The influence of chronic conditions and the environment on pubertal development. An example from medieval England

Adolescence is a unique period in human development encompassing sexual maturation (puberty) and the physical and psychological transition into adulthood. It is a crucial time for healthy development and any adverse environmental conditions, poor nutrition, or chronic infection can alter the timing of these physical changes; delaying menarche in girls or the age of peak height velocity in boys. This study explores the impact of chronic illness on the tempo of puberty in 607 adolescent skeletons from medieval England (AD 900-1550). A total of 135 (22.2%) adolescents showed some delay in their pubertal development, and this lag increased with age. Of those with a chronic condition, 40.0% (n=24/60) showed delay compared to only 20.3% (n=111/547) of the non-pathology group. This difference was statistically significant. A binary logistic regression model demonstrated a significant association between increasing delay in pubertal stage attainment with age in the pathology group. This is the first time that chronic conditions have been directly associated with a delay in maturation in the osteological record, using a new method to assess stages of puberty in skeletal remains

Buildings of Secular and Religious Lordship: Anglo-Saxon Tower-nave Churches

Tower-nave churches are essentially free-standing towers which incorporated chapels, and are characteristically Anglo-Saxon in date and construction. Due to their elaborate form and limited capacity they have been suggested as having a dual ecclesiastical and secular high-status function. This study has identified thirty-five examples, dating mainly to the 10th and 11th centuries, both standing and known from documentary sources and excavation. A thorough study of each site has been undertaken: a review of previous work on the site, extant fabric drawn and described, documentary sources investigated, and each site placed in its settlement and landscape contexts. All but two tower-naves were constructed at the behest of powerful secular or ecclesiastical lords, either at their residences or at major early medieval monasteries. The monastic tower-naves are more heterogeneous in size and form than the lordly examples, which are almost uniformly small and square. Both monastic and lordly tower-naves can be related to the highest ranks of early medieval society. Monastic tower-naves functioned as funerary structures, gateways, high-status private chapels or burial-chapels. Lordly tower-naves were private chapels and architectural embodiments of aristocratic status, many of which would have made useful watchtowers and articulated with landscapes of social power. The construction of tower-naves largely ceased after c. 1100. Monastic tower-naves endured as free-standing monastic belltowers, which shared their gateway and mortuary functions, whilst lordly tower-naves are argued to have influenced the development of the early Norman tower-keep

Exploring recent developments in restorative policing in England and Wales

The evolution of the policing role over the last decade has led to 33 police forces in England and Wales integrating restorative justice practices, in one form or another, into their responses to minor crime committed for the first time by both youths and adults. Most recently, this reform dynamic has been used in response to more serious offences committed by persistent offenders and expanded to include all stages of the criminal justice process. Despite the significant positive rhetoric that surrounds the adoption and use of restorative justice, there are a number of procedural and cultural challenges that pose a threat to the extent to which restorative justice may become embedded within the policing response. This article explores these developments and highlights where potential problems for implementation may arise as well as some strategies to overcome them

The effects of daylight saving time clock changes on accelerometer-measured sleep duration in the UK Biobank

Introduction: Daylight saving time (DST) clock changes have been associatedwith sleep loss for around a week after the transitions. However,many studies have relied on subjective self-report data, which may beaffected by recall bias. Furthermore, estimates from more objective,accelerometer-measured sleep studies have lacked precision due tosmall sample sizes. We aimed to explore the effects of DST clockchanges on sleep duration in a large accelerometer dataset.Method: UK Biobank participants (n = 11,780; aged 43–78) woreaccelerometers for one or more days during the two-week period surroundingthe Spring and Autumn DST transitions between October2013 and November 2015. Between-individual t tests compared sleepduration on the Sunday (midnight to midnight) of the clock changes tothe Sunday before and the Sunday after. Linear regression analysescompared sleep duration between individuals on the Monday toSaturday before and after the transitions (Mon before vs. Monafter etc.).Results: In Spring, mean sleep duration was 65 min lower on theSunday of the clock changes than the Sunday before (95% CI -72 to-58 min) and 61 min lower than the Sunday after (95% CI -69 to-53). It was 10 min higher on the Wednesday after the clock changethan the Wednesday before (95% CI 3 to 17 min), 19 min higher onthe Friday after than the Friday before (95% CI 11 to 27 min) and10 min lower on the Saturday after than the Saturday before (95% CI-20 to -1 min). In Autumn, mean sleep duration on the Sunday ofthe clock changes was 33 min higher than the Sunday before (95% CI27 to 39 min) and 38 min higher than the Sunday after (95% CI 32 to43 min). There were no detectable differences, before and after thetransition, for other days in Autumn.Conclusion: The Spring DST transition was associated with an acutereduction in sleep duration on the Sunday of the clock change. However,the effect was short lived, with sleep on the following weekdaysnot adversely affected. Future research should use a large accelerometerdataset to explore the timing of sleep over the clock changes.Conflict of Interest: No

