This special issue of the Journal of Benefit–Cost Analysis is dedicated to the memory of Jerry Ellig, a brilliant economist whose untimely death in 2021 cut short a productive and influential career in government and academia. Jerry was adept at applying economic concepts and empirical analysis to improve public policy, and he enjoyed not only studying real policy problems, but finding practical solutions to them. He was also a generous mentor, supporting and collaborating with graduate students and colleagues to publish prolifically in peer-reviewed economics, public administration, and political science journals, as well as law reviews and more popular outlets. He was a great communicator, able to take his academic work and translate it for different audiences, including through testimony, seminars, op-eds, short presentations, and classroom teaching. In addition to these immense talents, Jerry was genuinely kind and unpretentious; he wore Wal-Mart suits and garish ties. And he was laugh-out-loud funny, a master at diffusing difficult situations with a witty, but never mean, quip.

Over the last century, the United States has witnessed three approaches to achieving better regulatory outcomes: the removal of “economic” regulations in certain sectors; regulatory impact analysis (RIA) of new “social” regulations; and retrospective analysis of existing regulations. This article reviews the rationale for each approach, the results to date, and the remaining challenges. It finds that both institutional and technical factors influence the success of reform efforts.

Background: Sellar and suprasellar pediatric lesions are uncommon. Endoscopic transnasal transphenoidal surgery (ETTS) is the preferred treatment, but early post-op MRI is hindered by sphenoidal packing. This study aims to assess iMRI safety and efficacy in pediatric ETTS cases. Methods: We performed a retrospective review from Jan 01, 2015 to Dec 31, 2022, evaluating use of iMRI. We determined if the goals of the surgery (biopsy, cyst decompression, subtotal resection, gross total resection) were met, and iMRI’s influence on surgery outcomes. We examined patient age, surgery duration, length of stay, histopathology results, surgical complications, post-op MRIs within 1 month, and tumor progression/recurrence. Results: Over eight years, 20 pediatric ETTS procedures, 14 with iMRI, were conducted. Achieving goals in 13 cases, iMRI prompted extra surgery once. Two adenomas progressed, requiring a second surgery, and craniopharyngioma cases had complications, needing further interventions. Hospital stays varied (1-9 days), with a mean surgery duration of 6 hours and 47 minutes. The study underscores iMRI’s potential impact, stressing the necessity for more research in pediatric transsphenoidal surgeries. Conclusions: While intraoperative MRI in pediatric transsphenoidal surgeries may aid goal verification, this small study doesn’t conclusively demonstrate improved outcomes. Complication rates align with non-IMRI procedures, highlighting the need for further research.

OBJECTIVES/GOALS: 1. Identify candidate AN-SAD-causing variants. 2. Estimate the variant effect size of and genotypic relative risk for arrhythmias and AN-SAD. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We performed whole genome sequencing (WGS) on 59 Thoroughbred AN-SAD cases and 58 controls. WGS was mapped and variants identified using a modified version of the Genome Analysis Toolkit best practices. Variants will be selected based on case-control analysis using SnpSift and presence in candidate genes. The top 400 candidate AN-SAD-causing variants will be selected based on being common in cases and rare or absent in controls, and uncommon (allele frequency less than 10%) in a catalog of genetic variation for the horse. The 400 variants will be genotyped in our cohort of 1,200 racehorses to determine variant effect size and genotypic relative risk. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: 17,182,003 variants were identified. 230 variants had significantly different allele frequencies (AF) between cases and controls (SnpSift). 723 high and 4,824 moderate impact variants were identified in 1,072 candidate genes. 3,681 variants were present at an AF 10% in the equine variant catalog. Variant effect prediction is ongoing to select the final 400 variants. Cardiac phenotyping (cardiac auscultation and ECG before, during, and after exercise) was performed on 790 racehorses and we will have 1,200 racehorses with cardiac phenotypes and/or AN-SAD. We will genotype the top 400 candidate AN-SAD-causing variants in these 1,200 horses to identify variants of large effect size. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Identification of candidate AN-SAD variants in a spontaneous animal model can facilitate interpretation of candidate variants in humans and horses. This project will provide further support for the racehorse AN-SAD model and will support future work exploring the genetic and environmental risk factors contributing to AN-SAD in this animal model.

As the venues for professional training and education, universities have always shaped the future of the archaeological discipline—for better but also, in important ways, for worse. Historically, university structures promoted practitioner homogeneity and social inequity and, at the largest research-intensive universities, even managed to turn “service” into a dirty word. However, using the same structures that perpetuated damaging practices in the past, universities can just as readily transform archaeology into the inclusive, community-engaged discipline it should always have been—while serving communities in ways that matter to them. This article explains and illustrates how and why we have tried to do this through the founding and operation of the Oklahoma Public Archaeology Network (OKPAN) at the University of Oklahoma. OKPAN seeks to improve relationships among diverse Oklahoma communities by framing archaeology as a tool that that can serve communities’ interests while creating pathways within universities for members of historically excluded groups to join and help further transform the discipline.