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Background: There is very little published work on the visual needs of homeless people. This paper is the first study to investigate the visual needs of homeless people in the UK. Although similar work has been done in other countries, this study is unique because the United Kingdom is the only country with a National Health Service which provides free healthcare at the point of access. This study analysed the refractive status of the sample used, determined the demographics of homeless people seeking eye care and established if there is a need for community eye health with access to free spectacle correction in East London.Methods: This retrospective case study analysed the clinical records of 1,141 homeless people using the Vision Care for Homeless People services at one of their clinics in East London. All eye examinations were carried out by qualified optometrists and, where appropriate, spectacles were dispensed to patients. Data captured included age, gender, ethnicity and refractive error. Results were analysed using two-sample t-tests with Excel and Minitab.Results: Demographics of age, gender and ethnicity are described. Spherical equivalents (SE) were calculated from prescription data available for 841 clinic users. Emmetropia was defined as SE-0.50DS to +1DS, myopia as SE < -0.50DS, and hyperopia as SE > +1DS. The majority of clinic users were male (79.2 %, n = 923). Approximately 80 % (n = 583) of clinic users were white, 10 % (n = 72) were 'black', 4 % (n = 29) 'Asian' and the remaining 5.6 % (n = 40) were of 'mixed ethnicity' and 'other' groups. The mean age of females attending the clinic was significantly lower than that of males (45.9 years, SD = 13.8 vs' 48.4 years, SD = 11.8) when analysed using a two-sample t-test (t (317) = 2.44, p = 0.02). One third of service users were aged between 50-59 years. Myopia and hyperopia prevalence rates were 37.0 % and 21.0 % respectively. A total of 34.8 % of homeless people were found to have uncorrected refractive error, and required spectacle correction.Conclusions: This study has identified a high proportion of uncorrected refractive error in this sample and therefore a need for regular eye examinations and provision of refractive correction for homeless people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In previous papers [L.A. Foreman, J.A. Lambert, I.W. Evett, Regional genetic variation in Caucasians, Forensic Sci. Int. 95 (1998) 27-37; L.A. Foreman, Analyses to investigate appropriate measures of differentiation between European Caucasian populations using short tandem repeat (STR) data, FSS Research Report FSS-RR-804 (1999)], we have carried out detailed investigations of the level of regional and national variation in STR characteristics exhibited within white Caucasian populations. The studies described here extend our earlier work to the black African/Caribbean and Asian (Indo-Pakistani) populations of the UK, routinely considered in casework calculations at the Forensic Science Service (FSS). In addition, estimation of allele distributions and database comparisons are carried out for two further populations, i.e. those classified as containing individuals of Oriental and Arabic appearance.

This paper describes the methodology and the results of a study performed in Central England. The predominant racial group here is "White European" (Europid). There are smaller numbers of people of Indian origin (Indids) and still smaller numbers of Afro-Caribbean and of Mongolian ancestry (Mongoloids). We found no significant differences in the incidence of hip fractures in the first two groups. The study population was 1600 consecutive patients with proximal femoral fractures (PFF). The difficulties of racial classification are discussed. To elucidate the predisposing factors for PFF, large scale collaborative studies between medical centres in the major European, Asian, African and American conurbations are suggested. Racial burden may be one such factor; osteoporosis may be another.

