Search

The Medical Advisory Committee for the Elimination of Tuberculosis (TB), the Massachusetts Department of Public Health's expert advisory committee, in conjunction with a widely representative group of college health physicians, [...]

Abstract: In this developed contribution to the Research Forum, held at the recent meeting of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education, the theme being “Theories of Mathematics Education”, I focus on the call by the organisers: ‘the time seems ripe for our community to take stock of the multiple and widely diverging mathematical theories’. I examine empirically the diversity of theories and I draw on the sociological theories of Basil Bernstein to relate the developments to the nature of intellectual communities and their productions. In particular, I suggest that the multiplicity and divergence are not surprising nor are they necessarily damaging to the field. I end by discussing concerns about accountability in relation to research in education.

ABSTRACTGranuloma formation around schistosomal eggs is induced by soluble egg antigens (SEA) and mediated by the activity of CD4+Th lymphocytes and their cytokines. Regulation of the inflammatory Th cell response during infection is still insufficiently understood. The hypothesis of this study was that activation-induced cell death (AICD) of CD4+T cells is involved in the immune inflammatory response. This study investigated the dynamics of splenic and granuloma CD4+Th cell apoptosis and Fas ligand (FasL) expression during the acute and chronic stages of murine schistosomal infection. Enhanced apoptosis of freshly isolated CD4+Th lymphocytes commenced after egg deposition and persisted during the peak and modulated phases of granuloma formation. After oviposition, CD4+, CD8+, and CD19+splenocytes and granuloma cells expressed elevated levels of FasL but FasL expression declined during the downmodulated stage of infection. In culture, SEA induced splenic and granuloma CD4+T-cell apoptosis and stimulated expression of FasL on splenic but not granuloma CD4+T cells, CD8+T cells, and CD19+B cells. SEA-stimulated splenocytes and granuloma cells preferentially lysed a Fas-transfected target cell line. Depletion of B cells from SEA-stimulated splenic cultures decreased CD4+T cell apoptosis. Coculture of purified splenic B cells with CD4+T cells and adoptive transfer of purified B cells indicated that antigen-stimulated B cells can kill CD4+Th cells. However, CD4+T cells were the dominant mediators of apoptosis in the granuloma. This study indicates that AICD is involved in the apoptosis of CD4+T cells during schistosomal infection.

A comparison was made of the localization of i.v. injected 3H-adenosine-labeled bursa cells in γ-irradiated B-identical and B-different recipient chickens. There was no difference in the localization in nonlymphoid organs or in bursa and thymus, but the spleen showed more radioactivity at 24 hr after injection in B-identical than in B-different recipients. This difference was more reproducible in 3 to 4 week or older than in 7− to 10-day-old recipients. Histologically, the greatest difference in the older recipients was seen in the number of labeled cells localizing in germinal centers of spleen. Thymectomy or bursectomy of recipients did not appear to affect the bursa cell localization. Syngeneity at the major his tocompatibility Blocus between donor and recipients appeared sufficient to obtain maximal spleen localization of donor bursa cells.

In this article, which is in criticism of a previous paper by Eric Blaire in this journal, I suggest that one's perspective of mathematics teaching is a logical consequence of one's epistemological commitment in relation to mathematical knowledge, and not merely one of expediency in response to societal pressures, or of pedagogical convenience. I suggest that from a consideration of the schools of thought in philosophy of mathematics, two distinct movements emerge. These are the Euclidean programme, an attempt to base mathematics on firm foundations, and the quasi-empirical programme, the recognition that mathematics progresses heuristically, and through the re-transmission of falsity. As a consequence, two teaching perspectives can be identified, knowledge-centred and problem-solving respectively. In describing these styles, I criticize the former and propose that the latter can initiate substantial changes and advances for school mathematics programmes.

Chickens given a lethal dose of γ-irradiation die of generalized vascular collapse within 24 hr after irradiation. This syndrome can be prevented by pretreatment with soybean trypsin inhibitor, cyclophos-phamide, or sublethal doses of irradiation; injection of trypsin, vitamin A, or cortisone gives partial protection. Hormonal bursec-tomy by testosterone, without cyclophos-phamide treatment does not protect nearly as effectively. Reconstitution of cyclophos-phamide-treated birds with bone marrow or lymphoid cells does not reinstate sensitivity to irradiation. Spontaneous reconstitution of this sensitivity after a sublethal dose of y-irradiation takes 7 to 10 days.Variations in the sensitivities of four different chicken strains to the lethal effects of γ-irradiation and of iv-injected trypsin ran in parallel. The possible activation by irradiation of a kinin system to which chickens are particularly sensitive is discussed as the cause of death. It is also pointed out that parameters of irradiation-induced increased permeability in chickens strongly resemble those of the less dramatic permeability changes seen in mammals.We wish to express our appreciation to Dr. W. P. McArthur from the Department of Pathology, University of Pennsylvania Dental School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, for calling to our attention the phenomenon of acute X-irradiation mortality. Discussions with Dr. W. Troll from the Department of Environmental Medicine, N.Y.U. Medical School, have also been extremely helpful. The advice of Dr. Z. Ovary from our department about the use of Evans blue in the demonstration of enhanced permeability is greatly appreciated. We are grateful for the kind assistance and advice of Dr. I. Lerch from the Radiation Physics Department, N.Y.U., in arranging for the X-irradiation of chickens. Accomplished technical assistance was provided by Mr. P. Sanchez. The expert help of Mr. C. de Szalay in the photography is acknowledged.

