When feces matter: a synthesis of a multiannual investigation of Echinococcus multilocularis transmission ecology in a North American \nurban setting.
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Echinococcus multilocularis is a zoonotic, trophically-transmitted cestode typically maintained within a sylvatic cycle involving wild canid definitive hosts and small mammal intermediate hosts. Herein we provide a synthesis of multiannual research conducted in Calgary, Alberta, in which the coyote (Canis latrans) is the main wild definitive host. The study was conducted in five different city parks, collecting coyote feces along fixed routes and sampling small mammals to detect infections in intermediate hosts. Coyote feces were analyzed with a ZnCl2 centrifugation and sedimentation protocol to isolate Taeniidae eggs, which were subsequently identified through species-specific PCR. Feces were also used to quantify consumption of small mammal preys and to identify individual coyotes through non-invasive genotyping conducted at 4-6 microsatellite loci. Coyote genotypes and fecal parasitology were combined to assess true parasite prevalence and individual infection patterns. \nThis study provided the first evidence of an urban sylvatic cycle of E. multilocularis in North America, and showed an overall prevalence in coyote feces of 25% with significant temporal and spatial variation across seasons (10.5-43.5%) and city parks (5.3-61.5%). These variations were in accordance with availability and consumption of three intermediate host species and their levels of parasite infection (0.7-1.4%). Genotyping coyote feces allowed correcting for repeated fecal sampling of the same individuals. More importantly, it allowed us to follow individual patterns of infection and observe temporal variations in parasite transmission that could not be detected when examining feces of unknown identity. Winter was a crucial period for E. multilocularis transmission, as the encounter rate of coyotes with the parasite was estimated to be higher than any other season (95% CI: 1.0-22.4 infected hosts ingested). Voles (Microtus pennsylvanicus and Myodes gapperi) were preyed upon proportionally more than their availability, and likely played a key role for the maintenance of the sylvatic life-cycle of E. multilocularis in this urban landscape.
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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 | 0.003 | 0.005 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.003 | 0.004 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.002 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.002 | 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".