Experience Informed Philosophy

John Dewey\u27s philosophy of education did not arise in a vacuum. Much as Dewey himself would have recognized, his experiences shaped his philosophy. The experiences described include Dewey\u27s time as a boy in Burlington, Vermont; his graduate education at Johns Hopkins University, and his first academic post at the University of Michigan; concluding with his time at the University of Chicago with his famous laboratory school. Following each narrative, Dewey\u27s experiences are connected with and compared to his landmark publication Democracy and Education. Special consideration to the alignment of theory and practice helps to guide interpretation of his experiences with his emerging philosophy. Local and regional contexts are provided to consider the situated context of each of the geographically organized narratives. Included is a discussion of the philosophical contributions of Kant, Vermont Transcendentalism, and Hegelianism to Dewey\u27s philosophy. Additionally included are the contributions of Alice Chipman Dewey, Jane Addams, and Ella Flagg Young to Dewey\u27s thinking

Scale-dependent habitat use in three species of prairie wetland birds

We evaluated the influence of scale on habitat use for three wetland-obligate bird species with divergent life history characteristics and possible scale-dependent criteria for nesting and foraging in South Dakota, USA. A stratified, two-stage cluster sample was used to randomly select survey wetlands within strata defined by region, wetland density, and wetland surface area. We used 18-m (0.1 ha) fixed radius circular-plots to survey birds in 412 semipermanent wetlands during the summers of 1995 and 1996. Variation in habitat use by pied-billed grebes (Podilymbus podiceps) and yellow-headed blackbirds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus), two sedentary species that rarely exploit resources outside the vicinity of nest wetlands, was explained solely by within-patch variation. Yellow-headed blackbirds were a cosmopolitan species that commonly nested in small wetlands, whereas pied-billed grebes were an area-sensitive species that used larger wetlands regardless of landscape pattern. Area requirements for black terns (Chlidonias niger), a vagile species that typically forages up to 4 km away from the nest wetland, fluctuated in response to landscape structure. Black tern area requirements were small (6.5 ha) in heterogeneous landscapes compared to those in homogeneous landscapes (15.4–32.6 ha). Low wetland density landscapes composed of small wetlands, where few nesting wetlands occurred and potential food sources were spread over large distances, were not widely used by black terns. Landscape-level measurements related to black tern occurrence extended past relationships between wetlands into the surrounding matrix. Black terns were more likely to occur in landscapes where grasslands had not been tilled for agricultural production. Our findings represent empirical evidence that characteristics of entire landscapes, rather than individual patches, must be quantified to assess habitat suitability for wide-ranging species that use resources over large areas

Long-term results in pancreatic transplantation with special emphasis on the use of prolamine

Our pancreatic transplantation programme was initiated in 1979. Since then a total of 102 pancreas transplantations have been performed, blocking exocrine secretion using the duct occlusion technique with prolamine. Early non-immunological complications are frequent. The long-term results (9 years) in combined pancreas and kidney transplanted patients are satisfying: the survival rate for pancreas is 38% and 54% for kidney. Patient survival rate in this period is 85%. Beyond the first year post-transplant the exocrine activity disappears whereas the endocrine function remains well preserved

Metabolic and hormonal studies of Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients after successful pancreas and kidney transplantation

Long-term normalization of glucose metabolism is necessary to prevent or ameliorate diabetic complications. Although pancreatic grafting is able to restore normal blood glucose and glycated haemoglobin, the degree of normalization of the deranged diabetic metabolism after pancreas transplantation is still questionable. Consequently glucose, insulin, C-peptide, glucagon, and pancreatic polypeptide responses to oral glucose and i.v. arginine were measured in 36 Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic recipients of pancreas and kidney allografts and compared to ten healthy control subjects. Despite normal HbA1 (7.2±0.2%; normal <8%) glucose disposal was normal only in 44% and impaired in 56% of the graft recipients. Normalization of glucose tolerance was achieved at the expense of hyperinsulinaemia in 52% of the subjects. C-peptide and glucagon were normal, while pancreatic polypeptide was significantly higher in the graft recipients. Intravenous glucose tolerance (n=21) was normal in 67% and borderline in 23%. Biphasic insulin release was seen in patients with normal glucose tolerance. Glucose tolerance did not deteriorate up to 7 years post-transplant. In addition, stress hormone release (cortisol, growth hormone, prolactin, glucagon, catecholamines) to insulin-induced hypoglycaemia was examined in 20 graft recipients and compared to eight healthy subjects. Reduced blood glucose decline indicates insulin resistance, but glucose recovery was normal, despite markedly reduced catecholamine and glucagon release. These data demonstrate the effectiveness of pancreatic grafting in normalizing glucose metabolism, although hyperinsulinaemia and deranged counterregulatory hormone response are observed frequently

Follow-up study of sensory-motor polyneuropathy in Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic subjects after simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation and after graft rejection

