Risky Journeys: The Development of Best Practice Adult Educational Programs to Indigenous People in Rural and Remote Communities

The findings from a culturally relevant innovative educational program to support community health through dog health are presented. It will report on the pilot of a program, using a generative curriculum model where Indigenous knowledge is brought into the process of teaching and learning by community members and is integrated with an empirical knowledge base. The characteristics of the pilot program will be discussed. These included locally relevant content, appropriate learning processes such as the development of personal caring relationships, and supporting different world views. Recommendations include the projected use of local Indigenous health workers to enhance the sustainability of the program

Why victim age and co-offending status matter in sexual offending: An analysis of Data First Ministry of Justice Crown Court data

Objectives The study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of victim age and co-offending status classification systems in distinguishing between diverse sexual offenders/offences. This can aid in enhancing comprehension of the correlates and aetiologies of these offences and inform the development of more effective criminal justice policy. Methods The current study uses Data First Ministry of Justice Crown Court Data from England and Wales between 2013 and 2019 to compare offender and offence characteristics between different typologies of sexual offending categorised using: (1) victim age (child sexual abuse v adult sexual abuse); (2) co-offending status (lone v duo v group); and (3) a combination of victim age and co-offending status (group child sexual abuse v group adult sexual abuse). Results Significant differences between the typologies were found across a variety of variables for all three categorisation systems. These included the age, sex, ethnicity, and prosecution histories of offenders; age and ethnic composition of co-offending groups/duos; and the nature of the offences committed. While some findings support previous studies, some diverge from what has previously been reported in the literature. Furthermore, some of the findings provide information on areas which, until now, have received very little attention in the literature (i.e., comparisons of group perpetrated child sexual abuse and group perpetrated adult sexual abuse). Conclusion This study provides support for the application of victim age and co-offending status classification systems to sexual offending as a means of disentangling heterogeneous groups of offenders/offences

Identifying Visible Tissue in Intraoperative Ultrasound Images during Brain Surgery: A Method and Application

Intraoperative ultrasound scanning is a demanding visuotactile task. It requires operators to simultaneously localise the ultrasound perspective and manually perform slight adjustments to the pose of the probe, making sure not to apply excessive force or breaking contact with the tissue, whilst also characterising the visible tissue. In this paper, we propose a method for the identification of the visible tissue, which enables the analysis of ultrasound probe and tissue contact via the detection of acoustic shadow and construction of confidence maps of the perceptual salience. Detailed validation with both in vivo and phantom data is performed. First, we show that our technique is capable of achieving state of the art acoustic shadow scan line classification - with an average binary classification accuracy on unseen data of 0.87. Second, we show that our framework for constructing confidence maps is able to produce an ideal response to a probe's pose that is being oriented in and out of optimality - achieving an average RMSE across five scans of 0.174. The performance evaluation justifies the potential clinical value of the method which can be used both to assist clinical training and optimise robot-assisted ultrasound tissue scanning

Early life stress influences acute and sensitised responses of adult mice to cocaine by interacting with GABAA α2 receptor expression

Early life stress (ELS) is known to exert long term effects on brain function, with resulting deleterious consequences for several aspects of mental health, including the development of addiction to drugs of abuse. One potential mechanism in humans is suggested by findings that ELS interacts with polymorphisms of the GABRA2 gene, encoding alpha2 subunits of GABAA receptors, to increase risk for both posttraumatic stress disorder, and vulnerability to cocaine addiction. We used a mouse model, in which the amount of material for nest building was reduced during early postnatal life, to study interactions between ELS and expression of alpha2-containing GABAA receptors in influencing cocaine-related behaviour. Breeding of parents heterozygous for deletion of alpha2 resulted in litters containing homozygous knockout (alpha2-/-), heterozygous knockout (alpha2+/-), and wildtype (alpha2+/+) offspring. Following the ELS procedure, the mice were allowed to develop to adulthood before being tested for the acute effect of cocaine on locomotor stimulation, behavioural sensitisation to repeated cocaine, and to cocaine-conditioned activity. Exposure to ELS resulted in increased acute locomotor stimulant effects of cocaine across all genotypes, with the most marked effects in alpha2-/- mice (which also showed increased activity following vehicle). Repeated cocaine administration to non-stressed mice resulted in sensitisation in alpha2+/+ and alpha2+/- mice, but, in keeping with previous findings, not in alpha2-/- mice. Prior exposure to ELS reduced sensitisation in alpha2+/+ mice, albeit not significantly, and abolished sensitisation in alpha2+/- mice. Conditioned activity was elevated following ELS in all animals, independently of genotype. Thus, while the enhanced acute effects of cocaine following ELS being most marked in alpha2-/- mice suggests a function of alpha2-containing GABAA receptors in protecting against stress, the interaction between ELS and genotype in influencing sensitisation may be more in keeping with ELS reducing expression of alpha2-containing GABAA receptors. The ability of ELS to increase cocaine-conditioned locomotor activity appears to be independent of alpha2-containing GABAA receptors

Deletion of the gabra2 gene results in hypersensitivity to the acute effects of ethanol but does not alter ethanol self administration

