Exporting Poor Health: The Irish in England

The Irish-born population in England typically were in worse health than both the native population and the Irish population in Ireland, a reversal of the commonly observed healthy migrant effect (HIE). Recent birth-cohorts living in England and born in Ireland, however, are healthier than the English population. The substantial Irish migrant health penalty arises principally for cohorts born between 1920 and 1960. This paper attempts to understand the processes that generated these changing migrant health patterns for Irish migrants to England. Our results suggest a strong role for economic selection in driving the dynamics of health differences between the Irish-born migrants and White English populations

The effect of different pH levels on conventional vs. super-force chain elastics

The aim of this in vitro study was to evaluate the influence of pH levels on force decay and cytotoxicity of elastic chains submersed in artificial saliva. The samples were divided into two groups: Group SF (Polyurethane elastic, super force) and Group C (Polyurethane elastic, conventional), which were stretched to 100% of their initial length. They were kept in artificial saliva solutions at pH levels of 5.0, 6.0 and 7.5 for time intervals of 10 seconds, 1, 14 and 28 days. Cytotoxicity assay was performed in cells (L929-fibroblast), subjected to "dye-uptake" test. ANOVA, Sidak method and Tukey’s test were used. The pH did not interfere directly in force decay results of tested elastics. Cytotoxicity test showed that Group SF presented similar cell viability when compared with Group C. There was gradual reduction in cell viability from beginning to 28th day. The pH had no significant influence on force decay and cytotoxicity. Time had more influence and contributed to variability in results

Organised Voluntarism in Ireland

Historically Irish society has had a long tradition of grass roots voluntary community work. However, with the rise of neoliberalism in the 1990s, the Irish community and voluntary sector became increasingly subjected to government controls and restrictions. As a result, voluntary community work became more formally organised, centrally regulated and depoliticised. Such ‘organised voluntarism’ (Fye and Mulligan in Prog Hum Geogr 27:397–413, 2003) has since become part and parcel of contemporary community development initiatives in Ireland. While some UK research has explored the impact that this discursive and policy shift is having on volunteering, there is a dearth of Irish literature on this issue. This article presents an account of how and why this form of voluntarism took hold in contemporary Ireland. The establishment of Family Resource Centres in Ireland will be recalled and assessed to further illustrate the observations being made about organised voluntarism in Ireland.</p