Continuity planning for public health crises: Designing workplace redundancies for organizational resilience.

Continuity planning prepares organizations to maintain essential functions despite disruptions to critical infrastructure that occur during crises. Continuity planning is especially important for Public-Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), which must prepare to answer 911 calls and dispatch first responders in all-hazard environments, including public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. However, continuity planning typically focuses on disruptions to cyber-physical infrastructure rather than social infrastructure disruptions that occur when outbreaks of communicable disease limit the ability of essential personnel to perform an organization's essential functions. Reporting findings from interviews with US officials, this study examines how PSAPs decentralized essential personnel by designing redundant workplaces during the COVID-19 pandemic. Realizing existing continuity plans prepared PSAPs to relocate and recentralize essential personnel in a single, shared workplace, officials developed new plans to protect and decentralize telecommunicators across multiple, separate workplaces. To do so, PSAPs achieved passive, standby, and active workplace redundancies that recommend continuity planning objectives and requirements for organizations preparing for future public health crises.

Elevational biodiversity gradients in the Neotropics: Perspectives from freshwater caddisflies (Insecta: Trichoptera).

Aquatic insects in the order Trichoptera are extremely diverse in number of species and their trophic roles. However, their distribution and diversity patterns are poorly known in the Neotropics, including the species restricted to tropical mountain ecosystems. Recent studies in tropical mountains have shown high levels of endemism of aquatic insects and changes in the composition of communities over short distances. Still, the incidence of environmental filters that explain such patterns has not been addressed quantitatively. Given the relevance of understanding Trichoptera spatial diversity patterns to prioritize conservation areas for freshwaters, as well as to obtain baseline information to predict changes in aquatic communities facing global environmental changes, we assessed the species distribution and assemblages of caddisflies along an elevational gradient from 600 to 3,600 m a.s.l. on the equatorial Andes. In this area, we had long-term continuous climate data with hourly resolution. We collected adult caddisflies in seven localities along this gradient using light traps. We sampled each locality for two hours after sunset for three consecutive days. All specimens collected were identified to species or morphospecies. Our results showed an increase in species and genera numbers with decreasing altitude, albeit no significant. Minimum air temperature is the main environmental variable explaining Trichoptera community assemblages. ß-diversity (taxon turnover among sites), as opposed to species richness, increased with altitude and showed a bimodal distribution along the elevation gradient for both genera and species assemblages, which resulted in a significant shift in community composition of species and genera at 2,000 m a.s.l. Our null-models confirm the observed patterns of B-diversity are non-random and suggest a strong environmental filtering of tropical caddisflies community assemblies and turnover. Geographic distance coupled with changes in environmental conditions along the elevation gradient explained a high percentage of community variance, as documented for other taxa (e.g., vascular plants), suggesting the importance of securing habitat connectivity along the altitudinal gradient to protect aquatic insect diversity effectively.

Ten simple rules to host an inclusive conference.

Conferences are spaces to meet and network within and across academic and technical fields, learn about new advances, and share our work. They can help define career paths and create long-lasting collaborations and opportunities. However, these opportunities are not equal for all. This article introduces 10 simple rules to host an inclusive conference based on the authors' recent experience organizing the 2021 edition of the useR! statistical computing conference, which attracted a broad range of participants from academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector. Coming from different backgrounds, career stages, and even continents, we embraced the challenge of organizing a high-quality virtual conference in the context of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and making it a kind, inclusive, and accessible experience for as many people as possible. The rules result from our lessons learned before, during, and after the organization of the conference. They have been written mainly for potential organizers and selection committees of conferences and contain multiple practical tips to help a variety of events become more accessible and inclusive. We see this as a starting point for conversations and efforts towards building more inclusive conferences across the world. * Translated versions of the English abstract and the list of rules are available in 10 languages in S1 Text: Arabic, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil, and Thai.

Generation and Characterization of the Drosophila melanogaster paralytic Gene Knock-Out as a Model for Dravet Syndrome.

