The Feasibility, Appropriateness, Meaningfulness, and Effectiveness of Parenting and Family Support Programs Delivered in the Criminal Justice System: A Systematic Review

Children whose parents are involved in the criminal justice system (CJS) are at increased risk of developing social, emotional, and behavioural difficulties and are more likely than their peers to become involved in the CJS themselves. Parenting behaviour and parent-child relationships have the potential to affect children’s outcomes with positive parenting practices having the potential to moderate some of the negative outcomes associated with parental involvement in the CJS. However, many parents in the CJS may lack appropriate role models to support the development of positive parenting beliefs and practices. Parenting programs offer an opportunity for parents to enhance their parenting knowledge and behaviours and improve relationships with children. Quantitative and qualitative evidence pertaining to the implementation and effectiveness of parenting programs delivered in the CJS was included. Five databases were searched and a total of 1145 articles were identified of which 29 met the review inclusion criteria. Overall, programs were found to significantly improve parenting attitudes; however, evidence of wider effects is limited. Additionally, the findings indicate that parenting programs can be meaningful for parents. Despite this, a number of challenges for implementation were found including the transient nature of the prison population and a lack of parent-child contact. Based on these findings, recommendations for the future development and delivery of programs are discussed

Aerobic fitness is associated with greater hippocampal cerebral blood flow in children

The present study is the first to investigate whether cerebral blood flow in the hippocampus relates to aerobic fitness in children. In particular, we used arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion MRI to provide a quantitative measure of blood flow in the hippocampus in 73 7- to 9-year-old preadolescent children. Indeed, aerobic fitness was found to relate to greater perfusion in the hippocampus, independent of age, sex, and hippocampal volume. Such results suggest improved microcirculation and cerebral vasculature in preadolescent children with higher levels of aerobic fitness. Further, aerobic fitness may influence how the brain regulates its metabolic demands via blood flow in a region of the brain important for learning and memory. To add specificity to the relationship of fitness to the hippocampus, we demonstrate no significant association between aerobic fitness and cerebral blood flow in the brainstem. Our results reinforce the importance of aerobic fitness during a critical period of child development

Paclitaxel with or without trametinib or pazopanib in advanced wild-type BRAF Melanoma (PACMEL): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, controlled phase II trial

Backround: Advanced melanoma treatments often rely on immunotherapy or targeting mutations, with few treatment options for wild-type BRAF (BRAF-wt) melanoma. However, the MAPK pathway is activated in most melanoma, including BRAF-wt. We assessed whether inhibiting this pathway by adding kinase inhibitors trametinib or pazopanib to paclitaxel chemotherapy improved outcomes in patients with advanced BRAF-wt melanoma in a phase II, randomised, open-label trial. Patients and Methods: Patients were randomised (1:1:1) to paclitaxel alone or with trametinib or pazopanib. Paclitaxel was given for a maximum of 6 cycles, while 2 mg trametinib and 800 mg pazopanib were administered orally once daily until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Participants and investigators were unblinded. The primary endpoint was progression-free survival (PFS). Key secondary endpoints included overall survival (OS) and objective response rate (ORR). Results: Participants were randomised to paclitaxel alone (n = 38), paclitaxel and trametinib (n = 36), or paclitaxel and pazopanib (n = 37). Adding trametinib significantly improved 6-month PFS; (time ratio (TR), 1.47; 90% confidence interval (CI): 1.08 to 2.01, P = 0.04) and ORR (42% versus 13%; P = 0.01), but had no effect on OS (P = 0.25). Adding pazopanib did not benefit 6-month PFS; (TR, 1.36; 90% CI: 0.96 to 1.93, P = 0.14), ORR, or OS. Toxicity increased in both combination arms. Conclusion: In this phase II trial, adding trametinib to paclitaxel chemotherapy for BRAF-wt melanoma improved PFS and substantially increased ORR but did not impact OS. This study was registered with the EU Clinical Trials Register, number EudraCT 2011-002545-35, and with the ISRCTN registry, number 43327231.</p

Blink perturbation effects on saccades evoked by microstimulation of the superior colliculus

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