There is a tendency in academia to expect humanities graduates to have an innate understanding of the significance of their educational training, even in the midst of a diminishing regard for their chosen subjects within educational policy and public discourse. This pedagogical reflection explores the experience of two tutors and eight students on a final-year module called “The Public Role of the Humanities.” Grounded in the pedagogical principle that the Liberal Arts offers interdisciplinary education for engaged citizenship, its remit is to explore the ways in which arts and humanities perspectives play a vital role in all walks of public life. The module is designed to help students understand how they can bring their educational training to bear not just on future careers but also on the kinds of paid jobs and volunteering roles in which they are already engaged. The students each create a podcast reflecting on this topic. In this article, we discuss the shared experience of thinking about the public humanities, including situations where issues and disagreements arose. We draw conclusions about how to move beyond defensive discourse about value and instead integrate interdisciplinary insights and approaches with daily living and working practices.

The Republic of Korea's economy has been one of the economic marvels of the last few decades, growing rapidly and steadily, with few downturns. By 2010, the ROK had the world's 12th largest GDP, and ranked 10th among nations in electricity consumption and production, 10th in gas imports, 9th in oil consumption, and 4th in oil imports. The ROK has become an international force in several industries, including steel, automobiles, and electronics, and has experienced a large increase in the living standards of its people, as well as in urbanization. Much of the ROK's energy needs are supplied by imports, and the ROK has embraced nuclear power as a key source of electricity.

Although the framers of the Commonwealth Constitution, steeped in the study of American federalism, found the United States Constitution a valuable model which they could copy or adapt to the requirements of the six federating Australian colonies, they deliberately departed from the judicial provisions of that model in two major respects: first by creating the High Court of Australia as a general court of appeal from the Supreme Courts of the States; and, secondly, by empowering the Parliament to invest State courts with jurisdiction in all matters which might be brought before the High Court in its original jurisdiction.

Much has been made about the impact of new technologies on the organisation of work in the professions. However, the gendered effect of technological change has rarely been a focus of investigation, even though these transformations are occurring in a context of persistent and pervasive gendered inequality. This paper aims to address this gap, using the case of the legal profession to understand the gendered impact of technological change. Drawing on insights developed through interviews with 33 senior legal stakeholders, the paper finds that technological change plays out in contradictory ways, offering both promise and peril for gender equality within the legal profession. We identify four key concepts – bifurcation, democratisation, humanisation, and flexibilisation – to elucidate the intricate interplay between technology and gendered legal careers, acknowledging the dual potential that technology holds for advancement and adversity. We argue for proactive measures and strategies to be adopted by legal institutions, professional associations, and employers, to harness the benefits of new technologies while mitigating the very real risks such technologies pose to a more gender-equitable future of work.

