Seismic imaging in 3-D holds great potential for improving our understanding of ice sheet structure and dynamics. Conducting 3-D imaging in remote areas is simplified by using lightweight and logistically straightforward sources. We report results from controlled seismic source tests carried out near the West Antarctic Ice Sheet Divide investigating the characteristics of two types of surface seismic sources, Poulter shots and detonating cord, for use in both 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys on glaciers. Both source types produced strong basal P-wave and S-wave reflections and multiples recorded in three components. The Poulter shots had a higher amplitude for low frequencies (<10 Hz) and comparable amplitude at high frequencies (>50 Hz) relative to the detonating cord. Amplitudes, frequencies, speed of source set-up, and cost all suggested Poulter shots to be the preferred surface source compared to detonating cord for future 2-D and 3-D seismic surveys on glaciers.

In 2022, highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) A(H5N1) virus clade 2.3.4.4b became enzootic and caused mass mortality in Sandwich Tern Thalasseus sandvicensis and other seabird species across north-western Europe. We present data on the characteristics of the spread of the virus between and within breeding colonies and the number of dead adult Sandwich Terns recorded at breeding sites throughout north-western Europe. Within two months of the first reported mortalities, 20,531 adult Sandwich Terns were found dead, which is >17% of the total north-western European breeding population. This is probably an under-representation of total mortality, as many carcasses are likely to have gone unnoticed and unreported. Within affected colonies, almost all chicks died. After the peak of the outbreak, in a colony established by late breeders, 25.7% of tested adults showed immunity to HPAI subtype H5. Removal of carcasses was associated with lower levels of mortality at affected colonies. More research on the sources and modes of transmission, incubation times, effective containment, and immunity is urgently needed to combat this major threat for colonial seabirds.

This article provides an analysis of the potential danger to a president’s policy agenda that comes from appointing a sitting elected official to the cabinet. We present historical data on cabinet secretaries since the founding and demonstrate that concerns about seats falling to the other party following the appointment of an elected official to the cabinet date back at least to Martin Van Buren’s establishment of the first American mass political party in 1828. We then focus on the post-Seventeenth Amendment cabinet and show that almost 30 percent of cabinet secretaries in this era who were elected officials at the time of their appointment left seats that flipped to the other party by the next regular general election. We conclude by discussing how our results compare with Alexander Hamilton, Martin Van Buren, and Woodrow Wilson’s differing views on the cabinet and the implications for the president’s policy agenda.

Background: Central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) are an important public health issue. Recent data from the CDC have shown an increase in healthcare-associated infections (including CLABSI) during the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the main aim of this project was to analyze the epidemiology of central-line–associated bloodstream infection during different periods at the Baystate Medical Center (Springfield, MA) before, during, and after COVID-19 peaks of infection. Methods: Two specific periods were considered during the year (quarter January–March and quarter July–September) to consider potential seasonal variations, and the incidence of CLABSI during those 2 quarters was analyzed for 4 different years: 2019 (prepandemic), 2020–2021 (intrapandemic), and 2022 (postpandemic). An analysis of the microbial pathogens causing line infections was also performed to investigate differences described by other authors. Results: In total, 97 CLABSI (all from different patients) were reported into the NHSN website during the 8 periods considered. The average age of the patients was 55 years, with a male:female ratio of 57%:43%, and 14 renal patients were on dialysis. The CLABSI rates ranged from a minimum of 1.11 in Q1 of 2020 (start of COVID) to a maximum of 2 in Q3 of 2021 (SARS-CoV-2 delta variant) (Table 1). A statistical comparison of the pre–COVID-19 period with the respective quarters during the pandemic years (2020, 2021, and 2022) did not show any significant differences (Table 2). In term of microbiological data, of the 97 patients with CLABSIs, most of the patients (n = 70) had only 1 pathogen isolated, 14 patients had 2 pathogens, and 3 patients had 3 pathogens, bringing the total number of bacteria cultured to 117. Candida spp and Enterococcus spp were the most frequently isolated pathogens at 19% and 13%, respectively (Fig. 1). There was no statistically significant difference between the pre–COVID-19 and intra–COVID-19 periods for Candida spp (rate ratio, 1.391; 95% CI, 0.5477–3.533; P = .48) or Enterococcus spp (rate ratio, 2.385; 95% CI, 0.8365–6.798; P = .09). Conclusions: The COVID-19 pandemic did not seem to have an impact on the local epidemiology at Baystate Medical Center in terms of CLABSI rates or type of pathogens causing infections, but the sample size taken into consideration may not have been powerful enough to detect statistical significance.

