MEDIRAD formulation of science-based recommendations for medical radiation protection: a stakeholder forum survey

MEDIRAD (Implications of Medical Low Dose Radiation Exposure) is an innovative European research project funded by EURATOM which seeks to bring closer together the nuclear and medical research communities in order to advance science for radiation protection in radiotherapy, nuclear medicine, and diagnostic and interventional radiology. The project also aims to promote links between science and society, with the goal of better protecting patients and professionals, through the publication of recommendations based on MEDIRAD research findings (http://www.medirad-project.eu/). The MEDIRAD Stakeholder Forum (SF) was designed to set up a dialogue between the Consortium member organisations and the society regarding the recommendations, which are expected from this project. We envisage three successive steps in this dialogue (1: first SF consultation identifying the needs for improved medical radiological protection; 2: drafting science based MEDIRAD recommendation and 3: second SF consultation to collect feedback), which are implemented throughout the project. A first overview of input of the Stakeholder Forum about the topics to be addressed in the MEDIRAD recommendations, based on an exploratory questionnaire, is presented in this article. Quantitative and qualitative in-depth analysis leads to the identification of 11 priority thematics.

Multispecies Diesel Fuel Biodegradation and Niche Formation Are Ignited by Pioneer Hydrocarbon-Utilizing Proteobacteria in a Soil Bacterial Consortium

ABSTRACT A soil bacterial consortium that was grown on diesel fuel and consisted of more than 10 members from different genera was maintained through repetitive subculturing and was utilized as a practical model to investigate a bacterial community that was continuously exposed to petroleum hydrocarbons. Through metagenomics analyses, consortium member isolation, growth assays, and metabolite identification which supported the linkage of genomic data and functionality, two pioneering genera, Sphingobium and Pseudomonas, whose catabolic capabilities were differentiated, were found to be responsible for the creation of specialized ecological niches that were apparently occupied by other bacterial members for survival within the consortium. Coexisting genera Achromobacter and Cupriavidus maintained their existence in the consortium through metabolic dependencies by utilizing hydrocarbon biotransformation products of pioneer metabolism, which was confirmed through growth tests and identification of biotransformation products of the isolated strains. Pioneering Sphingobium and Pseudomonas spp. utilized relatively water-insoluble hydrocarbon parent compounds and facilitated the development of a consortium community structure that resulted in the creation of niches in response to diesel fuel exposure which were created through the production of more-water-soluble biotransformation products available to cocolonizers. That these and other organisms were still present in the consortium after multiple transfers spanning 15 years provided evidence for these ecological niches. Member survival through occupation of these niches led to robustness of each group within the multispecies bacterial community. Overall, these results contribute to our understanding of the complex ecological relationships that may evolve during prokaryotic hydrocarbon pollutant biodegradation. IMPORTANCE There are few metagenome studies that have explored soil consortia maintained on a complex hydrocarbon substrate after the community interrelationships were formed. A soil bacterial consortium maintained on diesel fuel was utilized as a practical model to investigate bacterial community relationships through metagenomics analyses, consortium member isolation, growth assays, and metabolite identification, which supported the linkage of genomic data and functionality. Two pioneering genera were responsible for the biodegradation of aromatics and alkanes by initiating biotransformation and thereby created specialized niches that were populated by other members. A model that represents these relationships was constructed, which contributes to our understanding of the complex ecological relationships that evolve during prokaryotic hydrocarbon pollutant biodegradation.

Az EISZ open access szerződéseinek gyakorlati tapasztalatai

In the last 3 years, Electronic Information Service National Programme (EISZ) concluded transformative agreements with the leading Hungarian and international scholarly publishers which enable corresponding authors affiliated at the consortium member institutions to publish journal articles under an open access license. Terms and conditions provided by these transformative agreements require the implementation of new workflows for the publishers as well as for the librarians and the researchers. The lecture introduces the opportunities provided by these new generation agreements, and presents its success and benefits for the Hungarian research community. It describes the conditions of open access publishing in this framework and focuses on the efficiency of various methods of identification and authorisation used by the publishers.

Experts or Dummies? Quality of E-Book Pool and User Selections in a Consortial Demand Driven Acquisition Program

Academic libraries are increasingly purchasing electronic books (e-books) via demand driven acquisitions (DDA) programs. However, there is no guarantee about the quality of DDA titles. This is especially true for consortially managed DDA pools or when pools include all titles from selected publishers. This study analyzes data from EBSCO’s GOBI acquisitions platform to assess the quality of the pool and purchased titles from the Colorado Alliance of Research Libraries (CARL) publisher-based DDA program. Results showed that most available and selected titles were appropriate for academic libraries. Popular and lower level academic titles made up a relatively small portion of the DDA pool but were selected at a proportionally higher rate than other titles. The DDA pool was weighted towards titles that had been previously purchased by few GOBI libraries, but users tended to select titles that had been purchased by more GOBI libraries. Implications of these results are discussed from the point of view of a consortium member library using the DDA program as a supplement to its broader collections of print and electronic books.

