%, similar to previous studies. However, more objective evaluation is necessary. Preventable death cases including potentially preventable deaths accounted for 25%, indicating that proposals need to be made for specific preventive measures. Individual primary verification followed by secondary verification by multiple organizations is effective. It is anticipated that a child death review (CDR) system with such a multi-layered structure will be established; however, the following challenges were revealed: The subjects of CDR are all child deaths. Even if natural death cases are entrusted to medical organizations, and complicated cases to other special panels, the numbers are very high. Procedures need to be established to sufficiently verify these cases. Although demographic statistics are useful for identifying all deaths, care must be taken when interpreting such data. Detailed verification of the cause of death will affect the determination of subsequent preventability. Verification based only on clinical information is difficult, so a procedure that collates non-medical information sources should be established. It is necessary to organize the procedures to evaluate the involvement of child maltreatment objectively and raise awareness among practitioners. To propose specific preventive measures, a mechanism to ensure multiprofessional diverse perspectives is crucial, in addition to fostering the foundation of individual practitioners. To implement the proposed measures, it is also necessary to discuss the responsibilities and authority of each organization. Once the CDR system is implemented, verification of the system should be repeated. Efforts to learn from child deaths and prevent deaths that are preventable as much as possible are essential duties of pediatricians. Pediatricians are expected to undertake the identified challenges and promote and lead the implementation of the CDR system. This is a word-for-word translation of the report in J. Jpn. Pediatr. Soc. 2019; 123 (11): 1736-1750, which is available only in the Japanese language.

International audience; AbstractThe simultaneous wing movement by multiple worker bees in a colony produces a hissing sound, which is a novel acoustic and vibrational signal of the honey bees. Hissing of honey bees is thought to be a response to direct, threatening stimuli. However, we discovered Japanese honey bees (Apis cerana japonica) can hiss even without obvious disturbances in previous study. In this study, to understand the temporal characteristics of honey bee hissing, we conducted 24-h sound recordings over 7 months in 2015 and investigated when A. cerana japonica hissed every day. Additionally, we also investigated the relationship of hissing onset and offset times with sunrise and sunset times, and environmental factors. We found that honey bees hiss daily during daytime and most frequently at dawn, with hissing onset/offset occurring mostly within 30 min of sunrise/sunset time. Hissing onset and offset were significantly related to sunrise and sunset times, respectively, and also to solar radiation intensity. The findings reveal that A. cerana japonica hissing has unique temporal patterns, and also shed a new light on vibrational collective behavior in honey bees.

The 11th Symposium on Polar Science/Ordinary sessions: [OB] Polar Biology, Poster presentations, Mon. 16 Nov. - Fri. 18 Dec.

Hissing behavior of honey bees is simultaneous wing movement of multiple honey bees, and loud sounds or vibrations are produced from their movements. In previous the study, hissing sound of honey bees has historically been considered as an aposematic signal. This is because hissing is generally observed when disturbance occur, such as mechanical disturbance or visually disturbing stimuli like hornets approaching the colony. Few studies, however, have investigated situations in which honey bees hiss. In this study, 24-h sound recording and video monitoring were conducted to investigate when the Japanese honey bees (Apis cerana japonica) hissed and checked the external environment of the colony when they hissed. As a result, we found that A. cerana japonica hissed not only when hornets approached but also when there was no obvious threatening stimulus outside the colony. In addition, clear diurnal patterns of hissing were observed. It is still not clear whether hissing in A. cerana japonica is more than aposematic signal or not, but our findings of unique occurrence patterns of their hissing raise question about the potential function of hissing behavior in A. cerana japonica.

