Engaging prisoners in education: Reducing risk and recidivism

Engaging prisoners in education is one of a range of measures that could alleviate security risk in prisons. For prisoners, one of the main challenges with incarceration is monotony, often leading to frustration, raising the risk of injury for staff and other prisoners. This article suggests that prisoner engagement in education may help to alleviate security risk in prisons through relieving monotony and reducing re-offending by promoting critical thinking skills. It discusses some of the challenges to accessing higher levels of education in prisons and argues that if education was considered for its risk-reducing potential and measured accordingly, then some of those challenges could be reduced. It concludes with a discussion of projects undertaken in Australia and the UK that introduce digital technologies into prisons to allow greater access to the self-paced higher levels of education which could help realize the benefits of reduced risk and decreased recidivism rates

Aberrant spleen simulating an adrenal mass

Indexación: Web of Science; ScieloIntroducción: El diagnóstico de los así llamados "incidentalomas" suprarrenales, cada vez más frecuente en la práctica clínica, plantea un diagnóstico diferencial importante. Caso clínico: Se presenta el caso clínico de una paciente de 69 años, hipertensa, con el hallazgo de una masa suprarrenal izquierda aparentemente funcionante, operada por vía laparoscópica y que resultó ser un bazo aberrante. Se discute el diagnóstico diferencial entre masa suprarrenal y pseudo-tumores adrenales y la embriología y presentación clínica del bazo aberrante.Introduction: The diagnosis of adrenal incidentalomas is common in current clinical practice. Clinical case: We report a 69 years-old female patient with hypertension, who underwent an abdominal CAT Scan, finding a left adrenal mass of 8 cm diameter. Subsequent studies showed elevated urinary metanephrine levels. With the suspicion of a pheochromocytoma, a laparoscopic surgery was performed. The mass resulted to be an aberrant spleen.http://ref.scielo.org/jtr4t

A conspectus of and key to greek isoetes (Isoetaceae), based on a reassessment of haussknecht\u2019s gatherings of 1885

The three Isoetes species recorded from Thessalia (Thessaly) in N Greece by Haussknecht, in 1899, under the names I. setacea, I. heldreichii, and I. phrygia, were reassessed using megaspore and microspore ornamentation in addition to macromorphological features. \u201cIsoetes setacea\u201d is not the SW European I. delilei to which the name I. setacea was generally misapplied, nor \u201cI. echinospora\u201d as it has been called due to a misunderstanding, but a so far undescribed species here named I. haussknechtii; it has not been found again in Haussknecht\u2019s locality but has recently turned up in Peloponnisos and the E Aegean Islands. I. heldreichii, described from Haussknecht\u2019s gathering, is apparently extinct. The record of I. phrygia was based on misidentified I. gymnocarpa. Even so, contrary to prevailing opinion, Haussknecht was justified in raising Boissier\u2019s I. histrix var. phrygia to specific rank; genuine I. phrygia has recently been discovered in Kriti (Crete). The inventory of Greek Isoetes now comprises seven species, of which I. phrygia and I. todaroana are newly recorded here. Greek specimens studied are cited for all of them, and a key for their identification is presented. The names I. heldreichii and I. phrygia are typified

The Gas Cylinder, the Motorcycle and the Village Health Team Member: A Proof-of-Concept Study for the Use of the Microsystems Quality Improvement Approach to Strengthen the Routine Immunization System in Uganda

Although global efforts to support routine immunization (RI) system strengthening have resulted in higher immunization rates, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that the proportion of children receiving recommended DPT3 vaccines has stagnated at 80% for the past 3 years (WHO Fact sheet-Immunization coverage 2014, WHO, 2014). Meeting the WHO goal of 90% national DPT3 coverage may require locally based strategies to support conventional approaches. The Africa Routine Immunization Systems Essentials-System Innovation (ARISE-SI) initiative is a proof-of-concept study to assess the application of the Microsystems Quality Improvement Approach for generating local solutions to strengthen RI systems and reach those unreached by current efforts in Masaka District, Uganda. The ARISE-SI intervention had three components: health unit (HU) advance preparations, an action learning collaborative, and coaching of improvement teams. The intervention was informed and assessed using qualitative and quantitative methods. Data collection focused on changes and outcomes of improvement efforts among five HUs and one district-level team during the intervention (June 2011-February 2012) and five follow-up months

Swimming for Inclusion

This paper attempts to demonstrate how disabilities are portrayed to children through Walt Disney\u27s popular film Finding Nemo. Through this film, children are exposed to inclusiveness which can then transfer to their overall impressions of disability in society. This film ultimately spins the negative connotation associated with disability and portrays it positively as an exceptionality

Temporal and inter habitat variations of substratum, vegetation and substratum macroinvertebrates attributes across coastal wetland systems, North East Aegean, Greece

