University Reactor Conversion Lessons Learned Workshop for Purdue University Reactor

The Department of Energy’s Idaho National Laboratory, under its programmatic responsibility for managing the University Research Reactor Conversions, has completed the conversion of the reactor at Purdue University Reactor. With this work completed and in anticipation of other impending conversion projects, the INL convened and engaged the project participants in a structured discussion to capture the lessons learned. The lessons learned process has allowed us to capture gaps, opportunities, and good practices, drawing from the project team’s experiences. These lessons will be used to raise the standard of excellence, effectiveness, and efficiency in all future conversion projects

Maturity of the Organisational Leadership Development Process – Development and Validation of an Afrocentric Measure

Abstract: Organisations spend enormous amounts of money on leadership development. Yet, these organisations do not necessarily know exactly in which leadership development programmes or areas they should invest for each level of work (leadership). The purpose of this study was to develop and validate a measure of the maturity of the organisational leadership development process that is fit for use in southern Africa across the different levels of leadership. This measure consists of two instruments, namely the qualitative Social Perspective Profiling and the quantitative Leadership Development Process Maturity Index. Both these instruments were validated against two large multinational southern African organisations and revealed different levels of maturity of the leadership development process across the levels of leadership in these organisations. As a result, southern African organisations are now able to measure themselves against the benchmark areas that represent the maturity of the leadership development process. This will allow these organisations to close the gap between their leadership development process status quo for each level of leadership and what is most or least critical from a leadership development point of view, which will result in an improved return on learning and the increased success of these organisations

Pancreas-derived mesenchymal stromal cells share immune response-modulating and angiogenic potential with bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cells and can be grown to therapeutic scale under GMP conditions

Background aims: Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) isolated from various tissues are under investigation as cellular therapeutics in a wide range of diseases. It is appreciated that the basic biological functions of MSCs vary depending on tissue source. However, in-depth comparative analyses between MSCs isolated from different tissue sources under Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) conditions are lacking. Human clinical-grade low-purity islet (LPI) fractions are generated as a byproduct of islet isolation for transplantation. MSC isolates were derived from LPI fractions with the aim of performing a systematic, standardized comparative analysis of these cells with clinically relevant bone marrow-derived MSCs (BM MSCs). Methods: MSC isolates were derived from LPI fractions and expanded in platelet lysate-supplemented medium or in commercially available xenogeneic-free medium. Doubling rate, phenotype, differentiation potential, gene expression, protein production and immunomodulatory capacity of LPIs were compared with those of BM MSCs. Results: MSCs can be readily derived in vitro from non-transplanted fractions resulting from islet cell processing (i.e., LPI MSCs). LPI MSCs grow stably in serum-free or platelet lysate-supplemented media and demonstrate in vitro self-renewal, as measured by colony-forming unit assay. LPI MSCs express patterns of chemokines and pro-regenerative factors similar to those of BM MSCs and, importantly, are equally able to attract immune cells in vitro and in vivo and suppress T-cell proliferation in vitro. Additionally, LPI MSCs can be expanded to therapeutically relevant doses at low passage under GMP conditions. Conclusions: LPI MSCs represent an alternative source of GMP MSCs with functions comparable to BM MSCs

Reporting randomised clinical trials of analgesics after traumatic or orthopaedic surgery is inadequate: a systematic review

Background Several randomised clinical trials (RCTs) of analgesics in postoperative pain after traumatic or orthopaedic surgery (TOS) have been published, but no studies have assessed the quality of these reports. We aimed to examine the quality of reporting RCTs on analgesics for postoperative pain after TOS. Methods Reports of RCTs assessing analgesics in postoperative pain after TOS were systematically searched from electronic databases. The quality of reports was assessed using the CONSORT checklist (scoring range from 0 to 22). The quality was considered poor when scoring was 12 or lesser. The publication year and the impact factor of journals were recorded. Results A total of 92 reports of RCTs were identified and 69 (75%) scored 12 or lesser in CONSORT checklist (range 5-17). The mean (SD) CONSORT score of all reports was 10.6 (2.7). Missing CONSORT items included primary and secondary outcome measures (11%), the specific objectives and hypothesis definition (12%), the sample size calculation (12%), the dates defining the periods of recruitment (12%), the discussion of external validity of findings (14%), the allocation sequence generation (24%), and the interpretation of potential bias or imprecision of results (25%). There was a little improvement in CONSORT scores over time (r = 0.62; p < 0.001) and with impact factor of journals (r = 0.30; p < 0.001). Conclusion Quality of reporting RCTs on analgesics after TOS is poor. Reporting of those RCTs should be improved according to methodological standard checklists in the next years

Multi-trait genome-wide association study identifies new loci associated with optic disc parameters

A new avenue of mining published genome-wide association studies includes the joint analysis of related traits. The power of this approach depends on the genetic correlation of traits, which reflects the number of pleiotropic loci, i.e. genetic loci influencing multiple traits. Here, we applied new meta-analyses of optic nerve head (ONH) related traits implicated in primary open-angle glaucoma (POAG); intraocular pressure and central corneal thickness using Haplotype reference consortium imputations. We performed a multi-trait analysis of ONH parameters cup area, disc area and vertical cup-disc ratio. We uncover new variants; rs11158547 in PPP1R36-PLEKHG3 and rs1028727 near SERPINE3 at genome-wide significance that replicate in independent Asian cohorts imputed to 1000 Genomes. At this point, validation of these variants in POAG cohorts is hampered by the high degree of heterogeneity. Our results show that multi-trait analysis is a valid approach to identify novel pleiotropic variants for ONH