British BSE inquiry examines scientific involvement

SCIENTIFIC COMMENTARY The other BSE

Brainstem encephalitis has long proved complex and cyptic, but the waters are beginning to clear. Six decades ago, Edwin Bickerstaff (1921–2008), writing from Birmingham with Professor Philip Cloake (1890–1969), described three cases of ‘mesencephalitis and rhombencephalitis’ (Bickerstaff and Cloak, 1951). Each individual presented with a brainstem oculomotor disturbance, other cranial neuropat...

Scientific Inquiry:

As a simple illustration of some important aspects of scientific inquiry let us consider Semmelweis' work on childbed fever. Ignaz Semmelweis, a physician of Hungarian birth, did this work during the years from 1844 to 1848 at the Vienna General Hospital. As a member of the medical staff of the First Maternity Division in the hospital, Semmelweis was distressed to find that a large proportion o...

From nannyism to public disclosure: the BSE inquiry report.

New report examines employee involvement in decision making.

O ne of the major but multifaceted challenges facing the ministry centers on our colleagues who consti tute the professional and support staffs that provide Catholic health care. For example, we currently have difficulty achieving a sense ot" alignment with physicians who are experiencing an "absence of joy"; we are regularly reminded by nurses why an increasing number are seeking the support o...

Automatic Grading of Scientific Inquiry

The SAVE Science project is an attempt to address the shortcomings of current assessments of science. The project has developed two virtual worlds that each have a mystery or natural phenomenon requiring scientific explanation; by recording students’ behavior as they investigate the mystery, these worlds can be used to assess their understanding of the scientific method. Currently, however, the...