Background The recent emergence of the 2009 pandemic influenza A/H1N1 virus has highlighted the value of free and open access to influenza virus genome sequence data integrated with information about other important virus characteristics.

Design The Influenza Research Database (IRD, http://www.fludb.org) is a free, open, publicly-accessible resource funded by the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases through the Bioinformatics Resource Centers program. IRD provides a comprehensive, integrated database and analysis resource for influenza sequence, surveillance, and research data, including user-friendly interfaces for data retrieval, visualization and comparative genomics analysis, together with personal log in-protected ‘workbench’ spaces for saving data sets and analysis results. IRD integrates genomic, proteomic, immune epitope, and surveillance data from a variety of sources, including public databases, computational algorithms, external research groups, and the scientific literature.

Results To demonstrate the utility of the data and analysis tools available in IRD, two scientific use cases are presented. A comparison of hemagglutinin sequence conservation and epitope coverage information revealed highly conserved protein regions that can be recognized by the human adaptive immune system as possible targets for inducing cross-protective immunity. Phylogenetic and geospatial analysis of sequences from wild bird surveillance samples revealed a possible evolutionary connection between influenza virus from Delaware Bay shorebirds and Alberta ducks.

Conclusions The IRD provides a wealth of integrated data and information about influenza virus to support research of the genetic determinants dictating virus pathogenicity, host range restriction and transmission, and to facilitate development of vaccines, diagnostics, and therapeutics.

Abstract In some educational settings, the cost of textbooks approaches or even
exceeds the cost of tuition. Given limited resources, it is important to better
understand the impacts of free open educational resources (OER) on student outcomes. Utilizing digital resources such as OER can substantially reduce costs for
students. The purpose of this study was to analyze whether the adoption of no-cost
open digital textbooks significantly predicted students’ completion of courses, class
achievement, and enrollment intensity during and after semesters in which OER
were used. This study utilized a quantitative quasi-experimental design with
propensity-score matched groups to examine differences in outcomes between
students that used OER and those who did not. The demographics of the initial
sample of 16,727 included 4909 students in the treatment condition with a pool of
11,818 in the control condition. There were statistically significant differences
between groups, with most favoring students utilizing OER