Project management expertise is employed across many professional sectors, including clinical research organizations, to ensure that efforts undertaken by the organization are completed on time and according to specifications and are capable of achieving the needed impact. Increasingly, project leaders (PLs) who possess this expertise are being employed in academic settings to support clinical and preclinical translational research team science. Duke University’s clinical and translational science enterprise has been an early adopter of project management to support clinical and preclinical programs. We review the history and evolution of project management and the PL role at Duke, examine case studies that illustrate their growing value to our academic research environment, and address challenges and solutions to employing project management in academia. Furthermore, we describe the critical role project leadership plays in accelerating and increasing the success of translational team science and team approaches frequently required for systems biology and “big data” scientific studies. Finally, we discuss perspectives from Duke project leadership professionals regarding the training needs and requirements for PLs working in academic clinical and translational science research settings.

The morphology and growth habits of Evactinopora species of the Evactinoporidae (new family) are documented. This distinctive family of free-living bryozoans has a radial colony form at all growth stages. During a brief attachment phase on a hard substrate, the colony morphology grew as an expanding cone with vertical folds. Following detachment of the nascent colony from this hard substrate, it settled on soft sediment and the free-living expanding colony acquired a star-like form by producing slender outrigger rays. Continued growth produced a radial array of vertical vanes containing feeding autozooecia. The colony maintained a vertical orientation on soft sediment by means of outrigger rays and secretion of solid skeleton on the colony base that provided ballast. The radial growth pattern, outrigger rays, and vertical vanes developed as adaptive characters suitable for free-living life on soft sediment. North American species of Evactinopora are redefined and described taxonomically on the basis of zoarial and zooecial characters and a new species, Evactinopora mangeri, erected. The new family Evactinoporidae is established on the basis of the novel characters of early colony detachment from a hard surface, radial growth pattern through life, generation of outrigger rays, and growth of vertical vanes from the top of rays.

UUID: http://zoobank.org/d2cf3b6d-72d2-49d5-afa0-c08710af7874

Bacterial cultures exposed to iron-doped apatite nanoparticles (IDANPs) prior to the introduction of antagonistic viruses experience up to 2.3 times the bacterial destruction observed in control cultures. Maximum antibacterial activity of these bacteria-specific viruses, or phage, occurs after bacterial cultures have been exposed to IDANPs for 1 hr prior to phage introduction, demonstrating that IDANP-assisted phage therapy would not be straight forward, but would instead require controlled time release of IDANPs and phage. These findings motivated the design of an electrospun nanofiber mesh treatment delivery system that allows burst release of IDANPs, followed by slow, consistent release of phage for treatment of topical bacterial infections. IDANPs resemble hydroxyapatite, a biocompatible mineral analogous to the inorganic constituent of mammalian bone, which has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration for many biomedical purposes. The composite nanofiber mesh was designed for IDANP-assisted phage therapy treatment of topical wounds and consists of a superficial, rapid release layer of polyethylene oxide (PEO) fibers doped with IDANPs, followed by inner, coaxial polycaprolactone / polyethylene glycol (PCL/PEG) blended polymer fiber layer for slower phage delivery. Our investigations have established that IDANP-doped PEO fibers are effective vehicles for dissemination of IDANPs for bacterial exposure and resultant increased bacterial death by phage. In this work, slower delivery of the phage behind IDANPs was accomplished using coaxial, electrospun fibers composed of PCL/PEG polymer blend.

Benchmarking strategies are needed to promote the appropriate use of antibiotics. We have adapted a simple regressive method in Microsoft Excel that is easily implementable and creates predictive indices. This method trends consumption over time and can identify periods of over- and underuse at the hospital level.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:860–862

Introduction: Cycling as a form of active transportation is popular in many urban communities. However, little is known about the prevalence and circumstances of cycling injuries, particularly injuries resulting from single bicycle crashes which are not recorded in road trauma surveillance systems based on police crash reports. This study aimed to examine the profile and circumstances of cycling injuries seen in an urban emergency department (ED). Methods: This was a cross-sectional historical chart review study. All injured patients attending our ED are electronically flagged according to mechanism of injury. We reviewed the medical charts of all ED visits in 2015 that were flagged as “Cyclist Injury” or “Fall” to identify all cyclists who were injured while travelling on public roads (including sidewalks). Off road injuries were excluded. Results: In 2015, a total of 6450 ED presentations were flagged as cyclist injury (n=694) or fall (n=5756), and 667 cycling injuries met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 73 (11%) were admitted to hospital. The most common mechanisms of injury were fall from bicycle (51%), crash into stationary object (16%), and collisions with moving motor vehicles (25%). Potential contributing factors included alcohol or drug impairment (11%), road hazards (9%), avoidance manoeuvre (5%) and dooring (3%), although the cause of the crash was generally poorly documented in the medical charts. The most common injured body regions were upper extremity (55%) followed by head and neck (34%). Most injuries were abrasions/lacerations and fractures. Conclusion: Two thirds of cyclist injuries in this series were caused by single bicycle incidents, events not captured in official road trauma statistics which are based on police crash reports. The large majority of injured cyclists were treated and released from the ED. In most cases, the cause of the crash was poorly documented. This data highlights the limitations of using police crash reports or hospital admission records for road trauma surveillance and the significant knowledge gap in our understanding of causative factors leading to cycling injuries.

Introduction: Walking as a form of active transportation is promoted by health professions and environmentalists alike. While the health benefits are indisputable, active transportation is not without risk. Pedestrians are vulnerable road users who often suffer serious injuries especially when involved with collisions with motor-vehicles. While pedestrian injuries involving motor-vehicles are captured in road trauma surveillance systems based on police crash reports, non-collision injuries in this population may be caused by poorly designed infrastructure but are seldom counted as road trauma. This gap hinders road improvement efforts aiming to increase safety for all road users. This study aims to address this knowledge gap. Our objective is to study the profile and circumstances of injuries in pedestrians presenting to ED. Methods: This was a cross-sectional historical chart review study. All injured patients attending our ED are electronically flagged according to mechanism of injury. We reviewed the medical charts of all ED visits flagged as “Pedestrian” or “Fall” to identify all injured pedestrians (defined in this study as anyone walking on a public roadway or getting on/off public transportation). All pedestrian injuries occurred in 2015 were included for chart review. Results: In 2015, a total of 6192 ED presentations were flagged as pedestrian (n=436) or fall (n=5756), and 1108 of these met our inclusion criteria. Of these, 181 (16%) were admitted to hospital. Older pedestrians (≥70 yrs) had a higher hospital admission rate (78/303; 27%) compared to younger ones (<70 yrs: 103/805; 13%). Collision with motor vehicles (MVCs) resulted in only 25% of pedestrian injuries while fall (or tripping) accounted for about 72%. MVC related injuries were more common in younger pedestrians (29% vs 13%) whereas fall related injuries occurred more in older pedestrians (85% vs 67%). The most commonly sustained injuries among the fallers were abrasions followed by fractures. Conclusion: Police crash reports (which capture only MVC related pedestrian injuries) or hospital admission data (which miss those who are treated and released from ED) do not capture all cases of pedestrian injury. ED visit data provides a more realistic count of pedestrian injuries. More pedestrian injuries are caused by falls than by MVCs and policymakers should pay more attention to fall prevention strategies for older pedestrians outside their home environment.

Among the most important stimuli for developing the FLAIR multi-object spectroscopy system on the 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope was its potential for carrying out large-scale redshift surveys of galaxies of intermediate magnitude (B <~ 17). During FLAIR’s lengthy development period, these objects provided the yardstick by which the system’s performance was measured, and a number of limited-area redshift surveys were carried out. We are now following these with a 1-in-3 survey over the 60 fields of the ROE/Durham Galaxy Catalogue to produce a redshift map of some 4000 galaxies out to a distance of ~ 300h−1 Mpc (where the parameter h is the Hubble constant expressed as a fraction of 100 kms−1 Mpc−1). In this paper we summarise the results from our redshift surveys to highlight the capabilities of FLAIR. We present a status report on the current large-scale survey, and show that the recently-introduced FLAIR II system will speed its progress considerably.

A recent outbreak of Q fever was linked to an intensive goat and sheep dairy farm in Victoria, Australia, 2012-2014. Seventeen employees and one family member were confirmed with Q fever over a 28-month period, including two culture-positive cases. The outbreak investigation and management involved a One Health approach with representation from human, animal, environmental and public health. Seroprevalence in non-pregnant milking goats was 15% [95% confidence interval (CI) 7–27]; active infection was confirmed by positive quantitative PCR on several animal specimens. Genotyping of Coxiella burnetii DNA obtained from goat and human specimens was identical by two typing methods. A number of farming practices probably contributed to the outbreak, with similar precipitating factors to the Netherlands outbreak, 2007-2012. Compared to workers in a high-efficiency particulate arrestance (HEPA) filtered factory, administrative staff in an unfiltered adjoining office and those regularly handling goats and kids had 5·49 (95% CI 1·29–23·4) and 5·65 (95% CI 1·09–29·3) times the risk of infection, respectively; suggesting factory workers were protected from windborne spread of organisms. Reduction in the incidence of human cases was achieved through an intensive human vaccination programme plus environmental and biosecurity interventions. Subsequent non-occupational acquisition of Q fever in the spouse of an employee, indicates that infection remains endemic in the goat herd, and remains a challenge to manage without source control.

The poorly known type species of Lingulella, Lingula davisii M'Coy, 1851b, is redefined from new material collected from the type locality and horizon (Upper Cambrian, North Wales). Lingulella is similar to Obolus and to Ungula in its musculature mantle canals, and pseudointerareas, but has a thinner shell and irregular pits over its internal surface, concentrated in the visceral areas. A dissolution method that can facilitate the study of lingulate brachiopods preserved in clastic lithologies is described, and its wider adoption is recommended in order to reveal diagnostic morphological characters.

Artificial lighting is a significant threat to biodiversity. Although efforts to reduce lighting are crucial for species’ conservation efforts, management is challenging because light at night is integral to modern society and light use is increasing with population and economic growth. The development and evaluation of appropriate light management strategies will require positive public support, and a comprehensive understanding of public engagement with light pollution. This is the first study to examine public engagement with reducing light at night for the protection of a threatened species. A community campaign to reduce artificial light use was initiated in 2008 to protect marine turtles at a globally significant nesting beach. Semi-structured questionnaires assessed community engagement with light-glow reduction, using an existing theoretical constraints framework. Despite high levels of cognitive and affective engagement (knowledge and concern), behavioural engagement (action) with light reduction in this community was limited. Community perceptions of light reduction were dominated by ‘uncertainty and scepticism’ and ‘externalizing responsibility/blame’, implying that behavioural engagement in this community may be increased by addressing these widely-held perceptions using modified campaign materials and/or strategic legislation. Further refinement of the theoretical constraints framework would better guide future empirical and conceptual research to improve understanding of public engagement with critical environmental issues.