Triad influence on the detection of crime in Hong Kong.

We use bootstrap data envelopment analysis, adjusting for endogeneity, to examine police efficiency in detecting crime in Hong Kong. We address the following: (i) is there a correlation between the detection of crime and triad influence? (ii) does the level of triad influence affect the efficiency in translating inputs (police strength) into outputs (crime detection)? and (iii) how can the allocation of policing resources be adjusted to improve crime detection? We find that nighty-eight percent of Hong Kong police districts in our sample were found to be inefficient in the detection of crime. Variation was found across districts regarding the detection of violent, property and other crimes.

Corrigendum: A method and app for measuring the heterogeneous costs and benefits of justice processes.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.

A method and app for measuring the heterogeneous costs and benefits of justice processes.

Can the impact of justice processes be enhanced with the inclusion of a heterogeneous component into an existing cost-benefit analysis (CBA) APP that demonstrates how benefactors and beneficiaries are affected? Such a component requires: (i) moving beyond the traditional cost benefit conceptual framework of utilising averages; (ii) identification of social group or population-specific variation; (iii) identification of how justice processes differ across groups/populations; (iv) distribution of costs and benefits according to the identified variations; and (v) utilisation of empirically informed statistical techniques to gain new insights from data and maximise impact to beneficiaries. In this paper, we outline a method for capturing heterogeneity. We test our method and the CBA online APP we developed using primary data collected from a developmental crime prevention intervention in Australia.

Gold nanoparticle design for RNA compaction.

RNA-based therapeutics hold a great promise in treating a variety of diseases. However, double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) are inherently unstable, highly charged, and stiff macromolecules that require a delivery vehicle. Cationic ligand functionalized gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) are able to compact nucleic acids and assist in RNA delivery.

Financial Fraud against Older People in Hong Kong: Assessing and Predicting the Fear and Perceived Risk of Victimization.

While the majority of studies on the fear of crime focus on the impact of violent and property crimes at the population level, financial fraud against senior citizens is often under-investigated. This study uses data collected from 1061 older citizens in the community through a cross-sectional survey in Hong Kong to examine the levels of fear and perceived risk among Chinese senior citizens toward financial fraud and the factors behind them. Logistic regression analyses were conducted to assess the explanatory power of four theoretical perspectives (vulnerability, victimization, social integration, and satisfaction with police) on fear and perceived risk of fraud victimization.

Effect of an Antiracism Intervention on Racial Disparities in Time to Lung Cancer Surgery.

Purpose: Timely lung cancer surgery is a metric of high-quality cancer care and improves survival for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer. Historically, Black patients experience longer delays to surgery than White patients and have lower survival rates. Antiracism interventions have shown benefits in reducing racial disparities in lung cancer treatment.

Expanding the Reach of an Evidence-Based, System-Level, Racial Equity Intervention: Translating ACCURE to the Maternal Healthcare and Education Systems.

The abundance of literature documenting the impact of racism on health disparities requires additional theoretical, statistical, and conceptual contributions to illustrate how anti-racist interventions can be an important strategy to reduce racial inequities and improve population health. Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity (ACCURE) was an NIH-funded intervention that utilized an antiracism lens and community-based participatory research (CBPR) approaches to address Black-White disparities in cancer treatment completion. ACCURE emphasized change at the institutional level of healthcare systems through two primary principles of antiracism organizing: transparency and accountability.

Preoperative Radiosurgery for Resected Brain Metastases: The PROPS-BM Multicenter Cohort Study.

Purpose: Preoperative radiosurgery (SRS) is a feasible alternative to postoperative SRS, with potential benefits in adverse radiation effect (ARE) and leptomeningeal disease (LMD) relapse. However, previous studies are limited by small patient numbers and single-institution designs. Our aim was to evaluate preoperative SRS outcomes and prognostic factors from a large multicenter cohort (Preoperative Radiosurgery for Brain Metastases [PROPS-BM]).

Leptomeningeal disease and neurologic death after surgical resection and radiosurgery for brain metastases: A multi-institutional analysis.

Purpose: Postoperative stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) is associated with up to 30% risk of subsequent leptomeningeal disease (LMD). Radiographic patterns of LMD (classical sugarcoating [cLMD] vs. nodular [nLMD]) in this setting has been shown to be prognostic.

Ethnic Economic Inequality and Fatalities From Terrorism.

Few studies have explored the influence of horizontal (i.e., among group) inequalities on terrorism, yet it seems plausible that these inequalities may be relevant.

Proposed Hydrogel-Implant Quality Score and a Matched-Pair Study for Prostate Radiation Therapy.

Purpose: SpaceOAR hydrogel has been Food and Drug Administration approved to reduce rectal toxicity in prostate radiation therapy. Training and certification for this procedure is performed by the manufacturer, without independent quality measures. We propose a Hydrogel-Implant Quality Score (HIQS) as a surrogate to quantify hydrogel placement accuracy, to assist clinicians in tracking their implant proficiency, and to support quality improvement.

Evaluating Potential Racial Inequities in Low-dose Computed Tomography Screening for Lung Cancer.

Background: Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the US, and significant racial disparities exist in lung cancer outcomes. For example, Black men experience higher lung cancer incidence and mortality rates than their White counterparts. New screening recommendations for low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) promote earlier detection of lung cancer in at-risk populations and can potentially help mitigate racial disparities in lung cancer mortality if administered equitably.

The impact of IoT security labelling on consumer product choice and willingness to pay.

The Internet of Things (IoT) brings internet connectivity to everyday electronic devices (e.g. security cameras and smart TVs) to improve their functionality and efficiency.

