Objectives/Goals: We will conduct a 12-week pilot randomized controlled trial (RCT) to test the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy of a staged-intensity whole foods intervention on hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) change in adults, diet quality change (via the 2020 healthy eating index [HEI-2020]) in adults and offspring, and diet adherence and social determinants of health (SDOH) considerations via focus groups. Methods/Study Population: In this two-arm, parallel RCT, 30 adults with prediabetes (25–59 years) and their offspring (6–18 years) will be randomized to receive the 1) 12-week whole foods intervention which includes a 2-week feeding period (all foods/recipies provided), a 6-week customizable feeding period (3 dinners/recipies weekly), and a 4-week maintenance period (no food/recipies). The control group will receive standard of care (i.e., single RD-led diet counseling session). Primary outcomes include feasibility (≥80% retention and completion of study outcome measures) and acceptability (≥75% adult self-reported diet satisfaction). Intervention effects include 1) HbA1c change at 12-weeks in adults and 2) adult/offspring HEI-2020 scores assessed via diet records. Focus groups will assess influences of SDOH on diet adherence. Results/Anticipated Results: We have received Institutional Review Board approval, and recruitment is planned for January 2025. We will enroll 30 families from the greater Nashville, TN area. An intent-to-treat analysis will be conducted to test the preliminary effects of the whole foods diet intervention on the 12-week change in HbA1c (adults only) and 2020-HEI diet quality scores during the intervention period (adults and offspring). Focus groups will be conducted to understand how individual and family needs/preferences and SDOH may be perceived barriers or facilitators of diet adherence. Data generated from this study will be used to guide a fully powered RCT of our whole foods intervention to assess long-term effects on additional diabetes and metabolic outcomes and assessment of SDOH influences to support long-term adherence. Discussion/Significance of Impact: A healthy diet pattern is an effective nonpharmacological solution to prevent T2D, but only if it can be maintained. A family-centered whole foods diet pattern that uses “food as medicine” and considers how individual and family needs/preferences, and SDOHs could be an effective and sustainable multigenerational solution to prevent T2D in families.

This systematic literature review aimed to provide an overview of the characteristics and methods used in studies applying the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) concept for infectious diseases within European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA)/European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries and the United Kingdom. Electronic databases and grey literature were searched for articles reporting the assessment of DALY and its components. We considered studies in which researchers performed DALY calculations using primary epidemiological data input sources. We screened 3053 studies of which 2948 were excluded and 105 studies met our inclusion criteria. Of these studies, 22 were multi-country and 83 were single-country studies, of which 46 were from the Netherlands. Food- and water-borne diseases were the most frequently studied infectious diseases. Between 2015 and 2022, the number of burden of infectious disease studies was 1.6 times higher compared to that published between 2000 and 2014. Almost all studies (97%) estimated DALYs based on the incidence- and pathogen-based approach and without social weighting functions; however, there was less methodological consensus with regards to the disability weights and life tables that were applied. The number of burden of infectious disease studies undertaken across Europe has increased over time. Development and use of guidelines will promote performing burden of infectious disease studies and facilitate comparability of the results.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: The goal of this project was to a) evaluate the first five years of Miami CTSI’s Pilot Translational and Clinical Studies Program using outcome measures that quantify research productivity augmented by the CTSA Common Metrics; and b) use the results to shape future program management. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Pilot Program applicant and awardee demographic data were collected during the first 5-year cycle of the Miami CTSI grant. Projects were categorized into the translation spectrum based on type of research using published guidelines. Research productivity from funded pilot projects were tracked annually using internal institutional grant award databases and external databases such as PubMed and NIH Reporter. CTSA Common Metrics were tracked using the Results Based Accountability framework. Relative Citation Ratio (RCR), NIH percentile and translation impact of pilot project publications were determined using the iCite tool (NIH Office of Portfolio Analysis). RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The Miami CTSI’s Pilot Award Program demonstrated notable success in its first five years. Of the twenty-two projects that were funded during that time period, 45% led to follow-on funding for a total of $17.2M—a strong return on investment of 15:1. Further, 77% of awardees had at least one publication. A total of four patents and 43 publications resulted directly from the funded projects. The mean RCR for all publications was 2.7, weighted RCR was 99.87, and nine papers were been cited by clinical documents. Overall, 63% of the projects were classified as T1/T2 (pre-clinical/clinical research) and 37% as T3/T4 (post-clinical translational research/public health). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Miami CTSI’s Pilot Award Program demonstrated success in scholarly output, follow on funding, and scientific impact. These results will serve as benchmarks going forward and will allow the CTSI to leverage program strengths in collaborating with other institutional internal award mechanisms.

There is ample evidence for a distorted presentation of the mentally ill in the media. However, only little is known about its impact on attitudes towards people with mental disorders. Therefore, we investigated the relationship between watching TV and reading the newspaper on the one hand, and the desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia on the other. In 2001, a representative population survey was conducted in Germany, using a fully structured personal interview. We found that the desire for social distance towards people with schizophrenia increases almost continuously with the amount of TV consumption. The association between reading the newspaper and social distance is less pronounced and depends on the type of newspaper people read. Since, obviously, there is a relationship between media consumption and attitudes towards people with schizophrenia, inaccurate and one-sided messages about mental disorders should be replaced by accurate and more balanced messages.

