Until recently, mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or "concussion" was generally ignored as a major health issue. However, emerging evidence suggests that this injury is by no means mild, considering ...it induces persisting neurocognitive dysfunction in many individuals. Although little is known about the pathophysiological aspects of mTBI, there is growing opinion that diffuse axonal injury (DAI) may play a key role. To explore this possibility, we adapted a model of head rotational acceleration in swine to produce mTBI by scaling the mechanical loading conditions based on available biomechanical data on concussion thresholds in humans. Using these input parameters, head rotational acceleration was induced in either the axial plane (transverse to the brainstem; n=3), causing a 10- to 35-min loss of consciousness, or coronal plane (circumferential to the brainstem; n=2), which did not produce a sustained loss of consciousness. Seven days following injury, immunohistochemical analyses of the brains revealed that both planes of head rotation induced extensive axonal pathology throughout the white matter, characterized as swollen axonal bulbs or varicosities that were immunoreactive for accumulating neurofilament protein. However, the distribution of the axonal pathology was different between planes of head rotation. In particular, more swollen axonal profiles were observed in the brainstems of animals injured in the axial plane, suggesting an anatomic substrate for prolonged loss of consciousness in mTBI. Overall, these data support DAI as an important pathological feature of mTBI, and demonstrate that surprisingly overt axonal pathology may be present, even in cases without a sustained loss of consciousness.
Abstract This meta-analysis sought to investigate the effectiveness of CBT based anger management interventions on reducing recidivism amongst adult male offenders. Studies were selected after a ...bibliographic database search, a hand-search of references from similar studies and an electronic search on apposite Correctional websites. The outcome measures of interest were general and violent recidivism rates. These were considered to be evidence of long term behavioral change. Studies that included appropriate data were analysed using risk ratio analysis. The analysis of the effect of exposure to CBT based treatment on general recidivism showed an overall effect of 0.77, indicating a risk reduction of 23%, whereas the overall effect on violent recidivism was 0.72, indicating a risk reduction of 28%. The meta-analysis also explored the effects of treatment completion in comparison to attrition groups. The effects of treatment completion on general recidivism through risk ratios was 0.58, indicating a 42% risk reduction. For violent recidivism, the risk ratio was 0.44, indicating a 56% risk reduction. Subgroup analysis based on the treatment modality and the analysis of the risk of bias carried out on the selected studies was conducted to explore the significant heterogeneity noted in the results. Overall, anger management appeared to be effective in reducing the risk of recidivism, especially violent recidivism. Moderate-intensity anger management were associated with larger effect than the high-intensity correctional programs for violence reduction.
Assessments in Forensic Practice: A Handbook provides practical guidance in the assessment of the most frequently encountered offender subgroups found within the criminal justice system. Topics ...include: • criminal justice assessments • offenders with mental disorders • family violence • policy and practice
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can produce physical disruptions in the plasma membranes of neurons, referred to as mechanoporation, which lead to increased cell permeability. We suspect that such ...trauma-induced membrane disruptions may be influenced by the physical properties of the plasma membrane, such as elasticity or rigidity. These membrane properties are influenced by lipid composition, which can be modulated via diet, leading to the intriguing possibility of prophylactically altering diet to confer resiliency to this mechanism of acute neuronal damage in TBI. In this proof-of-concept study, we used three different diets—one high in polyunsaturated fatty acids suggested to increase elasticity (Fish Oil), one high in saturated fatty acids and cholesterol suggested to increase rigidity (High Fat), and one standard rat chow (Control)—to alter brain plasma membrane lipid composition before subjecting rats to lateral fluid percussion injury (FPI). Lipid analysis (n = 12 rats) confirmed that diets altered brain fatty acid composition after 4 weeks of feeding, with the Fish Oil diet increasing unsaturated fatty acids, and interestingly, the High Fat diet increasing omega-6 docosapentaenoic acid. One cohort of animals (n = 34 rats) was assessed immediately after FPI or sham injury for acute changes in neuronal membrane permeability in the injury-adjacent cortex. Surprisingly, sham animals fed Fish Oil had increased membrane permeability, suggesting altered passive membrane properties. In contrast, injured animals fed the High Fat diet displayed less intense uptake of permeability marker, suggesting a reduced extent of injury-induced plasma membrane disruption, although the density of affected cells matched the other diet groups. In a separate cohort survived for 7 days after FPI (n = 48 rats), animals fed the High Fat diet exhibited a reduced lesion area. At both time points there were no statistically significant differences in inflammation. Unexpectedly, these results indicate that the High Fat diet, as opposed to the Fish Oil diet, beneficially modulated acute plasma membrane permeability and resulted in a smaller lesion size at 7 days post-injury. Additional studies are necessary to determine the impact of these various diets on behavioral outcomes post-TBI. Further investigation is also needed to understand the physical properties in neuronal plasma membranes that may underlie increased resiliency to trauma-induced disruptions and, importantly, to understand how these properties may be influenced by targeted dietary modifications for vulnerable populations.
