A workflow for expanding DNA barcode reference libraries through 'museum harvesting' of natural history collections.

Natural history collections are the physical repositories of our knowledge on species, the entities of biodiversity. Making this knowledge accessible to society - through, for example, digitisation or the construction of a validated, global DNA barcode library - is of crucial importance. To this end, we developed and streamlined a workflow for 'museum harvesting' of authoritatively identified Diptera specimens from the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History.

Enhancing DNA barcode reference libraries by harvesting terrestrial arthropods at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History.

The use of DNA barcoding has revolutionised biodiversity science, but its application depends on the existence of comprehensive and reliable reference libraries. For many poorly known taxa, such reference sequences are missing even at higher-level taxonomic scales. We harvested the collections of the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (USNM) to generate DNA barcoding sequences for genera of terrestrial arthropods previously not recorded in one or more major public sequence databases.

Increasing Information Content and Diagnosability in Family-Level Classifications.

Higher-level classifications often must account for monotypic taxa representing depauperate evolutionary lineages and lacking synapomorphies of their better-known, well-defined sister clades. In a ranked (Linnean) or unranked (phylogenetic) classification system, discovering such a depauperate taxon does not necessarily invalidate the rank classification of sister clades. Named higher taxa must be monophyletic to be phylogenetically valid.

Introduction of a conversation starter tool to improve health habits in young children.

Background: Childhood overweight and obesity rates in the United States continue to climb. Providers must identify feasible interventions to improve health habits to prevent and treat obesity in children.

Methods: Parents (n = 91) of four-to eight-year-old children were recruited and surveyed regarding their child's current health habits and perception of their child's weight status.

Testing a Pediatric Palliative Care Education Workplace Intervention.

Pediatric palliative care is aimed at pain and symptom management, reducing hospitalization, promoting psychosocial care, and improving quality of life for children with serious illness. As a professional caregiver, nurses play an essential role in the provision of appropriate pediatric palliative care in clinical care settings. The purpose of this quality improvement study was to improve pediatric nurses' awareness and perceptions of palliative care.