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are seagrass specialists distributed in shallow coastal waters in tropical and subtropical seas. The area and distribution of the dugongs’ feeding trails, which are unvegetated winding tracks left after feeding, have been used as an indicator of their feeding ground utilization. However, current ground-based measurements of these trails require a large amount of time and effort. Here, we developed effective methods to observe the dugongs’ feeding trails using unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) images (1) by extracting the dugong feeding trails using deep neural networks. Furthermore, we demonstrated two applications as follows; (2) extraction of the daily new feeding trails with deep neural networks and (3) estimation the direction of the feeding trails. We obtained aerial photographs from the intertidal seagrass bed at Talibong Island, Trang Province, Thailand. The F1 scores, which are a measure of binary classification model’s accuracy taking false positives and false negatives into account, for the method (1) were 89.5% and 87.7% for the images with ground sampling resolutions of 1 cm/pixel and 0.5 cm/pixel, respectively, while the F1 score for the method (2) was 61.9%. The F1 score for the method (1) was high enough to perform scientific studies on the dugong. However, the method (2) should be improved, and there remains a need for manual correction. The mean area of the extracted daily new feeding trails from September 12–27, 2019, was 187.8 m2per day (n = 9). Total 63.9% of the feeding trails was estimated to have direction within a range of 112.5° and 157.5°. These proposed new methods will reduce the time and efforts required for future feeding trail observations and contribute to future assessments of the dugongs’ seagrass habitat use.

Examining characteristics of a species’ fine-scale habitat use contributes to effective and practical spatially explicit conservation. Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are endangered herbivorous mammals that use vocalisation for communication. In a small, specific area of Thai waters, classified here as a “vocal hotspot,” vocalisation rates are elevated, implying that in this area acoustic communication plays an important role. We recorded dugong calls in the vocal hotspot and a nearby feeding area. We then compared temporal patterns of vocalisation between the two sites to investigate the degree of variability in vocalisation between fine-scale habitats, which is important for understanding dugong habitat use by passive acoustic monitoring. From the 489 total hours of recording, 6607 and 2032 calls were observed in the vocal hotspot and feeding area, with mean vocalisation rates (calls per hour) 13.5 and 4.2, respectively. Vocalisation rate had distinctive 24-h periodicity in only the vocal hotspot. Environmental factors that correlated with changes in detected vocalisation rate also differed between the two locations. Water level correlated with vocalisation rate in the feeding area; in contrast, current direction correlated with vocalisation rate in the vocal hotspot. In conclusion, the vocalisation pattern for dugongs differed between the two sites, and we suggest that their habitat use varies at fine spatial scales.

The majority of surveys on food webs of aquatic ecosystems have been conducted during the day owning to difficulties in sampling animals at night. In this study, to examine diurnal changes in predator-prey interactions in a temperate seagrass Zostera marina bed, a quantitative day/night survey of fish, the dominant animal community, coupled with acoustic telemetry of their predators, was conducted. The number of species, abundance, and biomass of piscivorous predators and mean trophic level during the night were significantly higher than those in the day in all seasons. Analysis of the stomach contents of 182 piscivorous predators showed that no fish predation occurred during the day whereas predation occurred during the night in winter, spring, and summer. Acoustic telemetry demonstrated nocturnal visits by dominant piscivorous fish species (rockfishes and conger eel) to the seagrass bed. We conclude that the nocturnal visits by piscivorous fishes increased the predation risk and trophic level in the fish nursery. The ecological functions of seagrass beds should be reevaluated accounting for day/night changes in food webs; these areas serve as nurseries for juvenile and small-sized fishes during the day and as foraging grounds for predators during the night.

Key Clinical Message We present a case of severe Raynaud phenomenon (RP) in an infant. The current strategy of RP treatment is incomplete; excluding secondary Raynaud phenomenon is vital as well. This case aims to help those with similar symptoms in the future by gathering data on cases.

International audience; AbstractTo investigate how to accurately identify bee species using their sounds, we conducted acoustic analysis to identify three pollinating bee species (Apis mellifera, Bombus ardens, Tetralonia nipponensis) and a hornet (Vespa simillima xanthoptera) by their flight sounds. Sounds of the insects and their environment (background noises and birdsong) were recorded in the field. The use of fundamental frequency and mel-frequency cepstral coefficients to describe feature values of the sounds, and supported vector machines to classify the sounds, correctly distinguished sound samples from environmental sounds with high recalls and precision (0.96–1.00). At the species level, our approach could classify the insect species with relatively high recalls and precisions (0.7–1.0). The flight sounds of V.s. xanthoptera, in particular, were perfectly identified (precision and recall 1.0). Our results suggest that insect flight sounds are potentially useful for detecting bees and quantifying their activity.

