A pilot feasibility trial of alcohol screening and brief intervention in the police custody setting (ACCEPT): study protocol for a cluster randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND: There is evidence of an association between alcohol use and offending behaviour and around a quarter of police time is spent on alcohol-related incidents. Police custody, therefore, provides an important opportunity to intervene. This pilot trial aims to investigate whether a definitive evaluation of screening and brief interventions aimed at reducing risky drinking in arrestees is acceptable and feasible in the custody suite setting. METHODS: Screening will be carried out by trained detention officers or drug and alcohol workers in four police forces across two geographical areas (North East and South West England). Detention officers (or drug and alcohol workers) will be cluster randomised to one of three conditions: screening only (control group), screening followed immediately by 10 min of manualised brief structured advice delivered by the individual responsible for screening (intervention 1) or screening followed by 10 min of manualised brief structured advice delivered by the individual responsible for screening plus the offer of a subsequent 20-min session of behaviour change counselling delivered by a trained alcohol health worker (intervention 2). Participants will be arrestees aged 18+ who screen positive on the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test. Participants will be followed up at 6 and 12 months post-intervention. An embedded qualitative process evaluation will explore acceptability of alcohol screening and brief intervention to staff and arrestees as well as facilitators and barriers to the delivery of such approaches in this setting. RESULTS: Recruitment is currently underway and due to end May 2015. CONCLUSION: Results from this pilot trial will determine if a definitive evaluation is possible in the future and will provide stakeholder input to its design. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Reference number: ISRCTN89291046

Cross-sectional measures and modelled estimates of blood alcohol levels in UK nightlife and their relationships with drinking behaviours and observed signs of inebriation

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Management of nightlife in UK cities focuses on creating safe places for individuals to drink. Little is known about intoxication levels as measuring total alcohol consumption on nights out is complicated by early evening interviews missing subsequent consumption and later interviews risking individuals being too drunk to recall consumption or participate at all. Here we assess mixed survey and modelling techniques as a methodological approach to examining these issues.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Interviews with a cross sectional sample of nightlife patrons (n = 214) recruited at different locations in three cities established alcohol consumption patterns up to the point of interview, self-assessed drunkenness and intended drinking patterns throughout the remaining night out. Researchers observed individuals' behaviours to independently assess drunkenness. Breath alcohol tests and general linear modelling were used to model blood alcohol levels at participants' expected time of leaving nightlife settings.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>At interview 49.53% of individuals regarded themselves as drunk and 79.43% intended to consume more alcohol before returning home, with around one in ten individuals (15.38% males; 4.35% females) intending to consume >40 units (equal to 400 mls of pure alcohol). Self-assessed drunkenness, researcher observed measures of sobriety and blood alcohol levels all correlated well. Modelled estimates for blood alcohol at time of going home suggested that 71.68% of males would be over 0.15%BAC (gms alcohol/100 mls blood). Higher blood alcohol levels were related to drinking later into the night.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>UK nightlife has used substantive health and judicial resources with the aim of creating safer and later drinking environments. Survey and modelling techniques together can help characterise the condition of drinkers when using and leaving these settings. Here such methods identified patrons as routinely getting drunk, with risks of drunkenness increasing over later nights. Without preventing drunkenness and sales to intoxicated individuals, extended drinking hours can simply act as havens for drunks. A public health approach to nightlife is needed to better understand and take into account the chronic effects of drunkenness, the damages arising after drunk individuals leave city centres and the costs of people avoiding drunken city centres at night.</p

Road Trauma in Teenage Male Youth with Childhood Disruptive Behavior Disorders: A Population Based Analysis

Donald Redelmeier and colleagues conducted a population-based case-control study of 16-19-year-old males hospitalized for road trauma or appendicitis and showed that disruptive behavior disorders explained a significant amount of road trauma in this group

Function of Gene BPD420__00515 in Bordetella Pertussis

The goal of the research was to characterize a gene of interest from Bordetella pertussis, the bacteria that causes Whooping cough. This is an extremely contagious respiratory tract infection that is characterized through its severe coughing fits that leave a person gasping, giving the “whoop” sound that the illness is known for. While there is a vaccine, rates are increasing, and predicted to continue in the future. Finding specific functions for all genes in a pathogen allows researchers more opportunity to inhibit the infectious cycle more thoroughly giving rise to better treatments and preventative measures. The specific gene of interest chosen was BPD420_00515. It is predicted to be a surface antigen, found on the outer membrane of the cell. Bacterial surface antigens have been found to play roles in assembly and extracellular exchange, such as horizontal gene transfer that results in evolutionarily advantageous mutations for that pathogen. They are also known to have a role in triggering host immune responses, which target foreign bacterial cells creating antibodies that target the infectious bacteria. To perform research on the function of the gene of interest, a knockout mutant in B. pertussis was made that could be compared to the wild-type strain. This was completed by taking advantage of the natural bacterial process of homologous recombination, DNA repair that allows the strands to seal without the gene of interest in the nucleic acid coding. After successfully creating the knockout mutant, studies will be conducted to determine the effect of the deletion on the B. pertussis growth, host cell attachment, and extracellular exchange

