Digitalizing Crime Prevention Theories: How Technology Affects Victim and Offender Behavior

In the last thirty years, two main theoretical traditions in crime prevention literature have emerged: 1) the victimization perspective, which considers the victim, offender, and environment, and 2) the social control perspective, an alternative view that considers the role that community and family members play in informally influencing the moral values of potential offenders. Both of these theories have been used to inform crime prevention techniques by focusing on modifying the behavior of potential victims and the motivations of potential offenders. While both the social control and victimization perspectives have been used to discuss criminal behavior and crime prevention, neither acknowledge the role that technology plays in the lives of those that may commit crimes or be victimized. In this paper, we attempt to “digitalize” theories of crime prevention. By digitalize, we mean to understand how technology use influences the lives of both potential offenders and victims. We explore the theoretical foundations of both the victimization and social control perspectives and discuss their limitations as a result of not considering how technology influences information-seeking practices and communication routines. We argue that examining technology use is essential to crime theories that are used to help understand and predict criminal behavior, and we propose modifications to each framework to increase their effectiveness in predicting criminal behavior and practical application

Financial Analysis for Measuring and Comparing Risk in Grantmaking Portfolios

· Risk has not been treated in a systematic way that allows for a rich understanding of the extent to which foundations are, or should be, incorporating or evaluating risk in philanthropy. · In this article, we conceptualize and develop a tool to evaluate the levels of philanthropic risk that foundations maintain through their grant portfolios. · We create an index of aggregated risk at the portfolio level using several financial indicators based on previous theory and literature. Then, we test the index on a sample of foundations and their grantees in the state of Georgia and compare risk levels across community, corporate, family, independent, and operating foundations. · Our results show small differences in philanthropic risk levels when measured by financially oriented proxies between foundation types

Evaluation of a hand-held point-of-care analyser for measurement of creatinine in cats

ObjectivesThe aim of the study was to evaluate whether a handheld creatinine analyser (StatSensor Xpress; SSXp), available for human patients, can be used to measure creatinine reliably in cats.MethodsAnalytical performance was evaluated by determining within- and between-run coefficient of variation (CV, %), total error observed (TEobs, %) and sigma metrics. Fifty client-owned cats presenting for investigation of clinical disease had creatinine measured simultaneously, using SSXp (whole blood and plasma) and a reference instrument (Konelab, serum); 48 paired samples were included in the study. Creatinine correlation between methodologies (SSXp vs Konelab) and sample types (SSXpwhole bloodvs SSXpplasma) was assessed by Spearman’s correlation coefficient and agreement was determined using Bland–Altman difference plots. Each creatinine value was assigned an IRIS stage (1–4); correlation and agreement between Konelab and SSXp IRIS stages were evaluated.ResultsWithin-run CV (4.23–8.85%), between-run CV (8.95–11.72%), TEobs(22.15–34.92%) and sigma metrics (⩽3) did not meet desired analytical requirements. Correlation between sample types was high (SSXpwhole bloodvs SSXpplasma; r = 0.89), and between instruments was high (SSXpwhole bloodvs Konelabserum; r = 0.85) to very high (SSXpplasmavs Konelabserum; r = 0.91). Konelab and SSXpwhole bloodIRIS scores exhibited high correlation ( r = 0.76). Packed cell volume did not significantly affect SSXp determination of creatinine. Bland–Altman difference plots identified a positive bias for the SSXp (7.13 μmol/l SSXpwhole blood; 20.23 μmol/l SSXpplasma) compared with the Konelab. Outliers (1/48 whole blood; 2/48 plasma) occurred exclusively at very high creatinine concentrations. The SSXp failed to identify 2/21 azotaemic cats.Conclusions and relevanceAnalytical performance of the SSXp in feline patients is not considered acceptable. The SSXp exhibited a high to very high correlation compared with the reference methodology but the two instruments cannot be used interchangeably. Improvements in the SSXp analytical performance are needed before its use can be recommended in feline clinical practice.</jats:sec

Measures of outer setting constructs for implementation research: a systematic review and analysis of psychometric quality

