Breeding Dispersal by Birds in a Dynamic Urban Ecosystem.

Changes in land cover during urbanization profoundly affect the diversity of bird communities, but the demographic mechanisms affecting diversity are poorly known. We advance such understanding by documenting how urbanization influences breeding dispersal-the annual movement of territorial adults-of six songbird species in the Seattle, WA, USA metropolitan area. We color-banded adults and mapped the centers of their annual breeding activities from 2000-2010 to obtain 504 consecutive movements by 337 adults.

Reducing unnecessary preoperative blood orders and costs by implementing an updated institution-specific maximum surgical blood order schedule and a remote electronic blood release system.

Background: Using blood utilization data acquired from the anesthesia information management system, an updated institution-specific maximum surgical blood order schedule was introduced. The authors evaluated whether the maximum surgical blood order schedule, along with a remote electronic blood release system, reduced unnecessary preoperative blood orders and costs.

Methods: At a large academic medical center, data for preoperative blood orders were analyzed for 63,916 surgical patients over a 34-month period.

An unusual case of a patient with extreme fixed neck flexion presenting for emergency abdominal surgery.

Patients with a known difficult airway for intubation who present with intestinal obstruction are at an increased risk for receiving general anesthesia. It may be necessary to perform an awake fiberoptic intubation, or possibly a tracheostomy if an awake intubation cannot be performed. In some cases, an awake tracheostomy may not be possible due to the anatomy.

Survey of blood parasites in two forest owls, Northern Saw-whet Owls and Flammulated Owls, of western North America.

Except for a few studies in the eastern United States, little has been published on hemoparasites in owls. We surveyed the blood parasites of 108 Northern Saw-whet Owls (Aegolius acadicus) and 24 Flammulated Owls (Otus flammeolus) in Idaho during autumn migration in 1999 and 2000. We also surveyed 15 Flammulated Owls (FLOW) during breeding season in Utah from 2000.