Describes an activity to help students understand how feathers help insulate a bird's body. (WRM)

Reviews the impact of legislation on animal experimentation that has been in effect since 1876 in Great Britain. Focuses on the impact of these laws on the teaching of practical physiology to undergraduate students. Contains 26 references. (DDR)

This study compared the body mass index (BMI) of 118 children with infantile autism with corresponding BMI percentiles in age-and sex-matched reference populations. The BMI distribution of the male children was significantly lower than that of the age-matched reference population. BMI was not associated with intelligence or socioeconomic status.…

Describes the use of case studies for teaching introductory anatomy and physiology courses. Outlines methods for constructing cases from news stories. Includes an appendix featuring a sample case story. (Contains 11 references.) (WRM)

Objective: To explore the relationships between psychological symptoms and thyroid hormone levels in adolescent girls who had experienced the traumatic stress of sexual abuse. Method: The study design was cross-sectional/correlational. Subjects ("N"=22; age range=12-18 years) had their blood drawn, and they completed 2 psychological tests…

The present study examined the predicted positive and linear relationship (Iwanaga, 1995a, 1995b) between exercise heart rate and music tempo preference. Initially, 128 undergraduate students (M age = 20.0 years, SD = 0.9) were surveyed to establish their three favorite music artists. A separate experimental group of 29 undergraduates (M age =…

The American Physiological Society (APS) Legacy Project and its accompanying Essays on APS Classic Papers have allowed the scientific community on-line access to the entire collection of APS publications since their inception in 1898 (http://www.the-aps.org/publications/legacy/ and http://www.the-aps.org/publications/classics/). The availability…

This paper describes an easy experiment to study the absorption and action spectrum of photosynthesis, as well as the inhibition by heat, high light intensity and the presence of the herbicide 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea (DCMU) on the photosynthetic process. The method involves measuring the chlorophyll fluorescence emitted by intact…

We describe a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol suitable for use in secondary schools and colleges. This PCR protocol can be used to investigate genetic variation between plants. The protocol makes use of primers which are complementary to sequences of nucleotides that are highly conserved across different plant genera. The regions of…

Background: Expressive language constitutes a major challenge to the development of individuals with Down syndrome. This paper investigates the relationships between expressive language abilities, language comprehension and the deficits in verbal short-term memory and hearing which are also associated with the syndrome. Methods: Tests of nonverbal…

This paper provides an argument in favor of a specific pedagogical method of using the history of science to help students develop more informed views about nature of science (NOS) issues. The paper describes a series of lesson plans devoted to encouraging students to engage, "unbeknownst to them", in similar reasoning that led…

Management of medications in school is one of the critical roles that school nurses carry out in the school setting. In recent years, parents have come to question the medication procedures that school districts follow. Parents question why a physician's order is required for school personnel to provide over-the-counter (OTC) medications to their…

Positron emission tomography (PET) is a technique that enables imaging of the distribution of radiolabeled tracers designed to track biochemical and molecular processes in the body after intravenous injection or inhalation. New strategies for the use of radiolabeled tracers hold potential for imaging gene expression in the brain during development…

We investigated learning-related changes in amplitude, scalp topography, and source localization of the mismatch negativity (MMN), a neurophysiological response correlated with auditory discrimination ability. Participants (n = 32) underwent two EEG recordings while they watched silent films and ignored auditory stimuli. Stimuli were a standard…

Children with hearing loss and their families are now presenting for early intervention support and guidance at increasingly younger ages. At present there is a paucity of research that informs teachers about early language development in the child with hearing loss. Di-EL First Words (Di-EL) is a diary technique through which parents record their…