Note. This project was carried out as part of Dr Satta’s MPH requirements at UMass.

Disclosures: None

Background: Carbapenemase genes in carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CP-CRE) may be transmitted between patients and bacteria. Reported rates of carbapenemase genes vary widely, and it is unclear whether having a carbapenemase gene portends worse outcomes given that all patients with CRE infections have limited treatment options. Methods: Using active population- and laboratory-based active surveillance data collected by the US CDC-funded Georgia Emerging Infections Program from 2011 to 2020, we assessed the frequency of carbapenemase genes in a convenience sample of CRE isolates using whole-genome sequencing (WGS), and we investigated risk factors for carbapenemase positivity. Only the first isolate per patient in a 30-day period was included. We compared characteristics of patients with CP-CRE and non–CP-CRE. Using multivariable log binomial regression, we assessed the association of carbapenemase gene positivity and 90-day mortality. Results: Of 284 CRE isolates, 171 isolates (60.2%) possessed a carbapenemase gene (Table 1), and KPC-3 was the most common carbapenemase gene (80.7%), with only 7 isolates possessing NDM (Table 2). No isolates possessed >1 carbapenemase gene, and most isolates were from urine (82.4%) (Table 1). Carbapenemase gene positivity was associated with lower age, male sex, black race, infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, polymicrobial infection, having an indwelling medical device, receiving chronic dialysis, and prior stay in a long-term acute-care hospital, long-term care facility, and/or prior hospitalization in the last year. The 90-day mortality rates were similar in patients with non–CP-CRE and CP-CRE: 24.8% versus 25.7% (P = .86). In multivariable analysis, carbapenemase gene presence was not associated with 90-day mortality (adjusted risk ratio, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.50–1.35) when adjusting for CCI, infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, and chronic dialysis use. Conclusions: The frequency of CP-CRE among CRE was high in this study, but unlike prior studies, the 90-day mortality rates wer similar in patients with CP-CRE compared to non–CP-CRE. Our results provide novel associations (eg, lower age, male sex, infection with Klebsiella pneumoniae, and indwelling medical devices) that infection preventionists could use to target high-risk patients for screening or isolation prior to CP-CRE detection.

Disclosure: None

Background: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Emerging Infections Program conducts active laboratory- and population-based surveillance for carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales (CRE) and extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacterales (ESBL-E). To better understand the U.S. epidemiology of these organisms among children, we determined the incidence of pediatric CRE and ESBL-E cases and described their clinical characteristics. Methods: Surveillance was conducted among children <18 years of age for CRE from 2016–2020 in 10 sites, and for ESBL-E from 2019–2020 in 6 sites. Among catchment-area residents, an incident CRE case was defined as the first isolation of Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae complex, Klebsiella aerogenes, K. oxytoca, or K. pneumoniae in a 30-day period resistant to ≥1 carbapenem from a normally sterile site or urine. An incident ESBL-E case was defined as the first isolation of E. coli, K. pneumoniae, or K. oxytoca in a 30-day period resistant to any third-generation cephalosporin and non-resistant to all carbapenems from a normally sterile site or urine. Case records were reviewed. Results: Among 159 CRE cases, 131 (82.9%) were isolated from urine and 19 (12.0%) from blood; median age was 5 years (IQR 1–10) and 94 (59.1%) were female. Combined CRE incidence rate per 100,000 population by year ranged from 0.47 to 0.87. Among 207 ESBL-E cases, 160 (94.7%) were isolated from urine and 6 (3.6%) from blood; median age was 6 years (IQR 2–15) and 165 (79.7%) were female. Annual ESBL incidence rate per 100,000 population was 26.5 in 2019 and 19.63 in 2020. Incidence rates of CRE and ESBL-E were >2-fold higher in infants (children <1 year) than other age groups. Among those with data available, CRE cases were more likely than ESBL-E cases to have underlying conditions (99/158 [62.7%] versus 59/169 [34.9%], P<0.0001), prior healthcare exposures (74/158 [46.8%] versus 38/169 [22.5%], P<0.0001), and be hospitalized for any reason around time of their culture collection (75/158 [47.5%] versus 38/169 [22.5%], P<0.0001); median duration of admission was 18 days [IQR 3–103] for CRE versus 10 days [IQR 4–43] for ESBL-E. Urinary tract infection was the most frequent infection for CRE (89/158 [56.3%]) and ESBL-E (125/169 [74.0%]) cases. Conclusion: CRE infections occurred less frequently than ESBL-infections in U.S. children but were more often associated with healthcare risk factors and hospitalization. Infants had highest incidence of CRE and ESBL-E. Continued surveillance, infection prevention and control efforts, and antibiotic stewardship outside and within pediatric care are needed

