Why can CSR seem like putting lipstick on a pig? Evaluating CSR authenticity by comparing practitioner and consumer perspectives

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to explain and better understand some of the challenges and even contradictions in relationships between CSR and stakeholder attitudes by comparing consumer and practitioner perspectives on social responsibility, its role in organisations, and its influence on consumer attitudes towards companies. Our objective is to understand and evaluate factors influencing the authenticity of social responsibility as a contributor to an organisation’s value proposition. Design/Methodology/Approach: Focus groups of consumers and practitioners (N = 39) were asked to explore CSR in a semi-structured discussion. Themes were analysed using a constant comparative method. Findings: These data suggest that rather than existing on a continuum of authenticity, there are clear paths emerging for CSR efforts to be deemed authentic versus inauthentic that can begin to better explain the often-contradictory findings with regard to consumer attitudes towards CSR and an organisation’s value proposition. Consumer efficacy to influence an organisation and localised CSR emerge as critical determinants for evaluations of CSR as authentic. Further, these data also suggest practitioners may not understand consumer motivations and attitudes about CSR. Practical Implications: Ultimately, these data produce testable models for authentic (i.e., motivator) and inauthentic (hygiene) consumer judgments about CSR and draw implications for CSR leadership, learning, and management. Originality/ Value: These data provide new insights into evaluations of CSR to explain when and why it can fail to meet its objectives

Virtue and austerity

Virtue ethics is often proposed as a third way in health-care ethics, that while consequentialism and deontology focus on action guidelines, virtue focuses on character; all three aim to help agents discern morally right action although virtue seems to have least to contribute to political issues, such as austerity. I claim: (1) This is a bad way to characterize virtue ethics. The 20th century renaissance of virtue ethics was first proposed as a response to the difficulty of making sense of ‘moral rightness’ outside a religious context. For Aristotle the right action is that which is practically best; that means best for the agent in order to live a flourishing life.There are no moral considerations besides this. (2) Properly characterized, virtue ethics can contribute to discussion of austerity. A criticism of virtue ethics is that fixed characteristics seem a bad idea in ever-changing environments; perhaps we should be generous in prosperity, selfish in austerity. Furthermore, empirical evidence suggests that people indeed do change with their environment. However, I argue that virtues concern fixed values not fixed behaviour; the values underlying virtue allow for different behaviour in different circumstances: in austerity, virtues still give the agent the best chance of flourishing. Two questions arise. (a) In austere environments might not injustice help an individual flourish by, say, obtaining material goods? No, because unjust acts undermine the type of society the agent needs for flourishing. (b) What good is virtue to those lacking the other means to flourish? The notion of degrees of flourishing shows that most people would benefit somewhat from virtue. However, in extreme circumstances virtue might harm rather than benefit the agent: such circumstances are to be avoided; virtue ethics thus has a political agenda to enable flourishing. This requires justice, a fortiori when in austerity

Identifying key influences on antibiotic use in China: a systematic scoping review and narrative synthesis

INTRODUCTION: The inappropriate use of antibiotics is a key driver of antimicrobial resistance. In China, antibiotic prescribing and consumption exceed recommended levels and are relatively high internationally. Understanding the influences on antibiotic use is essential to informing effective evidence-based interventions. We conducted a scoping review to obtain an overview of empirical research about key behavioural, cultural, economic and social influences on antibiotic use in China. METHODS: Searches were conducted in Econlit, Medline, PsycINFO, Social Science citation index and the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews for the period 2003 to early 2018. All study types were eligible including observational and intervention, qualitative and quantitative designs based in community and clinical settings. Two authors independently screened studies for inclusion. A data extraction form was developed incorporating details on study design, behaviour related to antibiotic use, influences on behaviour and information on effect (intervention studies only). RESULTS: Intervention studies increased markedly from 2014, and largely focused on the impact of national policy and practice directives on antibiotic use in secondary and tertiary healthcare contexts in China. Most studies used pragmatic designs, such as before and after comparisons. Influences on antibiotic use clustered under four themes: antibiotic prescribing; adherence to antibiotics; self-medicating behaviour and over-the-counter sale of antibiotics. Many studies highlighted the use of antibiotics without a prescription for common infections, which was facilitated by availability of left-over medicines and procurement from local pharmacies. CONCLUSIONS: Interventions aimed at modifying antibiotic prescribing behaviour show evidence of positive impact, but further research using more robust research designs, such as randomised trials, and incorporating process evaluations is required to better assess outcomes. The effect of national policy at the primary healthcare level needs to be evaluated and further exploration of the influences on antibiotic self-medicating is required to develop interventions that tackle this behaviour

