Compensating Whom For What? Reconsidering the Composition of Public Spending

This paper reports the preliminary work under way to analyse the composition of public spending in response to increased economic openness in the advanced industrial societies over recent decades. The compensation hypothesis predicts that public spending will rise in response to greater openness, especially trade competition. The globalization hypothesis predicts that public spending will be constrained by increased capital market openness. Our research design distinguishes between four aspects of public spending. First it considers spending targeted at producer as opposed to labour market interests. It further distinguishes between short-term transfer spending and longer-term investment spending, all of which have aspects of compensation spending to them. The principal focus of the research project is to analyse to what degree left-right partisanship makes a difference to spending effort, and to what degree the patterns vary between different varieties of capitalism. Drawing mainly on OECD data for the period since 1980, the modelling and analysis, using pooled time-series cross-sectional data with an error correction model, is as yet at a relatively early stage. Preliminary results suggest that neither trade nor capital market openness is associated with increase spending efforts in the manner anticipated by the compensation hypothesis. A number of lines of further inquiry are identified.

The application of molecular techniques for the rapid and sensitive detection of gastrointestinal pathogens directly in food

Conventional microbiological methods are slow, labour intensive and are unable to meet the demands for rapid food testing. Molecular methods, such as PCR, offer a rapid, sensitive and specific means of detecting pathogens, however loss of sensitivity and lack of robustness have been reported when PCR is applied to heterogeneous and complex food matrices. The aim of this study was to establish a rapid, reliable and sensitive molecular method to detect pathogens in food samples. Real-time PCR assays for the detection of Campylobacter jejuni and coli, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella enterica and Staphylococcus aureus in food enrichment samples were developed. A novel organism was constructed using a gfp gene cloned into the chromosome of a non-pathogenic Escherichia coli. Viable cells of the modified strain were encapsulated in Lenticule discs and used as process control in the PCR assays. MagNA Pure™ automated extraction was shown to be robust and reliable for preparing bacterial DNA from food enrichment broths. The PCR assays and MagNA Pure™ was applied to enrichment broths inoculated with 558 naturally-contaminated food and environmental samples in a field trial. Concordance was found between PCR results and those obtained using standard culture methods. Loss of assay sensitivity or PCR inhibition was detected in 6 % (32) of the enrichment samples. To improve the sensitivity the L monocytogenes hlyA gene PCR was nested. The assay was applied for the sensitive non-cultural diagnosis of listeriosis, with L monocytogenes detected in 15 of 17 clinical samples from patients with suspected listeriosis. In conclusion, these assays provided a high throughput, robust, reliable PCR detection methods that could be used in clinical and food testing laboratories. The methods will be essential in outbreak situations and could be further developed to detecting bacterial pathogens, viruses, parasites, new and emerging pathogens

Community Radio Development and Public Funding for Programme Production: Options for Policy

This paper originates in a wider research project funded by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland’s media research scheme.1 The project arose out of collaboration between community media practitioners and academics. The project sought to provide a comparative analysis of national ‘programme production schemes’ which are open to the community radio sector in other states. A key context for that research was the legislative requirement that the programme production scheme run by the BAI pay attention to the ‘the developmental needs of community broadcasters’. An additional context for the research was the criticism from within the sector that the BAI’s scheme was insufficiently attentive to the particular dynamics of community radio production. The key research objective that thus arose was to evaluate the ways in which other states link developmental goals to programme production funding for the community radion sector. In order to answer this question we evaluated the literature on ‘development’ of the sector and analysed the production schemes of five other states (Austria, Canada, Denmark, France, New Zealand) through a combination of interviews and document analysis. The present article will provide a review of the findings from that larger research project. Its key aim is to provide an evaluation of the ‘developmental’ aspects of the production schemes in those five other states and consider their relevance to the Irish scheme. To do that, we first present an overview of community radio in Ireland and the operation of the Sound and Vision production scheme. We then undertake a review of the literature on development of community media and the role of public policy therein. Following that we will present our key findings from the research into the developmental aspects of programme production schemes offering tentative suggestions for their adaptation in the Irish context

