Academic health sciences libraries (“libraries”) offer services that span the entire research lifecycle, positioning them as natural partners in advancing clinical and translational science. Many libraries enjoy active and productive collaborations with Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) Program hubs and other translational initiatives like the IDeA Clinical & Translational Research Network. This article explores areas of potential partnership between libraries and Translational Science Hubs (TSH), highlighting areas where libraries can support the CTSA Program’s five functional areas outlined in the Notice of Funding Opportunity. It serves as a primer for TSH and libraries to explore potential collaborations, demonstrating how libraries can connect researchers to services and resources that support the information needs of TSH.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture–Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) has been a leader in weed science research covering topics ranging from the development and use of integrated weed management (IWM) tactics to basic mechanistic studies, including biotic resistance of desirable plant communities and herbicide resistance. ARS weed scientists have worked in agricultural and natural ecosystems, including agronomic and horticultural crops, pastures, forests, wild lands, aquatic habitats, wetlands, and riparian areas. Through strong partnerships with academia, state agencies, private industry, and numerous federal programs, ARS weed scientists have made contributions to discoveries in the newest fields of robotics and genetics, as well as the traditional and fundamental subjects of weed–crop competition and physiology and integration of weed control tactics and practices. Weed science at ARS is often overshadowed by other research topics; thus, few are aware of the long history of ARS weed science and its important contributions. This review is the result of a symposium held at the Weed Science Society of America’s 62nd Annual Meeting in 2022 that included 10 separate presentations in a virtual Weed Science Webinar Series. The overarching themes of management tactics (IWM, biological control, and automation), basic mechanisms (competition, invasive plant genetics, and herbicide resistance), and ecosystem impacts (invasive plant spread, climate change, conservation, and restoration) represent core ARS weed science research that is dynamic and efficacious and has been a significant component of the agency’s national and international efforts. This review highlights current studies and future directions that exemplify the science and collaborative relationships both within and outside ARS. Given the constraints of weeds and invasive plants on all aspects of food, feed, and fiber systems, there is an acknowledged need to face new challenges, including agriculture and natural resources sustainability, economic resilience and reliability, and societal health and well-being.

A large outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease occurred at a California state prison in August 2015. We conducted environmental and epidemiological investigations to identify the most likely source of exposure and characterise morbidity. Sixty-four inmates had probable Legionnaires’ disease; 14 had laboratory-confirmed legionellosis. Thirteen (17%) inmates were hospitalised; there were no deaths. Ill inmates were more likely to be ⩾65 years old (P < 0.01), have the chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (P < 0.01), diabetes mellitus (P = 0.02), hepatitis C infection (P < 0.01), or end-stage liver disease (P < 0.01). The case-patients were in ten housing units throughout the prison grounds. All either resided in or were near the central clinical building (for appointments or yard time) during their incubation periods. Legionella pneumophila serogroup 1 was cultured from three cooling towers on top of the central medical clinic (range, 880–1200 cfu/ml). An inadequate water management program, dense biofilm within the cooling towers, and high ambient temperatures preceding the outbreak created an ideal environment for Legionella sp. proliferation. All state prisons were directed to develop local operating procedures for maintaining their cooling towers and the state health department added a review of the maintenance plans to their environmental inspection protocol.

A salmonellosis outbreak occurred at a California prison in April and May 2016. In a cohort study of 371 inmates, persons who consumed dishes from the prison kitchen made from ground meat had a higher attack rate (15%) than those who did not (4%) (risk ratio 3.4, 95% CI 1.1–10.6). The ground meat product was composed exclusively of beef, mechanically separated chicken (MSC) and textured vegetable protein; eight of eight lots of the product collected from the prison and processing facility were contaminated with Salmonella enterica of eight serotypes and 17 distinct PFGE patterns, including multidrug-resistant S. Infantis. Either the MSC or the beef could have been the source of the particular strains of S. enterica isolated from patients or the product. The microbiological evidence is most consistent with MSC as the source of the high levels of S. enterica in the epidemiologically linked meat product. Our findings contribute to the growing body of evidence about the hazard posed by the use of products containing raw mechanically separated poultry in kitchens in institutions.

