A collaborative study was conducted to evaluate the performance of the VITEK 2 Gram-negative (GN) Identification card for use with the VITEK 2 automated microbial identification system. The GN test card is used in the identification of fermenting and nonfermenting Gram-negative bacilli, including the select agent organisms Brucella melitensis, Francisella tularensis, Burkholderia mallei, B. pseudomallei, and Yersinia pestis. The VITEK 2 GN card is based on 47 biochemical tests measuring carbon source utilization, inhibition and resistance, and enzymatic activities. A total of 20 laboratories representing government, industry, and private testing facilities throughout the United States participated. In this study, 720 Gram-negative inclusivity isolates were analyzed by the GN Identification method. Of the 720 well-characterized isolates, 707 were identified correctly, 0 were misidentified, 0 were unidentified, and 13 were not characterized as a Gram-negative organism. Additionally, 120 isolates exclusive of fermenting and nonfermenting Gram-negative bacilli were screened by Gram stain. A total of 117 isolates were correctly excluded. Three organisms were incorrectly characterized by Gram stain procedures, resulting in incorrect analysis and misidentification by VITEK 2 GN. The VITEK 2 GN identification method is an acceptable automated method for the rapid identification of Gram-negative bacteria.

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This article was prompted by a recent suicide by a middle school child. The school counselor who was involved (the sixth author) related the following experience. One Child's SuicideAs a helping professional working in public education for 5 years, I have dreaded confronting a few types of situations. One early fear I had was discovering and reporting child abuse. However, there was nothing I dreaded more than the possibility of dealing with a child's suicide. Unfortunately, I was tested by this challenge during my 2nd month as a middle school counselor. The 1st DayOne Monday in the fall, while attending a parent meeting at the middle school where I worked, I heard my name paged over the school intercom. I was asked to report to the office immediately. Upon my arrival, I saw the stricken expression of the school vice principal. I learned she was on the phone with the local police department. While still on the phone, she communicated to all the counselors present that a student had died. As soon as she hung up, she informed us that one of our eighthgrade students (who was on my caseload, but whom I had not yet met) had died from a gunshot wound, and it was suspected that he had committed suicide. Before we could start notifying the teachers at the school, our priority was to determine whether the death was a suicide or an accident. After conferring with the police, we were informed that the death was indeed a suicide. As trained professionals, we were taught to be prepared; however, we were still enveloped by a numbing shock. Our mettle tested, we were aware that many would be relying on us to be the cornerstone of strength. We prepared to face the formidable challenge of helping others to cope.Our first responsibility was to notify the teachers so they would not come to school and be blindsided by news of the tragedy. We felt it was important that the teachers and staff have an opportunity to prepare themselves for what would inevitably be a chaotic day full of grief, mourning, and questions. One of the counselors took responsibility for calling the teachers individually. The other counselor and I were delegated the task of calling the homes of the dead child's close friends to notify their parents. The parents were advised to talk to their children, explain what had happened, and process the tragedy as a family. The goal was to provide those we assessed as being the most affected by the news with an opportunity to grieve with family and to prepare all the students for the day ahead.I was assigned the unenviable task of contacting the victim's best friend. The child's mother was horrified and burst into tears upon hearing the news. Still personally shaken, I felt ill-equipped to offer any kind of comfort. For my own solace, I called my mother, a school principal, and sought support and information. She offered kind words and faxed me information about dealing with suicide at school. Although the information was helpful, as the news of the tragedy spread, there was little or no comfort to be found in the face of ...

The 1988 Education Reform Act legislated for a statutory curriculum in state-funded schools in England and Wales. This study explores how, out of a common curriculum framework for both countries, there emerged a school curriculum that was adapted to the distinctiveness of the linguistic and cultural context in Wales. The roles of those most closely involved in policy development in Wales are examined as is the relationship between the 'national' and 'territorial' arenas of policymaking in the months leading up to publication of the Education Reform Bill in November 1987. It is argued that a pragmatic approach to policy development in Wales during that period laid the foundations both for a reworking of the 1988 curriculum framework during the 1990s and for potentially more radical change following the 2002 Education Act.

Since 1999, the devolution of aspects of domestic policy formulation from the UK Government in London to a Welsh Assembly Government based in Cardiff has affected the way in which such policies are initiated, developed and implemented. A consistent feature of the stance taken by Ministers in this new policy environment in Wales has been that policies should be 'evidence-informed'. Several high profile policy reviews in education have offered opportunities for those involved to explore the nature of the evidence that is potentially relevant to policy and to judge how that evidence should impact upon policy development. Academic research is one category of evidence that has informed those reviews and academic researchers, as individuals, have been given significant roles in the process of review in Wales.This case study of a review of assessment policies for students aged between 7 and 14 analyses what is understood by the term 'evidence' and the expectations associated with a commitment to evidence-informed policy. It concludes that the process involved in formulating policy recommendations is best understood as an engagement with ideas that contribute to the construction of a 'where do we go from here' type of knowledge.