OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) skin and soft tissue infections (SSTIs) recurrence ranges from 16% to 43% and presents significant challenges to clinicians, patients, and families. This comparative effectiveness research study aims to disseminate, implement and evaluate whether an existing intervention, consisting of decolonization and decontamination procedures, which has been determined to be effective in hospital intensive care unit settings, can be implemented by Community Health Workers (CHWs) or “promotoras” conducting home visits prevent recurrence of CA-MRSA and transmission within their households for patients presenting to primary care with SSTIs. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: In partnership with 3 Community Health Centers and 4 community hospitals in NYC, this study will recruit patients (n=278) with confirmed MRSA SSTIs and their household members. Participants are randomized to receive either a CHW/Promotora-delivered decolonization-decontamination intervention or usual care, which includes hygiene education. The highly engaged stakeholder team meets monthly to review interim results, identify areas for refinement and new research questions, and develop and implement strategies to improve participant engagement and retention. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: MRSA and MSSA were found in 19% and 21.1% of wound cultures, respectively. 59.5% with MRSA+ wound culture had one or more MRSA+ surveillance culture; 67.8% with MSSA+ wound culture had one or more MSSA+ surveillance culture. The “warm handoff” approach, developed and implemented by the stakeholder team to engage patients from their initial consent to return of lab results and scheduling of the home visits, helped improve completion of baseline home visits by 14%, from 45% to 59% of eligible participants. Home visits have demonstrated that 60% of households had at least one surface contaminated with S. aureus. Of the surfaces that tested positive in the households, nearly 20% were MRSA and 81% were MSSA; 32.5% of household members had at least one surveillance culture positive for S. aureus (MRSA: 7.7%, MSSA: 92.3%). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This study aims to understand the systems-level, patient-level, and environmental-level factors associated with SSTI recurrence and household transmission, and to examine the interactions between bacterial genotypic and clinical/phenotypic factors on decontamination, decolonization, SSTI recurrence and household transmission. This study will evaluate the barriers and facilitators of implementation of home visits by CHWs in underserved populations, and aims to strengthen the weak evidence base for implementation of strategies to reduce SSTI recurrence and household transmission.

This paper presents an experimental articulatory characterisation of lateral /l/ and nasal /n/ in Basque, using MRI midsagittal images. In order to assess previous observations of retroflexion or velarisation in these consonants in Basque, a battery of articulatory parameters is used which can be directly measured on the images. This set of parameters, focused on the description of the tongue shape and position, permits a fine-grained characterisation of the articulation of the two consonants under study, indicating the possible existence of a double articulation pattern in /l/ and, less clearly, in /n/. The results help to compensate for the lack of experimental descriptions on the articulation of Basque.

Our survey of antimicrobial stewardship practices among Rhode Island long-term care facilities demonstrated opportunities to develop formal programs. Results suggest infection preventionists are largely responsible for ensuring appropriate antibiotic use in long-term care facilities and there is a need for increased interdisciplinary access to individuals with antimicrobial stewardship expertise.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2016;37:979–982

Previous studies on the association between alcohol intake and the development of the metabolic syndrome (MetS) have yielded inconsistent results. Besides, few studies have analysed the effects of red wine (RW) consumption on the prevalence of the MetS and its components. As moderate RW drinkers have a better lipid profile and lower incidence rates of diabetes, hypertension and abdominal obesity, all components of the MetS, it was hypothesised that moderate RW consumption could be associated with a lower prevalence of the MetS. In the present cross-sectional study of 5801 elderly participants at a high cardiovascular risk included in the PREDIMED (Prevención con Dieta Mediterránea) study, 3897 fulfilled the criteria of the MetS at baseline. RW intake was recorded using a validated 137-item FFQ. Multiple logistic regression analysis was carried out to estimate the association between RW intake and the prevalence of the MetS. Compared with non-drinkers, moderate RW drinkers ( ≥ 1 drink/d) were found to have a reduced risk of prevalent MetS (OR 0·56, 95 % CI 0·45, 0·68; P< 0·001), a lower risk of having an abnormal waist circumference (OR 0·59, 95 % CI 0·46, 0·77; P< 0·001), low HDL-cholesterol concentrations (OR 0·42, 95 % CI 0·32, 0·53; P< 0·001), high blood pressure (OR 0·28, 95 % CI 0·17, 0·45; P< 0·001) and high fasting plasma glucose concentrations (OR 0·67, 95 % CI 0·54, 0·82; P< 0·001) after adjusting for several confounders. This association was found to be stronger in female participants, in participants aged < 70 years and in participants who were former or current smokers. No significant association was found between RW intake ( ≥ 1 drink/d) and TAG concentrations. In conclusion, moderate RW consumption is associated with a lower prevalence of the MetS in an elderly Mediterranean population at a high cardiovascular risk.

Cephalopods (Mollusca: Cephalopoda) play an important role as keystone invertebrates in various marine ecosystems, as well as being a valuable fisheries resource. At the World Malacological Congress, held 21–28 July 2013 in Ponta Delgada, Azores, Portugal, a number of cephalopod experts convened to honour the contribution of the late Malcolm R. Clarke, FRS (1930–2013) to cephalopod research. Endorsed by the Cephalopod International Advisory Council (CIAC), the meeting discussed some of the major challenges that cephalopod research will face in the future. These challenges were identified as follows: (1) to find new ways to ascertain the trophic role and food web links of cephalopods using hard tissues, stable isotopes and novel concepts in theoretical ecology; (2) to explore new approaches to the study of cephalopod morphology; (3) to further develop cephalopod aquaculture research; (4) to find new ways to ascertain cephalopod adaptation and response to environmental change; (5) to strengthen cephalopod genetics research; and (6) to develop new approaches for cephalopod fisheries and conservation. The present paper presents brief reviews on these topics, followed by a discussion of the general challenges that cephalopod research is bound to face in the near future. By contributing to initiatives both within CIAC and independent of CIAC, the principle aim of the paper is to stimulate future cephalopod research.

Two Steiner triple systems (V, 𝓑) and (V, 𝓓) are orthogonal if they have no triples in common, and if for every two distinct intersecting triples {x,y,z} and {x, y, z} of 𝓑, the two triples {x,y,a} and {u, v, b} in (𝓓 satisfy a ≠ b. It is shown here that if v ≡ 1,3 (mod 6), v ≥ 7 and v ≠ 9, a pair of orthogonal Steiner triple systems of order v exist. This settles completely the question of their existence posed by O'Shaughnessy in 1968.

Given integers ν, a and b, when does a pairwise balanced design on ν elements with a triples and b quadruples exist? Necessary conditions are developed, and shown to be sufficient for all v ≥ 96. An extensive set of constructions for pairwise balanced designs is used to obtain the result.

The existence of 1-factorizations of the complete multigraph λKn which cannot be decomposed into 1-factorizations with smaller λ is studied.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate for graphs the existence of certain valuations which have some "magic" property. The question about the existence of such valuations arises from the investigation of another kind of valuations which are introduced in [1] and are related to cyclic decompositions of complete graphs into isomorphic subgraphs.

Throughout this paper the word graph will mean a finite undirected graph without loops or multiple edges having at least one edge. By G(m, n) we denote a graph having m vertices and n edges, by V(G) and E(G) the vertex-set and the edge-set of G, respectively. Both vertices and edges are called the elements of the graph.