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- Walther, G, et al.
(author)
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Report on challenges for SCIs
- 2021
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Reports (other academic/artistic)abstract
- This report discusses the challenges posed by four types of threats – terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks, extreme weather and social unrest – on the following eight smart critical infrastructure systems:a.ALPHA - Finance (financial system): The analysis focuses on disturbed information flow and disabling/manipulating IT and communication systems, including attacks on the “physical layer” using the example of IEMI/HPEM threats, as well as the software layer.b. BRAVO - Energy supply (system): The analysis focuses on disruption of “smart” energy supply in a “smart city”, caused by natural hazards, in this case flooding, leading to cascading effects and severe consequences for other energy-depending SCIs.c. CHARLIE - Health care (system):Focus of the analysis is on all threats that might cause large increases in the numbers of injuries or sick patients within a densely populated area. This will include indirect impacts, e.g. large numbers of injuries caused by a disaster or terrorist attacks or disease epidemics, but also direct impacts, e.g. service disruptions in critical health infrastructures, such as hospitals, due to attacks or disasters hitting the infrastructure itself.d.DELTA - Transportation (system) – airports: According to the framework situation, threats on Smart Airports will be assessed under circumstances of (i) blocked traffic, (ii) passenger and airplane traffic exceeding capacity (iii) flood.e. ECHO - Industry (in zones in cities) "Industrial Production Plants":The analysis focuses mainly on technological accidents within the refinery complex, but also accidents caused by natural hazards affecting refinery property outside the main refinery complex, e.g. accident on jetty belonging to refinery on the river Danube during unloading/loading oil products from barge to a tank, damages by a gale or storm on process installations (pipes, hoses) resulting in river pollution. Both scenarios could lead to cascading effects for other SCIs in close vicinity.f. FOXTROT - Water supply (systems): The analysis focuses on three cases of local and regional drinking water supply chains, with different kinds of vulnerabilities in terms of climate threats, ICT challenges, security issues and human error.g.GOLF - Urban flood protection (systems): The analysis focuses in the disruption of water and transport caused through tidal and fluvial flooding events.h. HOTEL: City of Helsinki - Flooding underground coal storage. Resilience of the energy infrastructure (city environment).The way this analysis was conducted was by assessing these threats using a 5x5 framework matrix. The two axes of the matrix were phases (understand risks, anticipate/prepare, absorb/withstand, respond/recover, adapt/learn) and dimensions (system/physical, information/data, organizational/business, societal/political, cognitive/decision-making).Each individual matrix block was discussed by subject experts who identified specific challenges and implications for each matrix element and rated its relevance (high, medium, low).In terms of the results, the system/physical dimension received the highest number of important challenges.Overall, the most important singular element was to understand risks in the organizational/business dimension. The least importance was attributed to the adapt/learn phase.
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- Naaf, Tobias, et al.
(author)
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Sensitivity to habitat fragmentation across European landscapes in three temperate forest herbs
- 2021
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In: Landscape Ecology. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 0921-2973 .- 1572-9761. ; 36:10, s. 2831-2848
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Context Evidence for effects of habitat loss and fragmentation on the viability of temperate forest herb populations in agricultural landscapes is so far based on population genetic studies of single species in single landscapes. However, forest herbs differ in their life histories, and landscapes have different environments, structures and histories, making generalizations difficult.Objectives We compare the response of three slow-colonizing forest herbs to habitat loss and fragmentation and set this in relation to differences in life-history traits, in particular their mating system and associated pollinators.Methods We analysed the herbs' landscape-scale population genetic structure based on microsatellite markers from replicate forest fragments across seven European agricultural landscapes.Results All species responded to reductions in population size with a decrease in allelic richness and an increase in genetic differentiation among populations. Genetic differentiation also increased with enhanced spatial isolation. In addition, each species showed unique responses. Heterozygosity in the self-compatible Oxalis acetosella was reduced in smaller populations. The genetic diversity of Anemone nemorosa, whose main pollinators are less mobile, decreased with increasing spatial isolation, but not that of the bumblebee-pollinated Polygonatum multiflorum.Conclusions Our study indicates that habitat loss and fragmentation compromise the long-term viability of slow-colonizing forest herbs despite their ability to persist for many decades by clonal propagation. The distinct responses of the three species studied within the same landscapes confirm the need of multi-species approaches. The mobility of associated pollinators should be considered an important determinant of forest herbs' sensitivity to habitat loss and fragmentation.
