Reflexive Modernisation and Social Work in Ireland: A Response to Powell

The aim of this article is respond to some of the issues addressed by Powell (1998). It focuses on his consideration of the role and task of social work within a changing society. I argue that, before postulations about the future role of social work in Ireland can be made, consideration of its current nature and the form of its discourses are necessary. I then go on to critique Powell's analysis of social work in the context of concepts such as empowerment, participation and prevention and argue that, by failing to consider the necessarily regulatory and centralized nature of much of Irish social work currently, such an analysis remains merely rhetorical. Powell's reference to the Irish Association of Social Workers' Code of Ethics (1995) as evidence of social work entering a period of reflexive modernity is also examined. The article concludes with a call for a move away from utopian speculation within Irish social work discourse towards a more realistic and constructive analysis of both the future potential and the limitations of Irish social work, given its spatial and discursive constraints.

Use of the Child Health Questionnaire in Children with Cerebral Palsy: A Systematic Review and Evaluation of the Psychometric Properties

Objective: To review the psychometric performance of the Child Health Questionnaire (CHQ) in samples ofchildren with cerebral palsy (CP).

Method: Four search terms were applied to five databases in a search forpapers published between 1993 and January 2007.

Results: A total of 13 papers were identified, providingdata on 1229 unique children aged 2–18 years old. Three studies reported on the reliability of the CHQ(internal consistency), whilst six studies provided evidence on various dimensions of validity (concurrent;discriminant and item discriminant validity).

Conclusions: This review identified a number ofpsychometric issues that need to be addressed. These include the assessment of additional types of reliability;an examination of the factor structure of the CHQ within the CP population; and the development ofnormative data using substantial representative samples, particularly in Europe. Until these issues areaddressed, researchers utilizing the CHQ in children with CP should be cautious about its interpretation.

Public awareness and views on unlicensed use of medicines in children.

WHAT IS ALREADY KNOWN ABOUT THIS SUBJECT center dot There is increasing concern about the use of those medicines in children which have not been fully studied and licensed for childhood use. Such use is not uncommon, due in large part to a lack of availability of fully licensed products and formulations that are suitable for children. center dot There is little published information on the views of the public on this important area of paediatric care. WHAT THIS STUDY ADDS center dot A survey of 1000 members of the public in Northern Ireland indicated that such use of medicines in children is not well known. center dot However, when informed about this practice, the majority believed that it would compromise safety and increase the likelihood of adverse effects. They also believed that parents/guardians should be told if their child was prescribed a medicine that had not been fully tested in children. center dot Participants in the survey indicated that they would be reluctant to involve their child in a clinical trial to help with the licensing process unless the child was suffering from a life-threatening illness. To explore awareness and views of the general public on unlicensed use of medicines in children and on the participation of children in clinical trials. Members of the public completed a questionnaire survey administered by face-to-face interview in public areas in N. Ireland. The main outcome measures were the views on unlicensed use of medicines in children and on clinical trials in children. One thousand participants (59.2% female) took part; 610 were parents. Most participants (86%) had no previous knowledge about unlicensed use of medicines in children. Being a parent did not influence this nor did being a parent of a child who suffered from a health problem (P > 0.05). Most participants (92%) felt that parents should be told about unlicensed use of medicines, with the doctor most frequently selected as the person who should inform parents. At the outset, only 1.8% of participants felt that the use of medicines in children was unsafe. However, having been informed about unlicensed use of medicines, this proportion increased dramatically (62.4%; P <0.001). Views on whether participants would enter a child of their own into a clinical trial varied according to the health status of the child (P <0.05) i.e. a child in good health (3.9%) vs a child with a life-threatening condition (41.9%). There is limited public knowledge of unlicensed use of medicines in children and a general reluctance to involve children in clinical trials unless the child to be involved has a life-threatening condition.

Influence of ABCB1 polymorphisms and haplotypes on tacrolimus nephrotoxicity and dosage requirements in children with liver transplant

