No War, No Peace: Northern Ireland after the Agreement

In 1998 a historic agreement, commonly known as the Belfast or Good Friday Agreement, formed the basis of a negotiated settlement for the future of Northern Ireland. Since that time the level of violence in Northern Ireland has reduced but many problematic issues related to governance, sectarianism, and community relations remain on the political agenda and have destabilized the post-peace accord environment. Many of these issues can be viewed as either causes or consequences of the protracted conflict in Northern Ireland. This special issue examines some of these issues from a political psychology perspective. Economic, political, social, and psychological factors that have supported and hindered progress towards peace and stability are considered. While the paramilitary ceasefires have remained intact and certain aspects of life in Northern Ireland have been transformed, the road to peace has been hindered by both political and psychological intransigence. This paper offers an opportunity to reevaluate conceptualisations of conflict and its management in chronic situations, where divisions are deeply embedded within societal structures and relationships, and consider factors that may act as barriers to the development of a lasting peace.

Effects of vasectomy on spermatogenesis and fertility outcomes after assisted conception

Abstract BACKGROUND: Each year 40,000 men have a vasectomy in the UK whilst another 2400 request a reversal to begin a second family. Sperm can now be obtained by testicular biopsy and subsequently used in assisted conception with intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI). The study aims were to compare sperm yields of men post-vasectomy or with obstructive azoospermia (OA) of unknown aetiology with fertile men and to assess any alteration in the clinical pregnancy rates after ICSI. METHODS: Testicular tissue was obtained by Trucut needle from men who had undergone a vasectomy >5yrs previously, had OA from other causes and from fertile men during vasectomy. Seminiferous tubules were milked to measure sperm yields. Numbers of Sertoli cells, spermatids and thickness of the seminiferous tubule walls were assessed using quantitative computerized analysis. RESULTS and CONCLUSIONS: Sperm yields/g testis were significantly decreased in men post-vasectomy and in men with OA, relative to fertile men. Significant reductions were also observed in early (40%) and mature (29%) spermatid numbers and an increase of 31% was seen in the seminiferous tubule wall (basal membrane and collagen thickness) of vasectomised men compared to fertile men. Clinical pregnancy rates in couples who had had a vasectomy were also significantly reduced.

After Housing Policy: Housing and the UK General Election 2001

This paper describes the results of a review of the housing content of UK General Election 2001 manifestos. Housing policy was of little importance during the election campaign. The main British political parties had, essentially, a shared housing agenda - to promote and facilitate home ownership, support area and community regeneration, tackle homelessness, improve the private rented sector, and prevent building on greenfield sites. Many issues of importance to housing specialists received little or no attention, most notably that of low demand. Some policy variations within the UK were evident, for example in attitudes towards greenfield development, home ownership and stock transfer. The paper concludes that differences in housing policy are emerging within the UK as part of a new politics of devolution and that the days of a single housing policy approach for the UK are over.

Identity issues for looked after children with no knowledge of their origins - Implications for research and practice

In the area of child care policy and practice, the benefits for children who are separated from their birth parents of maintaining some form of connection with their family of origin is now widely accepted. The arguments in support of this are found mainly in research concerning adoption and stem from four inter-related themes: children's rights to know of their heritage and background; parents' rights to information about the well-being of their children; the benefits of having knowledge about origins; and concerns about the impact of not knowing. The effects on the developing identities of those who, for various reasons, are unlikely ever to know the details of their birth parent(s) is an under-researched issue. Karen Winter and Olivia Cohen use a case study to illustrate some of the gaps concerning knowledge in this area. They argue that there is much to be learnt from the development of research projects which have as their focus the accounts of children and young people, from a wide range of care arrangements, regarding identity issues where they have no connections with or knowledge about their birth parent(s).