Background: Neonatal intensive care units (NICU) outbreaks caused by methicillin-susceptible Staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) are less commonly reported than outbreaks caused by methicillin-resistant S. aureus. We report an unusual outbreak of MSSA skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) in a level IV NICU investigated by whole genome sequencing (WGS) and molecular typing. Methods: An investigation was initiated in a 56-single-bed NICU after four patients developed MSSA SSTIs in Week 1. Case-patients had positive MSSA cultures identified by clinical cultures or surveillance sampling (bilateral nares, axillae, umbilicus, and groin), and antibiotic susceptibility testing was performed. WGS and assessment of isolate relatedness through mutation event analysis and multi-locus sequence typing (MLST) was performed by the NYS DOH. Demographic and isolate characteristics were compared using Wilcoxon rank sum test, Fisher’s exact test and Pearson’s Chi-squared test, as appropriate. Results: From Week 2 to Week 32, 9 rounds of surveillance for MSSA colonization were conducted. In all, 30 case-patients had MSSA colonization and 16 infants developed infections including impetigo (n=7), pustules (n=5), staphylococcal scalded skin syndrome (SSSS, n=2), abscess (n=1), and bacteremia (n=1). All SSTI cases presented on infants’ faces, all of whom were on non-invasive respiratory support. MLST identified 4 distinct types including MLST 121 (n=12), MLST 398 (n=10), MLST 30 (n=6), and MLST 15 (n=6). Eight isolates were unrelated to other isolates. MLST 398 and MLST 30 included isolates not closely related (>9 mutation events). The 12 MLST 121 isolates were closely related (≤9 mutational events between all isolates), harbored the mupA gene, and were mupirocin-resistant (MIC>1024 ug/ml). Clinical infection and mupirocin resistance were associated with MLST 121 (Table 1). Multiple infection control measures were implemented, including increased availability of alcohol-based hand sanitizers, introducing bare-below-the-elbows practice for staff, contact precautions for case-patients, decolonization with mupirocin and chlorhexidine baths, environmental cleaning/disinfection, and removing excess equipment and supplies. No new cases of mupirocin-resistant or MLST 121 SSTIs occurred after Week 25. Conclusion: We report a MSSA outbreak associated with multiple MLST types and a predominant mupirocin-resistant strain. This report highlights the ability of molecular typing to characterize strains causing infections versus colonization and the potential loss of mupirocin as a control measure when outbreaks are caused by mupirocin-resistant strains. WGS analysis allows for increased discrimination of mutation events allowing for improved resolution of case relatedness compared to other typing methods. Successful control of this outbreak was achieved with a multitude of infection prevention and control.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Women are twice as susceptible to ailments like anxiety, PTSD, and Alzheimer’s disease compared to men. The locus coeruleus (LC), the primary source of noradrenaline for the brain is implicated in these disorders, however physiological sex differences have never been assessed in the LC. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: To address this gap, In vivo electrophysiology under anesthesia was used to measure single unit activity of noradrenergic LC firing patterns in 4-month-old wild-type Fischer male and female rats. Recordings measured neuronal activity under basal conditions and in response to a footshock stimulation which elicits burst firing in LC neurons. Single unit activity is sorted via automatic valley seeking scan PCA, additional manual sorting is done via line and template method. Analysis is done extracting interspike interval (ISI) and firing rate of single units, additional analysis is done to quantify properties of bursting patterns (burst duration, spikes per burst, interburst interval, etc…). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: This data shows that during LC burst firing, females have longer interspike intervals compared to males, supporting the inhibitory effect of E2 on LC firing. Additionally, females have significantly different waveform patterns than males, indicating possible differences in intrinsic properties, but further supporting sexually distinct physiology of the LC . Because female rats have been estrous cycle tracked via vaginal lavage, stratification into estrus groups and further analysis may uncover differences within females. These data suggest that estrogen acts as a potent neuromodulator of noradrenergic LC neurons, providing valuable insights into the physiology of this brain region. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: This study is the first exploration of LC physiological sex differences. This work offers insights into a critical brain region implicated in many diseases, and may pave the way for future therapeutic approaches, particularly for women, who are at a higher risk of neurological disease developing.

The Vestfold Hills are a 400 km2, isolated ice-free oasis in eastern Antarctica featuring large areas with translucent quartz rocks that provide habitat for hypolithic microbial communities underneath. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing of 16S and 18S ribosomal RNA amplicons to characterize bacterial and eukaryotic hypolithic communities across the Vestfold Hills. We found high-level, local heterogeneity in community structure consistent with limited dispersal between hypoliths. Hypolithic communities were dominated by heterotrophic Bacteroidetes (mean bacterial relative read abundance: 56%) as well as Cyanobacteria (35%), with the eukaryote component often dominated by Chlorophyta (43%). Small but significant proportions of the variation in microbial community composition and function were explained by soil salinity (5–7%) and water availability (8–11%), with distinct taxa associated with different salinities and water availabilities. Furthermore, many inferred bacterial metabolic pathways were enriched in hypolithic communities from either dry or high-salinity sites. Vestfold Hills hypolithic habitats are likely to be local refuges for bacterial and eukaryotic diversity. Gradients in soil salinity and water availability across the Vestfold Hills, in addition to the number and diversity of lake types and fjords as potential source populations, may contribute to the observed variation in the extremophile, hypolithic microbial community composition.