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The Mobile Technologies For Ad-hoc Learning (MoTFAL) project is a joint initiative of pedagogical, cognitive science and technological experts, educators, and psychologists to research the possibilities of using mobile platforms - mobile phones and PDA devices - with Internet access for educational purposes at school level. The project designs, develops, tests and evaluates a handheld learning environment based on emerging technology that facilitates in situ learning and maximize the impact of information that is provided when the motivation of the learner is highest. The goal is to shift away from classroom learning to "daylong" learning and to use the mobile technology to facilitate that shift. This paper presents the basic principles of the MoTFAL project, the theoretical background of its development as well as the possibilities for its educational exploitation.

A newborn infant with low birth weight, jaundice, petechiae of the skin and enlargement of spleen and liver is presented. His general condition was severe and progressive aggravation of it was noticed. Bilirubin levels was up to 44 mg/100 ml, most of it indirect and severe anaemia was present. Furthermore leucaemoid reaction of the white cells was developed. Inclusion bodies in the urine and increased title of complement fixation antibodies in the peripheral blood were detected. The diagnosis of cytomegalovirus disease was established. The patient, when he was forty days old, seemed to be fairly well, but mental retardation was noticed, which persisted at the fifth month of his age.

Structural chromosomal aberrations, in the form of breaks, were found in a significantly higher proportion of bone marrow cells in patients with infective hepatitis than in controls. These anomalies were observed during the first and third weeks after the onset of jaundice but had subsided by the sixth week. Chromosomal aberrations did not appear to be related to the severity of infective hepatitis or to the sex or age of the patients. The distribution of chromosomal abnormalities did not appear to be random; they were observed predominantly in the A 2 and B 4-5 series. Since no abnormalities were detected in the G-group chromosomes, no evidence in support of a relationship between infective hepatitis and Down9s syndrome was obtained. Numerical chromosomal aberrations were not observed, nor was any evidence obtained that mitotic activity of bone marrow cells is suppressed in patients with infective hepatitis.

Serum alkaline phosphatase total activity was determined in infants with biliary atresia,in infants with hepatitis, and in normal control infants. Values ranged from normal to significantly elevated in infants with biliary atresia and in those with hepatitis. In normal infants, serum alkaline phosphatase activity ranged from 8.7 to 28.3 King-Armstrong units (mean 15.3±5.9). In infants with biliary atresia and in those with hepatitis, normal serum alkaline phosphatase values and normal x-rays of wrist epiphyses were observed when these infants were receiving vitamin D in daily doses exceeding 2,400 I.U. from the third to fourth weeks of age. In contrast, high serum alkaline phosphatase values were found in infants with obstructive jaundice and radiologic or other biochemical evidence of rickets, who were receiving vitamin D indaily doses of 100 to 400 I.U. It seems probable that the high values of serum alkaline phosphatase in association with hepatic disease in infants reflects, at least in part, a secondary vitamin D deficiency.

Dental fluorosis was found in nearly 80% of 520 children aged 12 to 18 years who lived permanently in two Greek villages Kolchikon and Lavrion where the water supply contains 3, 6 and 2, 7 ppm of fluoride. Detailed radiological, ophthalmological and biochemical studies in 52 children with marked dental fluorosis revealed that 29 had bone changes in the mandible consisting of erosion or loss of the lamina dura, cystic rarefaction and sclerosis; opacities of the lens were seen in 57% of the patients. Serum Ca was found to be in the normal range in the majority of patients. Serum P,Mg and creatitine as well as blood urea and urinalysis were normal. Serum alkaline phosphatase was generally high in the presence of bone changes. Serum parathyroid hormone was elevated in 10 children (685, 980, 1200, 1280,2450, 2600, 3000, 3100, 6200, 7200 pg/ml) with increased serum alkaline phosphatase and with skeletal changes resembling hyperparathyroidism and normal in four children (185, 280, 420, 630 pg/ml) who had normal serum alkaline phosphatase and no bone changes. It is suggested that fluorosis can cause secondary hyperparathyroidism.