Social cognition in intellectually disabled male criminal offenders: a deficit in affect perception?

Purpose: Although intellectual disability (ID) and criminal offending have long been associated, the nature of this link is obfuscated by reliance on weak, historical means of assessing ID and fractionating social cognitive skills. This paper addresses current and future research in social perception, social inference and social problem-solving in ID violent offenders. Methodology: Literature is reviewed on comorbidity of criminal offending and ID, and on social problem-solving impairment and offending. In an exploratory case-control series comprising six violent offenders with ID and five similarly able controls, emotion recognition and social inference are assessed by the Awareness of Social Inference Test (TASIT) and social problem-solving ability and style by an adapted Social Problem-Solving Inventory (SPSI-R). Findings: Violent offenders recognised all emotions except ‘anxious’, which they tended to misidentify as ‘surprise’. While offenders could interpret and integrate wider contextual cues, absent such cues offenders were less able to use paralinguistic cues (e.g. emotional tone) to infer speakers' feelings. Offenders in this sample exceeded controls' social problem-solving scores. Value: ID offenders, like neurotypical offenders, display specific deficits in emotion recognition- particularly fear recognition. Concurrently, enhanced social problem solving (at least as measured by the SPSI-R) in offenders is a novel preliminary finding which requires follow-up in a larger sample. Findings are discussed within the social processing framework, highlighting the need for tighter service-user baseline measures and further research into the causes of ID offending

A re-appraisal of the reliability of the 20 m multi-stage shuttle run test

This is the author's PDF version of an article published in European journal of applied physiology in 2007. The original publication is available at www.springerlink.co

A literature review on surgery for cervical vagal schwannomas

Cervical vagal schwannoma is a benign, slow-growing mass, often asymptomatic, with a very low lifetime risk of malignant transformation in general population, but diagnosis is still a challenge. Surgical resection is the treatment of choice even if its close relationship with nerve fibres, from which it arises, threats vagal nerve preservation. We present a case report and a systematic review of literature. All studies on surgical resection of cervical vagal schwannoma have been reviewed. Papers matching the inclusion criteria (topic on surgical removal of cervical vagal schwannoma, English language, full text available) were selected. Fifty-three patients with vagal neck schwannoma submitted to surgery were identified among 22 studies selected. Female/male ratio was 1.5 and median age 44 years. Median diameter was 5 cm (range 2 to 10). Most schwannoma were asymptomatic (68.2%) and received an intracapsular excision (64.9%). Postoperative symptoms were reported in 22.6% of patients. Cervical vagal schwannoma is a benign pathology requiring surgical excision, but frequently postoperative complications can affect patients lifelong, so, surgical indications should be based carefully on the balance between risks and benefits

Postcode Lotteries in Public Health - The NHS Health Checks Programme in North West London

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postcode lotteries in health refer to differences in health care between different geographic areas. These have been previously associated with clinical services. However there has been little documentation of postcode lotteries relating to preventative health care services. This paper describes a postcode lottery effect in relation to the NHS Health Checks Programme (a national cardiovascular screening programme in England) in eight PCTs in the North West sector of London.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A descriptive cross-sectional analysis of the Health Checks Programme was carried out in eight PCTs in North West London using a structured data-collecting instrument.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The analysis found variation in the implementation of the national Health Checks Programme in terms of: the screening approach taken; the allocated budget (which varied from £69,000 to £1.4 million per 100,000 eligible population); payment rates made to providers of Health Checks; tools used to identify and measure risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes; monitoring and evaluation; and preventative services available following the health check.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This study identifies a postcode lottery effect related to a national public health programme. Although it is important to allow enough flexibility in the design of the Health Checks Programme so that it fits in with local factors, aspects of the programme may benefit from greater standardisation or stronger national guidance.</p

Multi-step self-guided pathways for shape-changing metamaterials

Multi-step pathways, constituted of a sequence of reconfigurations, are central to a wide variety of natural and man-made systems. Such pathways autonomously execute in self-guided processes such as protein folding and self-assembly, but require external control in macroscopic mechanical systems, provided by, e.g., actuators in robotics or manual folding in origami. Here we introduce shape-changing mechanical metamaterials, that exhibit self-guided multi-step pathways in response to global uniform compression. Their design combines strongly nonlinear mechanical elements with a multimodal architecture that allows for a sequence of topological reconfigurations, i.e., modifications of the topology caused by the formation of internal self-contacts. We realized such metamaterials by digital manufacturing, and show that the pathway and final configuration can be controlled by rational design of the nonlinear mechanical elements. We furthermore demonstrate that self-contacts suppress pathway errors. Finally, we demonstrate how hierarchical architectures allow to extend the number of distinct reconfiguration steps. Our work establishes general principles for designing mechanical pathways, opening new avenues for self-folding media, pluripotent materials, and pliable devices in, e.g., stretchable electronics and soft robotics.Comment: 16 pages, 3 main figures, 10 extended data figures. See https://youtu.be/8m1QfkMFL0I for an explanatory vide

Evaluation of a New Balloon Catheter for Difficult Calcified Lesions in Infrainguinal Arterial Disease: Outcome of a Multicenter Registry

