Recent developments in widefield radio telescopes have enabled searches of a new region of parameter space in the time domain: timescales of seconds to minutes, that have been overlooked in traditional surveys. These searches have revealed a new population of sources: long period transients, which typically show periodic behaviour of minutes to hours. In addition they have detected phenomena ranging from extreme scintillation to stellar radio bursts. However, almost all searches to date have involved archival data that has been processed in offline, batch mode. In this context, we present VASTER, the first short-timescale imaging and transient detection pipeline running in real time on a widefield radio telescope. VASTER has been running on the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) since July 2025, and images most of the ASKAP survey project data on timescales of 15 minutes. In this paper we describe the VASTER system, and present the results from the first two weeks of operation, including the discovery of two long period transients: ASKAP J165130.3–450520 with a period of 6.48 hours and ASKAP J170036.6–445758 with a period of 4.69 hours. The detection of these two sources adds to the small, but growing, population of long period transients, as well as demonstrating the potential of VASTER to explore this region of transient parameter space.

Background: Invasive Staphylococcus aureus (SA) infections are a common cause of sepsis in premature infants admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). While a quality improvement team effectively reduced methicillin resistant (MRSA) invasive infections, methicillin susceptible (MSSA) infections remained problematic. As a result, there was a renewed effort to understand MSSA infection transmission and reduce invasive MSSA infections. Methods: The primary outcome was invasive MSSA infection, most commonly bacteremia, in the NICU. Environmental cultures identified MSSA on high touch point areas and whole genome sequencing (WGS) confirmed there were both endemic strains and independently introduced strains. New interventions to reduce invasive SA infections included additional environmental cleaning of clinical workstations with effectiveness measured by fluorescent marking and a start of shift chlorhexidine (CHG) /alcohol (Avaguard) below the elbow wash for NICU staff. Babies were screened weekly for MSSA/MRSA colonization. Results: In 2023 and 2024 when there were no MRSA infections, there were nine MSSA infections (Figure 1). WGS confirmed that environmental MSSA strains were recovered from infants. Increased screening for MSSA with selective decolonization with mupirocin for high risk infants did not temporally change invasive infection rates and the mupA gene for high level mupirocin resistance was identified in a subset of colonizing strains. There were no significant changes in rates of new colonization for either MSSA or MRSA in 2025. After 1697 days there was one MRSA infection in September 2025. Introducing enhanced environmental cleaning and below the elbow disinfection for staff was temporally associated with a reduction in invasive MSSA infections with only two MSSA infections in 2025, most recently in March. As of January 1, 2026 the NICU has gone nine months without a MSSA infection. Conclusions: Increased environmental cleaning of clinical workstations with a start of shift below the elbow staff disinfection has resulted in a sustained reduction in invasive MSSA infection without a significant reduction in colonization rates. Additional work is ongoing to further understand if SA environmental colonization is reduced and whether current strains colonizing infants are identical to those that have caused invasive infection in the past.

Objectives/Goals: The Never-in-mitosis A-related (NEK) kinases are a family of 11 poorly explored kinases that play varying roles in cellular processes. Aberrant NEK activity is implicated in various human diseases, including cancer. We hypothesize that NEK9 drives triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) motility. Methods/Study Population: Baseline NEK9 expression was determined across five breast cancer and three non-breast cancer cell lines by immunoblot. We expanded the analysis to six additional TNBC cell lines. To determine the impact of NEK9 on TNBC biology, we evaluated the effects of NEK9 pharmacological inhibition with novel inhibitor BA 03-53-11 (BA) at 0µM, 0.5µM, 1µM, and 2µM. We treated TNBC cell lines MDA-MB-231, BT-549, HS578T, and TNBC patient-derived cell line TUBcX-4IC and performed functional assays to assess impacts on cell motility (scratch assay), viability (crystal violet staining), and proliferation (Ki-67 staining). Results/Anticipated Results: NEK9 levels were elevated in the TNBC cell line compared to other breast cancer subtypes, osteosarcoma, and non-cancerous cells. Additionally, NEK9 protein expression was variable across TNBC cell lines. While pharmacological NEK9 inhibition did not significantly alter TNBC cell viability or proliferation, we observed that NEK9 inhibition suppressed cell motility in TNBC cells compared to vehicle control. Taken together, these preliminary results support a role for NEK9 in regulating TNBC progression. Our ongoing studies aim to test NEK9-mediated motility and proliferation in additional TNBC cell lines and evaluate NEK9 as a therapeutic target for this aggressive breast cancer subtype. Discussion/Significance of Impact: TNBC is an aggressive form of breast cancer that lacks targeted therapies. Because aberrant kinase activity underpins oncogenic transformation, kinase inhibitors have emerged as ideal therapeutic agents. Elucidation of NEK9 function in TNBC is essential for the development of novel therapeutics.

