ALBERT

Description: HIT is usually caused by platelet-activating antibodies of IgG class that bind to neoepitopes on platelet factor 4 (PF4) bound to heparin or certain other polyanions. Commercial enzyme-immunoassays (EIAs), however, measure PF4/polyanion-reactive antibodies of IgA and IgM class, in addition to IgG class antibodies. This raises the question: Does the detection of these IgA and IgM class antibodies improve HIT assay operating characteristics (perhaps because IgA and IgM are a marker for pathogenic HIT-IgG and/or for clinical HIT) or worsen operating characteristics (perhaps via detection of numerous non-HIT sera containing non-pathogenic IgA and/or IgM class antibodies)? We performed systematic serologic studies of 362 stored sera from a clinical trial of heparin therapy (Arch Intern Med2003; 163: 2518) in which 12 patients developed HIT by clinical criteria (〉50% platelet count fall) and 350 patients did not develop HIT. Assays used included: serotonin release assay (SRA); in-house PF4/heparin-EIA that individually detects IgG (EIA-G), IgA (EIA-A), and IgM (EIA-M) class antibodies; and commercial EIA from GTI (EIA-GTI). The 12 patients with clinical HIT tested strongly positive in the SRA, EIA-G, and EIA-GTI (Table 1). Positive tests among the 350 non-HIT patients (to calculate test specificity) were seen in 12 (SRA), 28 (EIA-G), and 69 (EIA-GTI) patients. Table 1. Serologic features of 12 patients with clinical HIT. Serotonin Release In-house EIA-IgG Commercial EIA IQR=interquartile (25%, 75%) range; data are percent serotonin release using washed platelets and absorbance units (OD405) using EIA-G and EIA-GTI. Sensitivity (true-POS) 12/12 (100%) 12/12 (100%) 12/12 (100%) Median (IQR) POS result 98.5% (90.0, 99.5) 1.669 (1.223, 2.056) 1.802 (1.355, 2.344) Specificity (true-NEG) 338/350 (96.6%) 322/350 (92.0%) 281/350 (80.3%) In contrast, the EIA-A and EIA-M assays were positive in less than half of the HIT patients. Further, the magnitude of the IgA and IgM anti-PF4/heparin immune response did not differ between the 12 HIT patients, and the 69 non-HIT patients who had any PF4/polyanion immune response, as defined by a positive EIA-GTI without HIT (Table 2). Table 2. Comparison of the HIT and non-HIT Immune Response for IgA and IgM. IgA Positive IgA: Median (IQR) IgM Positive IgM: Median (IQR) * Non-HIT immune response defined as positive EIA-GTI but no clinical HIT. HIT (n=12) 5/12 (41.7%) 0.400 (0.210, 1.421) 3/12 (25.0%) 0.340 (0.269, 0.522) Non-HIT immune response (n=69)* 25/69 (36.2%) 0.316 (0.208, 0.870) 18/69 (26.1%) 0.322 (0.193, 0.475) P value 0.75 0.58 1.00 0.25 Similar observations were made when we compared the 24 SRA-positive patients (including the 12 HIT patients) against the 57 SRA-negative, EIA-GTI positive patients. CONCLUSION: Detection of PF4/polyanion-reactive IgA and IgM class antibodies worsens the operating characteristics of HIT assays through the detection of numerous non-pathogenic antibodies, without any offsetting advantages in the detection of pathogenic HIT antibodies. Optimal diagnostic laboratory testing for HIT antibodies should include a platelet activation assay and an EIA that detects only IgG class antibodies reactive against PF4/heparin (or PF4/polyanion).

Description: © The Author(s), 2011. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Proceedings of the Royal Society B : Biological Sciences 279 (2012): 1396-1404, doi:10.1098/rspb.2011.1754.

Description: Bubbles in supersaturated tissues and blood occur in beaked whales stranded near sonar exercises, and post-mortem in dolphins bycaught at depth and then hauled to the surface. To evaluate live dolphins for bubbles, liver, kidneys, eyes and blubber–muscle interface of live-stranded and capture-release dolphins were scanned with B-mode ultrasound. Gas was identified in kidneys of 21 of 22 live-stranded dolphins and in the hepatic portal vasculature of 2 of 22. Nine then died or were euthanized and bubble presence corroborated by computer tomography and necropsy, 13 were released of which all but two did not re-strand. Bubbles were not detected in 20 live wild dolphins examined during health assessments in shallow water. Off-gassing of supersaturated blood and tissues was the most probable origin for the gas bubbles. In contrast to marine mammals repeatedly diving in the wild, stranded animals are unable to recompress by diving, and thus may retain bubbles. Since the majority of beached dolphins released did not re-strand it also suggests that minor bubble formation is tolerated and will not lead to clinically significant decompression sickness.

Description: Funding for this work was provided by the US Office of Naval Research Award no. N000140811220 and the International Fund for Animal Welfare.

Description: Author Posting. © Inter-Research, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 103 (2013): 229-264, doi:10.3354/dao02566.

