Securing Quality Through Contracts? The Development of Quasi-markets for Social Care in Britain

This article examines the early development in Britain of quasi-markets for domiciliary care. Initially there were widespread doubts about the appropriateness of market mechanisms for social care because it was regarded as inherently different from other goods and services. We examine these differences and how they are most apparent in domiciliary care — which is provided to the most vulnerable people in the most vulnerable of settings. The study provides a demanding test and illuminating case study of the introduction of competition through quasi-markets. It highlights some potential threats to service quality and demonstrates that to secure such quality for vulnerable users, public sector purchasers need to develop long-term, high-trust relationships with a range of high quality care providers.     

The portrayal of elder abuse in the national media

Over the last two decades, researchers and policy makers have begun to devote more attention to the problem of elder abuse. Still, compared to studies on other types of family violence, research on elder abuse is scarce. To better understand how elder abuse is portrayed in the media and using “newsmaking criminology” as a theoretical framework, this study considers how 11 newspapers describe the phenomenon. In all, 530 articles about elder abuse were content analyzed using standard rules of content analysis. Results suggest that certain types of elder abuse are excluded from the press. In addition, the press tends to define elder abuse as a crime, but not as a domestic violence offense. Implications are provided.     

Application of mRNA Expression Analysis to Human Blood Identification in Degenerated Samples that were False‐negative by Immunochromatography,,

Forensic laboratories are often faced with cases in which methamphetamine hydrochloride‐mixed blood is unable to be identified as human blood by immunochromatography against human hemoglobin A0. The application of mRNA expression analysis to samples that showed a false‐negative with immunochromatography was investigated as an alternative approach that did not depend on the antigen–antibody reaction. Real‐time PCR was used to examine the expression levels of blood markers such as glycophorin A, spectrin beta, and hemoglobin beta. Hemoglobin beta was the only marker that was specifically detected in blood, while glycophorin A was useful for determining human specificity. Hemoglobin beta showed good detection sensitivity and was detectable in 37‐year‐old blood stains. Hemoglobin beta was exclusively detectable in methamphetamine hydrochloride‐mixed blood stains. Detergents and disinfectants did not significantly influence mRNA markers. The proposed mRNA expression analysis was suitable for human blood identification as an alternative method to immunochromatography.