Protected areas have numerous roles (such as biodiversity preservation, the development of scientific research and the sustainable use of natural resources), but they are under threat from political and economic forces. The 837 000-ha Serra do Divisor National Park (SDNP) in the south-western Brazilian Amazon combines the conservation of natural resources and the maintenance of the productive activities of c. 400 resident families. The Brazilian and Peruvian governments have proposed a road linking Acre (Brazil) to Ucayali (Peru) that would bisect the SDNP. Another threat to the SDNP is a bill proposing its downgrading to an ‘environmental protection area’. This study aims to map the land cover of the SDNP and its surroundings from 1988 to 2018 and to analyse the dynamics of land-use change. Analysis of Landsat satellite images with supervised classification using the MaxVer algorithm show that, during the 30-year period, pasture showed the highest absolute land-cover gain, with 1986 ha in the interior and 7661 ha along the periphery of the SDNP. Only 1% of the park’s primary forest was lost by 2018, but the proposed road and potential downgrading may result in accelerated deforestation and forest degradation in the near future.

Pompe disease results from lysosomal acid α-glucosidase deficiency, which leads to cardiomyopathy in all infantile-onset and occasional late-onset patients. Cardiac assessment is important for its diagnosis and management. This article presents unpublished cardiac findings, concomitant medications, and cardiac efficacy and safety outcomes from the ADVANCE study; trajectories of patients with abnormal left ventricular mass z score at enrolment; and post hoc analyses of on-treatment left ventricular mass and systolic blood pressure z scores by disease phenotype, GAA genotype, and “fraction of life” (defined as the fraction of life on pre-study 160 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa). ADVANCE evaluated 52 weeks’ treatment with 4000 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa in ≥1-year-old United States of America patients with Pompe disease previously receiving 160 L production-scale alglucosidase alfa. M-mode echocardiography and 12-lead electrocardiography were performed at enrolment and Week 52. Sixty-seven patients had complete left ventricular mass z scores, decreasing at Week 52 (infantile-onset patients, change −0.8 ± 1.83; 95% confidence interval −1.3 to −0.2; all patients, change −0.5 ± 1.71; 95% confidence interval −1.0 to −0.1). Patients with “fraction of life” <0.79 had left ventricular mass z score decreasing (enrolment: +0.1 ± 3.0; Week 52: −1.1 ± 2.0); those with “fraction of life” ≥0.79 remained stable (enrolment: −0.9 ± 1.5; Week 52: −0.9 ± 1.4). Systolic blood pressure z scores were stable from enrolment to Week 52, and no cohort developed systemic hypertension. Eight patients had Wolff–Parkinson–White syndrome. Cardiac hypertrophy and dysrhythmia in ADVANCE patients at or before enrolment were typical of Pompe disease. Four-thousand L alglucosidase alfa therapy maintained fractional shortening, left ventricular posterior and septal end-diastolic thicknesses, and improved left ventricular mass z score.

Trial registry: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01526785 https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01526785.

Social Media Statement: Post hoc analyses of the ADVANCE study cohort of 113 children support ongoing cardiac monitoring and concomitant management of children with Pompe disease on long-term alglucosidase alfa to functionally improve cardiomyopathy and/or dysrhythmia.

Reconstructions of prehistoric vegetation composition help establish natural baselines, variability, and trajectories of forest dynamics before and during the emergence of intensive anthropogenic land use. Pollen–vegetation models (PVMs) enable such reconstructions from fossil pollen assemblages using process-based representations of taxon-specific pollen production and dispersal. However, several PVMs and variants now exist, and the sensitivity of vegetation inferences to PVM selection, variant, and calibration domain is poorly understood. Here, we compare the reconstructions, parameter estimates, and structure of a Bayesian hierarchical PVM, STEPPS, both to observations and to REVEALS, a widely used PVM, for the pre–Euro-American settlement-era vegetation in the northeastern United States (NEUS). We also compare NEUS-based STEPPS parameter estimates to those for the upper midwestern United States (UMW). Both PVMs predict the observed macroscale patterns of vegetation composition in the NEUS; however, reconstructions of minor taxa are less accurate and predictions for some taxa differ between PVMs. These differences can be attributed to intermodel differences in structure and parameter estimates. Estimates of pollen productivity from STEPPS broadly agree with estimates produced for use in REVEALS, while comparison between pollen dispersal parameter estimates shows no significant relationship. STEPPS parameter estimates are similar between the UMW and NEUS, suggesting that STEPPS parameter estimates are transferable between floristically similar regions and scales.

