DIP Merseyside Demographic Report 2013/14: An evaluation of DIP’s Impact on Offending.

The main objective of the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is to identify and engage with drug using offenders in the criminal justice system (CJS) in order to channel them into appropriate treatment services. In line with research evidence it assumes that if this treatment is effective it will result in reduced drug use and therefore reduced levels of offending. This report aims to provide the Merseyside DIP teams and commissioners with summary information regarding the characteristics of the clients who were assessed between April 2011 and March 2014

DIP Merseyside Drug Testing Report (April 2013 - March 2014)

The Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is an initiative set up by the Home Office in 2003 with an overarching aim to break the cycle of drug misuse and crime and as a result reduce acquisitive crime in communities within England and Wales. The DIP process is seen as an important early engagement opportunity, via drug testing, as many of the clients who are assessed for DIP can be some of the most difficult to reach problematic drug users. This report focuses on the seven Merseyside custody suites which carried out drug tests between April 2013 and March 2014, the demographic details captured during the drug testing process and the times at which drug tests were carried out. This report aims to complement the findings from previous reports on this topic in order to provide Merseyside police and local Drug (Alcohol) Action Teams (D(A)AT) with up to date information regarding the clients who are arrested and drug tested, the times of these presentations and outcomes of drug tests carried out in these custody suites

Treatment Outcomes for DIP Clients in Liverpool (July 11 - June 12)

The main objective of the Drug Interventions Programme (DIP) is to identify and engage with drug users in the criminal justice system in order to channel them into appropriate treatment services. In line with research evidence it is assumed that if this treatment is effective it will result in reduced drug use and therefore reduced offending. This report aims to investigate outcomes for DIP clients resident in Liverpool who were referred to treatment between 1st July 2011 and 31st December 2011 as part of their DIP care plan and who had a corresponding treatment journey recorded on the National Drug Treatment Monitoring System (NDTMS) (including data from the Treatment Outcomes Profile) between 1st July 2011 and 30th June 2012

Chronic Clozapine Treatment Impairs Functional Activation of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor 2 via an HDAC2-depedent Mechanism

Schizophrenia is a chronic mental disorder affecting millions worldwide. It has no known cure. Current pharmaceutical treatments have shown efficacy in only one of the three symptom clusters of schizophrenia, providing little or no benefit in the other two. Furthermore, the current standard-of-care drugs, known as atypical antipsychotics, carry risks of severe side effects affecting multiple body systems. Most patients opt to discontinue drug therapy within two years of initiation due to lack of efficacy and/or preponderance of adverse effects. Previous findings have shown that chronic usage of atypical antipsychotics causes a 5-HT2A-dependent upregulation of histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2), which in turn leads to downregulation of metabotropic glutamate receptor 2 (mGluR2), a G protein-coupled receptor with an important role in synaptic plasticity. The present study aims to characterize the extent to which this downregulation leads to specific functional outcomes, and in doing so, may help identify new targets for more effective treatment of schizophrenia

The Role of Teacher Capacity and Instructional Practices in English Learners’ Literacy Development

The self-study examined the impact of teaching strategies and methods used regarding students who are bilingual and biliterate (ELLs). Preliminary research was conducted in order to isolate several notable teaching strategies and methods. The isolated teaching strategies and methods were peer-reviewed. The peer-review indicated the implementation of said strategies would support the language and literacy development of ELLs while also allowing students to participate more fully in classroom activities and lessons. Upon isolating a minimum of 15 teaching strategies and methods, lesson plans were created and evaluated in order to determine how such strategies and methods impact teaching practices

