Building Bridges Towards Safety and Accountability to End Domestic Violence Homicide

The mission of the Maine Domestic Abuse Homicide Review Panel, authorized by legislation, is to engage in collaborative, multidisciplinary case review of domestic abuse related homicides for the purpose of developing recommendations for state and local government and other public and private entitites to improve the coordinated community response that will protect people from domestic abuse

Programmable active pixel sensor to investigate neural interactions within the retina

Detection of the visual scene by the eye and the resultant neural interactions of the retina-brain system give us our perception of sight. We have developed an Active Pixel Sensor (APS) to be used as a tool for both furthering understanding of these interactions via experimentation with the retina and to make developments towards a realisable retinal prosthesis. The sensor consists of 469 pixels in a hexagonal array. The pixels are interconnected by a programmable neural network to mimic lateral interactions between retinal cells. Outputs from the sensor are in the form of biphasic current pulse trains suitable to stimulate retinal cells via a biocompatible array. The APS will be described with initial characterisation and test results

Practical Implications of Current Intimate Partner Violence Research for Victim Advocates and Service Providers

This guide uses a question-and-answer format to inform victim advocates and service providers of the findings of published research on intimate partner violence (IPV) and their relevance for practice. The first of 13 sections of the guide poses and answers 11 questions pertinent to the issue, “What is intimate partner violence?” The issues addressed include the various behaviors and circumstances that constitute IPV, whether men and women are equally likely to be victims or perpetrators of IPV, and whether women’s use of IPV is different from men’s.The second major section poses and answers 12 questions related to IPV victimization rates, addressing issues of populations at increased risk for IPV, with special attention to women who are separated or divorced, pregnant, disabled, elderly, LGBT, live in rural areas. The guide’s third section poses and answers 19 questions related to the impact of IPV on victims. The fourth section poses and answers 20 questions related to the characteristics of persons who perpetrate IPV. Other sections of the guide pose and answer questions related to victim characteristics that predict IPV victimization; whether IPV victims seek assistance and services; protective factors and coping skills that mitigate the adverse impact of IPV; the services that are typically available to IPV victims; whether victim services work; health-care providers’ role in responding to IPV; what victim advocates and service providers need to know about the legal system; the features of IPV victim advocacy; and the performance measures advocates should adopt in evaluating the criminal justice response to IPV. The implications drawn from the research are offered as guidance, not rules of practice. 884 references are provided

Azithromycin mass drug administration for reducing child mortality in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Child mortality has decreased considerably in recent years but more than one in ten children still die before their fifth birthday in several African countries. The MORDOR study investigated whether azithromycin mass drug administration (MDA) reduces child mortality in three countries in Africa. The study described within this thesis was conducted at the MORDOR-Malawi site and aims to provide additional detail on potential mechanisms of effect of the intervention; macrolide resistance; and cost-effectiveness. METHODS: The study involved cluster randomisation of communities in Mangochi District, Malawi, to biannual azithromycin or placebo MDA. Household visits were conducted to update the census and perform verbal autopsies (VAs) to assess causes of death. Indicators related to healthcare access; malaria risk; and water, sanitation and hygiene were measured. Nasopharyngeal samples were collected to assess macrolide resistance. Cost data were collected for one complete round of fieldwork. RESULTS: The study included 334 clusters. The mortality rate ratio in azithromycin-treated compared to placebo-treated communities was 0.91 (95%CI: 0.79–1.05); P=0.20. There was evidence for an effect of the intervention in infants aged 1-5 months: 0.70 (95%CI: 0.50-0.99); P=0.04; but not in older age groups. The VA analyses suggested possible effects on pneumonia, HIV/AIDS and diarrhoea mortality. The intervention was highly cost-effective according to the WHO’s willingness-to-pay thresholds, costing $898 per death averted. At the 12-month and 24-month follow-up rounds, macrolide resistance in Streptococcus pneumoniae was higher in the azithromycin group compared to placebo. CONCLUSION: The mortality findings at the MORDOR-Malawi site could be explained by the broad spectrum of activity of azithromycin against gut and respiratory organisms, including non-vaccine pneumococcal serotypes and other aetiological causes of pneumonia, sepsis and meningitis. Azithromycin MDA is a feasible short-term intervention to reduce child mortality, whilst longer term sustainable health system improvements are pursued. Vigilance of antibiotic resistance is required

Cholesterol and the risk of grade-specific prostate cancer incidence: evidence from two large prospective cohort studies with up to 37 years' follow up