VIRTUAL CASE STUDIES IN THE NOVEL RESOURCE DMU E-PARASITOLOGY

A novel on-line package for teaching and learning human parasitology, named DMU e-Parasitology, is being co-developed by academics from De Montfort University (DMU, Leicester, UK) and the Spanish universities: University of San Pablo CEU and Miguel Hernández University, in conjunction with practicing Biomedical Scientists from the UK National Health Service. The DMU e-Parasitology [1] package will be freely available on the DMU website (http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/) late in 2018 and content/sections currently covered: a theoretical unit for the study of eukaryotic parasites that represent serious human health threats; a virtual laboratory and microscope sections for the study of these major diseases. However, for promoting active learning and increasing engagement, we are in the process of developing a fourth section with a series of virtual case studies in medical parasitology, in which students will need to reflect and critically think to reach diagnoses, propose additional diagnostic techniques and appropriate treatment. The virtual case studies will be created following a preliminary study performed by our group [2,3], in which we observed that the introduction of mini- case studies in Medical Microbiology lectures [BSc Biomedical Science (BMS), DMU] last academic course were shown to be effective in facilitating the acquisition of transversal competences including clinical skills. These mini-case studies were based on those developed by the Laboratory Identification of Parasitic Diseases (DPDx) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC, USA) [4] and final year BMS students enrolled in this module were able to complete the case studies during the different lectures in a very short period of time. Contrarily, the virtual case studies for the DMU e- Parasitology will be highly interactive and students will need to use the different resources of this package, including the virtual microscope, to resolve them. Moreover, these case studies will be longer and will present different questions that the user will be able to answer depending on their clinical and parasitology skills. Between the many advantages of a virtual microscope described in the literature, including remote access to slides of high clinical quality for all users, this technological resource could facilitate the acquisition of problem-solving skills and hence the rationale of using it to resolve the case studies of the DMU e-Parasitology. This paper describes the first virtual case study created, which is available at: http://parasitology.dmu.ac.uk/learn/case_studies/cs1/story_html5.html [5]. Briefly: students are presented with a short medical history of an HIV positive male university student severely affected by bloody diarrhoea, malaise and fever; and a series of clinical slides in which trophozoites of Entamoeba histolytica and Acanthamoeba spp. can be observed. The “amoebas” virtual case study is student-friendly; so students can navigate through the case study following a series of questions with different degrees of difficulty related to these human pathogens. Students enrolled in the Medical Microbiology module in 2017/18 (n=193) have answered the amoebas case study during small workshops delivered to groups of 27/28 students during November 2017. Comprehensive student feedback is being collected to improve this case study, as it will be used as a model to complete this section of the DMU e-Parasitology

Resolvin rvd2 reduces hypothalamic inflammation and rescues mice from diet-induced obesity

Diet-induced hypothalamic inflammation is an important mechanism leading to dysfunction of neurons involved in controlling body mass. Studies have shown that polyunsaturated fats can reduce hypothalamic inflammation. Here, we evaluated the presence and function of RvD2, a resolvin produced from docosahexaenoic acid, in the hypothalamus of mice. Methods: Male Swiss mice were fed either chow or a high-fat diet. RvD2 receptor and synthetic enzymes were evaluated by real-time PCR and immunofluorescence. RvD2 was determined by mass spectrometry. Dietary and pharmacological approaches were used to modulate the RvD2 system in the hypothalamus, and metabolic phenotype consequences were determined. Results: All enzymes involved in the synthesis of RvD2 were detected in the hypothalamus and were modulated in response to the consumption of dietary saturated fats, leading to a reduction of hypothalamic RvD2. GPR18, the receptor for RvD2, which was detected in POMC and NPY neurons, was also modulated by dietary fats. The substitution of saturated by polyunsaturated fats in the diet resulted in increased hypothalamic RvD2, which was accompanied by reduced body mass and improved glucose tolerance. The intracerebroventricular treatment with docosahexaenoic acid resulted in increased expression of the RvD2 synthetic enzymes, increased expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines and improved metabolic phenotype. Finally, intracerebroventricular treatment with RvD2 resulted in reduced adiposity, improved glucose tolerance and increased hypothalamic expression of anti-inflammatory cytokines. Conclusions: Thus, RvD2 is produced in the hypothalamus, and its receptor and synthetic enzymes are modulated by dietary fats. The improved metabolic outcomes of RvD2 make this substance an attractive approach to treat obesity14511