We compare two initial specimen diversion devices evaluated over 3 months to investigate their utility in lowering blood culture contamination rates at or below 1%. Overall contamination rates during trial periods were 2.46% and 2.60% but usage was low, whereas device-specific contamination rates were 0.68% and 0.8%, respectively.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Prostate cancer treatment is associated with significant genitourinary side effects. There is a critical need for treatment with decreased morbidity. We report the development of a novel treatment paradigm combining irreversible electroporation and lower dose radiation to provide prostate cancer patients with a less morbid treatment. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Intermediate risk prostate cancer patients will undergo focal irreversible electroporation followed by low dose, whole gland radiation therapy. The primary endpoint is freedom from clinically significant cancer on biopsy at 12-month follow up. Secondary endpoints include safety profile, oncologic efficacy, effectiveness of RT and need for secondary treatment. This trial (NCT05345444) and currently actively recruiting patients after initial feasibility trial. Sample size is calculated to detect an increase in the proportion of patients who are cancer free at 1-year, from 0.80 to 0.95. An exact binomial test with a 10% one-sided significance level will have 94.3% power to detect the difference between the null and alternative hypothesis when the sample size is 42. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: This is a clinical trial in progress. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Combined irreversible electroporation (IRE) and a lower dose radiotherapy (RTIRE) may provide prostate cancer patients a treatment with minimal side effects.

The relationship between pitch-naming ability and childhood onset of music training is well established and thought to reflect both genetic predisposition and music training during a critical period. However, the importance of the amount of practice during this period has not been investigated. In a population sample of twins (N = 1447, 39% male, 367 complete twin pairs) and a sample of 290 professional musicians (51% male), we investigated the role of genes, age of onset of playing music and accumulated childhood practice on pitch-naming ability. A significant correlation between pitch-naming scores for monozygotic (r = .27, p < .001) but not dizygotic twin pairs (r = −.04, p = .63) supported the role of genetic factors. In professional musicians, the amount of practice accumulated between ages 6 and 11 predicted pitch-naming accuracy (p = .025). In twins, age of onset was no longer a significant predictor once practice was considered. Combined, these findings are in line with the notion that pitch-naming ability is associated with both genetic factors and amount of early practice, rather than just age of onset per se. This may reflect a dose–response relation between practice and pitch-naming ability in genetically predisposed individuals. Alternatively, children who excel at pitch-naming may have an increased tendency to practice.

The National Institute of Mental Health's Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework has prompted a paradigm shift from categorical psychiatric disorders to considering multiple levels of vulnerability for probabilistic risk of disorder. However, the lack of neurodevelopmentally based tools for clinical decision making has limited the real-world impact of the RDoC. Integration with developmental psychopathology principles and statistical methods actualize the clinical implementation of RDoC to inform neurodevelopmental risk. In this conceptual paper, we introduce the probabilistic mental health risk calculator as an innovation for such translation and lay out a research agenda for generating an RDoC- and developmentally informed paradigm that could be applied to predict a range of developmental psychopathologies from early childhood to young adulthood. We discuss methods that weigh the incremental utility for prediction based on intensity and burden of assessment, the addition of developmental change patterns, considerations for assessing outcomes, and integrative data approaches. Throughout, we illustrate the risk calculator approach with different neurodevelopmental pathways and phenotypes. Finally, we discuss real-world implementation of these methods for improving early identification and prevention of developmental psychopathology. We propose that mental health risk calculators can build a needed bridge between the RDoC multiple units of analysis and developmental science.

Mental health disorders are prevalent among youth and adolescents in low- and middle-income countries, and access to evidence-based treatments is poor. Although there is a great need for high-quality research to serve young people in low- and middle-income countries, there is limited guidance available for researchers who wish to conduct such work. Here, we describe our process of conducting school-based youth mental health work in Kenya over the last several years. We focus on five key lessons we learned that could guide future global mental health work with youth: (a) reducing stigma with strengths-focused interventions, (b) expanding access by working in schools, (c) generating buy-in from local stakeholders, (d) adapting the intervention via multicultural collaboration, and (e) applying insights from low- and middle-income countries to serve young people in high-income countries. We conclude by discussing how these lessons, and those shared by other teams, can be applied to help reduce the treatment gap for young people around the world.

