Understanding the drivers of mortality in African savannah elephants.

Populations of African savannah elephants (Loxodonta africana) have been declining due to poaching, human-elephant conflict, and habitat loss. Understanding the causes of these declines could aid in stabilizing elephant populations. We used data from the Great Elephant Census, a 19-country aerial survey of savannah elephants conducted in 2014 and 2015, to examine effects of a suite of variables on elephant mortality.

The significance of cervical sagittal alignment for nonrecovery after whiplash injury.

Background Context: Whiplash-associated disorder is a common cause of chronic neck pain. Several radiological cervical angular variables are suggested to have constitutional characteristics, that is, them being minimally influenced by body positioning. However, the association between these variables and pain conditions remains poorly understood.

Response rate does not affect patient-reported outcome after lumbar discectomy.

Purpose: Quality registers give unique possibilities to achieve information from large groups of patients, but outcome must be interpreted carefully due to less stringent data collection and lower follow-up rates than in research projects. We tried to quantify any outcome differences between a national spine quality register and a prospective observational study.

Methods: Adult patients treated with lumbar discectomy between 2004 and 2010 were retrieved from the Swedish Spine register (Swespine) (n = 7791) and from the single center lumbar disc herniation study (LDHS) in Stockholm (n = 177).

Continent-wide survey reveals massive decline in African savannah elephants.

African elephants (Loxodonta africana) are imperiled by poaching and habitat loss. Despite global attention to the plight of elephants, their population sizes and trends are uncertain or unknown over much of Africa. To conserve this iconic species, conservationists need timely, accurate data on elephant populations.

Multi-locus Analyses Reveal Four Giraffe Species Instead of One.

Traditionally, one giraffe species and up to eleven subspecies have been recognized [1]; however, nine subspecies are commonly accepted [2]. Even after a century of research, the distinctness of each giraffe subspecies remains unclear, and the genetic variation across their distribution range has been incompletely explored. Recent genetic studies on mtDNA have shown reciprocal monophyly of the matrilines among seven of the nine assumed subspecies [3, 4].

Similar result after non-elective and elective surgery for lumbar disc herniation: an observational study based on the SweSpine register.

Purpose: Surgery for lumbar disc herniation (LDH) is most often elective, but intense pain may require more urgent, non-elective, treatment. It was hypothesized that non-elective treatment could be associated with a less favourable outcome than elective surgery. The aim of this study was to compare 1-2-year outcome after non-elective and elective surgery for treatment of para-median LDH using data from the Swedish Spine register (SweSpine).

Markers of inflammation and fibrinolysis in relation to outcome after surgery for lumbar disc herniation. A prospective study on 177 patients.

Purpose: The role of inflammation and fibrinolysis for the development of back pain and sciatica has been discussed. The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between markers of inflammation and fibrinolysis, to predict the outcome after surgery for lumbar disc herniation.

Methods: 177 patients were recruited.

An observational study on the outcome after surgery for lumbar disc herniation in adolescents compared with adults based on the Swedish Spine Register.

Background Context: Disc-related sciatica has a prevalence of about 2% in adults, but is rare in adolescents. If conservative treatment is unsuccessful, surgery is an option.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of surgery for lumbar disc herniation in adolescents with adults in the Swedish Spine Register.

Monitoring great ape and elephant abundance at large spatial scales: measuring effectiveness of a conservation landscape.

Protected areas are fundamental to biodiversity conservation, but there is growing recognition of the need to extend beyond protected areas to meet the ecological requirements of species at larger scales. Landscape-scale conservation requires an evaluation of management impact on biodiversity under different land-use strategies; this is challenging and there exist few empirical studies. In a conservation landscape in northern Republic of Congo we demonstrate the application of a large-scale monitoring program designed to evaluate the impact of conservation interventions on three globally threatened species: western gorillas, chimpanzees and forest elephants, under three land-use types: integral protection, commercial logging, and community-based natural resource management.

Bushmeat supply and consumption in a tropical logging concession in northern Congo.

Unsustainable hunting of wildlife for food empties tropical forests of many species critical to forest maintenance and livelihoods of forest people. Extractive industries, including logging, can accelerate exploitation of wildlife by opening forests to hunters and creating markets for bushmeat. We monitored human demographics, bushmeat supply in markets, and household bushmeat consumption in five logging towns in the northern Republic of Congo.

Logging concessions can extend the conservation estate for Central African tropical forests.

The management of tropical forest in timber concessions has been proposed as a solution to prevent further biodiversity loss. The effectiveness of this strategy will likely depend on species-specific, population-level responses to logging. We conducted a survey (749 line transects over 3450 km) in logging concessions (1.

Multifactorial mortality in bongos and other wild ungulates in the north of the Congo Republic.

Wildlife mortality involving bongos, Tragelaphus eurycerus, and other ungulates was investigated in the north of the Congo Republic in 1997. Four bongos, one forest buffalo, Syncerus caffer nanus, and one domestic sheep were examined and sampled. Although an outbreak of rinderpest had been suspected, it was found that the animals, which had been weakened by an Elaeophora sagitta infection and possibly also by adverse climatic conditions, had been exsanguinated and driven to exhaustion by an unusual plague of Stomoxys omega.