Cascading Effects and Escalations in Wide Area Power Failures: A Summary for Emergency Planners

This special report is the result of a collaboration between academics and practitioners. It aims to provide a synthetic overview of the cascading effects caused by wide-area power failures, and to define the recurrent impacts and sources of escalation. It provides a reference for the training and the situational awareness of decision makers and emergency operators. The format uses bullet points and examples to facilitate reading in conditions of limited availability of time. The following topics have been developed:- ⚫ A definition of cascading effects. ⚫ An introduction for of wide area power failures (PF) policies and practices. ⚫ Illustrative examples. ⚫ A table listing cascading effects and escalations caused by wide area PF. ⚫ Resources for training and essential references for further reading

Passive phloem loading and long-distance transport in a synthetic tree-on-a-chip

Vascular plants rely on differences of osmotic pressure to export sugars from regions of synthesis (mature leaves) to sugar sinks (roots, fruits). In this process, known as M\"unch pressure flow, the loading of sugars from photosynthetic cells to the export conduit (the phloem) is crucial, as it sets the pressure head necessary to power long-distance transport. Whereas most herbaceous plants use active mechanisms to increase phloem concentration above that of the photosynthetic cells, in most tree species, for which transport distances are largest, loading seems to occur via passive symplastic diffusion from the mesophyll to the phloem. Here, we use a synthetic microfluidic model of a passive loader to explore the nonlinear dynamics that arise during export and determine the ability of passive loading to drive long-distance transport. We first demonstrate that in our device, phloem concentration is set by the balance between the resistances to diffusive loading from the source and convective export through the phloem. Convection-limited export corresponds to classical models of M\"unch transport, where phloem concentration is close to that of the source; in contrast, diffusion-limited export leads to small phloem concentrations and weak scaling of flow rates with the hydraulic resistance. We then show that the effective regime of convection-limited export is predominant in plants with large transport resistances and low xylem pressures. Moreover, hydrostatic pressures developed in our synthetic passive loader can reach botanically relevant values as high as 10 bars. We conclude that passive loading is sufficient to drive long-distance transport in large plants, and that trees are well suited to take full advantage of passive phloem loading strategies

A novel hybrid promoter responsive to pathophysiological and pharmacological regulation

The aim of this study was to construct a promoter containing DNA motifs for an endogenous transcription factor associated with inflammation along with motifs for pharmacological regulation factors. We demonstrate in transfected cells that expression of a gene of interest is induced by hypoxic conditions or through pharmacological induction, and also show pharmacological repression. In vivo studies utilised electroporation of plasmid to mouse paws, a delivery method shown to be effective by bioluminescence imaging. For gene therapy, the promoter was used to drive expression of IL-1Ra in a paw inflammation model with therapeutic effect observed which was further enhanced when the promoter was additionally induced with a pharmacological activator. One of the most important observations from this study was that promoter induction by hypoxia or inflammation could be prevented by the pharmacological repressor in the absence of doxycycline. These studies demonstrate that hybrid promoters enable pharmacological adjustment to the pathophysiological level of gene expression and, importantly, that they allow termination of gene expression even in the presence of pathophysiological stimuli

Antithrombotic therapy and survival in patients with malignant disease

A broad range of studies suggest a two-way relationship between cancer and venous thromboembolism (VTE). Patients with cancer have consistently been shown to be at elevated risk for VTE; this risk is partly driven by an intrinsic hypercoagulable state elicited by the tumour itself. Conversely, thromboembolic events in patients without obvious risk factors are often the first clinical manifestation of an undiagnosed malignancy. The relationship between VTE and cancer is further supported by a number of trials and meta-analyses which, when taken together, strongly suggest that antithrombotic therapy can extend survival in patients with cancer by a mechanism that extends beyond its effect in preventing VTE. Moreover, accumulating evidence from in vitro and in vivo studies has shown that tumour growth, invasion, and metastasis are governed, in part, by elements of the coagulation system. On 22 May 2009, a group of health-care providers based in the United Kingdom met in London, England, to examine recent advances in cancer-associated thrombosis and its implications for UK clinical practice. As part of the discussion, attendees evaluated evidence for and against an effect of antithrombotic therapy on survival in cancer. This paper includes a summary of the data presented at the meeting and explores potential mechanisms by which antithrombotic agents might exert antitumour effects. The summary is followed by a consensus statement developed by the group

Secondary school students’ epistemic insight into the relationships between science and religion – a preliminary enquiry

A number of previous studies have shown that there is a widespread view among young people that science and religion are opposed. In this paper, we suggest that it requires a significant level of what can be termed ‘epistemic insight’ to access the idea that some people see science and religion as compatible while others do not. To explore this further, we draw on previous work to devise a methodology to discover students’ thinking about apparent contradictions between scientific and religious explanations of the origins of the universe. In our discussion of the findings, we highlight that students’ epistemic insight in this context does seem in many cases to be limited and we outline some of the issues emerging from the study that seem to boost or limit students’ progress in this area

Women's attitudes towards mechanisms of action of family planning methods: survey in primary health centres in Pamplona, Spain

Irala J de, Lopez del Burgo C, Lopez de Fez CM, Arredondo J, Mikolajczyk RT, Stanford JB. Women's attitudes towards mechanisms of action of family planning methods: survey in primary health centres in Pamplona, Spain. BMC Women's Health. 2007;7(1): 10.Background: Informed consent in family planning includes knowledge of mechanism of action. Some methods of family planning occasionally work after fertilization. Knowing about postfertilization effects may be important to some women before choosing a certain family planning method. The objective of this survey is to explore women's attitudes towards postfertilization effects of family planning methods, and beliefs and characteristics possibly associated with those attitudes. Methods: Cross-sectional survey in a sample of 755 potentially fertile women, aged 18–49, from Primary Care Health Centres in Pamplona, Spain. Participants were given a 30-item, self-administered, anonymous questionnaire about family planning methods and medical and surgical abortion. Logistic regression was used to identify variables associated with women's attitudes towards postfertilization effects. Results: The response rate was 80%. The majority of women were married, held an academic degree and had no children. Forty percent of women would not consider using a method that may work after fertilization but before implantation and 57% would not consider using one that may work after implantation. While 35.3% of the sample would stop using a method if they learned that it sometimes works after fertilization, this percentage increased to 56.3% when referring to a method that sometimes works after implantation. Women who believe that human life begins at fertilization and those who consider it is important to distinguish between natural and induced embryo loss were less likely to consider the use of a method with postfertilization effects. Conclusion: Information about potential postfertilization effects of family planning methods may influence women's acceptance and choice of a particular family planning method. Additional studies in other populations are necessary to evaluate whether these beliefs are important to those populations

Incipient Resistance of Helicoverpa punctigera to the Cry2Ab Bt Toxin in Bollgard II® Cotton

Combinations of dissimilar insecticidal proteins (“pyramids”) within transgenic plants are predicted to delay the evolution of pest resistance for significantly longer than crops expressing a single transgene. Field-evolved resistance to Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) transgenic crops has been reported for first generation, single-toxin varieties and the Cry1 class of proteins. Our five year data set shows a significant exponential increase in the frequency of alleles conferring Cry2Ab resistance in Australian field populations of Helicoverpa punctigera since the adoption of a second generation, two-toxin Bt cotton expressing this insecticidal protein. Furthermore, the frequency of cry2Ab resistance alleles in populations from cropping areas is 8-fold higher than that found for populations from non-cropping regions. This report of field evolved resistance to a protein in a dual-toxin Bt-crop has precisely fulfilled the intended function of monitoring for resistance; namely, to provide an early warning of increases in frequencies that may lead to potential failures of the transgenic technology. Furthermore, it demonstrates that pyramids are not ‘bullet proof’ and that rapid evolution to Bt toxins in the Cry2 class is possible