Research Project Grant Research Articles

Research Project Grants in Gynecology and Their Influence on Practice Guidelines

Research Project Grants in Gynecology and Their Influence on Practice Guidelines

School Library Media SIG Session

A School Librarian Needs Assessment on Culturally Responsive and Impactful K-12 Online Teaching and Learning. There is a lack of research that examines school library education, professional development, or application of culturally responsive pedagogy in K-12 online settings. This research project investigates the characteristics of the school librarianship knowledge gap on culturally responsive online pedagogy through needs assessment research. Data was collected utilizing national online webinars as online discussion groups. The findings from the first phase of a national research grant project to examine, assess, and address the school librarianship knowledge gap on the design and delivery of targeted and culturally responsive online learning will be presented. Opening the Pipeline: Sustaining Recruitment for School Librarianship. Over the last decade, the number of school librarians (SLs) in US public schools declined. Among the reasons administrators shared regarding these unfilled (and potentially lost) positions were issues with “the pipeline” or the availability of qualified candidates to apply for posted positions. This was particularly true in states with no school librarian preparation programs (SLPPs) at their colleges and universities and resulted in areas (often rural) where school districts had openings for SLs but were unable to find candidates willing to relocate (Lance & Kachel, 2021). To understand this “pipeline problem” and the role that SLPPs play, we turn to the recruitment practices in SLPPs, and ask: what are the current practices for inviting, promoting, and/or recruiting candidates to SLPPs? Initial research findings and anecdotal academic experience reveal that barriers to entering SLPPs include rigid requirements for credentialing and the financial burdens of tuition and associated personal expenses. With new insights into the variety of strategies used (and not used) across programs, we hope to initiate professional conversations and create recommendations for opening and sustaining a national pipeline that ensures that well-qualified candidates are prepared to serve as school librarians. Share and Share Alike: School Librarians Sharing Their Truths about Evidence Based Practice. P12 educators are expected to utilize evidence to inform practices and decisions. Although most school librarians collect and use evidence, they struggle doing so systematically or in relation to teaching and learning. We conducted focus groups interviews with school librarians and their educators and supervisors to identify existing opportunities that prepare school librarians for evidence-based practice (EBP), challenges with those opportunities, and types and forms of professional learning that school librarians prefer as they continue to hone their application of EBP. Our findings indicate that additional tools and real-time learning opportunities would further support school librarians’ EBP knowledge and skills.

Linking regional investments and revenues at the provincial level to investment loan decisions by local government banks in Indonesia

This study aims to analyze how two different types of investments (local domestic and foreign direct investments at the provincial level) and revenues (booked by the provincial governments, general allocation funds, special allocation funds, local taxes, and retribution) affect investment loan decisions by local government banks in Indonesia. The study uses panel data applying ordinary least squares and multiple linear regression. Thus, 144 data were sampled from 2013 to 2021 from 16 local government banks out of Java Island in 21 provinces in Indonesia. The study found that local domestic investment at the provincial level affects investment loan decisions by local government banks. In contrast, foreign direct investment did not affect lending decisions, indicating that local domestic investment contributes to the real local economy at the provincial level. Different results were found in provincial revenues in the form of general and special allocation funds, which negatively affected loan investment decisions, possibly due to provincial revenues utilized to cover the financial deficit and capital expenditure spent chiefly on imported goods. Additionally, local taxes at the provincial level also negatively affect investment loan decisions, possibly due to fluctuations in local tax collection during COVID-19. However, the study found that local retribution contributes to predicting loan investment decisions, suggesting revenue collection by the governments considering local economic conditions. The study findings suggest that provincial governments should direct investments that can impact the local economy and spend their revenues on goods and services that can drive local economic growth. AcknowledgmentThe investment loan made by local government banks, which is associated with local investment and revenue, is part of a research grant project from the Economics and Business Faculty of Hasanuddin University. This project is a result of collaboration with national and international researchers. In carrying out this research, some inputs from people working in local government banks, financial service authorities, and provincial and regency governments are addressed.Thanks to Ahmadi Usman for secondary data and Syahidah Ulhaq for some application programs enabling mapping literature, as well as Israa Natiq Jabar for supervising the result and applied some inputs in the section of research method.

Exploring antidiabetic drug targets as potential disease-modifying agents in osteoarthritis

