Reimagining the potential of Earth observations for ecosystem service assessments

The benefits nature provides to people, called ecosystem services, are increasingly recognized and accounted for in assessments of infrastructure development, agricultural management, conservation prioritization, and sustainable sourcing. These assessments are often limited by data, however, a gap with tremendous potential to be filled through Earth observations (EO), which produce a variety of data across spatial and temporal extents and resolutions. Despite widespread recognition of this potential, in practice few ecosystem service studies use EO. Here, we identify challenges and opportunities to using EO in ecosystem service modeling and assessment. Some challenges are technical, related to data awareness, processing, and access. These challenges require systematic investment in model platforms and data management. Other challenges are more conceptual but still systemic; they are byproducts of the structure of existing ecosystem service models and addressing them requires scientific investment in solutions and tools applicable to a wide range of models and approaches. We also highlight new ways in which EO can be leveraged for ecosystem service assessments, identifying promising new areas of research. More widespread use of EO for ecosystem service assessment will only be achieved if all of these types of challenges are addressed. This will require non-traditional funding and partnering opportunities from private and public agencies to promote data exploration, sharing, and archiving. Investing in this integration will be reflected in better and more accurate ecosystem service assessments worldwide

Data from a pre-publication independent replication initiative examining ten moral judgement effects

We present the data from a crowdsourced project seeking to replicate findings in independent laboratories before (rather than after) they are published. In this Pre-Publication Independent Replication (PPIR) initiative, 25 research groups attempted to replicate 10 moral judgment effects from a single laboratory's research pipeline of unpublished findings. The 10 effects were investigated using online/lab surveys containing psychological manipulations (vignettes) followed by questionnaires. Results revealed a mix of reliable, unreliable, and culturally moderated findings. Unlike any previous replication project, this dataset includes the data from not only the replications but also from the original studies, creating a unique corpus that researchers can use to better understand reproducibility and irreproducibility in science

The pipeline project: Pre-publication independent replications of a single laboratory's research pipeline

This crowdsourced project introduces a collaborative approach to improving the reproducibility of scientific research, in which findings are replicated in qualified independent laboratories before (rather than after) they are published. Our goal is to establish a non-adversarial replication process with highly informative final results. To illustrate the Pre-Publication Independent Replication (PPIR) approach, 25 research groups conducted replications of all ten moral judgment effects which the last author and his collaborators had “in the pipeline” as of August 2014. Six findings replicated according to all replication criteria, one finding replicated but with a significantly smaller effect size than the original, one finding replicated consistently in the original culture but not outside of it, and two findings failed to find support. In total, 40% of the original findings failed at least one major replication criterion. Potential ways to implement and incentivize pre-publication independent replication on a large scale are discussed

Preclinical Models for Translating Regenerative Medicine Therapies for Rotator Cuff Repair

Despite improvements in the understanding of rotator cuff pathology and advances in surgical treatment options, repairs of chronic rotator cuff tears often re-tear or fail to heal after surgery. Hence, there is a critical need for new regenerative repair strategies that provide effective mechanical reinforcement of rotator cuff repair as well as stimulate and enhance the patient's intrinsic healing potential. This article will discuss and identify appropriate models for translating regenerative medicine therapies for rotator cuff repair. Animal models are an essential part of the research and development pathway; however, no one animal model reproduces all of the features of the human injury condition. The rat shoulder is considered the most appropriate model to investigate the initial safety, mechanism, and efficacy of biologic treatments aimed to enhance tendon-to-bone repair. Whereas large animal models are considered more appropriate to investigate the surgical methods, safety and efficacy of the mechanical—or combination biologic/mechanical—strategies are ultimately needed for treating human patients. The human cadaver shoulder model, performed using standard-of-care repair techniques, is considered the best for establishing the surgical techniques and mechanical efficacy of various repair strategies at time zero. While preclinical models provide a critical aspect of the translational pathway for engineered tissues, controlled clinical trials and postmarketing surveillance are also needed to define the efficacy, proper indications, and the method of application for each new regenerative medicine strategy

Risk of thromboembolic complications after intracerebral hemorrhage according to ethnicity

Introduction: Incidence of thromboembolic (TE) disease varies with race and ethnicity yet little is known about whether these differences also apply to the poststroke period. We review the literature and compare published data with observations from two recent global trials on intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). Methods: A systematic review of the literature in EMBASE/Medline identified relevant articles. Published data were compared to the TE events-myocardial infarction (MI), cerebral infarction (CI), deep venous thrombosis (DVT), and pulmonary embolism (PE)-observed among placebo patients in two trials investigating the efficacy and safety of recombinant factor VIIa (rFVIIa) (Novo Nordisk A/S, Denmark) in the treatment of spontaneous ICH. The relative risk of TE complications after ICH was estimated for blacks/African Americans and Asians after adjustment for relevant risk factors. Results: Only four relevant studies on TE disease after stroke were identified with data limited to poststroke MI and CI in a mixture of ischemic stroke and ICH patient populations. In the literature, blacks/African Americans appear to have a lower incidence rate of cardiac and cerebro-vascular complications after stroke, and Asians have a higher incidence rate of recurrent strokes, compared with Caucasians. In the two global trials, the overall poststroke incidence rates of MI, CI, DVT, and PE at 3 months after ICH onset were 2.3%, 2.0%, 3.7%, and 1.1%, respectively. After adjustment for differences in baseline risk factors, blacks/African Americans had a significantly higher risk of developing DVT compared with Caucasians (OR=5.64, P=0.0334), while Asians had a strong trend toward a higher risk of DVT (odds ratio=3.22, P=0.0932). The adjusted relative risk of PE, CI, and MI was not significantly different across ethnicities. Conclusion: This is the first study to specifically examine the risk of TE complications in the post-ICH period according to ethnicity. In a limited ICH population, we observed a significantly higher risk of DVT in blacks/African Americans compared with Caucasians after adjustment for differences in risk factors. We observed nonsignificant trends toward differences in the relative risk of MI, CI, or PE across ethnicities