Intergroup violence in bursts or fizzles

During intergroup confrontations, agitating stimuli such as opponents' threats and provocations can trigger collective violence, even when the usual mechanisms of cooperation, such as norms with sanctions, are absent. We examine video recordings of street fights between groups of young men. Collective violence in their attacks sometimes breaks out in a burst, while at other times it reaches only a fizzle in which only a few group members participate. An adapted Ising spin-glass model demonstrates that these two temporal unfoldings can be predicted by the proportion of unconditional defectors in a focal group

Sexual orientation and symptoms of common mental disorder or low wellbeing: combined meta-analysis of 12 UK population health surveys

Background Previous studies have indicated increased risk of mental disorder symptoms, suicide and substance misuse in lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) adults, compared to heterosexual adults. Our aims were to determine an estimate of the association between sexual orientation identity and poor mental health and wellbeing among adults from 12 population surveys in the UK, and to consider whether effects differed for specific subgroups of the population. Methods Individual data were pooled from the British Cohort Study 2012, Health Survey for England 2011, 2012 and 2013, Scottish Health Survey 2008 to 2013, Longitudinal Study of Young People in England 2009/10 and Understanding Society 2011/12. Individual participant meta-analysis was used to pool estimates from each study, allowing for between-study variation. Results Of 94,818 participants, 1.1 % identified as lesbian/gay, 0.9 % as bisexual, 0.8 % as ‘other’ and 97.2 % as heterosexual. Adjusting for a range of covariates, adults who identified as lesbian/gay had higher prevalence of common mental disorder when compared to heterosexuals, but the association was different in different age groups: apparent for those under 35 (OR = 1.78, 95 % CI 1.40, 2.26), weaker at age 35–54.9 (OR = 1.42, 95 % CI 1.10, 1.84), but strongest at age 55+ (OR = 2.06, 95 % CI 1.29, 3.31). These effects were stronger for bisexual adults, similar for those identifying as ‘other’, and similar for 'low wellbeing'. Conclusions In the UK, LGB adults have higher prevalence of poor mental health and low wellbeing when compared to heterosexuals, particularly younger and older LGB adults. Sexual orientation identity should be measured routinely in all health studies and in administrative data in the UK in order to influence national and local policy development and service delivery. These results reiterate the need for local government, NHS providers and public health policy makers to consider how to address inequalities in mental health among these minority groups

A Spinglass Model of Video Recorded Street Violence

When groups encounter challenges in uncertain situations, collective action—in our case attack of or defense against opponents—has been explained by models of thresholds, cascades, and critical mass. These models draw on initiative takers or leaders to initiate cooperation. We use an Ising spinglass model with asymmetric spin values, which is more parsimonious because it has no assumptions on initiative takers or leaders. It shows that cooperation can start by accidental cooperators rather than exceptionally zealous ones. More importantly, our model makes a novel prediction about the temporal unfolding of collective action. When a proportion of group members, p, does not cooperate, versus 1 - p conditional cooperators who may cooperate if enough others do, a mean field analysis predicts that collective action breaks out in a burst if p is below a critical value. Above the critical value there is no burst but a fizzle of one individual or few group members who start cooperating asynchronously. Furthermore, small groups and small clusters in large groups are more easily agitated to cooperate than large groups. The predicted critical value, the two temporal patterns, and the size effect are strongly supported by video data of street fights between a focal group against one or more opponents

Estimation of proteinuria as a predictor of complications of pre-eclampsia: a systematic review