Fragile alliances: culture, funding and sustainability in police–academic partnerships

Background: Police–academic partnerships have developed significantly over the past decade or so, spurred on by the expansion of the evidence-based policing movement, the increasing value attached to impactful research in the academy, the ascendance of the professionalisation agenda in the police, and the growing necessity of cross-sectoral collaborations under conditions of post-financial crisis austerity. This trend has given rise to a burgeoning literature in the discipline of criminology which is concerned with charting the progress of these partnerships and setting out the ideal conditions for their future expansion. Aims and objectives: we advance a sympathetic critique of this literature, adding a note of caution to its largely optimistic outlook. Methods: we do this by combining a narrative review of the literature on police–academic partnerships with insights from elsewhere in the social sciences and observations from our experience of running the International Strand of the N8 Policing Research Partnership. Findings and discussion: while we recognise that police–academic partnerships have certainly come a long way, and have the capacity to make important contributions to police work, we argue that they remain ‘fragile’ alliances, beset with fractious occupational cultures, unreliable funding streams and unsustainable inter-institutional relationships. We also reason that the structures underpinning this ‘fragility’ do not represent problems to be overcome, for they help to protect the integrity of the two professions. Conclusion: we conclude by offering pragmatic measures for sustaining police–academic partnerships during those difficult periods characterised by cultural dissonance, a paucity of funding and the turnover of key personnel. Key messages Over the past decade, police–academic partnerships have developed considerably in scope and size. This process has been spurred on by shifting attitudes towards research in the police and academy. However, these partnerships are largely confined to a select few countries in the Global North. They are also rendered ‘fragile’ by issues relating to culture, funding and sustainability

Using Mendelian Randomisation to Prioritise Candidate Maternal Metabolic Traits Influencing Offspring Birthweight

Marked physiological changes in pregnancy are essential to support foetal growth; however, evidence on the role of specific maternal metabolic traits from human studies is limited. We integrated Mendelian randomisation (MR) and metabolomics data to probe the effect of 46 maternal metabolic traits on offspring birthweight (N = 210,267). We implemented univariable two-sample MR (UVMR) to identify candidate metabolic traits affecting offspring birthweight. We then applied two-sample multivariable MR (MVMR) to jointly estimate the potential direct causal effect for each candidate maternal metabolic trait. In the main analyses, UVMR indicated that higher maternal glucose was related to higher offspring birthweight (0.328 SD difference in mean birthweight per 1 SD difference in glucose (95% CI: 0.104, 0.414)), as were maternal glutamine (0.089 (95% CI: 0.033, 0.144)) and alanine (0.137 (95% CI: 0.036, 0.239)). In additional analyses, UVMR estimates were broadly consistent when selecting instruments from an independent data source, albeit imprecise for glutamine and alanine, and were attenuated for alanine when using other UVMR methods. MVMR results supported independent effects of these metabolites, with effect estimates consistent with those seen with the UVMR results. Among the remaining 43 metabolic traits, UVMR estimates indicated a null effect for most lipid-related traits and a high degree of uncertainty for other amino acids and ketone bodies. Our findings suggest that maternal gestational glucose and glutamine are causally related to offspring birthweight

Twelve experiments in restorative justice: the Jerry Lee program of randomized trials of restorative justice conferences

Objectives: We conducted and measured outcomes from the Jerry Lee Program of 12 randomized trials over two decades in Australia and the United Kingdom (UK), testing an identical method of restorative justice taught by the same trainers to hundreds of police officers and others who delivered it to 2231 offenders and 1179 victims in 1995–2004. The article provides a review of the scientific progress and policy effects of the program, as described in 75 publications and papers arising from it, including previously unpublished results of our ongoing analyses. Methods: After random assignment in four Australian tests diverting criminal or juvenile cases from prosecution to restorative justice conferences (RJCs), and eight UK tests of supplementing criminal or juvenile proceedings with RJCs, we followed intention-to-treat group differences between offenders for up to 18 years, and for victims up to 10 years. Results: We distil and modify prior research reports into 18 updated evidence-based conclusions about the effects of RJCs on both victims and offenders. Initial reductions in repeat offending among offenders assigned to RJCs (compared to controls) were found in 10 of our 12 tests. Nine of the ten successes were for crimes with personal victims who participated in the RJCs, with clear benefits in both short- and long-term measures, including less prevalence of post-traumatic stress symptoms. Moderator effects across and within experiments showed that RJCs work best for the most frequent and serious offenders for repeat offending outcomes, with other clear moderator effects for poly-drug use and offense seriousness. Conclusions: RJ conferences organized and led (most often) by specially-trained police produced substantial short-term, and some long-term, benefits for both crime victims and their offenders, across a range of offense types and stages of the criminal justice processes on two continents, but with important moderator effects. These conclusions are made possible by testing a new kind of justice on a programmatic basis that would allow prospective meta-analysis, rather than doing one experiment at a time. This finding provides evidence that funding agencies could get far more evidence for the same cost from programs of identical, but multiple, RCTs of the identical innovative methods, rather than funding one RCT at a time

Structural models of genome-wide covariance identify multiple common dimensions in autism

Common genetic variation has been associated with multiple symptoms in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). However, our knowledge of shared genetic factor structures contributing to this highly heterogeneous neurodevelopmental condition is limited. Here, we developed a structural equation modelling framework to directly model genome-wide covariance across core and non-core ASD phenotypes, studying autistic individuals of European descent using a case-only design. We identified three independent genetic factors most strongly linked to language/cognition, behaviour and motor development, respectively, when studying a population-representative sample (N=5,331). These analyses revealed novel associations. For example, developmental delay in acquiring personal-social skills was inversely related to language, while developmental motor delay was linked to self-injurious behaviour. We largely confirmed the three-factorial structure in independent ASD-simplex families (N=1,946), but uncovered simplex-specific genetic overlap between behaviour and language phenotypes. Thus, the common genetic architecture in ASD is multi-dimensional and contributes, in combination with ascertainment-specific patterns, to phenotypic heterogeneity

Combining the bulk transfer formulation and surface renewal analysis for estimating the sensible heat flux without involving the parameter KB-1

The single‐source bulk transfer formulation (based on the Monin‐Obukhov Similarity Theory, MOST) has been used to estimate the sensible heat flux, H, in the framework of remote sensing over homogeneous surfaces (HMOST). The latter involves the canopy parameter, , which is difficult to parameterize. Over short and dense grass at a site influenced by regional advection of sensible heat flux, HMOST with  = 2 (i.e., the value recommended) correlated strongly with the H measured using the Eddy Covariance, EC, method, HEC. However, it overestimated HEC by 50% under stable conditions for samples showing a local air temperature gradient larger than the measurement error, 0.4 km−1. Combining MOST and Surface Renewal analysis, three methods of estimating H that avoid dependency have been derived. These new expressions explain the variability of H versus , where is the friction velocity, is the radiometric surface temperature, and is the air temperature at height, z. At two measurement heights, the three methods performed excellently. One of the methods developed required the same readily/commonly available inputs as HMOST due to the fact that the ratio between and the ramp amplitude was found fairly constant under stable and unstable cases. Over homogeneous canopies, at a site influenced by regional advection of sensible heat flux, the methods proposed are an alternative to the traditional bulk transfer method because they are reliable, exempt of calibration against the EC method, and are comparable or identical in cost of application. It is suggested that the methodology may be useful over bare soil and sparse vegetation.This research was funded by CERESS project AGL2011–30498 (Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain, cofunded FEDER), CGL2012–37416‐C04‐01 (Ministerio de Ciencia y Innovación of Spain), and CEI Iberus, 2014 (Proyecto financiado por el Ministerio de Educación en el marco del Programa Campus de Excelencia Internacional of Spain)