Feed represents a substantial proportion of production costs in the dairy industry and is a useful target for improving overall system efficiency and sustainability. The objective of this study was to develop methodology to estimate the economic value for a feed efficiency trait and the associated methane production relevant to Canada. The approach quantifies the level of economic savings achieved by selecting animals that convert consumed feed into product while minimizing the feed energy used for inefficient metabolism, maintenance and digestion. We define a selection criterion trait called Feed Performance (FP) as a 1 kg increase in more efficiently used feed in a first parity lactating cow. The impact of a change in this trait on the total lifetime value of more efficiently used feed via correlated selection responses in other life stages is then quantified. The resulting improved conversion of feed was also applied to determine the resulting reduction in output of emissions (and their relative value based on a national emissions value) under an assumption of constant methane yield, where methane yield is defined as kg methane/kg dry matter intake (DMI). Overall, increasing the FP estimated breeding value by one unit (i.e. 1 kg of more efficiently converted DMI during the cow’s first lactation) translates to a total lifetime saving of 3.23 kg in DMI and 0.055 kg in methane with the economic values of CAD $0.82 and CAD $0.07, respectively. Therefore, the estimated total economic value for FP is CAD $0.89/unit. The proposed model is robust and could also be applied to determine the economic value for feed efficiency traits within a selection index in other production systems and countries.

Diagenetic kaolinite in reservoir sandstones of the Brent Group precipitated following the dissolution of detrial feldspar. Two distinct morphologies of kaolinite occur: (1) early diagenetic vermiform kaolinite which is often associated with expanded detrital micas; (2) later diagenetic ‘blocky’ kaolinite. Combined hydrogen and oxygen isotopic studies suggest that vermiform kaolinite precipitated at 25–50°C, and blocky kaolinite at 50–80°C, from pore-waters of a similar isotopic composition (δ18O = −6.5 to −3.5‰). These pore-waters are interpreted to be either a mixture of meteoric and compactional waters, or alternatively a meteoric water that had evolved isotopically due to water-rock interaction. Kaolinite precipitation occurred predominantly during the late Cretaceous to early Eocene. Influx of meteoric water into the Brent Group, probably occurred during the Palaeocene. Fluid flow across the entire basin was driven by a hydrostatic head on the East Shetland Platform palaeo-landmass to the west. The development of the two kaolinite morphologies is possibly related to the degree of supersaturation at the time of precipitation. At low degrees of supersaturation, vermiform kaolinite precipitated slowly upon detrital mica surfaces. Blocky kaolinite precipitated more rapidly into open pore-space at higher degrees of supersaturation. Precipitation of blocky kaolinite was perhaps triggered by the decay of oxalate.

A three-fold zonation can be imaged within authigenic siderite from sandstones of the Brent Group using back-scatter SEM techniques. We interpret this zonation in terms of the biogeochemical zonation of shallow buried sediment. The innermost siderite crystal zone is very Fe rich (95.0±0.5 mol.% FeCO3), with high Mn levels relative to Ca and Mg. This is interpreted as forming within the Fe reduction zone, with Mn from the closely associated Mn reduction zone. The second siderite crystal zone is frequently represented either by an episode of dissolution, or is impure (80±1 mol.% FeCO3), and this corresponds to the sulphate reduction zone. The outer crystal zone is intermediate in composition, and is equated with the zone of methanogenesis (88±1 mol.% FeCO3). Isotopic values cannot be assigned to individual crystal zones. Bulk δ18O values (−2.7 to −13.0‰ V-PDB) are not consistent with precipitation from seawater at low temperatures, but suggest meteoric pore-waters. δ13C data (−4.3 to −15.7‰ V-PDB) are consistent with microbially-mediated precipitation.

Pyrite and siderite are usually mutually exclusive within a single sample. Sedimentary conditions which favour the development of a strong sulphate reduction zone, and hence the formation of pyrite, do not favour the formation of a strong sub-oxic zone, where siderite is preferentially precipitated, and vice versa. There is a strong facies control upon siderite formation, with ripple cross-laminated sands being most strongly siderite cemented.

Thirty pyrite samples from a wide range of localities were analysed using relative comparator and k0 neutron activation analysis (NAA) techniques at the University of Missouri Research Reactor, Columbia, Missouri, USA (MURR) and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Lucas Heights, NSW, Australia (ANSTO), respectively. Statistical analyses of the trace-element data produced by the two methods showed a generally good correlation, with the majority of elemental concentrations of paired data reported by MURR and ANSTO being indistinguishable at a 0.05 significance level. Trace-element analyses of pyrite from Navajún in Spain by both techniques compare well with published data. There is evidence for contamination by Al, Na and Ti in one set of samples, this is likely to have been introduced by contact with a plastic used in sample preparation.