Supernova (SN) 1987A has provided a unique opportunity to study how SN ejecta evolve in 30 years time scale. We report our ALMA spectral observations of SN 1987A, taken in 2014, 2015 and 2016, with detections of CO, 28SiO, HCO+ and SO, with weaker lines of 29SiO.

We find a dip in the SiO line profiles, suggesting that the ejecta morphology is likely elongated. The difference of the CO and SiO line profiles is consistent with hydrodynamic simulations, which show that Rayleigh-Taylor instabilities causes mixing of gas, with heavier elements much more disturbed, making more elongated structure.

Using 28SiO and its isotopologues, Si isotope ratios were estimated for the first time in SN 1987A. The estimated ratios appear to be consistent with theoretical predictions of inefficient formation of neutron rich atoms at lower metallicity, such as observed in the Large Magellanic Cloud (about half a solar metallicity).

The deduced large HCO+ mass and small SiS mass, which are inconsistent to the predictions of chemical model, might be explained by some mixing of elements immediately after the explosion. The mixing might have made some hydrogen from the envelope to sink into carbon and oxygen-rich zone during early days after the explosion, enabling the formation of a substantial mass of HCO+. Oxygen atoms may penetrate into silicon and sulphur zone, suppressing formation of SiS.

Our ALMA observations open up a new window to investigate chemistry, dynamics and explosive-nucleosynthesis in supernovae.

In this study, we evaluated the association between high-risk human papillomavirus (hrHPV) and the vaginal microbiome. Participants were recruited in Nigeria between April and August 2012. Vaginal bacterial composition was characterized by deep sequencing of barcoded 16S rRNA gene fragments (V4) on Illumina MiSeq and HPV was identified using the Roche Linear Array® HPV genotyping test. We used exact logistic regression models to evaluate the association between community state types (CSTs) of vaginal microbiota and hrHPV infection, weighted UniFrac distances to compare the vaginal microbiota of individuals with prevalent hrHPV to those without prevalent hrHPV infection, and the Linear Discriminant Analysis effect size (LEfSe) algorithm to characterize bacteria associated with prevalent hrHPV infection. We observed four CSTs: CST IV-B with a low relative abundance of Lactobacillus spp. in 50% of participants; CST III (dominated by L. iners) in 39·2%; CST I (dominated by L. crispatus) in 7·9%; and CST VI (dominated by proteobacteria) in 2·9% of participants. LEfSe analysis suggested an association between prevalent hrHPV infection and a decreased abundance of Lactobacillus sp. with increased abundance of anaerobes particularly of the genera Prevotella and Leptotrichia in HIV-negative women (P < 0·05). These results are hypothesis generating and further studies are required.

Amphibian populations have been declining worldwide, with multiple potential causes. At La Selva field station in north-eastern Costa Rica, previous work has shown that populations of many amphibians have decreased significantly since the 1970s, especially in primary forest. Starting in 1998, we investigated one of the most common frog species at La Selva, the poison-dart frog Oophaga pumilio (= Dendrobates pumilio). In a survey of 50 plots of 100 m2 in 1998, adult frogs were 4.6 times more abundant in secondary forest than in primary forest. Tadpoles were found only in secondary-forest plots. Almost all (89%) of the tadpoles were found in leaf axils of Dieffenbachia spp., which were much more abundant in secondary-forest than in primary-forest plots. The greater abundance of Dieffenbachia spp. in secondary forest was confirmed in a broad survey of ~11 km of trails within La Selva in 2002. When the same trails were resampled in 2012, Dieffenbachia spp. had been extirpated from 72% of the 50-m segments where plants were present in 2002; abundance was greatly reduced in the few trail segments where any Dieffenbachia spp. remained in 2012. The loss of Dieffenbachia spp., especially in secondary forest, removed the species most often used by O. pumilio for tadpole rearing. Based on counts of calling frogs in 2010, there was no difference in O. pumilio abundance in primary versus secondary forest, in striking contrast to multiple earlier surveys that found much greater frog abundance in secondary forest. We propose that the reason for the rapid decline in Dieffenbachia spp. is herbivory by the collared peccary (Pecari tajacu), which has increased in abundance at La Selva in recent years. A likely consequence is continued reduction in O. pumilio populations.

PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5-m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. The atmospheric conditions at Dome C deliver a high sensitivity, high photometric precision, wide-field, high spatial resolution, and high-cadence imaging capability to the PILOT telescope. These capabilities enable a unique scientific potential for PILOT, which is addressed in this series of papers. The current paper presents a series of projects dealing with the distant (redshift >1) Universe, that have been identified as key science drivers for the PILOT facility. The potential for PILOT to detect the first populations of stars to form in the early Universe, via infrared projects searching for pair-instability supernovae and gamma-ray burst afterglows, is investigated. Two projects are proposed to examine the assembly and evolution of structure in the Universe: an infrared survey searching for the first evolved galaxies at high redshift, and an optical survey aimed at characterising moderate-redshift galaxy clusters. Finally, a large-area weak-lensing survey and a program to obtain supernova infrared light-curves are proposed to examine the nature and evolution of dark energy and dark matter.

PILOT (the Pathfinder for an International Large Optical Telescope) is a proposed 2.5-m optical/infrared telescope to be located at Dome C on the Antarctic plateau. Conditions at Dome C are known to be exceptional for astronomy. The seeing (above ∼30 m height), coherence time, and isoplanatic angle are all twice as good as at typical mid-latitude sites, while the water-vapour column, and the atmosphere and telescope thermal emission are all an order of magnitude better. These conditions enable a unique scientific capability for PILOT, which is addressed in this series of papers. The current paper presents an overview of the optical and instrumentation suite for PILOT and its expected performance, a summary of the key science goals and observational approach for the facility, a discussion of the synergies between the science goals for PILOT and other telescopes, and a discussion of the future of Antarctic astronomy. Paper II and Paper III present details of the science projects divided, respectively, between the distant Universe (i.e. studies of first light, and the assembly and evolution of structure) and the nearby Universe (i.e. studies of Local Group galaxies, the Milky Way, and the Solar System).

Coccidioidomycosis results from inhaling spores of the fungus Coccidioides spp. in soil or airborne dust in endemic areas. We investigated an outbreak of coccidioidomycosis in a 12-person civilian construction crew that excavated soil during an underground pipe installation on Camp Roberts Military Base, California in October 2007. Ten (83·3%) workers developed symptoms of coccidioidomycosis; eight (66·7%) had serologically confirmed disease, seven had abnormal chest radiographs, and one developed disseminated infection; none used respiratory protection. A diagnosis of coccidioidomycosis in an eleventh worker followed his exposure to the outbreak site in 2008. Although episodic clusters of infections have occurred at Camp Roberts, the general area is not associated with the high disease rates found in California's San Joaquin Valley. Measures to minimize exposure to airborne spores during soil-disrupting activities should be taken before work begins in any coccidioides-endemic area, including regions with only historic evidence of disease activity.

In Southdown sheep, which grazed and were fed during the day to maintain body weight and were housed at night, there was no clear effect of ambient temperature on hoof growth. In these sheep, equatorial or reversed photoperiods did not influence hoof growth.

In an indoor experiment over 19 months on Merino sheep, with natural light and temperature, fleece accumulated normally between spring shearings. Hoof growth in winter was low at a low level of nutrition but was not reduced in sheep at a higher nutritional level. It fell dramatically at both levels of nutrition in the first month after shearing.

Hoof growth was measured in Merino and Southdown sheep exposed to equatorial daylength in two climate-room experiments in which ambient temperature was varied. Fleece length was kept short and nearly constant by clipping. Hoof growth was greatly reduced by low temperature. At a given ambient temperature it was more rapid when ambient temperature was rising from month to month than when it was falling. The low hoof growth observed in the cold was associated with low hoof temperature and there was some evidence suggestive of reduced blood flow to the skin of the lower legs.

These temperature effects would complicate the use of hoof growth as an index of nutrition.