Messages and findings from the Department of Health drugs misuse research initiative: final overview report

This overview report summarizes the outcome of Phase One of the Drugs Misuse Research Initiative, which was funded through the Policy Research Programme at the Department of Health. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily those of the Department of Health. The brief summaries of key messages and findings from each project are drawn from their final reports and executive summaries, and from commentaries on and discussions of these reports. The selection of what are "key" findings and lessons for research, policy, and practice are those of myself, as author of the overview report, but derive directly from the substantial reports produced by project teams. I hope I have done justice to their work, while recognizing that the interpretation and contextualization are my own, as is responsibility for any errors. The authors of the executive summaries which follow the overview report are the project teams themselves

Welfare: theoretical and analytical paradigms

The paper reviews paradigms of welfare, principally the industrialization thesis, the three worlds of welfare and social investment states and shows how these link to wider public policies and underlying assumptions. It locates explanations in historical and contemporary contexts. The literature of social policy is seen to be both descriptive and prescriptive and to have developed in response to key crises. The paper considers arguments for and against universalism and targeting, and shows how these concepts fit within theories of welfare. It considers lessons from this review for discussions of how to develop social security and health systems in emerging economies and indicates the value of systems that include all or the vast majority of the population, organized around principles of collective social insurance and recognize the value of caring work. Proposals have, however, to be set in economic systems with fair, living wages and progressive income tax structures—goals which run counter to the current trajectory of financial capitalism

The Alcohol Concern SMART recovery pilot project: final evaluation report

Evaluation of the Alcohol Concern/SMART Recovery (Self Mangement and Recovery Training) pilot project. The pilot project ran in England from 2008-2010 and was funded by the Department of Health

Impact of varying intensities of blue-light exposure on 3T3 cells

There is the need to develop a compatible sterilisation method for hybrid biomaterials. High-intensity blue light in the 405 nm region has been shown to be an effective bacterial decontamination method [1], to cause no noticeable damage to the gross structure of type-I collagen monomer (when treated at 10 mW/cm2) [2], and to have no noticeable effect on 3T3 cell viability, growth rate, redox state or lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) leakage (at 1.0 mW/cm2) [2]. The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of varying the blue-light intensity on the 3T3 cell response parameters

Combined treatment of biomatrices with nisin and pulsed electric fields as a potential decontamination method?

Pulsed electric field (PEF) treatment has been shown to achieve bacterial inactivation in collagen gels whilst retaining the ability of the collagen to function as a biomaterial [1, 2]. Nisin, an antimicrobial peptide, has been used widely as a food preservative and has shown bactericidal action against a number of Gram-positive bacteria [3]. The potential of nisin to increase the efficacy of PEF disinfection of collagen gels to be used for tissue engineering applications was investigated

Telecommunications and radio-metric support for a manned mission to Mars

Some general characteristics of the Deep Space Network are described and related to services needed by a manned mission to Mars. Specific details of the current Network capabilities and those planned for the near future may be found in the reference

Drug and Alcohol Studies (Volume 3: Methods and Measurements)

The field of drug and alcohol studies has expanded rapidly in recent years, with estimates of at least a doubling in the number of publications in the past decades. A feature of this wide and multidisciplinary field is the tendency of sub-groups of scholars to operate within their disciplinary silos, paying only token attention to the contributions of others. There are also, naturally, significant differences in approaches of different countries, reflecting different policy frameworks and cultural perspectives. When faced with these challenges to comprehensive study, a publication such as this new six-volume collection - which aims to bring together the various disparate strands of the topic, including key articles written by scholars from across the globe, disciplines and decades - truly proves itself to be a unique and valuable resource for specialist students and researchers in the field. VOLUME THREE: METHODS AND MEASUREMENTS Evaluation of Heroin Maintenance in a Controlled Trial Richard Hartnoll et al Cost-Benefit Analysis of Drug Treatment Services William Cartwright Review of the Literature The National Treatment Outcome Research Study (NTORS) Michael Gossop et al Four to Five-Year Follow-up Results Scientific and Political Challenges in North America's First Randomized Controlled Trial of Heroin-Assisted Treatment for Severe Heroin Addiction Eugenia Oviedo-Joekes et al Rationale and Design of the NAOMI Study Co-Morbidity of Mental Disorders with Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Darrel A. Regier et al Results from the Epidemiologic Catchment Area (ECA) Study Alcohol Consumption and Injury in Western Australia Richard Midford et al A Spatial Correlation Analysis Using Geographic Information Systems Development of the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) J. Saunders et al WHO Collaborative Project on Early Detection of Persons with Harmful Alcohol Consumption Unravelling the Preventive Paradox for Acute Alcohol Problems Tim Stockwell et al Assessing Alcohol Consumption Lee Strunin Developments from Qualitative Research Methods Measuring Alcohol-Related Consequences in School Surveys Gerhard Gmel et al Alcohol Attributable Consequences or Consequences with Students' Alcohol Attribution Rapid Assessment and Response Studies of Injecting Drug Use Gerry Stimson et al Knowledge Gain, Capacity-Building and Intervention Development in a Multisite Study The Application of Ethnography with Reference to Harm Reduction in Sverdiovsk Russia Robert Power Putting It in Context Nicholas Jenkins et al The Use of Vignettes in Qualitative Interviewing Development of a Rational Scale to Assess the Harms of Drugs of Potential Misuse David Nutt et al The Clinical Utility of Brain SPECT Imaging in Process Addictions Daniel Amen, Kristen Willeumier and Robert Johnso

