Dimensions of family empowerment in work with so called ‘troubled’ families

The Troubled Families Programme has provided an impetus for interventions with families with multiple disadvantages. This article identifies the prevalence of a government discourse of ‘empowerment’ around such interventions, which fails to reflect the contested nature of the term. Qualitative interviews with families supported by the programme and their keyworkers offer an insight into their experiences and a valuable alternative to government rhetoric. It is argued that government discourses equate ‘family empowerment’ with responsibilisation, seeking to reduce the resources deployed in supporting families whilst strengthening state power to define acceptable forms of family life. By contrast, family and keyworker discourses of ‘empowerment’ are founded in the redistribution of resources towards such families, advocacy strategies, psychological support and an understanding of power relations within and beyond families, which enable families to resist specific attempts at the exercise of professional power, albeit remaining subject to a more general exercise of state control

Muon Simulations for Super-Kamiokande, KamLAND and CHOOZ

Muon backgrounds at Super-Kamiokande, KamLAND and CHOOZ are calculated using MUSIC. A modified version of the Gaisser sea level muon distribution and a well-tested Monte Carlo integration method are introduced. Average muon energy, flux and rate are tabulated. Plots of average energy and angular distributions are given. Implications on muon tracker design for future experiments are discussed.Comment: Revtex4 33 pages, 16 figures and 4 table

The Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study (GEMS): The near-infrared luminosity function of nearby galaxy groups

We present J and K-band luminosity functions (LF) for the Group Evolution Multiwavelength Study (GEMS) sample of 60 nearby groups of galaxies, with photometry from the 2MASS survey. We find that, as seen in B and R-band photometry of a subsample of these groups in our earlier work, the LFs of the X-ray dim groups (L_X < 10^41.7 erg/s) show a depletion of galaxies of intermediate luminosity around M_K = -23, within a radius 0.3R_500 from the centres of these groups. This feature is not seen in the X-ray brighter groups, nor in either kind of group when the LFs are determined all the way out to R_500. We conclude that an enhanced level of star formation is not responsible for the this feature. From the faint end of the LFs, we find support for the under-abundance of low surface brightness dwarfs in the 2MASS survey. We find that for all kinds of groups, the modelling of the luminosity function, with universal forms for the LFs of galaxies of different morphological types, fails when simultaneously required to fit the B and K-band LFs. This means that the dip-like features seen in LFs are not merely due to the varying proportions of galaxies of different morphological types among the X-ray dim and bright groups. We argue that this support our hypothesis that this feature is due to the enhanced merging of intermediate-mass galaxies in the dynamically sluggish environment of X-ray dim groups.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

A novel tool to predict food intake: The Visual Meal Creator

Subjective appetite is commonly measured using an abstract visual analogue scale (VAS) technique, that provides no direct information about desired portion size or food choice. The purpose of this investigation was to develop and validate a user-friendly tool – the Visual Meal Creator (VIMEC) – that would allow for independent, repeated measures of subjective appetite and provide a prediction of food intake. Twelve participants experienced dietary control over a 5-hour period to manipulate hunger state on three occasions (small breakfast (SB) vs. large breakfast (LB) vs. large breakfast + snacks (LB+S)). Appetite measures were obtained every 60 minutes using the VIMEC and VAS. At 4.5 hours, participants were presented with an ad libitum test meal, from which energy intake (EI) was measured. The efficacy of the VIMEC was assessed by its ability to detect expected patterns of appetite and its strength as a predictor of energy intake. Day-to-day reproducibility and test-retest repeatability were assessed. Between- and within-condition differences in VAS and VIMEC scores (represented as mm and kcal of the “created” meal, respectively) were significantly correlated with one another throughout. Between- and within-condition changes in appetite scores obtained with the VIMEC exhibited a stronger correlation with EI at the test meal than those obtained with VAS. Pearson correlation coefficients for within-condition comparisons were 0.951, 0.914 and 0.875 (all p < 0.001) for SB, LB and LB+S respectively. Correlation coefficients for between-condition differences in VIMEC and EI were 0.273, 0.940 (p < 0.001) and 0.525 (p < 0.05) for SB – LB+S, SB – LB and LB – LB+S respectively. The VIMEC exhibited a similar degree of reproducibility to VAS. These findings suggest that the VIMEC appears to be a stronger predictor of energy intake than VAS

Appetite, gut hormone and energy intake responses to low volume sprint interval and traditional endurance exercise.

