Enhancing cellular immune response to HBV M DNA vaccine in mice by codelivery of interleukin-18 recombinant

Objective: To investigate the effect of interleukin-18 (IL-18) on immune response induced by plasmid encoding hepatitis B virus middle protein antigen and to explore new strategies for prophylactic and therapeutic HBV DNA vaccines. Methods: BALB/c mice were immunized with pCMV-M alone or co-immunized with pcDNA3-18 and pCMV-M and then their sera were collected for analysing anti-HBsAg antibody by ELISA; splenocytes were isolated for detecting specific CTL response and cytokine assay in vitro. Results: The anti-HBs antibody level of mice co-immunized with pcDNA3-18 and pCMV-M was slightly higher than that of mice immunized with pCMV-M alone, but there was not significantly different (P>0.05). Compared with mice injected with pCMV-M, the specific CTL cytotoxity activity of mice immunized with pcDNA3-18 and pCMV-M was significantly enhanced (P<0.05) and the level of IFN-γ in supernatant of splenocytes cultured with HBsAg in vitro was significantly elevated (P<0.05) while the level of IL-4 had no significant difference (P>0.05). Conclusion: The plasmid encoding IL-18 together with HBV M gene DNA vaccines may enhance specific TH1 cells and CTL cellular immune response induced in mice, so that IL-18 is a promising immune adjuvant.     

The contribution of epistemology to curriculum construction in the sciences

Summary The paper focuses upon curriculum planning in the scientific disciplines at university level, although it is claimed the argument may be of wider applicability. Drawing upon the writings of philosophers of education from several decades ago (notably Schwab and Scheffler) whose work is too often overlooked in contemporary debates about the curriculum, and using illustrative examples from the author’s own experience, it is argued that too often the focus of science curriculum planning is the “rhetoric of conclusions” or the “substantive structure” — the current state of knowledge at the forefront of the respective disciplines — to the neglect of what Schwab called the “syntactical structure” of the sciences (which roughly approximates their epistemology). This aspect of these disciplines is essential for the general student trying to become familiar with the nature of science as a broad field of knowledge, for prospective teachers, and — contra Scheffler’s view — for students who aim at careers as researchers.

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Zusammenfassung Der Beitrag der Epistemologie zur Curriuculumkonstruktion in den Naturwissenschaften Der Aufsatz fokussiert auf die Curriculumplanung für den naturwissenschaftlichen Unterricht in der universit?ren Lehrerausbildung, wenngleich behauptet wird, dass dieses Argument weitreichendere Anwendbarkeit besitzt. Der Text knüpft an erziehungswissenschaftlichen Schriften (insbesondere von Schwab und Scheffler) an, deren Ver?ffentlichung zwar einige Dekaden zurückliegt, deren Beitrag in den aktuellen Debatten aber oft übersehen wird. Darüber hinaus werden einige illustrative Beispiele aus dem Erfahrungsschatz des Autors genutzt, um zu zeigen, dass der Fokus der Curriculumplanung für die Naturwissenschaften — dem augenblicklichen Wissensstand der zu berücksichtigenden Disziplinen zufolge — zu oft in einer „Rhetorik der Schlussfolgerung“ oder „substantivischen Struktur“ besteht, was dazu führt, dass das, was Schwab die „syntaktische Struktur“ der Naturwissenschaften nennt (und ihrer Epistemologie ziemlich nahe kommt), vernachl?ssigt wird. Dieser Aspekt jener Disziplinen ist besonders wichtig für Studierende, die allgemeinbildend vertraut werden m?chten mit den Naturwissenschaften, für angehende Lehrer und — entgegen Schefflers Ansicht — für Studenten, die eine Karriere als Forscher anstreben.

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“When walking in quicksand country, carry a stout pole — it will help you get out should you need to. As soon as you start to sink, lay the pole on the surface of the quicksand. Flop onto your back on top of the pole. Work the pole to a new position: under your hips and at right angles to your spine. Take the shortest route to firmer ground, moving slowly.” Piven/Borgenicht 1999, p. 18

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This paper was presented at the conference Silence Between the Disciplines, Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences, Berlin, October 2002.     

Collaborative Counseling: A Conceptual Framework and Approach for Counselors of Adults in Life Transitions

The emerging field of adult counseling generally refers to the applications of adult development and life transitions literature in counseling. To date, numerous definitions that apply a particular theoretical perspective to clients within an established counseling approach have characterized practice. In contrast, collaborative counseling is a term that defines an inclusive theoretical framework and distinct counseling approach. The phenomenology of counselors is defined in terms of three perspectives: (a) developmental—for conceptualizing adult experience and counseling; (b) collaborative—for characterizing counselor-client roles, interactions, and processes; and (c) idiographic—for conceptualizing applicability of theory and interventions to individuals. From these perspectives a specialized practice is derived that emphasizes transitional status assessment, adult processes, counseling outcomes in meaning and behavior, as well as multiple contexts and modalities for delivery of service. The implications for curriculum and training provide the basis for defining a specialization in adult counseling.     

