Erroneous Ideas Research Articles

Use of Confidence Scales in Analysing Unscientific Ideas about Evolution among Religious Jewish Students

This paper reports on an investigation of two inter-related but different matters, one of interest to science education researchers and teachers in general, and the other to those teaching about evolution. The first was motivated by the dilemma facing teachers who want to diagnose learners' prior knowledge before teaching and are concerned about the teaching time needed to identify existing ideas in a valid way. The paper reports on four benefits of adding a confidence scale to a true-false quiz which is quick and easy to use for diagnostic purposes. The second aspect of the study was motivated by the problems experienced by many religious students when they face the challenge of learning about evolution. The nature and extent of prior ideas of 32 grade 12 students at a religious Jewish school in South Africa are identified and discussed within a framework of border-crossing, as religious students learning about evolution might be expected to have difficulties functioning in a science context which they might perceive to conflict with their religious world-view. Although the frequency of unscientific ideas about mechanisms of evolution was high, as expected from students who had not been taught the topic, erroneous ideas typically associated with understanding the nature of science, as well as some associated with religious beliefs, were unexpectedly low.

P3.179 Prevalence of HIV and Syphilis and Social Behaviour Characteristics of Native Populations in Three Geographical Areas of Paraguay - 2011

BackgroundThe indigenous population presents cultural, socioeconomic characteristics that increases its vulnerability to sexually transmitted infections, like syphilis and HIV.MethodsCross-sectional descriptive study, with confidential linked serological tests for HIV and Syphilis,...

The lexicography of sad

This paper is a discussion of surviving the experiences of Psychotic Major Depression (PMD) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). It involves a discussion of Allison’s experiences of voice hearing and psychosis as well as therapy that was and was not useful for enduring and surviving her experiences. Allison explains how language became a feature of her condition, and she also details stigma that was associated with people’s misunderstanding of the nature of psychosis. The paper also examines entrenched and largely cultural ideas toward psychosis, ultimately concluding that these erroneous ideas creating stigma also arise from within the mental health system.

Diagnosing Portuguese Students' Misconceptions about the Mineral Concept

Educational researchers and teachers are well aware that misconceptions—erroneous ideas that differ from the scientifically accepted ones—are very common amongst students. Daily experiences, creative and perceptive thinking and science textbooks give rise to students' misconceptions which lead them to draw erroneous conclusions that become strongly attached to their views and somehow affect subsequent learning. The main scope of this study was to understand what students consider a mineral to be and why. Therefore, the goals were (1) to identify eleventh-grade students' misconceptions about the mineral concept; (2) to understand which variables (gender, parents' education level and attitude towards science) influenced students' conceptions; and (3) to create teaching tools for the prevention of misconceptions. In order to achieve these goals, a diagnostic instrument (DI), constituted of a two-tier diagnostic test and a Science Attitude Questionnaire, was developed to be used with a sample of 89 twelfth-grade students from five schools located in central Portugal. As far as we know, this is the first DI developed for the analysis of misconceptions about the mineral concept. Data analysis allows us to conclude that students had serious difficulties in understanding the mineral concept, having easily formed misconceptions. The variables gender and parents' education level influence certain students' conceptions. This study provides a valuable basis for reflection on teaching and learning strategies, especially on this particular theme.

Another exchange on climate change

Another exchange on climate change

Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250–1750

Enchanted Europe: Superstition, Reason, and Religion, 1250–1750

Some considerations about thermodynamic cycles

After completing their introductory studies on thermodynamics at the university level, typically in a second-year university course, most students show a number of misconceptions. In this work, we identify some of those erroneous ideas and try to explain their origins. We also give a suggestion to attack the problem through a systematic and detailed study of various thermodynamic cycles. In the meantime, we derive some useful relations.

Perceptions of the Relative Harmfulness of Snus Among Norwegian General Practitioners and Their Effect on the Tendency to Recommend Snus in Smoking Cessation

Research suggests that health risks associated with the use of Swedish moist snuff (snus) are considerably smaller than health risks associated with cigarette smoking. However, erroneous ideas of approximately equal harm from snus and cigarettes are common in the general population. General practitioners (GPs) have a crucial role in giving information about health and risk to patients, and the objective of this study was to measure their perceptions of the relative harmfulness of cigarettes and snus and how these perceptions related to their tendency to recommend snus as a smoking cessation aid. Approximately 900 GPs completed a questionnaire in 2008 (response rate about 45%). Perceived relative risk was measured by the question: "In terms of health risks, how do you think daily use of snus compares to daily use of cigarettes?" Answer categories ranged from "snus is much more harmful" to "snus is much less harmful." Only 36% of the GPs believed that snus was much less harmful than cigarettes. More than 15% believed that snus was equally or more harmful than cigarettes. GPs who rated snus as much less harmful more often recommended snus as an aid in smoking cessation. Almost two thirds of the GPs had beliefs about the relative risk of snus and cigarettes that were at odds with scientific consensus. The associated limitations in disseminated information about snus as a possible quitting aid can be understood as an unexploited intervention potential.

