Evaluation of Sova's Lincolnshire Offender Mentoring scheme

In January 2014 a team of researchers from the University of Lincoln undertook an evaluation of Sova’s Lincolnshire Offender Mentoring Programme (LOM). LOM is run in partnership with Lincolnshire Probation Trust. LOM works to address the multiple barriers faced by disadvantaged offenders. The project offers community mentoring and a range of intervention activities that aim to enable its participants to realise their full potential and reduce re-offending. The researchers interviewed 12 participants, which included 6 LPT staff, 2 Sova staff, 2 mentors and 2 offenders. Despite LOM being in its infancy, the research found that Sova and LPT had developed an effective inter-agency partnership with excellent levels of communication. The research also found the LOM is valued by both LPT staff and offenders and that it helped improve the service offered to offenders. Whilst the sample size of the research is relatively small there was evidence to suggest that LPT staff and offenders thought LOM had a positive impact on offenders’ behaviour. The research concludes that LOM should continue to be supported and further extended to other suitable offenders who would clearly benefit from the programme

Genome-wide association meta-analysis highlights light-induced signaling as a driver for refractive error.

Refractive errors, including myopia, are the most frequent eye disorders worldwide and an increasingly common cause of blindness. This genome-wide association meta-analysis in 160,420 participants and replication in 95,505 participants increased the number of established independent signals from 37 to 161 and showed high genetic correlation between Europeans and Asians (>0.78). Expression experiments and comprehensive in silico analyses identified retinal cell physiology and light processing as prominent mechanisms, and also identified functional contributions to refractive-error development in all cell types of the neurosensory retina, retinal pigment epithelium, vascular endothelium and extracellular matrix. Newly identified genes implicate novel mechanisms such as rod-and-cone bipolar synaptic neurotransmission, anterior-segment morphology and angiogenesis. Thirty-one loci resided in or near regions transcribing small RNAs, thus suggesting a role for post-transcriptional regulation. Our results support the notion that refractive errors are caused by a light-dependent retina-to-sclera signaling cascade and delineate potential pathobiological molecular drivers