A guide to therapeutic child care: what you need to know to create a healing home.

This is a book review of: "A guide to therapeutic child care: what you need to know to create a healing home", by R. Edmond, L. Steckley and A. Roesch-Marsh and published in 2016. This is a greatly-anticipated textbook, which examines the issues that arise on a daily basis when caring for children in substitute care. Theory is integrated throughout in an accessible and non-threatening way, and applied to everyday opportunities for supporting and promoting the development of children and young people. Chapter 2 - on ‘The Developing Person’ - contextualises normative stages of development with a helpful overview on what threatens such progress. This different approach to widely recognised theoretical models is also noticeable in Chapter 3, ‘Tuning In and Attachment’, which explores the challenges faced in working with those who reject caring attempts. In addressing issues in this way, the book manages to challenge and develop the knowledge base of the learner, whilst retaining the message that it is acceptable to not always get things right. The practical guidance offered across a range of subject areas is of great value

Inter-professional education/learning across social work education provision in Scotland.

This research study was undertaken to map out inter-professional education (also known as inter-professional learning) provision across higher education institutions (HEIs) delivering qualifying social work programmes in Scotland, identify the strengths and weaknesses of those approaches and ascertain the views of those working in the social services regarding the direct impact of such programmes on practice. Online surveys were completed by social work students across Scottish universities, representatives of those delivering inter-profession education/learning (IPE/IPL) and employers. Students and employers were generally satisfied with the type and quality of IPE/IPL offered, which was thought to be well-integrated through qualifying programmes. Provision was clearly articulated and implanted within strategy and course documents. This research found that IPE/IPL undertaken by social workers in training in Scotland was impacting on service delivery. However, it also found that institutional organisation continued to compound difficulties in creating relevant and useful IPE/IPL activity

Fifty years of social work education: analysis of motivations and outcomes.

Summary: This article uses the 50th anniversary of social work education provision at one of north-east Scotland’s universities as an opportunity to reflect on social work education outcomes and motivations for undertaking training. This empirical assessment is based on the detailed responses to questionnaires and interviews with social work graduates who studied between 1968 and 2012 to evaluate social work training and education among graduates. We use the Kirkpatrick model to evaluate social work education. Findings: We highlight the combination of prior experience with social work and a sense of altruism that served to motivate students to engage in training.We discuss the levels of preparedness for practice based on training and note that it is the combination of teaching and placements that benefits students most. We reflect on the centrality of a common set of social work values that arise from a period of introspection during education, and we show that these values are incorporated into both professional and personal life. Applications: We show that ‘big picture’ and evaluations of social work education are important in order to orient social work education in line with political and social change. We also suggest that educators should be cognisant of the importance of personal development and growth that are central to the training of social workers. Rather than seeing personal development as a by-product of social work education, we argue that training that strengthens social work values of justice and empathy is imperative

Looked after children.

This chapter will begin by considering what it means to be a ‘looked after’ child or young person. Legislative and policy developments will be outlined from the wide ranging impact of the Kilbrandon Report (1964) to the Children and Young People (Scotland) Act 2014. The development of services and policy for and practice with looked after children will be outlined and contextualised within current Scottish Government strategy. Outcomes for looked after children will be explored via an analysis of the impact of those policies and implications for current and future practice will be identified

Social Work and Human Rights:The International Context

This publication is a companion to ‘Social Work and Human Rights: A Practice Guide’. Both publications can be read separately or together. To maintain continuity between the two the numbering of ‘Social Work and Human Rights: The International Context’ starts where ‘Social Work and Human Rights: A Practice Guide’ ends and thus this publication starts at Section 13. Social work is an international profession and human rights in the UK are set in the context of international laws and treaties. Section 13 covers the development of human rights in an international context, Section 14 examines the contemporary global challenges of human rights while Section 15 concludes with emerging thinking on human rights development and practice

The pedagogy and principles of teaching therapeutic practice with children and young people.

Technical approaches suggesting that systematically produced, generalized, and scientific knowledge are the most solid foundations for practice present significant challenges for the social work profession, in which the decisions faced often are not technical but rather moral, requiring the application of ethically based and intuitive skills. Meanwhile, the command, control, and measurement of outcomes in social work practice also present significant conundrums for the delivery of relational person-centered social work and social care. With a focus too often on efficiency rather than on effectiveness, this managerialistic approach frequently fails to acknowledge the complexity inherent in the act of caring. In this context and framework, teaching therapeutic practice with children draws a balance between traditional systematic teaching methods and use of creative media including art, play, and music. This article outlines the positive contribution to professional social work practice that the teaching of therapeutic approaches to child care can make

International meta-analysis of PTSD genome-wide association studies identifies sex- and ancestry-specific genetic risk loci.

