Introdução: Eventos traumáticos em nossa sociedade, a gravidade dos quadros psicopatológicos que podem advir desses eventos e a dificuldade terapêutica que podem significar levam à necessidade de embasar solidamente as medidas terapêuticas e de prevenção nas características individuais das vítimas de trauma, sendo o Transtorno de Estresse Pós- Traumático (TEPT) o principal transtorno psiquiátrico associado aos acidentes e a violência. Objetivo: Avaliar os efeitos da psicoterapia ultra-breve psicodinamicamente orientada no TEPT e TEA. Método: A amostra foi composta por 27 mulheres que foram atendidas no período de maio de 2008 e novembro de 2009 que completaram pelo menos quatro semanas de tratamento no Núcleo de Estudos e Tratamento do Trauma Psíquico (NET-TRAUMA) do Hospital de Clínicas de Porto Alegre (HCPA), Brasil. 85,2%(23) das pacientes preencheram os critérios para TEPT e 14,8%(4) tinham TEA . As pacientes foram avaliadas antes e após intervenção psicoterápica através das escalas: Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), Inventário Beck de Depressão (BECK), Defense Style Questionaire (DSQ-40), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) Impressão Clínica Global (CGI) e Avaliação Global do Funcionamento (GAF). Resultados: Após tratamento houve melhora na sintomatologia das escalas DTS, BECK, CGI E GAF, mesmo controlando para uso de psicofármacos. Com tamanho de efeito elevado na comparação entre as escala no pré e pós-tratamento: CGI d=1,18, GAF d= 1,03, DTS d=0,95 e BDI d=0,9. Houve uma redução da defesa de projeção (p=0,036) e um aumento na defesa humor (p=0,024). Encontramos uma associação positiva entre a diminuição de sintomas de TEPT e a diminuição no escore do fator imaturo (p=0,032 r=0,43). Conclusões: A psicoterapia ultra-breve psicodinamicamente orientada mostrou-se eficaz para o tratamento do TEPT e TEA. Houve melhora na sintomatologia das escalas DTS, BECK, CGI E GAF, mesmo controlando para uso de psicofármacos. / Introduction: Traumatic events in our society, the severity of psychopathology that may result from such events and therapeutic difficulty may mean that lead to the necessity of basing solidly therapeutic measures of prevention and individual characteristics of victims of trauma, the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), the main psychiatric disorders associated with accidents and violence. Objective: To evaluate the effects of psychotherapy ultra-brief psychodynamically oriented PTSD and ASD. Method: The sample consisted of 27 women who were treated between May 2008 and November 2009 who completed at least four weeks of treatment in the Center for Research and Treatment of Psychic Trauma (NET-TRAUMA), Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre ( HCPA), Brazil. 85.2% (23) of patients met criteria for PTSD and 14.8% (4) had ASD. Scales used were: Davidson Trauma Scale (DTS), Beck Depression Inventory (BECK), Defense Style Questionaire (DSQ-40), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Clinical Global Impression (CGI), and the Global Assessment of Functioning (GAF). Results: After treatment there was improvement in symptoms scales DTS, BECK, CGI and GAF, even controlling for use of psychoactive drugs. With such a large effect on the comparison between the scale before and after treatment: d = 1.18 CGI, GAF d = 1.03, d = 0.95 DTS and BDI d = 0.9. There was a reduction in the defense of projection (p = 0.036) and an increase in defense humor (p = 0.024). We found a positive association between the reduction of PTSD symptoms and reduction in score of the immature factor (p = 0.032 r = 0.43). Conclusions: The ultra-brief psychotherapy psychodynamically oriented proved effective for the treatment of PTSD and ASD. There was improvement in symptoms scales DTS, BECK, CGI and GAF, even controlling for use of pharmacological drugs.

