The contribution of experts in care proceedings : evaluation of independent social work reports on care proceedings

Several concerns surround the use of independent social work (ISW) assessments in care proceedings. Some result from the exclusion of this work from a review of legal aid for expert assessments in this field, a cap on ISW fees, and fears about a resulting reduction in the availability of ISWs. At the same time, submissions to the Family Justice Review (FJR) claimed that ISWs cause delay, simply duplicate existing local authority assessments, add nothing new and undermine confidence in social work assessments. It was also said that ISW reports result from parents utilising human rights claims to gain a second opinion of a local authority assessment – and to which courts too readily accede. ... But while strong views have been expressed about the use of independent social work assessments, there is little hard evidence. This evaluation, commissioned following submissions to the FJR, begins to address that lack. It is based on 65 cases concerning 121 children and 82 reports for courts in England and Wales. The sample was drawn from the records of three independent agencies providing ISWs

An early process evaluation of the public law outline in family courts

Context Local authorities with serious allegations of significant harm or likely significant harm to a child which cannot be resolved with a parent may apply to the court to place the child under local authority care or supervision, under Section 31 of the Children Act 1989. Care proceedings resulting from such applications can be very lengthy. The Public Law Outline (PLO) was introduced by the Judiciary and Ministry of Justice as a tool for the management of care proceeding cases (Ministry of Justice 2008). The aims of this study were to describe and evaluate the process of implementation of the Public Law Outline (PLO) in two tiers of the family justice system (magistrates’ Family Proceedings Courts and county court Care Centres). The PLO was initially trialled in ten areas in England and Wales from June 2007, and rolled out nationally on the 1st April 2008, together with the issue of statutory guidance for local authorities issued by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF 2008), and the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG 2008)

Neither Fear Nor Favour, Affection Or Ill Will: Modernisation of care proceedings and the use and value of independent social work expertise to senior judges

This is part two of an evaluation of the work of independent social work experts (ISWs) in care proceedings (stage I was published in April 2012). It takes forward findings from stage I exploring further the evidential base for views put to the Family Justice Review about the practice of courts. It examines the views, experiences and practices of a sample of senior judges in commissioning ISW assessments, placing these in the context of the timing, format and value of local authority assessments. Finally, judges’ views about the implications of the modernisation programme for use of ISWs are explored - in the light of a need for earlier completion of cases, without loss of quality in assessments, and with regard to issues of fairness, justice and transparency in judicial decision making. In the report each section is followed by a summary of findings reflecting the key issue for policy and practice. The study is based on interviews with 23 senior judges (20 DFJs, 3 Circuit Judges) in 20/43 county courts in England and Wales. Interviews were held between February and April 2013. They include representation from all circuits, and courts with small and high volume case loads (less than 115, 251 - 900 applications in 12 months). They hear applications from just over half of authorities in England (59%) and just over one third (36%) in Wales

Attachment Predicts College Students’ Knowledge, Attitudes, and Skills for Working with Infants, Toddlers, and Families

Research Findings:Adults’ attitudes about attachment relationships are central to how they perceive and respond to children. However, little is known about how attachment styles are related to teachers’ attitudes toward and interactions with infants and toddlers. From a survey of 207 students taking early childhood (EC) courses at 4 U.S. universities, we report relations among students’ attachment styles and their (a) career goals, (b) attitudes about caring for and educating infants and young children, and (c) interaction skills for responding in developmentally supportive ways. Overall, attachment security was positively associated with career goals focused on working with younger children, knowledge about infant/toddler development, attitudes that acknowledge the importance of adult support in children’s development, and developmentally supportive interaction skills. Students who scored high on attachment fearfulness minimized the importance of adults in children’s lives, minimized the importance of the early years for later learning, and endorsed strict and controlling forms of child guidance. Practice or Policy: A conceptual mediation model linking a path from attachment to caregiving skill through knowledge and attitudes is articulated. We propose a person-centered pedagogy for infant/toddler professional preparation that provides opportunities for reflection on one’s own attachment and its effects on work with young childre

Neuronal Expression of GalNAc Transferase Is Sufficient to Prevent the Age-Related Neurodegenerative Phenotype of Complex Ganglioside-Deficient Mice

