This paper discusses several challenges Wildlife Services (WS) personnel encountered while conducting alpha-chloralose (AC) treatments on Canada geese in Reno, Nevada during May and June 2003. While the WS AC training manual provides guidelines for the safe and effective anesthetization of Canada geese using this chemical immobilization tool, we encountered and solved problems and challenges that had not been reported in previous reports on projects using AC. Problems we encountered ranged from being accosted by drunks to interrogations by “elderly ladies” worried that we might be taking their favorite goose. Challenges in collecting immobilized geese resulted from river currents and their effect on AC-treated geese, moss entangling the boat motor propeller on ponds, and automatic sprinklers turning on at inopportune times. It is hoped that addressing these real-world experiences can help others become more proficient in AC field use.

Urban Canada geese, in large numbers, have exploited human manipulation of the Reno, Nevada cityscape, creating human health and safety concerns along with monetary losses to businesses and private citizens. A primary concern from the start has been the potential for an aircraft-bird strike at the Reno-Tahoe International Airport. To address this urban goose problem, USDA APHIS Wildlife Services (WS) “rounds up” the problem geese by use of a funnel trap, where a gathering cage is placed at the junction of two plastic fence wings. Goose roundups occur on golf courses, city parks, and private residences. The use of the traps can be labor intensive on some properties, often requiring the coordination of federal, state, and city employees in addition to volunteers, to assure adequate personnel are available. A goose roundup is generally a high-profile public affair. WS makes every effort to start roundups early in the morning (4:00-4:30 A.M.) to avoid crowds, and more importantly, to reduce heat stress to the geese. However, there always seem to be a few citizens observing the operation. For many people, the sight of 20 to 30 geese enclosed in a small cage, honking and hissing, and potentially trampling goslings under foot, can be quite upsetting. Many urbanites only encounter Canada geese at the city park, where they typically enjoy feeding the local population. This limited exposure often results in negative reactions to goose capture and relocation efforts. To reduce the need for high-profile roundups in urban areas, WS experimented with the use of alpha-chloralose (AC) on urban geese located in select parks and gated communities. Alpha-chloralose is an avian tranquilizer that is administered orally to waterfowl through corn or bread bait. We hoped that the use of AC would change public opinion about the stress the geese might suffer during capture efforts. Further, we sought to capture repeat offending geese that had become wise to the funnel trap and avoided capture by that method. Since many properties are not suitable for funnel trap use, we wished to expand the WS urban goose management effort by employing this additional capture method. AC delivery by bread baits allowed for the precise targeting of problem geese. The advantages and disadvantages of both roundups and AC treatments are discussed.

The IDAT file format is used to store BeadArray data from the myriad of genomewide profiling platforms on offer from Illumina Inc. This proprietary format is output directly from the scanner and stores summary intensities for each probe-type on an array in a compact manner. A lack of open source tools to process IDAT files has hampered their uptake by the research community beyond the standard step of using the vendor's software to extract the data they contain in a human readable text format. To fill this void, we have developed the illuminaio package that parses IDAT files from any BeadArray platform, including the decryption of files from Illumina's gene expression arrays. illuminaio provides the first open-source package for this task, and will promote wider uptake of the IDAT format as a standard for sharing Illumina BeadArray data in public databases, in the same way that the CEL file serves as the standard for the Affymetrix platform.

In vitro (1)H MRS of human bile has shown potential in the diagnosis of various hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) diseases. Previously, in vivo (1)H MRS of human bile in gallbladder using a 1.5 T scanner demonstrated the possibility of quantification of choline-containing phospholipids (chol-PLs). However, other lipid components such as bile acids play an important role in the pathophysiology of the HPB system. We have employed a higher magnetic field strength (3 T), and a custom-built receive array coil, to improve the quality of in vivo (1)H MRS of human bile in the gallbladder. We obtained significant improvement in the quality of 1D spectra (17 healthy volunteers) using a respiratory-gated PRESS sequence with well distinguished signals for total bile acids (TBAs) plus cholesterol resonating at 0.66 ppm, taurine-conjugated bile acids (TCBAs) at 3.08 ppm, chol-PLs at 3.22 ppm, glycine-conjugated bile acids (GCBAs) at 3.74 ppm, and the amide proton (-NH) arising from GCBAs and TCBAs in the region 7.76-8.05 ppm. The peak areas of these signals were measured by deconvolution, and subsequently the molar concentrations of metabolites were estimated with good accuracy, except for that of TBAs plus cholesterol. The concentration of TBAs plus cholesterol was overestimated in some cases, which could be due to lipid contamination. In addition, we report the first 2D L-COSY spectra of human gallbladder bile in vivo (obtained in 15 healthy volunteers). 2D L-COSY spectra will be helpful in differentiating various biliary chol-PLs in pathological conditions of the HPB system.

Although the temporal overlap between human dispersal across Australia and the disappearance of its largest animals is well established, the lack of unambiguous evidence for human-megafauna interactions has led some to question a human role in megafaunal extinction. Here we show that diagnostic burn patterns on eggshell fragments of the megafaunal bird Genyornis newtoni, found at >200 sites across Australia, were created by humans discarding eggshell in and around transient fires, presumably made to cook the eggs. Dating by three methods restricts their occurrence to between 53.9 and 43.4 ka, and likely before 47 ka. Dromaius (emu) eggshell occur frequently in deposits from >100 ka to present; burnt Dromaius eggshell first appear in deposits the same age as those with burnt Genyornis eggshell, and then continually to modern time. Harvesting of their eggs by humans would have decreased Genyornis reproductive success, contributing to the bird's extinction by ∼47 ka.