Many foreign aid donors brand development interventions. How do citizens in the donor country react to seeing this branding in action? We test the proposition that citizens will express higher levels of support for foreign aid when they see a branded foreign aid project relative to seeing the same project without branding. We present results from a survey-based laboratory experiment conducted in the United Kingdom where subjects learned about a typical foreign aid project and received a randomized UK branding treatment. Our results suggest that the branding treatments increase the likelihood that donor country respondents believe that aid recipients can identify the source of the foreign aid. Only among conservative respondents, however, does the evidence imply that branding increases support for foreign aid. “UK aid” branding increases conservative opinion that aid dollars are well spent and increases support among this group for the expansion of foreign aid.

The Dark Energy Survey is undertaking an observational programme imaging 1/4 of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the Dark Energy Survey will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts over 5 yr. Once gamma-ray bursts are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automated notices of gamma-ray burst activity, collates information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential gamma-ray burst host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software, and its data products, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to numerous previously detected gamma-ray bursts, including the possible identification of several heretofore unknown gamma-ray burst hosts.

Background: This study examines whether age is a key determinant for inflammatory response, oligodendroglial apoptosis and axonal survival after traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods: This study includes post-mortem spinal cord tissue from 64 cases of SCI (at cervical or high-thoracic level) and 38 controls cases. Each group was subdivided into younger and elderly individuals (≥65 years). Alternating sections from 2 to 3 segments caudal to SCI and age/sex/level-matched segments from controls were stained for: (i) neuroinflammation (neutrophils, macrophages, lymphocytes); (ii) apoptotic oligodendrocytes; (iii) axons; (iv) extent of degeneration. The number of cells or axons was counted in the motor and sensory areas within the spinal cord using unbiased stereological techniques. Results: Younger and elderly individuals had statistically similar number of inflammatory cells in most of the stages post-SCI. Younger and elderly individuals had similar number of oligodendrocytes in apoptosis in all stages following SCI. The number of preserved axons did not significantly differ between younger and elderly individuals with SCI and without prior CNS injury. Extend of degeneration within the spinal cord white matter did not significantly differ between the two groups. Conclusions: Our results indicate that age at the time of injury does not adversely affect the cellular inflammatory response, oligodendroglial apoptosis and axonal survival after traumatic SCI.

Branding of foreign aid may undermine government legitimacy in developing countries when citizens see social services being provided by external actors. We run a survey experiment on a sample of Indian respondents. All subjects learn about an HIV/AIDS program; treated subjects learn that it was foreign-funded. We find null results that, along with existing results in the literature obtained from observational data, call into question the view that foreign-funded service delivery interferes with the development of a fiscal contract between the state and its citizens.

Despite their pivotal role as primary producers, there is little information as to the diversity and physiology of cyanobacteria in the meltwater ecosystems of polar regions. Thirty cyanobacterial mats from Adelaide Island, Antarctica were investigated using 16S rRNA gene pyrosequencing and automated ribosomal intergenic spacer analysis, and screened for cyanobacterial toxins using molecular and chemical approaches. A total of 274 operational taxonomic units (OTUs) were detected. The richness ranged between 8 and 33 cyanobacterial OTUs per sample, reflecting a high mat diversity. Leptolyngbya and Phormidium (c. 55% and 37% of the OTUs per mat) were dominant. Cyanobacterial community composition was similar between mats, particularly those obtained from closely adjacent locations. The cyanotoxin microcystin was detected in 26 of 27 mats (10–300 ng g-1 organic mass), while cylindrospermopsin, detected for the first time in Antarctica, was present in 21 of 30 mats (2–156 ng g-1 organic mass). The latter was confirmed via liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry and by the presence of the cyrAB and cyrJ genes. This study demonstrates the usefulness of pyrosequencing for characterizing diverse cyanobacterial communities, and confirms that cyanobacteria from extreme environments produce a similar range of cyanotoxins as their temperate counterparts.

The purpose of the present study was first to identify drivers of variance in plasma metabolite profiles of cats and dogs that may affect the interpretation of nutritional metabolomic studies. A total of fourteen cats and fourteen dogs housed in environmentally enriched accommodation were fed a single batch of diet to maintain body weight. Fasting blood samples were taken on days 14, 16 and 18 of the study. Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), liquid chromatography (LC)–MS/MS and solid-phase extraction–LC–MS/MS analyses were used for metabolite profiling. Principal component (PC) analysis that indicated 31 and 27 % of the variance was explained in PC1 and PC2 for cats and dogs, respectively, with most individuals occupying a unique space. As the individual was a major driver of variance in the plasma metabolome, the second objective was to identify metabolites associated with the individual variation observed. The proportion of intra- and inter-individual variance was calculated for 109 cat and 101 dog metabolites with a low intra-individual variance (sd < 0·05). Of these, fifteen cat and six dog metabolites had inter-individual variance accounting for at least 90 % of the total variance. There were four metabolites common to both species (campesterol, DHA, a cholestenol and a sphingosine moiety). Many of the metabolites with >75 % inter-individual variance were common to both species and to similar areas of metabolism. In summary, the individual is an important driver of variance in the fasted plasma metabolome, and specific metabolites and areas of metabolism may be differentially regulated by individuals in two companion animal species.