Vulnerable suspects in police interviews: exploring current practice in England and Wales

Mentally disordered individuals are increasingly coming into contact with the police. The current study explored investigative interview practice with mentally disordered suspects to examine how they respond, and the impact this has on the level of information obtained. Transcripts of interviews conducted with vulnerable and non-vulnerable suspects (N = 66) were analysed using a specially designed coding framework. Results highlighted that best practice is generally not being adhered to regarding questioning techniques (for example, the use of open questions). Furthermore, while police officers altered their communication to suit the needs of the vulnerable suspect, they were also more likely to use minimisation tactics. Mentally disordered suspects sought more clarification for open questions and provided more information to closed questions. They also demonstrated higher levels of vulnerability (suggestibility and compliance) when compared to their non-vulnerable counterparts. Implications regarding interviewing methods for this vulnerable group are discussed

CYR61/CCN1: A Novel Mediator of Epidermal Hyperplasia and Inflammation in Psoriasis?

The complex pathogenesis of psoriasis is still not fully understood. The study by Sun et al. (2015) suggests that CYR61 (now named CCN1), a secreted matricellular protein, has a role in the pathogenesis of psoriasis, and thus targeting CCN1 represents a potential therapeutic strategy in its treatment

Behind the confession: Relating false confession, interrogative compliance, personality traits, and psychopathy

The present study further supports the established notion that personality traits contribute to the phenomenon of false confessions and compliance in an interrogative setting. Furthermore, the study provides an investigation into the more recent interest in the potential effect of psychopathic traits in this context. A sample of university students (N = 607) completed questionnaires measuring psychopathic traits, interrogative compliance, and the big five personality factors. Of these, only 4.9% (n=30) claimed to have falsely confessed to an academic or criminal offense, with no participant taking the blame for both types of offense. Across measures the big five personality traits were the strongest predictors of compliance. The five personality traits accounted for 17.9 % of the total variance in compliance, with neuroticism being the strongest predictor, followed by openness and agreeableness. Psychopathy accounted for 3.3% of variance, with the lifestyle facet being the only significant predictor. After controlling for the big five personality factors, psychopathy only accounted for a small percentage of interrogative compliance, indicating that interrogators should take into account a person’s personality traits during the interrogation.N/

Dissecting the psoriasis transcriptome: inflammatory- and cytokine-driven gene expression in lesions from 163 patients

Abstract Background Psoriasis lesions are characterized by large-scale shifts in gene expression. Mechanisms that underlie differentially expressed genes (DEGs), however, are not completely understood. We analyzed existing datasets to evaluate genome-wide expression in lesions from 163 psoriasis patients. Our aims were to identify mechanisms that drive differential expression and to characterize heterogeneity among lesions in this large sample. Results We identified 1233 psoriasis-increased DEGs and 977 psoriasis-decreased DEGs. Increased DEGs were attributed to keratinocyte activity (56%) and infiltration of lesions by T-cells (14%) and macrophages (11%). Decreased DEGs, in contrast, were associated with adipose tissue (63%), epidermis (14%) and dermis (4%). KC/epidermis DEGs were enriched for genes induced by IL-1, IL-17A and IL-20 family cytokines, and were also disproportionately associated with AP-1 binding sites. Among all patients, 50% exhibited a heightened inflammatory signature, with increased expression of genes expressed by T-cells, monocytes and dendritic cells. 66% of patients displayed an IFN-γ-strong signature, with increased expression of genes induced by IFN-γ in addition to several other cytokines (e.g., IL-1, IL-17A and TNF). We show that such differences in gene expression can be used to differentiate between etanercept responders and non-responders. Conclusions Psoriasis DEGs are partly explained by shifts in the cellular composition of psoriasis lesions. Epidermal DEGs, however, may be driven by the activity of AP-1 and cellular responses to IL-1, IL-17A and IL-20 family cytokines. Among patients, we uncovered a range of inflammatory- and cytokine-associated gene expression patterns. Such patterns may provide biomarkers for predicting individual responses to biologic therapy.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/112670/1/12864_2012_Article_5257.pd

A systematic review on the relationship between self-esteem and interrogative suggestibility

Some factors, such as age, learning disability and mental health difficulties, have been identified as making police suspects more vulnerable to suggestibility and false confessions during interview. However, there has been no systematic review on the association between self-esteem and suggestibility. Seven electronic bibliographic databases and reference lists of previous literature reviews of suggestibility in children were searched. Selected studies were quality assessed using pre-defined criteria before data were extracted. Electronic searches yielded 1914 hits. Of these, 685 duplicates, 1181 irrelevant references and 39 references that did not meet the inclusion criteria were removed. Nine publications were included in the review. Significant correlations between self-esteem and suggestibility, most notably on the Yield 1 subscale of the GSS, were found but four of the nine studies found no significant correlation. The prevalent use of self-report measures and lack of clarity in defining self-esteem limit the validity of those studies

The identification and management of ADHD offenders within the criminal justice system: a consensus statement from the UK Adult ADHD Network and criminal justice agencies.

