UT Health RGV COVID-19 Testing Report

Purpose: This health surveillance project\u27s goal was to organize de-identified data received from UT Health RGV with the intent to provide timely reporting to testing sites and health affairs directors. We aimed to explore how testing rates differ between counties, testing sites and age groups from March 30 through August 7, 2020. We looked at different demographics and compared the positivity rates for each testing site. For this report, we will detail information for the pediatric population (ages 0-18). Materials and Methods: A codebook and database were created with information about COVID-19 test data to formulate reports to the testing sites and directors. We used SPSS software to run descriptive statistics and preliminary analysis to help visualize the data. Results: Based on the American Academy of Pediatrics report on August 13, 2020, Texas only provides pediatric age distribution for 8% of their test results. Based on our data from the Rio Grande Valley, we can aid in reporting test results that included pediatrics demographics. We found that 40.6% (N=1016) of patients 18 or younger at time of testing tested positive (compared to the national average of 3.6-18.3%), 5.7% of total tests were done on patients 18 or younger (compared to 3-12% nationally), and 7.8% of our positive cases were in patients 18 or younger (compared to 9.1% nationally). By county, the positivity rates for COVID-19 testing were as follows: Cameron = 29.8% (N=6379), Hidalgo = 29.3% (N=11249), Starr = 14.3%(N=63), Willacy = 27.3% (N=99), Other TX = 14.3% (N=112), Out of state = 16.7% (N=54). Test positivity by testing site was: Edinburg = 28.7% (N=9637), Mercedes = 30.3% (N=2840), Harlingen = 31.6% (N=3377), Brownsville = 26.8% (N=2102). Limitations: Not all data is from unique individuals; this database includes retested individuals. Therefore, data results should be interpreted with caution. Additionally, when patients selected their race and ethnicity, the race options included all of the major races, yet ethnicity was limited to the Hispanic/Latino race and a blanket option for “non-Hispanic/Latino”, without the ability to choose other ethnicities. Interpreting data about ethnicity is therefore limited. Discussion: Further analysis is needed to identify patients retested. A data subset of retested individuals will provide accurate test positivity rate. Overall, the database can provide insightful pediatric data to establish rates of pediatric COVID-19 infections in South Texas. We hope that the data and analysis provided can help inform legislative decision making

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

Performing physiocracy: Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours and the limits of political engineering

The story of Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours has often been described as one of success. The man was a well-known statesman, economist and entrepreneur in late eighteenth-century France and his main legacy, the famous and still thriving Du Pont company, suggests a brilliant trajectory. The aim of this paper, however, is to analyze Du Pont's failure in performing the political and economic doctrine of which he was an active promoter all through his life: physiocracy. In all of his very diverse activities, be they scientific, political, or entrepreneurial, Du Pont indeed deliberately attempted to enact this original liberal doctrine. He tried, along with fellow physiocrats, to introduce freedom of trade and enterprise in Old Regime French minds and economic practices. Later, when emigrating to the United States, he devised a plan for a physiocratic colony. But none of these ventures was actually a success during Du Pont's lifetime: the performation of some of physiocracy's main propositions only came later, in a diffuse and partial way. We contend that this relative failure of performativity can be explained by Du Pont's specific type of agency: one relying mainly on political engineering, based on personal ties and reputations, as well as on a strict distinction between ends and means

Megacities: The Asian Era

International audienceAsian megacities concentrate 60 % of world megacities population in 2010. The demographic trend which lead to this current situation since the 1960 is exposed. Then the population mass of these megacities is compared to their economic weight opening on a reflexion on their position within the world cities system. The analyse is supported by an original geodatabase in which all the 2010’ 100 largest cities in the world are defined as physical agglomerations, using remote sensing images and census data series in order to assess their population size.Using methods developed for detecting the trends in complex systems, we classify world megacities regarding their demographic trajectories, then Asian megacities individual trajectories are related to the evolution of all other cities of their respective countries. Demographic trajectories of world cities appear partly related to their location and dominated by the shift from the Atlantic to the Asian shores. However, the Asian megacities trajectories remain very diverse. Their weight in their respective urban system do not grow up. Moreover, Asian megacities become bigger by expanding functionally in metropolitan region marked by polycentrism and tend to form huge Mega Urban Region that shares an important part of Asian population and national economy. The analyses of a harmonized database of city’s GDP highlight the wealth concentration by Asia’s megacities. It significantly vary according to the country size, and are much more important at a regional scale, where these Mega Urban Regions emerge. As GDP, the income polarisation among Asian Megacities is not acute. A transitional disequilibrium in population growth and inequities remain, but it don’t constitute a factor of economic stagnation