Cryptosporidium cuniculus - new records in human and kangaroo in Australia

BACKGROUND: To date, Cryptosporidium cuniculus has been found exclusively in rabbits and humans. The present study provides the first published molecular evidence for C. cuniculus in an Australian human patient as well as a kangaroo. FINDINGS: Using PCR-based sequencing of regions in the actin, 60 kDa glycoprotein (gp60) and small subunit of ribosomal RNA (SSU) genes, we identified a new and unique C. cuniculus genotype (akin to VbA25) from a human, and C. cuniculus genotype VbA26 from an Eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus) in Australia. CONCLUSIONS: The characterisation of these genotypes raises questions as to their potential to infect humans and/or other animals in Australia, given that C. cuniculus has been reported to cause cryptosporidiosis outbreaks in Europe

Propionibacterium avidum causing native breast abscess

Propionibacterium avidum is traditionallyconsidered an organism of lowpathogenicity and is seldom associatedwith human infection. Rare reports of breast abscess caused by P. avidumhave been almost exclusively associated with immunosuppression or prior surgicalintervention. There are a small numberof reports of this organism causing splenic abscess, septic arthritis, sacroiliitis,and osteomyelitis, as well as onereport of perianal abscess (1-5). All these infections occurred in immunocompromised patients, patients with pre-existing medical conditions, or followinga medical intervention (1-8). The organism has also been associated rarelywith breast abscess (6-8), with only onesuch case being reported in a previouslyhealthy individual who had no historyof prior surgical intervention (8). Because of its low growth rate, itis possible that infections with P. avidumare underreported. We report a caseof recurrent breast abscess caused byP. avidum that resulted from mammaryduct ectasia in the absence of immunosuppressionor prior surgery andpropose that the organism is an underrecognizedcause of such infections

Mucoid Nitrate-Negative Moraxella nonliquefaciens from Three Patients with Chronic Lung Disease

Mucoid strains of Moraxella nonliquefaciens were recovered from the sputa of three indigenous Australians with chronic lung disease. These atypical strains failed to reduce nitrate, and one strain produced β-lactamase. While the mucoid phenotype of M. nonliquefaciens has rarely been reported, the mucoid nitrate-negative biovar has never been previously reported

Reflection in teacher education: how can it be supported?

The main aim of this article is to explore the ways in which teacher educators can improve levels of reflection in postgraduate student teachers. The author argues that postgraduate student teachers are able to reflect on their practice in schools, and that the insights gained are useful in clarifying their own beliefs about teaching and learning. The outcome of such reflection at an early stage of their career may have implications for their ability to engage with the development opportunities made available to them as they move through their teaching careers. Using a qualitative approach, data from the learning journals and reflective writing assignments of student teachers, and a focus group interview, are examined in order to evaluate students' ability to engage in reflective writing at various stages over a 1 year course. The support given to students over the course of the year is examined with a view to evaluating its impact on students' abilities to reflect on their practice and their own learning. A number of recommendations are made for possible improvements to supporting student teachers in this important area of work

Crossing the Rubicon: Strategic planning or neo-biopower? A critique of the language of New Zealand’s Early Childhood Strategic Plan

‘Strategy’ is a word that has had an increasing use in recent years. The discipline of organisational studies has adopted this concept to set out the primacy of good business practices, such as foretelling risk and opportunity. Government policy documents use the term where medium- and long-term goals are set out, for example, the New Zealand Ministry of Education’s Pathways to the Future. A Ten-Year Strategic Plan for Early Childhood Education. This article uses Michel Foucault’s methodology of genealogy to trace the emergence of the term ‘strategy’, its use in organisational studies, and its displacement to education, specifically early childhood education in Aotearoa/New Zealand. The study by Richard Whipp into the effectiveness of strategic planning supports the problematising of the term. The study deconstructs some naturalised truths about the image of people, of time, and of analysts’ reflexivity. It asks about the use of terms that originated in the military lexicon, such as ‘manoeuvres’, ‘strategy’, ‘target’, ‘plan’ and ‘risk’, but have slipped to that of business practices, retaining traces, however, of the original military intent. Foucault inverted the phrase that ‘politics is war by any other means’ as institutions centralised control, set up supervision of populations, and collected statistics to plot changed patterns. This article examines some of the tracery that remains in such use of governmental language, and asks if this is the most appropriate lexicon for education