The Blue Shield UK Underwater Heritage Working Group (UHWG) is dedicated to protecting underwater cultural heritage in crisis, both within the United Kingdom (UK), UK Overseas Territories and internationally. In pursuit of this mission, the UHWG’s objectives are threefold:

An important component of post-release monitoring of biological control of invasive plants is the tracking of species interactions. During post-release monitoring following the initial releases of the weevil Ceutorhynchus scrobicollis Nerenscheimer and Wagner (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) on garlic mustard, Alliaria petiolata (Marschall von Bieberstein) Cavara and Grande (Brassicaceae), in Ontario, Canada, we identified the presence of larvae of the tumbling flower beetle, Mordellina ancilla Leconte (Coleoptera: Mordellidae), in garlic mustard stems. This study documents the life history of M. ancilla on garlic mustard to assess for potential interactions between M. ancilla and C. scrobicollis as a biological control agent. Garlic mustard stems were sampled at eight sites across southern Ontario and throughout the course of one year to record the prevalence of this association and to observe its life cycle on the plant. We found M. ancilla to be a widespread stem-borer of late second–year and dead garlic mustard plants across sampling locations. This is the first host record for M. ancilla on garlic mustard. The observed life cycle of M. ancilla indicates that it is unlikely to negatively impact the growth and reproduction of garlic mustard and that it is unlikely to affect the use of C. scrobicollis as a biological control agent.

Objectives/Goals: Kentucky (KY) is a high priority ending the HIV epidemic state, with high rates of new HIV diagnoses tied to injection drug use. The overall goal of this pilot is to launch sentinel surveillance of bloodborne infections and drug compounds among people who inject drugs (PWID) to monitor trends in near-real time and inform rapid community response. Methods/Study Population: In collaboration with the Clark County, KY, syringe service program (SSP), the pilot study involves two 1-month waves of data collection: enrolling eligible SSP participants and conducting anonymous behavioral surveys, collection of participants’ syringes, laboratory testing of syringes to detect HIV and hepatitis C (HCV), drug residue testing through National Institute of Standards and Technology, and statistical modeling approaches to produce outputs of bloodborne infection and drug detection. Syringes are tested from each enrolled individual for: 1) HIV antibody; 2) HCV antibody; 3) HIV and HCV PCR; 4) HIV antigen; and 5) drug residue. Collaboration with community and PWID stakeholders will identify optimal messaging for reporting results. Results/Anticipated Results: The first wave community-facing pilot was conducted in September–October 2024. 29 survey responses were obtained; median age of the sample is 42 years, 55.2% are gender female; 37.9% reported unstable housing in the past week. Primary drugs of injection reported via survey in the prior month were methamphetamine (62.1%), heroin (13.8%), fentanyl (13.8%), buprenorphine (10.3%), meth and fentanyl in combination (3.4%). PWID reported returning 900 used syringes and a median of 15 per participant visit. At most recent testing, 69.0% reported a positive HCV test; 0% reported a positive HIV test. Some level of drug checking with fentanyl test strips in past month was reported by 51.7%. Initially, 20 syringes were tested for drug compounds; results are pending. HIV and HCV detection testing will be completed by early 2025. Discussion/Significance of Impact: Early results document proof of concept for our sentinel surveillance study; all individuals screened were willing to participate in surveys and syringe collection. New methods to identify risk for disease outbreaks and emerging drugs can inform rapid allocation of prevention resources at a community level, especially where testing is infrequent.