<b>Background</b> High cholesterol may be a modifiable risk factor for prostate cancer but results have been inconsistent and subject to potential "reverse causality" where undetected disease modifies cholesterol prior to diagnosis.<p></p> <b>Methods</b> We conducted a prospective cohort study of 12,926 men who were enrolled in the Midspan studies between 1970 and 1976 and followed up to 31st December 2007. We used Cox-Proportional Hazards Models to evaluate the association between baseline plasma cholesterol and Gleason grade-specific prostate cancer incidence. We excluded cancers detected within at least 5 years of cholesterol assay.<p></p> <b>Results</b> 650 men developed prostate cancer in up to 37 years' follow-up. Baseline plasma cholesterol was positively associated with hazard of high grade (Gleason score[greater than or equal to]8) prostate cancer incidence (n=119). The association was greatest among men in the 4th highest quintile for cholesterol, 6.1 to <6.69 mmol/l, Hazard Ratio 2.28, 95% CI 1.27 to 4.10, compared with the baseline of <5.05 mmol/l. This association remained significant after adjustment for body mass index, smoking and socioeconomic status.<p></p> <b>Conclusions</b> Men with higher cholesterol are at greater risk of developing high-grade prostate cancer but not overall risk of prostate cancer. Interventions to minimise metabolic risk factors may have a role in reducing incidence of aggressive prostate cancer

A test of the planet-star unipolar inductor for magnetic white dwarfs

Despite thousands of spectroscopic detections, only four isolated white dwarfs exhibit Balmer emission lines. The temperature inversion mechanism is a puzzle over 30 years old that has defied conventional explanations. One hypothesis is a unipolar inductor that achieves surface heating via ohmic dissipation of a current loop between a conducting planet and a magnetic white dwarf. To investigate this model, new time-resolved spectroscopy, spectropolarimetry, and photometry of the prototype GD 356 are studied. The emission features vary in strength on the rotational period, but in antiphase with the light curve, consistent with a cool surface spot beneath an optically thin chromosphere. Possible changes in the line profiles are observed at the same photometric phase, potentially suggesting modest evolution of the emission region, while the magnetic field varies by 10 per cent over a full rotation. These comprehensive data reveal neither changes to the photometric period, nor additional signals such as might be expected from an orbiting body. A closer examination of the unipolar inductor model finds points of potential failure: the observed rapid stellar rotation will inhibit current carriers due to the centrifugal force, there may be no supply of magnetospheric ions, and no antiphase flux changes are expected from ohmic surface heating. Together with the highly similar properties of the four cool, emission-line white dwarfs, these facts indicate that the chromospheric emission is intrinsic. A tantalizing possibility is that intrinsic chromospheres may manifest in (magnetic) white dwarfs, and in distinct parts of the Hertzsprung–Russell diagram based on structure and composition

Naked mole-rats have distinctive cardiometabolic and genetic adaptations to their underground low-oxygen lifestyles.

The naked mole-rat Heterocephalus glaber is a eusocial mammal exhibiting extreme longevity (37-year lifespan), extraordinary resistance to hypoxia and absence of cardiovascular disease. To identify the mechanisms behind these exceptional traits, metabolomics and RNAseq of cardiac tissue from naked mole-rats was compared to other African mole-rat genera (Cape, Cape dune, Common, Natal, Mahali, Highveld and Damaraland mole-rats) and evolutionarily divergent mammals (Hottentot golden mole and C57/BL6 mouse). We identify metabolic and genetic adaptations unique to naked mole-rats including elevated glycogen, thus enabling glycolytic ATP generation during cardiac ischemia. Elevated normoxic expression of HIF-1α is observed while downstream hypoxia responsive-genes are down-regulated, suggesting adaptation to low oxygen environments. Naked mole-rat hearts show reduced succinate levels during ischemia compared to C57/BL6 mouse and negligible tissue damage following ischemia-reperfusion injury. These evolutionary traits reflect adaptation to a unique hypoxic and eusocial lifestyle that collectively may contribute to their longevity and health span

Skyrmion fluctuations at a first-order phase transition boundary

Magnetic skyrmions are topologically protected spin textures with promising prospects for applications in data storage. They can form a lattice state due to competing magnetic interactions and are commonly found in a small region of the temperature - magnetic field phase diagram. Recent work has demonstrated that these magnetic quasi-particles fluctuate at the μeV energy scale. Here, we use a coherent x-ray correlation method at an x-ray free-electron laser to investigate these fluctuations in a magnetic phase coexistence region near a first-order transition boundary where fluctuations are not expected to play a major role. Surprisingly, we find that the relaxation of the intermediate scattering function at this transition differs significantly compared to that deep in the skyrmion lattice phase. The observation of a compressed exponential behavior suggests solid-like dynamics, often associated with jamming. We assign this behavior to disorder and the phase coexistence observed in a narrow field-window near the transition, which can cause fluctuations that lead to glassy behavior

Exclusion of known gene for enamel development in two Brazilian families with amelogenesis imperfecta

Amelogenesis imperfecta (AI) is a genetically heterogeneous group of diseases that result in defective development of tooth enamel. Mutations in several enamel proteins and proteinases have been associated with AI. The object of this study was to evaluate evidence of etiology for the six major candidate gene loci in two Brazilian families with AI. Genomic DNA was obtained from family members and all exons and exon-intron boundaries of the ENAM, AMBN, AMELX, MMP20, KLK4 and Amelotin gene were amplified and sequenced. Each family was also evaluated for linkage to chromosome regions known to contain genes important in enamel development. The present study indicates that the AI in these two families is not caused by any of the known loci for AI or any of the major candidate genes proposed in the literature. These findings indicate extensive genetic heterogeneity for non-syndromic AI