How an international research funder's forum developed guiding principles to ensure value and reduce waste in research.

When health-related research funding agencies choose to fund research, they balance a number of competing issues: costs, stakeholder views and potential benefits. The REWARD Alliance, and the related Lancet-REWARD Campaign, question whether those decisions are yielding all the value they could. A group of health-related research funding agencies, organisations that represent health-related research funding agencies and those that inform and set health-related-research funding policy from around the world have come together since 2016 to share, learn, collaborate and influence emerging practice.

3D-Printed Carbon Nanoneedle Electrodes for Dopamine Detection in Drosophila.

In vivo electrochemistry in small brain regions or synapses requires nanoelectrodes with long straight tips for submicron scale measurements. Nanoelectrodes can be fabricated using a Nanoscribe two-photon printer, but annealed tips curl if they are long and thin. We propose a new pulling-force strategy to fabricate a straight carbon nanoneedle structure.

Microdosing ketamine in Drosophila does not block serotonin reuptake, but causes complex behavioral changes mediated by glutamate and serotonin receptors.

Microdosing ketamine is a novel antidepressant for treatment-resistant depression. Traditional antidepressants, like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), inhibit serotonin reuptake, but it is not clear if ketamine shows a similar mechanism. Here, we tested the effects of feeding ketamine and SSRIs to Drosophila melanogaster larvae, which has a similar serotonin system to mammals and is a good model to track depressive behaviors, such as locomotion and feeding.

Electrochemical and biosensor techniques to monitor neurotransmitter changes with depression.

Depression is a common mental illness. However, its current treatments, like selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) and micro-dosing ketamine, are extremely variable between patients and not well understood. Three neurotransmitters: serotonin, histamine, and glutamate, have been proposed to be key mediators of depression.

Microdosing ketamine in does not inhibit SERT like SSRIs, but causes behavioral changes mediated by glutamate and serotonin receptors.

Recently, the FDA approved microdosing ketamine for treatment resistant depression. Traditional antidepressants, like serotonin selective reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), block serotonin reuptake, but it is not clear if ketamine blocks serotonin reuptake. Here, we tested the effects of feeding ketamine and SSRIs to larvae, which has a similar serotonin system to mammals, and is a good model to track depression behaviors, such as locomotion and feeding.

Emerging healthcare interventions: Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's programmatic initiative.

The Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) is a nonprofit, nongovernmental organization established by the U.S. Congress to fund comparative clinical effectiveness research focusing on patient-centered outcomes through the engagement of stakeholders.

SSRI antidepressants differentially modulate serotonin reuptake and release in Drosophila.

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) antidepressants are commonly prescribed treatments for depression, but their effects on serotonin reuptake and release are not well understood. Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, expresses the serotonin transporter (dSERT), the major target of SSRIs, but real-time serotonin changes after SSRIs have not been characterized in this model. The goal of this study was to characterize effects of SSRIs on serotonin concentration and reuptake in Drosophila larvae.

Health funders' dissemination and implementation practices: results from a survey of the Ensuring Value in Research (EViR) Funders' Forum.

Background: A significant gap persists between evidence from research and its use in practice. Research funders, important actors in the health research system, can help reduce this gap by initiating dissemination and implementation (D&I) activities. The specific types of D&I activities funders currently lead have not been explored thoroughly.

Improving serotonin fast-scan cyclic voltammetry detection: new waveforms to reduce electrode fouling.

Serotonin is a neuromodulator implicated in depression that is often measured in real-time by fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV). A specialized "Jackson" waveform (JW, 0.2, 1.

Examining the role of funders in ensuring value and reducing waste in research: An organizational case-study of the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute.

International experts have recommended actions that funders can take to improve the value of research investments. They state that self-assessment and public sharing are the basis for accountability and improvement. We examined our policies and practice to determine the extent to which the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute's (PCORI) policies and practices as a research funder align with international best practice recommendations.

Noncommercial US Funders' Policies on Trial Registration, Access to Summary Results, and Individual Patient Data Availability.

Importance: Incomplete information about existing research is an underlying cause of research waste. National and international initiatives and requirements have been launched to address this issue.

Objectives: To characterize current clinical trial transparency policies among the largest noncommercial US funders and examine whether the policies are concordant with international funders.

