Group items tagged

Reliable, efficient laboratory services and networks are fundamental components of effective, well-functioning health systems and are essential for patient management, disease detection and control and surveillance. The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to support the Ministry of Health in Mozambique to strengthen the integrated national laboratory network in order to ensure the provision of quality laboratory services for clinical diagnosis, screening, research, and surveillance to support HIV care and treatment and the achievement of an AIDS free generation. The FOA will address the following cross-cutting elements of laboratory systems: governance and management of the integrated laboratory network, strengthening institutions to build and retain a quality laboratory workforce, and building technical and scientific capacity and implementing quality management systems towards accreditation. The expected project outcomes include:* Increased efficiency of laboratory network operations* Increased implementation of quality management systems through a technically and financially sustainable quality improvement and accreditation program owned and implemented by the Ministry of Health* An increase in the coverage and quality of external quality assessment (EQA) services* Improved adherence to laboratory biosafety standards* Improved quality of laboratory pre-service training * Increase in number of laboratory managers and leaders with Master's level training* Improved capacity of laboratory workforce and decreased reliance on external training support

The purpose of this administrative supplement is to enhance data management and sharing in existing NIEHS-funded R01 grants through the integration of new expertise in data and information sciences, or knowledge management, into the research team. This initiative aims to support activities that enhance one or more aspects of research project data management, including improving the capture, storage, organization, management, integration, presentation, and dissemination of digital biomedical research data.

The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) in Malawi is to strengthen the laboratory systems by training human resources, improving laboratory infrastructure, building capacity in data management and use, and improving quality management systems. The objectives are to provide pre-service and in-service training for various cadre or laboratory staff, and to equip and perform alterations and refurbishments to at least 10 laboratories to perform essential microbiology, mycobacteriology, parasitology, hematology and chemistry. The FOA will also develop laboratory information management systems (LIMS) and improve the use of generated data in decision making, increase quality by supporting laboratories to develop and adhere to quality management systems (QMS), and strengthen quality control and quality assurance. The activities of the program will include health systems strengthening by increasing human resources, implementing necessary alterations and refurbishment to physical infrastructure, improving the specimen referral system, and improving data generation and handling capabilities through an electronic information system.

The National Marine Fisheries Service (hereinafter, "NMFS") is responsible for the stewardship, conservation, and management of pinniped species in Alaska, including the Steller sea lion, Northern fur seal, ringed seal, bearded seal, spotted seal, ribbon seal, and harbor seal. Two of these pinnipeds are currently listed under the Endangered Species Act: the endangered western Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of Steller sea lions and the threatened Arctic subspecies of ringed seals (a third species, the Beringia DPS of bearded seals, was also listed as threatened but the listing was vacated by the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska). NMFS has the responsibility to foster the recovery of these ESA-listed species and research is necessary to support our recovery programs for these species. Non-ESA-listed pinniped species or populations in Alaska are listed as strategic stocks under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, and/or are important as a subsistence resource to Alaska Natives and co-managed by NMFS and Alaska Native co-management partners. Research is also an important component to co-management of these animals. Beginning in fiscal year (hereinafter, "FY") 2015, certain priority pinniped research in Alaska will be administered through a competitively-funded, merit-based grants program. This program concerns only Alaskan pinnipeds for which NMFS bears responsibility; proposals focusing on marine mammals under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will not be considered for funding under this grant program. This document describes how to prepare and submit proposals for funding in FY 2015 and how NMFS will determine which proposals will be funded.

PART A -- Core Curricular Enhancements Strategic Direction A2 -- Promote educational enhancements that include transdisciplinary and interprofessional population health training Activity I: Medical Assistants Resources and Training on Immunization (MARTi) MARTi is a website http://www.marti-us.org/ hosted and updated by the Association for Prevention Teaching and Research (APTR). MARTi was developed to provide a collection of immunization training, education, and resource materials for medical assistants and those responsible for their training, such as office managers or supervisors. The website provides reviewed and credible training and education programs and resources specifically developed for the education and reading level of medical assistants. Activities will include the following: --Manage and update the website content and resources as new vaccine recommendations and best practices become available and redesign the navigation of the website to feature resources offering continuing education (CE) credits --Create newsletters and social media announcements --Develop responsive design website to provide access through mobile devices --Assemble a committee of experts to advance use of the website and recommend improvements. Committee will convene via conference call (3 or 4 times a year). The committee will consist of key groups including the American Association of Medical Assistants (AAMA) and the Professional Association of Healthcare Organization Management (PACHOM) as well as post-secondary institutions training future medical assistants. CDC will not direct or manage any aspects of the committee.

