David O'Mahony

Bifidobacterium Infantis 35624 Protects Against Salmonella -Induced Reductions in Digestive Enzyme Activity in Mice by Attenuation of the Host Inflammatory Response

OBJECTIVES:Salmonella-induced damage to the small intestine may decrease the villi-associated enzyme activity, causing malabsorption of nutrients and diarrhea, and thus contribute to the symptoms of infection. The objective of this study was to determine the mechanism by which different doses and durations of Salmonella infection and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) affect brush border enzyme activity in the mouse, and to determine if the probiotic Bifidobacterium longum subspecies infantis 35624 could attenuate the intestinal damage.METHODS:BALB/c mice were challenged with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium UK1 at various doses (102–108 colony-forming unit (CFU)) and durations (106 CFU for 1–6 days). Mice were also treated with B. longum subsp. infantis 35624 for 2 weeks before and during a 6-day S. Typhimurium challenge (106 CFU), or before injection of LPS. The small intestine was assessed for morphological changes, mRNA expression of cytokines, and activity of the brush border enzymes sucrase–isomaltase, maltase, and alkaline phosphatase.RESULTS:S. Typhimurium infection significantly reduced the activity of all brush border enzymes in a dose- and time-dependent manner (P<0.05). This also occurred following injection of LPS. Pre-treatment with B. longum subsp. infantis 35624 prevented weight loss, protected brush border enzyme activity, reduced the small intestinal damage, and inhibited the increase in interleukin (IL)-10 and IL-8 expression due to Salmonella challenge.CONCLUSIONS:Salmonella infection reduces the small intestinal brush border enzyme activity in mice, with the level of reduction and associated weight loss increasing with dose and duration of infection. B. longum subsp. infantis 35624 treatment attenuated the effect of Salmonella infection on brush border enzyme activity and weight loss, which may be due to modulation of the host immune response.

The Vengeful Victim? Assessing the Attitudes of Victims Participating in Restorative Youth Conferencing

The task of delineating an appropriate role for the victim in the criminal justice system has been the subject of considerable debate in academia and policy circles for some time. While victim participation is considered something of a sine qua non of the restorative paradigm, many commentators remain sceptical of victim input in conventional sentencing on the grounds that it may lead to the imposition of overly harsh or onerous obligations. Drawing on evidence from a major evaluation of youth conferencing in Northern Ireland, this article challenges the assumption that victims are essentially punitive parties, and calls for a rethink of some of the fundamental values and assumptions that have traditionally resulted in their exclusion and even alienation in the criminal justice system.

Mainstreaming Restorative Justice for Young Offenders through Youth Conferencing: The Experience of Northern Ireland

Though Northern Ireland is a relatively small jurisdiction within Ireland and the United Kingdom with a population of just over 1.7 million (of which about 183,000 are 10–16 years of age — the current age of criminal responsibility for children), it has its own unique system of youth justice which very recently has undergone significant transformation. A restorative justice approach to deal with young offenders and victims has been mainstreamed through a process called “youth conferencing.” This new approach offers valuable insights in terms of youth justice policy and practice to the international forum and in this chapter we explore some of its potentials and limitations.

Young People, Crime, and Criminal Justice: Patterns and Prospects for the Future.

This article gives a brief outline of juvenile crime and the operation of the juvenile justice system in Northern Ireland. It looks critically at how the justice system works and at some recent developments in practice and legislation, and it considers some of the obstacles and opportunities that are emerging at a time of change, especially following the Good Friday Agreement. The article first provides some general facts and figures on crime and victimization in Northern Ireland to place the debate in context. The article then provides details about the nature and extent of juvenile crime and describes the various stages of the criminal justice process, from police contact, to the sentencing of the juvenile court, to the operation of various court disposals. Prospects for the future in the treatment of juveniles in the Northern Irish criminal justice process are discussed.

Fear of Crime and Locale: The Impact of Community Related Factors upon Fear of Crime

Traditional accounts of fear of crime and victimisation have largely concentrated on factors associated with the individual such as their age, sex or ethnicity and more recently in Northern Ireland their religion. This conventional approach, adopted by many national victimisation surveys such as the British Crime Surveys and the Northern Ireland Crime Survey, has lead to assertions that, for example, women and older people are more anxious about victimisation and Protestants in Northern Ireland are more worried about terrorist attack than their Catholic counterparts. Drawing on the results of the first community based crime survey conducted in Northern Ireland, this paper explores the extent to which the community in which an individual lives, as opposed to their individual characteristics, directly impacts on their fear of crime. It is argued that, by overlooking the significance of community based factors, some criminologists may actually be obscuring our understanding of the dynamics of this fear.