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Congressional Justification FY 2021

Department of Health and Human Services
National Institutes of Health
National Library of Medicine (NLM)

2021 Congressional Justification (PDF)

FY 2021 Budget

Organizational Chart

Organizational chart - data below

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Appropriation Language

For carrying out section 301 and title IV of the PHS Act with respect to health information communications, [$456,911,000]$415,665,000: Provided, That of the amounts available for improvement of information systems, $4,000,000 shall be available until September 30, [2021]2022: Provided further, That in fiscal year [2020]2021, the National Library of Medicine may enter into personal services contracts for the provision of services in facilities owned, operated, or constructed under the jurisdiction of the National Institutes of Health (referred to in this title as "NIH").

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Amounts Available for Obligation 1

(Dollars in Thousands)

Source of Funding FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget
Appropriation $441,997 $456,911 $415,665
Mandatory Appropriation: (non-add)      
    Type 1 Diabetes (0) (0) (0)
    Other Mandatory financing (0) (0) (0)
Rescission 0 0 0
Sequestration 0 0 0
Secretary's Transfer -1,518 0 0
Subtotal, adjusted appropriation $440,479 $456,911 $415,665
OAR HIV/AIDS Transfers 368 0 0
HEAL Transfer from NINDS 0 0 0
Subtotal, adjusted budget authority $440,847 $456,911 $415,665
Unobligated balance, start of year 2,500 2,500 0
Unobligated balance, end of year -2,500 0 0
Subtotal, adjusted budget authority $440,847 $459,411 $415,665
Unobligated balance lapsing -212 0 0
Total obligations $440,635 $459,411 $415,665

1 Excludes the following amounts (in thousands) for reimbursable activities carried out by this account:
FY 2019 - $7,899        FY 2020 - $7,954        FY 2021 - $7,954

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Budget Mechanism Total 1

(Dollars in Thousands)

MECHANISM FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget FY 2021 +/- FY 2020 Enacted
No. Amount No. Amount No. Amount No. Amount
Research Projects:                
  Noncompeting 62 $22,539 79 $28,459 87 $25,041 8 -$3,418
  Administrative Supplements (1) 2 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0
  Competing:                
    Renewal 5 2,658 2 1,031 1 510 -1 -521
    New 33 11,473 28 8,995 34 9,691 6 696
    Supplements 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Subtotal, Competing 38 $14,131 30 $10,027 35 $10,201 5 $175
    Subtotal, RPGs 100 $36,671 109 $38,486 122 $35,243 13 -$3,243
  SBIR/STTR 5 1,475 3 1,564 4 1,392 1 -173
Research Project Grants 105 $38,146 112 $40,050 126 $36,634 14 -$3,416
Research Centers:                
  Specialized/Comprehensive 0 $34 0 $36 0 $32 0 -$4
  Clinical Research 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Biotechnology 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Comparative Medicine 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Research Centers in Minority Institutions 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Research Centers 0 $34 0 $36 0 $32 0 -$4
Other Research:                
  Research Careers 12 $1,799 13 $1,719 5 $596 -8 -$1,123
  Cancer Education 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Cooperative Clinical Research 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Biomedical Research Support 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Minority Biomedical Research Support 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
  Other 44 24,773 41 24,704 42 23,144 1 -1,561
Other Research 56 $26,572 54 $26,423 47 $23,739 -7 -$2,684
  Total Research Grants 161 $64,752 166 $66,510 173 $60,406 7 -$6,104
Ruth L Kirchstein Training Awards: FTTPs   FTTPs   FTTPs   FTTPs  
  Individual Awards 8 $342 9 $386 7 $301 -2 -$85
  Institutional Awards 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Total Research Training 8 $342 9 $386 7 $301 -2 -$85
Research & Develop. Contracts 0 $18 0 $18 0 $17 0 -$2
    (SBIR/STTR) (non-add) (0) (15) (0) (18) (0) (17) (0) (-2)
Intramural Programs 575 355,960 638 369,381 638 335,356 0 -34,024
Res. Management & Support 84 19,775 103 20,616 103 19,586 0 -1,031
  Res. Management & Support (SBIR Admin) (non-add) (0) (2) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0) (0)
Construction   0   0   0   0
Buildings and Facilities    0   0   0   0
Total, NLM 659 $440,847 741 $456,911 741 $415,665 0 -$41,246

1 All items in italics and brackets are non-add entries.

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Major Changes in the Fiscal Year 2021 President’s Budget Request

Major changes in the FY 2021 President’s Budget request for the National Library of Medicine (NLM), by budget mechanism and/or activity detail are briefly described below. Note that there may be overlap between budget mechanism and activity detail; thus, these highlights will not sum to the total change for NLM’s FY 2021 President’s Budget request, which is $415.7 million, a decrease of $41.2 million from the FY 2020 Enacted level.  The FY 2021 President's Budget reflects the Administration's fiscal policy goals for the Federal Government.  Within that framework and informed by the NLM Strategic Plan, 2017-2027, the NIH Strategic Plan for Data Science, and the 2018 Blue Ribbon Panel review of NLM’s Intramural Research Program, NLM will pursue its highest research priorities through strategic investments and careful stewardship of appropriated funds.

Extramural Programs (-$6.2 million; total $60.7 million):  With this level of funding, NLM will support the same number of university-based biomedical informatics and data science training programs as under the FY 2020 Enacted level with a reduced funding level.  NLM will award an estimated 35 new research project grants in biomedical informatics and data science and will support the outreach and stakeholder engagement efforts of the National Network of Libraries of Medicine at a reduced level of funding.

