Solutions Trial: Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) in 10-17-year-olds presenting at police custody: a randomised controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Within England, children and young people (CYP) who come into police custody are referred to Liaison and Diversion (L&D) teams. L&D teams have responsibility for liaising with healthcare and other support services while working to divert CYP away from the criminal justice system but have traditionally not provided targeted psychological interventions to CYP. Considering evidence that Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) leads to a reduction in internalising and externalising behaviour problems in CYP, the aim of this randomised controlled trial (RCT) was to determine whether there is a difference between services as usual (SAU) plus SFBT offered by trained therapists working within a L&D team, and SAU alone, in reducing offending behaviours in 10-17-year-olds presenting at police custody. METHODS: Design: two-arm individually RCT with internal pilot and process evaluation. PARTICIPANTS: N = approximately 448 CYP aged 10-17 years presenting at one of three police custody suites in the area served by Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust (LSCFT) who are referred to the L&D team. Participants will be recruited and allocated to intervention:control on a 1:1 basis. Interviews will be performed with 30-40 CYP in the intervention arm, 15 CYP in the control arm, up to 20 parents/guardians across both arms, up to 15 practitioners, and up to 10 site staff responsible for screening CYP for the trial. Intervention and control: Those allocated to the intervention will be offered SAU plus SFBT, and control participants will receive SAU only. PRIMARY OUTCOME: CYP frequency of offending behaviours assessed through the Self-Report Delinquency Measure (SRDM) at 12 months post-randomisation. SECONDARY OUTCOMES: criminal offence data (national police database); emotional and behavioural difficulties (self-report and parent/guardian reported); gang affiliation (self-report). Process evaluation: evaluation of acceptability and experiences of the CYP, parents/guardians, site staff and practitioners; fidelity of SFBT delivery. DISCUSSION: This two-arm individually RCT will evaluate the effectiveness of SFBT in reducing offending behaviours in CYP presenting at police custody suites within the area served by LSCFT. Our process evaluation will assess the fidelity of delivery of SFBT, the factors affecting implementation, the acceptability of SFBT in CYP aged 10-17 years and recruitment and reach. We will also examine systems and structures for future delivery, therefore assessing overall scalability. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov  ISRCTN14195235 . Registered on June 16, 2023.

Modification of palm oil for anti-inflammatory nutraceutical properties.

Palm oil is one of the most important edible oils in the world. Its composition (rich in palmitate and oleate) make it suitable for general food uses but its utility could be increased if its fatty acid quality could be varied. In this study, we have modified a palm olein fraction by transesterification with the n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, alpha-linolenate or eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). Evaluation of the potential nutritional efficacy of the oils was made using chondrocyte culture systems which can be used to mimic many of the degenerative and inflammatory pathways involved in arthritis. On stimulation of such cultures with interleukin-1alpha, they showed increased expression of cyclooxygenase-2, the inflammatory cytokines tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IL-1alpha and IL-1beta and the proteinase ADAMTS-4. This increased expression was not affected by challenge of the cultures with palm olein alone but showed concentration-dependent reduction by the modified oil in a manner similar to EPA. These results show clearly that it is possible to modify palm oil conveniently to produce a nutraceutical with effective anti-inflammatory properties.

Switching from premixed insulin to glargine-based insulin regimen improves glycaemic control in patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes: a retrospective primary-care-based analysis.

BACKGROUND: Insulin glargine (glargine) and premixed insulins (premix) are alternative insulin treatments. This analysis evaluated glycaemic control in 528 patients with type 1 (n = 183) or type 2 (n = 345) diabetes, after switching from premix to a glargine-based regimen, using unselected general practice (GP) data. METHODS: Data for this retrospective observational analysis were extracted from a UK GP database (The Health Improvement Network). Patients were required to have at least 12 months of available data, before and after, switching from premix to a glargine-based regimen. The principal analysis was the change in HbA1c after 12 months of treatment with glargine; secondary analyses included change in weight, bolus usage and total daily insulin dose. Inconsistent reporting of hypoglycemic episodes precludes reliable assessment of this outcome. Multivariate analyses were used to adjust for baseline characteristics and confounding variables. RESULTS: Both cohorts showed significant reduction in mean HbA1c 12 months after the switch: by -0.67% (p < 0.001) in the type 1 cohort and by -0.53% (p < 0.001) in the type 2 cohort (adjusted data). The size of HbA1c improvement was positively correlated with baseline HbA1c; patients with a baseline HbA1c > or = 10% had the greatest mean reduction in HbA1c, by -1.7% (p < 0.001) and -1.2% (p < 0.001), respectively. The proportion of patients receiving co-bolus prescriptions increased in the type 1 (mean 24.6% to 95.1%, p < 0.001) and type 2 (mean 16.2% to 73.9%, p < 0.001) cohorts. There was no significant change in weight in either cohort. Total mean insulin use increased in type 2 diabetes patients (from 0.67 +/- 1.35 U/Kg to 0.88 +/- 1.33 U/Kg, p < 0.001) with a slight decrease in type 1 diabetes patients (from 1.04 +/- 2.51 U/Kg to 0.98 +/- 2.58 U/Kg, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: In everyday practice, patients with type 1 or type 2 diabetes inadequately controlled by premix insulins experienced significant improvement in glycaemic control over 12 months after switching to a glargine-based insulin regimen. These findings support the use of a basal-bolus glargine-based regimen in patients poorly controlled on premix.

Improved glycaemic control by switching from insulin NPH to insulin glargine: a retrospective observational study.

BACKGROUND: Insulin glargine (glargine) and insulin NPH (NPH) are two basal insulin treatments. This study investigated the effect on glycaemic control of switching from a NPH-based regimen to a glargine-based regimen in 701 patients with type 1 (n= 304) or type 2 (n= 397) diabetes, using unselected primary care data. METHODS: Data for this retrospective observational study were extracted from a UK primary care database (The Health Improvement Network). Patients were required to have at least 12 months of data before and after switching from NPH to glargine. The principal analysis was the change in HbA(1c) after 12 months treatment with glargine; secondary analyses included change in weight and total daily insulin dose. Inconsistent reporting of hypoglycemic episodes precludes reliable reporting of this outcome. Multivariate analyses were used to adjust for baseline characteristics and confounding variables. RESULTS: After adjustment, both diabetic cohorts showed statistically significant reductions in mean HbA(1c) 12 months after the switch, by 0.38% (p < 0.001) in type 1 patients and 0.31% (p < 0.001) in type 2 patients. Improvement in HbA1c was positively correlated with baseline HbA(1c); patients with baseline HbA(1c) > or = 8% had reductions of 0.57% (p < 0.001) and 0.47% (p < 0.001), respectively. There was no significant change in weight or total daily insulin dose while on glargine. The majority of patients received a basal-bolus regimen prior to and after the switch (mean 79.3% before and 77.2% after switch in type 1 patients, and 80.4% and 76.8%, respectively in type 2 patients, p > 0.05). CONCLUSION: In routine clinical practice, switching from NPH to glargine provides the opportunity for improving glycaemic control in diabetes patients inadequately controlled by NPH.