"Informal" Credit Systems in Fishing Communities: Issues and Examples from Vietnam

Exemplification of informal credit and local financial systems since the 1940s has discredited the assumptions that these either do not exist or, if they do, that they impose harsh conditions on borrowers. Nevertheless, those erroneous ideas remain tenacious. A sample of 403 marine fisheries stakeholders in five provinces of Vietnam demonstrates that, lacking collateral acceptable to the formal sector, fisheries households depend on the informal financial system. Credit is pieced together generally from several formal and informal sources to finance fishing boats and operations. Credit demand and supply in capture fisheries communities still requires comprehensive examination, especially for countries like Vietnam, for which this is the first study. The role of informal credit systems is examined, the associated patron-client relationship revisited, and additional research needs suggested. Research on financial systems should be broad and integrated, focusing on the varied interlocking contexts of individuals and institutions and aimed at transcending misconceptions like the dichotomy between formal and informal.

De la réticence face à l’électroconvulsivothérapie : enquête auprès de 120 personnels soignants dans un centre hospitalo-universitaire en Tunisie

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is rarely practiced in Tunisia. We have tried to explain this lack of use by studying theoretical knowledge, the perception and the attitudes of health professionals towards ECT. We conducted a survey in the region of Sfax in Tunisia. It included 120 participants. The latter were divided into four groups, composed of 30 members, in order to compare them: group 1 (psychiatrists); group 2 (neurologists and anaesthetists); group 3 (psychiatric nurses); group 4 (paramedics in the neurological and anaesthesia wards). The surveyed people answered an auto-questionnaire including essentially 16 items: 11 had binary answers (true or false) related to theoretical knowledge about ECT, and five others explored the perception and attitudes concerning this therapy. Concerning the items exploring theoretical knowledge, 67.5% of people were not able to answer, in conformity with the consensual scientific data, a minimum of 75% questions. The rates were significantly lower among the paramedics (P<0.001) and those who work outside the psychiatric wards (P=0.003). The answers of psychiatric caregivers were less frequently incorrect compared to those of non psychiatric ward workers. The latter more frequently thought that the psychiatrists easily resorted to ECT (P=0.003). The paramedics perceived, more frequently than doctors, the ECT as a violent therapeutic means (P=0.001), and more frequently refused to give their consent to apply ECT to a relative (P=0.044). The rate of doctors who refused to give their consent to apply ECT to a relative was statistically higher in group 2 than in group 1 (P=0.017). Doctors with higher scores in theoretical knowledge, consent more frequently to apply ECT to a member of their families (P=0.001). The comparison of theoretical knowledge between the two groups of doctors (group 1 versus group 2) revealed significantly more frequent incorrect answers among non-psychiatrists. The latter more frequently had erroneous ideas: that ECT was performed without anaesthesia; that it wasn't possible to apply it to pregnant women, nor to people suffering from Parkinson's disease, nor as a preventive treatment of recurrence, and that the vital risk was higher with ECT than medical treatments. Compared to the caregivers of group 3, group 4 had significantly more frequent negative attitudes toward ECT; concerning the application without anaesthesia, the lack of tolerance and the over-mortality rate related to ECT. This therapy seems to create an apprehension and a reticence among health professionals, mainly the paramedics and the non-psychiatrists. The lack of valid scientific knowledge concerning ECT allows prejudiced ideas to tarnish the image of this therapy. Information and training would play a primordial role in the improvement of the perception and attitudes concerning ECT, and lower the reticence towards this therapy, which in spite of its proven efficacy, always maintains a pejorative image.

What Can We Do in Our Locality to Acquaint the Public with the Service Pharmacy Renders?