The purpose of this study was to assess the technical performance and immediate procedure outcome of a new balloon catheter in the treatment of calcified lesions in infrainguinal arterial disease. Seventy-five patients with infrainguinal arterial disease were prospectively entered into the registry. The catheter (ReeKross Clearstream, Ireland) is a 5- to 6-Fr balloon catheter with a rigid shaft intended for enhanced pushability. Only technical procedural outcome was recorded. Treated calcified lesions (range: 5–30 cm), assessed angiographically, were located in the superficial femoral, popliteal, and crural arteries. In 67 patients the lesion was an occlusion. Guidewire passage occurred subintimally in 68 patients. In 24 patients a standard balloon catheter was chosen as first treatment catheter: 5 failed to cross the lesion, 8 balloons ruptured, and in 11 patients there was an inadequate dilatation result. In only one of the five patients did subsequent use of the ReeKross catheter also fail in lesion crossing. The ReeKross was successful as secondary catheter in the other 23 cases. In 50 patients the ReeKross was used as primary catheter. In total the ReeKross crossed the lesions in 74 patients. After passage and dilatation with this catheter in 73 patients (1 failed true-lumen reentry), 19 had >30% residual lesions, of which 11 were not treated and 8 were successfully stented. No ReeKross balloons ruptured. We conclude that in the treatment of difficult calcified lesions in arterial stenotic or occlusive disease, the choice of a high-pushability angioplasty catheter, with more calcification-resistant balloon characteristics, like the ReeKross, warrants consideration

Grouping practices in the primary school: what influences change?

During the 1990s, there was considerable emphasis on promoting particular kinds of pupil grouping as a means of raising educational standards. This survey of 2000 primary schools explored the extent to which schools had changed their grouping practices in responses to this, the nature of the changes made and the reasons for those changes. Forty eight percent of responding schools reported that they had made no change. Twenty two percent reported changes because of the literacy hour, 2% because of the numeracy hour, 7% because of a combination of these and 21% for other reasons. Important influences on decisions about the types of grouping adopted were related to pupil learning and differentiation, teaching, the implementation of the national literacy strategy, practical issues and school self-evaluation

Quantitative model for inferring dynamic regulation of the tumour suppressor gene p53

Background: The availability of various "omics" datasets creates a prospect of performing the study of genome-wide genetic regulatory networks. However, one of the major challenges of using mathematical models to infer genetic regulation from microarray datasets is the lack of information for protein concentrations and activities. Most of the previous researches were based on an assumption that the mRNA levels of a gene are consistent with its protein activities, though it is not always the case. Therefore, a more sophisticated modelling framework together with the corresponding inference methods is needed to accurately estimate genetic regulation from "omics" datasets. Results: This work developed a novel approach, which is based on a nonlinear mathematical model, to infer genetic regulation from microarray gene expression data. By using the p53 network as a test system, we used the nonlinear model to estimate the activities of transcription factor (TF) p53 from the expression levels of its target genes, and to identify the activation/inhibition status of p53 to its target genes. The predicted top 317 putative p53 target genes were supported by DNA sequence analysis. A comparison between our prediction and the other published predictions of p53 targets suggests that most of putative p53 targets may share a common depleted or enriched sequence signal on their upstream non-coding region. Conclusions: The proposed quantitative model can not only be used to infer the regulatory relationship between TF and its down-stream genes, but also be applied to estimate the protein activities of TF from the expression levels of its target genes

The interaction between a sexually transferred steroid hormone and a female protein regulates oogenesis in the malaria mosquito anopheles gambiae

Molecular interactions between male and female factors during mating profoundly affect the reproductive behavior and physiology of female insects. In natural populations of the malaria mosquito Anopheles gambiae, blood-fed females direct nutritional resources towards oogenesis only when inseminated. Here we show that the mating-dependent pathway of egg development in these mosquitoes is regulated by the interaction between the steroid hormone 20-hydroxy-ecdysone (20E) transferred by males during copulation and a female Mating-Induced Stimulator of Oogenesis (MISO) protein. RNAi silencing of MISO abolishes the increase in oogenesis caused by mating in blood-fed females, causes a delay in oocyte development, and impairs the function of male-transferred 20E. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments show that MISO and 20E interact in the female reproductive tract. Moreover MISO expression after mating is induced by 20E via the Ecdysone Receptor, demonstrating a close cooperation between the two factors. Male-transferred 20E therefore acts as a mating signal that females translate into an increased investment in egg development via a MISO-dependent pathway. The identification of this male–female reproductive interaction offers novel opportunities for the control of mosquito populations that transmit malaria

Feedback in laparoscopic skills acquisition: an observational study during a basic skills training course

This study aimed to obtain insight in the effect of expert feedback during a basic laparoscopic skills training course for residents. A questionnaire was held among participants regarding provided feedback and the self-perceived laparoscopic skills improvement. The participants (n = 24) who completed the questionnaire were in their first to fifth postgraduate year. Most feedback was directed at intracorporeal knot tying (47% reported extensive feedback), while camera navigation and body positioning received the least feedback (40% and 43%, respectively, responded to have received no feedback at all). After the course, the self-perceived competence in intracorporeal knot tying and cutting had improved significantly, while camera navigation, body positioning, pointing, and grasping tasks did not improve. In conclusion, most benefit from expert feedback can be obtained at the start of the learning curve. Therefore, the basic laparoscopic skills course should be attended early in residency. Additionally, it is crucial that training objectives are clear prior to a course for both the expert and the trainee, in order to focus the feedback on all training objectives