Osteoarthritis is a leading cause of disability, and disease-modifying osteoarthritis drugs (DMOADs) could represent a pivotal advancement in treatment. Identifying the potential of antidiabetic medications as DMOADs could impact patient care significantly. We designed a comprehensive analysis pipeline involving two-sample Mendelian Randomization (MR) (genetic proxies for antidiabetic drug targets), summary-based MR (SMR) (for mRNA), and colocalisation (for drug-target genes) to assess their causal relationship with 12 osteoarthritis phenotypes. Summary statistics from the largest genome-wide association meta-analysis (GWAS) of osteoarthritis and gene expression data from the eQTLGen consortium were utilised. Seven out of eight major types of clinical antidiabetic medications were identified, resulting in fourteen potential drug targets. Sulfonylurea targets ABCC8/KCNJ11 were associated with increased osteoarthritis risk at any site (odds ratio (OR): 2.07, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.50-2.84, P<3×10-4), while PPARG, influenced by thiazolidinediones (TZDs), was associated with decreased risk of hand (OR: 0.61, 95% CI: 0.48-0.76, P<3×10-4), finger (OR: 0.50, 95% CI: 0.35-0.73, P<3×10-4), and thumb (OR: 0.49, 95% CI: 0.34-0.71, P<3×10-4) osteoarthritis. Metformin and GLP1-RA, targeting GPD1 and GLP1R respectively, were associated with reduced risk of knee and finger osteoarthritis. In the SMR analyses, gene expression of KCNJ11, GANAB, ABCA1, and GSTP1, targeted by antidiabetic drugs, was significantly linked to at least one osteoarthritis phenotype and was replicated across at least two gene expression datasets. Additionally, increased KCNJ11 expression was related to decreased osteoarthritis risk and co-localised with at least one osteoarthritis phenotype. Our findings suggest a potential therapeutic role for antidiabetic drugs in treating osteoarthritis. The results indicate that certain antidiabetic drug targets may modify disease progression, with implications for developing targeted DMOADs. This study was funded by the Shanghai Municipal Education Commission-Gaofeng Clinical Medicine Grant (2022), the Shanghai Municipal Health Commission Health Industry Clinical Research Project (Grant No. 20224Y0139), Beijing Natural Science Foundation (Grant No. 7244458), and the Postdoctoral Fellowship Program (Grade C) of China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. GZC20230130).

Incentivizing Healthy Food Choices Using Add-On Bundling: A Field Experiment

Problem definition: How can retailers incentivize customers to make healthier food choices? Price, convenience, and taste are known to be among the main drivers behind such choices. Unfortunately, healthier food options are often expensive and not adequately promoted. However, we are observing recent efforts to nudge customers toward healthier food. Methodology/results: In this paper, we conducted a field experiment with a global convenience store chain to better understand how different add-on bundle promotions influence healthy food choices. We considered three types of add-on bundles sequentially: (i) an unhealthy bundle (when customers purchased a coffee, they could add a pastry for $1), (ii) a healthy bundle (offering a healthy snack, such as fruit, vegetable, or protein, as a coffee add-on for $1), and (iii) a choice bundle (the option of either a pastry or a healthy snack as an add-on to coffee for $1). In addition to our field experiment, we conducted an online laboratory study to strengthen the validity of our results. Managerial implications: We found that offering healthy snacks as part of an add-on bundle significantly increased healthy purchases (and decreased unhealthy purchases). Surprisingly, this finding continued to hold for the choice bundle, that is, even when unhealthy snacks were concurrently on promotion. However, we did not observe a long-term stickiness effect, meaning that customers returned to their original (unhealthy) purchase patterns once the healthy or choice bundle was discontinued. Finally, we show that offering an add-on choice bundle is also beneficial for retailers, who can earn higher revenue and profit. Funding: This research was supported by the James McGill Scholar Award Fund, the Scale AI Chair Program, IIVADO (Institut de valorisation des données) Fundamental Research Project Grant, and two Discovery Grants from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2023.0336 .

Mechanochemical Synthesis of Sodium-Ion Conducting Chloride NaTaCl6

All-solid-state sodium batteries have been attracting attentions owing to their high energy density and safety. Solid electrolytes play a significant role in the electrochemical performances of all-solid-state batteries. Chloride-based solid electrolytes are particularly important for achieving high energy densities because of their high oxidation stability, ionic conductivity, and formability. Fewer sodium-ion conducting chlorides have been developed compared to lithium-ion conducting materials. It is necessary to discover the chlorides as the end-member of sodium-ion conductors. In this study, we report the development of a new NaTaCl6 chloride as an end-member sodium-ion conductor with high ionic conductivity. NaTaCl6 sample was mechanically prepared using a planetary ball mill apparatus. The X-ray diffraction patterns of the obtained sample displayed a broad pattern similar to the reported NaTaCl6 (ICSD#36519), suggesting that the sample contains both amorphous and crystalline phases. The reference intensity ratio method was used to investigate the weight ratios of the amorphous phases in the sample. The ratio was approximately 45 %. Transmission electron microscopy observations suggested that the sample consisted of the amorphous matrix and crystalline with the crystallite size of approximately 20 nm. The electrical conductivities of the pelletized samples were measured using two-terminal AC electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. The sample pellets were prepared by uniaxial pressing at 360 MPa without heat treatment. The pellet sample had the relative density of 85 % (powder density: 3.32 g cm–3, pellet density: 2.83 g cm–3). The sample shows σ 25ºC of 6.2×10–5 S cm–1, and the activation energy of 0.37 eV. To determine the NaTaCl6 onset oxidation voltage (OOV), linear sweep voltammetry measurement was carried out. The OOV of the sample at 60 ºC was 3.8 V vs. Na15Sn4. To demonstrate the high oxidation stability of NaTaCl6 in all-solid-state sodium batteries, it was used in a positive electrode by mixing Na3V2(PO4)3 as the active material and the buffer layer. The cell exhibited an initial reversible capacity of 96 mAh g–1 and stable cycling after 40 cycles with the capacity retention of 99.5 %. A 3.3 V all-solid-state sodium battery without oxide solid electrolytes was successfully operated. In this study, the NaTaCl6 electrolyte was developed with a high ionic conductivity and oxidation stability.Acknowledgement: This work was partly supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Grant Numbers: JP21H04701 and JP19H05816) and MEXT Program: Data Creation and Utilization-Type Material Research and Development Project Grant Number JPMXP1122712807.

