Multicenter clinical trials are essential for evaluating interventions but often face significant challenges in study design, site coordination, participant recruitment, and regulatory compliance. To address these issues, the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences established the Trial Innovation Network (TIN). The TIN offers a scientific consultation process, providing access to clinical trial and disease experts who provide input and recommendations throughout the trial’s duration, at no cost to investigators. This approach aims to improve trial design, accelerate implementation, foster interdisciplinary teamwork, and spur innovations that enhance multicenter trial quality and efficiency. The TIN leverages resources of the Clinical and Translational Science Awards (CTSA) program, complementing local capabilities at the investigator’s institution. The Initial Consultation process focuses on the study’s scientific premise, design, site development, recruitment and retention strategies, funding feasibility, and other support areas. As of 6/1/2024, the TIN has provided 431 Initial Consultations to increase efficiency and accelerate trial implementation by delivering customized support and tailored recommendations. Across a range of clinical trials, the TIN has developed standardized, streamlined, and adaptable processes. We describe these processes, provide operational metrics, and include a set of lessons learned for consideration by other trial support and innovation networks.

Helium or neopentane can be used as surrogate gas fill for deuterium (D2) or deuterium-tritium (DT) in laser-plasma interaction studies. Surrogates are convenient to avoid flammability hazards or the integration of cryogenics in an experiment. To test the degree of equivalency between deuterium and helium, experiments were conducted in the Pecos target chamber at Sandia National Laboratories. Observables such as laser propagation and signatures of laser-plasma instabilities (LPI) were recorded for multiple laser and target configurations. It was found that some observables can differ significantly despite the apparent similarity of the gases with respect to molecular charge and weight. While a qualitative behaviour of the interaction may very well be studied by finding a suitable compromise of laser absorption, electron density, and LPI cross sections, a quantitative investigation of expected values for deuterium fills at high laser intensities is not likely to succeed with surrogate gases.

Two introduced carnivores, the European red fox Vulpes vulpes and domestic cat Felis catus, have had extensive impacts on Australian biodiversity. In this study, we collate information on consumption of Australian birds by the fox, paralleling a recent study reporting on birds consumed by cats. We found records of consumption by foxes on 128 native bird species (18% of the non-vagrant bird fauna and 25% of those species within the fox’s range), a smaller tally than for cats (343 species, including 297 within the fox’s Australian range, a subset of that of the cat). Most (81%) bird species eaten by foxes are also eaten by cats, suggesting that predation impacts are compounded. As with consumption by cats, birds that nest or forage on the ground are most likely to be consumed by foxes. However, there is also some partitioning, with records of consumption by foxes but not cats for 25 bird species, indicating that impacts of the two predators may also be complementary. Bird species ≥3.4 kg were more likely to be eaten by foxes, and those <3.4 kg by cats. Our compilation provides an inventory and describes characteristics of Australian bird species known to be consumed by foxes, but we acknowledge that records of predation do not imply population-level impacts. Nonetheless, there is sufficient information from other studies to demonstrate that fox predation has significant impacts on the population viability of some Australian birds, especially larger birds, and those that nest or forage on the ground.

Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon (14C) dates in North American archaeology is increasing, especially among archaeologists working in deeper time. However, historical archaeologists have been slow to embrace these new techniques, and there have been only a few examples of the incorporation of calendar dates as informative priors in Bayesian models in such work in the United States. To illustrate the value of Bayesian approaches to sites with both substantial earlier Native American occupations as well as a historic era European presence, we present the results of our Bayesian analysis of 14C dates from the earlier Guale village and the Mission period contexts from the Sapelo Shell Ring Complex (9MC23) in southern Georgia. Jefferies and Moore have explored the Spanish Mission period deposits at this site to better understand the Native American interactions with the Spanish during the 16th and 17th centuries along the Georgia Coast. Given the results of our Bayesian modeling, we can say with some degree of confidence that the deposits thus far excavated and sampled contain important information dating to the 17th-century mission on Sapelo Island. In addition, our modeling of new dates suggests the range of the pre-Mission era Guale village. Based on these new dates, we can now say with some degree of certainty which of the deposits sampled likely contain information that dates to one of the critical periods of Mission period research, the AD 1660–1684 period that ushered in the close of mission efforts on the Georgia Coast.

Potential yield losses in grain sorghum due to weed interference based on quantitative data from the major grain sorghum-growing areas of the United States are reported by the WSSA Weed Loss Committee. Weed scientists and extension specialists who researched weed control in grain sorghum provided data on grain sorghum yield loss due to weed interference in their region. Data were requested from up to 10 individual experiments per calendar year over 10 yr between 2007 and 2016. Based on the summarized information, farmers in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Texas would potentially lose an average of 37%, 38%, 30%, 56%, 61%, and 60% of their grain sorghum yield with no weed control, and have a corresponding annual monetary loss of US $19 million, 302 million, 7 million, 32 million, 25 million, and 314 million, respectively. The overall average yield loss due to weed interference was estimated to be 47% for this grain sorghum-growing region. Thus, US farmers would lose approximately 5,700 million kg of grain sorghum valued at approximately US $953 million annually if weeds are not controlled. With each dollar invested in weed management (based on estimated weed control cost of US $100 ha−1), there would be a return of US $3.80, highlighting the return on investment in weed management and the importance of continued weed science research for sustaining high grain sorghum yield and profitability in the United States.

Herbicides have been a primary means of managing undesirable brush on grazing lands across the southwestern United States for decades. Continued encroachment of honey mesquite and huisache on grazing lands warrants evaluation of treatment life and economics of current and experimental treatments. Treatment life is defined as the time between treatment application and when canopy cover of undesirable brush returns to a competitive level with native forage grasses (i.e., 25% canopy cover for mesquite and 30% canopy cover for huisache). Treatment life of industry-standard herbicides was compared with that of aminocyclopyrachlor plus triclopyr amine (ACP+T) from 10 broadcast-applied honey mesquite and five broadcast-applied huisache trials established from 2007 through 2013 across Texas. On average, the treatment life of industry standard treatments (IST) for huisache was 3 yr. In comparison, huisache canopy cover was only 2.5% in plots treated with ACP+T 3 yr after treatment. The average treatment life of IST for honey mesquite was 8.6 yr, whereas plots treated with ACP+T had just 2% mesquite canopy cover at that time. Improved treatment life of ACP+T compared with IST life was due to higher mortality resulting in more consistent brush canopy reduction. The net present values (NPVs) of ACP+T and IST for both huisache and mesquite were similar until the treatment life of the IST application was reached (3 yr for huisache and 8.6 yr for honey mesquite). At that point, NPVs of the programs diverged as a result of brush competition with desirable forage grasses and additional input costs associated with theoretical follow-up IST necessary to maintain optimum livestock forage production. The ACP+T treatments did not warrant a sequential application over the 12-yr analysis for huisache or 20-yr analysis for honey mesquite that this research covered. These results indicate ACP+T provides cost-effective, long-term control of honey mesquite and huisache.

Classrooms are key social settings that impact children's mental health, though individual differences in physiological reactivity may render children more or less susceptible to classroom environments. In a diverse sample of children from 19 kindergarten classrooms (N = 338, 48% female, M age = 5.32 years), we examined whether children's parasympathetic reactivity moderated the association between classroom climate and externalizing symptoms. Independent observers coded teachers’ use of child-centered and teacher-directed instructional practices across classroom social and management domains. Children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity to challenge tasks was assessed in fall and a multi-informant measure of externalizing was collected in fall and spring. Both the social and the management domains of classroom climate significantly interacted with children's respiratory sinus arrhythmia reactivity to predict spring externalizing symptoms, controlling for fall symptoms. For more reactive children, as classrooms shifted toward greater proportional use of child-centered methods, externalizing symptoms declined, whereas greater use of teacher-dominated practices was associated with increased symptoms. Conversely, among less reactive children, exposure to more teacher-dominated classroom management practices was associated with lower externalizing. Consistent with the theory of biological sensitivity to context, considering variability in children's physiological reactivity aids understanding of the salience of the classroom environment for children's mental health.

Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) has played an important role in the evolution of nematodes. Among candidate genes, cyanase, which is typically found only in plants, bacteria and fungi, is present in more than 35 members of the Phylum Nematoda, but absent from free-living and clade V organisms. Phylogenetic analyses showed that the cyanases of clade I organisms Trichinella spp., Trichuris spp. and Soboliphyme baturini (Subclass: Dorylaimia) represent a well-supported monophyletic clade with plant cyanases. In contrast, all cyanases found within the Subclass Chromadoria which encompasses filarioids, ascaridoids and strongyloids are homologous to those of bacteria. Western blots exhibited typical multimeric forms of the native molecule in protein extracts of Trichinella spiralis muscle larvae, where immunohistochemical staining localized the protein to the worm hypodermis and underlying muscle. Recombinant Trichinella cyanase was bioactive where gene transcription profiles support functional activity in vivo. Results suggest that: (1) independent HGT in parasitic nematodes originated from different Kingdoms; (2) cyanase acquired an active role in the biology of extant Trichinella; (3) acquisition occurred more than 400 million years ago (MYA), prior to the divergence of the Trichinellida and Dioctophymatida, and (4) early, free-living ancestors of the genus Trichinella had an association with terrestrial plants.

The one-atmosphere experimental melting and crystallization relations of some basic lavas of Réunion Island, Indian Ocean, are investigated. They comprise products of the extinct volcano Piton des Neiges and the active volcano Piton de la Fournaise. New data and interpretations are presented for the 1939 oceanite and its contained glass, originally described by Lacroix (1939a). The liquidus v. iron enrichment curves for these Réunion lavas fall about 20 °C above those of the lavas of Kilauea, Hawaii. The primitive liquid reaching the surface contained about 10 % MgO.

Dicamba-resistant crops are being rapidly embraced by growers in the United States to manage glyphosate-resistant and other difficult-to-control broadleaf weeds. However, dicamba resistance in kochia, one of the troublesome weeds of the North American Great Plains, is already widespread. Hence, POST application of dicamba may not adequately control kochia. In recent years in the High Plains Region of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska, dicamba has been widely applied, often in combination with atrazine or metribuzin, in early spring for PRE control of kochia. However, there is concern this use pattern may increase the selection for dicamba-resistant (DR) kochia. Hence, there is need to understand the efficacy of dicamba applied PRE versus POST for managing DR kochia. A greenhouse study was conducted to test the efficacy of PRE-applied dicamba compared with POST application using both DR and dicamba-susceptible (DS) kochia. Efficacies of PRE-applied dicamba were compared at seeding densities of 300, 600, 900 and 1200 viable seed m−2. At eight weeks after PRE and four weeks after POST treatment, control of DR kochia seeded at 300 viable seed m−2 was improved from 10% with 560 g ae ha−1 dicamba applied POST to 94 and 97% with 350 and 420 g ha−1 dicamba applied PRE, respectively. However, the efficacy of PRE-applied dicamba was negatively correlated with seed density. When kochia seeding density was increased from 300 to 1200 seed m−2, the ED50 of PRE-applied dicamba increased from 237 to 705 g ae ha−1 for DR kochia, and from 129 to 361 g ae ha−1 for DS kochia, respectively. Thus, PRE-applied dicamba was effective in controlling the population of DR kochia tested, suggesting that PRE-applied dicamba may still provide substantial control of some DR kochia populations. However, it is not advisable to apply dicamba alone for PRE kochia control.

To determine the effectiveness of glacial erosion and the magnitude of cosmogenic nuclide inheritance from prior periods of cosmic-ray exposure, we measured the abundance of 10Be and 26Al in nine samples collected from bedrock, boulders and cobbles exposed by the retreat of Tumbling Glacier, Baffin Island, Canada. Most samples had nuclide concentrations so low that we were only able to set upper limits for nuclide abundance. Three boulders, two on a Neoglacial moraine of Tumbling Glacier that impounds Crater Lake and one on a roche moutonnée within the Neoglacial moraine loop, had nuclide abundances indicating no more than 900 yr of exposure at the surface. Three bedrock samples, striated by Tumbling Glacier and exposed by ice retreat within the last 20 yr, have similarly low nuclide abundances. One bedrock sample, covered by Tumbling Glacier ice for some part of the Holocene but not eroded, allows us to estimate crudely the duration of Neoglaciation at our sample site (about 5450 yr) and to provide a lower limit on the erosion rate of Tumbling Glacier (0.10 ± 0.03 mm a–1). We analyzed two cobbles collected from the tops of roches moutonnées at Crater Lake; one cobble had the equivalent of 3000 yr of exposure, the other < 900 yr.

Trumpetcreeper [Campsis radicans (L.) Seem.] grown from 10-cm root sections was more susceptible to foliar applications of 2,4-D [(2,4-dichlorophenoxy)acetic acid] and dicamba (3,6-dichloro-o-anisic acid) than trumpetcreeper grown from 45-cm root sections. Dicamba controlled trumpetcreeper better than did 2,4-D, particularly trumpetcreeper grown from 45-cm root sections. More 14C-dicamba than 14C-2,4-D was absorbed through the foliage and translocated to the roots of trumpetcreeper grown from 10-cm roots. No 14C-2,4-D was detected in the 45-cm roots; however, 14C-dicamba was recovered from both the upper and the lower sections of the 45-cm roots.

The existing method for the analysis of 3-tert-butyl-5-chloro-6-methyluracil (terbacil) has been modified so that electron capture gas chromatography may be used for quantitation. The crop extract was applied to a powdered cellulose column, the interferences were eluted with hexane, and the terbacil was subsequently eluted with ethyl acetate. The ethyl acetate fraction may be used for analysis directly.

Analysis of 3-tert-butyl-5-chloro-6-methyluracil (terbacil) in treated and untreated pairs of purple nutsedge (Cyperus rotundus L.), connected by rhizomes, indicated translocation of the herbicide. The tops and tubers of connected, untreated plants contained approximately 10% as much terbacil as did plants treated directly.