Students’ Views Regarding their Participation in University Governance: Implications for Distributed Leadership in Higher Education

The paper examines the views of students regarding the extent of their participation in the management of their university and their satisfaction with the degree of this participation. After an examination of the literature on student participation in university governance, the author presents the results of a survey based on data collected from 135 students of the University of Cyprus in 2002. According to the findings, respondents believed that their involvement in the management of their institution was very limited. This applied to both high and low levels of decision making, even though respondents recognised that their input was greater in less important decisions. The perceived limited involvement resulted in feelings of frustration and dissatisfaction among students, with the majority of respondents demanding a higher level of participation for all three decision making situations considered in the study. The paper discusses the implications of the findings for the practice of distributed leadership at contemporary universities, with emphasis on the need to abandon outdated leadership models. Specifically, it proposes measures for increasing student participation in university governance in the framework of a distributed leadership approach designed to empower the key stakeholders of higher education.     

Cross-cultural differences in maternal perceptions of cries of low- and high-risk infants

The tape-recorded cries of low- and high-risk newborn infants were rated by 150 inner-city Anglo-American, Black-American, and Cuban-American mothers during the hospital lying-in period following childbirth. Half of each cultural group was primiparous and half was multiparous. The mothers rated the cries along 4 perceptual and 6 caregiving response scale items. Reliable differences were found between low- and high-risk infant cries on all perceptual responses with the effects of culture and parental experience affecting the degree of differences. Generally, Anglo-American mothers found the cries more distressing, urgent, arousing, and sick sounding than Black-American mothers, while Cuban-American mothers showed similarities to both Black- and Anglo-American mothers depending on the scale items. The ratings on the caregiving response scale items paralleled cultural differences found on the perception scale items and previous reports of the mother-infant interaction patterns of other Anglo-, Black-, and Cuban-American samples. The results are discussed as being important in developing nonethnocentric views of the functional significance of the behaviors of the infant at risk, yet as providing evidence of the cross-cultural significance of the cry sound of the infant at risk.     

What the West could learn from the East: a reflective analysis

Drawing on Lugones’ ideas of world traveling, Dewey’s notion of education as experience, and Greene’s vision of seeing small/seeing big, this article inquires into lives lived in an Eastern educational milieu with attention reflectively paid to what educators in the West could learn from those in the East. Rather than focusing on mega narratives largely created by policy-makers and derived from accumulations of theory and/or political decision-making, this practical research in the reflective vein takes a ‘big’ look at three ‘small stories’ that emerged in a narrative inquiry we conducted in a Chinese elementary school and imagines their portability to Western educational contexts. Reflective attention is specifically paid to: (1) teaching without words, (2) principal images, and (3) shared responsibility for failure. What these small stories from our narrative inquiry research might disrupt, if introduced to Western educational settings, is especially taken up.     

Help‐Seeking and Non‐Help‐Seeking Students' Perceptions of Own and Peers' Mental Health Functioning

Help‐seeking (HS) students and non‐help‐seeking (NHS) students were compared on their perceptions of (a) their own level of mental health functioning and (b) the average level of mental health functioning of their (NHS or HS) peers. Results showed that NHS students' perceptions of HS students' self‐ratings were similar to HS students' self‐ratings of functioning but that HS students underestimated the level of functioning of their NHS peers. Implications of the findings for campus outreach and future research are discussed.     

The limited value of planning in education: Getting back to the basics isn't all about curriculum

In these times of tight budgets and political intoleance for taxation, public schools, particularly urban public schools, will continually have to look for ways in which to spend less while dealing with ever-increasing societal problems. While the ability of schools to improve the overal “product” with less resources is highly suspect, this article addresses one way in which spending less might actually improve school perfomance. The best planners in the best schools should be the administration, techers, students, parents, and the comminitu at large, and not outside esxperts hired to improve a school's “comprehensive” or “strategic” plan. By forcing the segments of the public that have the largest stake in the educational outcomes of schools to work together to plan for the future, schools will improve the efficacy of their staffs, their students, and allow parents the self-satisfaction of playing an important role in their children's education. An improtant side effect of such a method may be an increasing awareness by the public of the difficulties that schools face, and perhaps a better understanding of the important need for higher expenditures. His research interests include professionalism, collective bargaining, and educational reform. His articles have appeared inPeople and Education, and a recent article has been aceepted for publication in theJournal of Collective Negotiations in the Public Sector.