Liberal Interpretations of Social Justice for Social Work

Social justice has been called a defining value for social work (Wakefield, 1988). For clinical social workers this link has been seen as tenuous. Current interpretations of the meaning of social justice for social work trace their roots to John Rawls and his treatise “A theory of justice”. Rawls’s political theory is a liberal one aimed at the “basic structure of society” and how certain primary goods are distributed so as to respect the basic worth and dignity of all people. This article examines Rawls’s justice as fairness and contrasts it with a modern liberal feminist interpretation provided by Nussbaum. Nussbaum’s “capability approach” rejects the notion of justice as the distribution of resources and instead advances a claim for justice that secures for each individual the opportunity to function in a “truly human” way. She articulates a universal list of human capabilities that all societies and governments must embrace in their pursuit of social justice. The implications of a liberal perspective on social justice for social work and particularly clinical work are explored

Clinical Social Workers: Advocates for Social Justice

Advocacy activities provide an avenue for all social workers to connect their practice with the profession’s aim of social justice. In fact, it is this social justice connection to the advocacy role that may distinguish social work from other professions. Yet advocacy remains a controversial practice for many clinical social workers. This study reports on one aspect of a larger study (McLaughlin, 2006), which examined how clinical social workers in mental health conceptualized social justice as part of their work. The data revealed a strong relationship exists between clinical social work practice, social justice and advocacy. The concept of advocacy that emerged from the data was multi-dimensional and included strategies that were instrumental, educational, and practical

Bridging the divide: Exploring the disconnect between micro and macro practice and implications for BSW field education

The social work profession addresses wellbeing at individual levels, or the micro, as well as structural and systemic levels, the macro. By addressing the micro and macro, social workers work towards social justice for individuals and communities to create structural systemic change. Yet, there is an increasing focus on micro and clinical-focused content in social work education. This focus creates various challenges when social work students are placed in macro-focused field education placements. A study into the experiences of Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students, field instructors, and faculty liaisons considered the experiences of participants in their involvement of macro-level field education. The study found two emerging themes: macro-level practice is undervalued and underrepresented in the BSW curriculum, and yet at the same time there exists a deep desire for more understanding and integration of macro social work in social work education and field education. Implications for social work education, regulation, and the profession are also considered

Invadolysin: a novel, conserved metalloprotease links mitotic structural rearrangements with cell migration

The cell cycle is widely known to be regulated by networks of phosphorylation and ubiquitin-directed proteolysis. Here, we describe IX-14/invadolysin, a novel metalloprotease present only in metazoa, whose activity appears to be essential for mitotic progression. Mitotic neuroblasts of Drosophila melanogaster IX-14 mutant larvae exhibit increased levels of nuclear envelope proteins, monopolar and asymmetric spindles, and chromosomes that appear hypercondensed in length with a surrounding halo of loosely condensed chromatin. Zymography reveals that a protease activity, present in wild-type larval brains, is missing from homozygous tissue, and we show that IX-14/invadolysin cleaves lamin in vitro. The IX-14/invadolysin protein is predominantly found in cytoplasmic structures resembling invadopodia in fly and human cells, but is dramatically relocalized to the leading edge of migrating cells. Strikingly, we find that the directed migration of germ cells is affected in Drosophila IX-14 mutant embryos. Thus, invadolysin identifies a new family of conserved metalloproteases whose activity appears to be essential for the coordination of mitotic progression, but which also plays an unexpected role in cell migration

A blueprint of state-of-the-art techniques for detecting quasi-periodic pulsations in solar and stellar flares

Quasi-periodic pulsations (QPPs) appear to be a common feature observed in the light curves of both solar and stellar ares. However, their quasi-periodic nature, along with the facts that they can be small in amplitude and short-lived, make QPPs difficult to unequivocally detect. In this paper, we test the strengths and limitations of state-of-the-art methods for detecting QPPs using a series of hare-and-hounds exercises. The hare simulated a set of ares, both with and without QPPs of a variety of forms, while the hounds attempted to detect QPPs in blind tests. We use the results of these exercises to create a blueprint for anyone who wishes to detect QPPs in real solar and stellar data. We present eight, clear recommendations to be kept in mind for future QPP detections, with the plethora of solar and stellar are data from new and future satellites. These recommendations address the key pitfalls in QPP detection, including detrending, trimming data, accounting for coloured noise, detecting stationary-period QPPs, detecting QPP with non-stationary periods, and ensuring detections are robust and false detections are minimized. We find that QPPs can be detected reliably and robustly by a variety of methods, which are clearly identied and described, if the appropriate care and due diligence is taken