Background: Despite their influence, outer setting barriers (e.g., policies, financing) are an infrequent focus of implementation research. The objective of this systematic review was to identify and assess the psychometric properties of measures of outer setting used in behavioral and mental health research. Methods: Data collection involved (a) search string generation, (b) title and abstract screening, (c) full-text review, (d) construct mapping, and (e) measure forward searches. Outer setting constructs were defined using the Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research (CFIR). The search strategy included four relevant constructs separately: (a) cosmopolitanism, (b) external policy and incentives, (c) patient needs and resources, and (d) peer pressure. Information was coded using nine psychometric criteria: (a) internal consistency, (b) convergent validity, (c) discriminant validity, (d) known-groups validity, (e) predictive validity, (f) concurrent validity, (g) structural validity, (h) responsiveness, and (i) norms. Frequencies were calculated to summarize the availability of psychometric information. Information quality was rated using a 5-point scale and a final median score was calculated for each measure. Results: Systematic searches yielded 20 measures: four measures of the general outer setting domain, seven of cosmopolitanism, four of external policy and incentives, four of patient needs and resources, and one measure of peer pressure. Most were subscales within full scales assessing implementation context. Typically, scales or subscales did not have any psychometric information available. Where information was available, the quality was most often rated as â 1-minimalâ or â 2-adequate.â Conclusion: To our knowledge, this is the first systematic review to focus exclusively on measures of outer setting factors used in behavioral and mental health research and comprehensively assess a range of psychometric criteria. The results highlight the limited quantity and quality of measures at this level. Researchers should not assume â one size fits allâ when measuring outer setting constructs. Some outer setting constructs may be more appropriately and efficiently assessed using objective indices or administrative data reflective of the system rather than the individual

Enhancing the impact of implementation strategies in healthcare: a research agenda

The field of implementation science was developed to better understand the factors that facilitate or impede implementation and generate evidence for implementation strategies. In this article, we briefly review progress in implementation science, and suggest five priorities for enhancing the impact of implementation strategies. Specifically, we suggest the need to: 1) enhance methods for designing and tailoring implementation strategies; 2) specify and test mechanisms of change; 3) conduct more effectiveness research on discrete, multi-faceted, and tailored implementation strategies; 4) increase economic evaluations of implementation strategies; and 5) improve the tracking and reporting of implementation strategies. We believe that pursuing these priorities will advance implementation science by helping us to understand when, where, why, and how implementation strategies improve implementation effectiveness and subsequent health outcomes

A comparative phase I study of combination, homologous subtype-C DNA, MVA, and Env gp140 protein/adjuvant HIV vaccines in two immunization regimes

There remains an urgent need for a prophylactic HIV vaccine. We compared combined MVA and adjuvanted gp140 to sequential MVA/gp140 after DNA priming. We expected Env-specific CD4+ T-cells after DNA and MVA priming, and Env-binding antibodies in 100% individuals after boosting with gp140 and that combined vaccines would not compromise safety and might augment immunogenicity. Forty volunteers were primed three times with DNA plasmids encoding (CN54) env and (ZM96) gag-pol-nef at 0, 4 and 8 weeks then boosted with MVA-C (CN54 env and gag-pol-nef) and glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant-aqueous formulation (GLA-AF) adjuvanted CN54gp140. They were randomised to receive them in combination at the same visit at 16 and 20 weeks (accelerated) or sequentially with MVA-C at 16, 20, and GLA-AF/gp140 at 24 and 28 weeks (standard). All vaccinations were intramuscular. Primary outcomes included ≥grade 3 safety events and the titer of CN54gp140-specific binding IgG. Other outcomes included neutralization, binding antibody specificity and T-cell responses. Two participants experienced asymptomatic ≥grade 3 transaminitis leading to discontinuation of vaccinations, and three had grade 3 solicited local or systemic reactions. A total of 100% made anti-CN54gp140 IgG and combining vaccines did not significantly alter the response; geometric mean titer 6424 (accelerated) and 6578 (standard); neutralization of MW965.2 Tier 1 pseudovirus was superior in the standard group (82 versus 45% responders,  = 0.04). T-cell ELISpot responses were CD4+ and Env-dominant; 85 and 82% responding in the accelerated and standard groups, respectively. Vaccine-induced IgG responses targeted multiple regions within gp120 with the V3 region most immunodominant and no differences between groups detected. Combining MVA and gp140 vaccines did not result in increased adverse events and did not significantly impact upon the titer of Env-specific binding antibodies, which were seen in 100% individuals. The approach did however affect other immune responses; neutralizing antibody responses, seen only to Tier 1 pseudoviruses, were poorer when the vaccines were combined and while T-cell responses were seen in >80% individuals in both groups and similarly CD4 and Env dominant, their breadth/polyfunctionality tended to be lower when the vaccines were combined, suggesting attenuation of immunogenicity and cautioning against this accelerated regimen

