The courts and child protection social work in England: tail wags dog?

In England, the problem of excessive delay in court proceedings about children is long-standing, and there have been numerous initiatives over the years to tackle it. Under the Children and Families Act 2014 there is now a statutory limit of 26 weeks for care proceedings (with provision for longer where justified). If this is to be achieved, the quality of the work that local authorities undertake with children and families before proceedings are started will be more important than ever, and the courts will have to take due account of it. This paper draws on research into the formal ‘pre-proceedings process’ in England and Wales, to assess the prospects for the new approach. The research was undertaken in 2010-12, and involved a file survey, observation of pre-proceedings meetings, interviews with key participants (including social workers, lawyers and parents) and a group discussion with judges. The paper considers the implications of the new approach for relationships between the courts and local authorities, in particular how pre-proceedings work should be conducted. The danger is that pre-court practice may become less about family support, more about evidence and timescales, less about prevention of proceedings and more about preparation for court

Conception et fabrication d'un laser à fibre accordable par une cavité Fabry-Pérot microfabriquée en silicium

Calcul de la réflexion et de la transmission par la méthode des matrices de transfert -- Influence de l'ordre des couches d'air et de silicium -- Influence du nombre de couches d'air et de silicium -- Influence de l'ordre de la cavité Fabry-Pérot -- Accordabilité des réseaux de Bragg et Fabry-Pérot -- Atténuation de la transmission d'un Fabry-Pérot par le déplacement d'un mur du réseau -- Conception électromécanique et simulations par éléments finis -- Conception optique -- Fabrication -- Caractérisation optique des réseaux de Bragg -- Caractérisation optique Fabry-Pérot -- Laser

Determinantes dos níveis de cotinina salivar: um estudo de base populacional no Brasil

OBJECTIVE: A cross-sectional population-based study was conducted to assess, in active smokers, the relationship of number of cigarettes smoked and other characteristics to salivary cotinine concentrations. METHODS: A random sample of active smokers aged 15 years or older was selected using a stepwise cluster sample strategy, in the year 2000 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The study included 401 subjects. Salivary cotinine concentration was determined using gas chromatography with nitrogen-phosphorus detection. A standard questionnaire was used to collect demographic and smoking behavioral data. The relation between the number of cigarettes smoked in the last 24h and cotinine level was examined by means of a nonparametric fitting technique of robust locally weighted regression. RESULTS: Significantly (p;40 ng/mL per cigarette were excluded. CONCLUSIONS: There was found a positive association between self-reporting smoking five minutes after waking up, and inhaling more than ½ the time are consistent and higher cotinine levels. These can be markers of dependence and higher nicotine intake. Salivary cotinine proved to be a useful biomarker of recent smoking and can be used in epidemiological studies and smoking cessation programs.OBJETIVO: Realizou-se um estudo transversal para analisar a relação entre número de cigarros fumados e outras características com a concentração de cotinina salivar entre fumantes. MÉTODOS: Fumantes ativos de 15 anos ou mais foram selecionados por meio de amostra probabilística em múltiplos estágios no ano 2000, município do Rio de Janeiro, Brasil. O estudo incluiu 401 fumantes. A concentração de cotinina salivar foi determinada utilizando-se cromatografia gasosa com detector de nitrogênio/fósforo. Coletaram-se informações demográficas e sobre o comportamento tabágico utilizando-se questionário padronizado. A relação entre o número de cigarros fumados nas últimas 24h e o nível de cotinina foi analisada utilizando técnica não paramétrica baseada em regressões robustas locais ponderadas. RESULTADOS: O nível médio ajustado de cotinina foi significativamente (

Prognostic value of cardiac tests in potential kidney transplant recipients: a systematic review

Background: Whether abnormal myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS), dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) or coronary angiography, performed during preoperative evaluation for potential kidney transplant recipients, predicts future cardiovascular morbidity is unclear. We assessed test performance for predicting all-cause mortality, cardiovascular mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Methods: We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE (to February 2014), appraised studies, and calculated risk differences and relative risk ratios (RRR) with 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using random effects meta-analysis. Results: Fifty-two studies (7401 participants) contributed data to the meta-analysis. Among the different tests, similar numbers of patients experienced MACE after an abnormal test result compared with a normal result (risk difference: MPS 20 per 100 patients tested [95% CI, 0.11-0.29], DSE 24 [95% CI, 0.10-0.38], and coronary angiography 20 [95% CI, 0.08-0.32; P = 0.91]). Although there was some evidence that coronary angiography was better at predicting all-cause mortality than MPS (RRR, 0.69; 95% CI, 0.49-0.96; P = 0.03) and DSE (RRR, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.50-1.02; P = 0.06), noninvasive tests were as good as coronary angiography at predicting cardiovascular mortality (RRR, MPS, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.38-2.10; P = 0.78; DSE, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.12-10.05; P = 0.93), and MACE (RRR: MPS, 1.09; 95% CI, 0.64-1.86; P = 0.74; DSE, 1.56; 95% CI, 0.71-3.45; P = 0.25). Conclusions: Noninvasive tests are as good as coronary angiography at predicting future adverse cardiovascular events in advanced chronic kidney disease. However, a substantial number of people with negative test results go on to experience adverse cardiac events

Architecture of human Rag GTPase heterodimers and their complex with mTORC1

© 2019 American Association for the Advancement of Science. All rights reserved. The Rag guanosine triphosphatases (GTPases) recruit the master kinase mTORC1 to lysosomes to regulate cell growth and proliferation in response to amino acid availability. The nucleotide state of Rag heterodimers is critical for their association with mTORC1. Our cryo–electron microscopy structure of RagA/RagC in complex with mTORC1 shows the details of RagA/RagC binding to the RAPTOR subunit of mTORC1 and explains why only the RagAGTP/RagCGDPnucleotide state binds mTORC1. Previous kinetic studies suggested that GTP binding to one Rag locks the heterodimer to prevent GTP binding to the other. Our crystal structures and dynamics of RagA/RagC show the mechanism for this locking and explain how oncogenic hotspot mutations disrupt this process. In contrast to allosteric activation by RHEB, Rag heterodimer binding does not change mTORC1 conformation and activates mTORC1 by targeting it to lysosomes