Invasive group A Streptococcal (iGAS) outbreaks have been linked to Community Healthcare Services Delivered at Home (CHSDH). There is, however, very limited evidence describing the epidemiology and mortality of iGAS cases associated with CHSDH. We used routine data to describe iGAS cases in adults who had received CHSDH prior to onset and compare characteristics between CHSDH-outbreak and non-outbreak CHSDH cases, in South East England between December 2021 and December 2023. There were 80/898 (8.9%) iGAS case episodes with CHSDH prior to onset; cases were in elderly people (50% aged 85 and over), and had primarily received wound or ulcer care (93.8%), with almost all care delivered by community nurses (98.8%). The 30-day all-cause case fatality was 26.3%. Emm 1.0 was the most common type (17.5%). In this period, 5/11 iGAS outbreaks (45.4%) were CHSDH-associated, and 25 cases with receipt of CHSDH prior to onset (31.3%, Confidence Interval [CI] 21.3–42.6%) were linked to these outbreaks. On univariate analysis, CHSDH-outbreak case episodes were more likely to be associated with emm pattern genotype E (OR 6.1 95% CI 1.8–20.9), and skin or soft tissue infection clinical presentation (OR 3.6, 95% CI 1.1–12.0) than non-outbreak CHSDH cases. There may be an increased risk of propagation of iGAS outbreaks in patients receiving CHSDH, emphasizing the need for rigorous early infection prevention and control, and outbreak surveillance.

A limitation of the Tukey HSD procedure for multiple comparison has been the requirement of equal number of observations for each group. Three approximation techniques have been suggested when the group sizes are unequal. Each of these techniques was empirically analyzed to determine its effect on Type I error. Two of the considered variables, average group size and differences in group size, caused differing actual probabilities of Type I error. One of the three techniques (Kramer's) consistently provided actual probabilities in close agreement with corresponding nominal probabilities.

The Durness Group of NW Scotland records deposition on the Laurentian margin from the basal Miaolingian (Cambrian, 509 Ma) to the Dapingian–Darriwilian boundary interval (Middle Ordovician, 470.3–468.9 Ma). The 930 m thick succession of peritidal and subtidal carbonates was deposited on the Scottish promontory, a nearly 120° deflection in the Palaeozoic continental margin between the Appalachian and Greenland sectors. These sediments were deposited as part of the Great American Carbonate Bank, a non-uniformitarian, continent-scale carbonate platform developed on the peneplaned craton. Measurement and description of a bed-by-bed composite section through the Durness Group provide a high-resolution reference framework that integrates conodont biostratigraphy, chemostratigraphy and sequence stratigraphy, including correlation with the Sauk megasequence and its subdivisions. The Sauk II–Sauk III sequence boundary marks the base of the group. The top of the group is faulted against rocks of the Moine thrust zone, generated by the Scandian orogeny, but sedimentation was probably terminated by the earlier Grampian arc–continent collision at 470–469 Ma. The highly mature quartz arenites of the underlying Ardvreck Group (Cambrian Series 2) indicate that there was no source-to-sink depositional continuity from the Hebridean foreland to the Dalradian Supergroup, which has coeval clastic sedimentary rocks of contrasting composition.

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have great potential to help address societal challenges that are both collective in nature and present at national or transnational scale. Pressing challenges in healthcare, finance, infrastructure and sustainability, for instance, might all be productively addressed by leveraging and amplifying AI for national-scale collective intelligence. The development and deployment of this kind of AI faces distinctive challenges, both technical and socio-technical. Here, a research strategy for mobilising inter-disciplinary research to address these challenges is detailed and some of the key issues that must be faced are outlined.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in reduced patient access and deferral of medical services. Long wait times for patients to access specialized medical care became a challenge to health care systems. Baycrest is an academic health sciences centre in Toronto, Canada, that specializes in post-acute and ambulatory care for older adults. As a result of deferred care, wait times for the mental health services increased significantly. This compelled the ambulatory mental health program to apply quality improvement Methods to identify and prioritize care for the most unwell people on the waitlist, while avoiding duplication of referrals between hospitals. This study aimed to assess the utility and feasibility of this new process.

Methods: The quality process involved a Rapid Design Event approach, where the mental health programs created inclusion and exclusion eligibility criteria and established a priority system to assign patients to one of three categories based on need: high priority, routine, and decline. Identification of high priority referrals was meant to allow the most unwell patients to be seen sooner. The central navigation process was refined through quality improvement huddles and standard feedback mechanisms. After three weeks of trialing the process, a sustainability plan to move to operations was applied, and results were continuously monitored through reports and improvement board huddles.

