Tiered Approach to Resilience Assessment

Regulatory agencies have long adopted a three-tier framework for risk assessment. We build on this structure to propose a tiered approach for resilience assessment that can be integrated into the existing regulatory processes. Comprehensive approaches to assessing resilience at appropriate and operational scales, reconciling analytical complexity as needed with stakeholder needs and resources available, and ultimately creating actionable recommendations to enhance resilience are still lacking. Our proposed framework consists of tiers by which analysts can select resilience assessment and decision support tools to inform associated management actions relative to the scope and urgency of the risk and the capacity of resource managers to improve system resilience. The resilience management framework proposed is not intended to supplant either risk management or the many existing efforts of resilience quantification method development, but instead provide a guide to selecting tools that are appropriate for the given analytic need. The goal of this tiered approach is to intentionally parallel the tiered approach used in regulatory contexts so that resilience assessment might be more easily and quickly integrated into existing structures and with existing policies

Adaptive Developmental Delay in Chagas Disease Vectors: An Evolutionary Ecology Approach

The developmental time of vector insects is important to their population dynamics, evolutionary biology, epidemiology of the diseases they transmit, and to their responses to global climatic change. In various triatomine species vectors of Chagas disease (Triatominae, Reduviidae), a delay in the molt of a small proportion of individuals has been observed, and from an evolutionary ecology approach, we propose the hypothesis that the developmental delay is an adaptation to environmental stochasticity through a spreading of risk (bet-hedging) diapause strategy. We confirmed, by means of a survey among specialists, the existence of the developmental delay in triatomines. Statistical descriptions of the developmental time of 11 species of triatomines showed some degree of bi-modality in nine of them. We predicted by means of an optimization model which genotype, coding for a given frequency of developmental diapause, is expected to evolve. We identified a series of parameters that can be measured in the field and in the laboratory to test the hypothesis of an optimal diapause frequency. We also discuss the importance of these findings for triatomines in terms of global climatic change and epidemiological consequences such as their resistance to insecticides

Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Social Cognition.

The traditional view on the cerebellum is that it controls motor behavior. Although recent work has revealed that the cerebellum supports also nonmotor functions such as cognition and affect, only during the last 5 years it has become evident that the cerebellum also plays an important social role. This role is evident in social cognition based on interpreting goal-directed actions through the movements of individuals (social "mirroring") which is very close to its original role in motor learning, as well as in social understanding of other individuals' mental state, such as their intentions, beliefs, past behaviors, future aspirations, and personality traits (social "mentalizing"). Most of this mentalizing role is supported by the posterior cerebellum (e.g., Crus I and II). The most dominant hypothesis is that the cerebellum assists in learning and understanding social action sequences, and so facilitates social cognition by supporting optimal predictions about imminent or future social interaction and cooperation. This consensus paper brings together experts from different fields to discuss recent efforts in understanding the role of the cerebellum in social cognition, and the understanding of social behaviors and mental states by others, its effect on clinical impairments such as cerebellar ataxia and autism spectrum disorder, and how the cerebellum can become a potential target for noninvasive brain stimulation as a therapeutic intervention. We report on the most recent empirical findings and techniques for understanding and manipulating cerebellar circuits in humans. Cerebellar circuitry appears now as a key structure to elucidate social interactions

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele

In utero accumulated steroids predict neonate anti-predator response in a wild mammal

This file contains the raw data and R-scripts used for the analysis published in the research article: "In utero accumulated steroids predict neonate anti‐predator response in a wild mammal" (https://doi.org/10.1111/1365-2435.13790). A full and detailed description of the methods can be found in the manuscript, or at request from the author (BA). The R-scripts can be used to follow all the steps taken in the analysis and fully reproduce the effects reported. The file contains data taken from 185 newborn fallow deer fawns (Dama dama), in two different cohorts. Data were taken at capture and recapture of these fawns, during their first weeks of life. During this period, fallow deer fawns adopt a hiding-strategy where they hide in the vegatation from potential predators. We quantified the responses of the fawns, namely their behaviour prior to capture; docility; heartrate at start of capture (HRstart); Heartrate at end of capture (HRend); latency to leave once released. In addition, we collected data on abiotic and biotic factors, such as time of the day, air temperature and bed site visibility among others. We also collected hair samples, which were used to quantify chronic levels of cortisol and testosterone. Since these are newborn fawns, these values have been accumulated while in the womb of the mother. Specifically, we aimed at testing whether i) newborn fawns display repeatable differences in their response to capture, ii) whether physiological response covaries with behavioural response, given that both are repeatable, and whether iii) these were explained by in utero accumulated steroids. Therefore, the names of the datasets correspond to the responses at the capture (prior behaviour, docility HRstart, HRend, Latency), the covariation between physiology and behavioural responses and the analysis regarding the steroids extracted from the hair samples.All analysis can be reproduced using the R-scripts. For instructions, please open the "README.docx" file attached. In addition, there is a "ReadMe_Description of variables.xlsx", where every variable in the dataset is descriped. Here the variable structure and the units are presented clearly.All data have been recorded during capture and recapture of newborn fawns. The fawns are part of a free-living population of fallow deer (Dama dama), living in the largest urban park in Europe, namely Phoenix Park in Dublin, Ireland. Steroid hormone levels were quantified afterwards, from hair samples taken at the captures. Immunoreactive androgens and glucocorticoids (hereafter referred to as testosterone and cortisol) were quantitated in hair extracts using commercial testosterone and cortisol ELISA kits according to the manufacturer's recommendations (Salimetrics; Ann Arbor, MI, USA, item no. 1-3002, for cortisol, and item no. 1-2402 for testosterone). The data were analysed by combinations of generalized linear models and linear mixed-effect models, in R