The Minnesota Critical Care Working Group 1: Monitoring and Coordinating Statewide Critical Care Surge Response in the COVID-19 Pandemic, March 2020 Through July 1, 2021.

Background: In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and as part of the statewide health care coalition response, the Minnesota Critical Care Working Group (CCWG), composed of interprofessional leaders from the state's nine largest health systems, was established and entrusted to plan and coordinate critical care support for Minnesota from March 2020 through July 1, 2021.

Research Question: Can a statewide CCWG develop contingency and crisis-level surge strategies and indicators in response to the COVID-19 pandemic while evolving into a highly collaborative team?

Study Design And Methods: CCWG members (intensivists, ethicists, nurses, Minnesota Department of Health and Minnesota Hospital Association leaders) met by audio video conferencing as often as daily assessing COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 hospitalization data, developed surge indicators reflecting contingency vs crisis conditions, and planned responses collaboratively. A foundation of collaboration and teamwork developed which facilitated an effective statewide response.

The Minnesota Critical Care Working Group 2: Crisis Conditions During the COVID-19 Pandemic, July 2021 through March 2022.

Background: The Minnesota Statewide Healthcare Coordination Center requested that the Minnesota Critical Care Working Group (CCWG) and Ethics Working Group (EWG), comprising interprofessional leaders from Minnesota's 9 largest health systems, plan and coordinate critical care operations during the COVID-19 pandemic, including the fall 2021 surge.

Research Question: Can a statewide working group collaboratively analyze real-time evidence to identify crisis conditions and to engage state leadership to implement care processes?

Study Design And Methods: The CCWG and EWG met via videoconferencing during the severe surge of fall 2021 to analyze evidence and plan for potential crisis care conditions. Five sources of evidence informed their actions: group consensus on operating conditions, federal teletracking data, the Medical Operations Coordination Center (MOCC) patient placement data, and 2 surveys created and distributed to hospitals and health care professionals.

Accelerating the pace of elder justice policy to meet the needs of a growing aging population.

Policy measures designed to address elder abuse, neglect, and exploitation date back to decades, including the Older Americans Act of 1965. Over the years, various legislative actions have aimed to address elder mistreatment, culminating in the Elder Justice Act of 2010. Despite these efforts, policy changes lag behind need, and government funding appropriation is woefully inadequate.

HIF signaling in the prothoracic gland regulates growth and development in hypoxia but not normoxia in Drosophila.

The developmental regulation of body size is a fundamental life-history characteristic that in most animals is tied to the transition from juvenile to adult form. In holometabolous insects, this transition is ostensibly initiated at the attainment of a critical weight in the final larval instar. It has been hypothesized that the size-sensing mechanism used to determine attainment of critical weight exploits oxygen limitation as a larvae grows beyond the oxygen-delivery capacity of its fixed tracheal system; that is, developmentally induced cellular hypoxia initiates the synthesis of the molting hormone ecdysone by the prothoracic gland.

Modeling Organismal Responses to Changing Environments.

Throughout their lives, organisms must integrate and maintain stability across complex developmental, morphological, and physiological systems, all while responding to changing internal and external environments. Determining the mechanisms underlying organismal responses to environmental change and development is a major challenge for biology. This is particularly important in the face of the rapidly changing global climate, increasing human populations, and habitat destruction.