Assessing Asiatic cheetah's individual diet using metabarcoding and its implication for conservation.

Knowledge on diet composition allows defining well-targeted conservation measures of large carnivores. Little is known about ecology of critically endangered Asiatic cheetah, especially the overall diet and its possible regional differences. We used cheetah scats, metabarcoding technique and microsatellite markers to assess the individual and overall diet composition of the species across its entire range in Asia. Cheetahs were primarily predating on mouflon; following by ibex, cape hare and goitered gazelle. Despite their high availability, small-sized livestock was never detected. Goitered gazelles were only detected in an area where the habitat is mainly flatlands. In hilly areas, mouflon was the most frequent prey item taken. Ibex was typically taken in rugged terrain, but mouflon was still the most frequently consumed item in these habitats. High consumption of mouflon in comparison to goitered gazelle suggests that human pressure on lowland habitats has possibly forced Asiatic cheetahs to occupy suboptimal habitats where gazelles are less abundant. The protection of flatlands and the removal of livestock from them are needed to ensure the long-term survival of Asiatic cheetah. The laboratory and bioinformatics pipelines used in this study are replicable and can be used to address similar questions in other threatened carnivores.

Bilateral Arm-Abduction Shoulder Radiography to Determine the Involvement of the Scapulothoracic Motion in Frozen Shoulder.

BACKGROUND: We hypothesize that there is no difference in the motion of the scapula with respect to the thoracic wall (scapulothoracic interface) between the affected versus non-affected shoulder on 0° and 90° standard arm abduction radiography. METHODS: We enrolled 30 patients with the diagnosis of unilateral frozen shoulder after ruling out of other pathologies. Bilateral standard shoulder radiography was done in two position of 0° and 90° of arm abduction. Non-affected side was used as a control group. RESULTS: The mean scapulothoracic angle of the affected side was significantly larger than the non-affected side in both 0° and 90°of abduction in spite that the scapulohumeral angles were comparable in 0°, indicating potential alteration in scapular positioning. CONCLUSION: Scapulothoracic motion and position can be affected in frozen shoulder along with other areas. All treatment modalities should be applied to this area as well if substantial difference was detected between the two sides.