The Trial Innovation Network has established an infrastructure for single IRB review in response to federal policies. The Network’s single IRB (sIRBs) have successfully supported over 70 multisite studies via more than 800 reliance arrangements. This has generated several lessons learned that can benefit the national clinical research enterprise, as we work to improve the conduct of clinical trials. These lessons include distinguishing the roles of the single IRB from institutional Human Research Protections programs, establishing a consistent sIRB review model, standardizing collection of local context and supplemental, study-specific information, and educating and empowering lead study teams to support their sites.

Field studies were conducted at three locations in 1993 and 1994 to evaluate weed control and crop response to metolachlor plus combinations of 0.5 × and 1 × label rates of imazaquin applied preplant and imazethapyr applied early postemergence or postemergence in no-till narrow-row soybean production. Giant foxtail, common ragweed, common cocklebur, and large crabgrass population reductions were greater with sequential preplant metolachlor plus imazaquin followed by early postemergence or postemergence imazethapyr than with preplant metolachlor plus imazaquin or early postemergence/postemergence imazethapyr alone. Ivyleaf morningglory was not effectively controlled by any herbicide program. Pennsylvania smartweed populations were reduced with all herbicide treatments. Soybean yields with treatments utilizing 0.5 × rates were usually equal to 1 × rates if imazethapyr was applied early postemergence or postemergence. Net income with reduced herbicide rates was equal to full-label rates and provided no greater risk to net income.

Field studies were conducted at three locations in 1993 and 1994 to evaluate weed control and crop response to combinations of glyphosate, metolachlor, 0.5 X and 1 X label rates of chlorimuron plus metribuzin applied prior to planting (PP), and 0.5 X and 1 X label rates of imazethapyr applied early postemergence (EPOST) or postemergence (POST) in no-till narrow-row soybean production. Giant foxtail densities were reduced with sequential PP followed by (fb) EPOST or POST treatments. Large crabgrass was reduced equivalently with all herbicide combinations involving chlorimuron plus metribuzin PP fb imazethapyr. Common cocklebur control was variable but was usually greater with treatments that included imazethapyr. Ivyleaf morningglory densities were not reduced with any herbicide combinations. Sequential PP fb EPOST or POST treatments tended to provide slightly better weed suppression than PP-only treatments, but the difference was rarely significant. Soybean yields with treatments utilizing 0.5 X rates were usually equal to 1 X rates.

Field studies were conducted at three sites in 1993 and 1994 to evaluate weed control, crop response, and economic returns to 0.5× and 1× postemergence rates of chlorimuron, chlorimuron plus quizalofop, bentazon plus acifluorfen, fluazifop plus fenoxaprop, imazethapyr, and imazethapyr plus clethodim in no-till narrow-row soybean production. Common lambsquarters, ivyleaf morningglory, and common ragweed were controlled equally with 0.5× rates applied early postemergence and 1× rates applied mid-postemergence. Control of giant foxtail, large crabgrass, and common cocklebur was generally greater with 1× rates mid-postemergence than with 0.5× rates early postemergence. Soybean yields were equivalent with 0.5× and 1× rates. Soybean yields and net income were highest with 1× and 0.5× rates of chlorimuron plus quizalofop and imazethapyr plus clethodim, and metolachlor preemergence (PRE) followed by 0.5× bentazon plus acifluorfen.

Field trials were conducted in no-till field corn in northern Missouri to compare weed control and crop response of metolachlor plus atrazine applied under five preplant herbicide management practices. The practices consisted of (1) applying the entire dose of metolachlor plus atrazine 15, 30, or 45 d early preplant (EPP), (2) applying a split application of an EPP (67%) followed by (fb) a PRE (33%), (3) applying the entire dose PRE, (4) applying metolachlor PRE fb dicamba early post (EPOST), or (5) applying atrazine alone EPOST. Weed control at 7 wk after planting was more variable with EPP treatments than with EPP fb PRE or PRE treatments. Giant foxtail and fall panicum control was greatest with treatments that included metolachlor PRE. Velvetleaf and common cocklebur control was greatest with atrazine or dicamba EPOST and was generally unacceptable (< 80%) with any soil-applied herbicide treatment. Common lambsquarters control was greater than 90% with all treatments that included metolachlor, atrazine, or dicamba, regardless of timing. Corn yields were slightly higher with EPP fb PRE and PRE fb EPOST dicamba than with EPP alone. The results suggest that herbicide applications made nearer to the date of planting provide less variable weed control and corn yield than treatments made more than 15 d EPP.

