An assessment of seasonal bait uptake by individual grey squirrels to develop a delivery system for oral contraceptives.

Globally, human-wildlife conflicts continue to increase, owing to human population growth and expansion. Many of these conflicts concern the impacts of invasive non-native species. In the UK, the invasive, non-native grey squirrel Sciurus carolinensis negatively affects tree health and has caused the decline of the native red squirrel Sciurus vulgaris.

Rewilding herbivores: too much or little of a good thing?

Large herbivores are important components of rewilding. However, populations can grow fast: we predict that, where top-down control is insufficient, herbivores could undermine long-term rewilding goals. To avoid this, nature-mimicking interventions are required to achieve the right amount of herbivory, in the right place, at the right time through the rewilding process.

What drives wild boar density and population growth in Mediterranean environments?

Accurate prediction of fluctuations of wildlife local number of individuals is crucial for effective population management to minimise human-wildlife conflicts. Climate, habitat, food availability, and density dependence are among the main factors influencing mammalian population dynamics. In southern Europe, precipitation and temperature, particularly during summer have been suggested as key factors affecting wild boar (Sus scrofa L.

Seroepidemiological and biomolecular survey on in Sardinian wild boar ().

is a zoonotic parasite able of infecting all warm-blooded animals. Toxoplasmosis is one of the major foodborne diseases globally. The consumption of wild boar () meat from recreational hunting has been linked to outbreaks of human toxoplasmosis.

Developing fertility control for rodents: a framework for researchers and practitioners.

Fertility control is often heralded as a humane and effective technique for management of overabundant wildlife, including rodents. The intention is to reduce the use of lethal and inhumane methods, increase farm productivity and food security as well as reduce disease transmission, particularly of zoonoses. We developed a framework to guide researchers and stakeholders planning to assess the effectiveness of a potential contraceptive agent for a particular species.

Fertility Control for Wildlife: A European Perspective.

Trends of human population growth and landscape development in Europe show that wildlife impacts are escalating. Lethal methods, traditionally employed to mitigate these impacts, are often ineffective, environmentally hazardous and face increasing public opposition. Fertility control is advocated as a humane tool to mitigate these impacts.

Long-term effect of a GnRH-based immunocontraceptive on feral cattle in Hong Kong.

Increasing human-wildlife conflicts worldwide are driving the need for multiple solutions to reducing "problem" wildlife and their impacts. Fertility control is advocated as a non-lethal tool to manage free-living wildlife and in particular to control iconic species. Injectable immunocontraceptives, such as GonaCon, stimulate the immune system to produce antibodies against the gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH), which in turn affects the release of reproductive hormones in mammals.

Longevity of an immunocontraceptive vaccine effect on fecundity in rats.

•Increases in human-wildlife conflicts alongside cultural shifts against lethal control methods are driving the need for alternative wildlife management tools such as fertility control. Contraceptive formulations suitable for oral delivery would permit broader remote application in wildlife species.•This study evaluated the contraceptive effect and immune response to two novel injectable immunocontraceptive formulations targeting the Gonadotropin Releasing Hormone (GnRH): MAF-IMX294 and MAF-IMX294P conjugates, both identified as having potential as oral contraceptives.

'Reserve effect': An opportunity to mitigate human-wild boar conflicts.

Wild boar growth in numbers and range is associated with increasing economic and environmental impact. Hunting has been traditionally used to reduce wild boar numbers. Areas where hunting is not allowed may attract wild boar from neighbouring hunting grounds.

Too many wild boar? Modelling fertility control and culling to reduce wild boar numbers in isolated populations.

Wild boar and feral swine number and range are increasing worldwide in parallel with their impact on biodiversity and human activities. The ecological and economic impact of this species include spread of diseases, vehicle collisions, damage to crops, amenities and infrastructures and reduction in plant and animal abundance and richness. As traditional methods such as culling have not contained the growth and spread of wild boar and feral pigs, alternative methods such as fertility control are now advocated.

Effect of vaccination with a novel GnRH-based immunocontraceptive on immune responses and fertility in rats.

1. As human-wildlife conflicts increase worldwide, novel methods are required for mitigating these conflicts. Fertility control, based on immunocontraceptives, has emerged as an alternative option to lethal methods for managing wildlife.

Modelling Spatial and Temporal Patterns of African Swine Fever in an Isolated Wild Boar Population to Support Decision-Making.

African swine fever (ASF) is a highly contagious disease affecting all suids including wild boar. As the disease can damage commercial pig production and its circulation can threaten international trade, understanding the risks produced by free-living wild boar (as a wildlife reservoir) is important to ensure proportionate policies to exclude the disease, as well as an effective contingency response. The recent spread of the virus into Western Europe has produced concerns in many stakeholders including pig producers and national governments.

The risk of foot-and-mouth disease becoming endemic in a wildlife host is driven by spatial extent rather than density.

In the past 20 years, free living populations of feral wild boar have re-established in several locations across the UK. One of the largest populations is in the Forest of Dean where numbers have been steadily increasing since monitoring began in 2008, with estimates from 2016 reporting a population of more than 1500. Feral wild boar have significant ecological and environmental impacts and may present a serious epidemiological risk to neighbouring livestock as they are a vector for a number of important livestock diseases.