Intramural Programs (-$34.0 million; total $335.4 million):   NLM’s intramural programs encompass both intramural research and information service programs that support advances in computational health information sciences; development of advanced biomedical information systems, standards, and research tools; acquisition, storage and distribution of biomedical data; and delivery of reliable, high-quality information services.  NLM will maintain funding for intramural research and prioritize activities that support NIH-wide interests in data science.  It will continue to seek ways to streamline and improve the efficiency of its information services while maintaining support for mission critical systems that are heavily used by researchers, clinicians, and the general public.  NLM will continue its role as a central coordinating body for the Department of Health and Human Services as relates to standard clinical vocabularies while seeking additional efficiencies in these programs.

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Summary of Changes

(Dollars in Thousands)

FY 2020 Enacted $456,911
FY 2021 President's Budget $415,665
Net change -$41,246
 
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 CHANGES FY 2021 President's Budget Change from FY 2020 Enacted
FTEs Budget Authority FTEs Budget Authority
A. Built-in:        
  1. Intramural Programs:        
    a. Annualization of January 2020 pay increase & benefits   $114,689   $731
    b. January FY 2021 pay increase & benefits   114,689   1,761
    c. Paid days adjustment   114,689   -428
    d. Differences attributable to change in FTE   114,689   0
    e. Payment for centrally furnished services   3,896   -205
    f. Cost of laboratory supplies, materials, other expenses, and non-recurring costs   216,772   3,468
    Subtotal       $5,327
  2. Research Management and Support:        
    a. Annualization of January 2020 pay increase & benefits   $12,521   $80
    b. January FY 2021 pay increase & benefits   12,521   190
    c. Paid days adjustment   12,521   -47
    d. Differences attributable to change in FTE   12,521   0
    e. Payment for centrally furnished services   787   -41
    f. Cost of laboratory supplies, materials, other expenses, and non-recurring costs   6,278   83
    Subtotal       $265
    Subtotal, Built-in       $5,592
  FY 2021 President's Budget Change from FY 2020 Enacted
CHANGES No. Amount No. Amount
B. Program:        
  1. Research Project Grants:        
    a. Noncompeting 87 $25,041 8 -$3,418
    b. Competing 35 10,201 5 175
    c. SBIR/STTR 4 1,392 1 -173
    Subtotal, RPGs 126 $36,634 14 -$3,416
  2. Research Centers 0 $32 0 -$4
  3. Other Research 47 23,739 -7 -2,684
  4. Research Training 7 301 -2 -85
  5. Research and development contracts 0 17 0 -2
    Subtotal, Extramural   $60,723   -$6,191
  FTEs   FTEs  
  6. Intramural Programs 638 $335,356 0 -$39,351
  7. Research Management and Support 103 19,586 0 -1,296
  8. Construction   0   0
  9. Buildings and Facilities   0   0
    Subtotal, Program 741 $415,665 0 -$46,838
    Total changes       -$41,246

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Fiscal Year 2021 Budget Graphs

History of Budget Authority and FTEs:

Bar Graph for Funding Levels by Fiscal Year for FY2017 through FY2021

Funding Levels by Fiscal Year for FY2017 through FY2021

Data for Funding Levels by Fiscal Year for FY2017 through FY2021

Fiscal Year Funding
(Dollars in Millions)
2017 406.6
2018 427.5
2019 440.8
2020 456.9
2021 415.7

 

Bar Graph of FTEs by Fiscal Year for FY2017 through FY2021

FTEs by Fiscal Year for 2017 through 2021

Data for FTEs by Fiscal Year for FY2017 through FY2021


Fiscal Year FTEs
2017 734
2018 700
2019 659
2020 741
2021 741

 

Distribution by Mechanism:

Pie Chart of FY2021 Budget Mechanisms

(Budget in Thousands)

FY2021

Data for FY2021 Budget Mechanisms

(Budget in Thousands)

Mechanism Dollars Percentage
Research Project Grants $36,634 9%
Research Centers $32 0%
Other Research $23,739 6%
Research Training $301 0%
R&D Contracts $17 0%
Intramural Programs $335,356 80%
RMS $19,586 5%

 

Bar Graph of FY2021 Estimated Percent Change from FY 2020 Mechanism

Bar Graph of FY2021 Estimated Percent Change from FY 2020 Mechanism

Data for Bar Graph of FY2021 Estimated Percent Change from FY 2020 Mechanism

Mechanism Percentage Change
Research Project Grants -8.5%
Research Centers -11.1%
Other Research -10.2%
Research Training -22.0%
R&D Contracts -5.6%
Intramural Programs -9.2%
Res. Mgmt. & Support -5.0%

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Budget Authority By Activity 1

(Dollars in Thousands)

  FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget FY 2021 +/- FY2020
Extramural Research FTE  Amount  FTE  Amount  FTE  Amount  FTE  Amount 
Detail                
Health Information for Health Professionals and the Public (NN/LM)   $11,270   $11,132   $12,000   $868
Informatics Resources for Biomedicine and Health   15,696   15,732   12,089   -3,643
Biomedical Informatics Research   38,146   40,050   36,634   -3,416
    Subtotal, Extramural   $65,113   $66,914   $60,723   -$6,191
Intramural Programs 575 $355,960 638 $369,381 638 $335,356 0 -$34,024
Research Management & Support 84 $19,775 103 $20,616 103 $19,586 0 -$1,031
    TOTAL 659 $440,847 741 $456,911 741 $415,665 0 -$41,246

1Includes FTEs whose payroll obligations are supported by the NIH Common Fund.