Background: Kuenzler's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var. kuenzleri) is a federally listed species under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). It shares many similarities with a common species, Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus (Echinocereus fendleri var. fendleri) and with many intermediates. This has caused confusion for land managers. The BLM management of Kuenzler's Hedgehog Cactus impacts the multiple uses (i.e. public land users) across the landscape as it restricts land management decisions in order to conserve the imperiled species. Currently, there is no information on the genetic differences of the Kuenzler's Hedgehog Cactus, the Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus, and intermediaries. Without this information it is difficult to determine importance of populations in order to prioritize recovery actions to enable the species to be de-listed. The use of the most current genetic methods for defining species, plastome sequencing, microsatellite development and genotyping, and ddRAD sequencing is needed to accurately determine whether the two species and associated intermediates are in fact the same. If studies show there are two different varieties it will be important to understand how the different Kuenzler's Hedgehog Cactus populations are related to each other across the landscape. This information can help the BLM prioritize populations according to rarity of the element occurrences. The objective of this project is to determine the genetic differences and similarities between Kuenzler's Hedgehog Cactus (all known element occurrences), Fendler's Hedgehog Cactus, and associated intermediates as well as the differences in population structure of the element occurrences of Kuenzler Hedgehog Cactus across the landscape in order to assist with land management decisions and potential de-listing of the species.

This funding opportunity will provide support for the grantee to develop and administer a comprehensive national program that funds extramural collaborative science projects to address the system-wide research and management needs of the National Estuarine Research Reserve System, while being responsive to local and regional reserve priorities and those of NOAA. The NERRS collaborative science program is intended to deliver highly credible and relevant information to the coastal management community by incorporating user input into the design and implementation of research projects and ensure that the outcomes support the needs of stakeholders. This program will also increase the capacity of the NERRS management, research, education, stewardship, and coastal training sectors to transfer information and skills to end-users and more effectively support coastal and estuarine resource management.

This FOA will support national facility based case management activities implemented through associations of persons living with HIV (PLHIV). Activities include peer support for HIV treatment adherence, preventing and minimizing loss-to-follow-up and improving retention in care, and facilitating linkage of all HIV patients and others affected by HIV to comprehensive HIV services. The FOA will support planning, program and financial management; coordination and collaboration with partners and stakeholders; capacity building at different levels; training and deployment of case managers and adherence supporters to high load HIV care and treatment facilities. The awardee will conduct supportive supervision, mentoring, monitoring and evaluation of case management activities, and will maintain an updated inventory of available services in the catchment area of respective health facilities. These activities will minimize patient attrition, optimize adherence and improve patient outcomes.

The purpose of this U24 Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to support a bioinformatics group (BIG) that will analyze a set of asthma-specific common data elements (CDEs) retrospectively collected from the electronic health record data (EHR) of patients in the US whose asthma is managed by a primary care provider (PCP). Based on a large, nationally representative data set, the BIG will identify the current management practices (CMPs) of PCPs that result in the best asthma outcomes for specific groups of patients in different clinical settings or situations. The CMPs will be established by the BIG in collaboration with a clinical consultant team (CCT) with expertise in asthma and a primary care network (PCN), experienced in managing the primary care of patients. Following the BIG's analysis of retrospective data, the CCT and PCN will design and then conduct prospective clinical trials to compare the retrospectively identified CMPs in appropriate patients with asthma. At the conclusion of the clinical trials, the BIG will perform the data analysis for the assessment of the CMPs, refining any of the processes needed to analyze the asthma CDE data.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to invite applications for new applications for the Data Management and Coordinating Center (DMCC) for the Rare Diseases Clinical Research Network (RDCRN). Each consortium within the RDCRN is intended to advance the diagnosis, management, and treatment of rare diseases. The DMCC will facilitate and support the activities of each Rare Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (RDCRC) along with trans-network activities that broadly facilitate the advancement of rare disease research via four Cores; 1) Administrative; 2) Data Management; 3) Clinical Research and; 4) Engagement and Dissemination.

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on ⿿Characterizing Hybridization of the Pallid Sturgeon and Evaluating Analyses to Improve Species Identification and Assess the Threat of Introgression.⿝ Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the nature, frequency and extent of hybridization between the endangered pallid sturgeon and the common shovelnose sturgeon throughout its range. Resolving this uncertainty is crucial to developing management strategies to recover endangered sturgeon and to prioritize management actions in the large river ecosystems where they reside. Current genetic markers and analyses are insufficient to adequately characterize hybridization between these species and research is needed to identify pathways forward to rapidly develop cost-effective genetic tools.

