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The global lockdown to mitigate COVID-19 pandemic health risks has altered human interactions with nature. Here, we report immediate impacts of changes in human activities on wildlife and environmental threats during the early lockdown months of 2020, based on 877 qualitative reports and 332 quantitative assessments from 89 different studies. Hundreds of reports of unusual species observations from around the world suggest that animals quickly responded to the reductions in human presence. However, negative effects of lockdown on conservation also emerged, as confinement resulted in some park officials being unable to perform conservation, restoration and enforcement tasks, resulting in local increases in illegal activities such as hunting. Overall, there is a complex mixture of positive and negative effects of the pandemic lockdown on nature, all of which have the potential to lead to cascading responses which in turn impact wildlife and nature conservation. While the net effect of the lockdown will need to be assessed over years as data becomes available and persistent effects emerge, immediate responses were detected across the world. Thus, initial qualitative and quantitative data arising from this serendipitous global quasi-experimental perturbation highlights the dual role that humans play in threatening and protecting species and ecosystems. Pathways to favorably tilt this delicate balance include reducing impacts and increasing conservation effectiveness., Competing Interests: Authors declare no competing interests., (© 2021 Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Surgery of the sympathetic system is performed for a variety of indications, hyperhidrosis being a major one. Despite excellent results, sympathectomy for hyperhidrosis bears a number of sequels, some of which may be devastating. Several surgical methods, empirically advocated to alleviate these problems, have only limited success. Chronic in vivo recording of the electrical activity from sympathetic ganglia may assist in understanding and clarifying complex problems of sympathetic surgery; however, no suitable method has been reported. An electrode device developed by our group was implanted on the stellate ganglion, in a chronic animal model (dog). The signals obtained were amplified, filtered, and transmitted via an A/D interface to be acquired and saved on a computer, using special software which we developed. Our method enabled the separate recording of neuroelectrical signals, ECG, and respiration waves. An additional software program, also developed by our group, was used to analyze the data. This chronic animal model allows investigation of surgical and pharmacological manipulations of the sympathetic system.

Severe side effects such as hepatotoxicity and potentiation of the sympathomimetic action of tyramine ("the cheese effect") caused the withdrawal of nonselective irreversible monoamine oxidase (MAO) inhibitors from use in psychiatric therapy. The development of selective irreversible inhibitors for MAO type A did not eliminate cardiovascular side effects such as "the cheese effect" or, conversely, the hypotensive effect of these drugs. To overcome at least "the cheese effect," selective reversible MAO-A inhibitor antidepressants such as moclobemide and brofaromine have been developed. Being reversibly bound to MAO, these drugs may be displaced from their binding site in the intestine by ingested, indirectly sympathomimetic amines such as tyramine, thus avoiding the initiation of the hypertensive crises. Using a rat renal nerve preparation, we have demonstrated that acute administration of either moclobemide or brofaromine (10 mg/kg) does not cause a decrease in blood pressure or a significant reduction in sympathetic renal nerve activity. These data contrast with those obtained with clorgyline or desipramine. The results indicate that moclobemide and brofaromine may be devoid of a hypotensive effect, including orthostatic hypotension.

In rats anesthetized with pentobarbital/chloral hydrate, the i.v. injection of desipramine (0.3 mg/kg) caused a rapid fall in mean arterial blood pressure accompanied by a reduction in efferent renal nerve integrated activity. A similar reduction in electrical activity was seen in the preganglionic splanchnic nerve. Pretreatment of the rats with yohimbine (0.3 mg/kg) increased renal nerve activity by 20%, and the decrease in blood pressure and renal nerve activity elicited by a subsequent dose of desipramine was blocked. I.v. injection of prazosin (0.05 mg/kg) caused a reduction in systemic blood pressure. The hypotensive effect of a subsequent dose of desipramine was largely blocked, whereas the fall in renal nerve activity was attenuated, but still present. The data are consistent with an action of desipramine to reduce central sympathetic tone by increasing the release of endogenous noradrenaline which acts on alpha 2-adrenoceptors at CNS sites controlling sympathetic activity. An additional involvement of central alpha 1-adrenoceptors cannot be ruled out.