The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK

From introduction: "For more than ten years the polygraph has been the subject of research and increased application with sex off enders in the United Kingdom. However, it is not without its detractors (Ben-Shakhar, 2008; Lykken, 1998; Meijer, Verschuere, Merckelbach and Crombez, 2008). Indeed, Craig (2011), described it as “a lightning rod for controversy” (p. 59), principally because of ongoing disputes with regard to its scientifi c acceptability (Grubin, 2008), its accuracy/ validity (Madsen, 2009) and its ethical standing (Vess, 2010)."(...

Living and Teaching Well-being: An Application Plan for a Professional Certificate in Applied Positive Education at The Shawnee Institute

Modern education is largely focused on academic achievement, yet recent research has called into question whether academic learning is enough to foster and support mental and physical health across the lifespan. Mounting interest in more well-balanced educational approaches that integrate academic learning and character education have inspired the emergence of a new field called positive education. Despite a growing demand, comprehensive training in positive education remains limited. The Shawnee Institute, a nonprofit organization dedicated to the advancement of positive education, aims to fill this void by launching a professional certificate in applied positive education. The following paper presents a tailored application plan for implementing a professional certificate program at The Shawnee Institute which includes a situational analysis of the education sector, as well as a literature review detailing the relevance of well-being theory, experiential learning, and personal and organizational change in education settings. The plan concludes with recommendations for professional competencies, a proposal for effective program implementation and evaluation, a detailed curriculum outline, and a sample learning module

The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK

Publikacja recenzowana / Peer-reviewed publicationJest to przekład artykułu „The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK” autorstwa Daniela T. Wilcoxa i Rosie Gray’a, który ukazał się w „European Polygraph” numer 1 w 2012 roku. Artykuł dotyczy problematyki badań poligraficznych stosowanych wobec przestępców seksualnych w Wielkiej Brytanii. Publikacja ta jest ważna dla rozwoju polskiej polityki karnej, możliwych rozwiązań nowych regulacji w polskim prawodawstwie, a na skutek wykorzystania możliwości badawczych ekspertyz poligraficznych PCSOT, stosowanych wobec skazanych za przestępstwa popełnione na tle seksualnym, oferuje znaczne szanse monitorowania przestępców seksualnych.This is a translation of the article „The Use of the Polygraph with Sex Offenders in the UK” by Daniel T. Wilcox and Rosie Gray, appeared in a European Polygraph volume number 1 in the 2012.This article is about of how the polygraph can be used to work with sexual offenders in the United Kingdom Publication it’s important for the development of Polish penal policy, the possible solutions of new regulations in Polish legislation, and as a result of the use of research possibilities of Post Conviction Clinical Polygraph Examination Testing (Lie Detector Testing) offers significant opportunities for monitoring sex offenders

Minocycline 200 mg or 400 mg versus placebo for mild Alzheimer's disease: the MADE Phase II, three-arm RCT