Using five coastal wetland systems across Kalloni bay, Lesvos Island, NE Aegean, we investigated: (I) the interaction between spatial units (land, wetland, sea) and seasons (spring, autumn) of substratum physicochemical attributes, vegetation composition and aerial cover, and substratum macroinvertebrates distribution and abundance and (II) the relative importance of substratum attributes in explaining temporal and inter habitat variations in vegetation and substratum macroinvertebrates distributions to elucidate the functional role of these coastal wetlands in the landscape. Electrical conductivity, percent organic matter and bulk density of substratum showed the most pronounced differences among spatial units, between seasons, and among spatial units x seasons interaction, respectively. Comparison of C:N and N:P ratios among spatial units and between seasons indicated that, in general, nitrogen and phosphorus appear to be limiting factors at the sea and the land unit, respectively. It is likely that these coastal wetlands function as transformers of chemical elements while P limits primary production. Significant substratum physicochemical attributes explained 23.4 and 14.7% of plants distribution in spring (percent organic matter, total phosphorus concentration, electrical conductivity) and autumn (electrical conductivity, pH), respectively, while significant substratum variables explained 46.1 and 73.3% of macroinvertebrates distribution in spring (percent organic matter) and autumn (total phosphorus concentration, electrical conductivity, percent organic matter), respectively

Papel de la interleuquina 23 en la diferenciación hacia Th17

The incidence of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases has increased among developed countries in the past 30 years, creating a demand for the development of effective and economic therapies for these diseases. Interleukin 23 (IL-23) is a pro-inflammatory cytokine whose increased production has been shown to play a key role in the establishment and maintenance of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases in different murine models such as inflammatory bowel disease, psoriasis and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. More importantly, increased levels of IL-23 have been found in biopsies from patients with Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and psoriasis. The pathological consequences of excessive IL-23 signalling have been linked to its ability to promote the production of interleukin 17 (IL-17), particularly in the subpopulation of CD4 T cells Th17. However, the precise molecular mechanisms by which IL-23 sustains the Th17 response and induces pathogenic effector functions in these cells remain largely unknown. The global objective of the experiments carried out in this work was to determine the effect of IL-23 on the proliferation, survival and IL-17 and interferon gamma (IFN-ɣ) production in Th17 cells. These experiments have shown that IL-23 does not promote proliferation or survival of in vitro generated Th17 cells, and that there is no difference in the production of IL -17 in the absence or presence of IL -23. The IL-23 receptor, like other cytokine receptors, lacks intrinsic enzymatic activity. Instead, IL-23 receptor associates with members of the Janus tyrosine kinase family (Jaks). Cytokine binding to a Jak-associated receptor triggers the activation of the Signal Transducers and Activators of Transcription (STAT) family of transcription factors. Previous work indicated that the IL-23 receptor complex is associated with the tyrosine kinases Jak2 and Tyk2 that promote STAT3 phosphorylation. Subsequent studies showed that IL23 activation of STAT3 induces the expression of the transcription factor RORγt, which is crucial for IL-17 production. This work has explored the IL-23 signalling cascade, determining the optimal conditions for STAT3 activation and demonstrating the activation of other transcription factors such as STAT4, STAT5 and STAT1 that contribute to IL-23-mediated signalling pathways

Health Care Symposium Participants

Code Blue: Can We Save the Health Care System? A Symposium Presented by the Arlin M. Adams Center for Law and Society March25 - 26, 200

Estimation of ejection fraction with ventriculography versus echocardiography in patients referred for cardiac surgery

Abstract: Aim: The aim of this study was to compare the estimation of ejection fraction (EF) by ventricuography (VG) and echocardiography (ECHO) in patients referred for surgery and to validate the results by comparison with other published data. Methods: One hundred patients who underwent VG prior to surgery were subjected to a trans-thoracic ECHO. Radiographers calculated the EF by tracing the outer border of the ventriculogram during systole and diastole. A single cardiologist, who was blinded to the angiogram result, measured EF during trans-thoracic ECHO using the biplane Simpson’s method. Results: EF was significantly higher by VG versus ECHO for the whole group (67.9±13.2 vs 55.7±8.5, p=0.000). In 81 patients the EF estimated at VG was higher than that calculated at ECHO (71.7±10.2 vs 55.9±7.2, p=0.000). In 19 patients the EF estimated at VG was lower than that calculated at ECHO, but the difference was not significant (51.8±12.9 by VG vs 55.4±12.8, p=0.387). In 13 patients, with an EF less than 50% on VG, the correlation with ECHO was very good (42.0±9.0 vs 42.0±8.3, p=0.995). Two patients with an EF fraction under 30% had similar measurements by VG and ECHO. The EF range as measured by ECHO was consistent with published data. Conclusion: Ventriculography overestimates EF when compared with ECHO. When EF is less than 50% on VG, ECHO findings were similar. The value of ventriculography in patients referred for cardiac surgery is now being brought into question when ECHO, a better and less invasive test that measures EF, is available.peer-reviewe