Primary care for cancer survivors: a review of national institutes of health-funded grants 2017-2022.

To describe the characteristics of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants on primary care cancer research in cancer survivorship funded over the past 5years. Research project grants (RPG) funded during Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to 2022 focused on cancer survivorship were identified using a text mining algorithm of words from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) thesaurus with survivorship-relevant terms. Grants were then reviewed and double-coded to identify those that were carried out in a primary care setting, targeted primary care providers, or had primary care providers in the study team. A total of 24 grants were identified; 23 were funded by the National Cancer Institute and one was funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities. The majority were funded under the R01 mechanism (70.8%) and led by established investigators. Most were interventional design (91.7%), including both survivors and providers (79.2%), and focused care coordination or healthcare utilization (91.7%). Grants focused on primary care cancer survivorship are uncommon in the NIH portfolio. For the over 18 million cancer survivors in the USA, being cared for in a primary care setting is common. Yet, NIH-funded research on primary care cancer survivorship is sparse.

The National MD-PhD Program Outcomes Study: career paths followed by Black and Hispanic graduates.

Previous studies on attrition from MD-PhD programs have shown that students who self-identify as Black are more likely to withdraw before graduating than Hispanic students and students not from groups underrepresented in medicine (non-UIM). Here, we analyzed data collected for the National MD-PhD Program Outcomes Study, a national effort to track the careers of over 10,000 individuals who have graduated from MD-PhD programs over the past 60 years. On average, Black trainees took slightly longer to graduate, were less likely to choose careers in academia, and were more likely to enter nonacademic clinical practice; although, none of these differences were large. Black graduates were also more likely to choose careers in surgery or internal medicine, or entirely forego residency, and less likely to choose pediatrics, pathology, or neurology. Among those in academia, average research effort rates self-reported by Black, Hispanic, and non-UIM alumni were indistinguishable, as were rates of obtaining research grants and mentored training awards. However, the proportion of Black and Hispanic alumni who reported having NIH research grants was lower than that of non-UIM alumni, and the NIH career development to research project grant (K-to-R) conversion rate was lower for Black alumni. We propose that the reasons for these differences reflect experiences before, during, and after training and, therefore, conclude with action items that address each of these stages.

Mathematical Modeling of Magnesium Homeostasis in Male Rats

Magnesium (Mg2+) is an important cofactor for numerous biological processes, including protein synthesis, nucleic acid stability, and neuromuscular excitability. Extracellular magnesium is tightly regulated, with plasma [Mg2+] maintained relatively constant between 1.6 and 2.3 mg/dL under normal physiological conditions. Almost all of the body’s Mg2+ (approximately 99%) is either stored in bone or within cells (DOI: 10.1053/j.ackd.2018.01.003). A normal daily Mg2+ intake averages around 300 mg, about half of which is absorbed by the intestine. The kidneys reabsorb 95-98% of the filtered Mg2+ and excrete only 2-5% through urine. To understand the interplay between intestine, kidneys, and bones to maintain Mg2+ homeostasis, we developed a computational model of Mg2+ homeostasis for male rats and incorporated it with a male rat calcium (Ca2+) homeostasis model. Our model consists of five compartments: plasma, intestine, kidneys, bones, and parathyroid gland. The model also includes parathyroid hormone and vitamin D3 since they significantly regulate Mg2+ and Ca2+ homeostasis. We used this model to simulate three conditions: change in dietary Mg2+, change in dietary vitamin D3, and administration of proton-pump inhibitors. In the case of variation in dietary Mg2+, our model predicted that the body compensates mainly through decreasing (in case of low dietary Mg2+) and increasing (in case of high dietary Mg2+) urinary Mg2+ excretion and the Mg2+ content in the rapidly exchangeable bone pool. Change in dietary Mg2+ does not have any significant effect on Ca2+ homeostasis. On the other hand, change in dietary vitamin D3 has significant effect on both Mg2+ and Ca2+ homeostasis, with the effect being more pronounced for Ca2+ compared to Mg2+. Our model predicted significant changes in intestinal Mg2+ and Ca2+ absorption, PTH secretion, urinary Mg2+ and Ca2+ excretion, and Mg2+ and Ca2+ content in the rapidly exchangeable bone pool following change in dietary vitamin D3. Administration of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) such as omeprazole, which are a class of medicine commonly used to reduce stomach acid production, affect Mg2+ and Ca2+ transport in the intestine. PPIs reduce intestinal Mg2+ and Ca2+ absorption by 3.5-fold and 40%, respectively. The body compensates for this huge drop in intestinal Mg2+ absorption by tapping into the Mg2+ stored in the rapidly exchangeable bone pool in addition to decreasing urinary Mg2+ excretion. By contrast, the body can compensate for the drop in intestinal Ca2+ absorption by only decreasing urinary Ca2+ excretion. Thus, this model can be used to understand the compensatory mechanisms adopted by the body to maintain Mg2+ and Ca2+ homeostasis under various pathophysiological conditions and drug administrations. This work was supported by the Canada 150 Research Chair program, National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, and Canada Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant to Anita Layton. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