To determine whether a peripheral capillary oxygen saturation (SpO2) of 95% to 96% should be considered “nonurgent” in school-aged children, as suggested by the Canadian Emergency Department Triage and Acuity Scale. School-aged children (6–12 years old) with a normal body temperature (36.5–37.4°C) who visited our department between September, 2014 and August, 2015 (n = 4556) were divided into 4 groups based on SpO2: group A: 99% to 100%; group B: 97% to 98%; group C: 95% to 96%; and group D: ≤94%. The heart rate (HR), respiratory rate (RR), and hospitalization rate were compared among the groups, and also between children with SpO2 95% to 96% and matched controls with SpO2 ≥97% (n = 280 each). Among 4556 eligible patients, groups A, B, C, and D comprised 2700 patients (59.3%), 1534 patients (33.6%), 280 patients (6.2%), and 42 patients (0.9%), respectively. The median (interquartile range [IQR]) RR significantly increased with decreasing SpO2 (23 [20–25], 24 [20–26], 24 [23–30], and 30 [24–40] breaths/min in groups A–D, respectively; P

This study aimed to investigate the penetration rate of child protection teams (CPTs) in medical institutions and associations between CPT functions and hospital services. We collected data in October of 2015 from 377 hospitals in Japan offering pediatric organ transplantation. The questionnaire included questions regarding the existence of a CPT, the number of child maltreatment cases discussed and reported per year, CPT functions including 21 items about staffing, manuals, meeting, prevention, education, and collaboration, and the services provided by the hospital. Of the 377 institutions, 122 (32.4%) answered the survey. There were significant associations between CPT functions and the number of pediatric beds ( r = .27), number of pediatricians ( r = .27), number of outpatients ( r = .39), number of emergency outpatients ( r = .28), and emergency medical care ( p = .009). In a multiple regression analysis, CPT functions were significantly associated with the number of CPT members, pediatric outpatient numbers, and pediatric emergency outpatient numbers. Japan has no CPT guidelines that outline what CPTs should offer in terms of structure, staffing, functions, and systems. Hospitals with many pediatric and emergency outpatients are expected to play major roles in providing services such as specialty care, intensive care, and education. They are also expected to play a role in detecting and managing child maltreatment, and have, by their own initiative, improved their capacities to achieve these goals.

There is a potential trade-off between grouping and the optimizing of the energetic efficiency of individual locomotion. Although intermittent locomotion, e.g. glide and upward swimming (GAU), can reduce the cost of locomotion at the individual level, the link between the optimization of individual intermittent locomotion and the behavioural synchronization in a group, especially among members with different sizes, is unknown. Here, we continuously monitored the schooling behaviour of a negatively buoyant fish, Pacific bluefin tuna (N= 10; 21.0 ∼ 24.5 cm), for 24 h in an open-sea net cage using accelerometry. All the fish repeated GAU during the recording periods. Although the GAU synchrony was maintained at high levels (overall mean = 0.62 for the cross-correlation coefficient of the GAU timings), larger fish glided for a longer duration per glide and more frequently than smaller fish. Similar-sized pairs showed significantly higher GAU synchrony than differently sized pairs. Our accelerometry results and the simulation based on hydrodynamic theory indicated that the advantage of intermittent locomotion in energy savings may not be fully optimized for smaller animals in a group when faced with the maintenance of group cohesion, suggesting that size assortative shoaling would be advantageous.

Background In 2014, we created the training program for personnel in medical institutions in Japan to combat child maltreatment. Our objective was to document the effectiveness of the program for professionals from multiple disciplines working in medical institutions. Methods The questionnaire designed for the training program included demographic questions such years of practice and area of specialty, i.e. physician, nurse, social worker, public health nurse, technician, and others, as well as experience with suspected child maltreatment cases and training in dealing with such cases. The questionnaire included 15 statements designed to ascertain practical knowledge and attitudes relevant to addressing child maltreatment. We compared baseline scores determined before the lecture with those based on answers given after the lecture. Results 760 participants completed the survey, including 227 physicians, 223 nurses, 38 technologists, 27 social workers, 11 public health nurses, and 174 with other occupations. There was a significant difference between the baseline scores of participants with versus without experience in suspected child maltreatment or training to deal with child maltreatment cases (F: 16.3; P < 0.001). After the lectures, the average score rose above the baseline (11.18 vs 10.57). The rates of correct answers for 9 questionnaire items increased significantly. Conclusions Professionals from a range of fields need clinical skills and judgement to decide if a child's injuries are due to maltreatment. The combination of increased clinical experience along with a high-quality didactic lecture, appears to be the most effective method of raising awareness and enhancing skills. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

