From ‘other’ to involved: User involvement in research: An emerging paradigm

This article has been made available through the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund. Copyright @ 2013 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article. Non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly attributed, cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way, is permitted. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.This article explores the issue of ‘othering’ service users and the role that involving them, particularly in social policy and social work research may play in reducing this. It takes, as its starting point, the concept of ‘social exclusion’, which has developed in Europe and the marginal role that those who have been included in this construct have played in its development and the damaging effects this may have. The article explores service user involvement in research and is itself written from a service user perspective. It pays particular attention to the ideological, practical, theoretical, ethical and methodological issues that such user involvement may raise for research. It examines problems that both research and user involvement may give rise to and also considers developments internationally to involve service users/subjects of research, highlighting some of the possible implications and gains of engaging service user knowledge in research and the need for this to be evaluated

Linkages Between the Phenologies of Jack Pine \u3ci\u3e(Pinus Banksiana)\u3c/i\u3e Foliage and Jack Pine Budworm (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae)

A field study conducted in 2001 and 2002 in the Michigan Upper Peninsula investigated seasonal associations between the development of jack pine, Pinus banksiana Lamb., and larvae of the jack pine budworm Choristoneura pinus Freeman (Lepidoptera: Tortricidae). There was almost no active relationship between post-diapause emerging second instars and elongation of vegetative shoots. Early instars were not closely synchronized with the flushing of current-year needle fascicles, which is required to optimize larval feeding. How- ever, there were close feeding and shelter relationships between early instars and year-2 pollen cone development. Associations with, and larval damage to, year-2 seed cones were dependent upon larval population size and posed only minimal and periodic threats to jack pine seed production. As a consequence, early instar jack pine budworm relied almost exclusively on pollen cones for survival. Third to fifth instars vacated pollen cones as soon as they became desiccated. Only then did these larvae start close associations with vegetative shoots. First, they excised partially emerged needles at their base, and when the needle-pairs completely escaped their fascicle sheath, the larvae fed routinely on the complete needle lamina. Late instars, pupae and adults were associated with previous years’ and current-year foliage without any apparent bias. This study has shown that it might be more practical to time insecticide strategies, which are intended to manage jack pine budworm larvae, to the tree’s phenology rather than jack pine budworm larval indices

Validity of a three-variable juvenile arthritis disease activity score in children with new-onset juvenile idiopathic arthritis

<p>Objectives To investigate the validity and feasibility of the Juvenile Arthritis Disease Activity Score (JADAS) in the routine clinical setting for all juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) disease categories and explore whether exclusion of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) from JADAS (the ‘JADAS3’) influences correlation with single markers of disease activity.</p> <p>Methods JADAS-71, JADAS-27 and JADAS-10 were determined at baseline for an inception cohort of children with JIA in the Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study. JADAS3-71, JADAS3-27 and JADAS3-10 were determined using an identical formula but with exclusion of ESR. Correlation of JADAS with JADAS3 and single measures of disease activity/severity were determined by category.</p> <p>Results Of 956 eligible children, sufficient data were available to calculate JADAS-71, JADAS-27 and JADAS-10 at baseline in 352 (37%) and JADAS3 in 551 (58%). The median (IQR) JADAS-71, JADAS-27 and JADAS-10 for all 352 children was 11 (5.9–18), 10.4 (5.7–17) and 11 (5.9–17.3), respectively. Median JADAS and JADAS3 varied significantly with the category (Kruskal–Wallis p=0.0001), with the highest values in children with polyarticular disease patterns. Correlation of JADAS and JADAS3 across all categories was excellent. Correlation of JADAS71 with single markers of disease activity/severity was good to moderate, with some variation across the categories. With the exception of ESR, correlation of JADAS3-71 was similar to correlation of JADAS-71 with the same indices.</p> <p>Conclusions This study is the first to apply JADAS to all categories of JIA in a routine clinical setting in the UK, adding further information about the feasibility and construct validity of JADAS. For the majority of categories, clinical applicability would be improved by exclusion of the ESR.</p&gt