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Authorizing Legislation

  PHS Act/
Other Citation
U.S. Code
Citation
2020 Amount
Authorized
FY 2020 Enacted 2021 Amount
Authorized
FY 2021 President's Budget
Research and Investigation Section 301 42§241 Indefinite  $456,911,000  Indefinite  $415,665,000 
National Library of Medicine  Section 401(a)  42§281  Indefinite  Indefinite
Total, Budget Authority    $456,911,000  $415,665,000

 

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Appropriations History

Fiscal Year Budget Estimate to Congress House Allowance Senate Allowance Appropriation
2012 $387,153,000 $387,153,000 $358,979,000 $338,278,000
Rescission       $639,345
2013 $372,651,000   $381,981,000 $337,638,655
Rescission       $675,277
Sequestration       ($16,947,139)
2014 $382,252,000   $387,912,000 $327,723,000
Rescission       $0
2015 $372,851,000     $336,939,000
Rescission       $0
2016 $394,090,000 $341,119,000 $402,251,000 $394,664,000
Rescission       $0
2017¹ $395,684,000 $407,086,000 $412,097,000 $407,510,000
Rescission       $0
2018 $373,258,000 $413,848,000 $420,898,000 $428,553,000
Rescission       $0
2019 $395,493,000 $433,671,000 $442,230,000 $441,997,000
Rescission       $0
2020 $380,463,000 $463,599,000 $465,837,000 $456,911,000
Rescission       $0
2021 $415,665,000      

1 Budget Estimate to Congress includes mandatory financing.

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Justification of Budget Request

Authorizing Legislation:  Section 301 and title IV of the Public Health Service Act, as amended.

Budget Authority (BA):

  FY 2019
Final
FY 2020
Enacted
FY 2021
President's Budget
FY 2021 +/-
FY 2020
BA $440,847,000 $456,911,000 $415,665,000 -$41,246,000
FTE 659 741 741 0

Program funds are allocated as follows:  Competitive Grants/Cooperative Agreements; Contracts; Direct Federal/Intramural and Other.

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Director's Overview

The National Library of Medicine (NLM) is a leader in research in biomedical informatics,1 data science, and open science.  It is also the world’s largest biomedical library.  NLM’s research and information services advance digitization in biomedicine to support scientific discovery and health care.  NLM pioneers new ways to make biomedical data and information more accessible to those who need it, building tools for better data management and personal health, creating a more diverse, data-skilled workforce, and engaging with stakeholders.  In these ways, NLM’s activities support a wide array of stakeholders, including researchers, clinicians, librarians, public health officials, other Federal agencies, and the public.

NLM's cutting-edge research and training programs, with a focus on artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning, computational biology, and health data standards, catalyze basic biomedical science, data-driven discovery, and health care delivery.  Recent applications of NLM research have enhanced natural language processing methods to understand medical text and improve detection of macular degeneration and diagnosis of early-stage cervical cancer.  NLM research on health data standards makes it possible to rapidly exchange and use data to improve health and advance biomedical research.  NLM research has created new computational approaches to comparative genomics to predict previously unknown protein and gene functions, classify and characterize bacterial toxins, and better understand the roles of individual proteins in the maintenance and function of chromosomes.  NLM also develops and deploys novel approaches to data processing to rapidly evaluate, annotate, and publish sequences of the influenza virus (commonly called the flu); makes huge datasets quickly available for disease outbreak analysis; and develops tools to make infectious disease data easier to find and understand.

1 https://www.amia.org/about-amia/science-informatics

NLM develops and applies innovative approaches to acquire, organize, curate, and deliver current biomedical information across the United States and around the globe.  NLM’s advanced biomedical information services are among the most visited websites in the Federal Government, providing researchers, health care professionals, and the public with access to high quality biomedical information and data, including biomedical literature, genomic data, clinical trial data, and chemical information.  NLM supports data-driven discovery for better outcomes in health care and public health by improving data collection and sharing for minority health, women’s health, health equity, and health quality, including multilingual health information libraries and innovative clinical records integration for youth emancipating from foster care.  NLM’s biomedical information systems accelerate science, broaden opportunities for collaboration, provide platforms for private sector innovation, and increase the return on investments in research.  NLM participates in NIH-wide efforts to foster a culture that advances science and ensures the development and retention of a diverse, safe, and inclusive workforce.

Twenty-year Retrospective and Today: Over the last 20 years, NLM has been a key driver of research advances in biomedical informatics, data science, and open science.  Data science is the development and application of novel approaches, processes, and systems to extract knowledge and insights from increasingly large and/or complex sets of data.  Open science accelerates biomedical research and discovery by ensuring the products and processes of scientific research are readily available, accessible, and usable by the broadest set of potential users.  Long before data science was recognized as a field of study, NLM scientists devised innovative ways to manage and analyze large datasets and rapidly discover novel associations and new interpretations.  NLM’s Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST), for example, is one of the most powerful and popular biological sequence analysis tools available in the public domain and has kept pace with the substantial and increasing amounts of sequence data being generated.  NLM recently moved BLAST to modern computer platforms, i.e., “the cloud,” enhancing opportunities for research and discovery.

NLM was an early adopter of the Internet, providing free online public access to biomedical literature more than 20 years ago through Grateful Med, a tool for retrieving key references from MEDLINE, NLM’s database of biomedical citations and abstracts.  NLM has continued to modernize its platforms and accelerate access to growing volumes of biomedical data and information via the Internet.  With the launch of PubMed in 1996, NLM solidified its role as a leader in providing free, internet-based access to biomedical data and information.  PubMed has become the most heavily used biomedical literature citation database in the world, providing access to MEDLINE and other citation information. NLM’s PubMed Central (PMC), established in 2000 as an electronic archive of peer-reviewed biomedical and life sciences literature, now provides researchers, clinicians, and the public with access to the full text of more than 5.5 million articles.  It serves as the repository for NIH’s Public Access Policy, which ensures access to articles summarizing the results of NIH-funded research.  With the explosion of genomic information over the last 20 years, NLM developed a family of online databases, for example GenBank, Reference Sequence database (RefSeq), and database of Genotypes and Phenotypes (dbGaP), for scientists to further explore genetic information without the need to re-sequence biological samples.  These databases have advanced to keep pace with the increase in volume of genomic data.  NLM is now taking steps to move some of these data to the cloud to enable large-scale computing (see Program Portrait 1, page 14).