Disclosure: None

The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery (WCPCCS) will be held in Washington DC, USA, from Saturday, 26 August, 2023 to Friday, 1 September, 2023, inclusive. The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery will be the largest and most comprehensive scientific meeting dedicated to paediatric and congenital cardiac care ever held. At the time of the writing of this manuscript, The Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery has 5,037 registered attendees (and rising) from 117 countries, a truly diverse and international faculty of over 925 individuals from 89 countries, over 2,000 individual abstracts and poster presenters from 101 countries, and a Best Abstract Competition featuring 153 oral abstracts from 34 countries. For information about the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, please visit the following website: [www.WCPCCS2023.org]. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the activities related to global health and advocacy that will occur at the Eighth World Congress of Pediatric Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery.

Acknowledging the need for urgent change, we wanted to take the opportunity to bring a common voice to the global community and issue the Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action on Addressing the Global Burden of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Diseases. A copy of this Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is provided in the Appendix of this manuscript. This Washington DC WCPCCS Call to Action is an initiative aimed at increasing awareness of the global burden, promoting the development of sustainable care systems, and improving access to high quality and equitable healthcare for children with heart disease as well as adults with congenital heart disease worldwide.

Zebra finches are often housed in monogamous pairs in small barren cages. In the present study it was investigated whether modest enrichment resulted in behavioural changes. Four plywood box cages of two different lengths were compared. A small and a large cage were used for the barren environment. Another small and large cage were used for the enriched environment, and included additional perches, twigs as well as sand and water baths. An ethogram consisting of 19 different behavioural patterns was used. The behaviour of the birds was studied using a combination of alternating (20s) one-zero and instantaneous sampling, one hour per day during a continuous four-week period.

Locomotor activity, vocalization and singing was significantly increased in the enriched cages and flying was more frequent in the large enriched cage than in any of the other cages. The study demonstrated the usefulness of behavioural analyses to determine to what extent simple enrichment allows the birds to exhibit a wider range of their natural behaviour.

Prior research finds that liberals and conservatives process information differently. Predispositions toward intuitive versus reflective thinking may help explain this individual level variation. There have been few direct tests of this hypothesis and the results from the handful of studies that do exist are contradictory. Here we report the results of a series of studies using the Cognitive Reflection Test (CRT) to investigate inclinations to be reflective and political orientation. We find a relationship between thinking style and political orientation and that these effects are particularly concentrated on social attitudes. We also find it harder to manipulate intuitive and reflective thinking than a number of prominent studies suggest. Priming manipulations used to induce reflection and intuition in published articles repeatedly fail in our studies. We conclude that conservatives—more specifically, social conservatives—tend to be dispositionally less reflective, social liberals tend to be dispositionally more reflective, and that the relationship between reflection and intuition and political attitudes may be more resistant to easy manipulation than existing research would suggest.

Fluting is a technological and morphological hallmark of some of the most iconic North American Paleoindian stone points. Through decades of detailed artifact analyses and replication experiments, archaeologists have spent considerable effort reconstructing how flute removals were achieved, and they have explored possible explanations of why fluting was such an important aspect of early point technologies. However, the end of fluting has been less thoroughly researched. In southern North America, fluting is recognized as a diagnostic characteristic of Clovis points dating to approximately 13,000 cal yr BP, the earliest widespread use of fluting. One thousand years later, fluting occurs more variably in Dalton and is no longer useful as a diagnostic indicator. How did fluting change, and why did point makers eventually abandon fluting? In this article, we use traditional 2D measurements, geometric morphometric (GM) analysis of 3D models, and 2D GM of flute cross sections to compare Clovis and Dalton point flute and basal morphologies. The significant differences observed show that fluting in Clovis was highly standardized, suggesting that fluting may have functioned to improve projectile durability. Because Dalton points were used increasingly as knives and other types of tools, maximizing projectile functionality became less important. We propose that fluting in Dalton is a vestigial technological trait retained beyond its original functional usefulness.