Background Proteinuria is one of the essential criteria for the clinical diagnosis of pre-eclampsia. Increasing levels of proteinuria is considered to be associated with adverse maternal and fetal outcomes. We aim to determine the accuracy with which the amount of proteinuria predicts maternal and fetal complications in women with pre-eclampsia by systematic quantitative review of test accuracy studies. Methods We conducted electronic searches in MEDLINE (1951 to 2007), EMBASE (1980 to 2007), the Cochrane Library (2007) and the MEDION database to identify relevant articles and hand-search of selected specialist journals and reference lists of articles. There were no language restrictions for any of these searches. Two reviewers independently selected those articles in which the accuracy of proteinuria estimate was evaluated to predict maternal and fetal complications of pre-eclampsia. Data were extracted on study characteristics, quality and accuracy to construct 2 × 2 tables with maternal and fetal complications as reference standards. Results Sixteen primary articles with a total of 6749 women met the selection criteria with levels of proteinuria estimated by urine dipstick, 24-hour urine proteinuria or urine protein:creatinine ratio as a predictor of complications of pre-eclampsia. All 10 studies predicting maternal outcomes showed that proteinuria is a poor predictor of maternal complications in women with pre-eclampsia. Seventeen studies used laboratory analysis and eight studies bedside analysis to assess the accuracy of proteinuria in predicting fetal and neonatal complications. Summary likelihood ratios of positive and negative tests for the threshold level of 5 g/24 h were 2.0 (95% CI 1.5, 2.7) and 0.53 (95% CI 0.27, 1) for stillbirths, 1.5 (95% CI 0.94, 2.4) and 0.73 (95% CI 0.39, 1.4) for neonatal deaths and 1.5 (95% 1, 2) and 0.78 (95% 0.64, 0.95) for Neonatal Intensive Care Unit admission. Conclusion Measure of proteinuria is a poor predictor of either maternal or fetal complications in women with pre-eclampsia

Immunotherapy in Glioblastoma: Current Shortcomings and Future Perspectives

Glioblastomas are aggressive, fast-growing primary brain tumors. After standard-of-care treatment with radiation in combination with temozolomide, the overall prognosis of newly diagnosed patients remains poor, with a 2-year survival rate of less than 20%. The remarkable survival benefit gained with immunotherapy in several extracranial tumor types spurred a variety of experimental intervention studies in glioblastoma patients. These ranged from immune checkpoint inhibition to vaccinations and adoptive T cell therapies. Unfortunately, almost all clinical outcomes were universally disappointing. In this perspective, we provide an overview of immune interventions performed to date in glioblastoma patients and re-evaluate their performance. We argue that shortcomings of current immune therapies in glioblastoma are related to three major determinants of resistance, namely: low immunogenicity; immune privilege of the central nervous system; and immunosuppressive micro-environment. In this perspective, we propose strategies that are guided by exact shortcomings to sensitize glioblastoma prior to treatment with therapies that enhance numbers and/or activation state of CD8 T cells

Crime among irregular immigrants and the influence of internal border control

Both the number of crime suspects without legal status and the number of irregular or undocumented immigrants held in detention facilities increased substantially in theNetherlands between 1997 and 2003. In this period, theDutch state increasingly attempted to exclude irregular immigrants from the formal labour market and public provisions. At the same time the registered crime among irregular migrants rose. The 'marginalisation thesis' asserts that a larger number of migrants have become involved in crime in response to a decrease in conventional life chances. Using police and administrative data, the present study takes four alternative interpretations into consideration based on: 1) reclassification of immigrant statuses by the state and redefinition of the law, 2) criminal migration and crossborder crime, 3) changes in policing, and 4) demographic changes. A combination of factors is found to have caused the rise in crime, but the marginalisation thesis still accounts for at least 28%. These findings accentuate the need for a more thorough discussion on the intended and unintended consequences of border control for immigrant crime

What are Effective Strategies to Reduce Low-Value Care? An Analysis of 121 Randomized Deimplementation Studies

Background: Low-value care is healthcare leading to no or little clinical benefit for the patient. The best (combinations of) interventions to reduce low-value care are unclear. Purpose: To provide an overview of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating deimplementation strategies, to quantify the effectiveness and describe different combinations of strategies. Methods: Analysis of 121 RCTs (1990-2019) evaluating a strategy to reduce low-value care, identified by a systematic review. Deimplementation strategies were described and associations between strategy characteristics and effectiveness explored. Results: Of 109 trials comparing deimplementation to usual care, 75 (69%) reported a significant reduction of low-value healthcare practices. Seventy-three trials included in a quantitative analysis showed a median relative reduction of 17% (IQR 7%-42%). The effectiveness of deimplementation strategies was not associated with the number and types of interventions applied. Conclusions and Implications: Most deimplementation strategies achieved a considerable reduction of low-value care. We found no signs that a particular type or number of interventions works best for deimplementation. Future deimplementation studies should map relevant contextual factors, such as the workplace culture or economic factors. Interventions should be tailored to these factors and provide details regarding sustainability of the effect.</p

Lack of B and T cell reactivity towards IDH1(R132H) in blood and tumor tissue from LGG patients