Description: Post-mortem examination of dead and live stranded beach-cast pinnipeds and cetaceans for determination of a cause of death provides valuable information for the management, mitigation and prosecution of unintentional and sometimes malicious human impacts, such as vessel collision, fishing gear entanglement and gunshot. Delayed discovery, inaccessibility, logistics, human safety concerns, and weather make these events challenging. Over the past 3 decades, in response to public concern and federal and state or provincial regulations mandating such investigations to inform mitigation efforts, there has been an increasing effort to objectively and systematically investigate these strandings from a diagnostic and forensic perspective. This Theme Section provides basic investigative methods, and case definitions for each of the more commonly recognized case presentations of human interactions in pinnipeds and cetaceans. Wild animals are often adversely affected by factors such as parasitism, anthropogenic contaminants, biotoxins, subclinical microbial infections and competing habitat uses, such as prey depletion and elevated background and episodic noise. Understanding the potential contribution of these subclinical factors in predisposing or contributing to a particular case of trauma of human origin is hampered, especially where putrefaction is significant and resources as well as expertise are limited. These case criteria descriptions attempt to acknowledge those confounding factors to enable an appreciation of the significance of the observed human-derived trauma in that broader context where possible.

Description: Funded by NOAA Cooperative Agreement NA09OAR4320129.

Description: © The Author(s), 2017. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Bioscience 67 (2017): 760–768, doi:10.1093/biosci/bix059.

Description: As the sampling frequency and resolution of Earth observation imagery increase, there are growing opportunities for novel applications in population monitoring. New methods are required to apply established analytical approaches to data collected from new observation platforms (e.g., satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles). Here, we present a method that estimates regional seasonal abundances for an understudied and growing population of gray seals (Halichoerus grypus) in southeastern Massachusetts, using opportunistic observations in Google Earth imagery. Abundance estimates are derived from digital aerial survey counts by adapting established correction-based analyses with telemetry behavioral observation to quantify survey biases. The result is a first regional understanding of gray seal abundance in the northeast US through opportunistic Earth observation imagery and repurposed animal telemetry data. As species observation data from Earth observation imagery become more ubiquitous, such methods provide a robust, adaptable, and cost-effective solution to monitoring animal colonies and understanding species abundances.

Description: We would like to thank generous support from International Fund for Animal Welfare, the Bureau of Ocean Energy, and the Oak Foundation for funding support for the telemetry devices.

Description: Author Posting. © Inter-Research, 2011. This article is posted here by permission of Inter-Research for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 96 (2011): 175-185, doi:10.3354/dao02385.

Description: Understanding the scenarios whereby fishing gear entanglement of large whales induces mortality is important for the development of mitigation strategies. Here we present a series of 21 cases involving 4 species of baleen whales in the NW Atlantic, describing the available sighting history, necropsy observations, and subsequent data analyses that enabled the compilation of the manners in which entanglement can be lethal. The single acute cause of entanglement mortality identified was drowning from entanglement involving multiple body parts, with the animal’s inability to surface. More protracted causes of death included impaired foraging during entanglement, resulting in starvation after many months; systemic infection arising from open, unresolved entanglement wounds; and hemorrhage or debilitation due to severe gear-related damage to tissues. Serious gear-induced injury can include laceration of large vessels, occlusion of the nares, embedding of line in growing bone, and massive periosteal proliferation of new bone in an attempt to wall off constricting, encircling lines. These data show that baleen whale entanglement is not only a major issue for the conservation of some baleen whale populations, but is also a major concern for the welfare of each affected individual.

Description: This case report analysis was supported in part by NOAA Cooperative Agreement No. NA09OAR4320129. Stranding response was supported by multiple NOAA Prescott awards to UNC Wilmington, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center, the Cape Cod Stranding Network and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI).

Description: © The Author(s), 2014. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in PLoS One 9 (2014): e90785, doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0090785.

Description: Microbes are now well regarded for their important role in mammalian health. The microbiology of skin – a unique interface between the host and environment - is a major research focus in human health and skin disorders, but is less explored in other mammals. Here, we report on a cross-population study of the skin-associated bacterial community of humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae), and examine the potential for a core bacterial community and its variability with host (endogenous) or geographic/environmental (exogenous) specific factors. Skin biopsies or freshly sloughed skin from 56 individuals were sampled from populations in the North Atlantic, North Pacific and South Pacific oceans and bacteria were characterized using 454 pyrosequencing of SSU rRNA genes. Phylogenetic and statistical analyses revealed the ubiquity and abundance of bacteria belonging to the Flavobacteria genus Tenacibaculum and the Gammaproteobacteria genus Psychrobacter across the whale populations. Scanning electron microscopy of skin indicated that microbial cells colonize the skin surface. Despite the ubiquity of Tenacibaculum and Psychrobater spp., the relative composition of the skin-bacterial community differed significantly by geographic area as well as metabolic state of the animals (feeding versus starving during migration and breeding), suggesting that both exogenous and endogenous factors may play a role in influencing the skin-bacteria. Further, characteristics of the skin bacterial community from these free-swimming individuals were assembled and compared to two entangled and three dead individuals, revealing a decrease in the central or core bacterial community members (Tenacibaculum and Psychrobater spp.), as well as the emergence of potential pathogens in the latter cases. This is the first discovery of a cross-population, shared skin bacterial community. This research suggests that the skin bacteria may be connected to humpback health and immunity and could possibly serve as a useful index for health and skin disorder monitoring of threatened and endangered marine mammals.

Description: A.A. was funded by a WHOI Ocean Life Institute post-doctoral scholar award, and this research was supported by a grant to A.A. and T.J.M. from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution's (WHOI) Marine Mammal Center.