The Transitional Experiences of International Students Studying in the United States

This study sought to explore the real-life experiences of two international students and the impact on their transition to a United States college. A narrative qualitative approach was used to incorporate the stories of international students as shared by their own words. Their stories were used to identify similarities and differences including resources they utilized and their interactions with others. International students all share different cultural backgrounds and characteristics. Nonetheless, they will each have their own unique experiences, as well as have different ways of reacting and responding to those experiences. We must put in the effort of listening to and understanding their experiences so that we may understand who they are as individuals and improve the way in which we assist them throughout their transition

Reforming the Mental Health Act 1983: ‘Joined Up Compulsion’

This article discusses the two volume White Paper Reforming the Mental Health Act issued by the Government in December 2000. The two volumes are separately titled The New Legal Framework and High Risk Patients. The foreword to the White Paper appears above the signatures of the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Milburn, and the Home Secretary, Jack Straw. This is heralded as an example of ‘joined up government’, and indeed one of the themes of the White Paper is the need for closer working between the psychiatric and criminal justice systems. The primary policy goal of the proposals is the management of the risk posed to other people by people with mental disorder, perhaps best exemplified in Volume One of the White Paper which proclaims that ‘Concerns of risk will always take precedence, but care and treatment should otherwise reflect the best interests of the patient.’ This is a clear reflection of the fact that the reforms are taking place against the background of a climate of concern about homicides by mentally disordered patients, whether mentally ill, learning disabled, or personality disordered

The participation of P in welfare cases in the court of protection

This report considers the participation of P – an individual who is alleged to lack mental capacity – in proceedings concerning his health, welfare or deprivation of liberty in the Court of Protection (CoP) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We argue that the CoP was established on a model of ‘low participation’ that is no longer compatible with developments in international human rights law under the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The European Court of Human Rights has developed a threefold ‘right to participate’ in proceedings concerning deprivation of liberty and deprivation of legal capacity, emphasising individual dignity, and adversarial and evidential principles. Support for, and participation in, decision making are also central elements of the MCA

The participation of P in welfare cases in the court of protection

This report considers the participation of P – an individual who is alleged to lack mental capacity – in proceedings concerning his health, welfare or deprivation of liberty in the Court of Protection (CoP) under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA). We argue that the CoP was established on a model of ‘low participation’ that is no longer compatible with developments in international human rights law under the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The European Court of Human Rights has developed a threefold ‘right to participate’ in proceedings concerning deprivation of liberty and deprivation of legal capacity, emphasising individual dignity, and adversarial and evidential principles. Support for, and participation in, decision making are also central elements of the MCA

Tracking genomic cancer evolution for precision medicine: The Lung TRACERx Study

The importance of intratumour genetic and functional heterogeneity is increasingly recognised as a driver of cancer progression and survival outcome. Understanding how tumour clonal heterogeneity impacts upon therapeutic outcome, however, is still an area of unmet clinical and scientific need. TRACERx (TRAcking non-small cell lung Cancer Evolution through therapy [Rx]), a prospective study of patients with primary non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), aims to define the evolutionary trajectories of lung cancer in both space and time through multiregion and longitudinal tumour sampling and genetic analysis. By following cancers from diagnosis to relapse, tracking the evolutionary trajectories of tumours in relation to therapeutic interventions, and determining the impact of clonal heterogeneity on clinical outcomes, TRACERx may help to identify novel therapeutic targets for NSCLC and may also serve as a model applicable to other cancer types