Recipients of Representative Payeeship with Mental Illness: Financial Leverage, Conflict, and Satisfaction.

This study aimed to examine self-report of financial leverage, conflict, and satisfaction pertaining to representative payeeship for persons with mental illness, which research has not examined in the past decade. Sixty representative payee recipients with mental illness residing across the U.S. completed an online survey, with most (n = 50) receiving representative payeeship by family members/friends. Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney tests and Spearman correlations were computed. One-third of participants reported experiencing financial leverage and conflict "sometimes" or more often and were dissatisfied with their representative payee arrangement. With the exception of use of alcohol and/or drugs, no participant characteristic was associated with financial leverage, conflict, or satisfaction. Financial leverage was reported to be greater when representative payees were family members/friends. Financial leverage and conflict were positively associated with each other and negatively associated with satisfaction. It is advisable that satisfaction with representative payeeship be increased and conflict resulting from representative payeeship be minimized.

Mental illness-related stigma among probation officers.

BACKGROUND: Probation officers tend to hold stigmatising attitudes towards individuals on their caseload with mental illnesses. This can result in poor outcomes for justice-involved people with mental illnesses. Though anti-stigma interventions in the general public and among other criminal-legal professionals hold promise, these interventions have not been tested among probation officers. AIMS: To measure levels of stigma towards mental illnesses among probation officers before and after a brief online training related to mental illness. METHODS: Two hundred and seventy-five probation and parole officers in one Midwest state completed a three-module online training programme designed to increase knowledge and skills for working with clients with mental illnesses. Officers completed a pre- and post-training assessment of level of stigmatising attitudes towards individuals with mental illnesses. RESULTS: Officer levels of stigma statistically significantly decreased from pre-test (8.22) to post-test (7.37; p < 0.001, t = 6.13). Nevertheless, pre-training stigma scores were the strongest predictor of stigma levels at post-test (p < 0.001, b = 0.90). CONCLUSIONS: While basic training can significantly decrease mental disorder stigmatising scores for probation officers, the practical effect of this brief online experience was very small. Nevertheless, the fact that such brief and generalised input can have impact at all is encouraging. Implementation could be a useful preliminary to improving the quality of probation supervision of clients with mental illnesses.

Chronic fluoxetine or ketamine treatment differentially affects brain energy homeostasis which is not exacerbated in mice with trait suboptimal mitochondrial function.

Antidepressants have been shown to influence mitochondrial function directly, and suboptimal mitochondrial function (SMF) has been implicated in complex psychiatric disorders. In the current study, we used a mouse model for trait SMF to test the hypothesis that chronic fluoxetine treatment in mice subjected to chronic stress would negatively impact brain bioenergetics, a response that would be more pronounced in mice with trait SMF. In contrast, we hypothesized that chronic ketamine treatment would positively impact mitochondrial function in both WT and mice with SMF. We used an animal model for trait SMF, the Ndufs4GT/GT mice, which exhibit 25% lower mitochondrial complex I activity. In addition to antidepressant treatment, mice were subjected to chronic unpredictable stress (CUS). This paradigm is widely used to model complex behaviours expressed in various psychiatric disorders. We assayed several physiological indices as proxies for the impact of chronic stress and antidepressant treatment. Furthermore, we measured brain mitochondrial complex activities using clinically validated assays as well as established metabolic signatures using targeted metabolomics. As hypothesized, we found evidence that chronic fluoxetine treatment negatively impacted brain bioenergetics. This phenotype was, however, not further exacerbated in mice with trait SMF. Ketamine did not have a significant influence on brain mitochondrial function in either genotype. Here we report that trait SMF could be a moderator for an individual's response to antidepressant treatment. Based on these results, we propose that in individuals with SMF and comorbid psychopathology, fluoxetine should be avoided, whereas ketamine could be a safer choice of treatment.

