Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)--University of Hong Kong, 2004. / Also available in print.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Victoria University (Melbourne, Vic.), 2009.

Thesis (B.A. (Hons.)) - University of Queensland, 2004. / Includes bibliography.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2006. / Title from title screen (site viewed June 11, 2007). PDF text: viii, 133 p. : ill. UMI publication number: AAT 3239364. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

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Thesis (M.S.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. / Sleep has been associated with learning flexibility and memory enhancement in several domains, yet little evidence exists on the effects of sleep in early language learning. In our study, we asked whether two-year-old toddlers benefit from sleep when learning the meaning of words. We adapted a paradigm in which two-year-olds were taught novel words, specifically verbs, and were asked to map them to meaning (Arunachalam & Waxman, 2010). Toddlers were first familiarized with a novel verb used in transitive sentences (i.e., “Mary is going to moop the cat”). Next, we assessed whether they mapped the novel verb to a meaning by testing them twice, once immediately after familiarization, and once after a delay of 3-6 hours, during which toddlers either slept or remained awake. At test, they viewed two candidate referents for the novel verb: a causative scene and a synchronous scene. Note that causative events can be described with transitive verbs, but synchronous events cannot. Toddlers’ task was to assign the novel verb to one of the potential visual referents. If sleep promotes language learning, then toddlers will perform better at the second test if they had slept during the delay than if they had not. Specifically, we predicted that toddlers who slept would look more to the causative scene than those who remained awake. Results revealed that toddlers in both delay conditions and even at both tests were not above chance at choosing the causative scene. These results present an interesting paradigm that could be applied to other sleep research studies. / 2031-01-01

The available evidence suggests insomnia is common in individuals who experience psychosis. Poor sleep within this population has been associated with numerous detriments to mental health and well-being. Nevertheless, the majority of work to date has focused on chronic presentations, with few studies investigating the role of insomnia in recently onset psychosis. Understanding and treating psychosis following the first presentation is important to promote recovery and prevent the development of long-term illness. This work therefore aimed to utilise mixed methods to comprehensively investigate insomnia in early psychosis. It is presented in a series of five research papers, supplemented by additional chapters to provide an introduction, additional methodological details and general discussion. Paper one presents a systematic review, which aimed to synthesise the relevant literature with regards to the nature and correlates of insomnia in early psychosis. Paper two utilised qualitative methods aiming to understand the experience of insomnia, its impacts and experiences of help-seeking in early psychosis. Paper three aimed to investigate the nature of insomnia symptoms in first episode psychosis, compared to a healthy control group, using actigraphy and sleep diary measurement over a 14-day period. Paper four aimed to investigate how poor sleep was associated with next-day mental health and functioning, presenting data from an electronic diary study conducted alongside the sleep profiling presented in paper three. Paper five aimed to assess the acceptability of a Brief Behavioural Treatment for Insomnia (BBTI) delivered to a first episode psychosis group. Findings across studies indicated insomnia to have a wide range of detrimental outcomes, indicating the treatment of insomnia may be an important target for relevant mental health services.

Objectives: To investigate slow wave sleep (SWS) spectral power proportions in distinct clinical conditions sharing non-restorative sleep and fatigue complaints without excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), namely the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and Primary Insomnia (PI). Impaired sleep homeostasis has been suspected in both CFS and PI. Methods: We compared perceived sleep quality, fatigue and sleepiness symptom-intensities, polysomnography (PSG) and SWS spectral power distributions of drug-free CFS and PI patients without comorbid sleep or mental disorders, with a good sleeper control group.Results: Higher fatigue without EDS and impaired perceived sleep quality were confirmed in both patient groups. PSG mainly differed in sleep fragmentation and SWS durations. Spectral analysis revealed a similar decrease in central ultra slow power (0.3-0.79Hz) proportion during SWS for both CFS and PI and an increase in frontal power proportions of faster frequencies during SWS in PI only. The latter was correlated to affective symptoms whereas lower central ultra slow power proportions were related to fatigue severity and sleep quality impairment. Conclusions: In combination with normal (PI) or even increased SWS durations (CFS), we found consistent evidence for lower proportions of slow oscillations during SWS in PI and CFS. Significance:Observing normal or increased SWS durations but lower proportions of ultra slow power, our findings suggest a possible quantitative compensation of altered homeostatic regulation. / Doctorat en Sciences de la motricité / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished