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Recent work in science and technological studies has provided a clearer understanding of the way in which science functions in society and the interconnectedness among different strands of science, policy, economy and environment. It is well acknowledged that a different way of thinking is required in order to address problems facing the global community, particularly in relation to issues of risk and uncertainty, which affect humanity as a whole. However, approaches to education in science tend to perpetuate an outmoded way of thinking that is incommensurable with preparing individuals for participation and decision-making in an uncertain, complex world. Drawing on experiences of interdisciplinary dialogue and practice in a higher education context, this book illustrates how reformulating the agenda in science and technology can have a revolutionary impact on learning and teaching in the classroom at all levels. This exceptional study will interest scholars in Education, Science, Technology, and Society, and those looking to further deliberative democracy and civic participation in their students. This book is divided into two parts. Part I, The Changing Aspects and Roles of Science: Implications for a Sustainable and Democratic Society, contains the following: (1) Introduction to Part 1: Issues and Scenarios (Donald Gray, Laura Colucci-Gray and Elena Camino); (2) From Certainty to Complexity: Science and Technology in a Democratic Society (Alice Benessia); (3) Post-Normal Relationships between Science and Society: Implications for Public Engagement (Angela Guimaraes Pereira); (4) Active Citizenship, a Case Study: The Controversy of High Speed Rail in the Susa Valley (Luca Giunti and Elena Camino); and (5) Language and Science (Elena Camino and Martin Dodman with Alice Benessia). Part 2, Science and Sustainability: Implications for the Learning and Teaching Process, contains the following: (6) Introduction to Part 2: Towards a Sustainability Education (Donald Gray, Laura Colucci-Gray and Elena Camino); (7) Sustainable Education (Stephen Sterling); (8) Science Education for Sustainability: Teaching Learning Processes with Science Researchers and Trainee Teachers (Elena Camino, Giuseppe Barbiero and Daniela Marchetti); (9) Educating the Educators--Primary Teacher Education (Marta Angelotti, Anna Perazzone, Marco Davide Tonon, Fabrizio Bertolino); (10) Revealing Children's Biophilia (Giuseppe Barbiero); (11) Role-Play as a Tool for Learning and Participation in a Post-Normal Science Framework (Laura Colucci-Gray); and (12) Conclusions: Complexity, Emancipation and Empowerment (Donald Gray, Laura Colucci-Gray and Elena Camino).

Among vertebrate model species, the zebrafish embryo combines at an unprecedented level optical accessibility with easy genetic manipulation. As such, it is gaining recognition as a powerful model to study innate immunity. In this chapter, we provide a protocol for the generation of zebrafish embryos deficient in a protein of interest for innate immune signaling using antisense morpholino oligonucleotides, the systemic or local infection of these embryos with bacteria, and the assessment of various aspects of the following immune response with emphasis on microscopic observation. This example can be easily adapted to study the role of other genes, either knocked down or overexpressed, and in response to any other challenge, from purified microbial compounds to pathogenic viruses. This protocol is aimed at people not necessarily familiar with zebrafish biology and handling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Treatment of chronic intestinal inflammatory diseases, CD in particular, requires from disease onset a multidisciplinary approach involving pathologist, gastroenterologist, nutritionist, radiologist, surgeon and psychologist. Availability of increasingly efficient medical therapies has made it possible to take a pharmacological approach giving good results. However, due to this approach, surgeons tend to see more patients who are considerably weakened from a general and psychological point of view. Extensive use of mini-invasive techniques (laparoscopic approach, stricturoplasties or minor resections), have reduced mortality and morbility associated with surgical procedures. Even recognising the high rate of disease relapses after surgery, the appropriate surgical timing may allow the patient a better life style and a more appropriate use of the pharmacologic therapy with a better response. If treatment of complications falls clearly into the surgeon's area of competence, this therapeutic option can be used not only in "extreme" conditions but, more appropriately, in the case of poor response to medical therapy. Close cooperation among the various professional figures is increasingly important in order to assess the various therapeutical options and offer each patient tailored therapy and a high degree of professionalism, which may be assured only by referenced centres with a high number of cases treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

