Improving Negative Emotion Recognition in Young Offenders Reduces Subsequent Crime

Background

Children with antisocial behaviour show deficits in the perception of emotional expressions in others that may contribute to the development and persistence of antisocial and aggressive behaviour. Current treatments for antisocial youngsters are limited in effectiveness. It has been argued that more attention should be devoted to interventions that target neuropsychological correlates of antisocial behaviour. This study examined the effect of emotion recognition training on criminal behaviour.

Methods

Emotion recognition and crime levels were studied in 50 juvenile offenders. Whilst all young offenders received their statutory interventions as the study was conducted, a subgroup of twenty-four offenders also took part in a facial affect training aimed at improving emotion recognition. Offenders in the training and control groups were matched for age, SES, IQ and lifetime crime level. All offenders were tested twice for emotion recognition performance, and recent crime data were collected after the testing had been completed.

Results

Before the training there were no differences between the groups in emotion recognition, with both groups displaying poor fear, sadness and anger recognition. After the training fear, sadness and anger recognition improved significantly in juvenile offenders in the training group. Although crime rates dropped in all offenders in the 6 months following emotion testing, only the group of offenders who had received the emotion training showed a significant reduction in the severity of the crimes they committed.

Conclusions

The study indicates that emotion recognition can be relatively easily improved in youths who engage in serious antisocial and criminal behavior. The results suggest that improved emotion recognition has the potential to reduce the severity of reoffending.     

Effects of Air Pollution and the Introduction of the London Low Emission Zone on the Prevalence of Respiratory and Allergic Symptoms in Schoolchildren in East London: A Sequential Cross-Sectional Study

The adverse effects of traffic-related air pollution on children’s respiratory health have been widely reported, but few studies have evaluated the impact of traffic-control policies designed to reduce urban air pollution. We assessed associations between traffic-related air pollutants and respiratory/allergic symptoms amongst 8–9 year-old schoolchildren living within the London Low Emission Zone (LEZ). Information on respiratory/allergic symptoms was obtained using a parent-completed questionnaire and linked to modelled annual air pollutant concentrations based on the residential address of each child, using a multivariable mixed effects logistic regression analysis. Exposure to traffic-related air pollutants was associated with current rhinitis: NOx (OR 1.01, 95% CI 1.00–1.02), NO₂ (1.03, 1.00–1.06), PM₁₀ (1.16, 1.04–1.28) and PM_2.5 (1.38, 1.08–1.78), all per μg/m³ of pollutant, but not with other respiratory/allergic symptoms. The LEZ did not reduce ambient air pollution levels, or affect the prevalence of respiratory/allergic symptoms over the period studied. These data confirm the previous association between traffic-related air pollutant exposures and symptoms of current rhinitis. Importantly, the London LEZ has not significantly improved air quality within the city, or the respiratory health of the resident population in its first three years of operation. This highlights the need for more robust measures to reduce traffic emissions.     

Evolution of Skin Temperature after the Application of Compressive Forces on Tendon,Muscle and Myofascial Trigger Point

Some assessment and diagnosis methods require palpation or the application of certain forces on the skin, which affects the structures beneath, we highlight the importance of defining possible influences on skin temperature as a result of this physical contact. Thus, the aim of the present study is to determine the ideal time for performing thermographic examination after palpation based on the assessment of skin temperature evolution. Randomized and crossover study carried out with 15 computer-user volunteers of both genders, between 18 and 45 years of age, who were submitted to compressive forces of 0, 1, 2 and 3 kg/cm² for 30 seconds with a washout period of 48 hours using a portable digital dynamometer. Compressive forces were applied on the following spots on the dominant upper limb: myofascial trigger point in the levator scapulae, biceps brachii muscle and palmaris longus tendon. Volunteers were examined by means of infrared thermography before and after the application of compressive forces (15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes). In most comparisons made over time, a significant decrease was observed 30, 45 and 60 minutes after the application of compressive forces (p < 0.05) on the palmaris longus tendon and biceps brachii muscle. However, no difference was observed when comparing the different compressive forces (p > 0.05). In conclusion, infrared thermography can be used after assessment or diagnosis methods focused on the application of forces on tendons and muscles, provided the procedure is performed 15 minutes after contact with the skin. Regarding to the myofascial trigger point, the thermographic examination can be performed within 60 minutes after the contact with the skin.     