Submitted by Aelson Maciera (aelsoncm@terra.com.br) on 2017-04-11T17:14:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseGOB.pdf: 2831285 bytes, checksum: cacb5bec1f7db77498788d440d426c1e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-04-19T20:09:36Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseGOB.pdf: 2831285 bytes, checksum: cacb5bec1f7db77498788d440d426c1e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Ronildo Prado (ronisp@ufscar.br) on 2017-04-19T20:09:46Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseGOB.pdf: 2831285 bytes, checksum: cacb5bec1f7db77498788d440d426c1e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-04-19T20:14:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 TeseGOB.pdf: 2831285 bytes, checksum: cacb5bec1f7db77498788d440d426c1e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-09-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / The autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) is characterized by inadequacies in social interaction, communication skills, learning and adaptability. The person with ASD should be exposed to conditions that stimulate its maximum development in order to promote the learning process in different contexts. In this sense, the hippotherapy can be an effective strategy in the child development process with ASD, since it favors different sensory systems. However, in order the learning process to become efficient, it is necessary to employ compensatory teaching strategies that provide access to information in order to provide effective opportunity to participate in the activity. The study aimed at analyzing the effectiveness of aid levels in the posture learning process in hippotherapy for children with ASD. As for the method, this study was single-subject design, type AB with replicas of designs with single subject; three children with ASD aged between four and nine years had participated in the study. Participants underwent hippotherapy intervention lasting four months, twice a week, corresponding to 31 individual sessions of hippotherapy. As data collection instrument was made anamnesis with the parents or guardians, the Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities, field diary and checklist. The checklist was based on 10 postures namely, mount, prone, side mount, inverted mount, inverted prone, standing in the stirrups, four supports, inverted four supports, kneeling and reversed kneeling. The data analysis on the progress of each participant was descriptive. Regarding the results, it was observed that all participants were able to perform the postures with verbal assistance at the late intervention, and the learning process mediated by the visualverbal, physical and verbal aids. The latter was predominant. We conclude that the aid was effective overall, once all participants have evolved compared to the baseline, they also respond more effectively to physical and verbal assistance to later the verbal one. Moreover, learning is favored by the association of various aids, as different sensory inputs were benefited; therefore, there is no universally more efficient method; each child has a peculiar way of relating to the world and hence to the learning processes. / O transtorno do espectro autista (TEA) caracteriza-se por inadequações na interação social, habilidade comunicativa, aprendizado e capacidade de adaptação. A pessoa com TEA deve ser exposta a condições que estimulem o seu máximo desenvolvimento, de modo a favorecer o processo de aprendizagem em diferentes contextos. Nessa direção, a equoterapia pode ser uma estratégia efetiva no processo de desenvolvimento da criança com TEA, uma vez que favorece diversos sistemas sensoriais. Contudo, para que o processo de aprendizagem torne-se eficiente, faz-se necessário empregar estratégias de ensino compensatórias que viabilizem o acesso à informação de forma a proporcionar efetiva oportunidade de participação na atividade. O estudo objetivou analisar a efetividade dos níveis de auxílio no processo de aprendizagem de posturas em equoterapia por crianças com TEA. Quanto ao método, o presente estudo foi de delineamento de sujeito único, do tipo AB, com réplicas em delineamentos com sujeito único. Participaram do estudo três crianças com TEA, com idades entre quatro e nove anos. Os participantes foram submetidos a intervenção equoterápica com duração de quatro meses, duas vezes na semana, o que correspondeu a 31 sessões individuais de equoterapia. Como instrumento de coleta de dados, foi realizada uma anamnese com os pais ou responsáveis, um protocolo de Avaliação de Habilidades Básicas de Aprendizagem (sigla em inglês: ABLA – Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities), um diário de campo e uma checklist. A lista de checagem foi baseada em 10 posturas, sendo elas: montaria, decúbito ventral, montaria lateral, montaria invertida, decúbito ventral invertido, em pé sobre os estribos, quatro apoios, quatro apoios invertido, ajoelhado e ajoelhado invertido. A análise dos dados a respeito da evolução de cada participante foi descritiva. Com relação aos resultados, observou-se que todos os participantes foram capazes de realizar as posturas com auxílio verbal ao final da intervenção, sendo o processo de aprendizagem mediado pelos auxílios visual-verbal e físico-verbal, este último foi predominante. Conclui-se que, de maneira geral, os auxílios foram efetivos, pois todos os participantes evoluíram quando comparados à linha de base, como também responderam com maior efetividade ao auxílio físico-verbal para, posteriormente, responderem ao verbal. Além disso, a aprendizagem foi favorecida com a associação dos diferentes auxílios, pois diferentes entradas sensoriais foram beneficiadas; portanto, não há um método universalmente mais eficiente, pois cada criança tem uma maneira peculiar de relacionar-se com o mundo e, consequentemente, com os processos de aprendizagem.