The association between caregiver psychiatric distress and perceived barriers to behavioral health treatment participation for youth in the juvenile legal system.

Youth in the juvenile legal system (JLS) evidence high rates of behavioral health concerns but struggle to access services. Given that caregivers are often tasked with helping their child to initiate and persist with services, it seems important to understand how their own well-being impacts their experiences of barriers to treatment participation for their child. The present study examined the link between caregiver (N = 196; 89% female) psychiatric concerns and experiences of treatment barriers among a sample of youth involved in the JLS. A cluster analysis revealed a cluster of caregivers with clinically significant levels of psychiatric distress and a cluster with low levels of psychiatric distress. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that belonging to the high-distress cluster was predictive of experiencing certain types of barriers to treatment participation. These findings have implications for interventions for addressing barriers to treatment participation for caregivers of legally involved youth.

Non-suicidal Self-Injury, Suicidal Behaviors, and Mental Health Symptoms among Sexual Minority Youth with Juvenile Justice System Involvement.

Sexual minority youth have long remained an understudied population within the juvenile justice system, despite emerging evidence suggesting that sexual minority youth are overrepresented. Recent literature indicates that system-involved sexual minority youth may have more behavioral health concerns than their heterosexual counterparts. Even so, more work is needed to elucidate the unique needs of sexual minority youth who become involved in the system, especially as it pertains to suicidal behaviors and non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). The present study provided a descriptive evaluation of the prevalence of sexual minority youth making early system contact and their mental health concerns. Of the 218 justice-involved youth from a Northeastern family court in the sample, over a quarter identified as a sexual minority (n = 58). Our findings indicated that these youth evidenced significantly higher scores on a mental health screener compared to their heterosexual counterparts, evidencing greater symptomology on scales indicative of depression/anxiety, thought disturbance, etc. Further, sexual minority youth reported higher rates of lifetime, past year, and past month NSSI as well as lifetime and past year suicide attempts. These findings highlight the need to support the well-being of sexual minority youth in the juvenile justice system by screening for and addressing their mental health needs in this unique setting.

Differing Perceptions of Criminal Justice and Views of Law Enforcement: A Cluster-Analytic Approach to Racial-Ethnic Identities.

Race and ethnicity within psycholegal research have often been treated as nominal variables which ignores their rich within-cultural diversity and can sometimes lead to sweeping pejorative conclusions (e.g., higher prevalence of arrests). The development of several salient measures of racial-ethnic attitudes-such as the CERIS-A and MEIM-has sparked a refocusing on dimensional perspectives of race and ethnicity. This refocus becomes especially important when examining views of law enforcement and criminal justice in light of unwarranted deaths of minoritized groups while in police custody. The current study recruited a juror-eligible, online community sample (i.e., MTurk) to study their views of justice and police. Using the seven subscales of the CERIS-A, four cluster groups were identified that spanned participants' race and ethnicity. Unique patterns emerged when comparing the four groups. For example, the cluster high on both multiculturalism and their own racial-ethnic identity had far more negative views of police conduct regarding its lawfulness and fairness. Further differences emerged for views of criminal justice including the death penalty. The research implications of these findings were discussed.

European starlings use their acute vision to check on feline predators but not on conspecifics.

Head movements allow birds with laterally placed eyes to move their centers of acute vision around and align them with objects of interest. Consequently, head movements have been used as indicator of fixation behavior (where gaze is maintained). However, studies on head movement behavior have not elucidated the degree to which birds use high-acuity or low-acuity vision. We studied how European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) used high-acuity vision in the early stages of visual exploration of a stuffed cat (common terrestrial predator), a taxidermy Cooper's hawk (common aerial predator), and a stuffed study skin of a conspecific. We found that starlings tended to use their high acuity vision when looking at predators, particularly, the cat was above chance levels. However, when they viewed a conspecific, they used high acuity vision as expected by chance. We did not observe a preference for the left or right center of acute vision. Our findings suggest that starlings exposed to a predator (particularly cats) may employ selective attention by using high-acuity vision to obtain quickly detailed information useful for a potential escape, but exposed to a social context may use divided attention by allocating similar levels high- and low-quality vision to monitor both conspecifics and the rest of the environment.

Survey of disability-related content in Australian dietetics programs.

AIM: Nutrition and dietetic services are an important component of healthcare for people living with a disability. The introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in Australia is providing more opportunities for individuals to access these services from an Accredited Practising Dietitian (APD). The aim of this research was to identify how students in Australian tertiary dietetics programs are being prepared to provide these services to people with a disability. METHODS: A purpose-built questionnaire with eight open-ended questions was developed by the researchers to describe the disability-related content of university and professional placement learning opportunities and was distributed to all course conveners (or their nominated representative) of dietetics programs accredited by the Dietitians Association of Australia. The qualitative data were analysed using a descriptive approach. Responses were sorted into response category themes and counted to identify common themes. RESULTS: A representative from 14 of 18 programs (78% response rate) participated in the survey in September and October 2016. Results indicated that although 12 programs incorporate disability-related topics into the curriculum, content was inconsistent and of varying depths. Four programs offered a disability-specific placement opportunity and nine discussed the NDIS to varying degrees. CONCLUSIONS: It is important that graduates are provided with adequate learning opportunities in the area of disability to ensure that they are prepared for entry-level practise in this area. Further research may provide insight into the skills, knowledge and behaviours used by APDs working in disability to identify those that need to be strengthened in dietetics programs.

Nontraumatic, posterior circulation pseudoaneurysm of the basilar artery summit with complete spontaneous resolution: Case report and literature review.

