Haemoglobin electrophoresis in diagnosing a case of sickle cell anaemia associated with β-thalassemia

Alkaline haemoglobin electrophoresis is a useful tool in diagnosing β-thalassemia and sickle-cell anaemia. In this report, using this simple technique, β-thalassemia associated with sickle-cell anaemia is diagnosed. This is the first case we have diagnosed in our laboratory using agarose gel electrophoresis.     

Professional Development How To's: Strategies for Surveying Faculty Preferences

The primary purpose of this paper is to report the development, results, and conclusions of a university campus-wide faculty development needs assessment survey. The survey is unique in that it asked faculty to first identify their professional goals and then select activities to help them reach the desired goals. The second purpose is to discuss how faculty at different stages of their careers have different goals.Christine B. Eleser: She also serves as the Chairperson of the University Faculty Excellence CommiteeeSheila W. Chauvin: which she also serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Neurology and Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences, School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine USA     

Effects of test anxiety on performance,worry, and emotionality in naturally occurring exams

Test performance and reported anxiety levels of high and low test-anxious subjects taking either a regular exam or an exam containing brief, written relaxation instructions were compared. A consistent main effect for test anxiety was found; high test-anxious subjects performed more poorly and reported greater worry and emotionality than did low test-anxious subjects. Effects for the relaxation manipulation were found only on the second of three exams where the high anxious subjects receiving the relaxation exam format reported less worry than the high anxiety-regular exam group. Results provide greater external validity for the Test Anxiety Scale (TAS).     

From Innovation to Change: Forging A Physics Education Reform Agenda for the 21st Century

Education reform cannot be limited to what goes on in the classroom. Innovation does not inevitably lead to change until and unless the innovators take back control over factors exogenous to the classroom, factors like pre-college selection, outside testing, accreditation requirements, and class size. If nothing else changes, even the most promising of the curricular, pedagogical, laboratory, and classroom innovations will fail, unless the input/output flow of students is changed as well.     

Comparison of interrater reliability on the torrance tests of creative thinking for gifted and nongifted students

Despite their widespread use in identifying and evaluating programs for gifted and talented students, the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking were standardized on samples that excluded gifted children. The interrater reliability of measures like the TTCT has been questioned repeatedly, yet studies with average students have demonstrated high interrater reliability. This study compares the interrater reliability of the TTCT for groups of gifted and nongifted elementary-school-aged students. Results indicated most interrater reliability coefficients exceeding .90 for both gifted and nongifted groups. However, multivariate analysis of variance indicated significant mean differences across the three self-trained raters for both gifted and nongifted groups. Consequently, use of a single scorer to evaluate TTCT protocols is recommended, especially where specific cutoff scores are used to select students.     

After the fall: Political whitewashing, professional posturing, and personal refashioning in the postwar career of Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer

Despite the numerous books and articles preoccupied with the formidable legitimizing role and unethical medical transgressions of the German human geneticist Otmar von Verschuer (1896-1969) during the Third Reich, scholars have neglected to focus on his career trajectory during the postwar period, especially in the years after he received the first chair of genetics on German soil in 1951. While an examination of von Verschuer's trials, tribulations, and ultimate triumph in post-1945 West Germany is fascinating in its own right, it also raises broader historical issues. First, it lays bare the professional posturing of German biomedical scientists as they attempted to retake control over their once tainted fields of research when Cold War realities opened a window of opportunity for them. Second, it reveals the fine line between adherence to professional ethics and disciplinary solidarity when scientists were faced with a potential outside threat to their profession. Finally, such an analysis demonstrates the macromechanics of professional refashioning on the part of the publicly tainted scientists as they forged a new symbiosis between their field and the politics of a new era in the interest of pursuing research.