Efficacy Of Mitigation Strategies Research Articles

Global Review on Environmental Impacts of Onshore Wind Energy in the Field of Tension between Human Societies and Natural Systems

Deploying onshore wind energy as a cornerstone of future global energy systems challenges societies and decision-makers worldwide. Expanding wind energy should contribute to a more sustainable electricity generation without harnessing humans and their environment. Opponents often highlight the negative environmental impacts of wind energy to impede its expansion. This study reviews 152 studies to synthesize, summarize, and discuss critically the current knowledge, research gaps, and mitigation strategies on the environmental impacts of onshore wind energy. The investigated effects comprise impacts on the abiotic and biotic environment, with birds and bats in particular, noise and visual impacts. Effects are discussed in the context of social acceptance, other energy technologies, and wind energy expansion in forests. This review illustrates that many effects are highly case-specific and must be more generalizable. Studies are biased regarding the research focus and areas, needing more standardized research methods and long-term measurements. Most studies focus on the direct mortality of birds and bats at wind farms and are concentrated in Europe and North America. Knowledge gaps persist for many impact categories, and the efficacy of mitigation strategies has yet to be proven. More targeted, unbiased research is required that allows for an objective evaluation of the environmental impacts of wind energy and strategies to mitigate them. Impacts, such as those on biodiversity, need to be addressed in the context of other anthropogenic influences and the benefits of wind energy. This forms the basis for a socially acceptable, efficient, and sustainable expansion of wind energy.

Multizone Modeling of Airborne SARS-CoV-2 Quanta Transmission and Infection Mitigation Strategies in Office, Hotel, Retail, and School Buildings

Airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 mostly occurs indoors, and effective mitigation strategies for specific building types are needed. Most guidance provided during the pandemic focused on general strategies that may not be applicable for all buildings. A systematic evaluation of infection risk mitigation strategies for different public and commercial buildings would facilitate their reopening process as well as post-pandemic operation. This study evaluates engineering mitigation strategies for five selected US Department of Energy prototype commercial buildings (i.e., Medium Office, Large Office, Small Hotel, Stand-Alone Retail, and Secondary School). The evaluation applied the multizone airflow and contaminant simulation software, CONTAM, with a newly developed CONTAM-quanta approach for infection risk assessment. The zone-to-zone quanta transmission and quanta fate were analyzed. The effectiveness of mechanical ventilation, and in-duct and in-room air treatment mitigation strategies were evaluated and compared. The efficacy of mitigation strategies was evaluated for full, 75%, 50% and 25% of design occupancy of these buildings under no-mask and mask-wearing conditions. Results suggested that for small spaces, in-duct air treatment would be insufficient for mitigating infection risks and additional in-room treatment devices would be needed. To avoid assessing mitigation strategies by simulating every building configuration, correlations of individual infection risk as a function of building mitigation parameters were developed upon extensive parametric studies.

Quantitative modeling of school cafeteria share tables predicts reduced food waste and manageable norovirus-related food safety risk

Share tables (ST) allow students to share unwanted food items with other students in school cafeterias, making them a possible method to reduce food waste and insecurity. This study assesses potential food safety risks and food security benefits of a ST system, to assess if future work on STs is warranted. But food safety concerns from stakeholders hinder ST implementation. A quantitative microbial risk assessment was developed to (i) predict food safety risk (specifically norovirus transmission via apples) associated with the implementation of STs in school cafeterias, (ii) identify effective mitigation strategies to prevent illness, and (iii) screen for potential food security benefits. To estimate the impact and efficacy of mitigation strategies, illness prevalence was compared between 13 different what-if scenarios. Results show that STs modestly increase the mean illness prevalence from 1.5% (2.5–97.5th percentile: 0.52–2.7%) to 1.6% (2.5–97.5th percentile: 0.67–2.8%), a 6.8% increase in illness prevalence. Mitigation strategies that focus on managing incoming norovirus loads are predicted to be most effective. Specifically, efficient student handwashing and hand sanitizing reduced the illness prevalence in a ST system to 43.6 and 41.9%, respectively. Other mitigation strategies, such as washing and wrapping fruit, are predicted to be less effective. Other results show that STs have the potential to reduce food waste of fruit by 54% (2.5–97.5th percentile: 44–61%), increase consumption by 21% (2.5–97.5th percentile: 32–11%), and decrease item utilization by 6.9% (2.5–97.5th percentile: 1.5–13%), compared to the baseline traditional cafeteria scenario. This study suggests that share tables have potential to safely reduce food waste. While share tables are predicted to slightly increase the illness prevalence, that risk is manageable by applying mitigation strategies.

High efficacy of layered controls for reducing exposure to airborne pathogens.

