Lock\u27em up and throw away the key: racial attitudes and the structural determinants of support for crime policy among white Americans

This study investigates support for the death penalty and federal crime spending among white Americans. Data from the American National Election Studies (ANES) series (1992-2000) are matched with census tract level indicators of demographic and community characteristics from the 1990 and 2000 Census Bureau Summary File Tape 3A and county level crime data supplied by the Federal Bureau of Investigation�s Uniform Crime Reports (UCR). Ordered logistic regression is used to investigate five general research questions: (1) Are racial attitudes the most salient individual level predictors of support for crime policy among whites as suggested by prior research? (2) Are whites� crime policy preferences influenced by the structural environment? (3) Is the relationship between key individual level variables (i.e. racial attitudes) and support for crime policy moderated by features of the community? (4) Does fear of crime influence white support for crime policy? (5) Are there different explanatory models of white support for the death penalty and federal crime spending? The results of the study show whites� racial attitudes are strong predictors of white support for the death penalty and federal crime spending. Overall, structural conditions do not shape white support for the death penalty. On the other hand, whites� crime spending preferences are influenced by the racial context of the community. Whites living in more racially segregated communities are less supportive of increased crime spending. Turning to the interaction results, the relationship between whites� racial attitudes and support for the death penalty is mediated by features of the community (i.e. racial composition, segregation, deprivation). In general, interaction effects are not present in the crime spending models. The fear of crime models show fear is related to white support of crime spending but is not associated with support for the death penalty. In sum, these findings suggest further investigation of white support for crime policy is warranted

Assessing the motivational effects of ethanol in mice using a discrete-trial current-intensity intracranial self-stimulation procedure.

BackgroundAlcohol (ethanol) produces both rewarding and aversive effects, and sensitivity to these effects is associated with risk for an alcohol use disorder (AUD). Measurement of these motivational effects in animal models is an important but challenging aspect of preclinical research into the neurobiology of AUD. Here, we evaluated whether a discrete-trial current-intensity intracranial self-stimulation (ICSS) procedure can be used to assess both reward-enhancing and aversive responses to ethanol in mice.MethodsMale and female C57BL/6J mice were surgically implanted with bipolar stimulating electrodes targeting the medial forebrain bundle and trained on a discrete-trial current-intensity ICSS procedure. Mice were tested for changes in response thresholds after various doses of ethanol (0.5 g/kg-1.75 g/kg; n = 5-7 per dose), using a Latin square design.ResultsA 1 g/kg dose of ethanol produced a significant reward-enhancement (i.e., lowered response thresholds), whereas a 1.75 g/kg dose produced an aversive effect (elevated response thresholds). Ethanol doses from 1 to 1.75 g/kg increased response latencies as compared to saline treatment.ConclusionsThe discrete-trial current-intensity ICSS procedure is an effective assay for measuring both reward-enhancing responses to ethanol as well as aversive responses in the same animal. This should prove to be a useful tool for assessing the effects of experimental manipulations on the motivational effects of ethanol in mice

I cannot fix it but I can help you fix it: a strengths based approach to working with children and families with mental health concerns

This paper is based on clinical experience of working with children and families in Australia. It has been observed that while working with parents/carers that they often present 'broken children' and expect the clinician to miraculously 'fix' the problem. It has also been noted that when working with children, young people and families in a tertiary mental health setting, it is often the problem saturated perspective that is the focus that consumes clinical practice. Finding ways of assisting them to put the pieces back together often requires specific knowledge, skills and innovative ways of interventions. It also requires an approach that is not deficit focused. This can be quite confronting and challenging for the practitioner who provides a service within a medical model of framework. In a strengths base approach, the person is not the problem; the problem is the problem and we are all part of the solution. Evidences from the literature show that utilizing a strength based approach allows people to experience a sense of control to focus on all the aspects of their life rather than be defined as the negative presenting issue. Aspects such as survival skills, abilities, knowledge, resources and desires are discussed as a mechanism to assist this process. This allows the clinician to both view and explore with the person their strengths instead of the problem itself. By doing this, a more holistic productive therapeutic alliance between clinician and consumer/s occurs. The ability to assist families in changing perspective and to focus on their strengths that they already possess to build resilience and sustainability provides them with the opportunity of ownership and control over the situation. This paper will discuss the importance of using strengths based model and how it has been implemented in clinical practice in north Queensland. The authors, based on their experience and through case studies, illustrate the importance of this strengths model of practice when working with people with mental health concerns and explain how it can make a difference in the lives of people

Substance Use-Related Brief Interventions With Emergency Department Patients Reduce Mental Health Co-Morbidities

Background: Research on screening and brief interventions (SBIs) has shown that, in addition to reducing alcohol use, interventions delivered in healthcare settings can reduce trauma readmissions, hospitalization days, driving offenses, and future healthcare utilization and costs. Mental health co-morbidities often accompany unhealthy alcohol and drug use, but few studies have examined the impact of SBIs on the mental health of patients. The present study determined if SBIs focused on reducing alcohol or drug use affected the mental health status of patients at a six-month follow-up. Methods: Participants (N=1152) were randomly sampled from patients receiving SBIs for at-risk alcohol or drug use after presenting to one of two urban emergency departments (EDs) in Georgia. Telephone follow-up interviews were completed with 698 of the original participants at six months after the intervention. Mental health co-morbidities were measured at both time points using the Global Assessment of Individual Needs Short Screener (GAIN-SS) and the SF-12. Analyses were conducted using paired samples t-tests. Results: Analyses found significant reductions in the percentage of patients reporting feelings of anxiety (45% to 33%, p\u3c0.001), depression (52% to 37%, p\u3c0.001), and suicidal ideation (13% to 8%, p\u3c0.001) as well as improvements in global mental health measures (SF12 mental health score and internalizing and externalizing subscales of the GAIN-SS). Conclusions: Six months after receiving SBIs for alcohol and drug use in EDs, several measures of the mental health of participants showed significant improvements. Widespread implementation of SBIs in Georgia\u27s EDs may affect a broad array of public health concerns, including mental health