The increase in global migration means more immigrants are ageing in host countries with unique experiences and needs. Muslim immigrants in Canada are from diverse ethnocultural communities and experience unmet health and social needs in older age. A community‐based participatory research project was conducted in Alberta, Canada, in 2017–2018 to understand the experiences and needs of healthy ageing in this population. A community advisory committee participated in all phases of the research project including initial framing of the research focus, recruitment, data collection and data analysis. In total, 67 older adults and stakeholders from South Asian, Arab and African Muslim communities participated in one of 23 individual interviews or seven focus group discussions over a 1‐year period. Participants were asked about their experiences of growing old in Canada, unmet health and social needs, and community perspectives on healthy ageing. All data were audio‐taped and transcribed verbatim. Interpreters were used for non‐English speaking participants. Data were thematically analysed with a focus on social isolation and loneliness. Using an exclusion lens two major themes were identified: (a) intersections of exclusion: ageism, sexism, racism, and; (b) strategies for inclusion: local, national, transnational. Findings highlight both the vulnerability of Muslim immigrant older adults and their capacity for agency. The study findings point to the intersecting influences of exclusionary practices on social isolation and loneliness in immigrant older adults and the need to incorporate an exclusion lens in developing social policies and programs for healthy ageing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The disproportionate representation of minority students in special education has been a concern for decades. The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act mandates states to have policies and procedures in place to prevent inappropriate over identification or disproportionate representation by race and ethnicity of students with disabilities. The purpose of this study was to investigate the current status of minority representation in special education given the mandate and related efforts to reduce overrepresentation and to identify trends for the 5-year period from 2004 to 2008. Growth models were used to analyze trends in national data collected from the 50 states and the District of Columbia for these 5 years. Findings indicate some improvements from 10 years ago, especially noteworthy are a significant decrease in the number of African American students and a moderate decrease in the number of Hispanic students categorized as having intellectual disabilities. However, during the same period, the number of Hispanic students in learning disabilities increased. Otherwise, the trend of racial/ethnic representation in special education remains the same as it was a decade ago. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Probes the dialectical relationship between elite black and white interpretations of American identity implicit in the welfare visions and management styles embraced by Howard Orphanage and Industrial School's mostly white directors and its black staff. Examination on the conceptual insights generated by exchanges among scholars of subaltern groups in colonial and postcolonial Latin America, Africa, and Asia; Ideas that have obvious implications for untangling the overlapping identities and complex social relations in African-American history; Historical background of the tension-ridden evolution of American exceptionalism and its dialectical interaction with subaltern identities during the Progressive-era history of the Howard Orphanage and Industrial School.

An attempt is made to investigate the educational differentials between various types of interdivisional migrants and nonmigrants in selected Standard Metropolitan Statistical Areas (SMSA's) of the United States. The analysis is carried out for four color-sex groups standardized for age. We have been able to identify three distinct patterns of migration differentials by education, that is, the J-shaped, the U-shaped, and the reverse J-shaped distributions. The tendency for migrants to be better educated than nonmigrants, by and large, has received support from the data we have analyzed. Wherever this tendency has not been confirmed, the main factors which, we believe, have influenced the differentials are the proportion of foreign-born whites, the geographic location of the places of origin and destination, and the differences in levels of educational attainment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: To explore ethnic variations in social background of successful applicants to undergraduate United Kingdom medical and dental schools.Method: Retrospective analyses of University and College Admissions Services data on all students to commence study in pre-clinical medicine and dentistry, during the academic years 1994/5, 1995/6 and 1996/7. Analyses were undertaken for two categories of social class, namely higher (professional and intermediate) and lower (skilled non-manual, skilled manual, partly skilled, and unskilled) social class.Results: Over 15 thousand students were accepted to study medicine and dentistry during the three-year study period, of which 80% were from high social class backgrounds. More medical (80.9%) students were from high social class backgrounds than dental (73.3%) students (OR = 1.54, 95% CI = 1.39, 1.70). Social class differences were observed, with a greater proportion of higher social class students amongst the white students than amongst the minority ethnic students (OR = 1.42, 95% CI = 1.30, 1.55). This was more marked in dentistry (OR = 1.48, 95% CI = 1.22, 1.79) than in medicine (OR = 1.35, 95% CI = 1.22, 1.49). More students from higher social class backgrounds were observed in medicine than in dentistry amongst the black (OR = 1.55, 95% CI = 0.59, 4.00), Indian (OR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.58, 2.62) and white (OR = 1.44, 95% CI = 1.26, 1.64) groups.Conclusions: Significant inter-ethnic differences are observed in the social background of students entering medicine and dentistry. Dentistry accepted a greater proportion of students from lower social class backgrounds and from black and minority ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]