The value of the service rendered to the public by the pharmacist is recognized today to a far greater extent than ever before. This is an important sign of progress, but there is still much to be done to impress the significance of this service upon the popular mind and to disabuse people of erroneous ideas of pharmacies and their place in the economy of things. Charters has said, well-informed pharmacist is the best single individual to disseminate information about public This is undoubtedly true and few people realize how much information is furnished and how much assistance is rendered by the pharmacist without any charge whatsoever. While the physician deals with individual cases of illness, prescribing for and treating the patients, the drug store serves as a kind of clearing house for general information on health, aside from being the source of supply from which not only medicines are obtained, but also, sanitary and toilet goods and many other closely related articles. It is our duty to stress constantly the added dignity and usefulness of the pharmacy in the present scheme of things. This is already recognized to a considerable extent, but should be recognized still more. Pharmacists themselves can assist materially in getting such recognition. This can be done in conversations, with customers and personal acquaintances, in well-phrased advertising, and in the attitude of the clerks and other employees of drug stores. It needs no elaboration to show the contrast between the drug store of a few decades ago, limited to the sale of old time remedies, for the most part, and often dingy and uninviting in appearance, and the modern, attractive pharmacy with its astonishingly wide range of merchandise. The present pharmacy, besides being a public health agency, is also a public institution as indispensable as the fire department and the public school, the chief distinction being that it is privately owned and managed. In fact, the clients or patients of the pharmacy far outnumber those who utilize the services of the public school or the fire department. As a matter of fact, everybody or nearly everybody patronizes the pharmacy at one time or another, and a large share of people do so almost daily. Sometimes reference is made in a humorous vein to the fact that the modern pharmacy is virtually a department store, because it sells nearly everything. This, of course, is no reflection on the pharmacy. On the contrary, it is evidence of the key position that the pharmacy occupies in modern life. Just because it occupies that position, it has so rapidly become the place where one can buy such a large variety of useful goods. When the matter is considered carefully, it will be found that a great proportion of the commodities on sale in drug stores are related directly or indirectly to health--therefore, they are on sale in the logical place. Toothbrushes, toothpaste and powder, safety razors and blades, shaving cream and soap, talcum powder, perfume, toilet water, nail files and clippers, electric heaters, and electric fans--these are just a few of the multitude of things I might enumerate which are found in pharmacies as a rule and all of which, on reflection, have a distinct bearing on the matter of health. They are not drugs, to be sure, but they are certainly factors in keeping people clean and well and comfortable. A survey of the merchandise of average pharmacies will reveal that this principle holds true for the most part. And where articles on sale have little or no connection with health in any way, it must be remembered that it is the natural and proper policy to sell anything in common use which can be exhibited and sold conveniently in such a store, simply because the drug store is the one place visited by almost everyone in the neighborhood, sooner or later. In this respect, it is distinct from the clothing store, the shoe shop, the restaurant, the tailor shop, etc. …

Censorship and Cultural Sensibility: The Regulation of Language in Tudor-Stuart England. Debora Shuger . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Pp. 346.

<i>Censorship and Cultural Sensibility: The Regulation of Language in Tudor-Stuart England</i>. Debora Shuger . Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. Pp. 346.

Opiniones de médicos de atención primaria, psiquiatras y psicólogos acerca de las guías de práctica clínica para la depresión. Un estudio cualitativo exploratorio

Aim To explore the views on clinical practice guidelines (CPG) of general practitioners (GP), psychiatrists, and psychologists. Design Descriptive-exploratory qualitative study based on semi-structured individual and group interviews. Setting Public primary health care and mental health centres in Barcelona, Sabadell, Cornellà de Llobregat and Gavà. Participants and context A total of 31 health professionals (10 GPs, 11 psychiatrists, and 10 psychologists) interviewed at their work place or at the research unit between October 2007 and June 2008. Method Convenience sample. Participants were heterogeneous as regards sex, age, experience and workplace. Interviews were recoded and transcribed. Content analysis. Triangulation between techniques and results comparisons with participants was carried out as quality control. Results The main advantages of CPGs were that they helped in decision making and gave security. On the other hand, participants were sceptical about the objectivity of GPC and considered that recommendations could not be applied to their individual patients. Additionally, they perceived CPG as inflexible. At the time of the study, GPs did not know of any CPG for depression. Specialists knew several CPGs but they did not use them as they prioritise their own experience. Conclusions There are some erroneous ideas about what a CPG is. If we want to implement CPGs, it is important to carry out some previous work presenting what a CPG is, what it is not and when it could be useful.

