Incremental Science: Papers and Grants, Yes; Discoveries, No

FAST: A Framework to Assess Speed of Translation of Health Innovations to Practice and Policy

The 17-year time span between discovery and application of evidence in practice has become a unifying challenge for implementation science and translational science more broadly. Further, global pandemics and social crises demand timely implementation of rapidly accruing evidence to reduce morbidity and mortality. Yet speed remains an understudied metric in implementation science. Prevailing evaluations of implementation lack a temporal aspect, and current approaches have not yielded rapid implementation. In this paper, we address speed as an important conceptual and methodological gap in implementation science. We aim to untangle the complexities of studying implementation speed, offer a framework to assess speed of translation (FAST), and provide guidance to measure speed in evaluating implementation. To facilitate specification and reporting on metrics of speed, we encourage consideration of stakeholder perspectives (e.g., comparison of varying priorities), referents (e.g., speed in attaining outcomes, transitioning between implementation phases), and observation windows (e.g., time from intervention development to first patient treated) in its measurement. The FAST framework identifies factors that may influence speed of implementation and potential effects of implementation speed. We propose a research agenda to advance understanding of the pace of implementation, including identifying accelerators and inhibitors to speed.

Reviewing the effects of contamination on the biota of Brazilian coastal ecosystems: Scientific challenges for a developing country in a changing world

Pollution is a major worldwide problem that is increasing with urban growth, mainly along coastal areas. Pollution is often worse, governance is poorer and managerial strategies to improve environmental quality are less advanced in developing than developed countries. Here, we present an overview of the current scientific knowledge of the impacts of contamination on the biota of coastal ecosystems of Brazil and evaluate the scientific challenges to provide baseline information for local managerial purposes. We compiled data from 323 peer-reviewed published papers from the extensive Brazilian coast. We critically evaluated the produced knowledge (target contaminants, sources, ecosystems, taxa, response variables) and the science behind it (rigour and setting) within its socioenvironmental context (land occupation, use of the coast, sanitation status, contamination history). Research was driven largely by environmental outcomes of industrial development with a focus on the single effects of metals on the biota. The current knowledge derives mainly from laboratory manipulative experiments or from correlative field studies of changes in the biota with varying levels of contamination. Of these, 70% had problems in their experimental design. Environmental impacts have mainly been assessed using standard indicators of populations, mostly in ecotoxicological studies. Benthic assemblages have mostly been studied using structural indicators in field studies. Future assessments of impacts should expand research to more taxonomic groups and ecosystem compartments, adding combined functional and structural responses. Furthermore, further investigations need to consider the interactive effects of contaminants and other environmental stressors. By doing so, researchers would deliver more robust and effective results to solve problems of pollution.