Home visits: a reflection on family contact in a specialist forensic intellectual disability service

Purpose – There is little published literature about the number of home visits provided to patients within forensic intellectual disability units, and there is no published data on variables that affect home visits. There is a need for a baseline audit that can formulate standards for future practice. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes the home visit programme within a forensic intellectual disability service, and a baseline audit of the programme. The audit measured the number of home visits, any factors that adversely affect home visits, and the extent of family contact. The authors propose audit standards for evaluation of good practice in this area. Findings – The audit involved 63 patients over a one-year period. In total, 81 per cent of patients had some form of family contact and 54 per cent of patients at least one home visit. However, 19 per cent of patients had no contact with their family due to a variety of reasons. There were no significant differences in the number of home visits between men and women, patients on civil vs criminal sections or those treated “within area” or “out of area”. Patients in rehabilitation wards had significantly more visits than those in low or medium secure. Originality/value – Conventional wisdom is that reduced family contact is the direct result of patients being placed “out of area”. The results of this audit suggest that, at least in this group, the reasons may be much more nuanced and that the current definition of “out of area” has to be improved to incorporate the actual distance between the patient’s current family home and the service. Audit standards have been proposed to monitor family contact and home visits. Future work should focus on the relationship between family contact and treatment outcomes

Proximity to vector breeding site and risk of Plasmodium vivax infection: a prospective cohort study in rural Ethiopia.

BACKGROUND: Despite falling incidence and mortality since the turn of the century, malaria remains an important global health challenge. In the future fight against malaria, greater emphasis will have to be placed on understanding and addressing malaria caused by the Plasmodium vivax parasite. Unfortunately, due to years of neglect and underfunding, there are currently many gaps in knowledge of P. vivax malaria. The aims of the present study were to explore the association between distance to vector breeding site and P. vivax infection in rural Ethiopia, and, secondarily, to test whether this association varies with age. METHODS: A prospective, cohort study of all residents in the Chano Mille Kebele in southern Ethiopia from April 2009 to March 2011 (n = 8121). Weekly household follow up visits included screening for febrile cases (active surveillance). Participants were also asked to contact the local health centre if they experienced subjective fever between visits (passive surveillance). Plasmodium vivax infection was confirmed using microscopy by two independent readers. Information was collected on demographics and household characteristics including GPS-determined distance to vector breeding site. Data was analysed using Cox regression modelling. RESULTS: Overall the P. vivax infection rate was 12.3/1000 person-years (95% CI 10.5-14.5). Mean household distance to breeding site was 2449 m (range 1646-3717 m). Fully adjusted results showed very strong evidence of an association between proximity to breeding site and P. vivax infection: rate ratio = 3.47 (95% CI 2.15-5.60; P  2700 m; n = 2460). There was no evidence that age was an effect modifier in the association. CONCLUSION: Results showed strong evidence that household proximity to vector breeding site is positively associated with P. vivax infection in rural Ethiopia, and that this association is constant across age groups. The findings might influence how net-distribution and indoor residual spraying campaigns are planned, help guide strategies on water resource development by highlighting potential health effects of man-made dams near human habitats, and add to current educational information given to people living close to breeding sites

Immersing the artist and designer in the needs of the clinician: evolving the brief for distraction and stress reduction in a new Child Protection Unit.

Engaging clinicians in the design of new, less stressful spaces in healthcare is an interdisciplinary challenge for artists and designers. The design brief is the primary means of ensuring shared understanding and success criteria for creative projects (Press and Cooper 2003) and highlights ambitions and constraints for the project. Conventionally the brief is prepared by the client and issued to the artist or designer. This assumes that the client knows at the outset how to articulate needs and is able to envisage the outcome. Alternative processes emerging through co-design and interdisciplinary working assume the brief is developed or evolved jointly as part of the process and is focused on the experience of the user. This paper focuses on the evolution of a meaningful brief for a Child Protection Unit in NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde’s new Royal Hospital for Children. Development of the brief was driven by the art and design team and aimed at opening up mutual understanding with the clinicians. The visual mapping of dialogue between artist, interactive designer and clinicians provides a novel approach to understanding this key stage of the process. Fremantle co-ordinated the paper. Hepburn undertook the fieldwork and provided the analysis. Fremantle structured the paper and co-ordinated reviews with Hamilton and Sands

The effects of graded levels of calorie restriction : IV. Non-linear change in behavioural phenotype of mice in response to short-term calorie restriction