Studies in cardiovascular epidemiology in Scotland

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe the epidemiology of important cardiovascular diseases (including angina, AMI, acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, atrial fibrillation and obesity) in Scotland using routinely available sources of data as well as data available from the Renfrew Paisley study. Objectives: To report on the incidence, prevalence, primary care burden and prescribing practices of heart failure, angina and atrial fibrillation in Scotland and explore socioeconomic disparities. To examine trends in population hospitalisation rates for suspected acute coronary syndromes and short and long-term outcome following a hospitalisation with an acute coronary syndromes between 1990 and 2000. To examine between hospital variability in 30 day survival following an admission to hospital in Scotland with an acute myocardial infarction. To examine the long-term cardiovascular consequences of angina and of obesity in the Renfrew Paisley study. Results: I have shown that angina is a common condition, more so in men than in women. Deprived individuals are more likely to have angina but are less likely to consult their general practitioner. Guideline recommended treatments for angina are underused in women and the elderly. I also showed that heart failure is a common condition especially in older people. In the elderly, the community burden of heart failure is at least as great as that of angina or hypertension. People with heart failure have a high rate of concomitant respiratory tract infection. Compared with affluent patients, socioeconomically deprived individuals are 44% more likely to develop heart failure, but 23% less likely to see their general practitioner on an ongoing basis. Drugs proven to improve survival in heart failure are used less frequently in elderly patients and in women however prescribed therapy does not differ across socioeconomic gradients. I similarly showed that atrial fibrillation is a common condition, more so in men than in women. In contrast with heart failure and angina deprived individuals are less likely to have atrial fibrillation. As for heart failure and angina, recommended treatments for atrial fibrillation are underused in women and the elderly. I have also shown that the pattern of emergency admissions with heart disease to Scottish hospitals has changed dramatically over recent years. Conclusion: I have demonstrated the potential of using data from the Continuous Morbidity Recording in General Practice Scheme to examine the epidemiology and prescribing practices of conditions in primary care and explore socioeconomic discrepancies. I have also demonstrated the potential of using data from the Linked Scottish Morbidity Recording Scheme to examine trends in hospitalisations and outcome for diseases and explore inter-hospital variability in outcome. I have also used the Renfrew-Paisley study to examine the effect of baseline obesity or angina on long term cardiovascular hospitalisations and deaths. (Abstract shortened by ProQuest.)

Discretion at the frontline of homeless service administration: primary and secondary rationing by street level bureaucrats in Irish local authorities

The number of people experiencing homelessness in Ireland has increased significantly in recent years, with almost 11,000 currently using homeless accommodation. In order to access services, people are required to present to their local authority as homeless. Subsequently, frontline workers are required to make decisions around whether a person is considered homeless, as well as the level of service that they will be offered. Despite the high numbers of people presenting as homeless, little is known about this process of assessment and placement. To guide determinations of eligibility, the statutory definition of homelessness is outlined in the Housing Act, 1988. However, owing to the legislation’s ambiguity, local authorities can widen or narrow the definition as they see fit. As the definition is based on ‘the opinion of the local authority’ to determine whether someone is in accommodation which they can ‘reasonably occupy’, assessment staff must use substantial discretion when determining eligibility for services. In addition to the ambiguous statutory definition, the opacity of this area of welfare administration is compounded by the lack of additional formal guidance around determining eligibility. Likewise, this informal approach extends to decision-making around the type of accommodation offered to those who are eligible. Due to the informal work environment, a high level of discretion is granted to these frontline workers. Accordingly, Lipsky’s (1980) conceptual framework provides a useful means to examine the use of discretion among assessment and placement staff. Lipsky (1980) coined the term ‘street level bureaucrat’ to describe public service workers who have direct interaction with citizens and substantial discretion in the execution of this work. Through in-depth qualitative interviews with frontline workers based around Ireland, the research examined how discretion is used by these street-level bureaucrats to make decisions around rationing of homeless services at both a primary (assessment) and secondary (placement) level. The research found that although the frontline workers had a high level of discretion available to them in making decisions, management could influence how this discretion was used in some circumstances. This was mainly done through applying scrutiny when discretionary decisions resulted in offers of services to people whose eligibility was unclear, and through inattention when discretion was used to gate-keep services. Additionally, the research found that a narrow interpretation of the statutory definition of homelessness is being used by most of the frontline workers involved in the research, with rooflessness constituting homelessness that they described as genuine. People who presented to the local authority from living situations described as grey, for example couch surfing, were more likely to experience gatekeeping and denial of access to services. In some cases the frontline workers avoided the need to deny access to services through using an approach of covert deterrence. This involved presenting emergency accommodation in a negative way to an applicant so that they may be deterred from entering it, thus rationing demand for these services. Furthermore, significant differences were found in the approach of frontline workers towards homeless families and single people. Singles were more likely to experience gatekeeping behaviours than families were. This was most notable with regards to access to private emergency accommodation which the frontline workers stated was no longer available to single people except for in exceptional circumstances. As the first piece of research in Ireland examining homeless service administration from this perspective, the thesis is a starting point to fill a gap in knowledge around this subject. As such, it has begun the process of making an opaque area of public service delivery more transparent and therefore makes a significant empirical contribution to knowledge in the fields of streetlevel bureaucracy and the administration of homeless services in Ireland

Detection of 14-3-3zeta in cerebrospinal fluid following experimentally evoked seizures.

Surrogate and peripheral (bio)markers of neuronal injury may be of value in assessing effects of seizures on the brain or epilepsy development following trauma. The presence of 14-3-3 isoforms in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a diagnostic indicator of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease but these proteins may also be present following acute neurological insults. Here, we examined neuronal and 14-3-3 proteins in CSF from rats after seizures. Seizures induced by intra-amygdala microinjection of 0.1 microg kainic acid (KA) caused damage which was mainly restricted to the ipsilateral CA3 subfield of the hippocampus. 14-3-3zeta was detected at significant levels in CSF sampled 4 h after seizures compared with near absence in control CSF. Neuron-specific nuclear protein (NeuN) was also elevated in CSF in seizure rats. CSF 14-3-3zeta levels were significantly lower in rats treated with 0.01 microg KA. These data suggest the presence of 14-3-3zeta within CSF may be a biomarker of acute seizure damage