Dravet syndrome is a severe rare epileptic disease caused by mutations in the SCN1A gene coding for the Nav1.1 protein, a voltage-gated sodium channel alpha subunit. We have made a knock-out of the paralytic gene, the single Drosophila melanogaster gene encoding this type of protein, by homologous recombination. These flies showed a heat-induced seizing phenotype, and sudden death in long term seizures. In addition to seizures, neuromuscular alterations were observed in climbing, flight, and walking tests. Moreover, they also manifested some cognitive alterations, such as anxiety and problems in learning. Electrophysiological analyses from larval motor neurons showed a decrease in cell capacitance and membrane excitability, while persistent sodium current increased. To detect alterations in metabolism, we performed an NMR metabolomic profiling of heads, which revealed higher levels in some amino acids, succinate, and lactate; and also an increase in the abundance of GABA, which is the main neurotransmitter implicated in Dravet syndrome. All these changes in the paralytic knock-out flies indicate that this is a good model for epilepsy and specifically for Dravet syndrome. This model could be a new tool to understand the pathophysiology of the disease and to find biomarkers, genetic modifiers and new treatments.

Mild Muscle Mitochondrial Fusion Distress Extends Drosophila Lifespan through an Early and Systemic Metabolome Reorganization.

In a global aging population, it is important to understand the factors affecting systemic aging and lifespan. Mitohormesis, an adaptive response caused by different insults affecting the mitochondrial network, triggers a response from the nuclear genome inducing several pathways that promote longevity and metabolic health. Understanding the role of mitochondrial function during the aging process could help biomarker identification and the development of novel strategies for healthy aging. Herein, we interfered the muscle expression of the Drosophila genes Marf and Opa1, two genes that encode for proteins promoting mitochondrial fusion, orthologues of human MFN2 and OPA1. Silencing of Marf and Opa1 in muscle increases lifespan, improves locomotor capacities in the long term, and maintains muscular integrity. A metabolomic analysis revealed that muscle down-regulation of Marf and Opa1 promotes a non-autonomous systemic metabolome reorganization, mainly affecting metabolites involved in the energetic homeostasis: carbohydrates, lipids and aminoacids. Interestingly, the differences are consistently more evident in younger flies, implying that there may exist an anticipative adaptation mediating the protective changes at the older age. We demonstrate that mild mitochondrial muscle disturbance plays an important role in Drosophila fitness and reveals metabolic connections between tissues. This study opens new avenues to explore the link of mitochondrial dynamics and inter-organ communication, as well as their relationship with muscle-related pathologies, or in which muscle aging is a risk factor for their appearance. Our results suggest that early intervention in muscle may prevent sarcopenia and promote healthy aging.

Author Correction: Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Oxidative Stress, a Crossroad Between Rare Diseases and Neurodegeneration.

: Oxidative stress is an imbalance between production and accumulation of oxygen reactive species and/or reactive nitrogen species in cells and tissues, and the capacity of detoxifying these products, using enzymatic and non-enzymatic components, such as glutathione. Oxidative stress plays roles in several pathological processes in the nervous system, such as neurotoxicity, neuroinflammation, ischemic stroke, and neurodegeneration. The concepts of oxidative stress and rare diseases were formulated in the eighties, and since then, the link between them has not stopped growing. The present review aims to expand knowledge in the pathological processes associated with oxidative stress underlying some groups of rare diseases: Friedreich's ataxia, diseases with neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, Charcot-Marie-Tooth as an example of rare neuromuscular disorders, inherited retinal dystrophies, progressive myoclonus epilepsies, and pediatric drug-resistant epilepsies. Despite the discrimination between cause and effect may not be easy on many occasions, all these conditions are Mendelian rare diseases that share oxidative stress as a common factor, and this may represent a potential target for therapies.

Evaluating and Visualizing the Economic Impact of Commercial Districts Due to an Electric Power Network Disruption.

Critical infrastructure networks enable social behavior, economic productivity, and the way of life of communities. Disruptions to these cyber-physical-social networks highlight their importance. Recent disruptions caused by natural phenomena, including Hurricanes Harvey and Irma in 2017, have particularly demonstrated the importance of functioning electric power networks. Assessing the economic impact (EI) of electricity outages after a service disruption is a challenging task, particularly when interruption costs vary by the type of electric power use (e.g., residential, commercial, industrial). In contrast with most of the literature, this work proposes an approach to spatially evaluate EIs of disruptions to particular components of the electric power network, thus enabling resilience-based preparedness planning from economic and community perspectives. Our contribution is a mix-method approach that combines EI evaluation, component importance analysis, and GIS visualization for decision making. We integrate geographic information systems and an economic evaluation of sporadic electric power outages to provide a tool to assist with prioritizing restoration of power in commercial areas that have the largest impact. By making use of public data describing commercial market value, gross domestic product, and electric area distribution, this article proposes a method to evaluate the EI experienced by commercial districts. A geospatial visualization is presented to observe and compare the areas that are more vulnerable in terms of EI based on the areas covered by each distribution substation. Additionally, a heat map is developed to observe the behavior of disrupted substations to determine the important component exhibiting the highest EI. The proposed resilience analytics approach is applied to analyze outages of substations in the boroughs of New York City.

