Interrogating resilience: toward a typology to improve its operationalization

In the context of accelerated global change, the concept of resilience, with its roots in ecological theory and complex adaptive systems, has emerged as the favored framework for understanding and responding to the dynamics of change. Its transfer from ecological to social contexts, however, has led to the concept being interpreted in multiple ways across numerous disciplines causing significant challenges for its practical application. The aim of this paper is to improve conceptual clarity within resilience thinking so that resilience can be interpreted and articulated in ways that enhance its utility and explanatory power, not only theoretically but also operationally. We argue that the current confusion and ambiguity within resilience thinking is problematic for operationalizing the concept within policy making. To achieve our aim, we interrogate resilience interpretations used within a number of academic and practice domains in the forefront of contending with the disruptive and sometimes catastrophic effects of global change (primarily due to climate change) on ecological and human-nature systems. We demonstrate evolution and convergence among disciplines in the interpretations and theoretical underpinnings of resilience and in engagement with cross-scale considerations. From our analysis, we identify core conceptual elements to be considered in policy responses if resilience is to fulfill its potential in improving decision making for change. We offer an original classification of resilience definitions in current use and a typology of resilience interpretations. We conclude that resilience thinking must be open to alternative traditions and interpretations if it is to become a theoretically and operationally powerful paradigm

Identifying inaccuracies on emergency medicine residency applications

BACKGROUND: Previous trials have showed a 10–30% rate of inaccuracies on applications to individual residency programs. No studies have attempted to corroborate this on a national level. Attempts by residency programs to diminish the frequency of inaccuracies on applications have not been reported. We seek to clarify the national incidence of inaccuracies on applications to emergency medicine residency programs. METHODS: This is a multi-center, single-blinded, randomized, cohort study of all applicants from LCME accredited schools to involved EM residency programs. Applications were randomly selected to investigate claims of AOA election, advanced degrees and publications. Errors were reported to applicants' deans and the NRMP. RESULTS: Nine residencies reviewed 493 applications (28.6% of all applicants who applied to any EM program). 56 applications (11.4%, 95%CI 8.6–14.2%) contained at least one error. Excluding "benign" errors, 9.8% (95% CI 7.2–12.4%), contained at least one error. 41% (95% CI 35.0–47.0%) of all publications contained an error. All AOA membership claims were verified, but 13.7% (95%CI 4.4–23.1%) of claimed advanced degrees were inaccurate. Inter-rater reliability of evaluations was good. Investigators were reluctant to notify applicants' dean's offices and the NRMP. CONCLUSION: This is the largest study to date of accuracy on application for residency and the first such multi-centered trial. High rates of incorrect data were found on applications. This data will serve as a baseline for future years of the project, with emphasis on reporting inaccuracies and warning applicants of the project's goals

Quality of antimalarial drugs and antibiotics in Papua New Guinea: A survey of the health facility supply chain

Background: Poor-quality life-saving medicines are a major public health threat, particularly in settings with a weak regulatory environment. Insufficient amounts of active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) endanger patient safety and may contribute to the development of drug resistance. In the case of malaria, concerns relate to implications for the efficacy of artemisinin-based combination therapies (ACT). In Papua New Guinea (PNG), Plasmodium falciparum and P. vivax are both endemic and health facilities are the main source of treatment. ACT has been introduced as first-line treatment but other drugs, such as primaquine for the treatment of P. vivax hypnozoites, are widely available. This study investigated the quality of antimalarial drugs and selected antibiotics at all levels of the health facility supply chain in PNG.Methods and Findings: Medicines were obtained from randomly sampled health facilities and selected warehouses and hospitals across PNG and analysed for API content using validated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Of 360 tablet/capsule samples from 60 providers, 9.7% (95% CI 6.9, 13.3) contained less, and 0.6% more, API than pharmacopoeial reference ranges, including 29/37 (78.4%) primaquine, 3/70 (4.3%) amodiaquine, and one sample each of quinine, artemether, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine and amoxicillin. According to the package label, 86.5% of poor-quality samples originated from India. Poor-quality medicines were found in 48.3% of providers at all levels of the supply chain. Drug quality was unrelated to storage conditions.Conclusions: This study documents the presence of poor-quality medicines, particularly primaquine, throughout PNG. Primaquine is the only available transmission-blocking antimalarial, likely to become important to prevent the spread of artemisinin-resistant P. falciparum and eliminating P. vivax hypnozoites. The availability of poor-quality medicines reflects the lack of adequate quality control and regulatory mechanisms. Measures to stop the availability of poor-quality medicines should include limiting procurement to WHO prequalified products and implementing routine quality testing