Over the last 20 years, NLM has also accelerated efforts to improve transparency of, and access to, clinical trials information.  NLM’s ClinicalTrials.gov, launched in 2000, is the world’s largest publicly accessible database of privately and publicly funded clinical studies, including NIH-funded clinical trials.  It supports Federal laws, as well as policies implemented in the United States and internationally.  By the end of FY 2019, ClinicalTrials.gov contained information on more than 318,000 registered studies, 39,000 of which include study results and adverse events information. 

In addition, NLM has laid the groundwork for the principled exchange of health data for clinical and research purposes.  As the coordinating body for clinical terminology standards within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), NLM led Federal efforts to drive broad development and adoption of standards that facilitate exchanging and combining health data.  NLM served as a leader across NIH and the Federal Government to address challenges to make the rapidly growing amounts of biomedical research data more accessible and usable.  Through these efforts, NLM played a key role in developing consistent policies and encouraging best practices in managing and sharing federally-funded research data.  It continues to participate in efforts which investigate the re-use of biomedical datasets, develop related metrics, identify incentives for data scientists to focus on biomedical challenges, and ensure sustainability of an open, digital ecosystem for biomedical research.

From FY 2015-2019 NLM expanded investments in research, training, and community engagement, as well as the physical and technical infrastructure for its information services.  During this period, NLM nearly doubled the number of research project grants awarded, supported more early-stage investigators (i.e., scientists early in their career), and provided NLM scientists with new opportunities in data science, informatics, health data standards, and computational biology.  It expanded biomedical data science training and resources for undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate students.  NLM also expanded the amount of high-quality information, tools, and data available to researchers, health professionals, policy makers, and the public.  NLM addressed critical needs for improving the stability and security of its information systems and associated technical infrastructure, efficiencies in cataloging and performance measurement, and physical infrastructure to ensure a safe and productive work environment.

Investing for the Future: NLM will continue making biomedical information and knowledge accessible to more people in more ways by expanding research done by NLM’s intramural and extramural scientists in data science and biomedical informatics.  NLM will facilitate the availability and use of data through methods research, support for open science, a data-skilled biomedical workforce, a modern information technology (IT) infrastructure, enhanced dissemination and engagement, and responsible use of data for AI.  It is systematically evaluating and strengthening the technical infrastructure for its public-facing websites and applications by unifying platforms and balancing local storage with cloud-based solutions. 

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Program Portrait 1:  Genomic Sequence Data Available in the Cloud

NLM’s Sequence Read Archive (SRA) is the world’s largest publicly available repository of next-generation genome sequence data, with more than 9 million records comprising 25 petabytes of data.  More than 100,000 users each month download subsets of SRA data for analysis in their local computing environments.  To improve access and utility of SRA data, NLM launched a major effort in FY 2019, to upload the public access SRA data to two commercial clouds that have agreements with NIH’s Science and Technology Research Infrastructure for Discovery, Experimentation, and Sustainability (STRIDES) Initiative.  This transition significantly expands the discovery potential of the data.  Freed from the limitations of local storage and computational resources, users are empowered to compute across the full corpus of SRA data without having to download and store large volumes of data.  Moving to cloud platforms also makes it possible to develop customized tools and methods for asking research questions of the data.  Publicly accessible SRA data include genomes of viruses, bacteria, and nonhuman higher organisms, as well as gene expression data, metagenomes, and a small amount of human genomic data that is consented to be publicly available (e.g., data from the 1000 Genomes Project).  NLM is working to make SRA’s controlled-access human genomic data available on commercial cloud platforms, with higher levels of security and oversight, to ensure continued protection of data from human samples and appropriate authorization and authentication of users of these data.  NLM will facilitate NIH’s strategic efforts to move these valuable datasets into commercial cloud computing platforms through technical guidance to enact privacy-preserving policies for controlling access, including a strategic vision for identity management anchored on centralized authentication and authorization for access to datasets from across NIH Institutes and Centers (ICs).

 

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In FY 2019, NLM supported several training and outreach activities to extend NLM’s reach and engage talent, including: 

Overall Budget Policy

The FY 2021 President’s Budget request is $415.7 million, a decrease of $41.2 million from the FY 2020 Enacted level for NLM.  Funds are included to sustain intramural research in computational health information sciences and methods, such as AI and machine learning, and maintain NLM’s most heavily used information services, including those that provide access to published biomedical literature and consumer health information. At this level, support for NLM databases and services will be prioritized, ensuring mission critical support for NIH data science goals and data sharing policies. NLM will retain key intramural data science activities, including processing and organizing genomic data resulting from NIH-wide investments in whole genome sequencing; evaluation of microbial and viral pathogens to support outbreak detection and response by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Department of Agriculture (USDA); enhancing registration and results reporting in ClinicalTrials.gov; and updating and disseminating clinical terminology standards required for interoperability of U.S. health data.  NLM will also award up to 35 new research project grants through its extramural programs.  NLM will continue to leverage the National Network of Libraries of Medicine to advance community engagement in the NIH All of Us initiative and will prioritize and consolidate outreach programs that promote access and training in the effective use of NLM resources for scientists, clinicians, patients, and the general public.

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Program Descriptions and Accomplishments
Intramural Programs

NLM’s intramural programs encompass two major activities:  1) Intramural Research and Training; and 2) Biomedical Information Services.  

Intramural Research and Training:  NLM conducts research and training in computational health science, which includes biomedical informatics, computational biology, AI, machine learning, and deep learning.  This work generates new knowledge, methods, and tools that support biomedical discovery, image interpretation, and clinical records analysis to enable scientists and clinicians to better understand basic biology, discover new approaches to care, and improve clinical decisions and health.

