Review of \u3cem\u3eThe Internet and Technology for the Human Services.\u3c/em\u3e Howard Karger and Joanne Levine. Reviewed by Sharon Pittman, Andrews University

Book review of Howard Karger and Joanne Levine, The Internet and Technology for the Human Services, NewYork: Longman, 1999. $27.19 paperback

Social Workers in International Relief and Development: A Natural Fit

This study sought to examine the compatibility between social work competencies with humanitarian assistance job skills requirements in the market. A systematic analysis of international job descriptions (N=500) was conducted with a focus on the skills required of potential employees. The main themes identified and operationalized into discrete skills and/or behaviors were: technical expertise, intra- and extra-organizational competencies, personal abilities, sector specialization, education, and language requirements. To aid educators in curriculum building, the identified skills were cross-referenced with the Council on Social Work Education’s Education Policy and Accreditation Standards practice behaviors to determine how they translate into standardized competencies. The study offers important implications for social work education and discusses several venues for social work employment in international relief and development careers. [AUTHOR ABSTRACT

When Free Is Not for Me: Confronting the Barriers to Use of Free Quitline Telephone Counseling for Tobacco Dependence

Remarkable disparities in smoking rates in the United States contribute significantly to socioeconomic and minority health disparities. Access to treatment for tobacco use can help address these disparities, but quitlines, our most ubiquitous treatment resource, reach just 1%–2% of smokers. We used community-based participatory methods to develop a survey instrument to assess barriers to use of the quitline in the Arkansas Mississippi delta. Barriers were quitline specific and barriers to cessation more broadly. Over one-third (34.9%) of respondents (n = 799) did not have access to a telephone that they could use for the quitline. Respondents reported low levels of knowledge about the quitline, quitting, and trust in tobacco treatment programs as well as considerable ambivalence about quitting including significant concerns about getting sick if they quit and strong faith-based beliefs about quitting. These findings suggest quitlines are not accessible to all lower socioeconomic groups and that significant barriers to use include barriers to cessation. These findings suggest targets for providing accessible tobacco use treatment services and addressing concerns about cessation among lower income, ethnic minority, and rural groups

An evaluation of Health Workers for Change in seven settings: a useful management and health system development tool

This paper presents the findings of a multi-centre study assessing the impact of Health Workers for Change (HWFC) workshops in seven different primary care sites, based on the common core protocol described in this paper. The paper discusses a common methodology used by the studies, consisting of a triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods. Such methodologies are inherently complex as they require comparisons across systems, sites and procedures. The studies were conducted in six sites in Africa and one site in Argentina. Generally, the intervention resulted either in positive change or in no change, except in the area of staff relationships where conflicts were more frequent after the intervention than before. This may reflect a willingness to confront problems or contentious issues. Implementing the HWFC workshops improved provider-client relations, facility level functioning and aspects of staff interrelationships, and had some impact at the system level. All studies indicated that overall health system development is essential for improved service provision including quality of care. The findings also indicated that this intervention complemented and could assist health sector reform efforts and can play a role in sensitizing health workers to gender issues. The paper concludes with a discussion of the robustness of the methodology used in the studie

Clinical and genetic aspects of primary ciliary dyskinesia/Kartagener syndrome

Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a genetically heterogeneous disorder of motile cilia. Most of the disease-causing mutations identified to date involve the heavy (DNAH5) or intermediate (DNAI1) chain dynein genes in ciliary outer dynein arms, although a few mutations have been noted in other genes. Clinical molecular genetic testing for PCD is available for the most common mutations. The respiratory manifestations of PCD (chronic bronchitis leading to bronchiectasis, chronic rhino-sinusitis and chronic otitis media) reflect impaired mucociliary clearance owing to defective axonemal structure. Ciliary ultrastructural analysis in most patients (>80%) reveals defective dynein arms, although defects in other axonemal components have also been observed. Approximately 50% of PCD patients have laterality defects (including situs inversus totalis and, less commonly, heterotaxy and congenital heart disease), reflecting dysfunction of embryological nodal cilia. Male infertility is common and reflects defects in sperm tail axonemes. Most PCD patients have a history of neonatal respiratory distress, suggesting that motile cilia play a role in fluid clearance during the transition from a fetal to neonatal lung. Ciliopathies involving sensory cilia, including autosomal dominant or recessive polycystic kidney disease, Bardet-Biedl syndrome, and Alstrom syndrome, may have chronic respiratory symptoms and even bronchiectasis suggesting clinical overlap with PCD

Clinical Features and Associated Likelihood of Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia in Children and Adolescents

Rationale: Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), a genetically heterogeneous, recessive disorder of motile cilia, is associated with distinct clinical features. Diagnostic tests, including ultrastructural analysis of cilia, nasal nitric oxide measurements, and molecular testing for mutations in PCD genes, have inherent limitations

Clinical Features of Childhood Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia by Genotype and Ultrastructural Phenotype

Rationale: The relationship between clinical phenotype of childhood primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) and ultrastructural defects and genotype is poorly defined

ZMYND10 Is Mutated in Primary Ciliary Dyskinesia and Interacts with LRRC6

Defects of motile cilia cause primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD), characterized by recurrent respiratory infections and male infertility. Using whole-exome resequencing and high-throughput mutation analysis, we identified recessive biallelic mutations in ZMYND10 in 14 families and mutations in the recently identified LRRC6 in 13 families. We show that ZMYND10 and LRRC6 interact and that certain ZMYND10 and LRRC6 mutations abrogate the interaction between the LRRC6 CS domain and the ZMYND10 C-terminal domain. Additionally, ZMYND10 and LRRC6 colocalize with the centriole markers SAS6 and PCM1. Mutations in ZMYND10 result in the absence of the axonemal protein components DNAH5 and DNALI1 from respiratory cilia. Animal models support the association between ZMYND10 and human PCD, given that zmynd10 knockdown in zebrafish caused ciliary paralysis leading to cystic kidneys and otolith defects and that knockdown in Xenopus interfered with ciliogenesis. Our findings suggest that a cytoplasmic protein complex containing ZMYND10 and LRRC6 is necessary for motile ciliary function