Search

Management of Mycoplasma genitalium infections is challenging because the limited treatment options have been affected by rapidly evolving resistance to antimicrobial drugs. Molecular approaches are the preferred method of M. [...]

Scotland's Children's Hearings System is a unique statutory system that makes decisions about the need for compulsory professional involvement in the lives of children who are maltreated, in conflict with the law or displaying alarming behaviours. It was designed to facilitate in-person, child-centred discussions about the measures needed to ensure the care and protection of children. The Covid-19 pandemic challenged the ability of the Hearings System to fulfil this role due to the physical closure of Hearings Centres and the need to rapidly develop a virtual system. In this paper we present a realist-influenced synthesis exploring how contextual factors such as public health guidelines, emergency legislation, technological challenges and wider structural inequalities interacted with the delivery of virtual hearings to affect the participation and rights of children during the pandemic. We also describe how learning from the experiences of the participants of hearings was critical to understanding how virtual technologies could be adapted to provide a more rights-respecting approach to participation. We conclude by arguing that there is a need to ensure that the voices of children, which are largely absent from discussions around the use of virtual technologies, are incorporated into decisions made about their continued use within Children's Hearings. Plain Language Summary: The Children's Hearings System is a legal system in Scotland that makes decisions about the care and protection of children and young people who are: being abused or neglected; in trouble with the police; or regularly truanting from school. At a Children's Hearing, specially trained members of the public decide whether to place the child or young person onto a Compulsory Supervision Order (CSO). This is a legal document that specifies what support should be provided to the child or young person, where they should live and who they can have contact with. Before the Covid-19 pandemic all hearings were held in person at specially designed Hearings Centres. All of these centres were closed at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, resulting in a virtual Children's Hearings System having to be set up quickly. In this paper we describe the challenges of using video-conferencing software to run Children's Hearings. We explore how rules enacted by the UK and Scottish Governments affected how hearings could be delivered, before moving on to discuss how technical difficulties, lack of access to appropriate technologies and other inequalities such as digital poverty affected how children and young people could participate in their hearings. The paper finishes by describing changes made to virtual hearings in order to try and ensure that children and young people were able to participate in their hearings. In doing so, we highlight the importance of involving children and young people in discussions around how their voices can be heard, even in the context of a global pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adoption and permanence planning has been a key feature of Scotland's policy in relation to children and young people who are "looked after." Although policy and law has significantly developed in recent years, there has been comparatively little research on permanence processes in Scotland. This paper outlines key findings from the first comprehensive study of permanence planning in Scotland. It examines the process for two cohorts of children where adoption or other types of permanence orders were made. The children were selected under the long standing Adoption (Scotland) Act 1978 and the more recent Adoption and Children (Scotland) Act 2007. In total, 300 cases were examined, analysing data from the children's first contact with services through to the order made by the Scottish Courts. This paper pays particular attention to the timescales found at key stages under the two sets of legislation and asks what difference the change in legislation has made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Recent reports suggest that false-positive rifampicin resistance may be assigned by the Xpert MTB/RIF assay. We analysed 169 specimens using the MTB/RIF assay. Using culture as the gold standard, we found that the assay had 100% sensitivity and specificity for detecting M. tuberculosis. However, we found that the assay incorrectly assigned rifampicin resistance in 4/13 (31%) of cases. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]