This article offers a theoretical framework of a meaningful art education for blind people. Existing literature focuses on the interaction between the artwork and the blind person. This text describes this aesthetic encounter which is complex due to tactile sensations, individual differences of the non-sighted viewer and specific features of the art work. The article demonstrates further the importance of thorough reflection on these issues. The paradoxical character of blindness and visual art raises some difficult theoretical problems. Several authors plead for an art education for the blind that emphasises tactile experiences, instead of visual information. The article considers the consequences of such reasoning and stresses the importance of visual information in an art educational setting for blind people. Finally the article considers the roles of the art educator and the museum guide, as moderators in this dichotomy between the tactile elements of an artwork and its visual features.

Rats were immunized with a fusion protein (gal-FnBP) encompassing beta-galactosidase and the domains of fibronectin binding protein from Staphylococcus aureus responsible for binding to fibronectin. Antibodies against gal-FnBP were shown to block the binding of S. aureus to immobilized fibronectin in vitro. Endocarditis in immunized and non-immunized control rats was induced by catheterization via the right carotid artery, resulting in damaged aortic heart valves which became covered by fibrinogen and fibronectin. The catheterized rats were then infected intravenously with 1 x 10(5) cells of S. aureus. The number of bacteria associated with aortic valves was determined 1 1/2 days after the challenge infection and a significant difference in bacterial numbers between immunized and non-immunized groups was then observed (p < 0.05).