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:40:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adelisandra Silva Santos Castelhano.pdf: 492676 bytes, checksum: 6118cc3994884f74daed04e57878c9e4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-01-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), conditions which affect the brain development, are characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interactions, communicative use of verbal and nonverbal language, and restricted/repetitive behaviors. Despite a wealth of descriptive data obtained from patient histories, imaging techniques, and genetic and molecular studies, the pathogenesis of ASD remains poorly understood. Progress toward understanding the etiology of an acquired neurological disorder, such as ASD, is largely dependent on the degree to which experimental animal models reflect the human condition. Status epilepticus (SE), the condition of ongoing seizures or repetitive seizure activity, is a clinical emergency more common in children than adults, with almost 40-50% of the case occurring in children younger than 2 years of age. Clinical and experimental studies have been showing that despite of immature brain to be more resistant to structural damage when compared with adult brain, it has been demonstrated that neonatal SE may produce learning deficits, memory impairment, and emotional sequels in adulthood, altered GABAergic intracortical and hipocampal circuitries and reduced dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. Taking all information together, the aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible social impairment, learning and exploratory deficits after pilocarpine-induced SE in rats of both genders during development. Wistar rats of both gender at PN9 received intraperitoneal injection of pilocarpine (380 mg/kg). Control animals received saline solution instead pilocarpine. Social and exploratory behaviors were assessed between 30-35 postnatal days using paired-exposure paradigm. Learning performance was assessed, at PN90 using skinner Box apparatus, by quantification of the number of sections to acquire bar pressing conditioning. Our results demonstrated that neonatal SE produced social impairment, learning and exploratory deficits. Furthermore, the social impairment was gender-dependent, affecting predominantly male rats. On the other hand, the exploratory behavior was reduced in both genders, however female rats seems to be more affected, since selfgrooming was enhanced in this specific group. Quite interesting, both behaviors are affected by emotionality and environmental context, suggesting that SE was able to affect more severely the emotionality of the female animals. Moreover, it is also important to note that learning deficits were observed in both genders as well. Based on this evidences, we propose that this animal model can be a valuable tool to investigate the neurobiological basis of ASD. / Os Transtornos do Espectro Autista (TEA) são condições que afetam o desenvolvimento cerebral prejudicando a interação social recíproca, a comunicação verbal e não verbal e são acompanhados por comportamentos repetitivos e padrões anormais de interesses e atividades. Apesar da riqueza dos dados obtidos a partir da história dos pacientes, dos exames de neuroimagem, dos estudos genéticos e moleculares, a patogênese do TEA permanece mal compreendida. Modelos animais têm propiciado a ampliação do conhecimento acerca da neurobiologia dos TEA. O Status epilepticus (SE), uma condição aguda caracterizada por convulsões repetitivas ou prolongada, é uma emergência clínica que ocorre mais frequentemente em crianças que em adultos, e em 40-50% dos casos em crianças com idade inferior a dois anos. Estudos clínicos e experimentais indicam que embora o SE produza menos danos estruturais no cérebro imaturo que no cérebro adulto, SE em neonatos leva a prejuízos na aprendizagem, memória, sequelas emocionais na idade adulta, alteração da circuitaria GABAérgica hipocampal e intracortical, e redução dos níveis de dopamina no córtex pré-frontal. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar se o SE em ratos neonatos de ambos os gêneros produz prejuízos na interação social, na cognição e no comportamento exploratório. Ratos wistar de ambos os gêneros com nove dias pós-natal (PN9) receberam injeção intraperitoneal de pilocarpina (380 mg/kg). Animais controles receberam solução salina. Os comportamentos sociais e exploratórios foram avaliados entre PN30-PN35, empregando-se o paradigma de observação por pares. O desempenho cognitivo foi avaliado empregando-se a caixa de Skinner, quantificando-se o número de sessões para aquisição do comportamento de pressão à barra. Os resultados mostraram que o SE no cérebro em desenvolvimento alterou a sociabilidade, a cognição e o comportamento exploratório. Os prejuízos na interação social foram gênero-dependentes, afetando predominantemente os machos. O comportamento exploratório foi reduzido em ambos os gêneros, no entanto, as fêmeas parecem ter sido mais afetadas, desde que paralelamente observou-se aumentou do selfgrooming. Ambos os comportamentos são afetados pela emocionalidade e pelo contexto ambiental, sugerindo que o SE afetou mais severamente a emocionalidade das fêmeas. Os prejuízos cognitivos foram igualmente observados em ambos os gêneros. Baseando-se nestas evidências, sugerimos que este modelo pode ser utilizado para explorar mecanismos neurobiológicos do TEA.

This study is both quantitative and qualitative in nature. In order to support or discard the hypothesis that high-functioning, autistic upper secondary school students speak more freely in English than in their native language Swedish, an experiment with a narrative format was conducted with students both within and without Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Measurements of lexical density, hesitations and long pauses in the narrative were applied to assess the quality of produced speech. A questionnaire survey for teachers of this age category of students was also carried out. The analyses of the results are primarily quantitative, but a portion of the questionnaire is also thematically analysed. The study shows that there is initial support for the hypothesis. / Denna studie är båda kvantitativ och kvalitativ i sin natur. För att stödja eller förkasta hypotesen att högfungerande, autistiska gymnasieelever talar engelska mer obehindrat än deras modersmål svenska, genomfördes ett experiment med ett berättande format med studenter både inom och utanför Autismspektrumtillstånd (AST). Mått på lexikalisk täthet, tvekan och långa pauser i berättandet användes för att utvärdera kvalitén av producerat tal. En enkätundersökning för lärare av denna ålderskategori av elever genomfördes också. Analyserna av resultaten är primärt kvantitativa, men en del av enkäten är också tematiskt analyserad. Studien visar att det föreligger ett initialt stöd för hypotesen.

The aim of the present study was to investigate if individuals with high-functioning autism differ from typically developing (TD) individuals in judgments of social dimensions from faces. Thirty-two individuals with high functioning autism and sixty-seven TD individuals rated 196 synthetic faces representing 7 social dimensions. Overall, both groups performed similarly on the judgment tasks. However, some group differences emerged for ratings of Competence and Likeability in the Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) group. Furthermore, alexithymia, or emotion-blindness, was found to be a possible indicator of ability to judge social dimensions in the ASD group. Implications of present results in relation to prior and future research on social interaction on the autism spectrum are discussed.

This thesis is a part of Master Degree within the field of Education science at Kristianstad University. The aim of this study is based on a few informants’ descriptions and experiences of the schools in a municipal school changed their work to increase inclusion for students with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD). The focus of the study is the changes which have been implemented, how it has influenced the student group's schooling and what success factors and challenges the school has encountered. According to the Swedish Education Act, shall the Swedish regular school be available to all scholars. However, several studies and accounts show that primary schools have found it difficult to meet the educational needs of students with ASD.  The national board of education (2009) and The Swedish schools inspectorate (2012) criticizing the school for not investigating the students' needs and supply adequate support. The study was conducted by a qualitative approach; data were collected through semi-structured - and focus interviews. The choice to use interviews are based on interesting to let each informant describes how their school, meet and educated students with ASD and what elements they consider important developments of an inclusive school for pupils with ASD. The implication of the results confirms that by increasing the knowledge about autism spectrum disorders of the instructors, the school has developed a more including learning environment for the students. By creating, a flexible organization in the school’s students gives the chance to be in school on their own terms. Belonging to a class on their own terms, with the possibility of instructing in different contexts, has increased the presence of many students.