Human genetic studies have suggested that polymorphisms of the GABRA2 gene encoding the GABA(A) α2-subunit are associated with ethanol dependence. Variations in this gene also convey sensitivity to the subjective effects of ethanol, indicating a role in mediating ethanol-related behaviours. We therefore investigated the consequences of deleting the α2-subunit on the ataxic and rewarding properties of ethanol in mice. Ataxic and sedative effects of ethanol were explored in GABA(A) α2-subunit wildtype (WT) and knockout (KO) mice using a Rotarod apparatus, wire hang and the duration of loss of righting reflex. Following training, KO mice showed shorter latencies to fall than WT littermates under ethanol (2 g/kg i.p.) in both Rotarod and wire hang tests. After administration of ethanol (3.5 g/kg i.p.), KO mice took longer to regain the righting reflex than WT mice. To ensure the acute effects are not due to the gabra2 deletion affecting pharmacokinetics, blood ethanol concentrations were measured at 20 minute intervals after acute administration (2 g/kg i.p.), and did not differ between genotypes. To investigate ethanol's rewarding properties, WT and KO mice were trained to lever press to receive increasing concentrations of ethanol on an FR4 schedule of reinforcement. Both WT and KO mice self-administered ethanol at similar rates, with no differences in the numbers of reinforcers earned. These data indicate a protective role for α2-subunits, against the acute sedative and ataxic effects of ethanol. However, no change was observed in ethanol self administration, suggesting the rewarding effects of ethanol remain unchange

A survey of engagement and competence levels in interventions and activities in a community mental health workforce in England.

National Health Service (NHS) mental health workforce configuration is at the heart of successful delivery, and providers are advised to produce professional development strategies. Recent policy changes in England have sharpened the focus on competency based role development. We determined levels of intervention activities, engagement and competence and their influencing factors in a community-setting mental health workforce. Using a modified questionnaire based on the Yorkshire Care Pathways Model we investigated 153 mental health staff working in Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust. A median score of competence was computed across 10 cluster activities. Low engagement and competence levels were examined in a logistic regression model. In 220 activities, Monitoring risk was the highest rate of engagement (97.6%) and Group psychological therapy/Art/Drama therapy was the lowest engagement (3.6%). The median competence level based on all activities was 3.95 (proficient). There were significant differences in the competence level among professional groups; non-qualified support group (3.00 for competent), Counsellor/Psychologist/Therapist (3.38), Occupational therapists (3.76), Nurses (4.01), Medical staff (4.05), Social workers (4.25) and Psychologists (4.62 for proficient/expert). These levels varied with activity clusters; the lowest level was for Counsellor/Psychologist/Therapist in the accommodation activity (1.44 novice/advance beginner) and the highest for Occupational therapists in personal activity (4.94 expert). In a multivariate analysis, low competence was significantly related to non-qualified community support professions, late time of obtaining first qualification, more frequencies of clinical training, and training of cognitive behavioural therapy. The associations were similar in the analysis for 10 activity clusters respectively. There was a reasonable competence level in the community-setting mental health workforce, but competence varied with professional groups and cluster activities. New staff and other non-qualified support professions need to receive efficient training, and the training content is more important than frequency to increase level of competence

A Liar and a Copycat: Nonverbal Coordination Increases with Lie Difficulty

Studies of the nonverbal correlates of deception tend to examine liars’ behaviours as independent from the behaviour of the interviewer, ignoring joint action. To address this gap, Experiment 1 examined the effect of telling a truth and easy, difficult and very difficult lies on nonverbal coordination. Nonverbal coordination was measured automatically by applying a Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm to motion-capture data. In Experiment 2, interviewees also received instructions that influenced the attention they paid to either the nonverbal or verbal behaviour of the interviewer. Results from both Experiments found that interviewer-interviewee nonverbal coordination increased with lie difficulty. This increase was not influenced by the degree to which interviewees paid attention to their nonverbal behaviour, nor by the degree of interviewer’s suspicion. Our findings are consistent with the broader proposition that people rely on automated processes such as mimicry when under cognitive load

Investigating ocean deoxygenation during the PETM through the Cr isotopic signature of foraminifera

Over the past several decades, oxygen minimum zones have rapidly expanded due to rising temperatures raising concerns about the impacts of future climate change. One way to better understand the drivers behind this expansion is to evaluate the links between climate and seawater deoxygenation in the past especially in times of geologically abrupt climate change such as the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), a well characterised period of rapid warming ~56 million years ago. We have developed and applied the novel redox proxies of foraminiferal Cr isotopes(δ53Cr) and Ce anomalies (Ce/Ce*) to assess changes in paleo-redox conditions arising from changes in oxygen availability. Both δ53Cr and Cr concentrations decrease notably over the PETM at intermediate to upper abyssal water depths,indicative of widespread reductions in dissolved oxygen concentrations. An apparent correlation between the sizes of δ53Cr and benthic δ18O excursions during the PETM suggests temperature is one of the main controlling factors of deoxygenation in the open ocean. ODP Sites 1210 in the Pacific and 1263 in the Southeast Atlantic suggest that deoxygenation is associated with warming and circulation changes, as supported by Ce/Ce* data. Our geochemical data are supported by simulations from an intermediate complexity climate model (cGENIE), which show that during the PETM anoxia was mostly restricted to the Tethys Sea, while hypoxia was more widespread as a result of increasing atmospheric CO2 (from 1 to 6 times pre-industrial values)