Book Review - An Architecture of Parts: Architects, Building Workers and Industrialisation in Britain 1940–1970 by Christine Wall and Architecture and the Welfare State, edited by Mark Swenarton, Tom Avermaete and Dirk van den Heuvel.

Communication, recognition and social work: Aligning the ethical theories of Habermas and Honneth

The modern world is replete with ethical challenges of Orwellian proportions. The violation of human rights and misrecognition of identities are two of the most pressing examples. In this paper, the ethical theories of Habermas and Honneth are aligned as a way of addressing these specific challenges within social work. It is suggested that these theories are complementary, mutually rectifying and concordant at the meta-ethical level of analysis. The alignment is also justified, pargmatically, through the construction of three hypothetical vignettes demonstrating different kinds of practice dilemmas. The need for egalitarian communication and the imperative to recognise human identity in all its dimensions subsequently emerge as the two foundation stones for ethical deliberation in social work.

A multinational, randomised, 12-week, comparative study of donepezil and rivastigmine in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

This 12-week, multinational study compared the tolerability and cognitive effects of donepezil (up to 10 mg once daily) and rivastigmine (up to 6 mg twice daily) in 111 patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease. Both medications were administered open label according to recommended dosing regimens from the respective product labelling available during the conduct of the study. More patients in the donepezil group (89.3%) completed the study compared with the rivastigmine group (69.1%; p=0.009), and 10.7% of the donepezil group and 21.8% of the rivastigmine group discontinued due to adverse events (AEs); 87.5% of donepezil-treated patients and 47.3% of rivastigmine-treated patients remained on the maximum approved dose of each drug at the last study visit. Both groups showed comparable improvements on the ADAS-cog administered by raters blind to study medication at weeks 4 and 12. Thus, using the recommended dosing schedules, donepezil was better tolerated with fewer discontinuations due to AEs, and both agents improved cognition to a similar extent.

Issues of assessment of pain and discomfort in neonates

Pain assessment in neonates often presents problems. The problem of inadequate or inaccurate assessment is complicated by issues related to the nature, consistency, and variability of the infant's physiologic and behavioral responses; the reliability, validity, specificity, sensitivity, and practicality of existing neonatal pain measures or measurement approaches; ethical questions about pain research in infants; and uncertainty about the responsibilities of health care professionals in managing pain in clinical settings. Despite these many issues, neonates need to be comfortable and as free of pain as possible to grow and develop normally. Valid and reliable assessment of pain is the major prerequisite for attaining this goal. Issues embodied in neonatal pain responses, measurement, ethical, and clinical considerations are explored. Suggestions for resolving some of these problems are presented.

A pilot study of a family focused, psychosocial intervention with war-exposed youth at risk of attack and abduction in north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo

Rural communities in the Haut-Uele Province of northern Democratic Republic of Congo live in constant danger of attack and/or abduction by units of the Lord's Resistance Army operating in the region. This pilot study sought to develop and evaluate a community-participative psychosocial intervention involving life skills and relaxation training and Mobile Cinema screenings with this war-affected population living under current threat. 159 war-affected children and young people (aged 7-18) from the villages of Kiliwa and Li-May in north-eastern DR Congo took part in this study. In total, 22% of participants had been abduction previously while 73% had a family member abducted. Symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions, internalising problems, conduct problems and pro-social behaviour were assessed by blinded interviewers at pre- and post-intervention and at 3-month follow-up. Participants were randomised (with an accompanying caregiver) to 8 sessions of a group-based, community-participative, psychosocial intervention (n=79) carried out by supervised local, lay facilitators or a wait-list control group (n=80). Average seminar attendance rates were high: 88% for participants and 84% for caregivers. Drop-out was low: 97% of participants were assessed at post-intervention and 88% at 3 month follow-up. At post-test, participants reported significantly fewer symptoms of post-traumatic stress reactions compared to controls (Cohen's d=0.40). At 3 month follow up, large improvements in internalising symptoms and moderate improvements in pro-social scores were reported, with caregivers noting a moderate to large decline in conduct problems among the young people. Trial Registration clinicalTrials.gov, Identifier: NCT01542398.