Recent NLM research has resulted in scientific advances that:

NLM research has also resulted in novel computational approaches for analyzing whole genome sequencing data from bacteria to help quickly resolve outbreaks of foodborne illness by identifying the bacterial pathogens involved and helping to trace them back to their source.  These approaches are embedded in NLM’s Pathogen Detection Pipeline, which has supported more than 370 outbreak investigations to date.  In addition, NLM research has developed new approaches to data processing to rapidly evaluate, annotate, and disseminate high-quality influenza sequence data, making large, well-organized datasets quickly available to scientists seeking to define factors that impact influenza virus outbreak.  More than 790,000 influenza genome sequences are available, with almost 110,000 submitted in FY 2019.  NLM is also contributing to research on genetic causes of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as part of an ongoing collaboration with the National Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring System, a public health surveillance system that tracks changes in the antimicrobial susceptibility of foodborne pathogens.  Using phenotypes obtained by other Federal agencies (i.e., CDC, FDA, and USDA) for more than 6,000 pathogen isolates, NLM researchers validated the AMRFinder tool they built for antimicrobial resistance gene and protein predictions.  This work resulted in greater than 98 percent consistent predictions.  The tool also predicts the genes and proteins in the n ew National Database of Antibiotic Resistant Organisms which consists of more than 400,000 pathogens and is part of the National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-resistant Bacteria.

NLM research also develops and applies sophisticated analytical approaches to the study of clinical phenomena, such as the effects of medications on health outcomes, using large clinical datasets.  In FY 2019, NLM researchers used such techniques to develop insights into the relationship and risk of seven antibiotics, called fluoroquinolones, for tendon rupture in a cohort of 1.2 million Medicare enrollees, and the effects of estrogens on patient survival in a large population of postmenopausal women.  NLM researchers used structured clinical terminologies and natural language processing to recognize complex clinical phenomena and guide clinical decisions for precision medicine in oncology.  Using simulated clinical cases created by precision oncologists to describe a patient’s cancer type, relevant genetic variants, and demographic information, NLM researchers evaluated tools to support precision medicine by retrieving journal articles about treatments relevant to specific patients and finding clinical trials (from ClinicalTrials.gov) for potential enrollment.  NLM enhances the discoverability of biomedical literature by developing and disseminating open source software tools to support timely indexing of the literature with key terms from structured terminologies.

NLM research results in novel AI algorithms for analyzing medical images that can improve detection, diagnosis, and treatment of disease.  Much of this work involves collaboration with other NIH ICs with clinical expertise that complements NLM’s informatics and data science expertise, resulting in advances such as:

NLM’s intramural research programs provide research training in biomedical informatics, clinical informatics, and computational biology for post-doctoral trainees, along with high school, college, and graduate students, medical professionals, and visiting scientists.  Trainees participate in NLM research projects on medical imaging, AI, machine learning, medical terminology, and other cutting-edge research.  They apply computational tools to research problems in molecular and structural biology, genetics, genomics, proteomics, phylogeny, and related fields.  In FY 2019, NLM supported nearly 50 intramural research fellows in short-term and multi-year on-campus training.

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Program Portrait 2: Fostering the Biomedical Informatics and Data Science Workforce

NLM is committed to building a diverse workforce to meet the challenges of data-powered discovery by ensuring proficiency in data science and open science, expanding research methods that support rigor and reproducibility, and engaging the next generation of researchers.  NLM funds Ph.D.-level research training in biomedical informatics and data science and partners across NIH to ensure inclusion of data science and open science core skills in all NIH training programs.  Through training and resource grants, NLM supports the training of librarians, information science professionals, and other research facilitators, so they can manage a data-driven future.  To increase diversity in the fields it supports, NLM partners with high schools, information schools, and minority-serving institutions.

 

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Biomedical Information Services:  Many of NLM’s intramural programs support the development and operation of heavily used biomedical information services, such as PubMed, ClinicalTrials.gov, and dbGaP.  Each day, more than 6 million people use NLM websites and download 115 terabytes of data.  Thousands of researchers and businesses submit 15 terabytes of data daily.  Annually, NLM information systems process more than six billion human interactions and eight billion computer-to-computer interactions.  NLM continually expands biomedical information services to accommodate a growing volume of relevant data and information and enhances these services to support research and discovery.

In FY 2019, NLM made numerous enhancements to its information services for biomedical literature, clinical trials and consumer health information, and molecular biology and bioinformatics:

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30 Years of Growth for NCBI Data and User Services

Data for Twenty Nine Years of Growth: NCBI Data and User Services

Year Product Release GenBank Sequences Users (Average)
1989   30,010 1,200
1990 BLAST 40,295 1,500
1991 Entrez 58,952 2,700
1992 GenBank at NCBI 87,846 3,200
1993   143,492 4,500
1994   215,273 9,000
1995 Genomes 555,694 19,000
1996 OMIM 1,021,211 36,000
1997 PubMed 1,765,847 39,268
1998   2,837,897 84,256
1999 Human Genome 4,864,570 138,139
2000 PubMed Central 9,102,634 190,485
2001   13,602,262 233,977
2002   19,808,101 283,590
2003   29,819,397 380,104
2004 PubChem 38,941,263 485,029
2005 NIH Public Access 49,152,445 666,917
2006 Genome-Wide Association Studies 62,765,195 864,586
2007 Genome Reference Consortium 77,632,813 958,584
2008   96,400,790 1,152,700
2009   110,946,879 1,328,143
2010 1000 Genomes 125,764,384 1,501,335
2011   144,458,648 2,300,000
2012 Genetic Testing Registry and ClinVar 157,889,737 2,430,000
2013 MedGen and PubReader 168,335,396 3,300,000
2014 Pubmed Commons 178,322,253 3,900,000
2015 Food Pathogens Project 188,372,017 4,000,000
2016   197,390,691 4,100,000
2017   206,293,625 4,600,000
2018 Antimicrobial Resistance 211,281,415 5,500,000
2019   215,333,020 6,200,000

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NLM is the engine that powers health care data for clinical and observational research by driving intergovernmental activities and shaping the national agenda related to open science, AI, health data standards, and data science.  NLM is working across the NIH and Federal Government, and in collaboration with the public and private sectors, to promote standards for exchanging biomedical research and clinical data to advance health care, public health, biomedical research, and product development.  For example, in FY 2019, NLM played a critical role in the development, usage, and utility of a data exchange standard to improve flow and availability of data, the Health Level Seven International (HL7) Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®)1.  NIH is encouraging funded investigators to use the FHIR standard to capture, integrate, and exchange clinical data for research purposes and to enhance capabilities to share research data.  NIH has also announced to the small business communities its special interest in supporting applications that use FHIR in the development of health IT products and services.  To support these efforts, NLM is managing the development and testing of FHIR tools that researchers can use to increase the availability of high-quality, standardized research datasets and phenotypic information for genomic research and genomic medicine.

