When All is Said and Done, How Should You Play and What Should You Expect?

What should you do when you misinform the laboratory results?

The author had an opportunity to address, in a classroom discussion, one of his student’s questions on what a physician should do if he/she misinforms a patient about laboratory results. This question then became a discussion topic in the classroom. The two main answers from this discussion were: 1. Most of the students tried to convince the patient of the necessity of re-examination and asked ...

Rethink What You Should Expect From Your Distributed Control System

When all is said and done....

Dr. Benacerraf describes his experience in training immunologists for a period of over 30 years. He then analyzes the circumstances in which selected discoveries were made in his laboratory and the events and reasoning that led to these findings. The following topics are discussed: The phagocytic activity of the reticulo-endothelial system. The pathogenesis of immune complex diseases. The impac...

What are Exercises and How Should You Do Them?

This is a comment a student wrote in fall, 1997 on the evaluations of the exercises that you will use for this class: "I have taken this class before at another college. I got F's my first two tests, so I decided to take it over here. I got an A+ on my first test. What helped me is the beginning of the packet at the IU Bookstore that explained how to answer your questions." This exercise covers...

What You Can’t Expect When You’re Expecting

It seems natural to choose whether to have a child by reflecting on what it would be like to actually have a child. I argue that this natural approach fails. If you choose to become a parent, and your choice is based on projections about what you think it would be like for you to have a child, your choice is not rational. If you choose to remain childless, and your choice is based upon projecti...