AIMS
The aim of this study was to investigate the in?uence of genetic polymorphisms in ABCB1 on the incidence of nephrotoxicity and tacrolimus dosage-requirements in paediatric patients following liver transplantation.
METHODS
Fifty-one paediatric liver transplant recipients receiving tacrolimus were genotyped for ABCB1 C1236>T, G2677>T and C3435>T polymorphisms. Dose-adjusted tacrolimus trough concentrations and estimated glomerular ?ltration rates (EGFR) indicative of renal toxicity were determined and correlated with the corresponding genotypes.
RESULTS
The present study revealed a higher incidence of the ABCB1 variant-alleles examined among patients with renal dysfunction (30% reduction in EGFR) at 6 months post-transplantation (1236T allele: 63.3% vs 37.5% in controls,P = 0.019; 2677T allele: 63.3% vs. 35.9%, p = 0.012; 3435T allele: 60% vs. 39.1%,P = 0.057). Carriers of the G2677->T variant allele also had a signi?cant reduction (%) in EGFR at 12 months post-transplant (mean difference = 22.6%; P = 0.031). Haplotype analysis showed a signi?cant association between T-T-T haplotypes and an increased incidence of nephrotoxicity at 6 months post-transplantation (haplotype-frequency = 52.9% in nephrotoxic patients vs 29.4% in controls; P = 0.029). Furthermore, G2677->T and C3435->T polymorphisms and T-T-T haplotypes were signi?cantly correlated with higher tacrolimus dose-adjusted pre-dose concentrations at various time points examined long after drug initiation.
CONCLUSIONS
These ?ndings suggest that ABCB1 polymorphisms in the native intestine signi?cantly in?uence tacrolimus dosage-requirement in the stable phase after transplantation. In addition, ABCB1 polymorphisms in paediatric liver transplant recipients may predispose them to nephrotoxicity over the ?rst year posttransplantation. Genotyping future transplant recipients for ABCB1 polymorphisms, therefore, could have the potential to individualize better tacrolimus immunosuppressive therapy and enhance drug safety

The `Chicken and Egg' of Subjective and Social Factors in Desistance from Crime

It is now widely acknowledged that progression from persistent offending to desistance from crime is the outcome of a complex interaction between subjective/ agency factors and social/environmental factors. A methodological challenge for desistance researchers is to unravel the differential impacts of these internal and external factors and the sequence in which they come into play. Towards this, the present investigation draws on a prospective study of 130 male property offenders, interviewed in the 1990s (the Oxford Recidivism Study), and followed up 10 years later. The analysis supports a `subjective—social model' in which subjective states measured before release have a direct effect on recidivism as well as indirect effects through their impact on social circumstances experienced after release from prison.

Impaired conflict resolution and alerting in children with ADHD: evidence from the Attention Network Task (ANT)

An important theory of attention suggests that there are three separate networks that execute discrete cognitive functions. The 'alerting' network acquires and maintains an alert state, the 'orienting' network selects information from sensory input and the 'conflict' network resolves conflict that arises between potential responses. This theory holds promise for dissociating discrete patterns of cognitive impairment in disorders where attentional deficits may often be subtle, such as in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Absence of the 7-repeat variant of the DRD4 VNTR is associated with drifting sustained attention in children with ADHD but not in controls

Many genetic studies have demonstrated an association between the 7-repeat (7r) allele of a 48-base pair variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) in exon 3 of the DRD4 gene and the phenotype of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Previous studies have shown inconsistent associations between the 7r allele and neurocognitive performance in children with ADHD. We investigated the performance of 128 children with and without ADHD on the Fixed and Random versions of the Sustained Attention to Response Task (SART). We employed timeseries analyses of reaction-time data to allow a fine-grained analysis of reaction time variability, a candidate endophenotype for ADHD. Children were grouped into either the 7r-present group (possessing at least one copy of the 7r allele) or the 7r-absent group. The ADHD group made significantly more commission errors and was significantly more variable in RT in terms of fast moment-to-moment variability than the control group, but no effect of genotype was found on these measures. Children with ADHD without the 7r allele made significantly more omission errors, were significantly more variable in the slow frequency domain and showed less sensitivity to the signal (d') than those children with ADHD the 7r and control children with or without the 7r. These results highlight the utility of time-series analyses of reaction time data for delineating the neuropsychological deficits associated with ADHD and the DRD4 VNTR. Absence of the 7-repeat allele in children with ADHD is associated with a neurocognitive profile of drifting sustained attention that gives rise to variable and inconsistent performance. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Enhancing the teaching of professional practice and key skills in engineering through the use of computer animation

This paper presents some observations on how computer animation was used in the early years of a degree program in Electrical and Electronic Engineering to enhance the teaching of key skills and professional practice. This paper presents the results from two case studies. First, in a first year course which seeks to teach students how to manage and report on group projects in a professional way. Secondly, in a technical course on virtual reality, where the students are asked to use computer animation in a way that subliminally coerces them to come to terms with the fine detail of the mathematical principles that underlie 3D graphics, geometry, etc. as well as the most significant principles of computer architecture and software engineering. In addition, the findings reveal that by including a significant element of self and peer review processes into the assessment procedure students became more engaged with the course and achieved a deeper level of comprehension of the material in the course.