In response to public demand, federal legislation now requires testing of most students in the United States in reading and mathematics in grades three through eight. Many educators, parents, and policymakers who have paid little attention to testing policy issues in the past need to have better information on the topic than has generally been available. Kill the Messenger, now in paperback, fills this gap.This is perhaps the most thorough and authoritative work in defense of educational testing ever written. Phelps points out that much research conducted by education insiders on the topic is based on ideological preference or profound self-interest. It is not surprising that they arrive at emphatically anti-testing conclusions. Much, if not most, of this hostile research is passed on to the public by journalists as if it were neutral, objective, and independent. Kill the Messenger explains and refutes many of the common criticisms of testing; describes testing opponents' strategies, through case studies of Texas and the SAT; illustrates the profound media bias against testing; acknowledges testing's limitations, and suggests how it can be improved; and finally, outlines the consequences of losing the war on standardized testing.

ABSTRACTCoxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) infection induces myocardial inflammation and myocyte necrosis in some, but not all, strains of mice. C57BL/6 mice, which inherently lack major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II IE antigen, develop minimal cardiac lesions despite high levels of virus in the heart. The present experiments evaluate the relative roles of class II IA and IE expression on myocarditis susceptibility in four transgenic C57BL/6 mouse strains differing in MHC class II antigen expression. Animals lacking MHC class II IE antigen (C57BL/6 [IA+IE−] and ABo[IA−IE−]) developed minimal cardiac lesions subsequent to infection despite high concentrations of virus in the heart. In contrast, strains expressing IE (ABoEα [IA−IE+] and Bl.Tg.Eα [IA+IE+]) had substantial cardiac injury. Myocarditis susceptibility correlated to a Th1 (gamma interferon-positive) cell response in the spleen, while disease resistance correlated to a preferential Th2 (interleukin-4-positive) phenotype. Vγ/Vδ analysis indicates that distinct subpopulations of γδ+T cells are activated after CVB3 infection of C57BL/6 and Bl.Tg.Eα mice. Depletion of γδ+T cells abrogated myocarditis susceptibility in IE+animals and resulted in a Th1→Th2 phenotype shift. These studies indicate that the MHC class II antigen haplotype controls myocarditis susceptibility, that this control is most likely mediated through the type of γδ T cells activated during CVB3 infection, and finally that different subpopulations of γδ+T cells may either promote or inhibit Th1 cell responses.

It is demonstrated that methotrexate/cisplatin-sensitive L1210 cells express low levels of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II relative to the high levels expressed on methotrexate (MTX)/cisplatin-resistant L1210/DDP cells. L1210 cells express cell-surface Fas, while the L1210/DDP cells express no cell-surface Fas. Expression of costimulatory molecules B7-1/B7-2 and Fas is increased on L1210 cells, but not L1210/DDP, in the presence of methotrexate or trimetrexate (TMTX). Therefore, a component of the mechanism of action of some anti-cancer agents may be to facilitate immune recognition and T cell-directed, Fas-induced cell death. Loss of cell-surface Fas expression and failure of Fas (CD95)-dependent apoptotic death has been observed when cells develop drug resistance. The defect in apoptosis can be overcome by anti-cancer agents or experimental manipulation that induce Fas expression on the drug-resistant cells.

The formation of lignin in wheat plants from C14O2, during the period of rapid lignification, has been studied over the first few hours of photosynthesis by measuring the incorporation of carbon-14 into the guaiacyl and syringyl portions of the lignin molecule. Plants grown 62 days from seeding were exposed to 20 microcuries of C14O2 in a closed chamber for 20 min., and grown for periods of 1 to 24 hr. in a normal atmosphere before harvesting. Synthesis of lignin is most rapid four to six hours from activation, the syringyl residues apparently being formed more slowly than the guaiacyl. A slower rate of formation persists for the remainder of a one-day period, probably as a result of recycling in the carbon pool. Cellulose acquires carbon-14 more rapidly than lignin during the period immediately following administration of C14O2, but after three or four hours when synthesis of lignin has become rapid, the total carbon-14 content of both components reaches about the same value.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTRapid Micromethod for Alkaline Nitrobenzene Oxidation of Lignin and Determination of AldehydesJ. E. Stone and M. J. BlundellCite this: Anal. Chem. 1951, 23, 5, 771–774Publication Date (Print):May 15, 1951Publication History Published online1 May 2002Published inissue 15 May 1951https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ac60053a026https://doi.org/10.1021/ac60053a026research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views450Altmetric-Citations87LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose Get e-Alerts

Wheat plants were harvested approximately every two weeks after emergence from the soil. Determination of the lignin content by the 72% sulphuric acid method showed a rapid increase between the period 45–70 days from seeding, and there was a corresponding increase in the yield of vanillin and syringaldehyde, obtained by alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation. The p-hydroxybenzaldehyde yield remained low at all times and seemed to be derived from a different system. It is suggested that the source of this aldehyde is not the lignin, but the tyrosine associated with the protein. The ratios of vanillin to syringaldehyde did not remain constant from plants of different ages, the percentage of syringaldehyde being lower than vanillin in the young plants and higher in those which were more mature. This is qualitatively in agreement with an increase in the methoxyl content of the lignin.When the yield of aldehydes from mature plants is taken as the criterion for the amount of lignin present, the youngest plants have a lignin content of about 0.13%, a value much lower than other bases for calculation would indicate.Oxidation of the whole plant and of the plant which had been extracted with alcohol–benzene, water, and 1% hydrochloric acid, gave similar percentages of aldehydes, owing partly to the removal of aldehyde-producing substances and partly to the degradation of the lignin during the extraction process. Oxidation of the extracts gave no trace of aldehyde in the hydrochloric acid extract, a trace in the water extract, and appreciable percentages in the alcohol–benzene extract. This latter extract consisted of two portions, a red water soluble, alcohol–benzene insoluble fraction and the main alcohol–benzene soluble fraction. The former gave rise to vanillin and p-hydroxybenzaldehyde on oxidation, the amount being a maximum at the first harvest and decreasing to zero after lignification had occurred. The latter, that is, the alcohol–benzene soluble extract, gave rise to syringaldehyde as well as the others, the amounts being low at first and increasing during lignification in the same way as the main body of the plant. It is believed that the alcohol–benzene removes a soluble portion of the lignin since the relative proportions of the aldehydes are very similar to those obtained from lignin itself.