To optimize strategies for curbing the transmission of airborne pathogens, the efficacy of three key controls-face masks, ventilation, and physical distancing-must be well understood. In this study, we used the Quadrature-based model of Respiratory Aerosol and Droplets to quantify the reduction in exposure to airborne pathogens from various combinations of controls. For each combination of controls, we simulated thousands of scenarios that represent the tremendous variability in factors governing airborne transmission and the efficacy of mitigation strategies. While the efficacy of any individual control was highly variable among scenarios, combining universal mask-wearing with distancing of 1m or more reduced the median exposure by more than 99% relative to a close, unmasked conversation, with further reductions if ventilation is also enhanced. The large reductions in exposure to airborne pathogens translated to large reductions in the risk of initial infection in a new host. These findings suggest that layering controls is highly effective for reducing transmission of airborne pathogens and will be critical for curbing outbreaks of novel viruses in the future.

Proposed multidimensional pain outcome methodology to demonstrate analgesic drug efficacy and facilitate future drug approval for piglet castration.

Castration of male piglets in the United States is conducted without analgesics because no Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved products are labeled for pain control in swine. The absence of approved products is primarily due to a wide variation in how pain is measured in suckling piglets and the lack of validated pain-specific outcomes individually indistinct from other biological responses, such as general stress or inflammation responses with cortisol. Simply put, to measure pain mitigation, measurement of pain must be specific, quantifiable, and defined. Therefore, given the need for mitigating castration pain, a consortium of researchers, veterinarians, industry, and regulatory agencies was formed to identify potential animal-based outcomes and develop a methodology, based on the known scientific research, to measure pain and the efficacy of mitigation strategies. The outcome-based measures included physiological, neuroendocrine, behavioral, and production parameters. Ultimately, this consortium aims to provide a validated multimodal methodology to demonstrate analgesic drug efficacy for piglet castration.Measurable outcomes were selected based on published studies suggesting their validity, reliability, and sensitivity for the direct or indirect measurement of pain associated with surgical castration in piglets. Outcomes to be considered are observation of pain behaviors (i.e. ethogram defined behaviors and piglet grimace scale), gait parameters measured with a pressure mat, infrared thermography of skin temperature of the cranium and periphery of the eye, and blood biomarkers. Other measures include body weight and mortality rate.This standardized measurement of the outcome variable's primary goal is to facilitate consistency and rigor by developing a research methodology utilizing endpoints that are well-defined and reliably measure pain in piglets. The resulting methodology will facilitate and guide the evaluation of the effectiveness of comprehensive analgesic interventions for 3- to 5-day-old piglets following surgical castration.

A quantitative risk assessment to evaluate the efficacy of mitigation strategies to reduce highly pathogenic avian influenza virus, subtype H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) in the Menoufia governorate, Egypt

BackgroundThe poultry industry in Egypt has been suffering from endemic highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) virus, subtype H5N1 since 2006. However, the emergence of H9N2, H5N8, and H5N2 in 2011, 2016, and 2019 respectively, has aggravated the situation. Our objective was to evaluate how effective are the mitigation strategies by a Quantitative Risk Assessment (QRA) model which used daily outbreak data of HPAI-H5N1 subtype in Egypt, stratified by different successive epidemic waves from 2006 to 2016.ResultsBy applying the epidemiologic problem-oriented approach methodology, a conceptual scenario tree was drawn based on the knowledgebase. Monte Carlo simulations of QRA parameters based on outbreak data were performed using @Risk software based on a scenario-driven decision tree. In poultry farms, the expected probability of HPAI H5N1 prevalence is 48% due to failure of mitigation strategies in 90% of the time during Monte Carlo simulations. Failure of efficacy of these mitigations will raise prevalence to 70% with missed vaccination, while failure in detection by surveillance activities will raise it to 99%. In backyard poultry farms, the likelihood of still having a high HPAI-H5N1 prevalence in different poultry types due to failure of passive and active surveillance varies between domestic, mixed and reservoir. In mixed poultry, the probability of HPAI-H5N1 not detected by surveillance was the highest with a mean and a SD of 16.8 × 10–3 and 3.26 × 10–01 respectively. The sensitivity analysis ranking for the likelihood of HPAI-H5N1 in poultry farms due to missed vaccination, failure to be detected by passive and active surveillance was examined. Among poultry farms, increasing vaccination by 1 SD will decrease the prevalence by 14%, while active and passive surveillance decreases prevalence by 12, and 6%, respectively. In backyard, the active surveillance had high impact in decreasing the prevalence by 16% in domestic chicken. Whereas the passive surveillance had less impact in decreasing prevalence by 14% in mixed poultry and 3% in domestic chicken.ConclusionIt could be concluded that the applied strategies were not effective in controlling the spread of the HPAI-H5N1 virus. Public health officials should take into consideration the evaluation of their control strategies in their response.

Microbial Contamination of Drinking Water Supplied by Private Wells after Hurricane Harvey.