To quantitatively examine the complex environmental factors affecting acoustical behavior on marine mammals like dugongs, a combination of passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) and statistical modeling should be effective approach. We deployed automatic underwater sound monitoring systems (AUSOMS) on the sea floor of different two sites and recorded the dugongs' vocalization. The effects of the time period and tidal change to the vocalization rate, which is dugong calls per hour, were estimated with using generalized linear model assuming negative binomial distribution. Time periods is similarly affected to dugongs vocalization in both site; however, tidal effect different between the sites. We could provide the first insight for the effectiveness of the combination of PAM and statistical modeling to dugongs' acoustical behavior itself.

Migrational patterns of mangrove jack Lutjanus argentimaculatus were studied in a mangrove estuary in Trang province, Thailand, using ultrasonic telemetry. Ultrasonic coded transmitters were surgically implanted in 18 fish and 16 of them were subsequently monitored by nine fixed receivers installed along Sikao Creek estuary in June and November 2006. Due to technical limitations all of the individuals were released in the middle of the creek. Their movements were monitored for a period of up to 1 month, the data being used to describe short term migration of juvenile Lutjanus argentimaculatus in the creek and to find possible environmental cues for the observed movements. All of the individuals showed a tide related movement pattern, suggesting foraging in the small mangrove channels and/or mangrove forest during high tides. 50% of the fish left the study area for the open coast area within a short time following release, indicating that a part of juvenile L. argentimaculatus may move in between estuarine habitats instead of being site attached. As the fish were reared in fish cages for a certain period of time before the study this behavior could partly be explained by the time spent in captivity. It was found that L. argentimaculatus showed higher movement activity during night high tides possibly explained by an increased availability of the sough after food items.

Recent advances in biotelemetry techniques, especially positioning methods, have revealed the detailed behaviour and movement of aquatic organisms. Behavioural intermittence in animal locomotion, such as the Lévy walk, is a popular topic in the field of movement ecology. Previous attempts to describe intermittent locomotion quantitatively have been constrained by the spatial and temporal resolution possible with conventional biotelemetry systems. This study developed a fine-scale spatiotemporal three-dimensional positioning method using a new biotelemetry system with a positional precision of

Little is known about feeding behavior of wild dugongs (Dugong dugon) because direct measurements of feeding events in the water were scarcely feasible. In this study, the authors achieved the first successful feeding sound monitoring in a seagrass area using a full-band underwater recording system (called automatic underwater sound monitoring system for dugong: AUSOMS-D). In total, 175 feeding sounds were identified in 205 h of recording. Feeding sounds were only detected at night, implying diurnal differences in the feeding behavior of the studied dugong population. Differences in periodicity of feeding sounds suggested that two or more individuals were in the acoustically observable area. Furthermore, a feeding position monitored by two AUSOMS-Ds was used to calculate source levels of dugong feeding sounds. Assuming spherical_propagation, source levels were measured between 70.6 and 79.0 dB rms re 1 microPa/square root of Hz.

To quantitatively examine the diurnal, or tidal, effects on dugong behavior, we employed passive acoustic observation techniques to monitor the animals. Automatic underwater sound monitoring systems for dugongs (AUSOMS-D) were deployed on the sea floor at depths of about 5 m south of Talibong Island, Thailand. The AUSOMS-D recorded underwater sound in stereo at a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz for more than 116 consecutive hours. Dugong calls were automatically detected by newly developed software with a detection rate of 36.1% and a false alarm rate of 2.9%. In total, 3453 calls were detected during the 164 h of recording. The autocorrelation of the call rate indicated an attendance cycle of about 24 or 25 h, and the most frequent vocalizations were observed from 0300 to 0500 h. The calculated bearings of the sound sources, i.e., dugongs, were used as an indicator to track the relative numbers of dugongs during the monitoring periods.

