Bereavement After Informal Caregiving: Assessing Mental Health Burden Using Linked Population Data

Methods. We linked prescription records for antidepressant and anxiolytic drugs to characteristics and life-event data of members of the Northern Ireland Longitudinal Study (n = 317 264). Using a case-control design, we fitted logistic regression models, stratified by age, to model relative likelihood of mental health problems, using the proxy measures of mental health–related prescription.

Results. Both caregivers and bereaved individuals were estimated to be at between 20% and 50% greater risk for mental health problems than noncaregivers in similar circumstances (for bereaved working-age caregivers, odds ratio = 1.41; 95% confidence interval = 1.27, 1.56). For older people, there was no evidence of additional risk to bereaved caregivers, though there was for working-age people. Older people appeared to recover more quickly from caregiver bereavement.

Ulster Says Maybe: The Restructuring of Evangelical Politics in Northern Ireland

The recent electoral triumphs of the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) have stimulated debate about the role of fundamentalist or ‘traditional evangelical’ Protestantism within the party and in Northern Irish politics. This paper argues that a significant restructuring of evangelical politics is taking place, one that is interest group‐centred rather than DUP‐centred. This process has been facilitated by changes in the structure of civil society. Traditional evangelical interest groups are ‘reframing’ their political projects in surprising new ways: abandoning Calvinist conceptions of church and state, using discourses of marginalisation and discrimination, and focusing on ‘moral’ issues. These subtle shifts in rhetoric constitute an acceptance of the post‐Belfast Agreement order. Rather than the tired, ‘Ulster Says No’ politics of the past, evangelicals are speaking out with a pragmatic ‘maybe’. This move parallels and reinforces the DUP’s ideological shifts, and provides an extra‐party platform for evangelicals to impact politics.

Understanding informal kinship care: a critical narrative review of theory and research

Many children are cared for on a full-time basis by relatives or adult friends, rather than their biological parents, and often in response to family crises. These kinship care arrangements have received increasing attention from the social science academy and social care professions. However, more information is needed on informal kinship care that is undertaken without official ratification by welfare agencies and often unsupported by the state. This article presents a comprehensive, narrative review of international, research literature on informal, kinship care to address this gap. Using systematic search and review protocols, it synthesises findings regarding: (i) the way that informal kinship care is defined and conceptualised; (ii) the needs of the carers and children; and (iii) ways of supporting this type of care. A number of prominent themes are highlighted including the lack of definitional clarity; the various adversities experienced by the families; and the requirement to understand the interface between formal and informal supports. Key messages are finally identified to inform the development of family friendly policies, interventions, and future research.

Sets of p-multiplicity in locally compact groups

We initiate the study of sets of p-multiplicity in locally compact groups and their operator versions. We show that a closed subset E of a second countable locally compact group G is a set of p-multiplicity if and only if E∗={(s,t):ts−1∈E} is a set of operator p-multiplicity. We exhibit examples of sets of p-multiplicity, establish preservation properties for unions and direct products, and prove a p-version of the Stone–von Neumann Theorem.

Ionic liquids containing secondary hydroxyl-groups and a method for their preparation.

The invention provides ionic liqs., [R'1CH(OH)CH2]NR'nX (X = anion, R' = alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, alkylcarbonylalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkyl, haloalkoxy, alkenyloxy, alkynyloxy, cycloalkyloxy, aryl), having a secondary hydroxyl group, and an atom-efficient method for the prepn. of these ionic liqs., by epoxidn. of a protonated nitrogen- contg. org. base (which can optionally be prepd. in situ) in the presence of an anion suitable for supporting ionic liq. formation. Thus, reaction of 1-methylimidazole with HCl in EtOH ∼ 25° followed by treatment with propylene oxide gave 1-(2-hydroxypropyl)-3-methylimidazolium chloride. [on SciFinder(R)]

Targeting of photooxidative damage on single-stranded DNA representing the bcr-abl chimeric gene using oligonucleotide-conjugates containing [Ru(phen)3](2+)-like photosensitiser groups

Photooxidative damage was induced predominantly at a single guanine base in a target DNA by irradiation (lambda > 330 nm) in the presence of complementary oligodeoxynucleotide conjugates (ODN-5'-linker-[Ru(phen)3]2+) (phen = 1,10-phenanthroline). The target DNA represents the b2a2 variant of the chimeric bcr-abl gene implicated in the pathogenesis of chronic myeloid leukaemia, and the sequence of the 17mer ODN component of the conjugate (3' G G T A G T T A T T C C T T C T T 5') was complementary to the junction region of the sense strand sequence of this oncogene. Two different conjugates were prepared, both of them by reaction of the appropriate succinimide ester with 5'-hexylamino-derivatised 17mer ODN. In Ru-ODN-1 (7) the linker was -(CH2)6-NHCO-bpyMe (-bpyMe = 4'-[4-methyl-2,2'-bipyridyl]), whereas in Ru-ODN-2 (13) it was -(CH2)6-NHCO-(CH2)3-CONH-phen. Photoexcitation of either of the conjugates when hybridised with the 32P-5'-end-labelled target 34mer 5'T G A C C A T C A A T A A G G A A G A A G21 C C C T T C A G C G G C C 3' (ODN binding site underlined) led to an alkali-labile site predominantly (> 90%) at the G21 base, which is at the junction of double-stranded and single-stranded regions of the hybrid. Greater yields were found with Ru-ODN-1 (7) than with Ru ODN-2 (13). In contrast to this specific cleavage with Ru-ODN-1 (7) or Ru-ODN-2 (13), alkali-labile sites were generated at all guanines when the 34mer was photolysed in the presence of the free sensitiser [Ru(phen)3]2+. Since [Ru(phen)3]2+ was shown to react with 2'-deoxyguanosine to form the diastereomers of a spiroiminodihydantoin derivative (the product from 1O2 reaction), 1O2 might also be an oxidizing species in the case of Ru-ODN-1 (7) and Ru-ODN-2 (13). Therefore to determine the range of reaction, a series of 'variant' targets was prepared, in which G21 was replaced with a cytosine and a guanine substituted for a base further towards the 3'-end (e.g. Variant 3; 5'T G A C C A T C A A T A A G G A A G A A C C G23 C T T C A G C G G32 C C3'). While it was noted that efficient reaction took place at distances apparently remote from the photosensitiser (e.g at G32, but not G23 for Variant 3), this effect could be attributed to hairpinning of the single-stranded region of the target. These results are therefore consistent with the photooxidative damage being induced by a reaction close to the photosensitiser rather than by a diffusible species such as 1O2.