Alzheimer-like amyloid and tau alterations associated with cognitive deficit in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Temporal lobe epilepsy represents a major cause of drug-resistant epilepsy. Cognitive impairment is a frequent comorbidity, but the mechanisms are not fully elucidated. We hypothesized that the cognitive impairment in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy could be due to perturbations of amyloid and tau signalling pathways related to activation of stress kinases, similar to those observed in Alzheimer's disease. We examined these pathways, as well as amyloid-ß and tau pathologies in the hippocampus and temporal lobe cortex of drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy patients who underwent temporal lobe resection (n = 19), in comparison with age- and region-matched samples from neurologically normal autopsy cases (n = 22). Post-mortem temporal cortex samples from Alzheimer's disease patients (n = 9) were used as positive controls to validate many of the neurodegeneration-related antibodies. Western blot and immunohistochemical analysis of tissue from temporal lobe epilepsy cases revealed increased phosphorylation of full-length amyloid precursor protein and its associated neurotoxic cleavage product amyloid-ß*56. Pathological phosphorylation of two distinct tau species was also increased in both regions, but increases in amyloid-ß1-42 peptide, the main component of amyloid plaques, were restricted to the hippocampus. Furthermore, several major stress kinases involved in the development of Alzheimer's disease pathology were significantly activated in temporal lobe epilepsy brain samples, including the c-Jun N-terminal kinase and the protein kinase R-like endoplasmic reticulum kinase. In temporal lobe epilepsy cases, hippocampal levels of phosphorylated amyloid precursor protein, its pro-amyloidogenic processing enzyme beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1, and both total and hyperphosphorylated tau expression, correlated with impaired preoperative executive function. Our study suggests that neurodegenerative and stress-related processes common to those observed in Alzheimer's disease may contribute to cognitive impairment in drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy. In particular, we identified several stress pathways that may represent potential novel therapeutic targets.

Using reproductive technologies to assess the development of secondary sexual characteristics, ovarian senescence and hermaphroditism in the endangered mountain yellow-legged frog Rana muscosa.

Anurans can display a host of intriguing sexual syndromes, including hermaphroditism and sex reversal. Using a multifaceted approach for diagnosing and characterising hermaphroditism in the endangered anuran species Rana mucosa, we tracked changes in female reproductive status using hormone monitoring, ultrasound examinations, individual life history, fertilisation records and post-mortem findings. Seven individuals originally sexed as females developed secondary male sexual characteristics, behaviour and hormone profiles and, in some cases, had testicular tissue despite having previously laid eggs. Our results suggest that reproductive technologies can shed light on life history patterns and reproductive anomalies that may affect endangered anuran survival.

Neighborhood Risk Factors for Recidivism: For Whom do they Matter?

Justice-involved people vary substantially in their risk of reoffending. To date, recidivism prediction and prevention efforts have largely focused on individual-level factors like antisocial traits. Although a growing body of research has examined the role of residential contexts in predicting reoffending, results have been equivocal. One reason for mixed results may be that an individual's susceptibility to contextual influence depends upon his or her accumulated risk of reoffending. Based on a sample of 2218 people on probation in San Francisco, California, this study draws on observational and secondary data to test the hypothesis that individual risk moderates the effect of neighborhood factors on recidivism. Results from survival analyses indicate that individual risk interacts with neighborhood concentrated disadvantage and disorder-and these factors increase recidivism among people relatively low in individual risk, but not those at higher risk. This is consistent with the disadvantage saturation perspective, raising the possibility that some people classified as low risk might not recidivate but for placement in disadvantaged and disorderly neighborhoods. Ultimately, residential contexts "matter" for lower risk people and may be useful to consider in efforts to prevent recidivism.

THE EFFECT OF HOUSING CIRCUMSTANCES ON RECIDIVISM: Evidence From a Sample of People on Probation in San Francisco.

The relationships between housing circumstances and recidivism are well established among people released from prison. Despite probation being far more common than prison or parole, we know little about living situations, homelessness, and residential instability among people on probation, and we know even less regarding how these housing circumstances may affect their risk of recidivism. Using a unique dataset of 2,453 people on probation and longitudinal analyses, this study finds that housing insecurity is common and is associated with an increased risk of recidivism among people on probation, above and beyond an array of other recidivism risk factors. Furthermore, we find housing effects are particularly strong for relatively low risk people and for relatively low-severity offenses (i.e., property crimes, minor crimes, and revocations). Interventions that increase housing access for people on probation may reduce recidivism, especially for those who are relatively low risk and low-level reoffending.