Learning theories such as behaviourism, Piagetian theories and cognitive psychology, have been dominant influences in education this century. This article discusses and supports the recent claim that Constructivism is an alternative paradigm, that has rich and significant consequences for mathematics education. In the United States there is a growing body of published research that claims to demonstrate the distinct nature of the implications of this view. There are, however, many critics who maintain that this is not the case, and that the research is within the current paradigm of cognitive psychology. The nature and tone of the dispute certainly at times appears to describe a paradigm shift in the Kuhnian model. In an attempt to analyse the meaning of Constructivism as a learning theory, and its implications for mathematics education, the use of the term by the intuitionist philosophers of mathematics is compared and contrasted. In particular, it is proposed that Constructivism in learning theory does not bring with it the same ontological commitment as the Intuitionists' use of the term, and that it is in fact a relativist thesis. Some of the potential consequences for the teaching of mathematics of a relativist view of mathematical knowledge are discussed here.

An outbreak of measles (rubeola) occurred in a city in northeastern Ohio between January and June 1969, involving 14 children previously inoculated with live attenuated measles virus vaccine and 46 unvaccinated children. In a school where the attack rate was 52.4% for unvaccinated children, the attack rate for children vaccinated by one particular physician was 17.9%, compared with 1.2% for children vaccinated by the local health department and other physicians. Vaccine in this physician's office was exposed to temperatures that may have contributed to virus inactivation. This study is an example of vaccine efficacy under conditions of current community use that is less than anticipated by field trial experience. Lack of initial seroconversion is the most likely cause of these vaccine failures and deterioration of vaccine infectivity during storage is proposed as the probable explanation.

• A well-nourished, immunocompetent 11-month-old boy died of disseminated herpes simplex virus infection that caused severe hepatic damage. Herpes simplex virus is rarely a cause of fulminant hepatitis in a healthy person beyond the neonatal period.(Am J Dis Child 135:45-47, 1981)

This paper presents the methodology of the multicenter collaborative clinical trials that evaluated monovalent A/New Jersey/76 influenza virus vaccines in healthy children six months to 18 years of age and describes the experience involving 264 children six months to 10 years of age in Omaha, Nebraska. Results indicated that children can be safely and effectively immunized with carefully adjusted two-dose regimens that take into account the differences between split-virus and whole-virus vaccines and between the two whole-virus vaccines.

In collaborative clinical trials. two-dose regimens of four monovalent A/New Jersey (NJ)/76 influenza virus vaccines were evaluated in 89 children aged six to 35 months. Clinical reactions to vaccination consisted primarily of low-grade fever. Rectal temperatures of between 100 F and 102 F occurred less frequently after inoculation with split-product vaccines (seven [23%] of 31 children) than whole-virus vaccines (19 [33%] of 58). After administration of single doses of vaccines, titers of hemagglutination-inhibiting (HAl) antibody reached 1:20 in three (13%) of the 23 recipients of split-product vaccines and in 23 (51%) of the 45 recipients of wholevirus vaccines. After administration of two doses, 89%–94% of recipients of Parke, Davis and Company (PD, Detroit, Mich.), Merrell-National Laboratories (Cincinnati, Ohio), and Merck Sharp and Dohme (West Point, Pa.) vaccines, but only 50% of the recipients of Wyeth Laboratories (Philadelphia, Pa.) vaccine. had titers of HAl antibody of 1:20. Single doses of more reactogenic whole-virus vaccines may be justifiable for rapid immunization of young children during epidemics of influenza. Given in a two-dose regimen, however, PD split-product vaccine was immunogenic and was the most well-tolerated vaccine tested in this age group.

During the recent nationwide trials of influenza vaccine, 121 children with cardiac disease, aged three to 18 years, were evaluated with respect to their immune response and reaction rate after administration of a whole-virus or split-virus bivalent influenza A/New Jersey/76-A/Victoria/75 vaccine given as a single dose or two divided doses. The serologic response of the cardiac children did not differ significantly from that of the total group of high-risk children or normal children who received the same vaccine. The major reaction to the vaccines was fever, which occurred in onefourth to one-half of children receiving the whole-virus vaccines. The split-virus vaccines were generally well tolerated. The reaction index of the cardiac children was slightly lower than that of the normal children receiving the same vaccine during the single-dose trial, but higher during the two-dose trial. The second dose was generally better tolerated than the first dose. Reactions in the children with cardiac disease could not be adequately evaluated according to specific diagnoses or functional disabili ties.