Sprint interval exercise improves several health markers but the appetite and energy balance response is unknown. This study compared the effects of sprint interval and endurance exercise on appetite, energy intake and gut hormone responses. Twelve healthy males [mean (SD): age 23 (3) years, body mass index 24.2 (2.9) kg m(-2), maximum oxygen uptake 46.3 (10.2) mL kg(-1) min(-1)] completed three 8 h trials [control (CON), endurance exercise (END), sprint interval exercise (SIE)] separated by 1 week. Trials commenced upon completion of a standardised breakfast. Sixty minutes of cycling at 68.1 (4.3) % of maximum oxygen uptake was performed from 1.75-2.75 h in END. Six 30-s Wingate tests were performed from 2.25-2.75 h in SIE. Appetite ratings, acylated ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY) concentrations were measured throughout each trial. Food intake was monitored from buffet meals at 3.5 and 7 h and an overnight food bag. Appetite (P 0.05). Therefore, relative energy intake (energy intake minus the net energy expenditure of exercise) was lower in END than that in CON (15.7 %; P = 0.006) and SIE (11.5 %; P = 0.082). An acute bout of endurance exercise resulted in lower appetite perceptions in the hours after exercise than sprint interval exercise and induced a greater 24 h energy deficit due to higher energy expenditure during exercise

From segment to somite: segmentation to epithelialization analyzed within quantitative frameworks

One of the most visually striking patterns in the early developing embryo is somite segmentation. Somites form as repeated, periodic structures in pairs along nearly the entire caudal vertebrate axis. The morphological process involves short- and long-range signals that drive cell rearrangements and cell shaping to create discrete, epithelialized segments. Key to developing novel strategies to prevent somite birth defects that involve axial bone and skeletal muscle development is understanding how the molecular choreography is coordinated across multiple spatial scales and in a repeating temporal manner. Mathematical models have emerged as useful tools to integrate spatiotemporal data and simulate model mechanisms to provide unique insights into somite pattern formation. In this short review, we present two quantitative frameworks that address the morphogenesis from segment to somite and discuss recent data of segmentation and epithelialization

Family support in practice : voices from the field

This paper revisits core family support messages for social work practice in working with children and families, linking to findings from high-profile child protection cases in the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Drawing on a comparative study where these identified practice messages were explored through the lens of testimony of family support workers in the UK and Ireland, these core messages are examined. Operating with hard-to-engage children and parents, we hear how families and family support worker colleagues now view the core functions of child and family work across both jurisdictions (Ireland and England). The authors argue that by naming a more detailed set of practices that are deemed as most useful by families, based on the benefits and challenges of intensive family support work, key messages arise that have major resonance for social work and multiagency practice into the future. A basic message from this study is that valuable lessons on engagement and intervention with families can be drawn for professionals by examining the practice elements of this group of paraprofessionals in the child and family arena. This paper adds to debates on the role of support and intervention in social work and family support work

Does publication bias inflate the apparent efficacy of psychological treatment for major depressive disorder? A systematic review and meta-analysis of US national institutes of health-funded trials

Background The efficacy of antidepressant medication has been shown empirically to be overestimated due to publication bias, but this has only been inferred statistically with regard to psychological treatment for depression. We assessed directly the extent of study publication bias in trials examining the efficacy of psychological treatment for depression. Methods and Findings We identified US National Institutes of Health grants awarded to fund randomized clinical trials comparing psychological treatment to control conditions or other treatments in patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder for the period 1972–2008, and we determined whether those grants led to publications. For studies that were not published, data were requested from investigators and included in the meta-analyses. Thirteen (23.6%) of the 55 funded grants that began trials did not result in publications, and two others never started. Among comparisons to control conditions, adding unpublished studies (Hedges’ g = 0.20; CI95% -0.11~0.51; k = 6) to published studies (g = 0.52; 0.37~0.68; k = 20) reduced the psychotherapy effect size point estimate (g = 0.39; 0.08~0.70) by 25%. Moreover, these findings may overestimate the "true" effect of psychological treatment for depression as outcome reporting bias could not be examined quantitatively. Conclusion The efficacy of psychological interventions for depression has been overestimated in the published literature, just as it has been for pharmacotherapy. Both are efficacious but not to the extent that the published literature would suggest. Funding agencies and journals should archive both original protocols and raw data from treatment trials to allow the detection and correction of outcome reporting bias. Clinicians, guidelines developers, and decision makers should be aware that the published literature overestimates the effects of the predominant treatments for depression

Photometry and Spectroscopy of GRB 030329 and Its Associated Supernova 2003dh: The First Two Months

We present extensive optical and infrared photometry of the afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) 030329 and its associated supernova (SN) 2003dh over the first two months after detection (2003 March 30-May 29 UT). Optical spectroscopy from a variety of telescopes is shown and, when combined with the photometry, allows an unambiguous separation between the afterglow and supernova contributions. The optical afterglow of the GRB is initially a power-law continuum but shows significant color variations during the first week that are unrelated to the presence of a supernova. The early afterglow light curve also shows deviations from the typical power-law decay. A supernova spectrum is first detectable ~7 days after the burst and dominates the light after ~11 days. The spectral evolution and the light curve are shown to closely resemble those of SN 1998bw, a peculiar Type Ic SN associated with GRB 980425, and the time of the supernova explosion is close to the observed time of the GRB. It is now clear that at least some GRBs arise from core-collapse SNe.Comment: 57 pages, 13 figures, accepted by ApJ, revised per referee's comments, includes full photometry table. Data available at ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/GRB030329 or through WWW at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/GRB