The risk of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following trauma is heritable, but robust common variants have yet to be identified. In a multi-ethnic cohort including over 30,000 PTSD cases and 170,000 controls we conduct a genome-wide association study of PTSD. We demonstrate SNP-based heritability estimates of 5-20%, varying by sex. Three genome-wide significant loci are identified, 2 in European and 1 in African-ancestry analyses. Analyses stratified by sex implicate 3 additional loci in men. Along with other novel genes and non-coding RNAs, a Parkinson's disease gene involved in dopamine regulation, PARK2, is associated with PTSD. Finally, we demonstrate that polygenic risk for PTSD is significantly predictive of re-experiencing symptoms in the Million Veteran Program dataset, although specific loci did not replicate. These results demonstrate the role of genetic variation in the biology of risk for PTSD and highlight the necessity of conducting sex-stratified analyses and expanding GWAS beyond European ancestry populations

World Health Organization estimates of the global and regional disease burden of four foodborne chemical toxins, 2010: a data synthesis

Background: Chemical exposures have been associated with a variety of health effects; however, little is known about the global disease burden from foodborne chemicals. Food can be a major pathway for the general population’s exposure to chemicals, and for some chemicals, it accounts for almost 100% of exposure. Methods and Findings: Groups of foodborne chemicals, both natural and anthropogenic, were evaluated for their ability to contribute to the burden of disease. The results of the analyses on four chemicals are presented here - cyanide in cassava, peanut allergen, aflatoxin, and dioxin. Systematic reviews of the literature were conducted to develop age- and sex-specific disease incidence and mortality estimates due to these chemicals. From these estimates, the numbers of cases, deaths and disability adjusted life years (DALYs) were calculated. For these four chemicals combined, the total number of illnesses, deaths, and DALYs in 2010 is estimated to be 339,000 (95% uncertainty interval [UI]: 186,000-1,239,000); 20,000 (95% UI: 8,000-52,000); and 1,012,000 (95% UI: 562,000-2,822,000), respectively. Both cyanide in cassava and aflatoxin are associated with diseases with high case-fatality ratios. Virtually all human exposure to these four chemicals is through the food supply. Conclusion: Chemicals in the food supply, as evidenced by the results for only four chemicals, can have a significant impact on the global burden of disease. The case-fatality rates for these four chemicals range from low (e.g., peanut allergen) to extremely high (aflatoxin and liver cancer). The effects associated with these four chemicals are neurologic (cyanide in cassava), cancer (aflatoxin), allergic response (peanut allergen), endocrine (dioxin), and reproductive (dioxin)

Deleterious ABCA7 mutations and transcript rescue mechanisms in early onset Alzheimer’s disease

Abstract: Premature termination codon (PTC) mutations in the ATP-Binding Cassette, Sub-Family A, Member 7 gene (ABCA7) have recently been identified as intermediate-to-high penetrant risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). High variability, however, is observed in downstream ABCA7 mRNA and protein expression, disease penetrance, and onset age, indicative of unknown modifying factors. Here, we investigated the prevalence and disease penetrance of ABCA7 PTC mutations in a large early onset AD (EOAD)-control cohort, and examined the effect on transcript level with comprehensive third-generation long-read sequencing. We characterized the ABCA7 coding sequence with next-generation sequencing in 928 EOAD patients and 980 matched control individuals. With MetaSKAT rare variant association analysis, we observed a fivefold enrichment (p = 0.0004) of PTC mutations in EOAD patients (3%) versus controls (0.6%). Ten novel PTC mutations were only observed in patients, and PTC mutation carriers in general had an increased familial AD load. In addition, we observed nominal risk reducing trends for three common coding variants. Seven PTC mutations were further analyzed using targeted long-read cDNA sequencing on an Oxford Nanopore MinION platform. PTC-containing transcripts for each investigated PTC mutation were observed at varying proportion (5-41% of the total read count), implying incomplete nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD). Furthermore, we distinguished and phased several previously unknown alternative splicing events (up to 30% of transcripts). In conjunction with PTC mutations, several of these novel ABCA7 isoforms have the potential to rescue deleterious PTC effects. In conclusion, ABCA7 PTC mutations play a substantial role in EOAD, warranting genetic screening of ABCA7 in genetically unexplained patients. Long-read cDNA sequencing revealed both varying degrees of NMD and transcript-modifying events, which may influence ABCA7 dosage, disease severity, and may create opportunities for therapeutic interventions in AD