The UK Adult ADHD Network (UKAAN) was founded by a group of mental health specialists who have experience delivering clinical services for adults with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) within the National Health Service (NHS). UKAAN aims to support mental health professionals in the development of services for adults with ADHD by the promotion of assessment and treatment protocols. One method of achieving these aims has been to sponsor conferences and workshops on adult ADHD.This consensus statement is the result of a Forensic Meeting held in November 2009, attended by senior representatives of the Department of Health (DoH), Forensic Mental Health, Prison, Probation, Courts and Metropolitan Police services. The objectives of the meeting were to discuss ways of raising awareness about adult ADHD, and its recognition, assessment, treatment and management within these respective services. Whilst the document draws on the UK experience, with some adaptations it can be used as a template for similar local actions in other countries. It was concluded that bringing together experts in adult ADHD and the Criminal Justice System (CJS) will be vital to raising awareness of the needs of ADHD offenders at every stage of the offender pathway. Joint working and commissioning within the CJS is needed to improve awareness and understanding of ADHD offenders to ensure that individuals are directed to appropriate care and rehabilitation. General Practitioners (GPs), whilst ideally placed for early intervention, should not be relied upon to provide this service as vulnerable offenders often have difficulty accessing primary care services. Moreover once this hurdle has been overcome and ADHD in offenders has been identified, a second challenge will be to provide treatment and ensure continuity of care. Future research must focus on proof of principle studies to demonstrate that identification and treatment confers health gain, safeguards individual's rights, improves engagement in offender rehabilitation programmes, reduces institutional behavioural disturbance and, ultimately, leads to crime reduction. In time this will provide better justice for both offenders and society.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Exploring the Consequences of Nonbelieved Memories in the DRM Paradigm

In the current experiments, we attempted to elicit nonbelieved memories (NBMs) using the Deese/Roediger–McDermott (DRM) false memory paradigm. Furthermore, by using this approach, we explored the consequences of nonbelieved true and false memories. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants received several DRM wordlists and were presented with a recognition task. After the recognition task, participants’ statements were contradicted by giving them feedback about true and false items. In this way, we succeeded in eliciting nonbelieved true and false memories. In Experiment 2, participants were also involved in a modified perceptual closure task after receiving belief-relevant feedback. In this task, participants received degraded visual representations of words (e.g., false and true) that became clearer over time. Participants had to identify them as fast as possible. We also measured dissociation, compliance, and social desirability. We found that undermining belief had contrasting consequences for true and false memories. That is, nonbelieved true memories were identified more slowly whereas nonbelieved false memories were identified more quickly. We did not find any relation between our individual differences measures and the formation of NBMs

The plasticity of human breast carcinoma cells is more than epithelial to mesenchymal conversion

The human breast comprises three lineages: the luminal epithelial lineage, the myoepithelial lineage, and the mesenchymal lineage. It has been widely accepted that human breast neoplasia pertains only to the luminal epithelial lineage. In recent years, however, evidence has accumulated that neoplastic breast epithelial cells may be substantially more plastic in their differentiation repertoire than previously anticipated. Thus, along with an increasing availability of markers for the myoepithelial lineage, at least a partial differentiation towards this lineage is being revealed frequently. It has also become clear that conversions towards the mesenchymal lineage actually occur, referred to as epithelial to mesenchymal transitions. Indeed, some of the so-called myofibroblasts surrounding the tumor may have an epithelial origin rather than a mesenchymal origin. Because myoepithelial cells, epithelial to mesenchymal transition-derived cells, genuine stromal cells and myofibroblasts share common markers, we now need to define a more ambitious set of markers to distinguish these cell types in the microenvironment of the tumors. This is necessary because the different microenvironments may confer different clinical outcomes. The aim of this commentary is to describe some of the inherent complexities in defining cellular phenotypes in the microenvironment of breast cancer and to expand wherever possible on the implications for tumor suppression and progression

The Link Between Suggestibility, Compliance, and False Confessions: A Review using Experimental and Field Studies

Expert witnesses and scholarssometimesdisagree on whether suggestibility and compliance are related to people’s tendency to falsely confess. Hence, the principal aim of this review was to amass the available evidence on the link between suggestibility and complianceand false confessions. We reviewed experimental data in which false confessions were experimentally evoked and suggestibilityand compliancewere measured. Furthermore, we reviewed field data ofpotential false confessions and their relationship with suggestibility and compliance. These diverse databases converge to the same conclusion. We unequivocally found that high levels of suggestibility (andto a lesser extentcompliance)were associated with an increased vulnerability to falsely confess. Suggestibility measurements might be informative for expert witnesses who must evaluate the false confession potential in legal cases

Evidence for a stem cell hierarchy in the adult human breast

Cellular pathways that contribute to adult human mammary gland architecture and lineages have not been previously described. In this study, we identify a candidate stem cell niche in ducts and zones containing progenitor cells in lobules. Putative stem cells residing in ducts were essentially quiescent, whereas the progenitor cells in the lobules were more likely to be actively dividing. Cells from ducts and lobules collected under the microscope were functionally characterized by colony formation on tissue culture plastic, mammosphere formation in suspension culture, and morphogenesis in laminin-rich extracellular matrix gels. Staining for the lineage markers keratins K14 and K19 further revealed multipotent cells in the stem cell zone and three lineage-restricted cell types outside this zone. Multiparameter cell sorting and functional characterization with reference to anatomical sites in situ confirmed this pattern. The proposal that the four cell types are indeed constituents of an as of yet undescribed stem cell hierarchy was assessed in long-term cultures in which senescence was bypassed. These findings identify an adult human breast ductal stem cell activity and its earliest descendants