The genomic basis of adaptive evolution in threespine sticklebacks

Marine stickleback fish have colonized and adapted to thousands of streams and lakes formed since the last ice age, providing an exceptional opportunity to characterize genomic mechanisms underlying repeated ecological adaptation in nature. Here we develop a high-quality reference genome assembly for threespine sticklebacks. By sequencing the genomes of twenty additional individuals from a global set of marine and freshwater populations, we identify a genome-wide set of loci that are consistently associated with marine–freshwater divergence. Our results indicate that reuse of globally shared standing genetic variation, including chromosomal inversions, has an important role in repeated evolution of distinct marine and freshwater sticklebacks, and in the maintenance of divergent ecotypes during early stages of reproductive isolation. Both coding and regulatory changes occur in the set of loci underlying marine–freshwater evolution, but regulatory changes appear to predominate in this well known example of repeated adaptive evolution in nature.National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.)National Human Genome Research Institute (U.S.) (NHGRI CEGS Grant P50-HG002568

Genomic epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 in a UK university identifies dynamics of transmission

AbstractUnderstanding SARS-CoV-2 transmission in higher education settings is important to limit spread between students, and into at-risk populations. In this study, we sequenced 482 SARS-CoV-2 isolates from the University of Cambridge from 5 October to 6 December 2020. We perform a detailed phylogenetic comparison with 972 isolates from the surrounding community, complemented with epidemiological and contact tracing data, to determine transmission dynamics. We observe limited viral introductions into the university; the majority of student cases were linked to a single genetic cluster, likely following social gatherings at a venue outside the university. We identify considerable onward transmission associated with student accommodation and courses; this was effectively contained using local infection control measures and following a national lockdown. Transmission clusters were largely segregated within the university or the community. Our study highlights key determinants of SARS-CoV-2 transmission and effective interventions in a higher education setting that will inform public health policy during pandemics.</jats:p

The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol: X.500 Lite

This paper describes the Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), which provides low-overhead access to the X.500 directory. LDAP includes a subset of full X.500 functionality. It runs directly over TCP and uses a simplified data representation for many protocol elements. These simplifications make LDAP clients smaller, faster, and easier to implement than full X.500 clients. Our freely available implementation of the protocol is also described. It includes an LDAP server and a client library that makes writing LDAP programs much easier.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/107938/1/citi-tr-95-8.pd

Lightweight directory access protocol (v3

Center for Information Technology Integration

Identification & Evaluation of DNA Ligase Inhibitors: Predicting the Binding of Small Molecules to the DNA Binding Domain by Molecular Modeling

The phosphodiester backbone of DNA is maintained by DNA ligases. In human cells, there are three genes that encode DNA ligase polypeptides with distinct but overlapping functions. A series of small molecule inhibitors of human DNA ligases were previously identified using a rational structure-based approach. Three of these inhibitors, L82, a DNA ligase I selective inhibitor, and L67, an inhibitor of DNA ligases I and III, and L189, an inhibitor of all three human DNA ligases, have related structures. Here I present and characterize L82-G17 a next-generation ligase I specific inhibitor. L82-G17 is a potent ligase I uncompetitive inhibitor that is shown to act both biochemically and in cell culture models. Furthermore, the binding site for L82 and L82-G17 has been identified via molecular modeling, and verified through mutagenesis