Enhanced Aquila optimizer based on tent chaotic mapping and new rules

Metaheuristic algorithms, widely applied across various domains due to their simplicity and strong optimization capabilities, play a crucial role in problem-solving. While the Aquila Optimizer is recognized for its effectiveness, it often exhibits slow convergence rates and susceptibility to local optima in certain scenarios. To address these concerns, this paper introduces an enhanced version, termed Tent-enhanced Aquila Optimizer (TEAO). TEAO incorporates the Tent chaotic map to initialize the Aquila population, promoting a more uniform distribution within the solution space. To balance exploration and exploitation, novel formulas are proposed, accelerating convergence while ensuring precision. The effectiveness of the TEAO algorithm is validated through a comprehensive comparison with 14 state-of-the-art algorithms using 23 classical benchmark test functions. Additionally, to assess the practical feasibility of the approach, TEAO is applied to six constrained engineering problems and benchmarked against the performance of the same 14 algorithms. All experimental results consistently demonstrate that TEAO outperforms other advanced algorithms in terms of solution quality and stability, establishing it as a more competitive choice for optimization tasks.

Vultures from different trophic guilds show distinct oral pathogenic yeast signatures and co-occurrence networks

Vultures have evolved adaptive mechanisms to prevent infections associated with their scavenging lifestyle. However, food-borne exposure to antimicrobial pharmaceuticals can promote opportunistic infections with adverse outcomes. Here, we used multivariate and network analyses to increase understanding of the behavior of the yeast communities causing oral mycosis outbreaks recently reported in wild nestling cinereous (Aegypius monachus), griffon (Gyps fulvus) and Egyptian (Neophron percnopterus) vultures (CV, GV and EV, respectively) exposed to antibiotics from livestock farming. Common and unique yeast signatures (of Candida, Debaromyces, Diutina, Meyerozyma, Naganishia, Pichia, Rhodotorula, Trichosporon and Yarrowia species) associated with oral mycoses were identified in the three vulture species. Hierarchical clustering analysis (HCA) and principal component analysis (PCA) highlighted that oral lesions from CV and GV shared similar yeast signatures (of major causative pathogens of opportunistic mycoses, such as Candida albicans, Candida parapsilosis and Candida tropicalis), while EV had a distinct yeast signature (of uncommon pathogenic species, such as Candida dubliniensis, Candida zeylanoides, Pichia fermentans and Rhodotorula spp.). Synergistic interactions between yeast species from distinct fungal phyla were found in lesions from CV and GV, but not in EV. These formed co-occurrence subnetworks with partially or fully connected topology. This study reveals that the composition, assembly and co-occurrence patterns of the yeast communities causing oral mycoses differ between vulture species with distinct feeding habits and scavenging lifestyles. Yeast species widely pathogenic to humans and animals, and yeast co-occurrence relationships, are distinctive hallmarks of oral mycoses in CV and GV. These vulture species are more exposed to antibiotics from intensively medicated livestock carcasses provided in supplementary feeding stations and show higher incidence of thrush-like oral lesions than EV. These findings may be useful for development of new initiatives or changes in the conservation of these avian scavengers affected by anthropogenic activities.

Oral mycoses in avian scavengers exposed to antibiotics from livestock farming

The exposure to antimicrobial pharmaceuticals as environmental contaminants can exert direct and indirect detrimental effects on health of wildlife. Fungal infections pose a major threat to domestic, captive-housed wild and free-ranging wild animals worldwide. However, little is known about their role in disease in birds in the wild. Here, we evaluated the incidence of thrush-like lesions in the oral cavity of wild nestling cinereous vultures (Aegypius monachus), griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus), Egyptian vultures (Neophron percnopterus) and golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos) exposed to veterinary antibiotics via the consumption of medicated livestock carcasses. Lesions, which varied in number, size and location, were more frequent in the cinereous (77.8%, n=9) and griffon vultures (66.7%, n=48) than in the Egyptian vultures (28.6%, n=21) and golden eagles (28.6%, n=7). In all individuals (100%, n=24) of a subsample of the affected nestlings, yeast species were isolated from thrush-like oral lesions and identified using a well-established system based on their carbohydrate assimilation profiles and other complementary tests. Fourteen yeast species from seven genera (Candida, Meyerozyma, Pichia, Yarrowia, Cryptococcus, Rhodotorula and Trichosporon) were isolated from the lesions of the four host species. We found differential infections and effects depending on host age-related exposure or susceptibility to different yeast species across the development of nestling griffon vultures. This unprecedented outbreak of oral mycoses is alarming because of the delicate conservation status of several of the affected species. The role of livestock antibiotics in the transition of yeast species from commensal to opportunistic pathogens should be evaluated in an attempt to avoid the detrimental effects of contamination and disease on host health, as well as on the transmission of fungal emerging pathogens among wildlife populations and species, and their dissemination across livestock and human populations.