Mechanistic target of rapamycin complex 1 and 2 in human temporal lobe epilepsy.

OBJECTIVE: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a chronic epilepsy syndrome defined by seizures and progressive neurological disabilities, including cognitive impairments, anxiety, and depression. Here, human TLE specimens were investigated focusing on the mechanistic target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1) and complex 2 (mTORC2) activities in the brain, given that both pathways may represent unique targets for treatment. METHODS: Surgically resected hippocampal and temporal lobe samples from therapy-resistant TLE patients were analyzed by western blotting to quantify the expression of established mTORC1 and mTORC2 activity markers and upstream or downstream signaling pathways involving the two complexes. Histological and immunohistochemical techniques were used to assess hippocampal and neocortical structural abnormalities and cell-specific expression of individual biomarkers. Samples from patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) type II served as positive controls. RESULTS: We found significantly increased expression of phospho-mTOR (Ser2448), phospho-S6 (Ser235/236), phospho-S6 (Ser240/244), and phospho-Akt (Ser473) in TLE samples compared to controls, consistent with activation of both mTORC1 and mTORC2. Our work identified the phosphoinositide 3-kinase and Ras/extracellular signal-regulated kinase signaling pathways as potential mTORC1 and mTORC2 upstream activators. In addition, we found that overactive mTORC2 signaling was accompanied by induction of two protein kinase B-dependent prosurvival pathways, as evidenced by increased inhibitory phosphorylation of forkhead box class O3a (Ser253) and glycogen synthase kinase 3 beta (Ser9). INTERPRETATION: Our data demonstrate that mTOR signaling is significantly dysregulated in human TLE, offering new targets for pharmacological interventions. Specifically, clinically available drugs that suppress mTORC1 without compromising mTOR2 signaling, such as rapamycin and its analogs, may represent a new group of antiepileptogenic agents in TLE patients. Ann Neurol 2018;83:311-327.

Regulation of seizure-induced MeCP2 Ser421 phosphorylation in the developing brain.

Neonatal seizures disrupt normal synaptic maturation and often lead to later-life epilepsy and cognitive deficits. During early life, the brain exhibits heightened synaptic plasticity, in part due to a developmental overabundance of CaV1.2 L-type voltage gated calcium (Ca2+) channels (LT-VGCCs) and Ca2+-permeable AMPARs (CP-AMPARs) lacking GluA2 subunits. We hypothesized that early-life seizures overactivate these channels, in turn dysregulating Ca2+-dependent signaling pathways including that of methyl CPG binding protein 2 (MeCP2), a transcription factor implicated in the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) Rett Syndrome. Here, we show that in vivo hypoxia-induced seizures (HS) in postnatal day (P)10 rats acutely induced phosphorylation of the neuronal-specific target of activity-dependent MeCP2 phosphorylation, S421, as well as its upstream activator CaMKII T286. We next identified mechanisms by which activity-dependent Ca2+ influx induced MeCP2 phosphorylation using in vitro cortical and hippocampal neuronal cultures at embryonic day (E)18 + 10 days in vitro (DIV). In contrast to the prevalent role of NMDARs in the adult brain, we found that both CP-AMPARs and LT-VGCCs mediated MeCP2 S421 and CaMKII T286 phosphorylation induced by kainic acid (KA) or high potassium chloride (KCl) stimulation. Furthermore, in vivo post-seizure treatment with the broad-spectrum AMPAR antagonist NBQX, the CP-AMPAR blocker IEM-1460, or the LT-VGCC antagonist nimodipine blocked seizure-induced MeCP2 phosphorylation. Collectively, these results demonstrate that early-life seizures dysregulate critical activity-dependent developmental signaling pathways, in part via CP-AMPAR and LT-VGCC activation, providing novel age-specific therapeutic targets for convergent pathways underlying epilepsy and ASDs.

"It's Not Like Therapy": Patient-Inmate Perspectives on Jail Psychiatric Services.