Gangliosides are widely expressed sialylated glycosphingolipids with multifunctional properties in different cell types and organs. In the nervous system, they are highly enriched in both glial and neuronal membranes. Mice lacking complex gangliosides attributable to targeted ablation of the B4galnt1 gene that encodes β-1,4-N-acetylegalactosaminyltransferase 1 (GalNAc–transferase; GalNAcT−/−) develop normally before exhibiting an age-dependent neurodegenerative phenotype characterized by marked behavioral abnormalities, central and peripheral axonal degeneration, reduced myelin volume, and loss of axo-glial junction integrity. The cell biological substrates underlying this neurodegeneration and the relative contribution of either glial or neuronal gangliosides to the process are unknown. To address this, we generated neuron-specific and glial-specific GalNAcT rescue mice crossed on the global GalNAcT−/− background [GalNAcT−/−-Tg(neuronal) and GalNAcT−/−-Tg(glial)] and analyzed their behavioral, morphological, and electrophysiological phenotype. Complex gangliosides, as assessed by thin-layer chromatography, mass spectrometry, GalNAcT enzyme activity, and anti-ganglioside antibody (AgAb) immunohistology, were restored in both neuronal and glial GalNAcT rescue mice. Behaviorally, GalNAcT−/−-Tg(neuronal) retained a normal “wild-type” (WT) phenotype throughout life, whereas GalNAcT−/−-Tg(glial) resembled GalNAcT−/− mice, exhibiting progressive tremor, weakness, and ataxia with aging. Quantitative electron microscopy demonstrated that GalNAcT−/− and GalNAcT−/−-Tg(glial) nerves had significantly increased rates of axon degeneration and reduced myelin volume, whereas GalNAcT−/−-Tg(neuronal) and WT appeared normal. The increased invasion of the paranode with juxtaparanodal Kv1.1, characteristically seen in GalNAcT−/− and attributed to a breakdown of the axo-glial junction, was normalized in GalNAcT−/−-Tg(neuronal) but remained present in GalNAcT−/−-Tg(glial) mice. These results indicate that neuronal rather than glial gangliosides are critical to the age-related maintenance of nervous system integrity

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes of Drug-Induced Acute Kidney Injury Cases

Introduction Drug-induced acute kidney injury (DI-AKI) is a frequent adverse event. The identification of DI-AKI is challenged by competing etiologies, clinical heterogeneity among patients, and a lack of accurate diagnostic tools. Our research aims to describe the clinical characteristics and predictive variables of DI-AKI. Methods We analyzed data from the DIRECT study (NCT02159209), an international, multi-center, observational cohort study of enriched clinically adjudicated DI-AKI cases. Cases met the primary inclusion criteria if the patient was exposed to at least one nephrotoxic drug for a minimum of 24 hours prior to acute kidney injury (AKI) onset. Cases were clinically adjudicated and inter-rater reliability (IRR) was measured using Krippendorff's alpha. Variables associated with DI-AKI were identified using L1 regularized multivariable logistic regression. Model performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC AUC). Results 314 AKI cases met the eligibility criteria for this analysis, and 271 (86%) cases were adjudicated as DI-AKI. The majority of the AKI cases were recruited from the United States (68%). The most frequent causal nephrotoxic drugs were vancomycin (48.7%), non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (18.2%), and piperacillin/tazobactam (17.8%). The IRR for DI-AKI adjudication was 0.309. The multivariable model identified age, vascular capacity, hyperglycemia, infections, pyuria, serum creatinine trends, and contrast media as significant predictors of DI-AKI with good performance, ROC AUC 0.86. Conclusions The identification of DI-AKI is challenging even with comprehensive adjudication by experienced nephrologists. Our analysis identified key clinical characteristics and outcomes of DI-AKI compared to other AKI etiologies

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Vision, challenges and opportunities for a Plant Cell Atlas

With growing populations and pressing environmental problems, future economies will be increasingly plant-based. Now is the time to reimagine plant science as a critical component of fundamental science, agriculture, environmental stewardship, energy, technology and healthcare. This effort requires a conceptual and technological framework to identify and map all cell types, and to comprehensively annotate the localization and organization of molecules at cellular and tissue levels. This framework, called the Plant Cell Atlas (PCA), will be critical for understanding and engineering plant development, physiology and environmental responses. A workshop was convened to discuss the purpose and utility of such an initiative, resulting in a roadmap that acknowledges the current knowledge gaps and technical challenges, and underscores how the PCA initiative can help to overcome them.</jats:p