Narratives of ethnic identity among practitioners in community settings in the northeast of England

The increasing ethnic diversity of the UK has been mirrored by growing public awareness of multicultural issues, alongside developments in academic and government thinking. This paper explores the contested meanings around ethnic identity/ies in community settings, drawing on semi-structured interviews with staff from Children’s Centres and allied agencies conducted for a research project that examined the relationship between identity and the participation of parents/carers in services in northeast England. The research found that respondents were unclear about, especially, white ethnic identities, and commonly referred to other social categorizations, such as age, nationality, and circumstances such as mobility, when discussing service users. While in some cases this may have reflected legitimate attempts to resist overethnicizing non-ethnic phenomena, such constructions coexisted with assumptions about ethnic difference and how it might translate into service needs. These findings raise important considerations for policy and practice

Polymorphisms of methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase are not a risk factor for Kawasaki disease in the Korean population

PurposeHyperhomocysteinemia is known as a risk factor for atherosclerosis. Preclinical arteriosclerosis is noted and premature atherosclerosis is known to be accelerated in Kawasaki disease (KD) patients. Genetic polymorphisms in the 5,10-methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene result in elevated plasma homocysteine concentrations and are known to be associated with the development of coronary artery disease. Our hypothesis is that single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the MTHFR gene are related to the development of KD and coronary artery lesions (CALs).MethodsFor this study, we selected 3 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) (rs2274976, rs1801131, and rs1801133) of MTHFR. These SNPs are located on chromosome 1p36.3. We included 101 KD patients and 306 healthy adults as controls in this study. CALs were seen in 38 patients. Genotypes of the selected SNPs were determined by direct sequencing and analyzed with SNPAlyze.ResultsThe genetic distribution and allelic frequency of the 3 MTHFR SNPs (rs2274976, rs1801131, and rs1801133) were not significantly different in patients with KD compared to the control group (P=0.71, 0.17, and 0.96, respectively). There was no difference in the genetic distribution of the MTHFR SNPs between the normal control group and the CAL group (P=0.43, 0.39, 0.52 respectively).ConclusionThe genetic distribution of the MTHFR SNPs (rs2274976, rs1801131, and rs1801133) was not different in the KD group compared to the control group. In addition, the genetic distribution of these SNPs was not different in the CAL group compared to the control group in the Korean population