An IQ Consortium Perspective on The Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks Final Opinion on the Need for Nonhuman Primates in Biomedical Research, Production and Testing of Products and Devices (Update 2017)

The recent Scientific Committee on Health, Environmental and Emerging Risks Final Opinion on “The need for nonhuman primates in biomedical research, production and testing of products and devices” (2017 SCHEER) highlights approaches that could significantly contribute to the replacement, reduction, and refinement of nonhuman primate (NHP) studies. Initiatives that have the potential to affect NHP welfare and/or their use are expected to be appropriate, fair, and objective and publicly disseminated information focused on NHPs in biomedical research, which includes toxicologic and pathologic research and testing, should be objectively evaluated by stakeholder scientists, researchers, and veterinarians. Thus, IQ Consortium member companies convened to develop an informed and objective response, focusing on identifying areas of agreement, potential gaps, or missing information in 2017 SCHEER. Overall, the authors agree that many positions in the 2017 SCHEER Opinion generally align with industry views on the use of NHPs in research and testing, including the ongoing need of NHPs in many areas of research. From the perspective of the IQ Consortium, there are several topics in the 2017 SCHEER that merit additional comment, attention, or research, as well as consideration in future opinions.

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OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: This research seeks to create a next generation documentation system that exists independent of but is complimentary to the packaging system in R. The new documentation can be manipulated programmatically as with all R objects. It also implements multiple translators for creating documentation from different sources, including documentation pages written in latex and code comments. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: This work is based on input from the R Documentation Task Force, which is a working group, supported by the R Consortium and the University of Utah Center for Clinical and Translational Science, consisting of R Core developers, representatives from the R Consortium member companies and community developers with relevant interest in documentation. An abstraction of the documentation currently in use was created and extended. This abstraction was translated to a class system in R so that documentation can be stored and manipulated in R. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: The class system representing the documentation and the tools for creating the translators are currently being implemented in R. A preview of the system is scheduled to be available at the time of the conference. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Good documentation is critical for researchers to disseminate computational research methods, either internally or externally to their organization. This work will facilitate the creation of documentation by making documentation immediately accessible and promote documentation consumption through multiple outputs which can be implemented by developers.

Breaking Ground: Consortial Migration to a Next-Generation ILS and Its Impact on Acquisitions Workflows

From June 2013 to January 2015 the Orbis Cascade Alliance (OCA), a consortium of thirty-seven public and private academic institutions, migrated to a new shared Integrated Library System (ILS), Ex Libris’ Alma, with Primo as the discovery component. The consortium wanted to cultivate an environment that would better support collaboration and sharing, particularly in the realms of collection development and technical services. This paper examines the immediate impact of the migration on acquisitions workflows, mainly of the largest consortium member, and the short-term and long-term goals following the completed migration. Lessons learned and suggestions for managing a consortial migration are offered, plus a discussion of what it is like to work in the cloud.

International Postgraduate Nursing Education Exchanges: Impossible?

The possibility of meaningful international educational exchanges for nurses in postgraduate/postbasic nursing education programs might seem far-fetched. Scope of practice, registration issues and standards, even organization of schools and universities would seem difficult issues to overcome. In 2010, a consortium of some seven schools of nursing in the United States, Ireland, Portugal, Norway, Slovenia, Denmark, and Malta opened a dialogue about curricular meeting points in postgraduate nursing education. The evolution of the European Union and the Bologna Accords (European Commission, 2008) have created an environment where a search for curricular meeting points is possible. One such meeting point involved student exchanges. This article will explore the experience of two consortium member schools in developing and operationalizing an exchange.

Video Conference as a tool for Higher Education

The book describes the activities of the consortium member institutions in the framework of the TEMPUS IV Joint Project ViCES - Video Conferencing Educational Services (144650-TEMPUS-2008-IT-JPGR). In order to provide the basis for the development of a distance learning environment based on video conferencing systems and develop a blended learning courses methodology, the TEMPUS Project VICES (2009-2012) was launched in 2009. This publication collects the conclusion of the project and it reports the main outcomes together with the approach followed by the different partners towards the achievement of the project's goal. The book includes several contributions focussed on specific topics related to videoconferencing services, namely how to enable such services in educational contexts so that, the installation and deployment of videoconferencing systems could be conceived an integral part of virtual open campuses.