The combination of zero-valent iron (ZVI) and a clay-type amendment is often observed to have a synergistic effect on the rate of reduction reactions. In the present study, electrochemical techniques were used to determine the mechanism of interaction between the iron (Fe) and smectite clay minerals. Iron electrodes coated with an evaporated smectite suspension (clay-modified iron electrodes, CMIEs) were prepared using five different smectites: SAz-1, SWa-1, STx-1, SWy-1, and SHCa-1. All the smectites were exchanged with Na+ and one sample of SWy-1 was also exchanged with Mg2+. Potentiodynamic polarization scans and cyclic voltammograms were taken using the CMIEs and uncoated but passivated Fe electrodes. These electrochemical experiments, along with measurements of the amount of Fe2+ and Fe3+ sorbed in the smectite coating, suggested that the smectite removed the passive layer of the underlying Fe electrode during the evaporation process. Cyclic voltammograms taken after the CMIEs were biased at the active-passive transition potential for varying amounts of time suggested that the smectite limited growth of a passive layer, preventing passivation. These results are attributed to the Brønsted acidity of the smectite as well as to its ability to sorb Fe cations. Oxides that did form on the surface of the Fe in the presence of the smectite when it was biased anodically were reduced at a different electrochemical potential from those that form on the surface of an uncoated Fe electrode under otherwise similar conditions; this difference suggested that the smectite reacted with the Fe2+ formed from the oxidation of the underlying Fe. No significant correlation could be found between the ability of the smectite to remove the Fe passive film and the smectite type. The results have implications for the mixing of sediments and Fe particles in permeable reactive barriers, underground storage of radioactive waste in steel canisters, and the use of smectite supports in preventing aggregation of nano-sized zero-valent iron.

In 2020 a group of U.S. healthcare leaders formed the National Organization to Prevent Hospital-Acquired Pneumonia (NOHAP) to issue a call to action to address non–ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP). NVHAP is one of the most common and morbid healthcare-associated infections, but it is not tracked, reported, or actively prevented by most hospitals. This national call to action includes (1) launching a national healthcare conversation about NVHAP prevention; (2) adding NVHAP prevention measures to education for patients, healthcare professionals, and students; (3) challenging healthcare systems and insurers to implement and support NVHAP prevention; and (4) encouraging researchers to develop new strategies for NVHAP surveillance and prevention. The purpose of this document is to outline research needs to support the NVHAP call to action. Primary needs include the development of better models to estimate the economic cost of NVHAP, to elucidate the pathophysiology of NVHAP and identify the most promising pathways for prevention, to develop objective and efficient surveillance methods to track NVHAP, to rigorously test the impact of prevention strategies proposed to prevent NVHAP, and to identify the policy levers that will best engage hospitals in NVHAP surveillance and prevention. A joint task force developed this document including stakeholders from the Veterans’ Health Administration (VHA), the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Joint Commission, the American Dental Association, the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, Oral Health Nursing Education and Practice (OHNEP), Teaching Oral-Systemic Health (TOSH), industry partners and academia.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common birth defect for infants born in the United States, with approximately 36,000 affected infants born annually. While mortality rates for children with CHD have significantly declined, there is a growing population of individuals with CHD living into adulthood prompting the need to optimise long-term development and quality of life. For infants with CHD, pre- and post-surgery, there is an increased risk of developmental challenges and feeding difficulties. Feeding challenges carry profound implications for the quality of life for individuals with CHD and their families as they impact short- and long-term neurodevelopment related to growth and nutrition, sensory regulation, and social-emotional bonding with parents and other caregivers. Oral feeding challenges in children with CHD are often the result of medical complications, delayed transition to oral feeding, reduced stamina, oral feeding refusal, developmental delay, and consequences of the overwhelming intensive care unit (ICU) environment. This article aims to characterise the disruptions in feeding development for infants with CHD and describe neurodevelopmental factors that may contribute to short- and long-term oral feeding difficulties.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Objectives/goals: Describe the process used to develop leveled competencies and associated examples. Discuss the final leveled competencies and their potential use in clinical research professional workforce initiatives. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: The revised JTFCTC Framework 2.0 has 51 competency statements, representing 8 domains. Each competency statement has now been refined to delineate fundamental, skilled or advanced levels of knowledge and capability. Typically, the fundamental level describes the competency for a professional that requires some coaching and oversight, but is able to understand and identify basic concepts. The skilled level of the competency reflects the professional’s solid understanding of the competency and use of the information to take action independently in most situations. The advanced level embodies high level thinking, problem solving, and the ability to guide others in the competency. The process for developing both the three levels and examples involved 5 workgroups, each chaired by a content expert and comprising of national/international clinical research experts, including representatives from research sites, professional associations, government, and industry and academic sponsors. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The committee developed 51 specific competencies arrayed across 3 levels and examples of each to demonstrate an appropriate application of the competency. The competencies and examples, and potential utilization, will be described. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: The use of competencies in the context of workforce development and training initiatives is helping to create standards for the clinical research profession. These leveled competencies allow for an important refinement to the standards that can be used to enhance the quality and safety of the clinical research enterprise and guide workforce development.

We examined the prospective associations of objective and subjective measures of stress during pregnancy with infant stress reactivity and regulation, an early-life predictor of psychopathology. In a racially and ethnically diverse low-income sample of 151 mother–infant dyads, maternal reports of stressful life events (SLE) and perceived stress (PS) were collected serially over gestation and the early postpartum period. Infant reactivity and regulation at 6 months of age was assessed via maternal report of temperament (negativity, surgency, and regulation) and infant parasympathetic nervous system physiology (respiratory sinus arrhythmia [RSA]) during the Still Face Paradigm. Regression models predicting infant temperament showed higher maternal prenatal PS predicted lower surgency and self-regulation but not negativity. Regression models predicting infant physiology showed higher numbers of SLE during gestation predicted greater RSA reactivity and weaker recovery. Tests of interactions revealed SLE predicted RSA reactivity only at moderate to high levels of PS. Thus, findings suggest objective and subjective measures of maternal prenatal stress uniquely predict infant behavior and physiology, adjusting for key pre- and postnatal covariates, and advance the limited evidence for such prenatal programming within high-risk populations. Assessing multiple levels of maternal stress and offspring stress reactivity and regulation provides a richer picture of intergenerational transmission of adversity.

Core MAN015 from Pacific coastal Guatemala contains sediments accumulated in a mangrove setting over the past 6500 yr. Chemical, pollen, and phytolith data, which indicate conditions of estuarine deposition and terrigenous inputs from adjacent dry land, document Holocene climate variability that parallels the Maya lowlands and other New World tropical locations. Human population history in this region may be driven partly by climate variation: sedentary human populations spread rapidly through the estuarine zone of the lower coast during a dry and variable 4th millennium B.P. Population growth and cultural florescence during a long, relatively moist period (2800–1200 B.P.) ended around 1200 B.P., a drying event that coincided with the Classic Maya collapse.