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- Nordanstig, Annika, 1974, et al.
(author)
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EndoVAscular treatment and ThRombolysis for Ischemic Stroke Patients (EVA-TRISP) registry: basis and methodology of a pan-European prospective ischaemic stroke revascularisation treatment registry.
- 2021
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In: BMJ open. - : BMJ. - 2044-6055. ; 11:8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The Thrombolysis in Ischemic Stroke Patients (TRISP) collaboration was a concerted effort initiated in 2010 with the purpose to address relevant research questions about the effectiveness and safety of intravenous thrombolysis (IVT). The collaboration also aims to prospectively collect data on patients undergoing endovascular treatment (EVT) and hence the name of the collaboration was changed from TRISP to EVA-TRISP. The methodology of the former TRISP registry for patients treated with IVT has already been published. This paper focuses on describing the EVT part of the registry.All centres committed to collecting predefined variables on consecutive patients prospectively. We aim for accuracy and completeness of the data and to adapt local databases to investigate novel research questions. Herein, we introduce the methodology of a recently constructed academic investigator-initiated open collaboration EVT registry built as an extension of an existing IVT registry in patients with acute ischaemic stroke (AIS).Currently, the EVA-TRISP network includes 20 stroke centres with considerable expertise in EVT and maintenance of high-quality hospital-based registries. Following several successful randomised controlled trials (RCTs), many important clinical questions remain unanswered in the (EVT) field and some of them will unlikely be investigated in future RCTs. Prospective registries with high-quality data on EVT-treated patients may help answering some of these unanswered issues, especially on safety and efficacy of EVT in specific patient subgroups.This collaborative effort aims at addressing clinically important questions on safety and efficacy of EVT in conditions not covered by RCTs. The TRISP registry generated substantial novel data supporting stroke physicians in their daily decision making considering IVT candidate patients. While providing observational data on EVT in daily clinical practice, our future findings may likewise be hypothesis generating for future research as well as for quality improvement (on EVT). The collaboration welcomes participation of further centres willing to fulfill the commitment and the outlined requirements.
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- Pieterman, Elise D., et al.
(author)
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Superior Efficacy of a Bedaquiline, Delamanid, and Linezolid Combination Regimen in a Mouse Tuberculosis Model
- 2021
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In: Journal of Infectious Diseases. - : Oxford University Press. - 0022-1899 .- 1537-6613. ; 224:6, s. 1039-1047
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The treatment success rate of drug-resistant (DR) tuberculosis is alarmingly low. Therefore, more effective and less complex regimens are urgently required.Methods: We compared the efficacy of an all oral DR tuberculosis drug regimen consisting of bedaquiline (25 mg/kg), delamanid (2.5 mg/kg), and linezolid (100 mg/kg) (BDL) on the mycobacterial load in the lungs and spleen of tuberculosis-infected mice during a treatment period of 24 weeks. This treatment was compared with the standard regimen of isoniazid, rifampicin, pyrazinamide, and ethambutol (HRZE). Relapse was assessed 12 weeks after treatment. Two logistic regression models were developed to compare the efficacy of both regimens.Results: Culture negativity in the lungs was achieved at 8 and 20 weeks of treatment with BDL and HRZE, respectively. After 14 weeks of treatment only 1 mouse had relapse in the BDL group, while in the H RZE group relapse was still observed at 24 weeks of treatment. Predictions from the final mathematical models showed that a 95% cure rate was reached after 20.5 and 28.5 weeks of treatment with BDL and HRZE, respectively.Conclusion: The BDL regimen was observed to be more effective than HRZE and could be a valuable option for the treatment of DR tuberculosis.
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