Jails may serve an important public health function by treating individuals with psychiatric problems. However, scholars debate the service qualities that can best achieve this aim. Some suggest the possibility of comprehensive psychiatric services in jails, while others recommend a narrower focus on basic elements of care (assessments, medication management, and crisis intervention). To date, this debate remains uninformed by service recipients. This qualitative study addresses this gap by illuminating patient-inmate perspectives on jail psychiatric services. Patient-inmate experiences indicate that the jail environment is incongruent with the provision of comprehensive psychiatric services. Thus, program administrators would best serve patient-inmates by strengthening basic services and connections to community-based providers who can provide comprehensive and effective care.

Variation in male spermiation response to exogenous hormones among divergent populations of Red-eyed Treefrogs.

BACKGROUND: The non-lethal collection of sperm from live males is an important component for multiple captive-breeding techniques, including assisted reproductive technology (ART) protocols, sperm cryopreservation and in vitro fertilization. However, in amphibians, the type and amount of hormone necessary to induce spermiation can be highly variable, even among closely related species. We are unaware of any studies that have examined the spermiation response to exogenous hormones across highly differentiated populations within a species. METHODS: We examined variation in sperm viability and production in response to the hormone LHRH among four divergent populations of the Red-eyed Treefrog (Agalychnis callidryas). We hypothesized that these highly differentiated populations would show variability in sperm count and viability in response to two dosages, 2 µg/g and 4 µg/g, of the hormone LHRH. We collected spermic urine 3 h post injection (PI). We then examined variation in spermiation at 3, 7, 12, and 24 h PI of LHRH for two allopatric populations that previously showed evidence of premating behavioral isolation. RESULTS: One population of Red-eyed Treefrog exhibited reduced sperm viability but not count in response to the hormone LHRH compared to all other populations. In addition, we found peak viability at 3 h PI for the allopatric population comparison. There was no difference in sperm production within or between populations at 3, 7, 12, or 24 h PI. For both studies, intrapopulation variation was high. CONCLUSION: ART often focuses on threatened species with small, isolated populations, which could evolve localized differences due to the evolutionary process of drift and selection. The high variation in response and the population-level differences in sperm viability we observed demonstrate that practitioners of ART should consider the possibility of divergent responses to hormones which may affect study design and animal receptivity to ART protocols.

There goes the neighborhood? The public safety enhancing effects of a mobile harm reduction intervention.

BACKGROUND: Buprenorphine is a gold-standard treatment for opioid use disorders, but most people with these disorders do not access it. Barriers to treatment access may be diminished by low-threshold mobile treatment programs but concern regarding their impact on local public safety challenges their adoption. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study uses difference-in-differences analyses to measure the impact of four mobile buprenorphine clinics in Pittsburgh on neighborhood arrest rates. The study period spans 2018 to 2022, with a pre-intervention period of 11 to 12 quarters and a post-intervention period of 7 to 8 quarters (dependent on neighborhood). A treatment group of 84 census block groups in the areas surrounding clinics during the time period after their establishment were compared to a control group of city census blocks not within one mile of a clinic plus treated block groups in the two years prior to clinic establishment. Outcome variables include drug, non-drug, and total arrests, measured quarterly per 100 in population. RESULTS: Compared to block groups further than 1 mile from a clinic, arrests fell by 34.13 % (b = -0.358, 95 % CI = -0.557, -0.158), drug arrests by 33.85 % (b = -0.087, 95 % CI = -0.151, -0.023), and non-drug related arrests by 22.29 % (b = -0.179, 95 % CI = -0.302, -0.057). Drug arrests declined significantly on days when the clinics were not present (b = -0.015, 95 % CI = -0.025, -0.006), with no significant change on clinic operational days (b = -0.002, 95 % CI = -0.016, -0.013). Total arrests declined significantly on days when clinics were and were not present (b = -0.045, 95 % CI = -0.078, -0.012; and b = -0.052, CI = -0.082, -0.023, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Mobile clinics providing medication for opioid use disorders were associated with reduced neighborhood arrest rates. Expansion of mobile services could promote health equity and public safety.