Drug and Alcohol Studies (Volume 4: Policy approaches)

VOLUME FOUR: POLICY APPROACHES Preface Robert MacCoun and Peter Reuter The Varieties of Drug Control at the Dawn of the 21st Century Comparative Analysis of Alcohol Control Policies in 30 Countries Donald Brand et al A Comparative Study of 38 European Countries Limited Rationality and the Limits of Supply Reduction Jonathan Caulkins and Robert MacCoun The Limited Relevance of Drug Policy Craig Reinerman, Peter Cohen and Hendrien Kaal Cannabis in Amsterdam and San Francisco AIDS and Injecting Drug Use in the United Kingdom, 1987-1993 Gerry Stimson The Policy Response and the Prevention of the Epidemic Treatment of What? Class, Gender and Work Ethics within the Compulsory Institutional Care of Alcohol Abusers in Sweden during the 20th Century Johan Edman From Margin to Mainstream Dagmar Hedrich, Alessandro Pirona and Lucas Wiessing The Evolution of Harm Reduction Responses to Problem Drug Use in Europe What Can We Learn from the Portuguese Decriminalization of Illicit Drugs? Caitlin Elizabeth Hughes and Alex Stevens Effects of Alcohol Tax and Price Policies on Morbidity and Mortality Alexander Wagenaar et al A Systematic Review Alcohol Industry Influences on U.K. Alcohol Policy Benjamin Hawkins et al A New Research Agenda for Public Health Counting the Costs of the War on Drugs Steve Rolles et al Executive Summary The Death Penalty for Drug Offences: Global Overview 2012 Patrick Gallahue et al Towards Revision of the U.N. Drug Control Conventions David Bewley-Taylor Harnessing Like-Mindednes

Drug and Alcohol Studies (Volume 2: Theoretical Studies)

VOLUME TWO: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES Excerpt from Drug, Set and Setting: The Basis for Controlled Intoxicant Use N. Zinberg Sociocultural Anthropology and Alcohol and Drug Research Geoffrey Hunt and Judith Barker Towards a Unified Theory Addiction Is a Brain Disease and It Matters Alan Leshner Drug Dependence A. Thomas McLellan et al A Chronic Mental Illness Alcohol Dependence Griffith Edwards and Milton Gross Provisional Description of a Clinical Syndrome Illicit Drugs and the Rise of Epidemiology during the 1960s Alex Mold A Conceptual Framework for Explaining Drug Addiction Nick Heather Addiction as an Excessive Appetite Jim Orford Becoming a Marijuana User Howard Becker The 'Risk Environment' Tim Rhodes A Framework for Understanding and Reducing Drug-Related Harm The Social Basis of Drug Dependency J. Young The Legacy of 'Normalization' Fiona Measham and Michael Shiner ' The Role of Classical and Contemporary Criminological Theory in Understanding Young People's Drug Use Taking Care of Business Edward Preble and John Casey The Heroin User's Life on the Street The Concept of Alcoholism as a Bad Habit R. Reinert Illegal Lemons P. Reuter and J. Caulkins Price Dispersion in Cocaine and Heroin Market