•Fish Oil and High (Saturated) Fat diets alter rat brain lipid composition.•Fish Oil increased non-traumatic neuronal plasma membrane permeability.•High Fat attenuated acute injury-induced increases in permeability intensity.•High Fat, not Fish Oil, reduced lesion size 7 days after injury.
This study aimed to systematically review the effectiveness of risk assessment tools in predicting sexual recidivism of adult male offenders.
Sex offender risk assessment aids risk management within ...the criminal justice system. Some tools follow an actuarial approach and some adopt structured professional judgement. There has not been a systematic review evaluating and comparing the effectiveness of those tools and appraising the overall quality of the primary research.
Six electronic databases and reference lists of relevant meta-analyses were searched. Three experts were contacted to obtain relevant studies. Inclusion criteria were applied to the identified references and the included studies were quality assessed, using pre-defined criteria, prior to data extraction and synthesis.
Electronic search yielded 4949 hits. Of these, 1419 duplicates, 1 meta-analysis and 3382 irrelevant hits were excluded. 14 publications identified from previous meta-analyses were included. 2 non-English language duplications of publications were excluded. 89 publications that did not meet inclusion criteria and 15 inaccessible publications were excluded. 11 studies that did not meet minimum threshold criteria and 1 study that re-analysed an already included sample were then excluded, leaving 43 publications containing 43 studies.
All included tools demonstrated at least moderate predictive accuracy, with two reporting a large effect size (VRS-SO and SRA), although these two came under much less empirical scrutiny than the others and may have been the subject of developer bias in the research that is available. The VRS-SO was found to have the highest mean quality score, this again being limited by the number of studies and developer bias. The quality of the primary research is variable. More independent high quality research is needed, particularly on structured professional judgement incorporating dynamic risk factors.
► The effectiveness of sex offender risk assessments is systematically reviewed. ► Actuarial and structured professional judgement tools are included. ► The quality of the 43 reviewed studies is appraised and found to be variable. ► All 15 reviewed tools demonstrated at least moderate predictive accuracy. ► Two structured professional judgement tools demonstrate a large effect size.
Abstract Establishing an empirically valid typology of sexual murder is necessary for developing theory, risk assessment, and intervention. Results from all empirical studies conducted between 1970 ...and 2016, drawing on information pertaining to > 700 sexual murderers, were collated to provide a definitive best evidence synthesis elucidating the overall patterns and motives underlying sexual murder. Three subtypes of sexual murder were consistently found. The term sexualized murder is proposed, to refer to those crimes in which killing is functionally related to the sexual element of the offence. Grievance murder is driven by angry schema and an excessively aggressive response style. Finally, rape murder involves only an indirect association between the sexual offence and killing. Factors distinguishing these subtypes are discussed, and attention is directed towards gaps in knowledge, particularly in relation to biopsychosocial and criminal career factors that remain under-researched.
Abstract Objective To systematically review the literature on the link between personality disorder and parenting capacity from an attachment theory perspective. Method Four electronic databases were ...searched systematically. Those studies that met the pre-defined inclusion criteria were quality assessed. Data was then extracted and synthesized from the included studies using a qualitative approach. Results Fifteen thousand and sixty one hits were found. A further 22 studies were identified through expert contact, and two from references lists. Two thousand eight hundred and eighty five duplicates were removed and a further 11,926 irrelevant studies were excluded. Of the remaining 250 articles, 229 did not meet the inclusion criteria and were therefore removed and two articles were unobtainable. A further 19 studies were removed following quality assessment, leaving a total of 11 studies to be reviewed. The majority of the findings supported the association between a diagnosis of personality disorder, poor parent–child interactions and problematic parenting practices. Conclusions Parental personality disorder was identified as a risk factor for impaired parenting behaviors and disturbed parent–infant. More rigorous research is required in relation to how co-morbidity and personality disorder alone influence the broad dimensions of parenting capacity for both mothers and fathers.