The USGS is offering a funding opportunity to a CESU partner for research on ⿿Characterizing Hybridization of the Pallid Sturgeon and Evaluating Analyses to Improve Species Identification and Assess the Threat of Introgression.⿝ Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the nature, frequency and extent of hybridization between the endangered pallid sturgeon and the common shovelnose sturgeon throughout its range. Resolving this uncertainty is crucial to developing management strategies to recover endangered sturgeon and to prioritize management actions in the large river ecosystems where they reside. Current genetic markers and analyses are insufficient to adequately characterize hybridization between these species and research is needed to identify pathways forward to rapidly develop cost-effective genetic tools.

This Funding Opportunity Announcement invites applications to establish P30 Centers of Excellence in Self-Management of Symptoms.The purpose of this program is to support NINR P30 Centers of Excellence for the sustainability of and to enhance interdisciplinary, biobehavioral research for scientists conducting Self-Management of Symptoms.

The Long Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB) Program supports the generation of extended time series of data to address important questions in evolutionary biology, ecology, and ecosystem science. Research areas include, but are not limited to, the effects of natural selection or other evolutionary processes on populations, communities, or ecosystems; the effects of interspecific interactions that vary over time and space; population or community dynamics for organisms that have extended life spans and long turnover times; feedbacks between ecological and evolutionary processes; pools of materials such as nutrients in soils that turn over at intermediate to longer time scales; and external forcing functions such as climatic cycles that operate over long return intervals. The Program intends to support decadal projects. Funding for an initial, 5-year period requires submission of a preliminary proposal and, if invited, submission of a full proposal that includes a 15-page project description. Proposals for the second five years of support (renewal proposals) are limited to an eight-page project description and do not require a preliminary proposal. Continuation of an LTREB project beyond an initial ten year award will require submission of a new preliminary proposal that presents a new decadal research plan.?? Successful LTREB proposals address three essential components: A Decadal Research Plan that clearly articulates important questions that cannot be addressed with data that have already been collected, but could be answered if ten additional years of data were collected. This plan is not a research timeline or management plan. It is a concise justification for ten additional years of support in order to advance understanding of key concepts, questions, or theories in environmental biology.Core Data: LTREB proposals require that the author has studied a particular phenomenon or process for at least six years up to the present or for long enough to gene

The 2016 U.S. Advancing Science through Pfizer: Investigator Research Exchange (ASPIRE) Hemophilia Research Awards Program is a competitive grants program that reflects the commitment of Pfizer Hemophilia to support ongoing basic science and clinical investigation in hemophilia A and B. Ongoing basic science research and clinical research are critical to deepen understanding of disease mechanisms and to ensure advancement of management strategies for hemophilia A and hemophilia B and their related comorbidities. In an era of increased competition for research funding, the 2016 U.S. ASPIRE Hemophilia Research Awards Program is designed to support laboratory and clinical research in pathogenesis, complications, management, and clinical outcomes of hemophilia A and B.

The 2016 U.S. Advancing Science through Pfizer: Investigator Research Exchange (ASPIRE) Hemophilia Research Awards Program is a competitive grants program that reflects the commitment of Pfizer Hemophilia to support ongoing basic science and clinical investigation in hemophilia A and B. Ongoing basic science research and clinical research are critical to deepen understanding of disease mechanisms and to ensure advancement of management strategies for hemophilia A and hemophilia B and their related comorbidities. In an era of increased competition for research funding, the 2016 U.S. ASPIRE Hemophilia Research Awards Program is designed to support laboratory and clinical research in pathogenesis, complications, management, and clinical outcomes of hemophilia A and B.

The Purpose of this FOA is to solicit cooperative agreement applications that propose clinical trials to establish the effectiveness of existing therapies and approaches for prevention and management of pain. The studies must address questions within the mission and research interests of participating NIH Institutes and Centers and evaluate preventive strategies or interventions including medications, biologics, procedures, medical and assistive devices and technologies, diagnostic testing, behavioral change, rehabilitation strategies, complementary therapies, integrated approaches, and delivery system strategies in well controlled trials The overall goal is to inform clinicians about the effectiveness of interventions that will improve functional outcomes and reduce pain across the continuum of acute to chronic pain associated with many types of diseases or conditions or pain presenting as a disease itself. Clinical trials will be conducted within the infrastructure of the HEAL Pain Management Effectiveness Research Network.