Movement of Capital and Trade in Services:Distinguishing Myth from Reality Regarding the GATS and the Liberalization of the Capital Account

This article will analyze the interplay between capital movements and trade
in services as structured in World Trade Organization (WTO) law, and it will
assess the implications of the capital account liberalization for the freedom of
WTO Members to pursue their economic policies. Although the movement
of capital is largely confined to the domain of international financial or monetary
policy, it is regulated by WTO law due to its role in the process of
financial services liberalization, which generally requires liberalized capital
flows. From a legal perspective, the interplay between capital movements
and trade in services requires striking a delicate balance between the right
of market access and the parallel right of economic stability. Indeed, a liberalized
regime for capital movements could pose serious stability problems
during times of crisis. For this reason, it is necessary that Members are able
to derogate from their obligations and adopt emergency measures.
Regulating the movement of capital in the General Agreement on Trade in
Services (GATS) requires stretching the regulatory oversight of WTO law
over different aspects of international economic policy. Indeed, capital movements are a fundamental component of the balance of payments and have a
major role in shaping monetary, fiscal, and financial policies. This article will
analyze how the discipline provided by the GATS on capital movements will
affect not only trade in services, but also the Members’ policy space on
monetary and fiscal policy. The article will conclude that while the GATS offers enough policy space for the maintenance of financial stability, it does
not fully take into consideration the need of Members to control capital
movements in order to conduct monetary policies.

A multinational, randomised, 12-week study comparing the effects of donepezil and galantamine in patients with mild to moderate Alzheimer's disease

To compare directly, in the same patient cohort, the ease of use and tolerability of donepezil and galantamine in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and investigate the effects of both treatments on cognition and activities of daily living (ADL).

Development of a rapid colorimetric time-kill assay for determining the in vitro activity of ceftazidime and tobramycin in combination against Pseudomonas aeruginosa

It is standard clinical practice to use a combination of two or more antimicrobial agents to treat an infection caused by Pseudonionas aeruginosa. The antibiotic combinations are usually selected empirically with methods to determine the antimicrobial effect of the combination such as the time-kill assay rarely used as they are time-consuming and labour intensive to perforin. Here, we report a modified time-kill assay, based on the reduction of the tetrazolium salt, 2,3-bis[2-methyloxy-4-nitro-5-sulfopheny1]-2H-tetrazolium-5-carboxanilide (XTT), that allows simple, inexpensive and more rapid determination of the in vitro activity of antibiotic combinations against P aeruginosa. The assay was used to determine the in vitro activity of ceftazidime and tobramycin in combination against P. aertiginosa isolates from cystic fibrosis patients and the results obtained compared with those from conventional viable count time-kill assays. There was good agreement in interpretation of results obtained by the XTT and conventional viable count assays, with similar growth curves apparent and the most effective concentration combinations determined by both methods identical for all isolates tested. The XTT assay clearly indicated whether an antibiotic combination had a synergistic, indifferent or antagonistic effect and could, therefore, provide a useful method for rapidly determining the activity of a large number of antibiotic combinations against clinical isolates. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Roles of norepinephrine and ATP in sympathetically evoked vasoconstriction in rat tail and hindlimb in vivo.

In anesthetized rats, we characterized the contributions of norepinephrine (NE) and ATP to changes in tail and hindlimb (femoral) vascular resistances (TVR and FVR, respectively) evoked by three patterns of sympathetic stimulation: 1) couplets (2 impulses at 20 Hz), 2) short trains (20 impulses at 20 Hz), and 3) a natural irregular pattern previously recorded from a sympathetic fiber innervating the rat tail artery. All stimuli evoked greater changes in TVR than FVR. Judging from the effects of the -adrenoceptor antagonist phentolamine, the purinergic receptor antagonist suramin, or ,-methylene ATP (which desensitizes P2X receptors), we propose that NE has a major role in the constriction evoked by the couplet, as well as by the short train and by the low- and high-frequency components of the natural pattern, but that considerable synergy occurred between the actions of ATP and NE. This contrasts with previous in vitro studies that indicated that ATP dominates vascular responses evoked by sympathetic stimulation with a few impulses at low frequency and that NE dominates responses to longer trains or at high frequencies.

Constructing The Ethos of Tolerance and Respect in an Integrated School: The role of Teachers

This article seeks to explore how teachers develop tolerance and respect within an inclusive school
in Northern Ireland. Drawing on interviews and observation of 18 teachers, it will be shown that
teachers’ own personal values and assumptions exert a defining influence on the school ethos. It will
be argued that if teachers are not accorded the time and space to develop an understanding
of their own values and beliefs then there is the potential for schools to simply reinforce the psychological
barriers which sustain division.