NLM also supports the development, maintenance and dissemination of health data standards and associated tools:

In addition, NLM invests in outreach and training to help researchers, clinicians, educators, NLM staff, and the public use NLM’s wide range of biomedical information services.  NLM’s exhibitions, traveling banner displays and web-based content reach underserved populations and promote interest in science, medicine, and technology.  From FY 2016-2019, NLM’s traveling exhibitions reached more than 3 million visitors in 373 venues in 299 cities across the country, plus international locations reaching U.S. Armed Forces, through traveling exhibitions. 

1 https://nlmdirector.nlm.nih.gov/2019/07/30/accelerating-innovation-in-science/

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Budget Policy
The FY 2021 President’s Budget estimate for NLM’s Intramural Programs is $335.4 million, a decrease of $34.0 million from the FY2020 Enacted Budget of $369.4 million.  NLM’s FY 2020 estimated expenditures for intramural research are approximately two-thirds of the total for NLM Intramural Programs and will remain unchanged in FY 2021.  NLM’s intramural research program advances knowledge in data science methods, including AI and machine learning, as well as the advanced integration and analysis of genomic data, clinical research data, and observational health data.  Consistent with recommendations of a recent Blue-Ribbon Panel review, NLM is aligning its intramural research activities under a single Scientific Director and seeking efficiencies in core research services.  Research priorities will be informed by NLM’s needs for biomedical information services, including research in health data standards; computational biology; computational approaches to data curation; and machine-learning approaches to text and image processing.

NLM will support key intramural data science activities, including automated indexing and management of the biomedical literature, processing and organizing genomic data resulting from NIH-wide investments in whole genome sequencing, and genomic evaluations of pathogens in support outbreak detection and response by CDC, FDA, and USDA. The Library will prioritize and seek new efficiencies in its service offerings to ensure needed levels of support for biomedical and health information resources that are most heavily used by the scientific research community and the public and that support NIH-wide data science goals and data sharing policies.  NLM will support further enhancements to ClinicalTrials.gov to facilitate submission of and access to clinical trial data submitted in accordance with the Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007 and NIH policy. It will improve tools for updating and disseminating clinical terminology standards required for interoperability of electronic health data and to support advanced integration and analysis of genomic, clinical research, and observational health data.   In FY 2021, NLM will prioritize its outreach programs to improve efforts to promote access and training in the effective use of NLM resources, including data repositories, and to increase engagement with broad sets of stakeholders in the public and private sectors to leverage their talents, capabilities, and information resources. Through its cooperative agreement with the National Network of Libraries of Medicine, NLM will continue to support efforts to advance community engagement in the All of Us initiative

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Extramural Programs

NLM’s extramural programs encompass three major activities:  1) Biomedical Informatics Research; 2) Health Information for Health Professionals and the Public; and 3) Informatics Resources for Biomedicine and Health.  NLM is expanding its extramural programs to support growing demand for innovation in data science.  In FY 2019, NLM funded 177 awards, including 26 that were co-funded with other NIH ICs. 

Biomedical Informatics Research:  NLM research awards in biomedical informatics aim to bring methods and concepts of biomedical informatics and data science to bear on problems in basic biomedical and behavioral research, health care, public health, consumer health, and other domains.  NLM increased its budget for extramural research by $8.8 million between FY 2017 and FY 2019, representing a 60 percent growth in funding and almost doubling the number of Research Project Grant awards.  NLM increased funding for early stage investigators from $5.3 million in FY 2018 to $6.2 million in FY 2019.  NLM also funded 19 early-stage investigators in FY 2019, an increase from 10 in FY 2018.

NLM-funded researchers tested methods to capture, analyze, integrate, and curate biomedical data.  NLM awarded research grants for projects including analytics for microbiome data, high-fidelity curation of gene-drug-phenotype relationships, and a data science-enabled approach to better manage endometriosis.  For example, in FY 2019, NLM-funded researchers:

NLM sparked innovative work in mission critical areas, resulting in research that addresses health challenges and disparities, such as on the health implications of the impact of food advertising targeted to racial and ethnic populations, approaches for semi-automated curation of research data, and the development of personal health records to support the unique needs of youth emancipating from foster care.  NLM updated its general statement of interest for research and small business grants to emphasize incorporation of AI approaches into tools for clinicians, researchers, and consumers; models of complex data, information visualization that enhances understanding and usability; and translational research that integrates and links data relating to a person’s health from many sources (e.g., clinical, personal health, environmental, and neighborhood).  NLM issued a Notice of Special Interest seeking applications for novel approaches to reduce inherent bias or missing data in collections of personal health data, such as those drawn from EHRs in a hospital.  NLM collaborates with other NIH ICs to stimulate informatics and data science research in areas where data science can address a specific biomedical or clinical research objective (e.g., biomarker identification for pain and opioid use).

