Risk Management for Persons with Serious Mental Illness: A Process Analysis of Washington State Department of Corrections\u27 Tools

Although many evidence-based techniques are outlined in the literature, systems often assess, plan, and mitigate risk for Persons with Serious Mental Illness (PSMI) in significantly divergent ways. For more than 20 years now, the Washington State Department of Corrections has relied on the Offender Reentry Community Safety Program (ORCSP) to appraise dangerousness and presence of mental disorder, utilizing a staged process that considers a wide-ranging set of criminogenic and non-criminogenic variables. A growing body of research suggests that the ORCSP is effectively decreasing recidivism through collaborative reentry planning and mitigation between mental health and criminal justice professionals; however, whether ORCSP participant screening methods are valid or reliable remains untested. Without a cohesive assessment theory or comprehensive exploration of recidivism trends, increased scrutiny must be given to findings. In an effort to clarify these issues, this dissertation evaluates current and historical ORCSP assessment processes, overviews national standards and best-practices for PSMI risk management, and provides a set of practical recommendations to improve selection efficiency

Hippocrates is alive and weaning in Brazil

In a group of postoperative patients, Taniguchi and coworkers compared the effect of a computerized system for weaning against 'manual care'. The computerized system involved automatic adjustments to the level of pressure support to achieve a target respiratory rate. Manual care involved adjustments to the level of pressure support to keep the ratio of respiratory frequency to tidal volume below 80. The duration of ventilator weaning was equivalent with the two approaches. The level of pressure support, however, was lower with manual care than with computerized ventilation. The study adds support to the notion that ventilator duration is shortened when weaning is contemplated at the earliest possible time. The findings also emphasize the importance of the Hippocratic dictum that patient outcome is improved when care is individualized rather than delivered according to a protocol

Longitudinal variance components models for systolic blood pressure, fitted using Gibbs sampling

This paper describes an analysis of systolic blood pressure (SBP) in the Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 (GAW13) simulated data. The main aim was to assess evidence for both general and specific genetic effects on the baseline blood pressure and on the rate of change (slope) of blood pressure with time. Generalized linear mixed models were fitted using Gibbs sampling in WinBUGS, and the additive polygenic random effects estimated using these models were then used as continuous phenotypes in a variance components linkage analysis. The first-stage analysis provided evidence for general genetic effects on both the baseline and slope of blood pressure, and the linkage analysis found evidence of several genes, again for both baseline and slope

Sand in the wheels, or oiling the wheels, of international finance? : New Labour's appeal to a 'new Bretton Woods'

Tony Blair’s political instinct typically is to associate himself only with the future. As such, his explicit appeal to ‘the past’ in his references to New Labour’s desire to establish a “new Bretton Woods” is sufficient in itself to arouse some degree of analytical curiosity (see Blair 1998a). The fact that this appeal was made specifically in relation to Bretton Woods is even more interesting. The resonant image of the international economic context established by the original Bretton Woods agreements invokes a style and content of policy-making which Tony Blair typically dismisses as neither economically nor politically consistent with his preferred vision of the future (see Blair 2000c, 2001b)

Genome-wide linkage analysis of longitudinal phenotypes using σ(2)(A )random effects (SSARs) fitted by Gibbs sampling

The study of change in intermediate phenotypes over time is important in genetics. In this paper we explore a new approach to phenotype definition in the genetic analysis of longitudinal phenotypes. We utilized data from the longitudinal Framingham Heart Study Family Cohort to investigate the familial aggregation and evidence for linkage to change in systolic blood pressure (SBP) over time. We used Gibbs sampling to derive sigma-squared-A-random-effects (SSARs) for the longitudinal phenotype, and then used these as a new phenotype in subsequent genome-wide linkage analyses. Additive genetic effects (σ(2)(A.time)) were estimated to account for ~9.2% of the variance in the rate of change of SBP with age, while additive genetic effects (σ(2)(A)) were estimated to account for ~43.9% of the variance in SBP at the mean age. The linkage results suggested that one or more major loci regulating change in SBP over time may localize to chromosomes 2, 3, 4, 6, 10, 11, 17, and 19. The results also suggested that one or more major loci regulating level of SBP may localize to chromosomes 3, 8, and 14. Our results support a genetic component to both SBP and change in SBP with age, and are consistent with a complex, multifactorial susceptibility to the development of hypertension. The use of SSARs derived from quantitative traits as input to a conventional linkage analysis appears to be valuable in the linkage analysis of genetically complex traits. We have now demonstrated in this paper the use of SSARs in the context of longitudinal family data

Polymer-Supported Photosensitizers for Oxidative Organic Transformations in Flow and under Visible Light Irradiation

A 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTZ)–based vinyl crosslinker was synthesized and copolymerized with large excesses of styrene using free radical polymerization to deliver heterogeneous triplet photosensitizers in three distinct physical formats: gels, beads and monoliths. These photosensitizers were employed for the production of singlet oxygen (1O2) and for the aerobic hydroxylation of aryl boronic acids via superoxide radical anion (O2˙-) whereby the materials demonstrated good chemical and photo stability. BTZ-containing beads and monoliths were exploited as photosensitizers in a commercial flow reactor, and 1O2 production was also demonstrated using direct sunlight irradiation, with a conversion rate comparable to the rates achieved when using a 420 nm LED module as the source of photons

Respiratory and sleep disorders in mucopolysaccharidosis

MPS encompasses a group of rare lysosomal storage disorders that are associated with the accumulation of glycosaminoglycans (GAG) in organs and tissues. This accumulation can lead to the progressive development of a variety of clinical manifestations. Ear, nose, throat (ENT) and respiratory problems are very common in patients with MPS and are often among the first symptoms to appear. Typical features of MPS include upper and lower airway obstruction and restrictive pulmonary disease, which can lead to chronic rhinosinusitis or chronic ear infections, recurrent upper and lower respiratory tract infections, obstructive sleep apnoea, impaired exercise tolerance, and respiratory failure. This review provides a detailed overview of the ENT and respiratory manifestations that can occur in patients with MPS and discusses the issues related to their evaluation and management. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s10545-012-9555-1) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

A Tale of Three Cities : OmegaCAM discovers multiple sequences in the color-magnitude diagram of the Orion Nebula Cluster

Reproduced with permission from Astronomy & Astrophysics, © 2017 ESO. Published by EDP Sciences.As part of the Accretion Discs in H$\alpha$ with OmegaCAM (ADHOC) survey, we imaged in r, i and H-alpha a region of 12x8 square degrees around the Orion Nebula Cluster. Thanks to the high-quality photometry obtained, we discovered three well-separated pre-main sequences in the color-magnitude diagram. The populations are all concentrated towards the cluster's center. Although several explanations can be invoked to explain these sequences we are left with two competitive, but intriguing, scenarios: a population of unresolved binaries with an exotic mass ratio distribution or three populations with different ages. Independent high-resolution spectroscopy supports the presence of discrete episodes of star formation, each separated by about a million years. The stars from the two putative youngest populations rotate faster than the older ones, in agreement with the evolution of stellar rotation observed in pre-main sequence stars younger than 4 Myr in several star forming regions. Whatever the final explanation, our results prompt for a revised look at the formation mode and early evolution of stars in clusters.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio