Psychopathic traits and offender characteristics – a nationwide consecutive sample of homicidal male adolescents

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of the study was to evaluate psychopathy-like personality traits in a nationwide consecutive sample of adolescent male homicide offenders and to compare the findings with those of a randomly sampled adult male homicide offender group. A further aim was to investigate associations between psychopathic traits and offender and offence characteristics in adolescent homicides.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Forensic psychiatric examination reports and crime reports of all 15 to19- year- old male Finnish offenders who had been subjected to a forensic psychiatric examination and convicted for a homicide during 1995–2004 were collected (n = 57). A random sample of 57 adult male homicide offenders was selected as a comparison group. Offence and offender characteristics were collected from the files and a file-based assessment of psychopathic traits was performed using the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) by trained raters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>No significant differences existed between the adolescents and adults in PCL-R total scores, factor 2 (social deviance) scores, or in facets 3 (lifestyle) and 4 (antisocial). Adults scored significantly higher on factor 1 (interpersonal/affective) and facets 1 (interpersonal) and 2 (affective). The adolescent group was divided into two subgroups according to PCL-R total scores. One in five homicidal male adolescents met criteria for psychopathic personality using a PCL-R total score of 26 or higher. These boys significantly more often had a crime history before the index homicide, more frequently used excessive violence during the index homicide, more rarely lived with both parents until 16 years of age, had more institutional or foster home placements in childhood, had more school difficulties, more often had received special education, and, more often had contact with mental health services prior to age 18 years than boys scoring low on the PCL-R. They also more often had parental criminal history as well as homicide history of parents or near relatives than the group scoring low on the PCL-R.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Homicidal boys behaved as antisocially as the homicidal adults. The adults, however, showed more both affective and interpersonal features of psychopathy. Homicidal adolescents with psychopathy-like personality character form a special subgroup among other homicidal youngsters. Recognizing their characteristics, especially in life course development, would facilitate effective prevention and intervention efforts.</p

Low Concentration of Sodium Butyrate from Ultrabraid+NaBu suture, Promotes Angiogenesis and Tissue Remodelling in Tendon-bones Injury

Sodium butyrate (NaBu), a form of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA), acts classically as a potent anti-angiogenic agent in tumour angiogenesis models, some authors demonstrated that low concentrations of NaBu may contribute to healing of tendon-bone injury in part at least through promotion of tissue remodelling. Here, we investigated the effects of low-range concentrations of NaBu using in vitro and in vivo assays using angiogenesis as the primary outcome measure and the mechanisms through which it acts. We demonstrated that NaBu, alone or perfused from the UltraBraid+NaBu suture was pro-angiogenic at very low-range doses promoting migration, tube formation and cell invasion in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs). Furthermore, cell exposure to low NaBu concentrations increased expression of proteins involved in angiogenic cell signalling, including p-PKCβ1, p-FAK, p-ERK1/2, p-NFκβ, p-PLCγ1 and p-VEGFR2. In addition, inhibitors of both VEGFR2 and PKCβ1 blocked the angiogenic response. In in vivo assays, low concentrations of NaBu induced neovascularization in sponge implants in mice, evidenced by increased numbers of vessels and haemoglobin content in these implants. The findings in this study indicate that low concentrations of NaBu could be an important compound to stimulate angiogenesis at a site where vasculature is deficient and healing is compromised