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental disorder. The etiology of autism still remains unclear due to the heterogeneous and complex nature of the disorder, however synergistic actions between genetic components and environmental factors have been suggested. Acetaminophen (APAP) is one of the most popular over-the-counter drugs that possess antipyretic and analgesic effects. It is considered a relatively safe and effective within therapeutic doses. Recently, early exposure to APAP has been suggested to be one of the underlying cause of autism. Children are often prescribed APAP to lessen fever or irritability after vaccination during the first year, and APAP may adversely affect the normal brain development. In order to better understand the association with APAP and autism, we used an inbred mouse strain BTBR T+tf/J (BTBR). BTBR exhibits behavioral deficits that mimic the core behavioral deficits of human autism. In the study, investigated 1) if BTBR mice showed differences in thiol biochemistry and EAAT3 levels in brain compared with C57BL/6J (C57) mice, 2) if early exposure to APAP induced behavioral changes worsening the autistic phenotypes of BTBR in adolescence, and 3) if APAP exposure in neonatal mice induced possible toxicity at various doses. As a result, we observed that BTBR mice have significantly lower plasma sulfate levels and EAAT expression levels in the frontal cortex compared to C57 mice. Surprisingly, neonatal therapeutic dose of APAP administration did not induce behavioral changes in both C57 and BTBR in adolescence. However, we showed that a supratheraputic dose of APAP significantly elevated levels of oxidative stress marker in the brain. Overall, the results suggested that BTBR mice would be a useful mouse model to investigate effects of various environmental factors that have been associated with autism. In addition, early exposure to APAP at supratherapeutic doses may negatively affect normal brain development.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous group of neurodevelopmental disorders that affects about 1% of the worldwide population and has a strong genetic component. Stereotyped behavior and restricted interests, as well as problems of social interaction and communication characterize ASD. Moreover, in 10% of cases, ASD occurs as a secondary condition in addition to a syndrome, such as Phelan-McDermid syndrome (PMS), which is associated with a great clinical variability. Among genetic factors, copy number variations (CNVs) are one of the most important. However, the clinical significance of many CNVs remains nuclear and there is an underrepresentation of small CNVs associated with ASD in the literature. In this context, this project aimed to 1) characterize large and small CNVs in Brazilian patients with ASD using an array-CGH previously customized in our laboratory. 2) Clinically and genetically describe a cohort of Brazilian patients with PMS, as well as to determine the frequency of this syndrome among Brazilian patients with ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders. In result, we 1) further validated the customized array-CGH, 2) provided additional evidence of association with ASD for 27 candidate genes, 3) described 15 CNVs never reported in the literature in association with this disorder, 4) presented evidence that around 70% of CNVs found in our cohort are not polymorphism of our population and 5) reinforced the idea of shared molecular pathways among different neurodevelopmental disorders. In addition, we described for the first time a Brazilian cohort of patients with PMS and contributed to the molecular and clinical characterization of this syndrome. We also provided additional evidence of genotype-phenotype association with regard to the presence of renal problems and speech status in patients with PMS and estimated the frequency of this syndrome among Brazilian patients with ASD and intellectual disability (syndromic or not). With these results, we hope to contribute to better understand the ASD and PMS etiology, especially in our population / O Transtorno do Espectro Autista (TEA) corresponde ao um grupo heterogêneo de alterações no neurodesenvolvimento que afeta cerca de 1% da população mundial e apresenta um forte componente genético. O TEA é caracterizado pela presença de comportamento estereotipado e interesses restritos, além de problemas de interação social e comunicação. Além disso, em 10% dos casos, o TEA ocorre como uma condição secundária somada a uma síndrome. Um exemplo é a síndrome de Phelan-McDermid (PMS), associada a uma grande variabilidade clínica. Dentre os fatores genéticos, as variações no número de cópias (CNVs) são um dos mais importantes. No entanto, o significado clínico de muitas CNVs permanece incerto, além de haver juma sub-representação de CNVs pequenas associadas ao TEA na literatura. Dentro deste contexto, este projeto teve como objetivos 1) caracterizar CNVs grandes e pequenas em pacientes brasileiros com TEA utilizando uma lâmina de array-CGH previamente customizada no Laboratório de Genética do Desenvolvimento - USP. 2) descrever clínica e geneticamente uma casuística de pacientes brasileiros com PMS, bem como determinar a frequência desta síndrome em pacientes com TEA e com outras alterações de neurodesenvolvimento. Como resultados, nós 1) validamos a lâmina customizada, 2) fornecemos evidencia adicional de associação com o TEA para 27 genes, 3) descrevemos 15 CNVs nunca reportadas em associação com o transtorno 4) apresentamos evidências de que cerca de 70% das CNVs encontradas em nossa coorte não são polimorfismo de nossa população e 5) reforçamos a ideia de vias moleculares compartilhadas entre diferentes alterações do neurodesenvolvimento. Além disso, descrevemos pela primeira vez uma casuística brasileira de pacientes com PMS e contribuímos para a síndrome. Fornecemos evidência adicional de associação genótipo-fenótipo no que diz respeito à presença de problemas renais e status de fala em pacientes com PMS e estimamos a frequência da síndrome entre pacientes brasileiros com TEA e com deficiência intelectual (sindrômica ou não). Com estes resultados, esperamos ter contribuído para o entendimento da etiologia tanto do TEA, quanto da PMS, sobretudo na nossa população

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is part of the developmental disabilities. There are numerous symptoms for ASD patients, including lack of abilities in social interaction, communication obstacle and repeatable behaviors. Meanwhile, the rate of ASD prevalence has kept rising by the past 20 years from 1 out of 150 in 2000 to 1 out of 54 in 2016. In addition, the ASD population is quite large. Specifically, 3.5 million Americans live with ASD in the year of 2014, which will cost U.S. citizens $236-$262 billion dollars annually for autism services. So, it is critical to make an accurate diagnosis for preschool age children with ASD, in order to give them a better life. Instead of using traditional ASD behavioral tests, such as ADI-R, ADOS, and DSM-IV, we applied brain MRI images as input to make diagnosis. We revised 3D-ResNet structure to fit 110 preschool children's brain MRI data, along with Convolution 3D and VGG model. The prediction accuracy with raw data is 65.22%. The accuracy is significantly improved to 82.61% by removing the noise around the brain. We also showed the speed of ML prediction is 308 times faster than behavior tests.

Several studies show that physical activity has positive effects for children with autism. Therefore, I chose to investigate the form of adaptions student in autism spectrum in the subject of sports and health and what conditions the physical education teachers have to create a favorable environment for student with autism. Through a qualitative research method with teachers in physical education and health, the material has been collected with semi structured interviews. The results show how teachers adapt teaching to student with autism spectrumdisorders. Physical education and health teachers work in different ways. The adaption can consist of preparation, the student’s special interests, structure, participation/involvement, andclarity in the teaching. Based on the discussion, all students are different and the teachers need to adapt the student’s needs. / Flertal studier visar att fysisk aktivitet har positiva effekter för barn med autism. Därför valde jag att undersöka vilken form av anpassningar elever inom autismspektrumet i ämnet idrott och hälsa och vilka förutsättningar idrottslärarna har för att skapa en gynnsam miljö för elever med autism. Genom en kvalitativ forskningsmetod med lärare inom idrott och hälsa har materialet samlats in via semistrukturerade intervjuer. I resultatet framkommer det hur lärarna anpassar undervisningen till elever med autismspektra. Idrott och hälsa lärarna arbetar på olika sätt för att anpassa undervisningen. Anpassningen kan bestå av förberedelser, elevensspecialintressen, struktur, delaktighet/involvering samt tydlighet i undervisningen. Utifrån diskussionen är alla elever olika och lärarna behöver anpassa elevens behov.