Although dicamba-resistant crops can provide an effective weed management option, risk of dicamba off-site movement to sensitive crops is a concern. Previous research with indeterminate soybean identified 14 injury criteria associated with dicamba applied at V3/V4 or R1/R2 at 0.6 to 280 g ae ha−1. Injury criteria rated on a 0 to 5 scale (none to severe), along with percent visible injury and plant height reduction, and canopy height collected 7 and 15 d after treatment (DAT) were analyzed using multiple regression with a forward-selection procedure to develop yield prediction models. Variables included in the 15 DAT models (in order of selection) for V3/V4 were lower stem base lesions/cracking, plant height reduction, terminal leaf epinasty, leaf petiole droop, leaf petiole base swelling, and stem epinasty, whereas for R1/R2 variables were lower stem base lesions/cracking, terminal leaf chlorosis, leaf petiole base swelling, stem epinasty, terminal leaf necrosis, and terminal leaf cupping. To validate the models, experiments including the same dicamba rates and application timings used in previous research were conducted at two locations. For the variables specific to each model, data collected for the dicamba rates were used to predict yield. For the V3/V4 15 DAT model, predicted yield reduction (compared with the nontreated control for dicamba at 0.6 to 4.4 g ha−1) underestimated or overestimated observed yield reduction by an average of 1 and 3 percentage points. For 8.8 g ha−1, predicted yield reduction overestimated observed yield reduction by 8 points and for 17.5 g ha−1 by 20 points. For the R1/R2 15 DAT model, predicted yield reduction for 0.6 to 4.4 g ha−1 overestimated observed yield reduction by an average of 3 to 5 percentage points. For dicamba at 8.8 g ha−1, predicted yield reduction underestimated observed yield reduction by 8 points and for 17.5 g ha−1 overestimated by 6 points.

Breakthrough Listen is a 10-yr initiative to search for signatures of technologies created by extraterrestrial civilisations at radio and optical wavelengths. Here, we detail the digital data recording system deployed for Breakthrough Listen observations at the 64-m aperture CSIRO Parkes Telescope in New South Wales, Australia. The recording system currently implements two modes: a dual-polarisation, 1.125-GHz bandwidth mode for single-beam observations, and a 26-input, 308-MHz bandwidth mode for the 21-cm multibeam receiver. The system is also designed to support a 3-GHz single-beam mode for the forthcoming Parkes ultra-wideband feed. In this paper, we present details of the system architecture, provide an overview of hardware and software, and present initial performance results.

OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: (1) Evaluate safety of a novel influenza vaccination strategy in patients with plasma cell disorders. (2) Measure laboratory-confirmed influenza infection rates following a novel influenza vaccination strategy in patients with plasma cell disorders. (3) Evaluate clinical correlates of response following a novel influenza vaccination strategy in patients with plasma cell disorders. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We conducted a double-blind, randomized study over the 2015–16 flu season, comparing 2 doses of Fluzone® High-Dose influenza vaccination (separated by 30 d) to the current standard of care influenza vaccination. Patients were allocated to the experimental arm in 2:1 ratio compared with standard of care arm. Standard of care influenza vaccination was considered single age-based vaccination (standard dose for those <65 y and high dosefor those ≥65 y) and patients in this arm received a saline placebo injection at 30 days to assist in blinding. Eligibility criteria allowed any patient with a PCD and no contraindication to trivalent inactivated influenza vaccine. The primary endpoint was laboratory-confirmed flu infection rate. Protocol-driven surveillance screened patients for flu-like illnesses and performed laboratory testing for influenza until the end of the flu season in May 2016. Secondary endpoints include HAI titer serologic response rates, clinical correlates of protection from influenza infection, and exploratory studies of cell-mediated immunity through characterization of T cell subpopulations, cytokine profiles, and flu-specific T-cell responsiveness. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: In total, 122 plasma cell disorder patients were enrolled (97 with disease requiring therapy and 25 with asymptomatic gammopathy). Of those 48 patients received a single standard of care influenza vaccination and 74 patients received 2 doses of Fluzone® high-dose vaccine. Median age was 67 years (range 42–90). This 2-dose vaccination strategy was safely tolerated in all patients with no grade 2 adverse events attributed to vaccine. With close clinical follow-up, only 4% of patients receiving 2 vaccine doses developed laboratory confirmed influenza Versus 8.3% of those receiving single vaccine. When compared to the expected CDC influenza infection rate of 10%–15%, 1 sample, 2-tailed binomial testing revealed patients receiving 2 vaccines experienced a significantly lower rate of infection than the expected rate (p<0.05) whereas those receiving single vaccine showed no significant difference (p=0.38). DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: This randomized study demonstrates that the 2 dose strategy of Fluzone® high-dose influenza vaccine is safely tolerated in patients with plasma cell disorders and associated with significantly less than expected laboratory-confirmed influenza infections. The results suggest that this novel vaccination strategy may have a clinical benefit in reducing influenza infections in plasma cell disorder patients and thus may have practice changing implications. Final analyses of serologic responses, clinical correlates of response, and cell-mediated immune correlates may provide valuable insights into in vivo “immune-competence” in patients with plasma cell disorders.

