An alternative approach to classifying and measuring residential education and group care and treatment programs: Internal totality and community orientation as separate components

Internal totality and community orientation are two pivotal components, difficult to measure, in the literature on residential education (including both residential schools for the elite and group or congregate care and education programs for marginal youth). We propose a two-dimensional model based on historical research and contemporary study to define and differentiate these concepts. Internal totality can be measured through the links and balance between the formal curriculum, extra curriculum, and out of school (nonformal) activities; community orientation through links between the residential and ideological community, the local community, and the wider community. Implications for practice, policy, and further research are suggested.Oranim is the School of Education of the Kibbutz Movement, affiliated with the University of Haifa.     

Evaluation of an accelerated protocol for detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing gram-negative bacilli from positive blood cultures

We evaluated a protocol for the accelerated detection of extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBLs) in gram-negative bloodstream pathogens. Two hundred eighty-three blood culture bottles were subjected to direct ESBL testing by inoculating samples directly from blood culture bottles onto agar plates containing cefotaxime and ceftazidime disks, with and without clavulanate. Standard ESBL testing in accordance with the NCCLS guidelines after subculturing on agar plates was performed in parallel. Results of the direct ESBL testing were reported 2.3 days sooner and were comparable to those of the standard NCCLS method with sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values of 100, 98, 94, and 100%, respectively.     

The Genetic Basis of Academic Achievement on the Queensland Core Skills Test and its Shared Genetic Variance with IQ

First, this study examined genetic and environmental sources of variation in performance on a standardised test of academic achievement, the Queensland Core Skills Test (QCST) (Queensland Studies Authority, 2003a). Second, it assessed the genetic correlation among the QCST score and Verbal and Performance IQ measures using the Multidimensional Aptitude Battery (MAB), [Jackson, D. N. (1984) Multidimensional Aptitude Battery manual. Port Huron, MI:Research Psychologist Press, Inc.]. Participants were 256 monozygotic twin pairs and 326 dizygotic twin pairs aged from 15 to 18 years (mean 17 years ± 0.4 [SD]) when achievement tested, and from 15 to 22 years (mean 16 years ± 0.4 [SD]) when IQ tested. Univariate analysis indicated a heritability for the QCST of 0.72. Adjustment to this estimate due to truncate selection (downward adjustment) and positive phenotypic assortative mating (upward adjustment) suggested a heritability of 0.76 The phenotypic (0.81) and genetic (0.91) correlations between the QCST and Verbal IQ (VIQ) were significantly stronger than the phenotypic (0.57) and genetic (0.64) correlations between the QCST and Performance IQ (PIQ). The findings suggest that individual variation in QCST performance is largely due to genetic factors and that common environmental effects may be substantially accounted for by phenotypic assortative mating. Covariance between academic achievement on the QCST and psychometric IQ (particularly VIQ) is to a large extent due to common genetic influences.     

Perceptual speed does not cause intelligence, and intelligence does not cause perceptual speed

There is ongoing debate whether the efficiency of local cognitive processes leads to global cognitive ability or whether global ability feeds the efficiency of basic processes. A prominent example is the well-replicated association between inspection time (IT), a measure of perceptual discrimination speed, and intelligence (IQ), where it is not known whether increased speed is a cause or consequence of high IQ. We investigated the direction of causation between IT and IQ in 2012 genetically related subjects from Australia and The Netherlands. Models in which the reliable variance of each observed variable was specified as a latent trait showed IT correlations of -0.44 and -0.33 with respective Performance and Verbal IQ; heritabilities were 57% (IT), 83% (PIQ) and 77% (VIQ). Directional causation models provided poor fits to the data, with covariation best explained by pleiotropic genes (influencing variation in both IT and IQ). This finding of a common genetic factor provides a better target for identifying genes involved in cognition than genes which are unique to specific traits.     

Vaccination of broilers with HVT expressing an Eimeria acervulina antigen improves performance after challenge with Eimeria

The sequence encoding part of the 100 kDa refractile body protein (Ea1A) from Eimeria acervulina was cloned into the US10 locus of herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) downstream of LTR promoter. Expression of the fusion protein was shown in vitro. Recombinant HVT showed a delayed and slightly reduced level of viremia compared to the parent strain in SPF chickens as well as in broilers. Effect on the performance of broilers vaccinated with recombinant or parent HVT was measured by challenge at day 24 with a high dose of E. acervulina and E. maxima oocysts. A significant improvement in weight of animals vaccinated with the recombinant HVT was detected at the end of the challenge period.     

Leishmaniasis in the Jordan Valley: differential attraction of dispersing and breeding site populations of Phlebotomus papatasi (Diptera: Psychodidae) to manure and water

The response of Phlebotomus papatasi Scopoli to traps baited with manure or water was used to compare the behavior of flies near rodent burrows (breeding sites) and dispersing flies in fallow fields. The degree of response in each biotype was defined for each bait by the difference between catches in baited and unbaited traps. Manure bait attracted twice as many flies near the burrows and 2.7 times more flies in the field compared with unbaited traps. In both locations, the manure bait increased the capture of males and nongravid females, whereas gravid females were attracted only near burrows and not in the fields. The catch in the fields with water bait was similar to the unbaited control. However, near burrows, water bait captured more males and gravid females, but not nongravid females. These results demonstrate specific behavioral patterns of the dispersing P. papatasi population.     

The complaints procedure

Between October 1981, when the Health Services Complaints' Procedure was introduced, and June 1989, the Regional Medical Officer of the North West Thames Regional Health Authority received 171 complaints with a request for an independent professional review. This was granted in 75 cases, and this paper describes the procedure and the results of the analysis.