The social cognition of medical knowledge, with special reference to childhood epilepsy

This paper arose out of an engagement in medical communication courses at a Gulf university. It deploys a theoretical framework derived from a (critical) sociocognitive approach to discourse analysis in order to investigate three aspects of medical discourse relating to childhood epilepsy: the cognitive processes that are entailed in relating different types of medical knowledge to their communicative context; the types of medical knowledge that are constituted in the three different text types analysed; and the relationship between these different types of medical knowledge and the discursive features of each text type. The paper argues that there is a cognitive dimension to the human experience of understanding and talking about one specialized from of medical knowledge. It recommends that texts be studied in medical communication courses not just in terms of their discrete formal features but also critically, in terms of the knowledge which they produce, transmit and reproduce

Comment on "Magnetic field effects on neutron diffraction in the antiferromagnetic phase of UPt3"

Moreno and Sauls [Phys. Rev. B 63, 024419 (2000)] have recently tried to reanalyze earlier neutron scattering studies of the antiferromagnetic order in UPt3 with a magnetic field applied in the basal plane. In their calculation of the magnetic Bragg peak intensities, they perform an average over different magnetic structures belonging to distinct symmetry representations. This is incorrect. In addition, they have mistaken the magnetic field direction in one of the experiments, hence invalidating their conclusions concerning the experimental results.Comment: Revised 5 June 2001: Added group theory analysis and modified discussion of S and K domain

Mendel’s journey to Paris and London: context and significance for the origin of genetics.

From a letter Gregor Mendel wrote to his brother-in-law, and a photograph of a large group of people in Paris, it is known that Mendel visited the International Exhibition in London in August 1862. There has been speculation about the status and composition of this travel group; for example, whether it was an official delegation from the city of Brünn. There has also been speculation on whether Mendel visited Charles Darwin on that occasion. We have now found a partial list of participants of the second 1862 pleasure train (Vergnügungszug) from Vienna to Paris and London, which includes Mendel’s name. The names of 158 participants make a partial reconstruction of the travel group possible. Digital newspapers were researched to get more insight into the status, residence, and profession of the participants. Most belonged to the upper-class of the Austrian Empire, among them several citizens of Brünn. Such luxurious all-inclusive pleasure trains were a new phenomenon in Vienna at the time and received much attention in the newspapers. Gregor Mendel was one of the first to participate in this expensive new trend. The person next to Mendel in the photograph shows a clear resemblance with Johann Nave in the photograph of the founding members of the Natural Science Society of Brünn the same year (see Figs. 1 and 5). The newspaper lists of arrivals in Viennese hotels shows that Johann Nave, was in Vienna when the pleasure train departed. Johann Nave was an internationally acknowledged algae expert with interest in plant reproductive processes. In 1858 Mendel had nominated Nave as a new member of the scientific section of the Agricultural Society. A scientific connection between Mendel and Nave has been conjectured previously; however, evidence was lacking so far. After his early death in 1864, Nave’s scientific library was acquired by the Natural Science Society. It contained books about the latest insights on plant fertilization, and since Mendel’s 1866-paper contains a lengthy footnote about this topic, Mendel and Nave likely discussed this area of Mendel’s research. This may also have been the case during their journey to Paris and London because it was in 1862 that Mendel conducted the final crossing experiments to test his hypothesis about the composition and the random union of pollen and egg cells

Mendel’s journey to Paris and London: context and significance for the origin of genetics.

From a letter Gregor Mendel wrote to his brother-in-law, and a photograph of a large group of people in Paris, it is known that Mendel visited the International Exhibition in London in August 1862. There has been speculation about the status and composition of this travel group; for example, whether it was an official delegation from the city of Brünn. There has also been speculation on whether Mendel visited Charles Darwin on that occasion. We have now found a partial list of participants of the second 1862 pleasure train (Vergnügungszug) from Vienna to Paris and London, which includes Mendel’s name. The names of 158 participants make a partial reconstruction of the travel group possible. Digital newspapers were researched to get more insight into the status, residence, and profession of the participants. Most belonged to the upper-class of the Austrian Empire, among them several citizens of Brünn. Such luxurious all-inclusive pleasure trains were a new phenomenon in Vienna at the time and received much attention in the newspapers. Gregor Mendel was one of the first to participate in this expensive new trend. The person next to Mendel in the photograph shows a clear resemblance with Johann Nave in the photograph of the founding members of the Natural Science Society of Brünn the same year (see Figs. 1 and 5). The newspaper lists of arrivals in Viennese hotels shows that Johann Nave, was in Vienna when the pleasure train departed. Johann Nave was an internationally acknowledged algae expert with interest in plant reproductive processes. In 1858 Mendel had nominated Nave as a new member of the scientific section of the Agricultural Society. A scientific connection between Mendel and Nave has been conjectured previously; however, evidence was lacking so far. After his early death in 1864, Nave’s scientific library was acquired by the Natural Science Society. It contained books about the latest insights on plant fertilization, and since Mendel’s 1866-paper contains a lengthy footnote about this topic, Mendel and Nave likely discussed this area of Mendel’s research. This may also have been the case during their journey to Paris and London because it was in 1862 that Mendel conducted the final crossing experiments to test his hypothesis about the composition and the random union of pollen and egg cells