Health Information for Health Professionals and the Public:  NLM supports outreach and engagement via the NNLM.  The NNLM engages more than 7,000 academic health science libraries, hospital and public libraries, and community organizations across the United States and its territories to improve access to health information for everyone, from citizens to clinicians, research investigators, and data scientists, and it ensures equal access for all health professionals.  NLM engages with public libraries to promote health and digital literacy and increase competency with consumer health information within the public library workforce.  In FY 2019, NNLM staff supported 275 outreach and engagement projects, encompassing 2,452 activities across the United States, reaching more than 64,698 people.  With public libraries, a recent focus for NNLM, more than 130 projects were funded, resulting in more than 1,400 activities reaching more than 13,180 people across 45 U.S. states.  NNLM collaborates with NIH’s All of Us Research Program to provide high-quality health information and educate consumers about precision medicine in communities often underrepresented in biomedical research.  NNLM also trains health sciences librarians in research data management and data science (see Program Portrait 2, page 15), encourages citizen science through promotion and education, and improves access to high-quality biomedical information online through #CiteNLM Wikipedia Edit-a-thons.  

Informatics Resources for Biomedicine and Health:  NLM’s Information Resources to Reduce Health Disparities program awards support projects that bring useful, usable health information to health disparity populations and their health care providers.  NLM issues new awards for this program every other year.  NLM made six new awards in FY 2019, up from four in 2017, focusing on topics including health disparities of migrant and seasonal farmers, heart health information for communities at risk of parasitic Chagas disease, information to help communities stop the spread of antibiotic resistant diseases, and environmental health literacy in Appalachia.  In addition, NLM’s Grants for Scholarly Works in Biomedicine and Health supports scholarly publications.  NLM made three such awards in FY 2019, focused on biomedical terminologies, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) myths and science, and the electronic patient.  These resource grants encourage collaborations between Historically Black Colleges and Universities, other Minority Serving Institutions, and other biomedical informatics training sites.

NLM also supports 16 university-based training programs in biomedical informatics.  Many of NLM’s predoctoral and postdoctoral training programs expand outreach to other NIH training programs, involve partnerships with minority-serving organizations and information schools, and provide summer research experiences for high-school and undergraduate students from underrepresented groups.  More than half of NLM’s funded training programs developed curriculum materials and student exercises related to biomedical data science, and shared resources freely via GitHub (see Program Portrait 2, page 18).

Budget Policy
The FY 2021 President’s Budget estimate includes $60.7 million for NLM’s Extramural Programs, a decrease of $6.2 million from the FY 2020 Enacted level of $66.9 million.  Data science and informatics research is fundamental to the sophisticated information systems used to store, manage, display, and analyze research and health data.  NLM will continue to accept investigator-initiated applications through NIH parent-grant announcements, as well as applications submitted to NLM’s own funding announcements, which focus on novel, broadly applicable methods in biomedical informatics and data science, personal health libraries and digital curation.  In FY 2021, NLM will apply reductions averaging 15 percent to all noncompeting grants, including resource grants, in order to reduce the impact of the reduced FY 2021 funding level on new awards.  NLM expects to award 35 new research project grants and will aim to support early stage and new investigators at success rates comparable to those of established investigators submitting new applications. NLM will continue to support its unique resource grant programs, career transition programs, at reduced levels. It will continue to support its highly regarded university-based training programs, maintaining the number of these programs. 

 

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Research Management and Support

NLM’s Research Management and Support activities provide administrative, budgetary, communications, and logistical support for NLM programs to ensure strategic planning, and evaluation; regulatory compliance; policy development; international coordination; and partnerships with other Federal agencies, Congress, the private sector, and the public.  NLM is streamlining its organizational and administrative structure to enhance collaborative leadership, innovation, and customer service.

Budget Policy
The FY 2021 President’s Budget estimate is $19.6 million, a decrease of $1.0 million, from the FY 2020 Enacted level of $20.6 million. RMS will support NLM-wide planning and evaluation, including implementation of NLM’s strategic plan.  It will also support enhancement of NLM’s information systems security, policy development and administration functions, and improved coordination of trans-NLM and trans-NIH efforts in data science.

Conclusion

Through its growing research programs, heavily-used information systems, and public engagement activities, NLM supports biomedical research and public health.  NLM enables researchers, clinicians, and the public to use the vast wealth of biomedical data to improve the health of the Nation.

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Budget Authority By Object Class 1

(Dollars in Thousands)

  FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget FY 2021 +/- FY 2020
Total compensable workyears:      
    Full-time equivalent 741 741 0
    Full-time equivalent of overtime and holiday hours 1 1 0
    Average ES salary $197 $198 $0
    Average GM/GS grade 11.8 11.8 0.0
    Average GM/GS salary $111 $112 $1
    Average salary, grade established by act of July 1, 1944 (42 U.S.C. 207) $118 $118 $0
    Average salary of ungraded positions $157 $157 $0

 

OBJECT CLASSES FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget FY 2021 +/- FY 2020
    Personnel Compensation      
11.1 Full-Time Permanent 44,612 45,125 513
11.3 Other Than Full-Time Permanent 45,672 46,198 525
11.5 Other Personnel Compensation 1,738 1,758 20
11.7 Military Personnel 127 131 3
11.8 Special Personnel Services Payments 1,884 1,905 22
11.9 Subtotal Personnel Compensation $94,034 $95,117 $1,083
12.1 Civilian Personnel Benefits 30,829 32,032 1,202
12.2 Military Personnel Benefits 59 61 2
13.0 Benefits to Former Personnel 0 0 0
    Subtotal Pay Costs $124,922 $127,210 $2,287
21.0 Travel & Transportation of Persons 1,155 1,082 -73
22.0 Transportation of Things 94 88 -6
23.1 Rental Payments to GSA 0 0 0
23.2 Rental Payments to Others 184 171 -13
23.3 Communications, Utilities & Misc. Charges 440 410 -30
24.0 Printing & Reproduction 141 131 -10
25.1 Consulting Services 67,464 55,880 -11,584
25.2 Other Services 63,383 51,290 -12,093
25.3 Purchase of goods and services from government accounts 66,447 65,402 -1,045
25.4 Operation & Maintenance of Facilities 19,202 15,365 -3,837
25.5 R&D Contracts 17 18 0
25.6 Medical Care 0 0 0
25.7 Operation & Maintenance of Equipment 16,646 13,527 -3,119
25.8 Subsistence & Support of Persons 13 13 0
25.0 Subtotal Other Contractual Services $233,172 $201,494 -$31,678
26.0 Supplies & Materials 1,249 1,095 -154
31.0 Equipment 28,654 23,277 -5,378
32.0 Land and Structures 0 0 0
33.0 Investments & Loans 0 0 0
41.0 Grants, Subsidies & Contributions 66,897 60,705 -6,191
42.0 Insurance Claims & Indemnities 0 0 0
43.0 Interest & Dividends 2 2 0
44.0 Refunds 0 0 0
    Subtotal Non-Pay Costs $331,989 $288,455 -$43,533
    Total Budget Authority by Object Class $456,911 $415,665 -$41,246