Community Behavioral Health Service Use and Criminal Recidivism of People With Mental, Substance Use, and Co-occurring Disorders.

OBJECTIVE: This study assessed the relationship between community behavioral health service (CBHS) use and criminal recidivism in a broad sample of potential beneficiaries and by diagnostic group. METHODS: Among a cohort of people on probation with any mental and/or substance use disorder (N=772), the study estimated the effect of CBHS use on rearrest with Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: Service use significantly predicted reduced recidivism among people with any mental disorder (hazard rate=0.36, p=0.008), but not among those with any substance use disorder or co-occurring disorders. CONCLUSIONS: CBHS use in a given week predicted a 64% reduced recidivism risk during the following week among people with any mental disorder. However, CBHS use had no clear relationship with recidivism among people with co-occurring disorders or any substance use disorder. CBHS use may reduce recidivism, depending on recipient and service characteristics.

Risk Factors for Criminal Recidivism Among Persons With Serious Psychiatric Diagnoses: Disentangling What Matters for Whom.

Reducing criminal legal system involvement requires an understanding of the factors that promote repeat offending (i. e., recidivism), and the dissemination of relevant interventions to those most likely to benefit. A growing body of research has established common recidivism risk factors for persons with serious psychiatric disorder diagnoses. However, research to date has not examined the degree to which these risks apply to those with serious psychiatric disorders with and without co-occurring substance use disorders. To clarify what risk and need factors are greatest and for whom, this cross-sectional study drew from an original dataset containing data on 14 social and economic, psychological, and criminal risk areas for a cohort of people on probation (n = 4,809). Linear regression models indicated that, compared to those without a serious psychiatric disorder, people on probation with a serious psychiatric disorder are at greater risk in a minority of areas and those areas are mostly social and economic in nature. Meanwhile, those withco-occurring disorders are at relatively high risk across almost all areas. The results from this study suggest that justice involved persons with serious psychiatric disorders will benefit from interventions that increase social support and economic well-being and that interventions that broadly reduce risk among people with co-occurring serious psychiatric and substance use disorders will likely yield meaningful reductions in system involvement. Ultimately, understanding and intervening upon risk for recidivism among persons with serious psychiatric disorders requires differentiating between those with and without co-occurring substance use disorders.

An Assessment of Prisoner Reentry, Legal Financial Obligations and Family Financial Support: A Focus on Fathers.

Scholars have found that family support is an important facilitator of successful reentry from prison to the community. At the same time, they have argued that owing court-ordered fines or fees, also called legal financial obligations (LFOs), can act as an additional barrier to reentry, especially for parents. There remains a need to test how LFOs impact the financial support formerly incarcerated parents receive from their families. The current study responds to this gap by employing logistic regression analyses of the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) data to test whether owing court fees is associated with formerly incarcerated fathers' (1) perceptions of available financial support from family and (2) receipt of financial support from family. We find that owing court fees is not associated with perceptions of available financial support. However, owing court fees has a positive, statistically significant association with receiving financial support from family during the first three months after prison release. This relationship remains after accounting for whether the person owes child support or sees their children monthly. Our results suggest that LFOs may create a greater need for financial support among formerly incarcerated fathers, making the financial challenges of reentry a consequence not just for those who were incarcerated but for their loved ones as well.

From Criminalized Patients to Risk-Exposed Agents: Reconceptualizing Carceral Involvement among Individuals with Psychiatric Diagnoses.

Individuals with serious mental disorder diagnoses (SMD) are overrepresented in U.S. jails and prisons, returning to custody more often and more quickly than those without these diagnoses. This paper examines the strengths and limitations of existing theoretical interpretations of justice involvement among those with SMD and presents results from in-depth interviews (n = 23) in an effort to direct an alternative theoretical path. Findings indicate people with SMD are not simply subject to the whims of their psychopathology, and instead are risk-exposed agents whose arrests are related to early institutionalization, interpersonal conflict, and life circumstances punctuated by socioeconomic marginality. Such findings suggest longitudinal and multi-level theoretical orientations are most appropriate for understanding carceral involvement among individuals with SMD.