Strategic approaches to restoring ecosystems can triple conservation gains and halve costs.

International commitments for ecosystem restoration add up to one-quarter of the world's arable land. Fulfilling them would ease global challenges such as climate change and biodiversity decline but could displace food production and impose financial costs on farmers. Here, we present a restoration prioritization approach capable of revealing these synergies and trade-offs, incorporating ecological and economic efficiencies of scale and modelling specific policy options. Using an actual large-scale restoration target of the Atlantic Forest hotspot, we show that our approach can deliver an eightfold increase in cost-effectiveness for biodiversity conservation compared with a baseline of non-systematic restoration. A compromise solution avoids 26% of the biome's current extinction debt of 2,864 plant and animal species (an increase of 257% compared with the baseline). Moreover, this solution sequesters 1 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent (a 105% increase) while reducing costs by US$28 billion (a 57% decrease). Seizing similar opportunities elsewhere would offer substantial contributions to some of the greatest challenges for humankind.

Temblores posanestésicos / Post-anesthetic shivering

Introducción: los temblores posanestésico son causa de una de las mayores insatisfacciones durante el posoperatorio inmediato. Es un fenómeno frecuente, potencialmente perjudicial por aumentar la demanda metabólica de oxígeno. Objetivo: hacer una actualización sobre los temblores Posanestésicos y su profilaxis. Métodos: constituyen una actividad muscular oscilatoria para aumentar la producción de calor. Su etiología es desconocida, aunque se le atribuyen numerosas causas. Su frecuencia oscila entre 6,3 y 66 por ciento. De 5 a 65 por ciento relacionadas con anestesia general y 30 por ciento con anestesia regional. Con anestesia general, la temperatura central disminuye entre 0,5 y 1,5 °C, en la primera hora posterior a la inducción, al igual que en la anestesia regional. Este mecanismo se produce por redistribución del calor del centro a la periferia. Todos los anestésicos, opioides y sedantes disminuyen la vasoconstricción y el control autonómico de la regulación térmica y facilitan la hipotermia. Se presenta con mayor frecuencia en pacientes jóvenes, del sexo masculino, en los cuales se administraron agentes anestésicos halogenados, con tiempo anestésico quirúrgico prolongado. Numerosos artículos señalan, que en las especies homeotérmicas se presenta un sistema termorregulador que coordina la defensa contra la temperatura ambiental, para mantener la temperatura interna en un umbral estrecho. La combinación de agentes inductores anestésicos y exposición al ambiente frío hacen que los pacientes presenten temblores posanestésicos. Su profilaxis está dada por el uso de meperidina, clonidina y tramadol. La ketamina, es una fenciclidina, que produce disociación electrofisiológica entre los sistemas límbico y cortical. Se une a dos dianas moleculares en el encéfalo: las terminaciones dopaminérgicas en el núcleo accumbens y los receptores de N-metil de aspartato. Cuando la ketamina se une a dichos receptores, inhibe la liberación de dopamina. Conclusiones: los ...(AU)

Introduction: post-anesthetic shivering is caused by one of the greatest dissatisfactions during the immediate postoperative period. It is a common event, also potentially damaging because it increases the metabolic demand for oxygen. Objective: To make an update on post-anesthetic shivering and its prophylaxis. Methods: It constitutes an oscillatory muscle activity to increase heat production. Its etiology is unknown, although it is attributed to many causes. Its frequency varies between 6.3 and 66 percent. 5 to 65 percent are related to general anesthesia, and 30 percent to regional anesthesia. Under general anesthesia, the central temperature decreases from 0.5 to 1.5 °C in the first hour after induction, as in regional anesthesia. This mechanism is caused by redistribution of heat from the center to the periphery. All anesthetics, opioids and sedatives decrease vasoconstriction and the autonomic control of thermal regulation, and facilitate hypothermia. It occurs most often in young patients, male, to whom halogenated anesthetic agents are administered with anesthetic prolonged surgical time. Many items indicate that in the homeothermic species a thermoregulator system is present, which coordinates the defense against the environmental temperature to maintain the internal temperature in a narrow threshold. The combination of anesthetic inducing agents and exposure to cold environment make patients present post-anesthetic shivering. Prophylaxis is attained by using meperidine, clonidine and tramadol. Ketamine is a phencyclidine, which produces electrophysiological dissociation between the limbic and cortical systems. It is bound to two molecular targets in the brain: dopaminergic terminals in the accumbens nucleus and the N-methyl aspartate receptor. When ketamine binds to these receptors, it inhibits the release of dopamine. Conclusions: Post-anesthetic shivering constitutes an adverse effect of anesthesia, which ...(AU)