Reintroduction practitioners must often make critical decisions about reintroduction protocols despite having little understanding of the reintroduction biology of the focal species. To enhance the available knowledge on the reintroduction biology of the warru, or black-footed rock-wallaby Petrogale lateralis MacDonnell Ranges race, we conducted a trial reintroduction of 16 captive individuals into a fenced predator and competitor exclosure on the An̲angu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in South Australia. We conducted seven trapping sessions and used radio-tracking and camera traps to monitor survival, reproduction and recruitment to the population over 36 months. Blood samples were collected pre-release and during two trapping sessions post-release to assess nutritional health. The survival rate of founders was 63%, with all losses occurring within 10 weeks of release. Post-release blood biochemistry indicated that surviving warru adapted to their new environment and food sources. Female warru conceived within 6 months of release; 28 births were recorded during the study period and 52% of births successfully recruited to the population. Our results suggest that captive-bred warru are capable of establishing and persisting in the absence of introduced predators. However, the high mortality rate immediately post-release, with only a modest recruitment rate, suggests that future releases into areas where predators and competitors are present should use a trial approach to determine the viability of reintroduction. We recommend that future releases of warru into unfenced areas include an intensive monitoring period in the first 3 months post-release followed by a comprehensive long-term monitoring schedule to facilitate effective adaptive management.

Previous studies of live-collected pre-weapons testing mollusk shells in the northern Gulf of California have demonstrated that the local radiocarbon reservoir effect (ΔR) is large and highly variable. To test the validity of this observation for paired charcoal and shell samples from archaeological contexts, we dated samples from four shell midden locations and six midden layers from the eastern shoreline of the Gulf of California near Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico. Dated charcoal samples were small twigs or brushy plants used to cook shellfish and the shells dated within each midden showed signs of burning. Ages range from approximately 5700 to 1900 cal BP. The offset between the modeled marine 14C age for calibrated ages of the middens and measured shell 14C age (ΔR) averaged 425 yr with a standard deviation of 115 yr.

Since the publication of “A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals” in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs continue to occur. The 2014 updates to the Compendium were created to provide acute care hospitals with up-to-date, practical, expert guidance to assist in prioritizing and implementing their HAI prevention efforts. It is the product of a highly collaborative effort led by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), and The Joint Commission, with major contributions from representatives of a number of organizations and societies with content expertise, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and the Surgical Infection Society (SIS).

Since the publication of “A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals” in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs continue to occur. The 2014 updates to the Compendium were created to provide acute care hospitals with up-to-date, practical, expert guidance to assist in prioritizing and implementing their HAI prevention efforts. They are the product of a highly collaborative effort led by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), and The Joint Commission, with major contributions from representatives of a number of organizations and societies with content expertise, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and the Surgical Infection Society (SIS).

Since the publication of “A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals” in 2008, prevention of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) has become a national priority. Despite improvements, preventable HAIs continue to occur. The 2014 updates to the Compendium were created to provide acute care hospitals with up-to-date, practical, expert guidance to assist in prioritizing and implementing their HAI prevention efforts. They are the product of a highly collaborative effort led by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the American Hospital Association (AHA), the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), and The Joint Commission, with major contributions from representatives of a number of organizations and societies with content expertise, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society (PIDS), the Society for Critical Care Medicine (SCCM), the Society for Hospital Medicine (SHM), and the Surgical Infection Society (SIS).

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;35(8):967–977