Perspectives on the effectiveness of the late night liquor trading lockout legislative provision

The effectiveness of ‘the lockout policy’ integrated within a broader police enforcement strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm, in and around late-night licensed premises, in major drinking precincts was examined. First response operational police (n= 280) recorded all alcohol and non alcohol-related incidents they attended in and around late-night liquor trading premises. A before and after study design was used, with police completing modified activity logs prior to and following the introduction of the lockout policy in two policing regions: Gold Coast (n = 12,801 incidents); Brisbane City/Fortitude Valley (n = 9,117 incidents). Qualitative information from key stakeholders (e.g., Police, Security Staff &amp; Politicians n = 20) was also obtained. The number of alcohol-related offences requiring police attention was significantly reduced in some policing areas and for some types of offences (e.g., sex offences, street disturbances, traffic incidents. However, there was no variation for a number of other offence categories (e.g., assault). Interviews with licensees revealed that although all were initially opposed to the lockout policy, most perceived benefits from its introduction. This study was the first of its kind to comprehensively examine the impact of a lockout policy and provides supportive evidence for the effectiveness of the lockout policy as integrating positively with police enforcement to enhance public safety in some areas in and around late-night liquor trading premises

Variable Tl, Pb, and Cd concentrations and isotope compositions of enstatite and ordinary chondrites-Evidence for volatile element mobilization and decay of extinct 205 Pb

© 2017 The Authors. Meteoritics & Planetary Science published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Meteoritical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The attached file is the published version of the article

The cadmium and zinc isotope compositions of the silicate Earth – implications for terrestrial volatile accretion

Zinc and Cd isotope compositions are presented for a comprehensive suite of terrestrial rocks to constrain the extent of Zn and Cd isotope fractionation during igneous processes and better define the δ66Zn and δ114Cd values of the silicate Earth (the δ values denote per mille deviations of 66Zn/64Zn from JMC Lyon Zn and of 114Cd/110Cd from NIST SRM 3108 Cd). Analyses of spinel lherzolites provide a bulk silicate Earth (BSE) δ114CdBSE value of –0.06 ± 0.03‰ (2SD). For Zn, the peridotite data of the current and previous studies define a mean δ66ZnBSE = 0.20 ± 0.05‰ (2SD). Komatiite analyses of this and published investigations yield similar mean values, which suggests that the Zn and Cd isotope compositions of the mantle remained fairly constant since the Archean. Data for loess provide upper continental crust compositions of δ114Cd = 0.03 ± 0.10‰ and δ66Zn = 0.23 ± 0.07‰. The Zn isotope and abundance data for peridotites and oceanic basalts are in accord with the previous observation of a mantle array, with basalts having higher Zn concentrations and δ66Zn values than the peridotites. To a first order, this reflects slightly incompatible behaviour of Zn during mantle melting and melt differentiation with associated enrichment of heavy Zn isotopes in the melt phase. Cadmium is marginally more incompatible than Zn during igneous processes and the oceanic basalts also display a minor enrichment of heavy Cd isotopes relative to peridotites. However, secondary processes produce significant Cd isotope variability in both mantle melts and peridotites, obscuring the primary igneous array. The δ66ZnBSE estimates of this and previous studies resemble the Zn isotope compositions of CV and CO carbonaceous and some enstatite chondrites. In contrast, the BSE has a lower δ114CdBSE value than enstatite and carbonaceous chondrites. This implies that the Cd isotope composition of the BSE was either fractionated during accretion or that Earth’s Cd inventory was not exclusively acquired from material related to carbonaceous and enstatite chondrites. Importantly, delivery of Zn and Cd to the BSE solely by CI and CM chondrites is not in accord with the meteorite and terrestrial stable isotope data of these elements

The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG): a model of collaboration for psychiatric genomic research in Africa

The Africa Ethics Working Group (AEWG) is a South-South-North collaboration of bioethics and mental health researchers from sub-Saharan Africa, working to tackle emerging ethical challenges in global mental health research. Initially formed to provide ethical guidance for a neuro-psychiatric genomics research project, AEWG has evolved to address cross cutting ethical issues in mental health research aimed at addressing equity in North-South collaborations. Global South refers to economically developing countries (sub-Saharan Africa in this context) and Global North to economically developed countries (primarily Europe, UK and North America). In this letter we discuss lessons that as a group we have learnt over the last three years; lessons that similar collaborations could draw on. With increasing expertise from Global South as an outcome of several capacity strengthening initiatives, it is expected that the nature of scientific collaborations will shift to a truly equitable partnership. The AEWG provides a model to rethink contributions that each partner could make in these collaborations