わが国の小児救急医療はこの数年,その体制を中心に社会問題化してきた。そこには初期患者の地域基幹病院集中による勤務医の過労働などに代表される医療者側からの問題と,少子化や核家族化など社会構造変化に伴う完結医療等への要望の強さなどに代表される受療者側からの問題の2点がある。さらに,この小児救急医療の社会問題化の背景には小児医療の不採算性と小児科医不足および子どもの健全育成に対する社会意識の希薄性という3つの現実があり,これらが複雑に交錯して種々の問題となっている。この現状を把握し,よりよい理想的な小児救急医療の再構築のための検討を早急に行う必要があるが,これらの解決には行政および医療機関そして国民総意の小児救急医療の改善への努力が必要不可欠である。

Dugongs vocalize bird-like calls, such as chirps and trills but the functional definitions of the calls are yet to be clarified. A series of playback experiments was conducted in Thai waters to investigate their call-back behavior. The population was exposed to 4 different playback stimuli; a recorded wild dugong’s chirp, a synthesized down-sweep sound having similar frequencies to the dugong chirp, a synthesized constant-frequency sound, and no sound as a control. Vocalizing dugongs were localized using an array of stereo-underwater-recording systems (AUSOMS-Ds). Total of 4068 calls were observed in reaction to the stimuli. Wild dugongs vocalized more frequently after the playback of dugong chirps (2.8 calls/min) than those of constant-frequency (0.55 calls/min) and control (0.2 calls/min). Ratio of the dugong chirps to all of the call type increased during the playback period. Dugongs were localized on 52 occasions within 25 m range from the playback source. Source level and duration of the chirps from ...

SUMMARY Sedentary and territorial rockfish of the genus Sebastes exhibit distinctive homing ability and can travel back to an original location after displacements of metres or even kilometres. However, little is known about the behavioural and sensory mechanisms involved in homing. Although our previous study demonstrated that nocturnal black rockfish Sebastes cheni predominantly use their olfactory sense for homing from an unfamiliar area, the possibility of using landmarks in a familiar area cannot be discounted; i.e. site-specific fish are likely to use three-dimensional spatial memory for navigation and orientation. Using high-resolution acoustic telemetry, we investigated whether S. cheni exhibit distinctive homing paths. Results show that all of the eight rockfish increased their effort within a small area of an unfamiliar region around the release site just after displacement, suggesting that the rockfish probably searched for the homeward direction. The rockfish showed the search movement in the upstream and/or downstream direction, which did not lead home. Finally, after returning to their familiar area, the rockfish exhibited more directed movements with faster speeds at a shallower depth, which was similar to the depth utilised in daily life as well as that of the fish capture.

To examine biopterin fractions and biogenic amine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid in aseptic meningitis, the concentrations of homovanillic acid, 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid, and the total, the oxidized form, and the reduced form of biopterin were determined in cerebrospinal fluid specimens from 15 children with aseptic meningitis in the acute phase, 15 children with aseptic meningitis in the recovery phase, and six other children as controls. The concentration of each substance was significantly higher in the acute phase than in the recovery phase. Homovanillic acid in the acute phase was significantly increased compared to that in the control group. The concentrations of the total, the oxidized form, and the reduced form of biopterin, and 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid were higher in the acute phase than those in the controls; however, the differences were not significant. The concentration of each substance in the recovery phase was not significantly different from that in the controls. There was no difference in the 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid/homovanillic acid ratio or in the reduced form/total biopterin ratio among the patients in acute and recovery phases and the controls. These results suggested that levels of biopterin and biogenic amine metabolites in cerebrospinal fluid are increased in the acute phase of aseptic meningitis and return to normal during the recovery phase. This is the first report of increased concentrations of biopterin fractions and biogenic amine metabolites in aseptic meningitis. (J Child Neurol 1994;9:22-25).

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) produce bird-like calls such as chirps and trills. The vocal responses of dugongs to playbacks of several acoustic stimuli were investigated. Animals were exposed to four different playback stimuli: a recorded chirp from a wild dugong, a synthesized down-sweep sound, a synthesized constant-frequency sound, and silence. Wild dugongs vocalized more frequently after playback of broadcast chirps than that after constant-frequency sounds or silence. The down-sweep sound also elicited more vocal responses than did silence. No significant difference was found between the broadcast chirps and the down-sweep sound. The ratio of wild dugong chirps to all calls and the dominant frequencies of the wild dugong calls were significantly higher during playbacks of broadcast chirps, down-sweep sounds, and constant-frequency sounds than during those of silence. The source level and duration of dugong chirps increased significantly as signaling distance increased. No significant correlation was found between signaling distance and the source level of trills. These results show that dugongs vocalize to playbacks of frequency-modulated signals and suggest that the source level of dugong chirps may be manipulated to compensate for transmission loss between the source and receiver. This study provides the first behavioral observations revealing the function of dugong chirps.