In Depth Characterization of Repetitive DNA in 23 Plant Genomes Reveals Sources of Genome Size Variation in the Legume Tribe Fabeae

The differential accumulation and elimination of repetitive DNA are key drivers of genome size variation in flowering plants, yet there have been few studies which have analysed how different types of repeats in related species contribute to genome size evolution within a phylogenetic context. This question is addressed here by conducting large-scale comparative analysis of repeats in 23 species from four genera of the monophyletic legume tribe Fabeae, representing a 7.6-fold variation in genome size. Phylogenetic analysis and genome size reconstruction revealed that this diversity arose from genome size expansions and contractions in different lineages during the evolution of Fabeae. Employing a combination of low-pass genome sequencing with novel bioinformatic approaches resulted in identification and quantification of repeats making up 55–83% of the investigated genomes. In turn, this enabled an analysis of how each major repeat type contributed to the genome size variation encountered. Differential accumulation of repetitive DNA was found to account for 85% of the genome size differences between the species, and most (57%) of this variation was found to be driven by a single lineage of Ty3/gypsy LTR-retrotransposons, the Ogre elements. Although the amounts of several other lineages of LTR-retrotransposons and the total amount of satellite DNA were also positively correlated with genome size, their contributions to genome size variation were much smaller (up to 6%). Repeat analysis within a phylogenetic framework also revealed profound differences in the extent of sequence conservation between different repeat types across Fabeae. In addition to these findings, the study has provided a proof of concept for the approach combining recent developments in sequencing and bioinformatics to perform comparative analyses of repetitive DNAs in a large number of non-model species without the need to assemble their genomes.     

Merging Children’s Oncology Group Data with an External Administrative Database Using Indirect Patient Identifiers: A Report from the Children’s Oncology Group

Purpose

Clinical trials data from National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded cooperative oncology group trials could be enhanced by merging with external data sources. Merging without direct patient identifiers would provide additional patient privacy protections. We sought to develop and validate a matching algorithm that uses only indirect patient identifiers.

Methods

We merged the data from two Phase III Children’s Oncology Group (COG) trials for de novo acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with the Pediatric Health Information Systems (PHIS). We developed a stepwise matching algorithm that used indirect identifiers including treatment site, gender, birth year, birth month, enrollment year and enrollment month. Results from the stepwise algorithm were compared against the direct merge method that used date of birth, treatment site, and gender. The indirect merge algorithm was developed on AAML0531 and validated on AAML1031.

Results

Of 415 patients enrolled on the AAML0531 trial at PHIS centers, we successfully matched 378 (91.1%) patients using the indirect stepwise algorithm. Comparison to the direct merge result suggested that 362 (95.7%) matches identified by the indirect merge algorithm were concordant with the direct merge result. When validating the indirect stepwise algorithm using the AAML1031 trial, we successfully matched 157 out of 165 patients (95.2%) and 150 (95.5%) of the indirectly merged matches were concordant with the directly merged matches.

Conclusions

These data demonstrate that patients enrolled on COG clinical trials can be successfully merged with PHIS administrative data using a stepwise algorithm based on indirect patient identifiers. The merged data sets can be used as a platform for comparative effectiveness and cost effectiveness studies.     

