Perseverative conversation is a problem vocal behavior that is unique to individuals with Asperger's disorder. It is characterized by long-winded monologues revolving around circumscribed interests. The current research literature suggests that perseverative conversation may exacerbate already poor social relations, impede productivity at work and home, and lead to disruptive behavior when it is restricted. Despite the negative repercussions there is a lack of research related to the assessment and treatment of this behavior. In the field of applied behavior analysis, concurrent operants assessments have been used effectively to identify relative preference for concurrently available reinforcers. In the current study, choice assessments using concurrent operants arrangements were used to evaluate the reinforcing properties of perseverative conversation in children and adolescents with Asperger's disorder. Five participants, all with Asperger's disorder and reported difficulties with perseverative conversation, were assessed in three phases: A preference assessment for conversation topics; an assessment of preference for reinforcer dimensions; and an assessment of preference for competing dimensions. In the first phase a two-stage preference assessment separated high-preferred from less-preferred conversation topics and in the second and third phases participants were asked to make choices regarding their preference for conversation content, conversational style, and conversation duration. Phase II results suggested that participants preferred conversing about their respective circumscribed interests over neutral topics, actively conversing rather than listening, and conversing for longer duration rather than shorter duration. Phase III, which assessed relative preference for the three reinforcer dimensions, resulted in a hierarchy of preference for all but one participant. Two participants demonstrated the strongest preference for conversation content and two participants demonstrated the strongest preference for conversational style. Conversation duration was least preferred by four of the five participants. Perseverative conversation occurred at a relatively high rate across all assessment phases. The results are discussed in terms of current theoretical explanations for perseverative thinking and behavior, implications for treatment, and future research of this problem vocal behavior.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which the use of social stories that integrate a child’s particular restricted and repetitive behaviors results in differential social outcomes compared to the use of social stories that do not integrate restricted and repetitive behaviors. A non-concurrent multiple baseline experimental design across participants was used to examine the effects of two Social Story interventions on the frequency of appropriate social behaviors made by participants in a school setting. Field notes were also completed during each day of data collection in order to document the social context, events, activities, moods and behaviors of participants associated with each data collection session. Field notes also included the researcher’s thoughts, observations, and reflections on these variables. Overall, the intervention that included participants’ restricted interests within the Social Story had the effect of increasing participants’ appropriate social behaviors in contrast to the intervention that did not employ restricted interests. This research substantiates the principle that the restricted interests of children with ASD should not be viewed as a form of deficiency that needs to be eliminated. Rather, restricted interests should be viewed as reinforcing agents that increase children’s motivation to pursue activities that involve social initiations and interactions with their peers.

Autism-spectrum disorders (ASDs) are a group of neurodevelopmental disorders that are becoming increasingly more prevalent. A diagnostic criterion for autism is the presence of restricted, repetitive behaviours (RRBs), one of which is the intense fascinations for virtually any topic: circumscribed interests (CIs). CIs have the potential to be used for motivational purposes. This study employed semi-structured interviews using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) with individuals with ASDs and their parents. In total, 11 families participated in this study, comprising 33 individuals (16 parents and 17 individuals with ASDs). This study found five themes: He's Very Unique; They Don't Realize that Not Everyone Lives and Thinks the Same Thing All the Time; We Couldn't even Pronounce the Names of These Dinosaurs, and Jason was Telling Us; You Can't Change Them, You Can Only Love Them; and So I Can Do My Job at the Same Time and Observe the Weather at the Same Time.

The aim of this diploma work is to analyse problems solving of the second round of the 55th year of the Mathematical Olympiad in South Bohemian region and to serve as a study material for further Mathematical Olympiads or as a collection of problems for talented students.

Orientador: Sergio de Toledo / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de Piracicaba / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-22T13:10:45Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Pereira_SergioLuisdaSilva_M.pdf: 4372724 bytes, checksum: d849d535308306a4ec155f540c1f5542 (MD5) Previous issue date: 1997 / Resumo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar, histológica e radiograficamente, o efeito da calcitonina de salmão sobre a cicatrização de defeitos ósseos circunscritos, criados cirurgicamente em fêmur de coelhos saudáveis. Estes foram divididos aleatoriamente em dois grupos: controle (n=12) e tratado (n=12). O grupo controle não recebeu qualquer substância durante o experimento, enquanto que no grupo tratado foi aplicada dose diária de 2 UI/kg de calcitonina por via intramuscular. Os animais foram sacrificados nos períodos de 7, 14, 21 ou 28 dias após a criação dos defeitos ósseos. As áreas radiolúcidas destes foram medidas, em mm2, através de um programa de computador denominado Auto-Cad, demonstrando que estas, em média, foram menores no grupo tratado, mas estatisticamente significantes apenas nos períodos intermediários de 14 e 21 dias. Histologicamente, aos 7 dias, os defeitos ósseos do grupo tratado apresentaram uma maior neoformação óssea. Aos 28 dias, houve a formação de um osso menos compacto no -grupo controle. No entanto, aos 14 e 21 dias, os resultados foram semelhantes entre os dois grupos. Os resultados obtidos neste trabalho possibilitaram inferir que a calcitonina de salmão acelerou o processo de cicatrização óssea em defeitos circunscritos, baseados nas análises radiográficas e histológicas realizadas / Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate, in healthy animals, the role of salmon calcitonin in the bone healing process of circumscribed bone defects, surgica1ly created, in the twenty-four (24) young adults rabbits femur. Twelve (12) animals were randomized to be the control and test groups (salmon calcitonin - 2 IU/kg during 21 days). The rabbits were sacrificed 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after the surgical procedures. The radiolucids areas of the bone defects was measured, in mm2, by Auto-Cad software. The results showed statistical differences (p<0,05) at 14 and 21 days, favoring the test group. At 7-day, the bone defects of the test group showed more bone regeneration. Nevertheless, at 14 and 21-days, the results was similar among two groups, with the new bone more compact in the test group than control group at 28 days. Thus, this study did demonstrate the positive role of salmon calcitonin in the bone healing process of circumscribed bone defects in healthy rabbits, considering the radioagraphic and histological analysis / Mestrado / Periodontia / Mestre em Clínica Odontológica

