Where to from Castell v De Greef? Lessons from recent developments in South Africa and abroad regarding consent to treatment and the standard of disclosure

Castell v de Greef, decided over a decade ago, remains the definitive ruling on the standard of disclosure required for informed consent to a surgical procedure. The subsequent adoption of the Constitution and entrenchment of the rights to dignity and bodily integrity highlight that South African society is currently founded on the underlying values of individual autonomy and self-determination. Although these values were considered in the case, this was not done in light of the constitutional imperative to develop the common law. The paper analyses the current position in South Africa regarding informed consent and, by drawing on decisions of other common law jurisdictions, sets out how matters such as these might be answered in the future. Examining the recent trends in this area of the law both abroad and in South Africa, it concludes that the South African courts should re-examine and develop the current standard of disclosure in order truly to embrace patient autonomy, reflect international trends and to give effect to constitutional values

Embodying science: the role of the body in supporting young children's meaning making

Primary school science emphasises hands-on interactions, but little is known about how the sensorimotor experiences these interactions provide shape children’s science ideas. Early interactions with science need to be engaging as these shape children’s developing attitudes towards science and themselves as science learners; however, these activities need to go beyond engagement to set children up with the resources they need to develop and deepen their learning. Findings demonstrate that designing science activities and the discourse they are situated within through an embodied lens can support children’s meaning making by providing them with sensorimotor experiences to draw upon, valuing their lived experiences and being open to their multiple modes of communication. Such body-based activities offer alternative routes into learning which are playful, engaging, and dynamic, whilst making concrete connections between children’s interactions and the development of complex science ideas

Structure of the saxiphilin:saxitoxin (STX) complex reveals a convergent molecular recognition strategy for paralytic toxins.

Dinoflagelates and cyanobacteria produce saxitoxin (STX), a lethal bis-guanidinium neurotoxin causing paralytic shellfish poisoning. A number of metazoans have soluble STX-binding proteins that may prevent STX intoxication. However, their STX molecular recognition mechanisms remain unknown. Here, we present structures of saxiphilin (Sxph), a bullfrog high-affinity STX-binding protein, alone and bound to STX. The structures reveal a novel high-affinity STX-binding site built from a "proto-pocket" on a transferrin scaffold that also bears thyroglobulin domain protease inhibitor repeats. Comparison of Sxph and voltage-gated sodium channel STX-binding sites reveals a convergent toxin recognition strategy comprising a largely rigid binding site where acidic side chains and a cation-π interaction engage STX. These studies reveal molecular rules for STX recognition, outline how a toxin-binding site can be built on a naïve scaffold, and open a path to developing protein sensors for environmental STX monitoring and new biologics for STX intoxication mitigation

The role of embodied scaffolding in revealing “enactive potentialities” in intergenerational science exploration

Although adults are known to play an important role in young children's development, little work has focused on the enactive features of scaffolding in informal learning settings, and the embodied dynamics of intergenerational interaction. To address this gap, this paper undertakes a microinteractional analysis to examine intergenerational collaborative interaction in a science museum setting. The paper presents a fine-grained moment-by-moment analysis of video-recorded interaction of children and their adult carers around science-themed objects. Taking an enactive cognition perspective, the analysis enables access to subtle shifts in interactants’ perception, action, gesture, and movement to examine how young children engage with exhibits, and the role adult action plays in supporting young children's engagement with exhibits and developing ideas about science. Our findings demonstrate that intergenerational “embodied scaffolding” is instrumental in making “enactive potentialities” in the environment more accessible for children, thus deepening and enriching children's engagement with science. Adult action is central to revealing scientific dimensions of objects’ interaction and relationships in ways that expose novel types of perception and action opportunities in shaping science experiences and meaning making. This has implications for science education practices since it foregrounds not only “doing” science, through active hands-on activities, but also speaks to the interconnectedness between senses and the role of the body in thinking. Drawing on the findings, this paper also offers design implications for informal science learning environments