The purpose of this Limited Competition is to extend the Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) Network by continuing to support the Participating Clinical Centers (PCCs). The CureGN Network is a multicenter observational cohort study of glomerular disease patients with the goal of improving care for all glomerular disease patients. The operational components of the study include four multi-site PCCs and a Data Coordinating Center (DCC). The CureGN Network, established in 2013, has recruited nearly 2,200 of 2,400 planned study participants and followed them with annual in-person clinic visits and interim telephone contacts. The CureGN PCCs will continue to follow-up previously enrolled participants. The PCCs will optimize retention strategies, developing novel methods for "remote" or "virtual" study participation; ensure complete and accurate data collection with a focus on clinical assessment of disease activity and outcomes; and participate in the development and validation of study-wide semi-quantitative assessment of histopathologic lesions. It is expected that a focus on disease features unique to glomerulonephropathy, and outcomes relevant to the full range of patient experience, combined with carefully curated clinical and biochemical data will uncover new predictors of the disease course, pathophysiologic processes, disease subtypes and novel treatment targets.The DCC provides key leadership functions for this study in the areas of study organization, study design and implementation, overall management, data management and analysis, and biosample management. The DCC requirements are described under a separate FOA.

The purpose of this Limited Competition is to extend the Cure Glomerulonephropathy (CureGN) Network by continuing to support the Data Coordinating Center (DCC). The CureGN Network is a multicenter observational cohort study of glomerular disease patients with the goal of improving care for all glomerular disease patients. The operational components of the study include four multi-site Participating Clinical Centers (PCC) and a DCC. The CureGN Network, established in 2013, has recruited nearly 2,200 of 2,400 planned study participants and followed them with annual in-person clinic visits and interim telephone contacts. The DCC provides key leadership functions for this study in the areas of study organization, study design and implementation, overall management, data management and analysis, and biosample management. The CureGN PCCs will continue to follow-up previously enrolled participants under a separate FOA with a focus on clinical assessment of disease activity, developing novel methods for "virtual" study participation,and semi-quantitative assessment of histopathologic lesions. It is expected that a focus on disease features unique to glomerulonephropathy and outcomes relevant to the full range of patient experience, combined with carefully curated clinical and biochemical data, will uncover new predictors of the disease course, pathophysiologic processes, disease subtypes and novel treatment targets. The DCC will lead the study group to achieve the scientific goals of the next project period.

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) supports innovative research and development in biomedical informatics and data science. The scope of NLM's interest in these research domains is broad, with emphasis on new methods and approaches to foster data driven discovery in the biomedical and clinical health sciences as well as domain-independent, reusable approaches to discovery, curation, analysis, organization and management of health-related digital objects. Biomedical informatics and data science draw upon many fields, including mathematics, statistics, information science, computer science and engineering, and social/behavioral sciences. Application domains include health care delivery, basic biomedical research, clinical and translational research, precision medicine, public health, biosurveillance, health information management in disasters, and similar areas. NLM defines biomedical informatics as the science of optimal representation, organization, management, integration and presentation of information relevant to human health and biology. NIH defines data science as the interdisciplinary field of inquiry in which quantitative and analytical approaches, processes, and systems are developed and used to extract knowledge and insights from increasingly large and/or complex sets of data.

The BTRP program provides opportunity to compete for financial assistance for projects which seek to increase and improve the working relationship between fisheries researchers from the NMFS, state fishery agencies, universities, other research institutions and U.S. fishery interests (recreational and commercial) focusing on northern bluefin tuna in the Atlantic Ocean. The program is a means of advancing research objectives to address the information needs to improve the science-based fisheries management for Atlantic bluefin tuna. This program addresses NOAA's mission goal to "Protect, Restore, and Manage the Use of Coastal and Ocean Resources through an Ecosystem Approach to Management.".

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research "we, us, our, or AFOSR" manages the basic research investment for the U.S. Air Force. As a part of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), our technical experts discover, shape, and champion research within the Air Force Research Laboratory, universities, and industry laboratories to ensure the transition of research results to support U.S. Air Force needs. Using a carefully balanced research portfolio, our research managers seek to foster revolutionary scientific breakthroughs enabling the Air Force and U.S. industry to produce world-class, militarily significant, and commercially valuable products. Our focus is on research areas that offer significant and comprehensive benefits to our national warfighting and peacekeeping capabilities. These areas are organized and managed in two scientific Branches:  Engineering and Information Sciences (RTA) Physical and Biological Sciences (RTB)