Cardiac Sodium Channel Nav1.5 Arg222Gln Variant Induces a Sex-Specific Arrhythmia and Alters Mitochondrial Function

Introduction: Encoded by the SCN5A gene, cardiac Nav1.5 sodium channels initiate the action potential to trigger a heartbeat. As the predominant sodium channel in the heart, variants can have devastating consequences, leading to potentially lethal arrhythmias. With the gain of function arginine to glutamine (Arg222Gln) variant in Nav1.5, patients develop intermittent arrhythmias and dilated cardiomyopathy. The stress induced by chronic arrhythmias can trigger adverse metabolic reprogramming, exacerbating the underlying condition. We have generated a murine model harboring the human Arg222Gln variant where we observe that only males produce a clear observable arrhythmia. We hypothesize that the maladaptive metabolic response to the arrhythmia caused by the Arg222Gln variant maybe be a potential link to the sex differences. Methods: The human exon containing the Arg222Gln mutation was knocked into a murine model under the endogenous SCN5A promoter. Cellular metabolism (oxygen consumption) was measured using primary adult mouse cardiomyocytes (CMs) with the Seahorse XFe analyzer. Mitochondrial membrane potential was measured using ratiometric JC-1 dye and imaged on a scanning confocal microscope. Heart tissues were diced into 1mm3 cubes and fixed to perform serial block face electron microscopy to obtain 3D structure of mitochondria and mitochondrial morphology. Western blots were used to detect protein levels. Results: Basal respiration of CMs were unchanged, however the maximal respiratory capacity of Arg222Gln males was significantly lower (116.9±13.5pmol O2/min, p&lt;0.05) compared to WT males (407.3±16.4pmol O2/min). There were no differences between WT females (451.4±22.4pmol O2/min) and Arg222Gln females (463.2±33.7pmol O2/min). JC-1 dye revealed that the Arg222Gln males (0.6213±0.0172 red/green ratio, p&lt;0.001) have significantly lowered mitochondrial polarization compared to WT males (0.7550 ±0.0257). There were no differences between WT females (0.6236±0.0154) and Arg222Gln females (0.6466±0.0139). Arg222Gln males have reduced mitochondria area (1.155±0.052μm2, p&lt;0.05) compared to WT males (1.332±0.060μm2) and are more fragmented (p&lt;0.05). Electron transport chain complex protein levels and mitochondrial biomass measured by voltage dependent anion channel protein levels remain unchanged between WT males and Arg222Gln males (P&gt;0.05). The ratio of phosphorylated dynamin related (DRP) / total DRP protein levels were significantly higher in Arg222Gln males compared to WT males, indicative of mitochondrial fission (p&lt;0.05). Conclusion: We demonstrate evidence of a mitochondrial dysfunction in a murine model of arrhythmia caused by a gain of function Nav1.5 variant, adversely affecting overall cellular metabolism and mitochondrial quality. Our data suggests that the difference in metabolic reprogramming could play a role in the cardioprotection against arrhythmia in Arg222Gln females or explain why Arg222Gln males are severely affected by the arrhythmia. Future experiments will aim to elucidate how the difference in sex affects cardiac metabolism in the context of Arg222Gln Nav1.5 variant. This work was supported by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research Project Grant, the SickKids Foundation through the Curtis Joseph and Harold Groves Chair in Anesthesia and Pain Medicine (JTM) and the Department of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine, University of Toronto through a Merit Award (JTM). TYTL is supported by the CIHR Canadian Graduate Scholarship — Doctoral Award. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.

'Science by consensus' impedes scientific creativity and progress: A simple alternative to funding biomedical research.

The very low success rates of grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are highly detrimental to the progress of science and the careers of scientists. The peer review process that evaluates proposals has been claimed arbitrarily to be the best there is. This consensus system, however, has never been evaluated scientifically against an alternative. Here we delineate the 15 major problems with the peer review process. We challenge the Science Advisor to the President, and the leadership of NIH, NSF, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and other funding agencies throughout the world to refute each of these criticisms. We call for the implementation of more equitable alternatives that will not constrain the progress of science. We propose a system that will fund at least 80,000 principal investigators, including young scientists, with about half the current NIH budget, seven-times as many as the current number of NIH "research project grants," and that will forego the cumbersome, expensive, and counterproductive "peer" review stage. Further, we propose that the success of the two systems over 5-10 years be compared scientifically.

