Hand hygiene is a simple, low-cost intervention that may lead to substantial population-level effects in suppressing acute respiratory infection epidemics. However, quantification of the efficacy of hand hygiene on respiratory infection in the community is lacking. We searched PubMed for randomised controlled trials on the effect of hand hygiene for reducing acute respiratory infections in the community published before 11 March 2021. We performed a meta-regression analysis using a Bayesian mixed-effects model. A total of 105 publications were identified, out of which six studies reported hand hygiene frequencies. Four studies were performed in household settings and two were in schools. The average number of handwashing events per day ranged from one to eight in the control arms, and four to 17 in the intervention arms. We estimated that a single hand hygiene event is associated with a 3% (80% credible interval (−1% to 7%)) decrease in the daily probability of an acute respiratory infection. Three of these six studies were potentially at high risk of bias because the primary outcome depended on self-reporting of upper respiratory tract symptoms. Well-designed trials with an emphasis on monitoring hand hygiene adherence are needed to confirm these findings.

Analyses of macroscopic charcoal, sediment geochemistry (%C, %N, C/N, δ13C, δ15N), and fossil pollen were conducted on a sediment core recovered from Stella Lake, Nevada, establishing a 2000 year record of fire history and vegetation change for the Great Basin. Charcoal accumulation rates (CHAR) indicate that fire activity, which was minimal from the beginning of the first millennium to AD 750, increased slightly at the onset of the Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA). Observed changes in catchment vegetation were driven by hydroclimate variability during the early MCA. Two notable increases in CHAR, which occurred during the Little Ice Age (LIA), were identified as major fire events within the catchment. Increased C/N, enriched δ15N, and depleted δ13C values correspond with these events, providing additional evidence for the occurrence of catchment-scale fire events during the late fifteenth and late sixteenth centuries. Shifts in the vegetation community composition and structure accompanied these fires, with Pinus and Picea decreasing in relative abundance and Poaceae increasing in relative abundance following the fire events. During the LIA, the vegetation change and lacustrine geochemical response was most directly influenced by the occurrence of catchment-scale fires, not regional hydroclimate.

Carbonaceous meteorites contain a large variety of complex organic molecules, including amino acids, nucleobases, sugar derivatives, amphiphiles, and other compounds of astrobiological interest. Photoprocessing of ices condensed on cold grains with ultraviolet (UV) photons was proposed as an efficient way to form such complex organics in astrophysical environments. This hypothesis was confirmed by laboratory experiments simulating photo-irradiation of ices containing H2O, CH3OH, CO, CO2, CH4, H2CO, NH3, HCN, etc., condensed on cold (~10–80 K) substrates. These experiments resulted in the formation of amino acids, nucleobases, sugar derivatives, amphiphilic compounds, and other organics comparable to those identified in carbonaceous meteorites. This work presents results for the formation of sugars, sugar alcohols, sugar acids, and their deoxy variants from the UV irradiation of ices containing H2O and CH3OH in relative proportions 2:1, and their comparison with meteoritic data. The formation mechanisms of these compounds and the astrobiological implications are also discussed.

Solvency II came into force on 1 January 2016 and included a transitional measure on technical provisions (“TMTP”) designed to help smooth in the capital impact of Solvency II over a 16-year period. The working party’s view is that the main intention of the TMTP is to mitigate the impact of the introduction of the risk margin, which significantly increases the technical provisions of firms, relative to their Solvency I Pillar 2 liabilities.

The majority of firms who hold a TMTP have now had at least one recalculation approved by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA); or are in the process of applying for a recalculation. Despite this large number of approved recalculations, there remains significant uncertainty in the industry around the approach and triggers for recalculation.

This paper considers aspects of TMTP recalculation for regulated UK life firms, for example practicalities of the calculation, asset and liability considerations, and communications/announcements.

In this paper, we outline the need for pragmatism when considering the approach to recalculation of a measure originally intended to serve as the bridge between two regimes. We call for an allowance for doing what is sensible in a principles-based regime balancing what might be more theoretically correct with what is practical and possible to support effective management of the business.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The primary goal of this project is to verify findings from a murine prostatitis model in the human setting. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Methods include primary cell isolation and culture, FACS, adoptive transfer, 3D cell culture, histology, immunofluorescence, xenograft, and tissue recombination. The study population includes patients undergoing HoLEP or radical prostatectomy due to hyperplasia or adjacent bladder or prostate cancer. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Having verified similar sensitivities to androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors between naive murine and human basal prostate stem cells, we anticipate that autoimmune inflammation in humans affects the response of basal prostate stem cells in a manner similar to the murine setting as well. This includes increased proliferation, increased differentiation, and decreased response to AR inhibitors. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The identification of survival mechanisms used by basal prostate stem cells in an androgen deprived environment may give insight to the process by which prostate cancer becomes androgen independent. The effect of inflammation on proliferation, survival, and AR signaling in these cells may also provide information relevant to cancer initiation and progression.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: The primary goal of this project is to verify murine findings in the human setting. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The methods include primary cell isolation and culture, FACS, adoptive transfer, 3D-cell culture, histology, immunofluorescence, xenograft, and tissue recombination. The study population includes patients undergoing radical prostatectomy due to hyperplasia or adjacent bladder or prostate cancer. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Having verified similar sensitivities to androgen receptor (AR) inhibitors between naive murine and human basal prostate stem cells, we anticipate that autoimmune inflammation in humans affects the response of basal prostate stem cells in a manner similar to the murine setting as well. This includes increased proliferation, differentiation, and response to AR inhibitors. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The identification of survival mechanisms used by basal prostate stem cells in an androgen deprived environment may give insight to the process by which prostate cancer becomes androgen independent. The effect of inflammation on proliferation, survival, and AR signaling in these cells may also provide information relevant to cancer initiation and progression.

Making predictions about aliens is not an easy task. Most previous work has focused on extrapolating from empirical observations and mechanistic understanding of physics, chemistry and biology. Another approach is to utilize theory to make predictions that are not tied to details of Earth. Here we show how evolutionary theory can be used to make predictions about aliens. We argue that aliens will undergo natural selection – something that should not be taken for granted but that rests on firm theoretical grounds. Given aliens undergo natural selection we can say something about their evolution. In particular, we can say something about how complexity will arise in space. Complexity has increased on the Earth as a result of a handful of events, known as the major transitions in individuality. Major transitions occur when groups of individuals come together to form a new higher level of the individual, such as when single-celled organisms evolved into multicellular organisms. Both theory and empirical data suggest that extreme conditions are required for major transitions to occur. We suggest that major transitions are likely to be the route to complexity on other planets, and that we should expect them to have been favoured by similarly restrictive conditions. Thus, we can make specific predictions about the biological makeup of complex aliens.