BACKGROUND: Intracranial pseudoaneurysms are rare vascular defects of arterial walls that are classically the result of traumatic injury, iatrogenic causes, or infection. Idiopathic pseudoaneurysms are seen even less frequently and are often related to atherosclerosis. Pseudoaneurysms are most commonly found along the distal wall of the internal carotid artery, however, can occur at any location in the cerebrovascular circulation. Treatment of these arterial defects is often challenging due to their frail nature. CASE DESCRIPTION: A 61-year-old male with a history of hypertension presented with a severe, atypical headache without history of trauma. Computed tomography (CT) and computed tomography angiography (CTA) demonstrated diffuse subarachnoid hemorrhage. Imaging demonstrated a 3.5 mm pseudoaneurysm projecting distally from the basilar artery at the apex. Repeated imaging (CTA, digital subtraction angiography) demonstrated decreased size and flow associated within the aneurysm over the following 2 weeks; as such, the patient was managed conservatively. The patient was discharged in neurologically intact condition when imaging at 14 days confirmed complete and spontaneous resolution of the pseudoaneurysm. CONCLUSION: Idiopathic pseudoaneurysms that are commonly associated with atherosclerosis are most commonly managed surgically or endovascularly. Conservative approach may be considered in a select group of patients that exhibit decreased size and/or flow within the aneurysm in repeated imaging; spontaneous resolution was seen in the present case.

Accuracy of the Yamax CW-701 Pedometer for measuring steps in controlled and free-living conditions.

OBJECTIVE: The Yamax Digi-Walker CW-701 (Yamax CW-701) is a low-cost pedometer that includes a 7-day memory, a 2-week cumulative memory, and automatically resets to zero at midnight. To date, the accuracy of the Yamax CW-701 has not been determined. The purpose of this study was to assess the accuracy of steps recorded by the Yamax CW-701 pedometer compared with actual steps and two other devices. METHODS: The study was conducted in a campus-based lab and in free-living settings with 22 students, faculty, and staff at a mid-sized university in the Southeastern US. While wearing a Yamax CW-701, Yamax Digi-Walker SW-200, and an ActiGraph GTX3 accelerometer, participants engaged in activities at variable speeds and conditions. To assess accuracy of each device, steps recorded were compared with actual step counts. Statistical tests included paired sample t-tests, percent accuracy, intraclass correlation coefficient, and Bland-Altman plots. RESULTS: The Yamax CW-701 demonstrated reliability and concurrent validity during walking at a fast pace and walking on a track, and in free-living conditions. Decreased accuracy was noted walking at a slow pace. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are consistent with prior research. With most pedometers and accelerometers, adequate force and intensity must be present for a step to register. The Yamax CW-701 is accurate in recording steps taken while walking at a fast pace and in free-living settings.

Oculomotor strategy of an avian ground forager: tilted and weakly yoked eye saccades.

Many bird species are capable of large saccadic eye movements that can result in substantial shifts in gaze direction and complex changes to their visual field orientation. In the absence of visual stimuli, birds make spontaneous saccades that follow an endogenous oculomotor strategy. We used new eye-tracking technology specialized for small birds to study the oculomotor behavior of an open-habitat, ground-foraging songbird, the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris). We found that starlings primarily move their eyes along a tilted axis 13.46 deg downwards anteriorly and upwards posteriorly, which differs from the axis parallel to the horizon employed by other species. This tilted axis could enhance foraging and anti-predator strategies while starlings are head-down looking for food, allowing them to direct vision between the open mandibles to visually inspect food items, and above and behind the head to scan areas where predators are more likely to attack. We also found that starlings have neither fully conjugate saccades (as in humans, for example) nor independent saccades (as in chameleons, for example). Rather, they exhibit weakly yoked saccades where the left and right eyes move at the same time but not at the same magnitude. Functionally, weakly yoked saccades may be similar to independent saccades in that they allow the two eyes to concomitantly perform different tasks. The differences between the oculomotor strategies of studied species suggest eye movements play variable but important roles across bird species with different ecological niches.

European starlings recognize the location of robotic conspecific attention.

Looking where others are allocating attention can facilitate social interactions by providing information about objects or locations of interest. We asked whether European starlings follow the orientation behaviour of conspecifics owing to their highly gregarious behaviour. Starlings reoriented their attention to follow that of a robot around a barrier more often than when the robot's attention was directed elsewhere. This is the first empirical evidence of reorienting in response to conspecific attention in a songbird. Starlings may use this behaviour to obtain fine-tuned spatial information from conspecifics (e.g. direction of predator approach, spatial location of food patches), enhancing group cohesion.

A polyacetylene-rich extract from Gymnaster koraiensis strongly inhibits colitis-associated colon cancer in mice.

Gymnaster koraiensis (GK) is a Korean herb used in folk medicine and recently found to positively impact liver health. Because GK contains polyacetylenes and because other polyacetylenes have been found to exhibit anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities, we hypothesized that the polyacetylene gymnasterkoreayne B (GKB), known to increase hepatic detoxification enzymes, may also exert anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer activities. We fed male C57BL/6 mice purified AIN93G diets containing no additions, GKB or the GKB-rich fraction of an ethanol extract (GE) from GK to determine if these diets would slow or prevent either inflammation or inflammation-enhanced colon cancer, using the dextran sulfate sodium/azoxymethane mouse model. The GKB (500 µmol/kg diet daily) showed some anti-inflammatory activity, but GE, containing an equal dose of GKB, protected strongly against both inflammation and colon cancer, decreasing adenocarcinomas by 90%. These data support further research into GK as a promising potential anti-cancer agent.