Dependence of Proton Diffusivity on Dopant Concentration in Yttrium-Doped Barium Zirconate; First-Principles Study

Yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BaZrO3) has high proton conductivity and thermal stability, attracting attention to apply solid electrolytes to medium-temperature fuel cells. It has been reported that the proton conductivity decreases as the concentration of Y in BaZrO3increases, and it is desired to elucidate its origin. In order to perform a theoretical analysis associated with such a high-concentration solid solution state, it is necessary to consider a solid solution model that simultaneously includes two or more point defect complexes. Though the number of atomic arrangements is huge, only the structures along the path with the lowest activation energy contribute to proton conduction. In this study, we found the structures that contribute to proton conduction by pathfinding based on the combination of first-principles calculations and graph theory. From the structures on the conduction path with the lowest activation energy, we extracted the parameters that contribute to the improvement of proton conduction by performing the feature analysis.The solution models of the 2×2×2 supercell of BaZrO3 with 12.5 and 25 mol% Y were constructed in which one and two atoms of dopant element Y were substituted to Zr sites, respectively, and the same number of protons were introduced. The total energy calculation was performed for all the symmetrically independent structures. The conduction path search based on the graph theory was performed using the obtained energies of structures, and the association and activation energies of conduction in long-range diffusion were evaluated. A feature regression analysis of total energies was conducted to extract the dominant factors of energies of the structures along the conduction path.The association and activation energies were evaluated from the structural energies of the structures along the obtained conduction path. The difference between the highest and lowest energies with protons at the stationary positions along the searched path is considered the association energy and the energy difference between the highest energy on the path and the highest energy with the proton at the stationary positions is considered to correspond to the mobile activation energy of the proton. The mobile activation and association energies were increased with the increase of Y concentration, which is in good agreement with the experiments.To clarify the parameters which affect the mobile activation and association energies, we performed regression analysis for the energy of the Y 25 mol% using the random forest to extract the dominant factor of the structural energy along the diffusion path in the heavily doped system. The regression parameters of rotation and distortion of octahedra were considered as well as direct descriptors of H-Y configurations. Though the parameters such as a distance of H-Y directly related to the configuration of H and Y appeared to be less important, the parameters related to the rotation of Zr(Y)O6 octahedra, are the first and second highest important parameters. They have an almost linear relationship with high negative correlation coefficients around -0.7 for the structures along the searched diffusion path including H at the transition positions. It is suggested that the rotation of octahedra declines the energy and contributes to the stabilization of the structures along the searched diffusion path. To confirm the rotation effect on the structural energy of Y contents, we calculated the energies as a function of octahedron rotation for the Y 12.5 and 25 mol% models. The larger the Y concentration, the larger the energy change concerning octahedron rotation, suggesting that the Y 25 mol% model is stiffer in terms of octahedron rotation than Y 12.5 mol%. This stiffening of octahedron rotation with Y addition is a key factor of mobile activation and association energies, which are dominant in proton conduction.This work was supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency CREST (JPMJCR18J3) and JSPS KAKENHI (JP22H05146 and JP22K14465). This work was also supported by MEXT Program: Data Creation and Utilization Type Material Research and Development Project Grant Number JPMXP1122683430.

National Institutes of Health R-series Grants portfolio of racism and healthcare, 2017–2022

BackgroundAny form of racism in healthcare is an unacceptable barrier to receiving equitable and quality care, further contributing to health disparities among populations. For these reasons, it is critical to have a better understanding on the amount of research and scientific advances of funded projects aimed at racism in healthcare. An examination of the distribution of R-series funded research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) on racism in healthcare during a 5-year fiscal year (FY) period (2017–2022) was conducted by the study team.MethodsThis cross-sectional study used publicly available data from the NIH RePORTER (Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools: Expenditures and Results) for research project grants awarded on racism and healthcare during the FYs of 2017 to 2022. The number of R-series NIH funded projects on racism in healthcare were examined, including the abstract and public health relevance statement, number of publications, spending category, fiscal start and end dates, total amount of funding each year, funding agency/center(s), and type of funding opportunity announcements. Descriptive statistics were performed on the data by the research team.ResultsThere were a total of 93 R-series grants funded during the FYs of 2017 to 2022. Most of the grants were R01s (77.4%); focused primarily on racism at the system-wide level (68.8%), and on patients (64.5%); the largest racial and ethnic minority group reported were African/American/Black (20.4%); and close to 40% did not report race or ethnicity. None of the grants focused in internalized racism, which is at the individual –level. From the FYs of 2017 to 2022, 0.07% of all NIH research funding was awarded to racism in healthcare.ConclusionThe findings of this study showed the need for continued funding and of the need of more research on racism in healthcare, that potentially can reduce health disparities and inequities.