UC and CD are inflammatory diseases of the intestine, with a multifactor pathogenesis and the tendency to especially afflict young women of reproductive age, affecting their quality of life as well as their interpersonal relationships. In reference to this aspect, it is important to emphasise the psychological effect of the disease on patients' sexual life, which can undermine the opportunity of having children despite the fact that IBD itself does not considerably affect fertility. Moreover, even if pregnant women suffering from IBD require strict monitoring, particularly concerning the nutritional aspect and the need for aggressive treatment of any disease relapses, risk to the foetus or the expectant mother are moderate in suitably controlled disease, and many concerns about pregnancy and its possible consequences are not justified. Risks increase in insufficiently treated disease, as in this case, relapses are frequent and invariably influence foetal growth negatively, resulting in low birth weight, premature delivery and miscarriage. For this reason, it is necessary when treating young women with IBD to apply a multidisciplinary approach involving careful evaluation of patients' psychosocial status and including discussion about medical, psychological and sexual problems, informing and educating them about the peculiar aspects of pregnancy and its management during IBD. On the basis of the present trend, a patient with IBD that is kept in a quiescent stage thanks to increasingly effective medical therapies, most of which are well tolerated during pregnancy, may expect pregnancy course and outcome not too different from those expected in young healthy women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prion disease represents a group of transmissible neurodegenerative disorders that include scrapie in sheep and goats, bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), Gerstmann-Sträussler-Scheinker syndrome, fatal familial insomnia, and kuru in humans. The disease is characterized clinically by ataxia, dementia, and myoclonus as well as pathologically by spongiosis, astrocytic gliosis, and neuronal loss (reviewed in refs. 1 and 2). CJD occurs mostly (about 85% of all cases) as sporadic cases (unknown etiology), with the rest of the cases being familial (owing to inheritance of mutations in the prion protein gene) or iatrogenic (due to accidental transmission during medical procedure). Recently, a new variant form of CJD (vCJD) has emerged in the United Kingdom that may originate from the BSE epidemic (3). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Myocardial dysfunction is a progressive condition. Early after an insult to the myocardium (e.g., myocardial infarction) there may be little or no immediate reduction in overall pump function, particularly if the damage has been mild. However, with time there is a relentless deterioration in both the structure and function of the ventricle by a process referred to as "remodeling" (1). The specific features of the remodeling process depend, to a large extent, on the nature of the underlying stimulus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effects of temporary water and nitrogen stress were investigated on tomato plant (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill) in a field experiment carried out in Southern Italy. The plants were stressed at different times during the cropping cycle; at 0, 50, and 100% flowering in the control treatment. Leaf area index, and the fresh and dry weights of tomato plants were determined at maximum development. In addition, total nitrogen and nitrate concentrations in stems, leaves and fruits were determined at the intermediate and final harvests. The results indicated that temporary stresses for water and nitrogen have significant influences on leaf area index, and the fresh and dry weights of tomato plants. Temporary stresses influenced nitrate accumulation by the intermediate harvest only, but did not influence nitrate content in the plant at the end of cropping cycle. On the other hand, total nitrogen and nitrate concentration behaved differently in the several different tissues (leaves, stems and fruits). This is evidence that water and nitrogen stresses influence plant development and nitrogen dynamics in tomato cropped in Southern Italy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present the design and a prototype implementation of a three-dimensional visualization system to assist with laparoscopic surgical procedures. The system uses 3D visualization, depth extraction from laparoscopic images, and six degree-of-freedom head and laparoscope tracking to display a merged real and synthetic image in the surgeon's video-see-through head-mounted display. We also introduce a custom design for this display. A digital light projector, a camera, and a conventional laparoscope create a prototype 3D laparoscope that can extract depth and video imagery. Such a system can restore the physician's natural point of view and head motion parallax that are used to understand the 3D structure during open surgery. These cues are not available in conventional laparoscopic surgery due to the displacement of the laparoscopic camera from the physician's viewpoint. The system can also display multiple laparoscopic range imaging data sets to widen the effective field of view of the device. These data sets can be displayed in true 3D and registered to the exterior anatomy of the patient. Much work remains to realize a clinically useful system, notably in the acquisition speed, reconstruction, and registration of the 3D imagery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]