Purpose Mutations in the isocitrate dehydrogenase-1 gene (IDH1) occur at high frequency in grade II–III gliomas (LGGs). IDH1 mutations are somatic, missense and heterozygous afecting codon 132 in the catalytic pocket of the enzyme. In LGG, most mutations (90%) result in an arginine to histidine substitution (IDH1R132H) providing a neo-epitope that is expressed in all tumor cells. To assess the immunogenic nature of this epitope, and its potential use to develop T cell treatments, we measured IDH1R132H-specifc B and T cell reactivity in blood and tumor tissue of LGG patients. Methods Sera from IDH1R132H-mutated LGG patients (n=27) were assayed for the presence of a neo-specifc antibody response using ELISA. In addition, PBMCs (n=36) and tumor-infltrating lymphocytes (TILs, n=10) were measured for T cell activation markers and IFN-γ production by fow cytometry and ELISA. In some assays, frequencies of CD4 T cells specifc for mutated peptide presented by HLA-DR were enriched prior to T cell monitoring assays. Results Despite high sensitivity of our assay, we failed to detect IDH1R132H-specifc IgG in sera of LGG patients. Similarly, we did not observe CD4 T cell reactivity towards IDH1R132H in blood, neither did we observe such reactivity following preenrichment of frequencies of IDH1R132H-specifc CD4 T cells. Finally, we did not detect IDH1R132H-specifc CD4 T cells among TILs. Conclusions The absence of both humoral and cellular responses in blood and tumors of LGG patients indicates that IDH1R132H is not sufciently immunogenic and devaluates its further therapeutic exploitation, at least in the majority of LGG patients

Polen

ARTIKELEN: M. Król - De staat van Polen; een democratie zonder staatsburgers B. Gruszczynska en A. Rzeplinski - Corruptie in Polen; een alledaags verschijnsel P.P. Mlicki - De politie in Polen; hervormingen en uitdagingen E.J. Meijer - Grensbewaking in Polen P. Meijknecht - Het Poolse privaatrecht; graadmeter van politieke veranderingen in Polen C. Pool - Hedendaagse migratie van Polen naar Nederland A. Weenink en S. Huisman - Poolse bendes in Nederland; voorlopige bevindingen SAMENVATTING: In dit themanummer over Polen – van de nieuwe lidstaten het land met de grootste bevolking (veertig miljoen mensen) – wordt een beeld geschetst van de veranderingen die zich de afgelopen jaren op politiek en maatschappelijk terrein hebben voorgedaan. Daarbij ligt de nadruk op het rechtssysteem en de justitiële sector. De verwachte gevolgen van de aansluiting bij de Europese Unie voor Polen zelf komen aan de orde alsmede de consequenties voor de huidige EU-lidstaten, in het bijzonder Nederland

Preventie van georganiseerde misdaad

ARTIKELEN: A.C.M. Spapens - Barrières opwerpen voor criminele bedrijfsprocessen B. van Gestel en M. Verhoeven - Obstakels voor samenwerking; bevindingen uit de procesevaluatie van de programmatische aanpak mensenhandel M.R.J. Soudijn - Geen smoesjes meer; de strategie van 'removing excuses' toegepast op financiële facilitators E.U. Savona - Infiltratie van de bouwsector door de Italiaanse maffia A.P. Maljaars - Emissiehandel: van paradijs naar bastion; hoe criminelen hun weg vonden naar het systeem van emissiehandel en er weer uitgewerkt worden A.W. Weenink - De rol van de recherche bij terrorismepreventie A.C. Berghuis en J. de Waard - Geen kansen bieden aan de georganiseerde misdaad T. Vander Beken - Kwetsbaarheid voor georganiseerde criminaliteit; een voor preventie bruikbaar concept? Internetsites. SAMENVATTING: Niemand hoeft tegenwoordig te worden overtuigd van de noodzaak om ook preventief te reageren op georganiseerde criminaliteit. Maar wat behelzen die mogelijkheden van preventie precies, en op basis van welke ‘theorie’ mag worden verwacht dat preventie een effectieve bijdrage levert aan de bestrijding van georganiseerde criminaliteit? In dit themanummer worden deze vragen aan de orde gesteld, steeds aan de hand van concrete, uiteenlopende vormen van georganiseerde misdaad