‘Science by consensus’ impedes scientific creativity and progress: A simple alternative to funding biomedical research

The very low success rates of grant applications to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) are highly detrimental to the progress of science and the careers of scientists. The peer review process that evaluates proposals has been claimed arbitrarily to be the best there is. This consensus system, however, has never been evaluated scientifically against an alternative. Here we delineate the 15 major problems with the peer review process. We challenge the Science Advisor to the President, and the leadership of NIH, NSF, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and other funding agencies throughout the world to refute each of these criticisms. We call for the implementation of more equitable alternatives that will not constrain the progress of science. We propose a system that will fund at least 80,000 principal investigators, including young scientists, with about half the current NIH budget, seven-times as many as the current number of NIH “research project grants,” and that will forego the cumbersome, expensive, and counterproductive “peer” review stage. Further, we propose that the success of the two systems over 5–10 years be compared scientifically.

Abstract B009: Advancing health equity in cancer survivorship research: A review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2017-2021 portfolio

Abstract Background: Over the past decade there has been a call for a research paradigm shift from describing health disparities to a health equity research agenda that links and addresses the social, environmental, economic, health system, and policy contextual factors that drive health disparities. However, it is unknown if cancer survivorship research has made this transition. Methods: Research project grants funded during Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to 2021 focused on cancer survivorship were identified using a text mining algorithm of words from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization thesaurus with survivorship-relevant terms. A total of 586 grants were identified, of which the title and abstract were reviewed to identify grants focused on health disparities. Characteristics for each grant focused on health disparities were abstracted. We then coded the determinants of heath disparities by levels of influence (individual, interpersonal, organizational/community, societal) and domains of influence (biological, behavioral, physical/built environment, sociocultural environment, healthcare system).Results: A total of 134 grants were identified that focused on health disparities. These grants were funded by 5 NIH institutes with NCI funding 85%. The majority of grants (63%) used the R01 mechanism. The populations of focus included racial and ethnic minority survivors (75%), survivors living in rural areas (25%), socioeconomically disadvantaged cancer survivors (22%), and SGM survivors (2%). Half of the studies were of observational design, and half were interventional. Study topics included: late effects (44%), patient activation (28%), adherence to care guidelines (25%), health communication (18%), physical activity (13%), nutrition (8%), and policy research (4%). Nearly all grants included at least one individual-level of influence (95%), as compared to higher levels of influence (26% interpersonal, 33% organizational/community, 15% societal). Behavioral and healthcare system domains of influence were commonly represented, especially at the individual-level (76% and 43%). Determinants from the physical/built environment and sociocultural environment were less frequent. Conclusions: Our findings highlight that NIH-funded survivorship research on health disparities is still focused on the individual-level and behavioral domains of influence. However, the portfolio analysis also suggests that survivorship research is transitioning to a health equity research agenda by incorporating structural/institutional level factors. Gaps in funded research on understudied populations were identified, including SGM, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander. Future research is needed to identify mechanisms to address the upstream social drivers/determinants or contextual factors of where cancer survivors live, work, learn, play, age, and access care. Such work would inform the development or implementation of evidence-based interventions to prevent inequitable care and achieve the goal of health equity. Citation Format: Michelle Doose, Michelle A. Mollica, Amanda Acevedo, Crystal Reed, Gina Tesauro, Lisa Gallicchio, Jennifer Guida, Molly E. Maher, Shobha Srinivasan, Emily Tonorezos. Advancing health equity in cancer survivorship research: A review of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) 2017-2021 portfolio [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 16th AACR Conference on the Science of Cancer Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; 2023 Sep 29-Oct 2;Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2023;32(12 Suppl):Abstract nr B009.

A 10 Year Analysis of Gender Distribution in National Institutes of Health Funding for Non-Malignant Hematology