PAX-D:study protocol for a randomised placebo-controlled trial evaluating the efficacy and mechanism of pramipexole as add-on treatment for people with treatment resistant depression

Introduction: Clinical depression is usually treated in primary care with psychological therapies and antidepressant medication. However, when patients do not respond to at least two or more antidepressants within a depressive episode, they are considered to have treatment resistant depression (TRD). Previous small randomised controlled trials suggested that pramipexole, a dopamine D2/3 receptor agonist, may be effective for treating patients with unipolar and bipolar depression as it is known to influence motivational drive and reward processing. PAX-D will compare the effects of pramipexole versus placebo when added to current antidepressant medication for people with TRD. Additionally, PAX-D will investigate the mechanistic effect of pramipexole on reward sensitivity using a probabilistic decision-making task. Methods and analysis: PAX-D will assess effectiveness in the short- term (during the first 12 weeks) and in the longer-term (48 weeks) in patients with TRD from the UK. The primary outcome will be change in self-reported depressive symptoms from baseline to Week 12 post-randomisation measured using the QIDS-SR. Performance on the decision-making task will be measured at Week 0, Week 2, and Week 12. Secondary outcomes include anhedonia, anxiety, and health economic measures including quality of life, capability, wellbeing, and costs. PAX-D will also assess the adverse effects of pramipexole including impulse control difficulties. Discussion: Pramipexole is a promising augmentation agent for treatment resistant depression and may be a useful addition to existing treatment regimes. PAX-D will assess its effectiveness and test for a potential mechanism of action in patients with treatment resistant depression

Sperm selection with hyaluronic acid improved live birth outcomes among older couples and was connected to sperm DNA quality, potentially affecting all treatment outcomes