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) were monitored using simultaneous passive acoustic methods and visual observations in Thai waters during January 2008. Chirp and trill calls were detected by a towed stereo hydrophone array system. Two teams of experienced observers conducted standard visual observations on the same boat. Comparisons of detection probabilities of acoustic and visual monitoring between two independent observers were calculated. Acoustic and visual detection probabilities were 15.1% and 15.7%, respectively, employing a 300 s matching time interval. When conspecific chirp calls were broadcast from an underwater speaker deployed on the side of the observation boat, the detection probability of acoustic monitoring rose to 19.2%. The visual detection probability was 12.5%. Vocal hot spots characterized by frequent acoustic detection of calls were suggested by dispersion analysis, while dugongs were visually observed constantly throughout the focal area (p

Dugongs (Dugong dugon) produce different types of vocalization such as chirp, trill, and barks. Previous reports showed that dugongs have two kinds of phonemes: long duration calls (trill) and short duration calls (chirp-squeaks hereinafter called chirp). Especially, the chirp and trill calls were widely reported in different populations. However, characteristics of call patterns in dugongs have never been reported. Moreover, the function of these calls was not revealed. The objective of this study is to classify the vocalization patterns of dugong calls and discuss the stability call sequences within and across local populations of dugongs. We recorded the underwater sound at the off Talibong Island, Trang, Thailand in 2004 and 2005 for 120 hours by an automatic underwater sound recording system (AUSOMS-D, System Intech, Tokyo). The AUSOMS-D is the water resistant stand-alone recording system and developed for passive acoustical monitoring targeting human audible range. The AUSOMS-D consisted of a pair of hydrophones located 2 m apart for calculating the bearings of the sound sources. The electric circuits and batteries were housed in a pressure-resistant case, and the hydrophones were connected to a stereo preamplifier. The sound signals were fed into a 1-kHz high pass filter to eliminate low frequency background noise. Digitized signals were recorded on an 80 GB removable hard disk drive by uncompressed format with a time stamp. The power supply system with batteries and DC/DC converter were also housed inside the case. The sampling frequency of the A/D converter was 44.1 kHz and the dynamic range was 74-120 dB (re 1 muPa) with a 16-bit resolution. Each hydrophone had flat frequency responses within 2 dB between 1 and 10 kHz. For the comparison purpose, we made recording of a captive dugong in Toba Aquarium, Japan, which was introduced from Philippine waters. We analyzed the underwater sound data set that was obtained in both animals in different environment and populations. Short duration calls with less than 300 milliseconds were defined as chirp and trill was defined as a call lasting over 300 milliseconds. The end of a call sequence was defined at the silence over 3 seconds. Total of 1174 audible calls were detected from total of 12 hours data set (from 3:50 to 6:50 1-4 March 2004). Chirp were observed more than trill calls (567 chirps and 67 trills). Chirp-to-chirp transitions were most frequency observed (81.68%), whereas trill-to-trill transitions were the least (4.27%). Transitions between the two types of calls were also observed (6.98%, 7.07%). Trill appeared in the middle and the end of a call sequence. The position of the trill did not differ between wild individual in Thailand and a captive individual from off the Philippines that are considered to be separated populations. The stability of the sequence of each type of calls in a call sequence is investigated. Unlike the song of birds or baleen whales, the call sequence pattern of the dugong suggests small differences across the populations. The call sequence analysis as well as the behavioral context observation will provide the key to interpret the function of dugong calls.