Introduction: Historically, there has been an underrepresentation of women in the field of hematology. Consequently, this makes them less likely to receive academic research grants. Here, we present a ten year retrospective analysis of the Research Project Grants (R01) awarded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) through the fiscal years of 2012-2022. The grants were categorized by various NIH agencies. This temporal analysis examines gender disparities under the field of non-malignant hematology research. Methods:Data was extracted for the fiscal years 2012-2022 focusing exclusively on R01 grants awarded and categorized by the various NIH agencies. Data was leveraged using the NIH RePORTER tool, Tidyverse, and janitor packages in R. The dataset incorporated key grant parameters such as grant ID, agency code, activity code, abstract text, project title, fiscal year, activity status, award amount, organization, and principal investigator's(PI) name. In order to distinguish a PI's gender, PI's first names were processed using the gender package in R, which provided a gender-wise distribution of recipients. For statistical analyses, proportions of females with accepted R01 grants were compared between 2012 to 2022; this proportion analysis was also done among each NIH agency. Further, linear regression and associated statistical tests were used to identify whether there was significant change in grants received by either gender over this time period. Results: A total of 250,031 R01 grants were awarded by the NIH during the fiscal years of 2012 to 2022. Females (n=82,152: 32.9% (95% CI 0.41-0.43) received fewer grants than males (n=167,879: 67.1%, (95% CI 0.50-0.55). Across 2012 to 2022, there was no significant change in R01 grants awarded among men (16,221 to 15,601, p-value= 0.52). In contrast, there was a significant difference for females in the R01 grants awarded across 2012 to 2022 (6,865 to 9,339, p-value &amp;lt;0.001). In 2012, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), and National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) awarded less than 25% of the total grants to females. By 2022, of all the agencies, the NBIB remained the agency with the most extensive gender gap with females being awarded only 23% of grants. In contrast, the National Institute of Minority Health and Disparities (NIMHD) and the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) were the only agencies in 2012 to award more grants to females with approximately 52% and 74% of grants respectively. In 2022, the NINR and NIHMD continued to show more grants awarded to females versus males. In addition to those agencies, by 2022, the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development(NICHD) and National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health (NCCIH) joined the NINR and NIHMD in awarding more than 50% of grants awarded to females that year. Conclusion: This analysis highlights continued gender disparity as only 33% of total R01 NIH grants were awarded to females during the fiscal years 2012-2022 in non-malignant hematologic research. Although, it is noted that while some agencies have made strides towards gender parity, others continue to have a significant gap. While this remains a systemic and multifaceted issue, identifying these areas of gender disparity will enable targeted efforts to bridge this gap and advance gender equality.

Fast Continuous and Integer L-Shaped Heuristics Through Supervised Learning

We propose a methodology at the nexus of operations research and machine learning (ML) leveraging generic approximators available from ML to accelerate the solution of mixed-integer linear two-stage stochastic programs. We aim at solving problems where the second stage is demanding. Our core idea is to gain large reductions in online solution time, while incurring small reductions in first-stage solution accuracy by substituting the exact second-stage solutions with fast, yet accurate, supervised ML predictions. This upfront investment in ML would be justified when similar problems are solved repeatedly over time—for example, in transport planning related to fleet management, routing, and container yard management. Our numerical results focus on the problem class seminally addressed with the integer and continuous L-shaped cuts. Our extensive empirical analysis is grounded in standardized families of problems derived from stochastic server location (SSLP) and stochastic multi-knapsack (SMKP) problems available in the literature. The proposed method can solve the hardest instances of SSLP in less than 9% of the time it takes the state-of-the-art exact method, and in the case of SMKP, the same figure is 20%. Average optimality gaps are, in most cases, less than 0.1%. History: Accepted by Alice Smith, Area Editor (for this paper) for Design and Analysis of Algorithms–Discrete. Funding: Financial support from the Institut de Valorisation des Données (IVADO) Fundamental Research Project Grants [project entitled “Machine Learning for (Discrete) Optimization”]; Canada Research Chairs; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [Collaborative Research and Development Grant CRD-477938-14]; and the Canadian National Railway Company Chair in Optimization of Railway Operations at Université de Montréal is gratefully acknowledged. E. Frejinger holds a Canada Research Chair. Computations were made on the supercomputer Béluga, managed by Calcul Québec and Digital Research Alliance of Canada. The operation of this supercomputer is funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation; the Ministère de l’Économie, de la Science et de l’Innovation du Québec; and the Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Nature et Technologies.

Smart Refractory Sensors Development for Corrosion and Erosion Monitoring in High Temperature Systems