Dengue Virus-Induced Inflammation of the Endothelium and the Potential Roles of Sphingosine Kinase-1 and MicroRNAs

Copyright © 2015 Amanda L. Aloia et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.One of the main pathogenic effects of severe dengue virus (DENV) infection is a vascular leak syndrome. There are no available antivirals or specific DENV treatments and without hospital support severe DENV infection can be life-threatening. The cause of the vascular leakage is permeability changes in the endothelial cells lining the vasculature that are brought about by elevated vasoactive cytokine and chemokines induced following DENV infection. The source of these altered cytokine and chemokines is traditionally believed to be from DENV-infected cells such as monocyte/macrophages and dendritic cells. Herein we discuss the evidence for the endothelium as an additional contributor to inflammatory and innate responses during DENV infection which may affect endothelial cell function, in particular the ability to maintain vascular integrity. Furthermore, we hypothesise roles for two factors, sphingosine kinase-1 and microRNAs (miRNAs), with a focus on several candidate miRNAs, which are known to control normal vascular function and inflammatory responses. Both of these factors may be potential therapeutic targets to regulate inflammation of the endothelium during DENV infection

Unravelling morphoea aetiopathogenesis by next-generation sequencing of paired skin biopsies

BACKGROUND: Morphoea can have a significant disease burden. Aetiopathogenesis remains poorly understood, with very limited existing genetic studies. Linear morphoea (LM) may follow Blascho's lines of epidermal development, providing potential pathogenic clues. OBJECTIVE: The first objective of this study was to identify the presence of primary somatic epidermal mosaicism in LM. The second objective was tTo explore differential gene expression in morphoea epidermis and dermis to identify potential pathogenic molecular pathways and tissue layer cross-talk. METHODOLOGY: Skin biopsies from paired affected and contralateral unaffected skin were taken from 16 patients with LM. Epidermis and dermis were isolated using a 2-step chemical-physical separation protocol. Whole Genome Sequencing (WGS; n = 4 epidermal) and RNA-seq (n = 5-epidermal, n = 5-dermal) with gene expression analysis via GSEA-MSigDBv6.3 and PANTHER-v14.1 pathway analyses, were performed. RTqPCR and immunohistochemistry were used to replicate key results. RESULTS: Sixteen participants (93.8% female, mean age 27.7 yrs disease-onset) were included. Epidermal WGS identified no single affected gene or SNV. However, many potential disease-relevant pathogenic variants were present, including ADAMTSL1 and ADAMTS16. A highly proliferative, inflammatory and profibrotic epidermis was seen, with significantly-overexpressed TNFα-via-NFkB, TGFβ, IL6/JAKSTAT and IFN-signaling, apoptosis, p53 and KRAS-responses. Upregulated IFI27 and downregulated LAMA4 potentially represent initiating epidermal 'damage' signals and enhanced epidermal-dermal communication. Morphoea dermis exhibited significant profibrotic, B-cell and IFN-signatures, and upregulated morphogenic patterning pathways such as Wnt. CONCLUSION: This study supports the absence of somatic epidermal mosaicism in LM, and identifies potential disease-driving epidermal mechanisms, epidermal-dermal interactions and disease-specific dermal differential-gene-expression in morphoea. We propose a potential molecular narrative for morphoea aetiopathogenesis which could help guide future targeted studies and therapies

Electroactive biochar outperforms highly conductive carbon materials for biodegrading pollutants by enhancing microbial extracellular electron transfer

The development and full-scale application of microbial electrochemical technologies (METs) for wastewater treatment demand massive amounts of electroconductive carbon materials to promote extracellular electron transfer (EET) and biodegradation. While the potential capability of these materials and their properties to design efficient systems is still in their infancy, the state-of-the-art METs are based on highly-conductive fossil-derived carbons. In this work we evaluate the performance of different electroconductive carbon materials (graphite, coke, biochar) for supporting microbial EET and treating urban wastewater. Our results reveal that the electroconductive biochar was the most efficient biofilter-material, enabling to stimulate bioremediation at anodic potential as high as 0.6 V (maximum removal efficiency (92%) and degradation rate (185 g-COD m−3d−1)), and to fulfill the discharge limits under conditions where the other materials failed. A deep materials characterization suggests that, despite electroconductivity is necessary, the optimal EET on biochar can be mainly assigned to its large number of electroactive surface oxygen functionalities, which can reversibly exchange electrons through the geobattery mechanism. We propose the modulation of quinone-like e-acceptors by anodic polarization to promote the biodegradation capability of carbon materials. Because of its great efficiency and sustainability, electroactive biochar will greatly expand the applicability of METs at large scale.This investigation has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the grant agreement No. 642190 (Project “iMETLAND”; http://www.imetland.eu). Amanda Prado de Nicolás was funded by the “Formación de Personal Investigador (FPI)“ PhD fellowship programme from the University of Alcalá. The authors thank the MINECO and FEDER (IJCI-2014-20012) for financial support