Background: The occurrence of male patients with ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency during adolescence or in adulthood has now been recognized. The aim of this study was to determine the prognostic factors that affect the prognosis of life, to explore a basis for therapeutic strategy. Methods: In 10 patients, nine of whom carried the R40H mutation and the other one carrying the Y55D mutation in the OTC gene, 32 demographic and laboratory data were first compared between survivors and non-survivors, using the unpaired t-test. The factors with significant difference were then subjected to multiple regression analysis. Results: The factors that exhibited significant difference were: age at onset, concentration of plasma ammonium, blood pH, and concentrations of six amino acids in plasma. The multiple regression analysis then revealed concentrations of ammonium, leucine, lysine, isoleucine, phenylalanine, glutamine and proline to be significant prognostic factors. The amino acid profile in the 10 patients showed increases in glutamine, proline, lysine, valine and methionine, and decreases in serine, ornithine and arginine. There was an inverse correlation between the age at onset and the level of the residual hepatic OTC activity. Conclusion: The results implied that: (i) the plasma amino acid profile was unique, in comparison to other liver diseases; (ii) the plasma concentration of each of the (mentioned above) six amino acids was a significant predictor of prognosis; and (iii) suppression of protein catabolism, as suggested by the higher concentrations in isoleucine and leucine in the non-survivors, prevention of glutamine-induced brain edema, correction of alkalosis, and supplementation with ornithine or arginine may improve the prognosis of life.

In recent decades, human activities in coastal areas have increased worldwide. Activities such as coastal develop­ ment, vessel traffic, and excessive fishing have altered the marine environment in ways including destruction of sea­ grass beds, mangroves and estuaries, and water pollution from dredging and chemicals (Hinrichsen 1998; Orth et al. 2006). These alterations reduce the quantity and qual­ ity of favorable habitats for marine animals. Coastal ma­ rine mammals are exposed to direct and indirect threats like vessel collisions, entanglement in fishing nets, and disturbance and displacement of habitat. Potential human impacts on them have been given much attention in the last few decades (Reeves and Reijnders 2002). For exam­ ple, the disturbance caused by boat traffic displaces killer whales (Orcinus orca) away from feeding habitats, result in reducing feeding opportunities or increasing travel costs (Williams et al. 2006). These cumulative impacts on animals possibly affect their survival, and productivity of individuals, and may have detrimental effects on popu­ lations (Lusseau and Bejder 2007). In many species, however, the mechanisms linking short-term behavioral responses to long-term population effects are still under­ explored. Understanding whether and how animals could be influenced by human disturbances is essential for con­ servation efforts and management plans of target species and their environments. It supports designing of effective measures for mitigating the impacts of human disturbances. Anthropogenic noises generated by human activities, especially vessel traffic, have increased over the last few decades (Hildebrand 2005, 2009). Anthropogenic noise impacts on marine mammals have been a great concern, because noise may cause changes in animal behavior, dis­ tribution, and habitat selection (NRC 2005; Nowacek et al. 2007). Marine mammals rely on sound for communication, prey detection, and predator avoidance. Noises from natural and anthropogenic sources can interfere with an animal’s hearing and use of sound signals (Hildebrand 2005). Some marine mammal species alter their vocaliza­ tions in the presence of noise to overcome acoustic inter­ ference (e.g., Nowacek et al. 2007). For example, beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas) responded to increases in ambient noise from boat traffic by increasing their call amplitude (Scheifele et al. 2005), repetition, and fre­ quency (Lesage et al. 1999). Killer whales (Orcinus orca) increased the duration of their stereotyped call as the number of whale-watching boats in their habitat increased (Foote et al. 2004). The dugong, Dugong dugon, is an herbivorous mam­ mal that lives in tropical and subtropical shallow coastal waters from East Africa to Vanuatu, between about 26° north and south of the equator (Marsh et al. 2002). They are in decline or extinct in at least one third of its range. Dugong deaths caused by boat collisions and entangle­ ments in fishing gears have been reported (Marsh et al. 2011). They are vulnerable to anthropogenic influences because they live in shallow coastal waters where various human activities take place. In fact, dugongs show sev­ eral behavioral changes in response to human activities, such as boat traffic. For example, they stop feeding and/or move toward deeper water in response to vessels approaching (Preen 1992; Hodgson and Marsh 2007). Dugongs also vocalize like other mammals and are thought to use acoustic signals for communication (Ichikawa et al. 2011). Various types of boats pass through shallow coastal waters where dugongs live, and it is likely that their sound frequencies overlap with dugong call fre­ quencies and interrupt their communication. Dugongs tend to vocalize at higher frequencies in response to high ambient noise levels (Ando-Mizobata et al. 2011). Manatees (Trichechus manatus), also members of the