Ethical dilemmas are not simply black and white

This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis Group in Ethics and Social Practice on 1 July 2008, available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/17496530801948838.This article aims to highlight some of the ethical issues that arise when social work educators plan to involve service users and carers from black and minority ethnic (BME) communities in the teaching of social work students. Between 2005 and 2007, the authors carried out a two-part project that involved working with service users and carers from BME communities in the area around Liverpool in Britain. The article first discusses the background for this two-part project, highlighting two themes relating to the ethical dilemmas we experienced. The first of these themes concerned conducting a project in a political context based on short and intermittent funding and intransigent bureaucracy. Our second theme concerned how to reconcile bringing together a group of people because they were recognized as having a shared experience while at the same time there were a myriad differences within the group. We then discuss these issues in light of the ethical approach we adopted, based on being open and honest, flexible in a respectful and meaningful way, and on anti-oppressive ethics and shared responsibility.Peer reviewe

FIBONACCI SUPERLATTICES OF NARROW-GAP III-V SEMICONDUCTORS

We report theoretical electronic structure of Fibonacci superlattices of narrow-gap III-V semiconductors. Electron dynamics is accurately described within the envelope-function approximation in a two-band model. Quasiperiodicity is introduced by considering two different III-V semiconductor layers and arranging them according to the Fibonacci series along the growth direction. The resulting energy spectrum is then found by solving exactly the corresponding effective-mass (Dirac-like) wave equation using tranfer-matrix techniques. We find that a self-similar electronic spectrum can be seen in the band structure. Electronic transport properties of samples are also studied and related to the degree of spatial localization of electronic envelope-functions via Landauer resistance and Lyapunov coefficient. As a working example, we consider type II InAs/GaSb superlattices and discuss in detail our results in this system.Comment: REVTeX 3.0, 16 pages, 8 figures available upon request. To appear in Semiconductor Science and Technolog

Chronology and function of a new circular mammoth bone structure from Kostenki 11

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Cambridge University Press via the DOI in this record.We report on assemblages of charcoal, burnt bone and microlithic debitage retrieved by flotation from a new circular mammoth bone feature discovered at Kostenki 11-Ia, Russian Federation, the first time a mammoth bone circle has ever been systematically sampled in this way. New radiocarbon dates are used to provide the first coherent chronology for the site, revealing it as one of the oldest such features on the Russian Plain and confirming occupation of this region during Greenland Stadial 3 at the onset of the last glacial maximum. Implications for human activity within and around the mammoth bone feature are discussed.Leverhulme Trus

An evaluation of the somatosensory profile of hemiparetic individuals

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the somatosensory profile of 18 hemiparetic spastic victims of stroke with and without blocking vision. Maximal isometric contraction test was used for flexor and extensor muscles of the hip and knee, and flexor plantar muscles. The number of cycles per minute on stationary bike was also measured with eyes opened and closed. Significant differences were found suggesting the existence of miscommunication between sensory-motor neural mechanisms responsible for voluntary motor actions in these individuals

Liver transplantation for alcoholic cirrhosis: Long term follow-up and impact of disease recurrence

Background. Alcoholic liver disease has emerged as a leading indication for hepatic transplantation, although it is a controversial use of resources. We aimed to examine all aspects of liver transplantation associated with alcohol abuse. Methods. Retrospective cohort analysis of 123 alcoholic patients with a median of 7 years follow-up at one center. Results. In addition to alcohol, 43 (35%) patients had another possible factor contributing to cirrhosis. Actuarial patient and graft survival rates were, respectively, 84% and 81% (1 year); 72% and 66% (5 years); and 63% and 59% (7 years). After transplantation, 18 patients (15%) manifested 21 noncutaneous de novo malignancies, which is significantly more than controls (P=0.0001); upper aerodigestive squamous carcinomas were over-represented (P=0.03). Thirteen patients had definitely relapsed and three others were suspected to have relapsed. Relapse was predicted by daily ethanol consumption (P=0.0314), but not by duration of pretransplant sobriety or explant histology. No patient had alcoholic hepatitis after transplantation and neither late onset acute nor chronic rejection was significantly increased. Multiple regression analyses for predictors of graft failure identified major biliary/vascular complications (P=0.01), chronic bile duct injury on biopsy (P=0.002), and pericellular fibrosis on biopsy (P=0.05); graft viral hepatitis was marginally significant (P=0.07) on univariate analysis. Conclusions. Alcoholic liver disease is an excellent indication for liver transplantation in those without coexistent conditions. Recurrent alcoholic liver disease alone is not an important cause of graft pathology or failure. Potential recipients should be heavily screened before transplantation for coexistent conditions (e.g., hepatitis C, metabolic diseases) and other target-organ damage, especially aerodigestive malignancy, which are greater causes of morbidity and mortality than is recurrent alcohol liver disease