ABSTRACT IMPACT: This study is designed to address a critical gap in our understanding of how aging patients and caregivers recognize and respond to clinically important changes in heart failure symptoms during vulnerable transitions. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Research on family involvement in heart failure (HF) symptom response is limited. Our objective is to examine HF symptom monitoring processes in couples after HF hospitalization, and quantify how coupled symptom assessments predict symptom response, patient clinical events, care strain, and dyad health during the high-risk post-discharge period. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This is an ongoing T2 translational study that employs an intensive longitudinal design. Adults aged ≥65 years hospitalized for HF and their caregiving spouse/partner are enrolled. The target n is 48 dyads. Over 5 weeks of follow-up, dyads complete daily diaries assessing patient HF symptoms. Clinical biomarkers of HF severity (NTproBNP, ST2) are also collected. Primary study endpoints are dyads’ HF symptom response behaviors and caregiver strain; secondary endpoints are dyads’ health status and patient clinical events. Dyadic dynamics of symptom assessment will first be characterized using dyadic autoregressive time series models. Subsequently, we will extract cross-partner effect parameters from the time series models and test whether dyadic effects predict the trajectories of each of our endpoints. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: This study is currently underway. In line with our study hypotheses, we anticipate that couples who assess patient symptoms similarly (dyadic agreement), and whose symptom assessments accurately reflect clinical severity, will be more likely to respond to symptoms appropriately with lower stress to the caregiving partner, and have better trajectories of health (self-reported and clinical). Characterizing dyadic symptom dynamics will provide important insight into the day-to-day process of symptom recognition in couples. Further, quantifying dyadic symptom dynamics in relation to our endpoints will provide information on the clinical value of dyadic symptom agreement, and whether it might be a target for future interventions to support better symptom response and health outcomes for both dyad members. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: This project innovates on existing paradigms by applying family-level theory and techniques to better understand and support interventions for couples during post-discharge HF transitions - a vulnerable period for older adults that has traditionally been studied almost exclusively at the patient-level, with marginal success.

This study examined the interplay between the influence of peers who promote alcohol use and μ-opioid receptor M1 (OPRM1) genetic variation in the intergenerational transmission of alcohol use disorder (AUD) symptoms while separating the “traitlike” components of AUD symptoms from their age-specific manifestations at three ages from emerging adulthood (17–23 years) to adulthood (29–40 years). The results for males were consistent with genetically influenced peer selection mechanisms as mediators of parent alcoholism effects. Male children of alcoholics were less likely to be carriers of the G allele in single nucleotide polymorphism A118G (rs1799971), and those who were homozygous for the A allele were more likely to affiliate with alcohol use promoting peers who increased the risk for AUD symptoms at all ages. There was evidence for women of an interaction between OPRM1 variation and peer affiliations but only at the earliest age band. Peer influences had stronger effects among women who were G-carriers. These results illustrate the complex ways in which the interplay between influences at multiple levels of analysis can underlie the intergenerational transmission of alcohol disorders as well as the importance of considering age and gender differences in these pathways.

The hot He-burning horizontal-branch (HB) stars and their progeny are most likely dominant ultraviolet (UV) sources in the old stellar population systems such as globular clusters (GCs). Integrated FUV flux can be an age indicator of GCs and allow us to investigate age distributions of GCs within a given galaxy or between galaxies. The unprecedented set of UV photometry for M31 by Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX), coupled with most recent detailed population models enable to study detailed global UV properties of M31 GCs.

The adsorption of a series of 1,2-bis(mercaptomethyl)-4,5-dialkylbenzenes (1), spiroalkanedithiols (2), and aliphatic dithiocarboxylic acids (3) on gold yielded new types of self-assembled monolayers (SAMs). The new SAMs were characterized by optical ellipsometry, contact angle goniometry, and polarization modulation infrared reflection absorption spectroscopy (PM-IRRAS). These results were compared to those obtained from SAMs derived from normal alkanethiols (4) of analogous chain length. Comparisons of ellipsometric thickness and contact angle wettability showed that the new SAMs were well packed and highly oriented. Comparisons of the PM-IRRAS data showed that the SAMs generated from 1 and 2 exhibited slightly less crystallinity than their alkanethiolate-based analogs, while the SAMs generated from 3 exhibited comparable crystallinity to their alkanethiolate-based analogs. Moreover, the SAMs derived from 1 and 2 showed no “odd-even” wettability or PM-IRRAS effects, while those derived from 3 showed remarkably large “odd-even” effects compared to those derived from normal alkanethiols.

Boron nitride coatings and structures have demonstrated significant resistance to many corrosive environments. These coatings may have application in the protection of sensors needed for measuring a variety of properties such as temperature and chemistry. In addition, boron nitride materials may offer advantages as structural materials in high temperature materials processing. In this study, BN is assessed for use in aluminum smelting.

Bisethylacetoacetato Cu(II), referred to as Cu(etac)2, was synthesized and used as a novel metal-organic precursor to produce Cu films by PECVD processing. Cu(etac)2 is a nonfluoride compound that is solid at room temperature with reasonable volatility at 120–150 °C of 0.8 Torr. Effects of selected process variables on the characteristics of Cu film deposition were studied. Considered variables were plasma power, hydrogen flow rate, deposition time, substrate temperature, and precursor temperature. The process conditions to give Cu films of a high quality were determined. The electrical resistivity approached 2 μΩ · cm as the Cu film thickness became greater than 2500 Å. The conformality of the Cu film deposition by PECVD was sufficient to result in complete via-hole fillings of wafers patterned for 256 Mb DRAM.

Perovskite La1-xCaxMnO3-δ (LCMO) thin films with a wide range of x, i.e., 0.0 ≤ x ≤ 0.6, were deposited on MgO(001) substrates using a pulsed laser deposition (PLD) technique. Epitaxial La0.7Ca0.3MnO3-δ/MgO thin films were able to be grown under a condition such as 1.5 ∼ 2.1 J/cm2 of a laser fluence, 650 ∼ 750 °C of a substrate temperature, and 100 ∼ 300 mtorr of an oxygen pressure. X-ray pole figures and electron diffraction pattern showed that the LCMO films were grown epitaxially on MgO(001). Rutherford Backscattering Spectroscopy measurements investigated that the epitaxial LCMO films have compositions similar to those of targets, demonstrating the PLD is a useful technique to get films with complicated chemical compositions. Various physical properties, including resistance, R, magnetoresistance, ΔR/R(H=0) ≡ (R(H)-R(0))/R(O), and magnetization, M(T), were measured. The LCMO thin films with 0.2 ≤ x ≤ 0.5 had both semiconductor-metal and ferromagnetic ordering transitions, whose temperatures are located close to each other. These physical properties were explained in terms of the magnetic polaron model.

Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) glass microballoons (GMBs) levitated in a focusing radiator acoustic device can be coated with liquid materials by deploying the liquid into the levitation field with a stepped-horn atomizer. The GMB can be forced to the center of the coating liquid with a strong acoustically generated centering force. Water solutions of organic polymers, uv-curable liquid organic monomers, and paraffin waxes have been used to prepare solid coatings on the surface of GMBs using this technique.