In 2011 the Incidence Assay Critical Path Working Group reviewed the current state of HIV incidence assays and helped to determine a critical path to the introduction of an HIV incidence assay. At that time the Consortium for Evaluation and Performance of HIV Incidence Assays (CEPHIA) was formed to spur progress and raise standards among assay developers, scientists and laboratories involved in HIV incidence measurement and to structure and conduct a direct independent comparative evaluation of the performance of 10 existing HIV incidence assays, to be considered singly and in combinations as recent infection test algorithms. In this paper we report on a new framework for HIV incidence assay evaluation that has emerged from this effort over the past 5 years, which includes a preliminary target product profile for an incidence assay, a consensus around key performance metrics along with analytical tools and deployment of a standardized approach for incidence assay evaluation. The specimen panels for this evaluation have been collected in large volumes, characterized using a novel approach for infection dating rules and assembled into panels designed to assess the impact of important sources of measurement error with incidence assays such as viral subtype, elite host control of viraemia and antiretroviral treatment. We present the specific rationale for several of these innovations, and discuss important resources for assay developers and researchers that have recently become available. Finally, we summarize the key remaining steps on the path to development and implementation of reliable assays for monitoring HIV incidence at a population level.

The holotype partial skull of Agorophius pygmaeus (the monotypic form for both the genus Agorophius and the Family Agorophiidae) has been missing for approximately 140 years. Since the discovery of Agorophius pygmaeus, many additional taxa and specimens have been placed in the Family Agorophiidae, only to be reclassified and removed later. This has created confusion as to what is and what is not an agorophiid and a lack of clarity as to what characteristics delimit the Agorophiidae. A newly discovered skull of an agorophiid recently collected from an underwater cliff face of the Ashley River, South Carolina, USA, is assigned to Agorophius pygmaeus. It derives from the base of the Ashley Formation (early Oligocene). The new specimen consists of most of the skull and periotics, which are well preserved and described for the first time in an agorophiid. The new specimen provides an opportunity to diagnose the Agorophiidae and place the genus and species within the phylogenetic context of the early odontocete radiation in the Oligocene, along with other taxa such as the Ashleycetidae, Mirocetidae, Patriocetidae, Simocetidae, Waipatiidae, and Xenorophidae. Based on this new understanding, Agorophiidae are known with certainty only from the early Oligocene of South Carolina, with other undescribed, potential agorophiid specimens from the Oligocene of the North Pacific region (Japan, Mexico, and Washington State).

In this thought piece, I use the recited Qurʾan as a case study for asking what it may mean to feel sound—and more specifically, “religious sound,” or sound in a religious context. A range of scholars, including myself, have asked related questions about what the recited Qurʾan sounds like, and why it may sound the way(s) it does. Here I consider the sound of the Qurʾan on the level of experience or nondiscursive meaning, asking what the recited Qurʾan feels like.

Two protocetid whale vertebrae, here referred to “Eocetus” wardii, have been recovered from the riverbed of the Pamunkey River in east-central Virginia. Neither bone was found in situ, but both were found with lumps of lithified matrix cemented to their surfaces. Most of this matrix was removed and processed for microfossils. Specimens of dinoflagellates were successfully recovered and this flora clearly demonstrates that both vertebrae came from the middle Eocene Piney Point Formation, which crops out above and below river level in the area where the bones were discovered. These vertebrae are the oldest whale remains reported from Virginia and are as old as any cetacean remains known from the western hemisphere.

Range livestock is important to the economy of the state of Texas. Over 4.2 billion lbs. of beef were produced in Texas with a value of over $1.2 billion in 1971, which was the greatest for any of the 50 states. Sheep and lamb production in Texas for 1971 exceeded 200 million lbs. and was valued at $43.4 million which was the highest of all 50 states. Cash receipts from cattle, calves, sheep, and lambs marketed in Texas in 1971 were estimated at $1.6 billion.

Texas' production of range livestock is limited by the availability of rangeland. In 1967, over 53 percent of the land area in Texas was classified as rangeland. Undesirable woody plants which compete with favorable grasses for moisture and sunlight have infested 82 percent of the grasslands in the state.

Specialization by a region is determined primarily by resources available and the available markets for the products. In addition, specialization in the production of a product or in an industry is an initial stage of regional development but may not be sufficient. As firms locate in a region to produce with the available resources, a derived demand will develop for substitute and complementary resources.

Input supply firms will locate in the region to satisfy the derived demand for resources. In addition, other firms will locate in the region to process some of the output of the emerging industry. As associated industries locate in the area, an interdependency will develop between the industry's supply requirements and/or markets for their products. Consequently, regional development has a tendency to include firms that are interdependent.

Farming practices in the United States have been shifting from labor intensive to relatively more capital intensive methods with simultaneous development of larger implements and more powerful tractors. In 1956, the largest general purpose farm tractor available was about 57 horsepower, but by 1969 several tractors in excess of 130 horsepower were available. Estimates by the United States Department of Agriculture indicate that by 1970 the average tractor sold will be about 80 horsepower compared with approximately 68 horsepower in 1967.