BESNOITIA SPP. INFECTION OF THE TESTIS, PERITESTICULAR STRUCTURES, AND UDDER SKIN IN MIGRATORY CARIBOU (RANGIFER TARANDUS)
Bibliographic record
Abstract
We investigated the prevalence, cyst density, and any associated pathologic changes of Besnoitia spp. in the testis, peritesticular structures, and udder skin of migratory caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Possible risk factors for infection, cyst density, and inflammation were investigated. Samples from 149 male and 229 female caribou were collected from seven different herds across Canada, Alaska (US), and Greenland, 2007-09. Biopsies were taken from the udder skin in females and from the epididymis, scrotal skin, testis (seminiferous tubules and tunica albuginea), and spermatic cord in males. The cyst density (cysts per square millimeters) of Besnoitia spp. in each tissue, as well as the type of associated inflammation, were determined by histopathologic examination. Individual (age class) and environmental (season and herd) risk factors were investigated for infection, cyst density, and inflammation. Besnoitia spp. cysts were detected in 22.2, 20.4, 11.2, 31.3, 10.4, and 8.0% of the sections of epididymis, scrotal skin, seminiferous tubules, spermatic cord, tunica albuginea, and udder skin, respectively. The median cyst densities varied from 0.07 cysts/mm2 in the seminiferous tubules to 1.02 cysts/mm2 in the udder skin. Age class and season were risk factors for infection, so adults and subadults were more at risk than calves, and infection was more prevalent in the fall months (September to December) relative to other seasons. Subadults, however, demonstrated a higher cyst density compared with adults and calves. During the winter months, a higher risk of inflammation was present compared with other seasons. Overall, the intensity of inflammation was light to mild, and both pericystic and concomitant inflammation were commonly present. Further research should determine whether these parasitic cysts and the associated inflammation influence the functionality of the testis, peritesticular structures, and udder and thus reproduction.
Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.
How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".