Background: Minocycline is an anti-inflammatory drug and protects against the toxic effects of β-amyloid in vitro and in animal models of Alzheimer’s disease. To the best of our knowledge, no randomised placebo-controlled clinical trials in patients with Alzheimer’s disease looking at the efficacy and tolerability of minocycline have been carried out. Objectives: The trial investigated whether or not minocycline was superior to placebo in slowing down the rate of decline in cognitive and functional ability over 2 years. The safety and tolerability of minocycline were also assessed. Design: A Phase II, three-arm, randomised, double-blind, multicentre trial with a semifactorial design. Participants continued on trial treatment for up to 24 months. Setting: Patients were identified from memory services, both within the 32 participating NHS trusts and within the network of memory services supported by the Dementias and Neurodegenerative Diseases Research Network (also known as DeNDRoN). Participants: Patients with standardised Mini Mental State Examination scores of > 23 points and with Alzheimer’s disease assessed by the National Institute on Aging–Alzheimer’s Association’s criteria were identified from memory services. Intervention: Patients with mild Alzheimer’s disease were randomly allocated 1 : 1 : 1 to receive one of three treatments: arm 1 – 400 mg per day of minocycline; arm 2 – 200 mg per day of minocycline; or arm 3 – placebo. Patients continued treatment for 24 months. Participants, investigators and outcome assessors were blind to treatment allocation. Main outcome measures: Primary outcome measures were decline in standardised Mini Mental State Examination and Bristol Activities of Daily Living Scale scores of combined minocycline treatment arms versus placebo, as analysed by intention-to-treat repeated measures regression. Results: Between 23 May 2014 and 14 April 2016, 554 participants were randomised. Of the 544 eligible participants, the mean age was 74.3 years and the average standardised Mini Mental State Examination score was 26.4 points. A total of 252 serious adverse events were reported, with the most common categories being neuropsychiatric and cardiocirculatory. Significantly fewer participants completed treatment with 400 mg of minocycline [29% (53/184)] than 200 mg [62% (112/181)] or placebo [64% (114/179)] (p < 0.0001), mainly because of gastrointestinal symptoms (p = 0.0008), dermatological side effects (p = 0.02) and dizziness (p = 0.01). Assessment rates were also lower in the 400-mg treatment arm: 68% (119 of 174 expected) for standardised Mini Mental State Examination scores at 24 months, compared with 82% (144/176) for the 200-mg treatment arm and 84% (140/167) for the placebo arm. Decline in standardised Mini Mental State Examination scores over the 24-month study period in the combined minocycline arms was similar to that in the placebo arm (4.1- vs. 4.3-point reduction; p = 0.9), as was the decline in the 400- and 200-mg treatment arms (3.3 vs. 4.7 points; p = 0.08). Likewise, worsening of Bristol Activities of Daily Living Scale scores over 24 months was similar in all trial arms (5.7, 6.6 and 6.2 points in the 400-mg treatment arm, 200-mg treatment arm and placebo arm, respectively; a p-value of 0.57 for minocycline vs. placebo and a p-value of 0.77 for 400 vs. 200 mg of minocycline). Results were similar in different patient subgroups and in sensitivity analyses adjusting for missing data. Limitations: Potential limitations of the study include that biomarkers were not used to confirm the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, as these and apolipoprotein E (APOE) genotyping are not routinely available within the NHS. Compliance was also worse than expected and differential follow-up rates were observed, with fewer assessments obtained for the 400-mg treatment arm than for the 200-mg treatment and placebo arms. Conclusions: Minocycline does not delay the progress of cognitive or functional impairment in people with mild Alzheimer’s disease over a 2-year period. Minocycline at a dose of 400 mg is poorly tolerated in this population. Future work: The Minocycline in mild Alzheimer’s DiseasE (MADE) study provides a framework for a streamlined trial design that can be usefully applied to test other disease-modifying therapies

Digital Literacy and young children: towards better understandings of the benefits and challenges of digital technologies in homes and early years settings. : Policy briefing of DigiLitEY COST Action IS1410 and the Digital Childhoods SIG of the European Early Childhood Research Association.

Non peer reviewe

Preindustrial control simulations with HadGEM3-GC3.1 for CMIP6

Pre‐industrial control simulations with the HadGEM3‐GC3.1 climate model are presented at two resolutions. These are N216ORCA025, which has a horizontal resolution of 60km in the atmosphere and 0.25° in the ocean, and N96ORCA1, which has a horizontal resolution of 130km in the atmosphere and 1° in the ocean. The aim of this study is to document the climate variability in these simulations, make comparisons against present‐day observations (albeit under different forcing), and discuss differences arising due to resolution. In terms of interannual variability in the leading modes of climate variability the two resolutions behave generally very similarly. Notable differences are in the westward extent of El‐Niño and the pattern of Atlantic multidecadal variability, in which N216ORCA025 compares more favourably to observations, and in the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, which is far too weak in N216ORCA025. In the North Atlantic region, N216ORCA025 has a stronger and deeper AMOC, which compares well against observations, and reduced biases in temperature and salinity in the North Atlantic subpolar gyre (NA SPG). These simulations are being provided to the sixth Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) and provide a baseline against which further forced experiments may be assessed

RENEWAL: REpurposing study to find NEW compounds with Activity for Lewy body dementia—an international Delphi consensus

Drug repositioning and repurposing has proved useful in identifying new treatments for many diseases, which can then rapidly be brought into clinical practice. Currently, there are few effective pharmacological treatments for Lewy body dementia (which includes both dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s disease dementia) apart from cholinesterase inhibitors. We reviewed several promising compounds that might potentially be disease-modifying agents for Lewy body dementia and then undertook an International Delphi consensus study to prioritise compounds. We identified ambroxol as the top ranked agent for repurposing and identified a further six agents from the classes of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, GLP-1 receptor agonists, and angiotensin receptor blockers that were rated by the majority of our expert panel as justifying a clinical trial. It would now be timely to take forward all these compounds to Phase II or III clinical trials in Lewy body dementia