1 Includes FTEs whose payroll obligations are supported by the NIH Common Fund.

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Salaries and Expenses

Dollars in Thousands

OBJECT CLASSES FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget FY 2021 +/- FY 2020
Personnel Compensation      
    Full-Time Permanent (11.1) $44,612 $45,125 $513
    Other Than Full-Time Permanent (11.3) 45,672 46,198 525
    Other Personnel Compensation (11.5) 1,738 1,758 20
    Military Personnel (11.7) 127 131 3
    Special Personnel Services Payments (11.8) 1,884 1,905 22
Subtotal Personnel Compensation (11.9) $94,034 $95,117 $1,083
Civilian Personnel Benefits (12.1) $30,829 $32,032 $1,202
Military Personnel Benefits (12.2) 59 61 2
Benefits to Former Personnel (13.0) 0 0 0
Subtotal Pay Costs $124,922 $127,210 $2,287
Travel & Transportation of Persons (21.0) $1,155 $1,082 -$73
Transportation of Things (22.0) 94 88 -6
Rental Payments to Others (23.2) 184 171 -13
Communications, Utilities & Misc. Charges (23.3) 440 410 -30
Printing & Reproduction (24.0) 141 131 -10
Other Contractual Services:      
    Consultant Services (25.1) 67,464 55,880 -11,584
    Other Services (25.2) 63,383 51,290 -12,093
    Purchases from government accounts (25.3) 55,558 52,771 -2,787
    Operation & Maintenance of Facilities (25.4) 19,202 15,365 -3,837
    Operation & Maintenance of Equipment (25.7) 16,646 13,527 -3,119
    Subsistence & Support of Persons (25.8) 13 13 0
Subtotal Other Contractual Services $222,266 $188,846 -$33,421
Supplies & Materials (26.0) $1,249 $1,095 -$154
Subtotal Non-Pay Costs $225,529 $191,823 -$33,707
Total Administrative Costs $350,452 $319,032 -$31,420

 

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Detail of Full-Time Equivalent Employment (FTE)

OFFICE/DIVISION FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget
Civilian Military Total Civilian Military Total Civilian Military Total
Division of Extramural Programs                  
Direct: 18 - 18 19 - 19 19 - 19
Reimbursable: - - - - - - - - -
Total: 18 - 18 19 - 19 19 - 19
Division of Library Operations                  
Direct: 243 - 243 291 - 291 291 - 291
Division of Library Operations                  
Reimbursable: - - - - - - - - -
Division of Library Operations                  
Total: 243 - 243 291 - 291 291 - 291
Division of Specialized Information Services                  
Direct: 20 - 20 - - - - - -
Reimbursable: - - - - - - - - -
Total: 20 - 20 - - - - - -
Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications                  
Direct: 40 - 40 45 - 45 45 - 45
Reimbursable: - - - - - - - - -
Total: 40 - 40 45 - 45 45 - 45
National Center for Biotechnology Information                  
Direct: 270 1 271 300 1 301 300 1 301
Reimbursable: 1 - 1 1 - 1 1 - 1
Total: 271 1 272 301 1 302 301 1 302
Office of the Director/Administration                  
Direct: 53 - 53 71 - 71 71 - 71
Reimbursable: 13 - 13 13 - 13 13 - 13
Total: 66 - 66 84 - 84 84 - 84
                   
Total 658 1 659 740 1 741 740 1 741

Includes FTEs whose payroll obligations are supported by the NIH Common Fund.

 

OFFICE/DIVISION FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget
Civilian Military Total Civilian Military Total Civilian Military Total
FTEs supported by funds from Cooperative Research and Development Agreements. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

 

FISCAL YEAR Average GS Grade
2017 11.5
2018 11.9
2019 11.8
2020 11.8
2021 11.8

 

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Detail of Positions 1

GRADE FY 2019 Final FY 2020 Enacted FY 2021 President's Budget
Total, ES Positions 5 5 5
Total, ES Salary 958,665 987,425 987,820
GM/GS-15 17 17 17
GM/GS-14 46 46 46
GM/GS-13 121 146 146
GS-12 111 138 138
GS-11 21 21 21
GS-10 0 0 0
GS-9 12 12 12
GS-8 32 32 32
GS-7 6 6 6
GS-6 1 1 1
GS-5 2 2 2
GS-4 1 1 1
GS-3 3 3 3
GS-2 5 5 5
GS-1 2 2 2
Subtotal 380 432 432
Grades established by Act of July 1, 1944 (42 U.S.C. 207)      
Assistant Surgeon General 0 0 0
Director Grade 0 0 0
Senior Grade 1 1 1
Full Grade 0 0 0
Senior Assistant Grade 0 0 0
Assistant Grade 0 0 0
Subtotal 1 1 1
Ungraded 271 303 303
Total permanent positions 375 457 457
Total positions, end of year 657 741 741
Total full-time equivalent (FTE) employment, end of year 659 741 741
Average ES salary 191,733 197,485 197,564
Average GM/GS grade 11.8 11.8 11.8
Average GM/GS salary 107,637 110,866 111,975

1 Includes FTEs whose payroll obligations are supported by the NIH Common Fund.

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Last Reviewed: September 23, 2024