Methodological considerations for detection of terrestrial small-body salamander eDNA and implications for biodiversity conservation.

Environmental DNA (eDNA) can be used as an assessment tool to detect populations of threatened species and provide fine-scale data required to make management decisions. The objectives of this project were to use quantitative PCR (qPCR) to: (i) detect spiked salamander DNA in soil, (ii) quantify eDNA degradation over time, (iii) determine detectability of salamander eDNA in a terrestrial environment using soil, faeces, and skin swabs, (iv) detect salamander eDNA in a mesocosm experiment. Salamander eDNA was positively detected in 100% of skin swabs and 66% of faecal samples and concentrations did not differ between the two sources.

Gatekeepers for pragmatic clinical trials.

To successfully implement a pragmatic clinical trial, investigators need access to numerous resources, including financial support, institutional infrastructure (e.g. clinics, facilities, staff), eligible patients, and patient data.

Capacity of, and Demand for, Neonatal Nurse Practitioner Educational Programs: A Missing Piece of the Workforce Puzzle.

Background: Studies have demonstrated a dramatic increase in the number of new nurse practitioners (NPs) overall completing NP education each year. However, NPs who provide specialized care to children have not experienced increases in their pipeline at all. This has resulted in shortages of neonatal nurse practitioners (NNPs).

Capacity of, and Demand for, Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Educational Programs: A Missing Piece of the Workforce Puzzle.

Background: In contrast to family nurse practitioners and other adult nurse practitioners, the percentage of new pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) graduating each year has not increased.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to determine whether the marginal increase in the pipeline for PNPs is related to a limit in the capacity of educational programs or whether unfilled student openings exist.

Methods: Self-administered survey of program directors at all recognized PNP educational programs in the United States.

Changes in hospitals' credentialing requirements for board certification from 2005 to 2010.

Objective: In 2005, we conducted a study of the prevalence of board certification requirements for hospital privileging and found that one-third of hospitals did not require pediatricians to be board certified. In 2010, the American Board of Pediatrics implemented the Maintenance of Certification (MOC) program. To examine changes in the policies of hospitals regarding requirements for board certification, we surveyed privileging personnel at hospitals across the country.

Pediatric nurse practitioners: influences on career choice.

Background: The demand for hiring pediatric nurse practitioners (PNPs) is strong. However, the number of newly educated PNPs has remained relatively flat during the past several years. Understanding the rationale and timing for the decision to pursue this profession is essential to having a positive impact on increasing the future workforce.

Resident work hour changes in children's hospitals: impact on staffing patterns and workforce needs.

Background And Objective: Changes to the structure and nature of resident duty hour assignments can create compensatory workforce needs in hospital or outpatient settings to ensure appropriate patient care. The objective of this study was to understand what, if any, adjustments children's hospitals have made in staffing and assignments of specific duties during the past 2 years as a result of residency duty hour changes, and what changes are anticipated in the upcoming 2 years.

Methods: Mail survey to chief executive officers and chief operating officers of 114 freestanding children's hospitals or children's hospitals within a larger hospital.

Postinjury administration of 17β-estradiol induces protection in the gray and white matter with associated functional recovery after cervical spinal cord injury in male rats.

The majority of spinal cord injuries (SCIs) in the clinic occur at the lower cervical levels, resulting in both white and gray matter disruption. In contrast, most experimental models of SCI in rodents induce damage in the thoracic cord, resulting primarily in white matter disruption. To address this disparity, experimental cervical SCI models have been developed.

Private practice rates among pediatric subspecialists.

Objective: Historically, most pediatric subspecialists have conducted their clinical work in academic health centers. However, increases in the absolute numbers of pediatric subspecialists in past decades, combined with greater concentrations of children in urban and suburban settings, might result in more opportunities for pediatric subspecialists to enter private practice. Our goal was to assess the proportions of subspecialists in private practice.

Nurse practitioners and physician assistants employed by general and subspecialty pediatricians.

Objective: There is little nationally representative information describing the current manner in which nurse practitioners (NPs) and physician assistants (PAs) work in pediatric practices and their professional activities. To understand better the current NP and PA workforce in pediatric primary and subspecialty care, we conducted a national survey of pediatricians.

Methods: A survey study of a random national sample of 498 pediatric generalists and 1696 subspecialists in the United States was performed by using a structured questionnaire administered by mail.