The overall objective of this thesis work was to develop new insights into the etiology of scleroderma, a human systemic autoimmune disease, by analyzing the autoantibodies to centrosome antigens that develop during the disease. Centrosomes are perinuclear organelles that form microtubule arrays, including mitotic spindles that ensure the faithful segregation of chromosomes during mitosis. These studies used a novel methodology to determine the prevalence of anti-centrosome autoantibodies in patients with scleroderma. Recombinant centrosome antigens were used to determine the antigenic specificity of anti-centrosome antibody subsets by immunoblotting. Centrosome marker antibodies were used in indirect immunofluorescence assays to distinguish centrosomes within the polymorphic staining pattern frequently given by scleroderma sera. We found that 43% of patients are autoreactive to centrosomes, a prevalence higher than has been reported for any other scleroderma autoantigen. Half of the centrosome-positive patients also had autoantibodies against other antigens used in scleroderma diagnosis. However, in the remaining half of these patients, anti-centrosome antibodies represented the sole class of autoantibodies that was detectable. Anti-centrosome antibodies were detected in only a small percentage of normal individuals and patients with other connective tissue diseases. These data suggest that anti-centrosome autoantibodies may represent a new diagnostic tool in scleroderma. Upon examination of anti-centrosome autoantibody development in an animal model, it appeared that this autoantibody specificity may develop in mice as a consequence of an infection. An infectious agent was isolated by plaque-formation from carrier mice. Further characterization of the infectious agent was undertaken to obtain information on its physical, morphological and cytopathological properties. The infectious agent was identified by sequence and unique antigenic properties to be homologous to the pig pathogen Mycoplasma hyorhinis. When reintroduced into naive mice, the murine mycoplasma triggered anti-centrosome autoantibody development. While anti-centrosome autoantibodies of IgM isotype are part of the repertoire of naive unimmunized mice, mycoplasma infection specifically triggered the development of anti-centrosome IgG. Moreover, centrosome autoreactivity was prevented by antibiotic treatment. The autoantibody response evolved to recruit additional specificities, having IgM isotypes, reactive to endoplasmic reticulum-associated autoantigens.

A large majority of adolescents with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have one or more special interests, i.e. interests that they find to be extremely motivating and engaging. Also, students with ASD often struggle to focus in classroom settings, as academic assignments are typically not as motivating as their special interests. Previous research has shown that special interests can be used to increase academic on-task behavior for young children with ASD but is lacking in terms of academic on-task behavior in adolescents. In this study, a multiple-baseline across participants was used to determine whether altering academic assignments to match individuals’ special interests would increase on-task behaviors in three high school students with ASD. The intervention proved to be effective, as on-task behavior increased in all three participants. Although altering assignments did require some time from teachers this is likely justifiable, given the positive effects for the students. / En övervägande majoritet av ungdomar med autismspektrumtillstånd (AST) har ett eller flera specialintressen; intressen som de tycker är extremt motiverande och engagerande. Dessutom uppvisar elever med AST ofta svårigheter med att fokusera i klassrumsmiljöer, eftersom akademiska uppgifter vanligtvis upplevs vara mindre motiverande än deras specialintressen. Tidigare forskning har visat att specialintressen kan användas för att öka akademiskt on-task-beteende hos små barn med AST, med det saknas forskning gällande detta område hos ungdomar. I den här studien användes en multipel baslinje-design för att undersöka hur inkluderandet av specialintressen i skoluppgifter påverkade akademiskt on-task beteende hos tre gymnasieelever med AST. Interventionen visade sig vara effektiv, då on-task-beteendet ökade hos alla tre deltagare. Trots att denna typ av anpassning av uppgifter är tidskrävande för lärare, är tidsåtgången sannolikt befogad utifrån de positiva effekter det hade för eleverna.

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