To optimize the operation and functioning of high temperature systems such as slagging gasifiers, coal boilers and glass/steel melters, it is important to monitor corrosion and erosion of refractory used in such systems. Corrosion test strategies are generally based on continuous gravimetric and chemical reactivity monitoring at operational temperatures (750°-1500°C). Both thermocouples and failure sensors and arrays would be useful to monitor the health of any refractory or coatings in these systems. Many of such type of sensors are installed into the systems through open access ports within the refractory; however, there are some disadvantages of this approach where corrosive/erosive gas and molten materials can penetrate and compromise the system. The current work presents the development and performance demonstration of smart refractory with embedded high temperature sensors such as thermocouples, thermistors, and various spallation/crack monitoring sensors, which may be used within a variety of refractory brick in different high temperature processes and applications.The main feature of this technology is that electroceramic based sensors are embedded into smart refractory without significantly impact to the intrinsic properties of the refractory. This technology circumvents the need to insert an isolated monolithic, stand-alone sensor into the refractory via an access port. This technological approach guarantees the integrity and the chemical stability of the materials used in the sensor fabrication within the harsh environment and does not introduce molten material (such as slag) penetration pathways within the refractory. One interesting and important aspect of this innovation is that these embedded sensors can be used to in situ monitoring processes such as chemical reactions and at the same time give information and a deeper understanding of the corrosion and erosion process of the refractory within the system.As stated above, the objective of our work is to develop high-temperature sensors composed of electroceramic materials that are chemically stable at high temperatures (750°-1500°C) and high pressures (up to 1000 psi) that can be used in monitoring corrosion and erosion process in refractory used in high energy systems. The high-temperature sensors investigated in this work were composed of various oxide composites directly embedded into the refractory oxides. The composites used for this work were synthesized by a mixed-oxide route. Metal oxides were inserted within a matrix material composed of refractory oxides (Al2O3, ZrO2, etc.). The physical and electrical properties were specifically manipulated by altering the level of percolation of the conductive species (metal oxides) within the refractory constituent (refractory oxide).Prior to the development of the high-temperature sensors, the oxides composites developed in this study were sintered up to 1600°C under oxidizing atmosphere in order to investigate densification, microstructural evolution, phase development, and their thermoelectrical performance as a function of the composition. The 4-point DC conductivity measurements were performed between 100°-1500°C. The sensors were fabricated from the composite materials by 3D-printing or screen-printing methods into the refractory brick during the consolidation process.An example of one of these embedded sensors consisted of an electroceramic-based thermocouple fabricated with two separate oxide composite compositions which were patterned to produce a couple within the interior of a refractory matrix. The thermocouple successfully displayed thermoelectric voltage trend (as a function of temperature), and the voltage was 220.0 mV around 1400 °C.Corrosion tests on the refractory embedded sensors were performed. To evaluate corrosion in the refractory brick an in-house glass composition was prepared and pressed into pellets and delivered into a pre-cut cavity in the brick. Corrosion experiments results showed the glass penetrated the brick over a 90 h period, and the penetration of the glass through the brick could be monitored by both a amperometric and voltametric based sensor. With this experiment, it was demonstrated that the embedded sensor could dynamically monitor the corrosion process. Acknowledgements: This work was supported by the United States Department of Energy (DOE) through the research project grant (DE-FE0031825). The authors would also like to acknowledge the technical support of Dr. Qiang Wang, Dr. Marcela Redigolo and Mr. Harley Hart of WVU Shared Research Facilities (SRF) for assistance in characterization and technical input.

Study of various ground state decay mechanisms of Actinide nuclei* *Financial support from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), New Delhi, India in the form of a research project grant (CRG/2021/001144) is gratefully acknowledged.

The special property of the actinide mass region is that nuclei belonging to this group are radioactive and undergo different ground state processes, such as alpha decay, cluster radioactivity (CR), heavy particle radioactivity (HPR), and spontaneous fission (SF). In this study, the probable radioactive decay modes of the heavy mass region (Z = 89−102) are studied within the framework of the preformed cluster model (PCM). In the PCM, the radioactive decay modes are explored in terms of the preformation probability () and penetration probability (P) at the turning point , where the penetration of fragments is initiated [R = R (touching state) + (neck length parameter)]. First, the alpha decay half-lives are calculated for light and heavy nuclei, and points are obtained by optimizing the neck length parameter. These points are further employed to fix the Q-value dependent turning point ((Q)). Then, using the ((Q)) relation, the decay half-lives are computed, and the calculated results are compared with the available theoretical and experimental data. The isotopical trend of and P is studied with respect to the mass number of the parent and daughter nucleus, respectively. The CR and HPR channels are also explored, and a comparison of calculated data is conducted with the available literature. Comparative analysis of the fragmentation potential and preformation probability is carried out for alpha decay and SF. The mass distribution of the nuclei is studied as a function of fragment mass (A ) by considering the spherical and hot-compact deformation of the decaying fragments. Finally, the most probable fission fragments are identified using the fragmentation structure, and the corresponding fission fragment total kinetic energy of the identified fragments is calculated and compared with available data, wherever applicable.

Survivorship science at the National Institutes of Health 2017-2021.

To describe the characteristics of National Institutes of Health (NIH) cancer survivorship grants funded over the past 5 years and identify gap areas for future efforts and initiatives. Research project grants (RPG) funded during Fiscal Year (FY) 2017 to 2021 focused on cancer survivorship were identified using a text mining algorithm of words from the NIH Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization (RCDC) thesaurus with survivorship-relevant terms. The title, abstract, specific aims, and public health relevance section of each grant were reviewed for eligibility. Grants meeting the eligibility criteria were double coded to extract study characteristics (e.g., grant mechanism, study design, study population). A total of 586 grants were funded by 14 NIH Institutes from FY2017 to FY2021, and the number of newly funded grants increased each FY, from 68 in 2017 to 105 in 2021. Approximately 60% of all grants included an intervention study, and interventions most often focused on psychosocial or supportive care (32.0%). The most common primary focus of the grants was late- and long-term effects of cancer treatment (46.6%), and least often financial hardship. The results of this portfolio analysis indicate overall growth in the number and breadth of grants over the last five years, although notable gaps persist. This review of current NIH grants suggests a need for expanded research to understand and address survivor needs to ensure that the over 18 million cancer survivors in the United States have optimal quality of life and health outcomes.