A Spatiotemporal Database to Track Human Scrub Typhus Using the VectorMap Application

Scrub typhus is a potentially fatal mite-borne febrile illness, primarily of the Asia-Pacific Rim. With an endemic area greater than 13 million km² and millions of people at risk, scrub typhus remains an underreported, often misdiagnosed febrile illness. A comprehensive, updatable map of the true distribution of cases has been lacking, and therefore the true risk of disease within the very large endemic area remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to establish a database and map to track human scrub typhus. An online search using PubMed and the United States Armed Forces Pest Management Board Literature Retrieval System was performed to identify articles describing human scrub typhus cases both within and outside the traditionally accepted endemic regions. Using World Health Organization guidelines, stringent criteria were used to establish diagnoses for inclusion in the database. The preliminary screening of 181 scrub typhus publications yielded 145 publications that met the case criterion, 267 case records, and 13 serosurvey records that could be georeferenced, describing 13,739 probable or confirmed human cases in 28 countries. A map service has been established within VectorMap (www.vectormap.org) to explore the role that relative location of vectors, hosts, and the pathogen play in the transmission of mite-borne scrub typhus. The online display of scrub typhus cases in VectorMap illustrates their presence and provides an up-to-date geographic distribution of proven scrub typhus cases.     

Local and global pyrogeographic evidence that indigenous fire management creates pyrodiversity

Despite the challenges wildland fire poses to contemporary resource management, many fire‐prone ecosystems have adapted over centuries to millennia to intentional landscape burning by people to maintain resources. We combine fieldwork, modeling, and a literature survey to examine the extent and mechanism by which anthropogenic burning alters the spatial grain of habitat mosaics in fire‐prone ecosystems. We survey the distribution of Callitris intratropica, a conifer requiring long fire‐free intervals for establishment, as an indicator of long‐unburned habitat availability under Aboriginal burning in the savannas of Arnhem Land. We then use cellular automata to simulate the effects of burning identical proportions of the landscape under different fire sizes on the emergent patterns of habitat heterogeneity. Finally, we examine the global extent of intentional burning and diversity of objectives using the scientific literature. The current distribution of Callitris across multiple field sites suggested long‐unburnt patches are common and occur at fine scales (<0.5 ha), while modeling revealed smaller, patchy disturbances maximize patch age diversity, creating a favorable habitat matrix for Callitris. The literature search provided evidence for intentional landscape burning across multiple ecosystems on six continents, with the number of identified objectives ranging from two to thirteen per study. The fieldwork and modeling results imply that the occurrence of long‐unburnt habitat in fire‐prone ecosystems may be an emergent property of patch scaling under fire regimes dominated by smaller fires. These findings provide a model for understanding how anthropogenic burning alters spatial and temporal aspects of habitat heterogeneity, which, as the literature survey strongly suggests, warrant consideration across a diversity of geographies and cultures. Our results clarify how traditional fire management shapes fire‐prone ecosystems, which despite diverse objectives, has allowed human societies to cope with fire as a recurrent disturbance.     

Disentangling host,pathogen, and environmental determinants of a recently emerged wildlife disease: lessons from the first 15 years of amphibian chytridiomycosis research

The amphibian fungal disease chytridiomycosis, which affects species across all continents, recently emerged as one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. Yet, many aspects of the basic biology and epidemiology of the pathogen, Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis (Bd), are still unknown, such as when and from where did Bd emerge and what is its true ecological niche? Here, we review the ecology and evolution of Bd in the Americas and highlight controversies that make this disease so enigmatic. We explore factors associated with variance in severity of epizootics focusing on the disease triangle of host susceptibility, pathogen virulence, and environment. Reevaluating the causes of the panzootic is timely given the wealth of data on Bd prevalence across hosts and communities and the recent discoveries suggesting co‐evolutionary potential of hosts and Bd. We generate a new species distribution model for Bd in the Americas based on over 30,000 records and suggest a novel future research agenda. Instead of focusing on pathogen “hot spots,” we need to identify pathogen “cold spots” so that we can better understand what limits the pathogen''s distribution. Finally, we introduce the concept of “the Ghost of Epizootics Past” to discuss expected patterns in postepizootic host communities.