Results: In the first 3 months of implementation, the percentage of patients receiving meaningful clinical contact within 14 days of referral increased from 3.8% to 82.3%, with contact by a clinician within an average of 4 days. Across the ambulatory mental health programs, wait times for psychogeriatric assessment for high priority patients improved from 141 days to 31.8days. Factors leading to the improvement will bediscussed.

Conclusions: The central navigation and extended triage processes were found to be feasible and of great utility. The high priority patients who needed to be assessed sooner were identified through an extended triage process. Meaningful clinical contact was made within days and wait times reduced for those most in need. This demonstrated how a quality improvement process can lead to significant improvements in health care delivery.

This paper examines the population of corporate directors of Britain at the turn of the twentieth century. Over the period 1881-1911 the corporate form became the most common mode of business organisation for large businesses. As their number increased, the population of directors expanded and reflected an increasingly diversified corporate landscape. Based on a large-scale dataset, this paper analyses the characteristics and networks of this wider population of directors. The study goes beyond previous work, which has mainly focused on elite directors or prominent companies, and shows three key findings. First, the population of directors was very connected into a large network, complete isolation from this network was rare. Second, over 1881-1911 director interlocks with banks became less important for most sectors, while interlocks with other financial institutions such as trusts became increasingly important. Insurance companies stood out as the most connected sector spanning smaller local companies and larger international ones. Third, during the period studied there was a shift from director clusters that were mainly based on proximity, to those that were connected through industries.

While clozapine has risks, relative risk of fatality is overestimated. The UK pharmacovigilance programme is efficient, but comparisons with other drugs can mislead because of reporting variations. Clozapine actually lowers mortality, partly by reducing schizophrenia-related suicides, but preventable deaths still occur. Clozapine should be used earlier and more widely, but there should be better monitoring and better management of toxicity.

Garnierite from the Tocantins Complex at Niquelandia, Brazil, is a 15Å, dioctahedral clay mineral, nickeliferous nontronite. The principal octahedral cations are Fe3+, Al and Ni. The ferric state of the iron has been verified by ESCA. Ni occupies both the octahedral site and an exchange site. The garnierite formed (and is still forming) by the weathering of nickeliferous pyroxenite. Although the garnierite is a secondary product of weathering, it undergoes further change as weathering progresses: Ni and silica decrease, Fe3+ and Al increase, and the color changes from bright yellow green to red brown. Eventual breakdown of the garnierite leaves mainly hydrated oxides of iron and aluminum.

Invasive plants can gain a foothold in new environments by manipulating soil conditions through allelopathy or through the disruption of associations between native plants and their mycorrhizal associates. The resulting changes in soil conditions can affect the recovery of habitats long after the invasive plant has been removed. We conducted a series of greenhouse experiments to examine the effects of soil conditioned by pale swallow-wort [Vincetoxicum rossicum (Kleopow) Barbarich; Apocynaceae], on the growth of native plants. Additionally, we tested the effects of aqueous extracts of common milkweed (Asclepias syriaca L.; Apocynaceae), a related plant with known allelopathic effects, on the regrowth of V. rossicum from transplanted root crowns. Soil from a 15-yr-old V. rossicum infestation reduced seedling emergence in A. syriaca as well as in V. rossicum itself. Conversely, the same soil had no effect on the growth of mature A. syriaca plants. Soil conditioned by V. rossicum growth in the greenhouse had no effect on the biomass and percentage cover generated by two restoration seed mixes. Soil conditioned by A. syriaca, however, yielded lower biomass and percentage cover from both seed mixes. In contrast to the allelopathic effects of A. syriaca on seedlings, aqueous extracts of A. syriaca increased aboveground plant growth in V. rossicum. Our results suggest that the effects of V. rossicum–conditioned soil on native plants are concentrated at the seedling establishment phase. Additionally, the use of diverse native seed mixes shows great potential for restoring productivity to ecosystems affected by V. rossicum.