Widening our knowledge concerning young looked after children: the case for research using sociological models of childhood

The Assessment and Action framework for looked after children, designed to improve outcomes for all children in public care and those at home on care orders, is now well established in the UK. This paper offers a critical evaluation of the framework by examining the model of childhood upon which it is premised and by exploring its relationship to children's rights as conceptualized in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). It will be argued that the particular child development model which underpins the framework addresses the rights of looked after children to protection and provision but does not allow for their participation rights to be sufficiently addressed. A critical review of the research concerning the education and health of looked after children is used to illustrate these points. It will be argued that what are missing are the detailed accounts of looked after children themselves. It is concluded that there is a need for the development of additional research approaches premised upon sociological models of childhood. These would allow for a greater engagement with the participation rights of this group of children and complement the pre-existing research agenda

MARKERS OF CARDIOVASCULAR DYSFUNCTION AFTER PREGNANCIES COMPLICATED BY PRE-ECLAMPSIA

Pre-eclampsia (PE) is a hypertensive disorder of pregnancy characterized by maternal systemic endothelial dysfunction. While the clinical manifestations resolve soon after delivery, a large body of epidemiological evidence indicates significant long-term maternal risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD) after PE. The mechanisms by which PE and future CVD are associated are unclear, although shared constitutional risk factors likely contribute to the features of endothelial dysfunction characteristic to both. We postulate that PE offers a window of opportunity for the identification of unique markers of dysfunction in the earliest stages of disease that may be used to validate cardiovascular risk screening in the early postpartum period. The studies presented in this thesis provide evidence of changes in circulating factors in women with a recent history of PE. Using blood samples collected within the first year of pregnancy, unique patterns of microRNA expression, enrichment of coagulation system proteins and endothelial progenitor cell dysfunction were described. Many of the described changes appear to be independent of cardiovascular risk. In addition to alterations in circulating factors however, longitudinal postpartum assessments demonstrated that microvascular and cardiac abnormalities were evident in the early periods postpartum after a pre-eclamptic pregnancy. Collectively, the data presented in this thesis reveal that physiological alterations in women with a recent history of PE are not necessarily dependent on clinical parameters of cardiovascular risk, and that resulting dysfunction may be demonstrated within the first year postpartum. Importantly, the biomarkers presented herein are all demonstrated elsewhere in the literature to benefit from lifestyle modification and risk reduction. In closing, the findings of this thesis support a need for cardiovascular risk screening based on obstetrical history, namely after pregnancies complicated by PE.

A switch in the cellular localization of macrophage migration inhibitory factor in the rat testis after ethane dimethane sulfonate treatment.

Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF), one of the first cytokines to be discovered, has recently been localized to the Leydig cells in adult rat testes. In the following study, the response of MIF to Leydig cell ablation by the Leydig cell-specific toxin ethane dimethane sulfonate (EDS) was examined in adult male rats. Testicular MIF mRNA and protein in testicular interstitial fluid measured by ELISA and western blot were only marginally reduced by EDS treatment, in spite of the fact that the Leydig cells were completely destroyed within 7 days. Immunohistochemistry using an affinity-purified anti-mouse MIF antibody localized MIF exclusively to the Leydig cells in control testes. At 7 days post-EDS treatment, there were no MIF immunopositive Leydig cells in the interstitium, although distinct MIF immunostaining was observed in the seminiferous tubules, principally in Sertoli cells and residual cytoplasm, and some spermatogonia. A few peritubular and perivascular cells were also labelled at this time, which possibly represented mesenchymal Leydig cell precursors. At 14 and 21 days, Sertoli cell MIF immunoreactivity was observed in only a few tubule cross-sections, while some peritubular and perivascular mesenchymal cells and the re-populating immature Leydig cells were intensely labeled. At 28 days after EDS-treatment, the MIF immunostaining pattern was identical to that of untreated and control testes. The switch in the compartmentalization of MIF protein at 7 days after EDS-treatment was confirmed by western blot analysis of interstitial tissue and seminiferous tubules separated by mechanical dissection. These data establish that Leydig cell-depleted testes continue to produce MIF, and suggest the existence of a mechanism of compensatory cytokine production involving the Sertoli cells. This represents the first demonstration of a hitherto unsuspected pattern of cellular interaction between the Leydig cells and the seminiferous tubules which is consistent with an essential role for MIF in male testicular function.