Although high dose n-3 PUFA supplementation reduces exercise- and hyperpnoea-induced bronchoconstriction (EIB/HIB), there are concurrent issues with cost, compliance and gastrointestinal discomfort. It is thus pertinent to establish the efficacy of lower n-3 PUFA doses. Eight male adults with asthma and HIB and eight controls without asthma were randomly supplemented with two n-3 PUFA doses (6·2 g/d (3·7 g EPA and 2·5 g DHA) and 3·1 g/d (1·8 g EPA and 1·3 g DHA)) and a placebo, each for 21 d followed by 14 d washout. A eucapnic voluntary hyperpnoea (EVH) challenge was performed before and after treatments. Outcome measures remained unchanged in the control group. In the HIB group, the peak fall in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV1) after EVH at day 0 (−1005 (sd 520) ml, −30 (sd 18) %) was unchanged after placebo. The peak fall in FEV1 was similarly reduced from day 0 to day 21 of 6·2 g/d n-3 PUFA (−1000 (sd 460) ml, −29 (sd 17) % v. −690 (sd 460) ml, −20 (sd 15) %) and 3·1 g/d n-3 PUFA (−970 (sd 480) ml, −28 (sd 18) % v. −700 (sd 420) ml, −21 (sd 15) %) (P<0·001). Baseline fraction of exhaled nitric oxide was reduced by 24 % (P=0·020) and 31 % (P=0·018) after 6·2 and 3·1 g/d n-3 PUFA, respectively. Peak increases in 9α, 11β PGF2 after EVH were reduced by 65 % (P=0·009) and 56 % (P=0·041) after 6·2 and 3·1 g/d n-3 PUFA, respectively. In conclusion, 3·1 g/d n-3 PUFA supplementation attenuated HIB and markers of airway inflammation to a similar extent as a higher dose. Lower doses of n-3 PUFA thus represent a potentially beneficial adjunct treatment for adults with asthma and EIB.

Over 175 growers in each of six states (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Mississippi, Nebraska, and North Carolina) were surveyed by telephone to assess their perceptions of the benefits of utilizing the glyphosate-resistant (GR) crop trait in corn, cotton, and soybean. The survey was also used to determine the weed management challenges growers were facing after using this trait for a minimum of 4 yr. This survey allowed the development of baseline information on how weed management and crop production practices have changed since the introduction of the trait. It provided useful information on common weed management issues that should be addressed through applied research and extension efforts. The survey also allowed an assessment of the perceived levels of concern among growers about glyphosate resistance in weeds and whether they believed they had experienced glyphosate resistance on their farms. Across the six states surveyed, producers reported 38, 97, and 96% of their corn, cotton, and soybean hectarage planted in a GR cultivar. The most widely adopted GR cropping system was a GR soybean/non-GR crop rotation system; second most common was a GR soybean/GR corn crop rotation system. The non-GR crop component varied widely, with the most common crops being non-GR corn or rice. A large range in farm size for the respondents was observed, with North Carolina having the smallest farms in all three crops. A large majority of corn and soybean growers reported using some type of crop rotation system, whereas very few cotton growers rotated out of cotton. Overall, rotations were much more common in Midwestern states than in Southern states. This is important information as weed scientists assist growers in developing and using best management practices to minimize the development of glyphosate resistance.

In North America, terrestrial records of biodiversity and climate change that span Marine Oxygen Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 are rare. Where found, they provide insight into how the coupling of the ocean–atmosphere system is manifested in biotic and environmental records and how the biosphere responds to climate change. In 2010–2011, construction at Ziegler Reservoir near Snowmass Village, Colorado (USA) revealed a nearly continuous, lacustrine/wetland sedimentary sequence that preserved evidence of past plant communities between ~140 and 55 ka, including all of MIS 5. At an elevation of 2705 m, the Ziegler Reservoir fossil site also contained thousands of well-preserved bones of late Pleistocene megafauna, including mastodons, mammoths, ground sloths, horses, camels, deer, bison, black bear, coyotes, and bighorn sheep. In addition, the site contained more than 26,000 bones from at least 30 species of small animals including salamanders, otters, muskrats, minks, rabbits, beavers, frogs, lizards, snakes, fish, and birds. The combination of macro- and micro-vertebrates, invertebrates, terrestrial and aquatic plant macrofossils, a detailed pollen record, and a robust, directly dated stratigraphic framework shows that high-elevation ecosystems in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado are climatically sensitive and varied dramatically throughout MIS 5.

Caribbean reefs underwent significant biotic change during the Late Oligocene and Early Miocene. This was a critical time in the evolution of the modern Caribbean fauna characterized by increasing endemism resulting from regional extinction of lineages that survive in the modern Indo-Pacific. An understanding of the dynamics and potential causes of the Oligocene/Miocene transition, however, is hampered by the relative lack of well-preserved Oligocene to early Miocene coral faunas in the Caribbean. Here we examine new exposures in the Culebra Formation of Panama that contain a well-preserved coral fauna of Early Miocene age. Taxonomic, stratigraphic, and paleoecologic study of the Culebra Formation exposed along the Gaillard Cut of the Panama Canal allows us to infer the paleoenvironments and reef coral communities from the Panama Canal Basin during this critical interval. The Culebra Formation consists of a deepening upward sequence with shallow-lagoon sediments at the base, overlain by fringing reef facies in the middle of the section, and open-shelf to bathyal facies at the top of the section. We recovered 31 species of reef corals from a combination of new and old collections. Comparison of our collections with other Late Oligocene to Middle Miocene reef coral assemblages confirms that there was a major faunal turnover after deposition of the Upper Oligocene Antigua Formation. This turnover consisted of a large number of extinctions followed by an increased rate of first occurrences so that regional diversity did not change appreciably. Improved stratigraphic resolution at this and other Caribbean localities is required to understand fully the dynamics of change during the Oligocene/Miocene transition.