Repeat missing child reports in Wales Hutchings, Emma; Browne, Kevin D.; Chou, Shihning ...
Child abuse & neglect,
February 2019, 2019-02-00, 20190201, Letnik:
88
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
There were approximately 306,000 reports of missing persons in the UK from 2012 to 2013, 64% involved children. Repeat missing incidents account for approximately 38% of reported missing incidences. ...Within their research Biehal et al. (2003) identified that 70% of missing children had voluntarily left their home and the majority of these were considered to have 'run away'. Research suggests that there is heavy demand on public services in responding to children that are regularly reported missing.
The purpose of this study was to explore data recorded in respect of children reported missing as a result of running away. The main objective of this study was to develop a set of risk factors to predict repeat missing incidences using a logistic regression method.
This study explored the characteristics of 523 children who were reported missing to Gwent (Wales) Police as a result of running away.
Using data collected by the Gwent Missing Children's Team in Wales, over a one-year period, this study compared two groups of children: 275 (53%) who were reported missing once ('low risk') and 248 (47%) who were reported more than once ('high risk').
Results indicated that five significant risk factors identified by logistic regression could distinguish outcome in 73% of cases. The five risk factors were; looked after children, substance use, suspected sexual exploitation, known to Youth Offending Services and a history of abuse/neglect.
These risk factors could potentially be used in Gwent to guide intervention strategies, with those children identified as 'high risk' of repeat missing incidents requiring more comprehensive intervention and support.
Parkinson's disease (PD) affects 1-2% of people over 65, causing significant morbidity across a progressive disease course. The classic PD motor deficits are caused by the degeneration of ...dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), resulting in the loss of their long-distance axonal projections that modulate striatal output. While contemporary treatments temporarily alleviate symptoms of this disconnection, there is no approach able to replace the nigrostriatal pathway. We applied microtissue engineering techniques to create a living, implantable tissue-engineered nigrostriatal pathway (TE-NSP) that mimics the architecture and function of the native pathway. TE-NSPs comprise a discrete population of dopaminergic neurons extending long, bundled axonal tracts within the lumen of hydrogel micro-columns. Neurons were isolated from the ventral mesencephalon of transgenic rats selectively expressing the green fluorescent protein in dopaminergic neurons with subsequent fluorescent-activated cell sorting to enrich a population to 60% purity. The lumen extracellular matrix and growth factors were varied to optimize cytoarchitecture and neurite length, while immunocytochemistry and fast-scan cyclic voltammetry (FSCV) revealed that TE-NSP axons released dopamine and integrated with striatal neurons in vitro. Finally, TE-NSPs were implanted to span the nigrostriatal pathway in a rat PD model with a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine SNpc lesion. Immunohistochemistry and FSCV established that transplanted TE-NSPs survived, maintained their axonal tract projections, extended dopaminergic neurites into host tissue, and released dopamine in the striatum. This work showed proof of concept that TE-NSPs can reconstruct the nigrostriatal pathway, providing motivation for future studies evaluating potential functional benefits and long-term durability of this strategy. This pathway reconstruction strategy may ultimately replace lost neuroarchitecture and alleviate the cause of motor symptoms for PD patients.
There has recently been a resurgence of interest in psychedelic compounds based on studies demonstrating their potential therapeutic applications in treating post-traumatic stress disorder, substance ...abuse disorders, and treatment-resistant depression. Despite promising efficacy observed in some clinical trials, the full range of biological effects and mechanism(s) of action of these compounds have yet to be fully established. Indeed, most studies to date have focused on assessing the psychological mechanisms of psychedelics, often neglecting the non-psychological modes of action. However, it is important to understand that psychedelics may mediate their therapeutic effects through multi-faceted mechanisms, such as the modulation of brain network activity, neuronal plasticity, neuroendocrine function, glial cell regulation, epigenetic processes, and the gut-brain axis. This review provides a framework supporting the implementation of a multi-faceted approach, incorporating
,
and
modeling, to aid in the comprehensive understanding of the physiological effects of psychedelics and their potential for clinical application beyond the treatment of psychiatric disorders. We also provide an overview of the literature supporting the potential utility of psychedelics for the treatment of brain injury (e.g., stroke and traumatic brain injury), neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases), and gut-brain axis dysfunction associated with psychiatric disorders (e.g., generalized anxiety disorder and major depressive disorder). To move the field forward, we outline advantageous experimental frameworks to explore these and other novel applications for psychedelics.
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