Changing Systems, Changing Lives

Pennsylvania is the 4th oldest state in the nation and more than 1.6 million people care for older parents, spouses or other loved ones, helping them to live independently in their own homes. Both AARP and the SeniorLAW Center are working together to support caregivers, their families and loved ones. Angela Foreshaw, Manager of State Operations and Community Outreach at AARP Pennsylvania and Nora Dowd Eisenhower, Director of Pro Bono Action for Community Impact at SeniorLAW Center will discuss some of the systemic responses to these realities, including the CARE Act, and guides to financial caregiving. Learning Objectives Explain the story behind the Care Act and its impact in Pennsylvania. Describe one of the newest trends in caregiving, known as ‘financial caregiving’ and its relationship to enhancing the quality of life for all as we age. List the leaders in supporting older people Pennsylvania are and how can we collaborate across sectors to insure successful outcomes. Presentation: 47:1

The Schwinger-Dyson equation on Pomeron loop summation and renormalization

The solution to the Schwinger-Dyson equation that describes the summation over Pomeron loop diagrams is derived. The solution is a closed expression which splits into two parts. The first leads directly to the renormalization of the BFKL Pomeron, and the second contribution is equivalent to non interacting Pomerons with renormalized vertices. Thus a closed expression is derived for the sum over Pomeron loop diagrams in the perturbative QCD approach, which preserves unitarity.Comment: 18 pages, 8 Figure

Development and clinimetric assessment of a nurse-administered screening tool for movement disorders in psychosis

Background: Movement disorders (MD) associated with exposure to antipsychotic drugs (AP). MD are common and stigmatising, but underdiagnosed. Methods: We developed a screening procedure for AP-MD for administration by mental health (MH) nurses. Item selection and content validity assessment were conducted by a panel of neurologists, psychiatrists and a MH nurse, who operationalised a 31-item screening procedure (ScanMove instrument). Inter-rater reliability was measured on ratings from ten MH nurses evaluating video-recordings of the procedure on 30 patients with psychosis. Criterion and concurrent validity were tested comparing the ScanMove instrument-based rating of thirteen MH nurses of 635 community patients from MH services to diagnostic judgement of a MD neurologist based on the ScanMove instrument and a reference procedure comprising a selection of commonly used rating scales. Results: Inter-reliability analysis showed no systematic difference between raters in their prediction of any AP-MD category. On criterion validity testing, the ScanMove instrument showed good sensitivity for parkinsonism (94%) and hyperkinesia (89%), but not for akathisia (38%), whereas specificity was low for parkinsonism and hyperkinesia, and moderate for akathisia. Mixed effect regression models showed low concurrent validity of quantitative scores obtained from the ScanMove instrument. Conclusions: The ScanMove instrument demonstrated good feasibility and inter-rater reliability, and acceptable sensitivity as MH nurse-administered screening tool for parkinsonism and hyperkinesia

'Drowning in here in his bloody sea' : exploring TV cop drama's representations of the impact of stress in modern policing

The Criminal Justice System is a part of society that is both familiar and hidden. It is familiar in that a large part of daily news and television drama is devoted to it (Carrabine, 2008; Jewkes, 2011). It is hidden in the sense that the majority of the population have little, if any, direct contact with the Criminal Justice System, meaning that the media may be a major force in shaping their views on crime and policing (Carrabine, 2008). As Reiner (2000) notes, the debate about the relationship between the media, policing, and crime has been a key feature of wider societal concerns about crime since the establishment of the modern police force. He outlines the recurring themes in post-war debates in this field. For Conservatives there has been an ongoing concern that the media is criminongenic, as it serves to undermine traditional institutions, including the police. From the viewpoint of radical criminology, the impact of the media is two-fold: it exaggerates legitimate concerns about crime and emphasises the bureaucratic and other restrictions under which the police operate (Reiner, 2000). This is seen as undermining due process and legitimatising what can be termed a ‘maverick’ approach to policing. An early example of this can be seen in Clint Eastwood’s Dirty Harry movies (Siegel, 1971) where Harry Callaghan acts as a one-man law enforcement system outside of the formal legal process, a process portrayed as corrupt, inefficient, and concerned with offenders’ rights rather than protecting victims. From a policing perspective, Reiner (2000) argues that film and TV drama creates a simplistic narrative of crime solving that is almost completely divorced from the reality of modern police work, a finding consistent with more recent work by Cummins et al., (2014)

Money matters, let’s make it count!

In the immortal words of The Beatles, we know money can’t buy us love but can it buy us wellbeing?        For a long time now discussion of money has been something of a taboo subject, children not knowing what parents' earnings are etc…  Times are moving on now, but we still see money being discussed in isolation.  However, research shows us that is not a true picture, in fact there is an inextricable link between money and wellbeing.      Staff in the Money Advice Team based in Student Advice and Wellbeing Services are dealing with issues of limited financial resource, poor financial choices, pay day loans and other money lenders and gambling is on the increase.  We saw the impact that the pandemic had on students with jobs being in short supply and we are preparing for the next crisis now with the cost of living increase and fuel prices on the rise as well as money scams.      Financial wellbeing will mean different things to different people, perhaps economic strength or prosperity.  Students are certainly not going to be wealthy based on the current Government funding schemes, but they certainly make their money work harder for them than the other way around.  Staff within the Money Advice Team work with students to enhance their financial literacy/capability and the benefits are real: research showing that students who can control a budget are more likely to have better degree outcomes.        The challenge for us is participation: to get the message across about the work we do and the broader support we can offer - not just the monetary support available through University hardship funds.      By the end of the session, colleagues will be clearer about the financial pressures that face students and how they can best support them through effective referral and greater collaborative work across their own programmes

A phase Ib study investigating the combination of everolimus and dovitinib in vascular endothelial growth factor refractory clear cell renal cancer

BackgroundEverolimus (mammalian target of rapmaycin (mTOR) inhibitor) and dovitinib (vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF-2) inhibitor) demonstrate activity in metastatic clear cell renal cancer. The combination of these agents has a broad spectrum of relevant activity. The combination is explored in this phase Ib study.MethodsPatients with metastatic clear cell renal cancer who have failed VEGF targeted therapy were eligible. Up to four cohorts of three to six patients (3+3 design) were treated with escalating doses of everolimus and dovitinib. Dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) were assessed to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). An expansion cohort (n = 15) was investigated to obtain additional efficacy information. Sequential fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) was used as a surrogate marker of response.ResultsOverall 18 patients were recruited into the study. Fifteen patients received the MTD, which was everolimus 5 mg orally (PO) once daily (OD) and dovitinib 200 mg PO day 1–5/7. The MTD was associated with toxicity, which included fatigue, mucositis and diarrhoea in 73%, 53% and 53% (Common Toxicity Criteria (CTC) grade 1–4) of patients, respectively. Frequent biochemical abnormalities occurred (such as hypertriglyceridaemia in 67%). Higher doses of the combination were not tolerable due to grade 3 fatigue in 2/3 patients and grade 3 nausea in 1/3 patients within 1 month of therapy. The response rate at the MDT was 1/15 (7%) while the progression free survival for the MTD was 7 months (95% confidence interval (CI) 2.2–11 months). Pharmacokinetic data at the MTD showed stable kinetics with time.ConclusionDovitinib and everolimus had modest activity, but did not meet all of the planned efficacy end-points. Fatigue was the dose limiting toxicity