Fertility control for managing free-roaming feral cattle in Hong Kong.

Human-wildlife conflicts are increasing worldwide. For instance, growing numbers of free-roaming feral cattle in Hong Kong are causing traffic accidents and damaging crops. Public antipathy towards lethal methods to manage wildlife has promoted research into alternative options, such as fertility control.

3D X-ray microscopic analysys on a prosthetically loaded implant with platform-switching and conical connection: a case report.

The histological and histomorphometrical examination were the gold standard in the qualitative and quantitative analyses of the peri-implant tissue around the implant. In recent years, the field of microscopy has witnessed a considerable enhancement of the performance of microscopes that have very high resolution performance and allowing very sophisticated analysis even larger than traditional preparations. The possibility to have an affordable analyses of whole implant with the surrounding different tissues (soft and hard tissues) without the traditional pre-treatment necessary for the histological analysis may represent a goal to describe material properties and behaviors or simply to visualize structural details.

A model for measuring the environmental sustainability of events.

Like all human activities, events can generate significant pressures on environmental resources, unless they are well-managed and monitored. Therefore, it is becoming more and more important to develop models that can measure their environmental sustainability. Although increasing attention is being paid to this sector, there is currently no standard protocol or method to assess the eco-sustainability of events.

Camera traps and activity signs to estimate wild boar density and derive abundance indices.

Background: Populations of wild boar and feral pigs are increasing worldwide, in parallel with their significant environmental and economic impact. Reliable methods of monitoring trends and estimating abundance are needed to measure the effects of interventions on population size. The main aims of this study, carried out in five English woodlands were: (i) to compare wild boar abundance indices obtained from camera trap surveys and from activity signs; and (ii) to assess the precision of density estimates in relation to different densities of camera traps.

Seasonal variation in effectiveness of the boar-operated system to deliver baits to wild boar.

Background: Wild boar and feral pig numbers are growing worldwide and have substantial economic and environmental impacts. Bait-delivered pharmaceuticals such as disease vaccines, toxicants and contraceptives are advocated to mitigate these impacts. Effective campaigns based on these pharmaceuticals rely on optimising the target species' bait uptake, which may differ between seasons.

S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe) for depression in adults.

Background: Depression is a recurrent illness with high rates of chronicity, treatment-resistance and significant economic impact. There is evidence in the literature that S-adenosyl methionine (SAMe), a naturally occurring compound in the human body, has antidepressant efficacy. This product may be an important addition to the armamentarium of antidepressant agents.

Three-year evaluation of best practice guidelines for nematode control on commercial sheep farms in the UK.

Anthelmintics are commonly used on the majority of UK commercial sheep farms to reduce major economic losses associated with parasitic diseases. With increasing anthelmintic resistance worldwide, several countries have produced evidence-based, best practice guidelines with an example being the UK's Sustainable Control of Parasites in Sheep (SCOPS) initiative. In 2012, a pilot study demonstrated that SCOPS-managed farms used fewer anthelmintic treatments than traditionally managed farms, with no impact on lamb productivity and worm burden.

Free-Roaming Dogs in Nepal: Demographics, Health and Public Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices.

In Nepal, most dogs are free to roam and may transmit diseases to humans and animals. These dogs often suffer from malnutrition and lack basic health care. Minimal information is available about their demographics and about public attitudes concerning dogs and diseases.

An innovative technique to manage sinus membrane perforations: report of two cases.

The most frequent intraoperative complication of maxillary sinus elevation procedures is the perforation of the sinus membrane, for which various protocols and grafting materials have been proposed in the literature. This article describes a novel suturing technique to close large sinus mucosa perforations. The technique is demonstrated through two clinical cases in which the sinus perforations occurred (1) in the course of a maxillary sinus elevation procedure and (2) after the removal of a cystic lesion.

Immunocontraception for managing feral cattle in Hong Kong.

Conflicts between human interests and feral cattle in Hong Kong derive from growing numbers of free-roaming cattle. Public antipathy towards lethal population control led the local authorities to consider fertility control to reduce cattle numbers. This study assessed the potential side effects of the immunocontraceptive GonaCon on individual female cattle and established the effectiveness of GonaCon to induce infertility.

Wild boar populations up, numbers of hunters down? A review of trends and implications for Europe.

Across Europe, wild boar numbers increased in the 1960s-1970s but stabilised in the 1980s; recent evidence suggests that the numbers and impact of wild boar has grown steadily since the 1980s. As hunting is the main cause of mortality for this species, we reviewed wild boar hunting bags and hunter population trends in 18 European countries from 1982 to 2012. Hunting statistics and numbers of hunters were used as indicators of animal numbers and hunting pressure.

Decision support systems for environmental management: a case study on wastewater from agriculture.

Dealing with spatial decision problems means combining and transforming geographical data (input) into a resultant decision (output), interfacing a Geographical Information System (GIS) with Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) methods. The conventional MCDA approach assumes the spatial homogeneity of alternatives within the case study area, although it is often unrealistic. On the other side, GIS provides excellent data acquisition, storage, manipulation and analysis capabilities, but in the case of a value structure analysis this capability is lower.