We would like to acknowledge the BSU staff for their invaluable help with caring for the animals. The work was supported by the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council BBSRC (BB/G009953/1 and BB/J020028/1).Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Assessing the contribution of information technology to socio-economic development : a case study from rural South Africa

This paper addresses the challenge of assessing an ICT for development (ICT4D) project’s contribution to the socio-economic development of the broader community where it is implemented. It argues for using a systems approach to deal with this challenge, since systems thinking is concerned with the performance of the total system. Systems thinking is seldom used in ICT4D, and is lacking in existing ICT4D impact assessment frameworks. In this paper, the authors apply a social systems framework in an ICT4D case study. The framework is used to describe and assess the contribution of the ICT4D project to the socio-economic development of the larger community. Since Community Informatics (CI) embraces a broad socio-technical systems view, the work is relevant to a CI audience.http://ci-journal.net/index.php/ciejam201

Degradación de fenoles presentes en las descargas de aguas residuales de la Refineria de Shushufindi mediante fotodegradación utilizando óxido de titanio (IV) adherido electroquímicamente para su descontaminación, 2016.

La presencia de fenoles en las aguas industriales, establecen un problema al momento de su disposición final. El presente trabajo tuvo como objetivo la degradación de los fenoles presentes en las descargas de aguas residuales de la refinería de Shushufindi mediante foto degradación catalítica. Mediante el método de degradación electro-foto catalítico que consiste en la adhesión electroquímica del dióxido de titanio (TiO xv 2 /UV) se realizó la degradación de fenoles presentes en las aguas residuales indicando una alta eficiencia del 99%, en un lapso de 180 minutos; en un medio ácido de 5,14 y una lámpara UV-Visible (Vilber Lourmat 1102600; λ = 365 nm). Demostrando una transformación en radicales hidroxilos a partir del agua, realizando dos tratamientos comparativos: Fenton (H 2 O 2 /Fe 2+ ) y electro-foto catalítico, se determinó el grado de eficiencia. Mediante concentraciones de fenol de 30, 50 mg/L se obtuvieron porcentajes de degradación de 98 a 99% del contaminante. Se concluyó que el método de degradación electro- foto catalítico TiO 2 /UV, en la aceleración de degradación fue evidentemente, más eficiente, teniendo ventajas más favorables que el tratamiento Fenton (H 2 O 2 /Fe 2+ ), reduciendo costos en reactivos, trazas de hierro en el agua que pueden ocasionar afecciones a la salud. Se recomienda el uso del método de degradación electro-foto catalítico para el tratamiento de aguas industriales.The presence of phenols in industrial waters, establish a problem in its final moment. The present work aimed at the degradation of fungi in the wastewater discharges of the Shushufindi refinery by photo catalytic degradation. By the method of catalytic electrophotographic degradation , which is bound in the electrochemical adhesion of titanium oxide IV (TiO 2 / UV) , the degradation of the phenols in the waste water was carried out indicating a high efficiency of 99% in a lapse of 180 minutes ; In an acid medium of 5,14 and UV-Visible lamp ( Vilber Lourmat 1102600; λ = 365 nm ). Demonstrating a transformation in hydrophilic radicals from water performing the comparative treatments Fenton (H xvi 2 O 2 / Fe 2+ ) and electro-catalytic photo, the degree of efficiency was determined. By means of phenol concentrations of 30, 50 mg/L the percentages of degradation of 98 to 99 % of the contaminant were obtained. It was concluded that the TiO 2 / UV electro-photo degradation method, in the acceleration of the degradation, was more efficient, having more favorable advantages that the treatment Fenton (H 2 O 2 / Fe 2+ ), reducing the costs in reagents, pieces of iron in water that can cause health problems. It is recommended to use the catalytic electro-photo degradation method for the treatment of industrial waters

Automated Drone Calibration System

The final design review of the Inspired Flight Calibration Team senior project will detail the process used to complete a verification prototype of a drone calibration device and discuss lessons learned and suggestions for improving this device. Going from brainstorming and conceptual prototyping all the way through verification prototyping and testing, we were able to design a gyroscopic device that met Inspired Flight’s needs for the flight sensor calibration of their drones. The mechanical design involved comprehensive CAD models and hands-on manufacturing. The mechatronics side of the project worked heavily with electrical wiring and writing custom software to communicate and run the calibration sequences. While we were not able to complete as much of this project as planned due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we delivered a working verification prototype along with our documented work to Inspired Flight so that it can be integrated into their calibration process