Linkage of the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) to Avon & Somerset Police regional police records.

This data note describes a new resource for crime-related research: the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) linked to regional police records. The police data were provided by Avon & Somerset Police (A&SP), whose area of responsibility contains the ALSPAC recruitment area. In total, ALSPAC had permission to link to crime records for 12,662 of the 'study children' (now adults, who were born in the early 1990s).  The linkage took place in two stages: Stage 1 involved the ALSPAC Data Linkage Team establishing the linkage using personal identifiers common to both the ALSPAC participant database and A&SP records using deterministic and probabilistic methods. Stage 2 involved A&SP extracting attribute data on the matched individuals, removing personal identifiers and securely sharing the de-identified records with ALSPAC. The police data extraction took place in July 2021, when the participants were in their late 20s/early 30s. This data note contains details on the resulting linked police records available. In brief, electronic police records were available from 2007 onwards. In total, 1757 participants (14%) linked to at least one police record for a charge, offence 'taken into consideration', caution, or another out of court disposal. Linked participants had a total of 6413 records relating to 6283 offences. Almost three quarters of the linked participants were male. The most common offence types were violence against the person (22% of records), drug offences (19%), theft (17%) and public order offences (11%). This data note also details important issues that researchers using the local police data should be aware of, including the importance of defining an appropriate denominator, completeness, and biases affecting police records.

Natural experiments for the evaluation of place-based public health interventions: a methodology scoping review.

Introduction: Place-based public health evaluations are increasingly making use of natural experiments. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of the design and use of natural experiment evaluations (NEEs), and an assessment of the plausibility of the as-if randomization assumption. Methods: A systematic search of three bibliographic databases (Pubmed, Web of Science and Ovid-Medline) was conducted in January 2020 to capture publications that reported a natural experiment of a place-based public health intervention or outcome. For each, study design elements were extracted. An additional evaluation of as-if randomization was conducted by 12 of this paper's authors who evaluated the same set of 20 randomly selected studies and assessed 'as-if ' randomization for each. Results: 366 NEE studies of place-based public health interventions were identified. The most commonly used NEE approach was a Difference-in-Differences study design (25%), followed by before-after studies (23%) and regression analysis studies. 42% of NEEs had likely or probable as-if randomization of exposure (the intervention), while for 25% this was implausible. An inter-rater agreement exercise indicated poor reliability of as-if randomization assignment. Only about half of NEEs reported some form of sensitivity or falsification analysis to support inferences. Conclusion: NEEs are conducted using many different designs and statistical methods and encompass various definitions of a natural experiment, while it is questionable whether all evaluations reported as natural experiments should be considered as such. The likelihood of as-if randomization should be specifically reported, and primary analyses should be supported by sensitivity analyses and/or falsification tests. Transparent reporting of NEE designs and evaluation methods will contribute to the optimum use of place-based NEEs.

The impact of a "Psychiatric Genetics for Genetic Counselors" workshop on genetic counselor attendees: An exploratory study.

Genetic counseling is the process of supporting patients' and families' adaptation to genetic information. Psychiatric genetic counseling has been proven to be effective in improving empowerment, self-efficacy, and knowledge even in the absence of genetic testing. Despite this, only one specialist psychiatric genetic counseling clinic currently exists. In order to engage genetic counselors in providing psychiatric genetic counseling, a 2-day workshop: "Psychiatric Genetic Counseling for Genetic Counselors", was developed and implemented aimed at empowering genetic counselors to feel confident and competent in this practice domain. The aim of the study was to qualitatively explore the impact of the workshop. Semistructured interviews were carried out with 12 genetic counselors who attended the workshop between 2015 and 2018. Thematic analysis revealed that the workshop empowered all participants to feel comfortable and confident offering psychiatric genetic counseling to patients. Participants also reflected how the workshop highlighted the stigma associated with mental illnesses and offered support in normalizing these conditions. Overall, this study presents that the "Psychiatric Genetic Counseling for Genetic Counselors" workshop fulfilled its proposed aims and outcomes.

Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy (BARDS): A rapid test for enteric coating thickness and integrity of controlled release pellet formulations.

There are no rapid dissolution based tests for determining coating thickness, integrity and drug concentration in controlled release pellets either during production or post-production. The manufacture of pellets requires several coating steps depending on the formulation. The sub-coating and enteric coating steps typically take up to six hours each followed by additional drying steps. Post production regulatory dissolution testing also takes up to six hours to determine if the batch can be released for commercial sale. The thickness of the enteric coating is a key factor that determines the release rate of the drug in the gastro-intestinal tract. Also, the amount of drug per unit mass decreases with increasing thickness of the enteric coating. In this study, the coating process is tracked from start to finish on an hourly basis by taking samples of pellets during production and testing those using BARDS (Broadband Acoustic Resonance Dissolution Spectroscopy). BARDS offers a rapid approach to characterising enteric coatings with measurements based on reproducible changes in the compressibility of a solvent due to the evolution of air during dissolution. This is monitored acoustically via associated changes in the frequency of induced acoustic resonances. A steady state acoustic lag time is associated with the disintegration of the enteric coatings in basic solution. This lag time is pH dependent and is indicative of the rate at which the coating layer dissolves. BARDS represents a possible future surrogate test for conventional USP dissolution testing as its data correlates directly with the thickness of the enteric coating, its integrity and also with the drug loading as validated by HPLC.

Externalizing and internalizing subtypes of combat-related PTSD: a replication and extension using the PSY-5 scales.

This study replicated and extended prior findings of internalizing and externalizing subtypes of posttraumatic response (M. W. Miller, J. L. Greif, & A. A. Smith, 2003). Cluster analyses of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory--2 Personality Psychopathology--Five (MMPI-2 PSY-5; A. R. Harkness, J. L. McNulty, Y. S. Ben-Porath, 1995) profiles obtained from 736 veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) partitioned the sample into a low pathology cluster defined by personality scores in the normal range, an externalizing cluster characterized by low constraint and high negative emotionality, and an internalizing cluster with high negative emotionality and low positive emotionality. Externalizers showed the highest rates of alcohol-related and antisocial personality disorders; internalizers, the highest rates of panic and major depressive disorder. These findings support the development of a personality-based typology of posttraumatic response designed to account for heterogeneity in the expression of PTSD and associated psychopathology.

Nurses' accuracy in estimating backrest elevation.

BACKGROUND: Positioning patients is a key component of nursing care and can affect their morbidity and mortality. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommend that patients receiving mechanical ventilation have the head of the bed elevated 30 degrees to 45 degrees to prevent nosocomial pneumonia. However, use of higher backrest positions for critically ill patients is not common nursing practice. Backrest elevation may be affected by the accuracy of nurses' estimates of patients' positions. OBJECTIVES: To determine the difference between nurses' estimates of bed angles and measured bed angles and to describe the relationship between nurses' characteristics and the accuracy of their estimates. METHODS: A convenience sample of 67 nurses attending the 1999 American Association of Critical-Care Nurses National Teaching Institute and Critical Care Exposition in New Orleans, La. Each subject provided demographic information and estimated 3 bed angles. The angles were preselected by using a random number table. Summary statistics were used and were categorized according to the demographic information provided by participants. Estimated angles were correlated with measured angles, and accuracies in estimating angles were correlated with demographic characteristics. RESULTS: Nurses were accurate in estimating bed angles (correlation, 0.8488). Demographic information, including sex, age, years of practice, years of critical care practice, basic education, highest educational level, and present position had no relationship to accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: Nurses are able to estimate backrest elevation accurately. Other explanations are needed to understand why recommendations for backrest elevation are not used in practice.