Human metapneumovirus (HMPV), which belongs to the a family, has shown the emergence of the A2b2 clade as the dominant global genotype. Whether this represents true evolutionary selection or surveillance artefacts remains unclear. We analysed 315 complete HMPV genome sequences (1994–2024) from the Nextstrain database using sampling-corrected statistical approaches, including temporal homogeneity testing, rarefaction analysis, and entropy-based dynamics to examine non-random patterns in A2b2 emergence. Temporal homogeneity testing revealed strong directional evolution towards A2b2 dominance (Z = −46.62, p < 0.001), confirming non-random patterns rather than surveillance artefacts. The clade showed strong persistence (206 self-transitions) with limited backward transitions. After controlling for sampling bias, A2b2 represented 68.3% (95% CI: 58.2–78.4) of isolates in 2023–2024. A2b2 demonstrated significantly higher temporal entropy (2.1) than other clades (A1: 1.2, A2a: 1.5, A2b1: 2.0), indicating more complex dynamics. Geographic rarefaction revealed significant regional structuring, with Africa showing the highest diversity (3.00, 95% CI: 1.00–3.05) despite lower sampling. HMPV A2b2’s global expansion represents genuine directional evolution with potential selective advantages, similar to patterns in respiratory syncytial virus. These findings underscore the need for enhanced genomic surveillance and integration of HMPV monitoring into respiratory virus surveillance frameworks to track emerging variants and assess public health implications.

Grazing impacts on soil organic carbon (SOC) are vexingly difficult to predict due to intricate interactions among site-specific weather, vegetation and specified grazing treatments. This longitudinal study capitalizes on a multi-decadal grazing experiment in the semiarid northern mixed-grass prairie of the North American Great Plains with grazing treatments of season-long light and heavy stocking rates, and exclosures (non-grazed) established in 1982 and soils sampled in 1993, 2003 and 2013. Increasing grazing intensity from non-grazed to heavy grazed reduced annual aboveground standing crop biomass and shifted the plant community dominance from cool-season (C3) to warm-season (C4) perennial grasses. Concentrations of SOC and soil nitrogen (N) decreased from 1993 to 2013 for the 0-5, 5-15 and 15-30 cm depths for all grazing treatments, but grazing intensity did not affect SOC and N with the exception of greater N concentrations observed in the 0-5 cm depth with season-long light grazing. Annual precipitation decreased 4.2 mm yr-1 from 1982 to 2013; conversely, mean annual maximum and minimum temperatures did not change. Observed directional trends in precipitation may likely impact ecosystem functioning for soil SOC and N concentrations more than grazing-induced changes in plant communities and aboveground production in this semiarid rangeland resulting in reducing expectations of increased SOC and N with livestock grazing in semiarid rangeland ecosystems of the North American Great Plains.

Scimitar syndrome is a rare CHD involving anomalous pulmonary venous drainage and lung hypoplasia. Severe cases complicate single ventricle palliation, prompting a shift to transplantation. Our case series highlights suboptimal outcomes despite this shift, emphasising the need for further research to optimise treatment in this challenging population.

Soil porewater chemistry underpins the quantification of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) in enhanced rock weathering (ERW), where alkalinity and dissolved ion measurements are used within monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) frameworks. The reliability of these measurements depends on the extraction method, with many in-field techniques constrained by soil moisture availability. This dependence can limit data continuity, reduce comparability across sites and seasons and introduce uncertainty into CDR-relevant interpretations. Here, we present and evaluate a new soil porewater extraction method, SATuration–Centrifugation (SAT-C), designed to obtain porewater from a defined soil volume independent of moisture conditions. The method combines saturation of intact soil cores using deionized water with centrifugation to recover porewater for chemical analysis. We compare SAT-C with conventional sampling using soils collected from grassland field sites, including sites amended with crushed basalt as part of ERW field trials. Across sites, SAT-C porewater chemistry shows strong agreement with rhizon samples for major ions, and bicarbonate concentrations inferred from charge balance are consistent with measured alkalinity. These initial results show that SAT-C provides a robust and reproducible approach for soil porewater extraction, with the potential to improve sampling reliability across variable conditions and thereby support more reliable carbon accounting in ERW.

When thoroughly assessed, the prevalence of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children/adolescents is estimated at 5%. There is no evidence that ADHD is over-diagnosed in the UK. Indeed, available data point to under-diagnosis, even though rigorous updated post-COVID-19 pandemic data are not available. Some cases may be misdiagnosed due to low-quality assessment, poor adherence to national guidance or inappropriate differential diagnosis. Beyond the controversy around over- or under-diagnosis and over-medicalisation of ordinary behaviours or emotions, the main issue is that UK clinical services cannot adequately support individuals with ADHD who need help. There is a risk that the narrative claiming ‘ADHD is over-diagnosed’ could be used to deny people with properly-diagnosed ADHD the care they deserve.