A competition law first

The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) published the full text of its first competition law decision in May 2019. The decision related to three asset management firms whose employees operated a cartel sharing price sensitive information during an initial public offering and a placing. The case shows the successful operation of the leniency policy, with one of the three firms escaping financial penalties because it acted as whistleblower to the FCA. This case is significant because it involves the first use by the FCA of its competition law powers to enforce a cartel

Looking Past the Mess: Māori Homelessness and Mental Health Care

Homelessness is a pressing social and health concern that affects Māori disproportionately. This research explores the provision of mental health services to Māori who are homeless. The thesis has two primary aims. First, to document the experiences of Māori homeless people who live with mental health concerns and their relationships with mental health professionals. Second, to document the experiences of mental health professionals and how they interact with, provide care for, and build relationships with Māori Homeless. The skills of, and the difficulties faced by these professionals in provisions of quality of care are also considered. Three male and three female homeless participants were recruited from the Waikato and Auckland regions. All participants had received care from Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and/or District Health Board services (DHB). Participating mental health professionals included one female and five males. Mental health professionals included counsellors, therapists, psychologists, social workers, crisis team coordinator, and a cultural advisor. All participants took part in individual semi-structured interviews conducted in an open and conversational manner. Key themes for homeless participants included their general life histories of mental illness, mental health service use, relationship with professionals, cultural issues, and concerns that Māori homeless wanted to discuss. Key themes for mental health professionals included their approaches when working with homeless people, relationship building, barriers to working with this group and possible solutions, linking with other professionals or organisations, and issues mental health professionals wanted to discuss. Findings highlight the importance of strong therapeutic relationships between homeless clients and mental health professionals, the need for more joined up (multi-level agency) approach to service delivery, and the importance of Māori ideology in restoring wellbeing and dignity. Findings suggest that the effectiveness of mental health service delivery relies in part on information provided by stakeholders. Information provided by homeless people and mental health professionals informs both service delivery and the ways in which practitioners can best support the needs of homeless people

What does Brexit mean for the Competition & Markets Authority?

The CMA has issued guidance about how its role as the main UK competition law regulator will change following Brexit. This article looks at how the CMA will cope with the increased quantity and significance of cartels, mergers and competition investigations previously undertaken by the European Commission

Review of \u3cem\u3eCare Work: Gender, Labour and the Welfare State.\u3c/em\u3e Madonna Harrington Meyer (Ed.). Reviewed by Diana M. Johnson

Book review of Madonna Harrington Meyer (Ed.), Care Work: Gender, Labor, and the Welfare State. New York: Routledge, 2000. $85.00 hardcover,$23.99 papercover

Study of a possible genetic cause of CHARGE association

CHARGE association, or syndrome as it is now known, is a condition where a number of congenital malformations are non-randomly associated in a recognizable pattern. There are two sets of diagnostic criteria for CHARGE syndrome which are in common usage at present (Blake et al., 1998; Verloes, 2005). The etiology of CHARGE syndrome was unknown. We identified twin girls with CHARGE syndrome and a de novo apparently balanced chromosome translocation 46,XX,t(8;13)(q11.2;q22). By mapping the chromosome translocation breakpoints we found that the gene chromodomain-helicase-DNA-binding protein 7 (CHD7) located at 8q12 was disrupted in these girls. CHD7 has a genomic length of 188kb with 9000 coding bases over 37 exons. It has a putative function as a transcription factor which makes it a good candidate gene for a condition which affects multiple body systems. Concurrently with this study Vissers et al (2004) identified CHD7 as a cause of CHARGE syndrome. They found two individuals with CHARGE syndrome with overlapping microdeletions detected by array CGH. By sequencing the 9 genes in this region in a cohort of 17 cases they identified a mutation in CHD7 in 10 cases. We ascertained a cohort of 45 patients with a diagnosis of CHARGE syndrome or possible CHARGE syndrome by scrutinizing the clinical genetics databases in Glasgow and Sheffield. Part of the cohort was accessed by receipt of samples from clinical genetics departments elsewhere in the U.K. and in Lisbon. Clinical information was acquired on this cohort either by examination and review of the clinical notes by the author or by completion of a proforma by the referring clinician. Sequencing in this cohort of 45 patients was successful in 43 individuals. We identified 28 mutations; 16 nonsense, 10 frameshift and 2 splice site mutations. 20 of the mutations were novel, 8 had been reported in other studies. The mutations were found throughout the gene with no particular hotspots. No genotype/phenotype correlations were found either in relationship to the position of the mutation within the gene or with regards to the type of mutation. I have analyzed the phenotype in our cohort and compared it with the cases of CHARGE association reported prior to the availability of mutation analysis. I have also compared the phenotype in our mutation positive cases with those reported in other studies which were mutation-positive. We report two individuals with rare findings in CHARGE syndrome; one with a palsy of the twelfth cranial nerve reported anecdotally only once before (Blake et al., 2008), and another child with a limb reduction defect which has been reported in five other cases (Aramaki et al., 2006; Asamoah et al.,2004; Van de Laar et al., 2007). Our notes review ascertained an incidence of CHARGE syndrome of 1/10,000

Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy (NVP) is not just 'Morning Sickness' : data from a prospective cohort study

Background: Nausea and vomiting in pregnancy is usually called ‘morning sickness’. This is felt by sufferers to trivialise the condition. Symptoms have been described as occurring both before and after noon, but daily symptom patterns have not been clearly described and statistically modelled to enable the term ‘morning sickness’ to be accurately analysed. Aim: To describe the daily variation in nausea and vomiting symptoms during early pregnancy in a group of sufferers. Design and setting: A prospective cohort study of females recruited from 15 May 2014 to 17 February 2017 by Swiss Precision Diagnostics (SPD) Development Company Limited, which was researching hormone levels in early pregnancy and extended its study to include the description of pregnancy symptoms. Method: Daily symptom diaries of nausea and vomiting were kept by females who were trying to conceive. They also provided daily urine samples, which when analysed enabled the date of ovulation to be determined. Data from 256 females who conceived during the first month of the study are included in this article. Daily symptom patterns and changes in daily patterns by week of pregnancy were modelled. Functional data analysis was used to produce estimated symptom probability functions. Results: There was a peak probability of nausea in the morning, a lower but sustained probability of nausea throughout the day, and a slight peak in the evening. Vomiting had a defined peak incidence in the morning. Conclusion: Referring to nausea and vomiting in pregnancy as simply ‘morning sickness’ is inaccurate, simplistic, and therefore unhelpful

Meeting the Challenge: Preparing for a Graduate Assistant

The University of Southern Mississippi Libraries Technical Services Department added a Graduate Assistant to the department in Fall 2021. In this session, we will discuss the processes the department undertook to prepare for a successful assistantship opportunity. Through thorough planning the department established a hiring process, training components, and work rotations throughout the department to provide both an extensive emersion into Technical Services work and meet departmental needs for assistance with project completion

Intensive Archaeological Survey for the City of Midland Water Pollution Control Plant Rehabilitation Project

The City of Midland is proposing to install a new 12-inch (in; 30.5-centimeter [cm]) water pipeline at the Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) located south of the intersection of IH 20 and Farm-to-Market (FM) 307 on the east side of the City of Midland in Midland County, Texas (Figure 1-1). This pipeline installation is part of the 2017 WPCP Rehabilitation Project. In advance of the proposed project, the City of Midland contracted HDR, Inc. (HDR) to conduct an intensive archaeological survey of the project area in order to be in compliance with Chapter 191 of the Texas Natural Resources Code, also known as the Antiquities Code of Texas (13 Texas Administrative Code [TAC] 26.12). The Area of Potential Effects (APE) for this project is composed of the pipeline easement, which will be 0.22 mile (mi; 0.35 kilometer [km]) long and 50 feet (ft; 15 meters [m]) wide for a total of 1.33 acres (ac; 0.54 hectares [ha]). The depth of impacts will be 5–6 ft (1.5–1.8 m). Pipeline construction will include boring at waterway crossings. The general purpose of the survey was to determine the presence/absence of archaeological resources within the APE as per the Antiquities Code of Texas (13 TAC 26.12) and to evaluate identified resources for their eligibility for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) or as a designated State Antiquities Landmark (SAL). The archaeological survey was conducted under Texas Antiquities Permit Number 8175. The field effort was led by archaeology crew chief Melanie Johnson on October 17, 2017. HDR conducted an intensive archaeological survey within the APE. A total of eight shovel tests were excavated during the survey. The soils encountered were typically deep with eroded limestone bedrock appearing on the west side of Midland Draw. All shovel tests were negative for cultural materials. No cultural materials were encountered during the investigation. In accordance with 13 TAC 26.12, no further archaeological investigations are recommended, and construction may proceed. In the event that any archaeological deposits are encountered during construction, work should cease, and the Texas Historical Commission (THC) should be notified. All records and materials generated by this project will be permanently curated at the Center for Archaeological Studies (CAS) at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas