Supporting pharmacy education and research:

The UCL School of Pharmacy is celebrating its 180th anniversary (Figure1).  This article discusses how its library has supported the School in its teaching, research and public engagement.  There is an overview of the challenges and opportunities the library has faced with regards space, collection management, information literacy and non-traditional support, such as wellbeing and sustainability. Post-COVID developments, AI and the utilisation of the library’s important historic collections and archive are also described

Explaining congressional reform: electoral laws, congressional organization, and the balance of power between party leaders and backbenchers in Latin American national legislatures

This research addresses the question under what conditions will rank and file legislators favor or oppose changes in a legislature’s internal rules of order. The study deviates from previous approaches to the study of legislatures in four primary ways: 1) the study moves from advanced democratized cases of the U.S. Congress and British House of Commons to cases of neo-democracies; 2) the study considers the interaction between the design of the electoral system and its impact on legislature organization; 3) in addition to chamber level factors, party and individual level factors are considered; and 4) the theory considers when legislators will rebel against attempts by party leadership to alter the internal rules of order. The central question focused on is what factors influence legislators’ willingness to speak out or vote against changes in the internal rules of order following a change in the electoral system design. The theory proposed that when it comes to changing the internal rules of order of a legislative chamber, the effective number of parties in the chamber, the effect of proposed changes in the rules of order on legislator behavior, party discipline, and the nature of legislator ambition affect the probability that change occurs. Experimental and statistical methodologies are used to test the hypotheses derived from the theory. Original data were collected from experiments conducted on undergraduate pupils at Texas A&M University. For the statistical analyses, a data set of proposed changes in the rules of order were compiled using archived data from the Colombian Senate and Peruvian Congress. This multi-method approach was used because of the nature of the question under examination and to minimize limitations of the individual methodologies. The experimental analyses demonstrate that the operations of the theory are supported in the controlled environment of the experiment. The results from the statistical analyses were, within the restrictions imposed by the data, consistent with both theoretical expectations and the experimental findings. The most consistent factor influencing change in the rules of order is the effect of the proposal followed by party discipline

FRESHWATER MACROINVERTEBRATE COMMUNITIES IN BALDWIN COUNTY, GEORGIA

Freshwater ecosystems are critical habitats for maintaining biodiversity, often providing refuge for organisms especially in urban settings. Baldwin County, GA is home to many freshwater lakes that are part of the Oconee River watershed. Despite ongoing water quality monitoring, aquatic macroinvertebrates are under studied in the area. Aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity of one forested and one residential lake in Milledgeville, GA was documented for the first time. Despite low sample size, community composition was significantly different between lakes, with 27 families in Lake Laurel (forested), 44 families in Lake Oliver Hardy (residential), and only 19 families collected from both lakes. Seasonal trends revealed the highest diversity in the summer. These data provide a baseline for the potential use of monitoring aquatic ecosystem health using aquatic macroinvertebrates in Milledgeville, GA

Waterbird and wetland monitoring at the Emiquon Preserve: Annual Report 2014

The Nature Conservancy (TNC) identified key ecological attributes (hereafter, KEAs) of specific biological characteristics or ecological processes that could indicate restoration success and trajectory at the Emiquon Preserve (hereafter Emiquon; The Nature Conservancy 2006). Because of the historic importance of the Illinois River valley to waterfowl and other waterbirds, several conservation targets and associated KEAs at Emiquon were related to waterbird communities and their habitats(Appendix A). Indeed, use of wetlands by waterbirds may serve as an indicator of landscape condition or a measure of restoration success (Austin et al. 2001,Gawlik 2006). Therefore, we monitored the response of wetland vegetation and waterbirds to restoration efforts at Emiquon during 2014to evaluate restoration success relative to desired conditions under the relevant KEAs. Our primary efforts included evaluating: 1) abundance, diversity, and behavior of waterfowl and other waterbirds through autumn aerial counts and spring ground counts; 2) productivity by waterfowl and other waterbirds through brood counts; 3) plant seed and invertebrate biomass to estimate energetic carrying capacity for waterfowl during migration and breeding periods;and 4) composition and arrangement of wetland vegetation communities and associated cover types through geospatial cover mapping.Herein, we report results of our monitoring efforts and interpret them as a means of evaluating restoration activities at Emiquon with respect to desired conditions under the KEAs.The Nature Conservancyunpublishednot peer reviewe

Short-term Effects of Initial Flood Disturbance on Restoration Projects: Waterbirds and Wetland Vegetation Final Report Period: 1 September 2013 – 31 August 2015

During spring 2013, record flooding occurred on the Illinois River. Emiquon and Merwin Preserves, two restored but hydrologically-isolated floodplains, were reconnected to the Illinois River for the first time in >80 years. Both Preserves are owned and managed by The Nature Conservancy and have been the focus of monitoring efforts since restoration began. Moreover, flooding intensity was not equal at these locations. Levees at Merwin Preserve breached, establishing a two-way hydrologic connection between the floodplain and the Illinois River at moderate river stages (i.e., partial connection). Conversely, levees held at Emiquon Preserve, facilitating a one-way input of water into this floodplain over top of levees (i.e., limited connection). These conditions created two case studies under which a natural experiment unfolded. Our objective was to document and assess site-specific post-flood changes in biotic communities from pre-flood states and trajectories. We hypothesized that waterbird communities would remain unchanged at Emiquon Preserve, but these communities would be negatively affected by the partial river connection at Merwin Preserve. Consequently, we anticipated less overall waterbird use, lower species diversity, and a shift in dominant species from herbivorous and granivorous waterbirds to piscivorous birds at Merwin Preserve. Likewise, we hypothesized that vegetation communities would be negatively affected by the partial river connection at Merwin Preserve resulting in decreased submersed and emergent aquatic macrophyte coverage, but vegetation communities would remain resilient to the limited connection at Emiquon Preserve and change minimally.University of Illinois at Springfield & National Science Foundation Federal Award Number: 1347077Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Division of WildlifeThe Nature ConservancyU.S. Fish and Wildlife Serviceunpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