Hurricane Hurricane Harvey made landfall on the Texas Gulf Coast on August 25, 2017, as a Category 4 hurricane and caused widespread flooding. We explored spatial and temporal distributions of well testing and contamination rates; relationships between contamination and system characteristics and recovery behaviors; and efficacy of mitigation strategies. We estimated that over 500 000 well users (∼130 000 to 260 000 wells) may have been affected, but only around 15 000 well users (∼3800 to 7500 wells) had inundated systems based on inundation maps. Local health departments and our team sampled 8822 wells in 44 counties in the 10 months that followed. Total coliform occurrence was 1.5 times and Escherichia coli was 2.8 times higher after Hurricane Harvey compared to baseline levels. Microbial contamination was more likely (1.7-2.5 times higher) when wells were inundated and/or residents felt their water was unsafe. Although more wells in urban counties were affected, E. coli rates were higher in wells in rural counties. Disinfection did not always eliminate contamination, highlighting concerns about the implementation and efficacy of chlorination procedures. Despite this extensive well testing conducted after Hurricane Harvey, we estimate that only 4.1% of potentially affected wells were tested, underscoring the magnitude of recovery assistance needed to assist well users after flooding events.

Eastern Equine Encephalitis Virus: A Scoping Review of the Global Evidence.

Background: Eastern equine encephalitis virus (EEEV) is a mosquito-borne virus that is primarily found in North America and the Caribbean. Over the past decade there has been an increase in virus activity, including large outbreaks in human and horse populations. Predicted climate change is expected to affect the range of mosquitoes including vectors of EEEV, which may alter disease risk posing a public health concern.Methods: A scoping review (ScR) was conducted to identify and characterize the global evidence on EEEV. A thorough search was conducted in relevant bibliographic databases and government websites. Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts for relevance and the characteristics of relevant articles were extracted using a uniformly implemented data collection form. The study protocol was developed a priori and described the methods and tools used and this article follows the PRISMA-ScR guidelines for reporting ScRs.Results: The ScR included 718 relevant research articles. The majority of the articles originated from North America (97%) between 1933 and 2019. EEEV has been identified in 35 species of mosquitoes, over 200 species of birds, various domestic animals, wild mammals, reptiles, and amphibians. Articles identified in this ScR primarily covered three topic areas: epidemiology of hosts and vectors (344 articles) including surveillance results (138), pathogenesis of EEEV in hosts (193), and in vitro studies characterizing EEEV (111). Fewer articles evaluated the accuracy of diagnostic tests (63), the efficacy of mitigation strategies (62), transmission dynamics (56), treatment of EEEV in hosts (10), societal knowledge, attitudes, and perceptions (4), and economic burden (2).Conclusion: With the projected impact of climate change on mosquito populations, it is expected that the risk of EEEV could change resulting in higher disease burden or spread into previously unaffected areas. Future research efforts should focus on closing some of the important knowledge gaps identified in this ScR.

The changing landscape of SARS-CoV-2: Implications for the maternal-infant dyad.

The COVID-19 pandemic represents the greatest challenge to date faced by the medical community in the 21st century. The rate of rapid dissemination, magnitude of viral contagiousness, person to person transmission at an asymptomatic phase of illness pose a unique and dangerous challenge for all patients, including neonatal and obstetric patients. Although scientific understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease, nature of transmission, and efficacy of mitigation strategies is growing, neither a cure or vaccine have been developed. While COVID-19 is primarily a disease of older patients, infection is now seen across all age demographics with reports of illness in pregnant patients and infants. Altered hormone status and predominance of Th-2 immune helper cells may result in increased predisposition to SARS-CoV-2. Case reports of pregnant patients demonstrate a clinical presentation comparable to non-pregnant adults, but evidence of vertical transmission to the fetus is controversial. Neonatal reports demonstrate an inconsistent and non-specific phenotype, and it is often difficult to separate COVID-19 from the underlying conditions of prematurity or bacterial infection. The development of international registries to enable risk profiling of COVID-19 positive pregnant mothers and/or their offspring may facilitate the development of enhanced mitigation strategies, medical treatments and effective vaccinations.

Practical implications of erythromycin resistance gene diversity on surveillance and monitoring of resistance.

Use of antibiotics in human and animal medicine has applied selective pressure for the global dissemination of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Therefore, it is of interest to develop strategies to mitigate the continued amplification and transmission of resistance genes in environmental reservoirs such as farms, hospitals and watersheds. However, the efficacy of mitigation strategies is difficult to evaluate because it is unclear which resistance genes are important to monitor, and which primers to use to detect those genes. Here, we evaluated the diversity of one type of macrolide antibiotic resistance gene (erm) in one type of environment (manure) to determine which primers would be most informative to use in a mitigation study of that environment. We analyzed all known erm genes and assessed the ability of previously published erm primers to detect the diversity. The results showed that all known erm resistance genes group into 66 clusters, and 25 of these clusters (40%) can be targeted with primers found in the literature. These primers can target 74%–85% of the erm gene diversity in the manures analyzed.