Science,industry and the laity: Towards a knowledgeable society for biotechnology

This paper is concerned with the task of developing a 'knowledgeable society' for biotechnology. This is hindered by the fact that the scientific and commercial communities often engage in separate discourses from that which engages the general public. Different concepts of knowledge ('knowing') and learning underpin preoccupations and concerns in these three spheres, and different logics and assumptions about knowledge often apply. The paper begins by highlighting the key issues that exercise people in the public domain, and in relation to science and industry. It then applies concepts of knowledge, communication and learning to show how people in these domains construct issues differently. Finally, it makes some predictions and suggestions for how a more knowledgeable society may evolve.     

Silver-resistant Enterobacteriaceae from hospital patients

The inclusion of agar medium containing 0.5 mM AgNO3 in the hospital laboratory replicating system for routine antibiotic-susceptibility determinations resulted in identification of species of Enterobacteriaceae (Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Proteus mirabilis, and Citrobacter freundii) with silver resistance. Since the study began in October, 1975, 11 in-hospital patients receiving silver sulfadiazine for burn wound prophylaxis have yielded silver-resistant bacteria from their infected burns. During this treatment routine burn-site cultures from these patients yielded 230 isolates of Enterobacteriaceae, including 211 which were sulfonamide-resistant, 97 of which were also silver-resistant, and 38 of which were untested for silver resistance. Seven silver-resistant but sulfonamide-sensitive isolates were incidentally recovered from respiratory specimens from four nonburn patients with silver tracheostomy tubes, one silver-resistant sulfonamide-sensitive isolate was recovered from a small infected burn on the foot of an Emergency Room patient. Previous treatment of this burn was unknown. Representative AgNO3-resistant E. coli isolates from four patients were serologically untypable. Serotyping of representative isolates of K. pneumoniae showed a diversity of types except from two patients who had been in the same ward at the same time.     

Geniculo-Cortical Projection Diversity Revealed within the Mouse Visual Thalamus

The mouse dorsal lateral geniculate nucleus (dLGN) is an intermediary between retina and primary visual cortex (V1). Recent investigations are beginning to reveal regional complexity in mouse dLGN. Using local injections of retrograde tracers into V1 of adult and neonatal mice, we examined the developing organisation of geniculate projection columns: the population of dLGN-V1 projection neurons that converge in cortex. Serial sectioning of the dLGN enabled the distribution of labelled projection neurons to be reconstructed and collated within a common standardised space. This enabled us to determine: the organisation of cells within the dLGN-V1 projection columns; their internal organisation (topology); and their order relative to V1 (topography). Here, we report parameters of projection columns that are highly variable in young animals and refined in the adult, exhibiting profiles consistent with shell and core zones of the dLGN. Additionally, such profiles are disrupted in adult animals with reduced correlated spontaneous activity during development. Assessing the variability between groups with partial least squares regression suggests that 4–6 cryptic lamina may exist along the length of the projection column. Our findings further spotlight the diversity of the mouse dLGN–an increasingly important model system for understanding the pre-cortical organisation and processing of visual information. Furthermore, our approach of using standardised spaces and pooling information across many animals will enhance future functional studies of the dLGN.