Attorneys’ questions about time in criminal cases of alleged child sexual abuse

In cases of alleged child sexual abuse, information about the timing of events is often needed to establish a timeline, determine specific charges, or establish witness credibility (Lyon et al., 2017). However, past developmental laboratory research has demonstrated that children struggle to provide accurate and reliable testimony about time, and there is currently a lack of field research examining how attorneys actually question child witnesses about time in court (Friedman, 1991; Wandrey et al., 2012). The current study analyzed 73 trial transcripts from cases of alleged child maltreatment containing a child witness between the ages of 5 to 17 years old testifying about alleged sexual abuse in order to determine the frequency, style, and content of attorneys\u27 questions and child responses about time. Results indicate that both prosecuting and defense attorneys primarily ask temporal location questions (i.e., when an event took place using a temporal construct such as day, month, and year) to child witnesses, which is problematic since developmental research has shown children tend to struggle with the ability to temporally locate a past event. Additionally, results suggest that children primarily answer temporal questions with simple temporal responses (e.g., numbers or temporal concepts) that are unlikely to contain accurate and reliable information, given what we currently know about children’s developmental abilities to temporally locate past events

Futsal and Continuous Exercise Induce Similar Changes in Specific Skeletal Muscle Signalling Proteins

Exercise elicits skeletal-muscle adaptations which are important for improved health outcomes. We compared the effects of a futsal game (FUT) and moderate-intensity continuous exercise (MOD), on the skeletal-muscle protein signalling responses in young, healthy individuals. 16 men undertook an incremental exercise test and a resting muscle biopsy performed >48\u2009h apart. They were then randomly allocated to either FUT (n=12) consisting of 2\u2009x\u200920\u2009min halves, or MOD (n=8) consisting of a work-matched running bout performed at an intensity corresponding to the individual ventilatory threshold 1. Work matching was achieved by means of triaxial accelerometers. Immediately after FUT and MOD, participants underwent a second biopsy to assess exercise-induced changes in protein signalling. Total and phosphorylated protein abundance was assessed via western blotting. Both FUT and MOD altered signalling responses in skeletal muscle. FUT increased total ATF2 protein abundance (p=0.048) and phosphorylation (p=0.029), while no changes occurred with MOD. Both exercise regimes increased ACC phosphorylation (p=0.01) and returned a trend for increased p38MAPK phosphorylation. Futsal may be employed as an alternative to continuous exercise to elicit muscle adaptations which may be associated with improved health outcomes. As only FUT increased ATF2 activation, this protein might be a target of future investigation on exercise-induced signalling

Ethnic differences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among Middle Eastern Arabs and North African populations living in Qatar

Aims: There are very few studies comparing epidemiology and outcomes of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) in different ethnic groups. Previous ethnicity studies have mostly determined OHCA differences between African American and Caucasian populations. The aim of this study was to compare epidemiology, clinical presentation, and outcomes of OHCA between the local Middle Eastern Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Arab and the migrant North African populations living in Qatar. Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of Middle Eastern GCC Arabs and migrant North African patients with presumed cardiac origin OHCA resuscitated by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in Qatar, between June 2012 and May 2015. Results: There were 285 Middle Eastern GCC Arabs and 112 North African OHCA patients enrolled during the study period. Compared with the local GCC Arabs, univariate analysis showed that the migrant North African OHCA patients were younger and had higher odds of initial shockable rhythm, pre-hospital interventions (defibrillation and amioderone), pre-hospital scene time, and decreased odds of risk factors (hypertension, respiratory disease, and diabetes) and pre-hospital response time. The survival to hospital discharge had greater odds for North African OHCA patients which did not persist after adjustment. Multivariable logistic regression showed that North Africans were associated with lower odds of diabetes (OR 0.48, 95% CI 0.25–0.91, p = 0.03), and higher odds of initial shockable rhythm (OR 2.86, 95% CI 1.30–6.33, p = 0.01) and greater scene time (OR 1.02 95% CI 1.0–1.04, p = 0.02). Conclusions: North African migrant OHCA patients were younger, had decreased risk factors and favourable OHCA rhythm and received greater ACLS interventions with shorter pre-hospital response times and longer scene times leading to better survival.Peer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

SHORT syndrome due to a novel de novo mutation in PRKCE (Protein Kinase Cɛ) impairing TORC2-dependent AKT activation.

SHORT syndrome is a rare, recognizable syndrome resulting from heterozygous mutations in PIK3R1 encoding a regulatory subunit of phosphoinositide-3-kinase (PI3K). The condition is characterized by short stature, intrauterine growth restriction, lipoatrophy and a facial gestalt involving a triangular face, deep set eyes, low hanging columella and small chin. PIK3R1 mutations in SHORT syndrome result in reduced signaling through the PI3K-AKT-mTOR pathway. We performed whole exome sequencing for an individual with clinical features of SHORT syndrome but negative for PIK3R1 mutation and her parents. A rare de novo variant in PRKCE was identified. The gene encodes PKCε and, as such, the AKT-mTOR pathway function was assessed using phospho-specific antibodies with patient lymphoblasts and following ectopic expression of the mutant in HEK293 cells. Kinase analysis showed that the variant resulted in a partial loss-of-function. Whilst interaction with PDK1 and the mTORC2 complex component SIN1 was preserved in the mutant PKCε, it bound to SIN1 with a higher affinity than wild-type PKCε and the dynamics of mTORC2-dependent priming of mutant PKCε was altered. Further, mutant PKCε caused impaired mTORC2-dependent pAKT-S473 following rapamycin treatment. Reduced pFOXO1-S256 and pS6-S240/244 levels were also observed in the patient LCLs. To date, mutations in PIK3R1 causing impaired PI3K-dependent AKT activation are the only known cause of SHORT syndrome. We identify a SHORT syndrome child with a novel partial loss-of-function defect in PKCε. This variant causes impaired AKT activation via compromised mTORC2 complex function