Can automated treatment plans gain traction in the clinic?

Recently, there has been an increased interest in the feasibility and impact of automation within the field of medical dosimetry. While there have been many commercialized solutions for automatic treatment planning, the use of an application programming interface to achieve complete plan generation for specific treatment sites is a process only recently available for certain commercial vendors. Automatic plan generation for 20 prostate patients was achieved via a stand-alone automated planning script that accessed a knowledge-based planning solution.

A Multi-faceted Intervention Aimed at Black-White Disparities in the Treatment of Early Stage Cancers: The ACCURE Pragmatic Quality Improvement trial.

Background: Reports continue to show that Blacks with curable lung or breast cancer complete treatment less often than similar Whites contributing to worse survival. ACCURE is an intervention trial designed to address this problem.

Patients And Methods: A pragmatic, quality improvement trial comparing an intervention group to retrospective and concurrent controls.

A multi-institutional analysis of presentation and outcomes for leptomeningeal disease recurrence after surgical resection and radiosurgery for brain metastases.

Background: Radiographic leptomeningeal disease (LMD) develops in up to 30% of patients following postoperative stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain metastases. However, the clinical relevancy of this finding and outcomes after various salvage treatments are not known.

Methods: Patients with brain metastases, of which 1 was resected and treated with adjunctive SRS, and who subsequently developed LMD were combined from 7 tertiary care centers.

A system-based intervention to reduce Black-White disparities in the treatment of early stage lung cancer: A pragmatic trial at five cancer centers.

Background: Advances in early diagnosis and curative treatment have reduced high mortality rates associated with non-small cell lung cancer. However, racial disparity in survival persists partly because Black patients receive less curative treatment than White patients.

Methods: We performed a 5-year pragmatic, trial at five cancer centers using a system-based intervention.

Progress in ligand design for monolayer-protected nanoparticles for nanobio interfaces.

Ligand-functionalized inorganic nanoparticles, also known as monolayer-protected nanoparticles, offer great potential as vehicles for delivery of drugs, genes, and other therapeutics. These nanoparticles offer highly customizable chemistries independent of the size, shape, and functionality imparted by the inorganic core. Their success as drug delivery agents depends on their interaction with three major classes of biomolecules: nucleic acids, proteins, and membranes.

The Effect of the Moscow Theatre Siege on Expectations of Well-Being in the Future.

We employ the Russia Longitudinal Monitoring Survey-Higher School of Economics (RLMS-HSE), a survey of 6,000 individuals, and a difference-in-differences estimation strategy to examine the effect of the 2002 Moscow theatre siege on the level of self-reported expectations of life in the future of the Russian population. The longitudinal nature of the data allows us to explore both the short- and long-term effects of terrorism on this population as well as contribute to the limited number of quasi-experimental studies in this area. By focusing on expectations of life in the future, we broaden our understanding of the social consequences of terrorism.

Towards a 'smart' cost-benefit tool: using machine learning to predict the costs of criminal justice policy interventions.

Background: The Manning Cost-Benefit Tool (MCBT) was developed to assist criminal justice policymakers, policing organisations and crime prevention practitioners to assess the benefits of different interventions for reducing crime and to select those strategies that represent the greatest economic return on investment.

Discussion: A challenge with the MCBT and other cost-benefit tools is that users need to input, manually, a considerable amount of point-in-time data, a process that is time consuming, relies on subjective expert opinion, and introduces the potential for data-input error. In this paper, we present and discuss a conceptual model for a 'smart' MCBT that utilises machine learning techniques.

Do we need a new CT scan for retreatment of intracranial SRS patients?

Purpose: To determine if the treatment planning computed tomography scan (CT) from an initial intracranial stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) treatment can be used for repeat courses of SRS.

Methods And Materials: Twenty-five patients with 40 brain metastases that received multiple courses of SRS were retrospectively studied. Magnetic resonance scans from repeat SRS (rMR) courses were registered to CT scans from the initial SRS (iCT) and repeat SRS (rCT).

Analysing pseudoephedrine/methamphetamine policy options in Australia using multi-criteria decision modelling.

Background: In this paper we capture and synthesize the unique knowledge of experts so that choices regarding policy measures to address methamphetamine consumption and dependency in Australia can be strengthened. We examine perceptions of the: (1) influence of underlying factors that impact on the methamphetamine problem; (2) importance of various models of intervention that have the potential to affect the success of policies; and (3) efficacy of alternative pseudoephedrine policy options.

Methods: We adopt a multi-criteria decision model to unpack factors that affect decisions made by experts and examine potential variations on weight/preference among groups.

Evaluating betterment projects.

In the past decade Australia has experienced a series of large-scale, severe natural disasters including catastrophic bushfires, widespread and repeated flooding, and intense storms and cyclones. There appears to be a prima facie case for rebuilding damaged infrastructure to a more disaster resilient (that is, to 'betterment') standard. The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate a consistent and readily applied method for advancing proposals for the betterment of essential public assets, which can be used by governments at all levels to determine the net benefits of such proposals.

Porphyromonas gingivalis evasion of autophagy and intracellular killing by human myeloid dendritic cells involves DC-SIGN-TLR2 crosstalk.

Signaling via pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) expressed on professional antigen presenting cells, such as dendritic cells (DCs), is crucial to the fate of engulfed microbes. Among the many PRRs expressed by DCs are Toll-like receptors (TLRs) and C-type lectins such as DC-SIGN. DC-SIGN is targeted by several major human pathogens for immune-evasion, although its role in intracellular routing of pathogens to autophagosomes is poorly understood.