The influence of successful simultaneous pancreas and kidney transplantation on peripheral polyneuropathy was investigated in 53 patients for a mean observation period of 40.3 months. Seventeen patients were followed-up for more than 3 years. Symptoms and signs were assessed every 6 months using a standard questionnaire, neurological examination and measurement of sensory and motor nerve conduction velocities. While symptoms of polyneuropathy improved (pain, paraesthesia, cramps, restless-legs) and nerve conduction velocity increased, there was no change of clinical signs (sensation, muscle-force, tendon-reflexes). Following kidney-graft-rejection there was a slight decrease of nerve conduction verlocity during the first year, which was not statistically significant. Following pancreas-graft rejection there was no change of nerve conduction velocity during the first year. Comparing the maximum nerve conduction velocity of the patients with pancreas-graft-rejection to the nerve conduction velocities of these patients at the end of the study, there was a statistically significant decrease of 6.5 m/s. In conclusion, we believe that strict normalization of glucose metabolism alters the progressive course of diabetic polyneuropathy. It may be stabilized or partly reversed after successful grafting even in long-term diabetic patients

Effect of pancreatic and/or renal transplantation on diabetic autonomic neuropathy

Thirty-nine Type 1 (insulin-dependent) diabetic patients were studied prospectively after simultaneous pancreas and kidney (n=26) and kidney grafting alone (n=13) by measuring heart rate variation during various manoeuvers and answering a standardized questionnaire every 6 to 12 months post-transplant. While age, duration of diabetes, and serum creatinine (168.1±35.4 vs 132.7±17.7 mgrmol/l) were comparable, haemoglobin A1 levels were significantly lower (6.6±0.2 vs 8.5±0.3%; p<0.01) and the mean observation time longer (35±2 vs 25±3 months; p<0.05) in the pancreas recipients when compared with kidney transplanted patients. Heart rate variation during deep breathing, lying/standing and Valsalva manoeuver were very similar in both groups initially and did not improve during follow-up. However, there was a significant reduction in heart rate in the pancreas recipient group. Autonomic symptoms of the gastrointestinal and thermoregulatory system improved more in the pancreas grafted subjects, while hypoglycaemia unawareness deteriorated in the kidney recipients. This study suggests that long-term normoglycaemia by successful pancreatic grafting is able to halt the progression of autonomic dysfunction

The alpha 6 subunit of the GABA(A) receptor is concentrated in both inhibitory and excitatory synapses on cerebellar granule cells

Although three distinct subunits seem to be sufficient to form a functional pentameric GABAA receptor channel, cerebellar granule cells express nRNA for nine subunits. They receive GABAergic input from a relatively homogenous population of Golgi cells. It is not known whether all subunits are distributed similarly on the surface of granule cells or whether some of them have differential subcellular distribution resulting in distinct types of synaptic and/or extrasynaptic channels. Antibodies to different parts of the alpha 6 and alpha 1 subunits of the GABAA receptor and electron microscopic immunogold localization were used to determine the precise subcellular distribution of these subunits in relation to specific synaptic inputs. Both subunits were present in the extrasynaptic dendritic and somatic membranes at lower densities than in synaptic junctions. The alpha 6 and alpha 1 subunits were colocalized in many GABAergic Golgi synapses, demonstrating that both subunits are involved in synaptic transmission in the same synapse. Synapses immunopositive for only one of the alpha subunits were also found. The alpha 6, but not the alpha 1, subunit was also concentrated in glutamatergic mossy fiber synapses, indicating that the alpha 6 subunit may have several roles depending on its different locations. The results demonstrate a partially differential synaptic targeting of two distinct GABAA receptor subunits on the surface of the same type of neuron

Comparison of the SFI Peculiar Velocities with the IRAS 1.2 Jy Gravity Field

We present a comparison between the peculiar velocity fields measured from the SFI all-sky Sbc-Sc Tully-Fisher catalog and that derived from the \iras 1.2 Jy redshift survey galaxy distribution. The analysis is based on the expansion of these data in redshift space using smooth orthonormal functions and is performed using low and high resolution expansions, with an effective smoothing scale which increases almost linearly with redshift. The effective smoothing scales at 3000 \kms are 1500\kms and 1000\kms for the low and high resolution filters. The agreement between the high and low resolution SFI velocity maps is excellent. The general features in the filtered SFI and \iras velocity fields agree remarkably well within 6000\kms. This good agreement between the fields allows us to determine the parameter $\beta=\Omega^{0.6}/b$, where $\Omega$ is the cosmological density parameter and $b$ is the linear biasing factor. From a likelihood analysis on the SFI and \iras modes we find that $\beta=0.6\pm 0.1$ independently of the resolution of the modal expansion. For this value of within 6000 \kms. Most remarkable is the lack of any coherent, redshift dependent dipole flow in the residual field