Temblores posanestésicos / Post-anesthetic shivering

Introducción: los temblores posanestésico son causa de una de las mayores insatisfacciones durante el posoperatorio inmediato. Es un fenómeno frecuente, potencialmente perjudicial por aumentar la demanda metabólica de oxígeno. Objetivo: hacer una actualización sobre los temblores Posanestésicos y su profilaxis. Métodos: constituyen una actividad muscular oscilatoria para aumentar la producción de calor. Su etiología es desconocida, aunque se le atribuyen numerosas causas. Su frecuencia oscila entre 6,3 y 66 por ciento. De 5 a 65 por ciento relacionadas con anestesia general y 30 por ciento con anestesia regional. Con anestesia general, la temperatura central disminuye entre 0,5 y 1,5 °C, en la primera hora posterior a la inducción, al igual que en la anestesia regional. Este mecanismo se produce por redistribución del calor del centro a la periferia. Todos los anestésicos, opioides y sedantes disminuyen la vasoconstricción y el control autonómico de la regulación térmica y facilitan la hipotermia. Se presenta con mayor frecuencia en pacientes jóvenes, del sexo masculino, en los cuales se administraron agentes anestésicos halogenados, con tiempo anestésico quirúrgico prolongado. Numerosos artículos señalan, que en las especies homeotérmicas se presenta un sistema termorregulador que coordina la defensa contra la temperatura ambiental, para mantener la temperatura interna en un umbral estrecho. La combinación de agentes inductores anestésicos y exposición al ambiente frío hacen que los pacientes presenten temblores posanestésicos. Su profilaxis está dada por el uso de meperidina, clonidina y tramadol. La ketamina, es una fenciclidina, que produce disociación electrofisiológica entre los sistemas límbico y cortical. Se une a dos dianas moleculares en el encéfalo: las terminaciones dopaminérgicas en el núcleo accumbens y los receptores de N-metil de aspartato. Cuando la ketamina se une a dichos receptores, inhibe la liberación de dopamina. Conclusiones: los temblores Posanestésicos constituyen un efecto adverso de la anestesia que pueden ser evitados. La ketamina, por su mecanismo de acción parece jugar un papel en su profilaxis, pues al bloquear dicho receptor se infiere que es posible que module, en alguna medida, la regulación térmica en varios niveles(AU)

Introduction: post-anesthetic shivering is caused by one of the greatest dissatisfactions during the immediate postoperative period. It is a common event, also potentially damaging because it increases the metabolic demand for oxygen. Objective: To make an update on post-anesthetic shivering and its prophylaxis. Methods: It constitutes an oscillatory muscle activity to increase heat production. Its etiology is unknown, although it is attributed to many causes. Its frequency varies between 6.3 and 66 percent. 5 to 65 percent are related to general anesthesia, and 30 percent to regional anesthesia. Under general anesthesia, the central temperature decreases from 0.5 to 1.5 °C in the first hour after induction, as in regional anesthesia. This mechanism is caused by redistribution of heat from the center to the periphery. All anesthetics, opioids and sedatives decrease vasoconstriction and the autonomic control of thermal regulation, and facilitate hypothermia. It occurs most often in young patients, male, to whom halogenated anesthetic agents are administered with anesthetic prolonged surgical time. Many items indicate that in the homeothermic species a thermoregulator system is present, which coordinates the defense against the environmental temperature to maintain the internal temperature in a narrow threshold. The combination of anesthetic inducing agents and exposure to cold environment make patients present post-anesthetic shivering. Prophylaxis is attained by using meperidine, clonidine and tramadol. Ketamine is a phencyclidine, which produces electrophysiological dissociation between the limbic and cortical systems. It is bound to two molecular targets in the brain: dopaminergic terminals in the accumbens nucleus and the N-methyl aspartate receptor. When ketamine binds to these receptors, it inhibits the release of dopamine. Conclusions: Post-anesthetic shivering constitutes an adverse effect of anesthesia, which can be avoided. Ketamine, for its action mechanism, seem to play a role in prevention, because when such receptor is blocked, it is inferred to module, at some extent, thermal regulation at various levels(AU)