Avian Bornaviral Ganglioneuritis: Current Debates and Unanswered Questions

Avian bornaviral ganglioneuritis, often referred to as parrot wasting disease, is associated with a newly discovered avian virus from the taxonomic family Bornaviridae. Research regarding the pathogenesis and treatment for this disease is ongoing, with implications for understanding other emerging human and nonhuman diseases, as well as the health and ecology of wildlife. At this time, numerous questions remain unanswered regarding the transmission of the disease, best practices for diagnostic sampling and testing, and whether currently used drug therapies are effective or harmful for afflicted birds. The pathogenesis of the disease also remains unclear with many birds showing resistance to the effects of the virus and being able to remain clinically unaffected for years, while other birds succumb to its effects. New research findings regarding avian bornaviral ganglioneuritis are discussed and important as yet unanswered questions are identified

The Impact of Teaching Gender Issues on College Students’ Awareness, Knowledge, and Sensitivity to the Topic

In an effort to evaluate the effectiveness of a course module being taught to students enrolled in a large (approximately 850) general psychology course, students were administered a pretest to assess their awareness of, knowledge about, and sensitivity to gender issues. After the module was taught, students were given the same survey as a posttest. The analysis revealed that there were significant (all p \u3c 0.05) differences in student awareness and knowledge of gender issues as a function of this course module. On the other hand, sensitivity to these issues appeared to be less susceptible to our teaching procedures. This was somewhat expected as research indicates that it can be difficult to change student attitudes (Boatright-Horowitz, 2005). In its current format, the course module for this class involves discussions of chromosomal and hormonal anomalies that give rise to physical and psychological sexual variations. It also includes information about gender as a social construct. As a result of these data, we plan to incorporate information about intersexualism into this course module, specifically the work of Faustos-Sterling (1993), regarding the possibility that there are five sexes. Our expectation is that this additional information would be eye opening for our students and possibly impact their sensitivity to the plight of people whose sexuality deviate from the norm. Our work also illustrates the importance of using scientific methods for assessing the effectiveness of classroom discussions and activities, as well as using the results to guide future classroom curriculum. Boatright-Horowitz, S. (2005). Teaching antiracism in a large introductory psychology class: A course module and its evaluation. Journal of Black Studies, 36 (1), 34-51. Fausto-Sterling, A. (1993). The Five Sexes: Why Male and Female Are Not Enough. The Sciences, 33 (2), 20-24

A motor timing experiment implemented using a musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) approach

The musical instrument digital interface (MIDI) offers a way for perception and behavior researchers to implement high-quality experiments using inexpensive, commercially available hardware and software. We describe the MIDI and illustrate its applicability to research using a replication of the oscillator signature finding reported recently by Collyer, Broadbent, and Church (1992, 1994). Copyright 1997 Psychonomic Society, Inc