Validity of acute phase proteins and trace metals as adjuncts in viral hepatitis A and B

The level of seven acute phase proteins was estimated together with copper and zinc in two groups of 15 children each suffering from hepatitis A (HAV) or Hepatitis B (HBV). The mean concentration of α-1 antitrypsin, α-2 macroglobulin, ceruloplasmin, C3 and copper was increased uniformly in both the types of viral hepatitis. α-1 acid glycoprotein, haptoglobin and zinc levels were decreased in both the infections. A significant decrease in albumin level was observed in HAV while the decrease was not significant in HBV. All the paramenters were repeated after one month on the day of discharge following the disappearance of clinical signs and symptoms wherein the haptoglobin level returned to normal in HAV. No change was observed in the level of other acute phase proteins. The level of the trace elements returned to normal. The observed increase in the levels of acute phase proteins at the onset does not seem to have any significant relation to the subsequent course of the disease. However, the level of acute phase proteins and other biochemical parameters may indicate a delayed biochemical recovery phase in conjunction with the underlying hepatic pathological changes in the course of viral hepatitis in spite of clinical recovery.     

Practical intelligence and elementary-school teacher effectiveness in the United States and Israel: Measuring the predictive power of tacit knowledge

One important aspect of teacher effectiveness, of course, is formal knowledge of one or more academic disciplines. But another aspect of teacher effectiveness may be informal, or tacit knowledge of how to handle challenging situations, or even crises, that arise in the classroom. Tacit knowledge is what a person needs to know to succeed in an endeavor that is typically not explicitly taught and that often is not even verbalized. It is procedural knowledge, and thus is not just a static form of knowledge, but rather, knowledge in use. We constructed a measure of tacit knowledge for elementary-school teachers, in order to determine the teachers’ likely effectiveness in dealing with problematical classroom situations. In Study 1, our primary goal was to determine whether our measure predicted principals’ ratings of the teachers’ classroom performance as well as teachers’ ratings of their own effectiveness. We found that teachers who scored higher on our tacit-knowledge inventory generally were rated as more effective by their principals, but as less effective by themselves. In Study 2, we investigated whether responses to problematical situations that were viewed as better or worse, respectively, in the United States were also viewed as better or worse, respectively, in Israel. We found a high correlation between responses in the two countries. We concluded that it is possible to measure an important aspect of teacher effectiveness via a measure of tacit knowledge, and that comparable measurements may be possible across at least two cultures.     

Reading in able and disabled readers from around the world: same or different? An illustration from a study of reading‐related processes in a Swahili sample of siblings

Erratum . Journal of Research in Reading 29:2, 252 In this article, we discuss two characteristics of the majority of current behaviour‐ and molecular‐genetic studies of reading ability and disability, specifically, the ascertainment strategies and the populations from which samples are selected. In the context of this discussion, we present data that we collected on a sample of Swahili‐speaking siblings from Tanzania. With this sample, we (1) explore the efficiency and practicality of the single proband sibpair design and (2) provide data on the predictability of reading and spelling performance using reading‐related componential measures in a novel Swahili‐speaking sample. Specifically, we present the selection criteria, discuss the pattern of behavioural and behaviour‐genetic results obtained on the sample and compare these results with those available in the literature. We report behavioural and behaviour‐genetic correlations in this sample that are comparable with other studied samples in other languages, and discuss the similarities and differences. Thus, we demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of the single sib ascertainment method for genetic analyses of reading ability and disability in novel samples in previously unstudied languages.     

Emerging issues in the genetics of dyslexia: a methodological preview

A review of the classic and recent evidence on the genetics of reading disability (RD) shows encouraging progress, and accumulating evidence of genetic risk factors that operate within families and are separately localizable to more than one chromosomal region. The accelerating pace of these findings, however, suggests the need to consider some methodological issues about the design and interpretation of current and future studies. A major issue is the shape of the distribution of reading ability in the population, and we offer three tests of increasing rigor for determining whether those distributions are categorical, and hence not suitable for analyses that depend on the assumption of a continuous normal distribution. These tests are as follows: a nonnormal preponderance of cases with RD (i.e., the hump in the lower end of the distribution); a difference in the within-group variance-covariance matrices for typical readers compared to those with RD; and a correlation between a neurogenetically relevant criterion and a categorical reading variable that is larger than the correlation between the same criterion and a continuous version of the same reading variable. We emphasize also the importance of interactive relationships between multiple genetic loci, the variations in genotypic range as well as type of affectedness, the need to account for remediation variance, and the importance of lifespan changes in the phenotypes.     

STYLES OF THINKING IN THE SCHOOL

Educators know that variables beyond abilities affect students’ performance in school and their interactions with their teachers. Thinking styles are such a variable. Thinking styles are preferred ways of thinking. They are not abilities but rather preferred ways of expressing these abilities. Both students and teachers vary in thinking styles, and in systematic ways. For example, teachers tend to match the stylistic pattern of the school, and students to match the stylistic pattern of their teachers. Teachers tend to overestimate the extent to which their students match their own styles, and also evaluate more favorably students whose styles match their own. Thus, teachers are more likely to identify as “gifted” not only high ability students, but those who match them stylistically.

     

Female Education in Saudi Arabia and the Reproduction of Gender Division

This paper explains the reproduction of gender divisions and power relations through education in a traditional Islamic country, Saudi Arabia. That country has drawn both upon Islam and its oil wealth to expand female education vastly within traditional boundaries. Its model of female education is unique among all Islamic countries, in its structure and strategies for the reproduction of gender divisions through (1) a dual system of male and female education; (2) a gender‐specific educational policy that emphasizes women's domestic function; (3) gender‐segregated schools and colleges; and (4) curriculum differentiation at the various educational levels. The author maintains that Saudi education, a microcosm of Saudi Arabian society, has intentionally instituted these mechanisms and structures as a means of cultural conservation and social control. The Saudi experience proves previous research findings that female educational expansion does indeed increase women's social and occupational options, but does not necessarily alter gender and power relations.     

Theme-Park Psychology: A Case Study Regarding Human Intelligence and Its Implications for Education

We introduce in this article the construct of theme-park psychology which we define as psychological theory and research drawn only from limited and unrepresentative samples of participants, tasks and situational contexts within the context of worldwide populations. Results obtained from limited populations, tasks, and situational contexts often are inappropriately generalized and then used as a basis for educational policy. In theme-park psychology, easy-to-study populations, tasks, and situational contexts repeatedly may show the same patterns in data, leading to tantalizing generalizations that are nevertheless wrong. We describe studies by ourselves and by others with respect to human intelligence that illustrate our views and that cast doubt on traditional notions.     

Phonological awareness predicts activation patterns for print and speech

Using fMRI, we explored the relationship between phonological awareness (PA), a measure of metaphonological knowledge of the segmental structure of speech, and brain activation patterns during processing of print and speech in young readers from 6 to 10 years of age. Behavioral measures of PA were positively correlated with activation levels for print relative to speech tokens in superior temporal and occipito-temporal regions. Differences between print-elicited activation levels in superior temporal and inferior frontal sites were also correlated with PA measures with the direction of the correlation depending on stimulus type: positive for pronounceable pseudowords and negative for consonant strings. These results support and extend the many indications in the behavioral and neurocognitive literature that PA is a major component of skill in beginning readers and point to a developmental trajectory by which written language engages areas originally shaped by speech for learners on the path toward successful literacy acquisition.