A reflection on open-access, citation counts, and the future of scientific publishing

In the new era of wide dissemination of information, the opportunities to communicate and share the results of scientific research are immense. The consequences of this change are, however, somewhat unpredictable. For one thing, the more people have access to information and ideas, the more ideas we will have and, in theory, scientific knowledge may expand to levels never seen before. Nevertheless, one may wondered whether this expansion of knowledge will have beneficial or harmful effects. The widespread diffusion of erroneous ideas, whether from scientists or laymen, has the potential to do substantial damage due to the pervasive influence of the Internet. However, this same ubiquity will, surely, ensure that mistaken ideas or theories, at least those propounded by reputable scientists, will also be discussed and refuted where necessary. In the field of scientific publishing, the scrutiny of ideas and results, i.e. peer review, appears to have worked quite well until the arrival of the World Wide Web. Moreover, science is largely a self-correcting process. It is also true that the mechanisms used by scientific journals to communicate new scientific data have contributed greatly to the present state of things. But it is also easy to imagine that scientific knowledge could spread much faster in the new information age than hitherto. It is thus understandable that the open-access movement has received such overwhelming support from many sectors. For scientists, open access implies not only immediate access to the full written article, but also to data and metadata that can be used for re-analysis. It also means major visibility; in other words, if someone is looking for a paper and does not have access through the Internet, they may simply disregard it unless they really need it. However, it is also understandable that traditional publishers, who no doubt have been those mainly responsible for and the guarantors of the transmission of most scientific discoveries for the betterment of society so far, are reluctant to accept the new system. Although the true cost of scientific publishing has not been determined, many journals are profitable to their owners. Journals owned by for-profit companies may well contend that they are conducting sound business, while revenue from publications is used by not-for-profit organizations to further advance the cause of the organization (DeAngelis and Musacchio 2004). In addition, publishers can always argue that they took the initial financial risk in starting journals and are entitled to a return on their investment. Much has been written on the topic of open access over the last few years, especially since the launch of the Public Library of Science (PLoS) in October 2003. Richard Smith, former editor of the BMJ, has perhaps too radically compared the business of publishing to theft, where publishers make money by preventing ideas from breeding more ideas and stopping the expansion of knowledge (Smith 2007). Smith, who was BMJ’s chief editor for 25 years, suggested that journals should bid for the best papers, rather than researchers transferring their copyright to journals for free. The traditional system of scholarly publishing certainly reveals some striking ironies. A reviewer who has worked to shape an article and has refereed the article for free may have no access to the final version of the published article if they or their institution has no subscription to the journal. At the other end of the spectrum are those who argue that we are inundated by information but lack the time to evaluate it and that open access worsens this situation by opening the gates to increasing amounts of unfiltered information (Esposito 2007), which is, in my opinion, sometimes really junk information. There are also concerns about whether reputational incentives will 2009 Arch. Immunol. Ther. Exp., 2009, 57, 91–93 PL ISSN 0004-069X DOI 10.1007/s00005-009-0016-y VARIA

Are there Racial Differences in Attitudes Toward Hospice Care? A Study of Hospice-Eligible Patients at the Visiting Nurse Service of New York

Research on African American and white attitudes, perceptions, and knowledge of hospice care has focused predominantly on patients and providers in institutions and community-based care settings. Little is known about patients receiving home health services, despite growing trends toward noninstitutional care in the United States. This study of home health clients who are eligible for hospice, but not currently receiving it, found few differences between racial groups with regard to attitudes about end-of-life care. An alarming proportion of African American and white home health clients held erroneous ideas about hospice care and had not discussed this option with their providers. These findings suggest that increased referrals to home-based hospice care among home health clients depend on the availability and professional dissemination of accurate, spiritually sensitive information.

Maternal Alcohol Abuse and Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder

Many common misconceptions about prenatal exposure to alcohol still exist in the minds of bom the public and professional communities. Many of these misconceptions possess striking similarities to misperceptions about women who abuse alcohol. This paper attempts to do away with some widespread erroneous ideas related to alcohol abuse and its effects. Research results in the areas of drug treatment and developmental outcomes are reviewed and recommendations for service provision to both mothers with alcohol abuse problems and individuals with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder are made.