STUDY QUESTION: What effects did treatment using hyaluronic acid (HA) binding/selection prior to ICSI have on clinical outcomes in the Hyaluronic Acid Binding sperm Selection (HABSelect) clinical trial? SUMMARY ANSWER: Older women randomized to the trial's experimental arm (selection of sperm bound to immobilized (solid-state) HA) had the same live birth rates as younger women, most likely a result of better avoidance of sperm with damaged DNA. WHAT IS KNOWN ALREADY: Recent randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of HA-based sperm selection prior to ICSI, including HABSelect, have consistently reported reductions in the numbers of miscarriages among couples randomized to the intervention, suggesting a pathological sperm-mediated factor mitigated by prior HA-binding/selection. The mechanism of that protection is unknown. STUDY DESIGN, SIZE, DURATION: The original HABSelect Phase 3 RCT ran from 2014 to 2017 and included 2752 couples from whom sperm samples used in control (ICSI) and intervention (Physiological IntraCytoplasmic Sperm Injection; PICSI) arms of the trial were stored frozen for later assessment of DNA quality (DNAq). The trial overlapped with its mechanistic arm, running from 2016 to 2018. PARTICIPANTS/MATERIALS, SETTING, METHODS: As miscarriage reduction was a significant secondary outcome of the trial, samples (n = 1247) selected for the mechanistic analysis were deliberately enriched for miscarriage outcomes (n = 92 or 7.4%) from a total of 154 miscarriages (5.6%) among all (n = 2752) couples randomized by stratified random sampling. Values from fresh semen samples for sperm concentration (mml), percentage forward progressive motility and percentage HA-binding score (HBS) were obtained before being processed by differential density gradient centrifugation or (rarely) by swim-up on the day of treatment. Surplus sperm pellets were recovered, aliquoted and cryopreserved for later analysis of DNAq using slide-based Comet, TUNEL, acridine orange (AO) and the sperm chromatin dispersion (SCD) assays. Following their classification into normal and abnormal sample subcategories based on reference values for sperm concentration and motility, relationships with HBS and DNAq were examined by Spearman correlation, Student's t-tests, Mann Whitney U tests, and logistic regression (univariable and multivariable). Parsimonious selection enabled the development of models for exploring and explaining data trends. Potential differences in future cumulative pregnancy rates relating to embryo quality were also explored. MAIN RESULTS AND THE ROLE OF CHANCE: Results from the 1247 sperm samples assayed for HBS and/or DNAq, generated data that were considered in relation to standard physiological measures of (sperm) vitality and to treatment outcomes. All measures of HBS and DNAq discriminated normal from abnormal sperm samples (P < 0.001). SCD correlated negatively with the Comet (r = -0.165; P < 0.001) and TUNEL assays (r = -0.200; P < 0.001). HBS correlated negatively with AO (r = -0.211; P < 0.001), Comet (r = -0.127; P < 0.001) and TUNEL (r = -0.214; P < 0.001) and positively with SCD (r = 0.255; P < 0.001). A model for predicting live birth (and miscarriage) rates included treatment allocation (odds ratio: OR 2.167, 95% CI 1.084-4.464, P = 0.031), female age (OR 0.301, 95% CI 0.133-0.761, P = 0.013, per decade) and the AO assay (OR 0.79, 95% CI 0.60-1. 02.761, P = 0.073, per 10 points rise). A model predicting the expected rate of biochemical pregnancy included male age (OR 0.464, 95% CI 0.314-0.674, P < 0.001, per decade) and the SCD assay (OR 1.04, 95% CI 1.007-1.075, P = 0.018, per 10 point rise). A model for conversion from biochemical to clinical pregnancy did not retain any significant patient or assay variables. A model for post-injection fertilization rates included treatment allocation (OR 0.83, 95% CI 0.75-0.91, P < 0.001) and the Comet assay (OR 0.950, 95% CI 0.91-1.00, P = 0.041). LIMITATIONS, REASONS FOR CAUTION: HABSelect was a prospective RCT and the mechanistic study group was drawn from its recruitment cohort for retrospective analysis, without the full benefit of randomization. The clinical and mechanistic aspects of the study were mutually exclusive in that measures of DNAq were obtained from residual samples and not from HA-selected versus unselected sperm. Models for fitting mechanistic with baseline and other clinical data were developed to compensate for variable DNAq data quality. HABSelect used a solid-state version of PICSI and we did not assess the efficacy of any liquid-state alternatives. PICSI reduced fertilization rates and did not improve the outlook for cumulative pregnancy rates. WIDER IMPLICATIONS OF THE FINDINGS: Notwithstanding the interventional effect on fertilization rates and possibly blastocyst formation (neither of which influenced pregnancy rates), poor sperm DNAq, reflected by lower HBS, probably contributed to the depression of all gestational outcomes including live births, in the HABSelect trial. The interventional avoidance of defective sperm is the best explanation for the equalization in live birth rates among older couples randomized to the trial's PICSI arm. As patients going forward for assisted conception cycles globally in future are likely to be dominated by an older demographic, HA-based selection of sperm for ICSI could be considered as part of their treatment plan. STUDY FUNDING/COMPETING INTEREST(S): The study was supported by the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) EME (Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation)-11-14-34. National Research Ethics Service approval 11/06/2013: 13/YH/0162. S.L. is CEO of ExamenLab Ltd (company number NI605309). TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ISRCTN99214271