Best Practices for Authentication of Cell Lines to Ensure Data Reproducibility and Integrity

Cell line misidentification and contamination are major contributors to the reproducibility crisis in academic research. Authentication of cell lines provides assurances of the data generated; however, commercially available cells are often not subjected to rigorous identification testing. In this study, commercially available cell lines underwent testing to confirm cell identity and purity. The methods reported here outline the best practices for cell line authentication. Briefly, a commercially available primary rabbit aortic endothelial cell line was purchased for the intent of producing target proteins necessary for generating species-specific recombinant antibodies. These rabbit-specific antibodies would then be utilized for the development of in-house enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISA) to evaluate blood-based biomarkers of vascular injury after total-body irradiation. To authenticate the cell line, cell identity and purity were determined by single tandem repeat (STR) testing, flow cytometry, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (CO1) DNA Barcoding in-house and/or through commercial vendors. Fresh cells obtained from a New Zealand White rabbit (Charles River, Wilmington, DE) were used as a positive control. The results of STR and flow cytometry analyses indicated the cells were not contaminated with human or mouse cells, and that the cells were not of endothelial origin. PCR demonstrated that cells were also not of rabbit origin, which was further confirmed by a third-party vendor. An unopened vial of cells was submitted to another vendor for CO1 DNA Barcoding analysis, which identified the cells as being purely of bovine origin. Results revealed that despite purchase through a commercial vendor, the cell line marketed as primary rabbit aortic endothelial cells were of bovine origin. Purity analysis found cells were misidentified rather than contaminated. Further investigation to determine the cell type was not performed. The most cost-effective and efficient methodology for confirming cell line identity was found to be CO1 DNA Barcoding performed by a commercial vendor.

Racial Animosity and Black Financial Advisor Underrepresentation

This study investigates whether racial animosity across metropolitan markets is associated with Black financial advisor underrepresentation. Using a dataset of all U.S. securities-licensed individuals (N = 642,543), we first estimate the racial and ethnic composition of the industry using an algorithm that accounts for name, gender, and location. Second, we use a dataset enhanced by a commercial vendor to restrict the analysis to only those identified as working as financial advisors (n = 237,435). Using racially charged Google search queries as a proxy for racial animosity, we find that greater racial animosity is associated with greater Black advisor underrepresentation. We estimate lower underrepresentation of 0.9 percentage points when comparing markets with the highest and lowest levels of animosity. For the average market with an estimated 11.4% Black advisor representation, an increase of 0.9 percentage points would represent a 7.9% increase in Black advisor representation.

GEdIL—Gamified Education Interoperability Language

The paper introduces Gamified Education Interoperability Language (GEdIL), designed as a means to represent the set of gamification concepts and rules applied to courses and exercises separately from their actual educational content. This way, GEdIL allows not only for an easy yet effective specification of gamification schemes for educational purposes, but also sharing them among instructors and reusing in various courses. GEdIL is published as an open format, independent from any commercial vendor, and supported with dedicated open-source software.

Abstract WP299: Current Trends in Telestroke Utilization by Spoke Sites Using Distributed Provider Service Organizations via a Commercial Vendor Platform: Data From 2013 to 2019

Background: Most data on telestroke utilization come from single academic hub-and-spoke telestroke networks. Our objective was to describe trends in telestroke consultations among a national sample of telestroke sites using a common commercial vendor platform. Methods: A major commercial telestroke vendor (InTouch Health) provided data on all telestroke consultations by two provider service organizations from 2013-2019. Kendall’s τ β nonparametric test was utilized to assess time trends and generalized linear models assessed the link between hospital consult utilization and alteplase (tPA) performance adjusting for hospital characteristics. Results: Among 67,736 telestroke consultations to 132 spoke sites, most occurred in the emergency department (90%) and for stroke indications (TIA 13%, ischemic stroke (IS) 39%, hemorrhagic stroke 2%, other 46%).Median NIHSS was low (2 (IQR 0-6). tPA was recommended for 23% of IS patients. From 2013 to 2019, times from ED arrival to NIHSS, CT scan, imaging review, consult, and tPA administration all decreased (p<0.05 for all), while times from consult start to tPA recommendation and bolus increased (p<0.01 for both). Transfer was recommended for 8% of IS patients diagnosed. Number of patients treated with tPA per hospital was significantly associated with number of consults, size and US region in unadjusted and adjusted analyses (Table). After accounting for hospital characteristics, only duration of hospital participation in the network was associated with shorter hospital median door-to-needle time for tPA delivery (39 minutes shorter per year, p=0.04). Conclusion: In this network, times to consult start and tPA bolus decreased over time, though performance varied by telestroke consult volume and region. Duration of telestroke participation was associated with faster tPA delivery, suggesting practice improves performance. Commercial telestroke networks appear to behave similarly to academic networks.

Responding to High-Volume Water Disasters in the Research Library Context

The University of Kansas (KU) Libraries comprise seven physical campus spaces with a total volume count of over 4.4 million volumes. The Libraries' Conservation Services Department manages a Collections Emergency Response Team (CERT), with representation across the library system. This chapter describes how, in the summer of 2012, the CERT's preparation was put to the test when extreme drought conditions in the region led to a water main break that inundated the campus art and architecture library. Over 17,000 volumes were vacuum-freeze-dried by a commercial vendor, and an additional 26,000 dry volumes moved from the space, which was rebuilt from the ground up. Lessons learned from that disaster were applied to a smaller, yet still significant, mechanical failure the following summer in the science and social science library, which wetted around 4,500 volumes and led to another contract with a commercial vendor. Insights learned from these experiences are shared in the following chapter.

Responding to High-Volume Water Disasters in the Research Library Context

The University of Kansas (KU) Libraries comprise seven physical campus spaces with a total volume count of over 4.4 million volumes. The Libraries' Conservation Services Department manages a Collections Emergency Response Team (CERT), with representation across the library system. This chapter describes how, in the summer of 2012, the CERT's preparation was put to the test when extreme drought conditions in the region led to a water main break that inundated the campus art and architecture library. Over 17,000 volumes were vacuum-freeze-dried by a commercial vendor, and an additional 26,000 dry volumes moved from the space, which was rebuilt from the ground up. Lessons learned from that disaster were applied to a smaller, yet still significant, mechanical failure the following summer in the science and social science library, which wetted around 4,500 volumes and led to another contract with a commercial vendor. Insights learned from these experiences are shared in the following chapter.

Transitioning from a Legacy EHR to a Commercial, Vendor-supplied, EHR

Summary Objective: Describe the planning, decisions, and implementation results experienced during the large-scale transition from one EHR to another throughout a large academic health system, which occurred simultaneously throughout both in-patient and all ambulatory settings Methods: Review of internal decision-making documents, interviews with key participants, and data from conversion software Results: Over 7,000 unique users caring for a population of more than 1.2 million patients in both inpatient and outpatient venues and distributed across two states were successfully transitioned to a new EHR simultaneously. Challenges in data conversion were encountered resulting in more work for end-users than desired or anticipated. Users continued to access older information (principally schedules) in the legacy EHR one year later Conclusion: Data conversion from one EHR to another can be unsuccessful due to differences in how EHR’s structure data obtained from underlying feeder applications or databases. Abstraction of only the pertinent clinical content is difficult in the context of transitioning to a new EHR. Clinicians require facile access to legacy content that can be achieved by implanting CCOW compliant solutions. Citation: Gettinger A, Csatari A. Transitioning from a legacy EHR to a commercial, vendor-supplied, EHR. Appl Clin Inf 2012; 3: 367–376http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2012-04-R-0014