A pulmonary mass with invasion into the heart

We describe the case of a 58 year old woman who presented with bronchial atypical carcinoid found at surgery to invade the left atrium along the pulmonary veins. A right pneumonectomy and removal of a portion of the left atrium was performed. The patient made an excellent post operative recovery. Three years later she presented in acute respiratory failure secondary to local recurrence. This is first case described in which recurrence after resection of bronchial carcinoid metastatic to the heart is described

Pure iterative reconstruction improves image quality in computed tomography of the abdomen and pelvis acquired at substantially reduced radiation doses in patients with active Crohn disease

Objective: We assessed diagnostic accuracy and image quality of modified protocol (MP) computed tomography (CT) of the abdomen and pelvis reconstructed using pure iterative reconstruction (IR) in patients with Crohn disease (CD). Methods: Thirty-four consecutive patients with CD were referred with suspected extramural complications. Two contemporaneous CT datasets were acquired in all patients: standard protocol (SP) and MP. The MP and SP protocols were designed to impart radiation exposures of 10% to 20% and 80% to 90% of routine abdominopelvic CT, respectively. The MP images were reconstructed with model-based IR (MBIR) and adaptive statistical IR (ASIR). Results: The MP-CT and SP-CT dose length product were 88 (58) mGy.cm (1.27 [0.87] mSv) and 303 [204] mGy.cm (4.8 [2.99] mSv), respectively (P < 0.001). Median diagnostic acceptability, spatial resolution, and contrast resolution were significantly higher and subjective noise scores were significantly lower on SP-ASIR 40 compared with all MP datasets. There was perfect clinical agreement between MP-MBIR and SP-ASIR 40 images for detection of extramural complications. Conclusions: Modified protocol CT using pure IR is feasible for assessment of active CD

Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial of RealConsent2.0: a web‑based intervention to promote prosocial alcohol‑involved bystander behavior in young men

Background Sexual violence (SV) is a significant, global public health problem, particularly among young adults. Promising interventions exist, including prosocial bystander intervention programs that train bystanders to intervene in situations at-risk for SV. However, these programs suffer from critical weaknesses: (1) they do not address the proximal effect of alcohol use on bystander decision-making and (2) they rely on self-report measures to evaluate outcomes. To overcome these limitations, we integrate new content specific to alcohol use within the context of prosocial bystander intervention into an existing, evidence-based program, RealConsent1.0. The resulting program, RealConsent2.0, aims to facilitate bystander behavior among sober and intoxicated bystanders and uses a virtual reality (VR) environment to assess bystander behavior in the context of acute alcohol use. Methods This protocol paper presents the design of a randomized controlled trial (RCT) in which we evaluate RealConsent2.0 for efficacy in increasing alcohol- and non-alcohol-involved bystander behavior compared to RealConsent1.0 or to an attention-control program (“Taking Charge”). The RCT is being implemented in Atlanta, GA, and Lincoln, NE. Participants will be 605, healthy men aged 21–25 years recruited through social media, community-based flyers, and university email lists. Eligible participants who provide informed consent and complete the baseline survey, which includes self-reported bystander behavior, are then randomized to one of six conditions: RealConsent2.0/alcohol, RealConsent2.0/ placebo, RealConsent1.0/alcohol, RealConsent1.0/placebo, Taking Charge/alcohol, or Taking Charge/placebo. After completing their assigned program, participants complete a laboratory session in which they consume an alcohol (target BrAC: .08%) or placebo beverage and then engage in the Bystanders in Sexual Assault Virtual Environments (BSAVE), a virtual house party comprising situations in which participants have opportunities to intervene. Self-reported bystander behavior across alcohol and non-alcohol contexts is also assessed at 6- and 12-months post-intervention. Secondary outcomes include attitudes toward, outcome expectancies for, and self-efficacy for bystander behavior via self-report. Discussion RealConsent2.0 is the first web-based intervention for young men that encourages and teaches skills to engage in prosocial bystander behavior to prevent SV while intoxicated. This is also the first study to assess the proximal effect of alcohol on bystander behavior via a VR environment

Anaesthetic considerations of adults with Morquio's syndrome - a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The anaesthetic management of patients with Morquio syndrome is complicated by a number of factors including odontoid hypoplasia, atlantoaxial instability, thoracic kyphosis, and deposition of mucopolysaccharides in the soft tissue of the oropharnyx.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>Herein we describe the anaesthetic considerations and management of a 26 year old adult with Morquio syndrome, who presented for an elective hip replacement.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This report details an awake fiberoptic intubation in an adult with Morquio syndrome. We recommend that this approach be considered in patients with Morquio syndrome undergoing general anaesthesia.</p