Waterbird and Wetland Monitoring at The Emiquon Preserve: Final Report 2007–2015

Historically, the wetlands of the Illinois River valley (IRV) provided extensive and valuable habitat to migrating waterbirds and other wetland-dependent wildlife in the Upper Midwest (Havera 1999). The Nature Conservancy’s Emiquon Preserve (2,700 ha) is a portion of a former floodplain of the Illinois River that was farmed for >80 years, isolated behind river levees, and has been undergoing restoration to a complex of wetlands and uplands since 2007. Since hydrology returned in 2007, we have monitored key ecological attributes (hereafter, KEAs) of specific biological characteristics or ecological processes related to waterbird communities and their habitats. Wetland vegetation communities and associated cover types have increased almost 800% since 2007, expanding from 255 ha to 2017 ha in autumn 2015. Aquatic bed vegetation has comprised >50% of Emiquon Preserve since 2009, but important emergent plant communities have declined in recent years as the complex has reached the lake marsh stage due to elevated and stabilized water levels. Waterfowl and other waterbirds visit Emiquon Preserve in great numbers each autumn and spring migration, with species such as American coot, northern pintail, green-winged teal, and gadwall selecting Emiquon compared to other wetlands and lakes in the IRV. The abundant aquatic bed and hemi-marsh plant communities collectively provide more food for waterbirds than do other nearby wetlands, such as the south pool of Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge. Consistent with the >30 million energetic use days provided annually at Emiquon Preserve, dabbling and diving ducks behaviors are dominated by feeding indicating the importance of the aquatic plant communities as foraging habitat. Emiquon also provides breeding habitat for species of conservation concern, such as common gallinule and pied bill grebe, as well as several species of ducks, geese, and other waterbirds. However, we have noted recent declines in persistent emergent vegetation, moist- 3 soil vegetation, brood counts which act as an index of waterbird productivity, duck use days during autumn migration, and invertebrate abundance during brood-rearing periods which we assume is related to the transition of Emiquon Preserve into the lake marsh stage. While we acknowledge that different succession phases benefit different guilds of wildlife, we suggest that a drawdown will be necessary to restore some of the emergent vegetation communities and with it the response of wildlife in the system.The Nature Conservancy’s (TNC) Illinois River Project Office, contract number C07-032unpublishednot peer reviewedOpe

An Allosteric Inhibitor of KRas Identified Using a Barcoded Rapid Assay Microchip Platform

Protein catalyzed capture agents (PCCs) are synthetic antibody surrogates that can target a wide variety of biologically relevant proteins. As a step toward developing a high-throughput PCC pipeline, we report on the preparation of a barcoded rapid assay platform for the analysis of hits from PCC library screens. The platform is constructed by first surface patterning a micrometer scale barcode composed of orthogonal ssDNA strands onto a glass slide. The slide is then partitioned into microwells, each of which contains multiple copies of the full barcode. Biotinylated candidate PCCs from a click screen are assembled onto the barcode stripes using a complementary ssDNA-encoded cysteine-modified streptavidin library. This platform was employed to evaluate candidate PCC ligands identified from an epitope targeted in situ click screen against the two conserved allosteric switch regions of the Kirsten rat sarcoma (KRas) protein. A single microchip was utilized for the simultaneous evaluation of 15 PCC candidate fractions under more than a dozen different assay conditions. The platform also permitted more than a 10-fold savings in time and a more than 100-fold reduction in biological and chemical reagents relative to traditional multiwell plate assays. The best ligand was shown to exhibit an in vitro inhibition constant (IC_(50)) of ∼24 μM

Epitope Targeting of Tertiary Protein Structure Enables Target-Guided Synthesis of a Potent In-Cell Inhibitor of Botulinum Neurotoxin

Botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT) serotype A is the most lethal known toxin and has an occluded structure, which prevents direct inhibition of its active site before it enters the cytosol. Target-guided synthesis by in situ click chemistry is combined with synthetic epitope targeting to exploit the tertiary structure of the BoNT protein as a landscape for assembling a competitive inhibitor. A substrate-mimicking peptide macrocycle is used as a direct inhibitor of BoNT. An epitope-targeting in situ click screen is utilized to identify a second peptide macrocycle ligand that binds to an epitope that, in the folded BoNT structure, is active-site-adjacent. A second in situ click screen identifies a molecular bridge between the two macrocycles. The resulting divalent inhibitor exhibits an in vitro inhibition constant of 165 pM against the BoNT/A catalytic chain. The inhibitor is carried into cells by the intact holotoxin, and demonstrates protection and rescue of BoNT intoxication in a human neuron model