Biventricular pacemaker therapy improves exercise capacity in patients with non‐obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy via augmented diastolic filling on exercise

Aims Treatment options for patients with non‐obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are limited. We sought to determine whether biventricular (BiV) pacing improves exercise capacity in HCM patients, and whether this is via augmented diastolic filling. Methods and results Thirty‐one patients with symptomatic non‐obstructive HCM were enrolled. Following device implantation, patients underwent detailed assessment of exercise diastolic filling using radionuclide ventriculography in BiV and sham pacing modes. Patients then entered an 8‐month crossover study of BiV and sham pacing in random order, to assess the effect on exercise capacity [peak oxygen consumption (VO2)]. Patients were grouped on pre‐specified analysis according to whether left ventricular end‐diastolic volume increased (+LVEDV) or was unchanged/decreased (–LVEDV) with exercise at baseline. Twenty‐nine patients (20 male, mean age 55 years) completed the study. There were 14 +LVEDV patients and 15 –LVEDV patients. Baseline peak VO2 was lower in –LVEDV patients vs. +LVEDV patients (16.2 ± 0.9 vs. 19.9 ± 1.1 mL/kg/min, P = 0.04). BiV pacing significantly increased exercise ΔLVEDV (P = 0.004) and Δstroke volume (P = 0.008) in –LVEDV patients, but not in +LVEDV patients. Left ventricular ejection fraction and end‐systolic elastance did not increase with BiV pacing in either group. This translated into significantly greater improvements in exercise capacity (peak VO2 + 1.4 mL/kg/min, P = 0.03) and quality of life scores (P = 0.02) in –LVEDV patients during the crossover study. There was no effect on left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony in either group. Conclusion Symptomatic patients with non‐obstructive HCM may benefit from BiV pacing via augmentation of diastolic filling on exercise rather than contractile improvement. This may be due to relief of diastolic ventricular interaction. Clinical Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00504647

The Westray Mine Disaster and its Aftermath: The Politics of Causation

Causation analysis is densely political in at least three ways. First, because causation is crucial to our system of attributing moral, legal, and political responsibility, causation arguments are advanced for purely instrumental purposes. They do political work. Second, because any particular occurrence is the outcome of an almost infinite number of antecedent events, “but for” causation analysis produces trivial results. A judgment about causal significance is required and will depend, in part, on the goals of the analysis. The choice of goals is political, but unstated goals and hidden assumptions often exclude consideration of some possible causes as significant. Theses politics of causation need to be made explicit. Third, the institutional setting in which official determinations of causation are made influence the outcome. Hence, it is necessary to explore these as well. Each of these three dimensions of the politics of causation is explored through an analysis of the 1992 Westray Mine disaster which killed 29 miners in Nova Scotia, and the official responses to it. It is argued that if the goal is to protect workers and nothing else, the political-economic context that promotes the creation of hazardous conditions must be considered a significant cause of harmful occurrences. It is unlikely, however that any of the official responses to the disaster will take this approach

Ethnic differences in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest among Middle Eastern Arabs and North African populations living in Qatar

Peer reviewe

Carbon ion acceleration from thin foil targets irradiated by ultrahigh-contrast, ultraintense laser pulses

In this study, ion acceleration from thin planar target foils irradiated by ultrahigh-contrast (10(10)), ultrashort (50 fs) laser pulses focused to intensities of 7 x 10(20) W cm(-2) is investigated experimentally. Target normal sheath acceleration (TNSA) is found to be the dominant ion acceleration mechanism when the target thickness is >= 50 nm and laser pulses are linearly polarized. Under these conditions, irradiation at normal incidence is found to produce higher energy ions than oblique incidence at 35 degrees with respect to the target normal. Simulations using one-dimensional (1D) boosted and 2D particle-in-cell codes support the result, showing increased energy coupling efficiency to fast electrons for normal incidence. The effects of target composition and thickness on the acceleration of carbon ions are reported and compared to calculations using analytical models of ion acceleration

Writing in Britain and Ireland, c. 400 to c. 800

No abstract available

A Perspective on the Use of NB-UVB Phototherapy vs. PUVA Photochemotherapy

Narrowband UVB (NB-UVB) phototherapy and psoralen-UVA (PUVA) photochemotherapy are widely used phototherapeutic modalities for a range of skin diseases. The main indication for NB-UVB and PUVA therapies is psoriasis, and other key diagnoses include atopic eczema, vitiligo, cutaneous T-cell lymphoma (CTCL), and the photodermatoses. The decision on choice of phototherapy is important and NB-UVB is usually the primary choice. NB-UVB phototherapy is a safe and effective therapy which is usually considered when topical agents have failed. PUVA requires prior psoralen sensitization but remains a highly effective mainstay therapy, often used when NB-UVB fails, there is rapid relapse following NB-UVB or in specific indications, such as pustular or erythrodermic psoriasis. This review will provide a perspective on the main indications for use of NB-UVB and PUVA therapies and provide comparative information on these important dermatological treatments