Knowledge of HIV/AIDS among adolescents in Chillán, Chile

Objective to analyse adolescents’ knowledge of preventive sexual practices related to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) by means of a questionnaire recommended by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Method non-experimental, cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical investigation. Setting four schools in Chillán, Chile, 2005. Participants a total of 480 adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years. Students completed a questionnaire recommended by UNAIDS in order to develop basic indicators. Findings the indicator of preventive sexual practices related to HIV/AIDS was 32.5%; forms of prevention (62.5%) were better known than erroneous ideas about transmission (46%). Adolescents from the only private school in the study demonstrated greater knowledge (43.3%) than students from the public schools (25%) ( p<0.01). No significant differences were found in knowledge according to age, sex or educational level. Conclusion adolescents have poor knowledge of preventive sexual practices related to HIV and AIDS. It is necessary to implement an indicator of knowledge that allows for the creation and monitoring of sexual education programmes.

From Polemics to Wars: The Curious Case of the House of Guise and the Outbreak of the French Wars of Religion

no abstract

Present at the flood: How structural biology came about, by Richard E. Dickerson

<i>Present at the flood: How structural biology came about,</i> by Richard E. Dickerson

A Note on The Political Idea of "Latino" in American Life

A Note on The Political Idea of "Latino" in American Life Niccolo Caldararo and James Quesada The use of terms of race or ethnicity can be precise or general given the social context of conversation. In recent years, the use of the term "Latino" has exploded into a racial, political and ethnic category that covers such a vast number of contradictory traits and elements of group membership that it enrages some as much as it emboldens others. The passions unleashed by this term have been displayed in the media following recent demonstrations over possible new legislation over immigration. The contradictory elements of membership in the use of this term to individuals carries a number of dangers. For example, on January 24th of this year the L.A. Times carried an article (Maugh 2006) on melanoma and Latinos that was disturbing for a number of reasons. First the false idea that a group of people called "Latinos" have protection from the rays of the sun is strange in itself. It is equally upsetting to find that physicians who are supposed to be scientifically trained in human variation and genetics could harbor such a stereotype. The fact that the distribution of melanin in skin in different populations over the globe is not completely related to the intensity of solar radiation has been known for many years, and San Francisco scientist Nina Jablonski from our California Academy of Sciences has shown there are a number of reasons for [End Page 731] this (Jablonski 2000). Relethford (1997) and Robins (1991) demonstrated that skin coloration varies significantly throughout the Mediterranean and Central and South America. Just as Jablonski and Chaplin (2000) have shown how UV exposure varies over these areas, it is obvious that there is no one skin type present, no "Latino" coloration. Anthropologists have been trying for more than half a century to show that there is no scientific basis for dividing the human species into racial groups. People from Central and South America have no more protection from skin cancer than the people who live in areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea. To find that doctors actually believe that they are protected is disappointing. These kinds of erroneous ideas might be more expected of popular commentators who don't know any better and traffic in generalizing about imagined ethnic propensities, such as Larry Krueger, a local San Francisco radio station personality from KNBR. Among other things, Krueger referred to the Giant baseball team as "Latin" players, who are, "brain-dead Caribbean hitters hacking at slop nightly" (Ortiz 2006). Indeed, California Governor Schwarzenegger joined the act when, speculating about the Cuban or Puerto Rican background of a Republican Assemblywoman, he remarked, "They are all very hot…they have the, you know, part of the black blood in them and part of the Latino blood in them that together makes it" (quoted in the Mercury News, 9/9/06)." In each case, however, we think these events require some discussion of the nature of the term "Latino." While the use of this term was derogatory in the KNBR case, the main concern should be the essentialism it displays in the media and publics' perception of public personalities, and more generally those members of our society whose family history is associated with Central and South America. Nor is such rank essentialism the purvey of popular discourse, as the esteemed political scientist, Dr. Samuel Huntington so eminently displays in his critique on the threat Latino culture poses to mainstream American culture (Huntington 2004) Recent attacks on immigrants from south of the border to Ohio have brought a wave of racial comments about "Mexicans" and "Latinos." It seems quite clear that the use of the term "Latino" is rather imprecise, but is defining a political stance. In the recent debate over the California Governor's comments regarding the "Minuteman" border patrol and his references on the News 62 billboard and its "Mexican" tone (Wildermuth and Martin 2005), the application of the term "Latino" and "Mexican" have been used interchangeably. In a New York Times article , Samuel G. Freedman (2004) quotes "Latino" parents who decry bilingual education, which they claimed "consigned their [End Page 732] children to a linguistic...