Exercise and manual physiotherapy arthritis research trial (EMPART) for osteoarthritis of the hip: a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To determine the effectiveness of exercise therapy (ET) compared with ET with adjunctive manual therapy (MT) for people with hip osteoarthritis (OA); and to identify if immediate commencement of treatment (ET or ET+MT) was more beneficial than a 9-week waiting period for either intervention. DESIGN: Assessor-blind randomized controlled trial with a 9-week and 18-week follow-up. SETTING: Four academic teaching hospitals in Dublin, Ireland. PARTICIPANTS: Patients (N=131) with hip OA recruited from general practitioners, rheumatologists, orthopedic surgeons, and other hospital consultants were randomized to 1 of 3 groups: ET (n=45), ET+MT (n=43), and waitlist controls (n=43). INTERVENTIONS: Participants in both the ET and ET+MT groups received up to 8 treatments over 8 weeks. Control group participants were rerandomized into either ET or ET+MT groups after 9 week follow-up. Their data were pooled with original treatment group data: ET (n=66) and ET+MT (n=65). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary outcome was the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) physical function (PF) subscale. Secondary outcomes included physical performance, pain severity, hip range of motion (ROM), anxiety/depression, quality of life, medication usage, patient-perceived change, and patient satisfaction. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in WOMAC PF between the ET (n=66) and ET+MT (n=65) groups at 9 weeks (mean difference, .09; 95% confidence interval [CI] -2.93 to 3.11) or 18 weeks (mean difference, .42; 95% CI, -4.41 to 5.25), or between other outcomes, except patient satisfaction with outcomes, which was higher in the ET+MT group (P=.02). Improvements in WOMAC, hip ROM, and patient-perceived change occurred in both treatment groups compared with the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Self-reported function, hip ROM, and patient-perceived improvement occurred after an 8-week program of ET for patients with OA of the hip. MT as an adjunct to exercise provided no further benefit, except for higher patient satisfaction with outcome

Validation of the Aura Microwave Limb Sounder HNOmeasurements

We assess the quality of the version 2.2 (v2.2) HNO3 measurements from the Microwave Limb Sounder (MLS) on the Earth Observing System Aura satellite. The MLS HNO3 product has been greatly improved over that in the previous version (v1.5), with smoother profiles, much more realistic behavior at the lowest retrieval levels, and correction of a high bias caused by an error in one of the spectroscopy files used in v1.5 processing. The v2.2 HNO3 data are scientifically useful over the range 215 to 3.2 hPa, with single-profile precision of ∼0.7 ppbv throughout. Vertical resolution is 3–4 km in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere, degrading to ∼5 km in the middle and upper stratosphere. The impact of various sources of systematic uncertainty has been quantified through a comprehensive set of retrieval simulations. In aggregate, systematic uncertainties are estimated to induce in the v2.2 HNO3 measurements biases that vary with altitude between ±0.5 and ±2 ppbv and multiplicative errors of ±5–15% throughout the stratosphere, rising to ∼±30% at 215 hPa. Consistent with this uncertainty analysis, comparisons with correlative data sets show that relative to HNO3 measurements from ground-based, balloon-borne, and satellite instruments operating in both the infrared and microwave regions of the spectrum, MLS v2.2 HNO3 mixing ratios are uniformly low by 10–30% throughout most of the stratosphere. Comparisons with in situ measurements made from the DC-8 and WB-57 aircraft in the upper troposphere and lowermost stratosphere indicate that the MLS HNO3 values are low in this region as well, but are useful for scientific studies (with appropriate averaging)

A Comparison of Modeled and Measured Energy Use in Hybrid Electric Vehicles

CarSim 2.5.4, written by AeroVironment, Inc. of Monrovia, California and SIMPLEV 3.0, written by Idaho National Engineering Laboratory were used to simulate two series-configured hybrid electric vehicles that competed in the 1994 Hybrid Electric Vehicle Challenge. Vehicle speed and battery energy use were measured over a 0.2-km maximum effort acceleration and a 58-km range event. The simulations` predictions are compared to each other and to measured data. A rough uncertainty analysis of the validation is presented. The programs agree with each other to within 5% and with the measured energy data within the uncertainty of the experiment