The Gendered Path for Girls in Rural Communities: The Impact of COVID-19 on Youth Presenting at Juvenile Detention Facilities.

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, girls and women represented one of the fastest growing populations within the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Since the spread of COVID-19, suggestions were provided to juvenile justice bodies, encouraging a reduction of youth arrests, detainments, and quicker court processing. Yet, the research comparing peri-COVID-19 changes for girls and boys is lacking, with an oversight to gender trends and rural and urban differences. This study used Juvenile Intake and Assessment Center (JIAC) data from a rural Midwestern state to look at rural and urban location trends for both boys and girls. Results suggest rural communities are responding differently to girls' behaviors, revealing a slower decline in intakes compared to boys and youth in urban areas.

COVID-19 and Juvenile Probation: A Qualitative Examination of Emergent Challenges and Useful Strategies.

The emergence of COVID-19 placed immediate pressure on the juvenile justice system to adapt to changes in case processing and decision-making practices. Juvenile probation agencies were tasked with quickly altering their policies and practice to abide by local public health measures. As probation supervision is the most common disposition in the juvenile justice system, there is both an empirical and practical need to understand the impact that COVID-19 has on a variety of issues surrounding the supervision and provision of services for juveniles. Using self-report survey data from juvenile probation directors across the United States, the current study examines (a) the biggest challenges faced by juvenile probation agencies during the pandemic, (b) the strategies implemented in response to these challenges, and (c) the most pressing issues currently facing the field of juvenile community corrections. Results have the potential to inform future agency decision-making when adjusting juvenile probation policy and practice.

Juvenile Correctional Officer Beliefs About Trauma and Mental Illness: Perceptions of Training and Youth Behaviors.

Youth with a mental illness are incarcerated at much higher rates than youth without a psychological diagnosis. Correctional officers serve as a source of daily interaction for these youth and are required to manage juvenile mental health symptoms with minimal training. When staff do not fully understand mental health needs or hold stigmatic perceptions, youth may experience negative consequences. Being aware of officer perceptions of juvenile mental health issues has the potential to improve monitoring and treatment of youth at correctional facilities. This study took place at a Midwestern juvenile correctional facility-the only one in the state. Officer attitudes surrounding mental health, mental health training, and treatment needs were assessed among a sample of juvenile correctional officers employed at the facility. Findings suggest overall positive perceptions of juvenile mental health issues, but suggest the need for increased mental health training for juvenile correctional officers.

Azygos continuation of the caudal vena cava with segmental aneurysm, lung lobe torsion and pulmonary thromboembolism in a dog.

This case highlights the management and diagnostic evaluation of a dog with two individually rare conditions (lung lobe torsion and vena cava aneurysm) that ultimately resulted in fatal pulmonary thromboembolism.

Integrating Rapid Diagnostics and Antimicrobial Stewardship in Two Community Hospitals Improved Process Measures and Antibiotic Adjustment Time.

OBJECTIVE To assess the impact of Matrix-Assisted Laser Desorption/Ionization Time-of-Flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry for rapid pathogen identification directly from early-positive blood cultures coupled with an antimicrobial stewardship program (ASP) in two community hospitals. Process measures and outcomes prior and after implementation of MALDI-TOF/ASP were evaluated. DESIGN Multicenter retrospective study. SETTING Two community hospitals in a system setting, Houston Methodist (HM) Sugar Land Hospital (235 beds) or HM Willowbrook Hospital (241 beds). PATIENTS Patients ≥ 18 years of age with culture-proven Gram-negative bacteremia. INTERVENTION Blood cultures from both hospitals were sent to and processed at our central microbiology laboratory. Clinical pharmacists at respective hospitals were notified of pathogen ID and susceptibility results. RESULTS We evaluated 572 patients for possible inclusion. After pre-defined exclusion criteria, 151 patients were included in the pre-intervention group and 242 were included in the intervention group. After MALDI-TOF/ASP implementation, the mean identification time after culture positivity was significantly reduced from 32 hours (±16 hours) to 6.5 hours (±5.4 hours) (P<.001); mean time to susceptibility results was significantly reduced from 48 (±22) hours to 23 (±14) hours (P<.001); and time to therapy adjustment was significantly reduced from 75 (±59) hours to 30 (±30) hours (P<.001). Mean hospital costs per patient were $3,411 less in the intervention group compared with the pre-intervention group ($18,645 vs $15,234; P=.04). CONCLUSION This study is the first to analyze the impact of MALDI-TOF coupled with an ASP in a community hospital setting. Time to results significantly differed with the use of MALDI-TOF, and time to appropriate therapy was significantly improved with the addition of ASP.

Significant publications on infectious diseases pharmacotherapy in 2014.

PURPOSE: The most important articles on infectious diseases (ID) pharmacotherapy published in the peer-reviewed literature in 2014, as nominated and selected by panels of pharmacists and others with ID expertise, are summarized. SUMMARY: Members of the Houston Infectious Diseases Network were asked to nominate articles published in 2014 from prominent peer-reviewed journals that were felt to have a major impact in the field of ID pharmacotherapy. A list of 19 nominated articles on general ID-related topics and 9 articles specifically related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was compiled. In a national online survey, members of the Society of Infectious Diseases Pharmacists (SIDP) were asked to select from the list 10 general ID articles believed to have made a significant contribution to the field of ID pharmacotherapy and 1 article contributing to HIV/AIDS pharmacotherapy. Of the 291 SIDP members surveyed, 134 (46%) and 56 (19%) participated in the selection of general ID-related articles and HIV/AIDS-related articles, respectively. The 11 highest-ranked papers (10 general ID-related articles, 1 HIV/AIDS-related article) are summarized here. CONCLUSION: With the vast number of articles published each year, it is difficult to remain up-to-date on current, significant ID pharmacotherapy publications. This review of significant publications in 2014 may be helpful by lessening this burden.