Immunopathogenesis of Dengue Haemorrhagic Fever

This thesis aims to investigate human antibody responses to dengue virus. Dengue virus is a mosquito-borne flavivirus that circulates as 4 distinct serotypes in tropical and sub-tropical regions of the world. It is known that immunity to one serotype of the virus can be life-long but upon infection with a different serotype there is a much higher incidence of severe disease. Antibodies play an important role in this immunopathogenesis. Serotype cross-reactive antibodies have been shown to enhance the uptake of virus by Fc receptor-bearing host cells, thereby increasing the number of cells infected and the viral load. The work presented will address this concept of antibody-dependent enhancement as part of a study of the antibody repertoire in patients with primary and secondary infections. The antibody response to dengue virus was investigated by producing monoclonal antibodies from patients. Antibody variable region sequences were cloned from B cells and expressed as whole human IgG; allowing the specificity, neutralisation and enhancement features to be identified. By generating a range of antibodies it was possible to investigate the breadth of the B cell response. The B cell response was highly diverse, with a range of clones stimulated. The antibody variable region sequences were analysed to identify features within the repertoire of antibodies stimulated. Additionally, this work describes production of an antigen display tool for characterisation of antibody target epitopes. Dengue virus envelope protein was expressed on the surface of yeast cells and a mutant library was created to map epitopes of monoclonal antibody binding. This work dissects the humoral immune response to dengue virus and contributes to the understanding of the immunopathology. This information could be used in creation of therapeutic antibodies or to assist in vaccine design and evaluation

Carolyn Edwards to Dear James (27 September 1962)

https://egrove.olemiss.edu/mercorr_pro/1053/thumbnail.jp

Partner, Teacher, and Guide: Examples of Teacher Behavior in Reggio Emilia

To give a fuller picture and provide concrete examples of the abstract principles presented above, we offer four short observation records drawn from videotapes taken at the Diana School in 1988 and 1990. They illustrate different kinds of teacher behavior commonly seen in the Reggio Emilia preprimary schools. The Teacher Gets Children Started The Teacher Provides Instruction in Tool-Use and Technique The Teacher Turns a Dispute into a Hypothesis to Test The Teacher Encourages Children to Solve Their Own Dispute

Education Inequity by Design: A Case Study of the Duval County Public School System, 1954–1964

This historical case study examined inequity by design of the Duval County Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida, between 1954 and 1964. Duval County’s response to the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision in 1954 highlighted the historical influence of White supremacy within this school system, suppressing Black education through a dual school system. Political, economic, and judicial decisions supported the system’s resistance to desegregation and perpetuated education inequity. The author sought to understand the overt and covert political, economic, and judicial influences behind the Duval County Public Schools’ inequity by design to determine if these influences are generally applicable to urban public school systems across the United States. The author conducted a qualitative study with self-identifying Black residents of Duval County who were either students, teachers, or principals during the study time period. Following the qualitative study, the author conducted a case study evaluating historical documentation, publications, oral interviews, and unpublished information documenting the education inequity by design. The findings of this study indicate that the Duval County Public Schools suppressed Black education through systemic methods, including underfunding, under-resourcing, and under-management of historically Black schools. All public schools are subject to political, economic, and judicial influences because they are locally managed and primarily funded through local property taxes. The “achievement gap” is a manipulated outcome by intentional design to justify suppressing Black education. This study focused on the systemic issues of White supremacy’s influences to bring the true problem of failing schools out into the light so the system can be dismantled and the blame for failing schools placed on the system, not the students

Rationality, Culture, and the Construction of “Ethical Discourse”: A Comparative Perspective

The problem of ethical relativism has never been resolved or laid to rest. It turns out to be a complicated set of problems, involving many philosophical issues of meaning (Brandt 1954; Ladd 1957). For example, how should we define morality and ethics? How should we define the problem of ethical relativism? How does the problem of ethical relativism relate to the problem of cultural relativism? One question that is part of this package is a scientific one and concerns whether there are even aspects of moral values and ethical discourse that can be validly abstracted from their cultural context and compared cross-culturally. This is the problem of “descriptive ethical relativism” (Ladd 1957; Spiro 1984). Obviously, if there are no such aspects, then we have good reason to embrace an extreme doctrine of descriptive ethical relativism. On the other hand, if scientific research indicates that there are comparable aspects, then we can go on to ask a second, primarily philosophical question. The second question (Ladd and Spiro call it the issue of “normative ethical relativism”) concerns whether the ethical conflicts of individuals or cultural groups are somehow resolvable. They might be resolvable if ethical conflicts can somehow be reduced to mere differences in underlying factual beliefs (about nature, human personality, and so on). They might not be resolvable if ethical conflicts turn out to be based on differences in moral principles, even after the differences in factual beliefs are accounted for. This paper shall address the first question, because I feel it is the one social scientists (as opposed to moral philosophers) are most qualified to answer. The question, as I see it, involves an analysis of research methodology. How can social scientists elicit samples of people’s ethical discourse? Do these samples of discourse validly represent the individual’s or group’s moral and ethical understanding? Can these samples be compared in some systematic way cross-culturally without distortion of their basic meaning? “Ethical discourse” can be defined as a string of statements or arguments containing “moral statements” (statements about what actions or attitudes are obligatory or virtuous) and/or “ethical statements” (statements about why those actions or attitudes are morally right or wrong). Ladd, who studied the ethical discourse of the Navaho (1957), believes that ethical discourse occurs in all cultural groups

Societal complexity and moral development: A Kenyan study.

This study examines the moral judgment levels (as measured by Kohlberg’s 6-stage moral judgment interview) for two Kenyan samples. The first sample includes a culturally and racially group of 35 young men and 17 women studying at the University of Nairobi, while the second sample consists of 44 males and 14 females living in seven communities in the Central and Western Provinces of Kenya who were interviewed by a cadre of trained University students on their school vacation. The moral judgment interview included four hypothetical moral dilemmas and a standard set of probing questions. Three of the dilemmas were standard Kohlberg stories especially adapted for the Kenyan setting, while the fourth dilemma was constructed in Kenya. Interviews were taped and transcribed and scored using the “global method.” The findings reveal different distributions and highest scores for the two samples, with the University sample generally higher. The discussion suggests why different modes of moral decision-making are appropriate for the tribal versus national frames of reference. In terms of Kohlberg’s stage system of moral judgment, stage 3 is the type of thinking most suitable for a face-to-face community, while stage 4 is more suitable for the national stage