The current study aimed to determine the selective advantage of lateral amygdala (LA) neurons overexpressing the transcription factor CREB that enables their preferential incorporation into the fear memory trace. I hypothesized that overexpression of CREB drives the formation of dendritic spines, potentially providing these neurons with greater connectivity to sensory inputs at the time of learning. Using viral-mediated gene transfer, CREB tagged with GFP, or GFP as a control, was overexpressed in the LA of wild-type mice. Spine number and morphology were compared in homecage mice at the time when mice are normally trained in fear conditioning. Spine density was increased in neurons with CREB vector compared to neurons with GFP vector whereas spine head diameter and length was not different. Therefore, LA neurons overexpressing CREB have increased spine number at the time of learning, potentially providing these neurons with a selective advantage for incorporation into the fear memory trace.

The current study aimed to determine the selective advantage of lateral amygdala (LA) neurons overexpressing the transcription factor CREB that enables their preferential incorporation into the fear memory trace. I hypothesized that overexpression of CREB drives the formation of dendritic spines, potentially providing these neurons with greater connectivity to sensory inputs at the time of learning. Using viral-mediated gene transfer, CREB tagged with GFP, or GFP as a control, was overexpressed in the LA of wild-type mice. Spine number and morphology were compared in homecage mice at the time when mice are normally trained in fear conditioning. Spine density was increased in neurons with CREB vector compared to neurons with GFP vector whereas spine head diameter and length was not different. Therefore, LA neurons overexpressing CREB have increased spine number at the time of learning, potentially providing these neurons with a selective advantage for incorporation into the fear memory trace.

Bakalauro baigiamajame darbe analizuojamos vaikų, turinčių disgrafiją, baimės. Tyrimas buvo atliktas 2-4 klasėse bendrojo lavinimo mokyklose: Plungės ,,Saulės” gimnazijoje (pradinio ugdymo skyriuje), Plungės Akademiko Adolfo Jucio pagrindinėje mokykloje, Plungės ,,Ryto” pagrindinėje mokykloje, Plungės ,,Babrungo” pagrindinėje mokykloje, Rietavo Lauryno Ivinskio gimnazijoje, Pasavalio rajono Daujėnų pagrindinėje mokykloje, Joniškio rajono Skaistgirio vidurinėje mokykloje. Tyrime dalyvavo ir anketavimo būdu buvo apklausti iš viso 122 respondentai, iš kurių 50 (27 berniukai ir 23 mergaitės) vaikų turėjo rašymo sutrikimų, 50 (26 berniukai ir 24 mergaitės) nesutrikusios raidos mokinių bei 23 pradinių klasių mokytojai. Anketos tiek mokiniams, tiek mokytojams buvo sudarytos remiantis moksline literatūra. / Bachelor's thesis examines fears of the children with dysgraphia. The study was conducted in grades 2-4 of mainstream schools: Plungė ,,Saulės” gymnasium (primary section), Plungė Academic Adolfas Jucys general school, Plungė ,,Ryto” general school, Plungė ,,Babrungo” general school, Rietavas Laurynas Ivinskis’ gymnasium, Pasavalys district Daujėnai general school, Joniškis district Skaistgiris secondary school. The study included questionnaires and a total of 122 respondents were interviewed, of whom 50 (27 boys and 23 girls) children had writing disorders, 50 (26 boys and 24 girls) had no disorders and 22 primary school teachers. Questionnaires both for pupils and teachers were made on the basis of scientific literature.

In modern-day school a lot of attention is paid so that all educational process would be based on humanistic principles. Supposedly learning is the easiest and most effective when a schoolchild feels no fear. However, most schoolchildren at school face humiliations, they are poorly considered, are mocked at, despised, treated unfairly. The cause of fear for most schoolchildren is schoolteacher, organisation of class work, and school itself. Therefore there are considerable causes of psychical pressure in school, which are almost impossible to avoid. Schoolteachers often feel psychical pressure in school too. Often one can hear opinions, common in the society in Lithuania, that claim that teacher’s profession is particularly privileged, that is, part-time job, guaranteed remuneration and prolonged leave, unattainable for most people. Yet investigations performed in various countries stress the fatigue and exhaustion that schoolteachers face, described as school stress, which forms states of school fears, which leads to the formation of stress situations, emergence of fears and unwillingness to work in educational institutions. The aim of the thesis is to assess educational and society phenomena that produce negative impact on educational process, educational system, school as organization, so that both schoolchildren and schoolteachers experience states of school fear. The task of the thesis: 1. To perform analysis of literature and research concerning school fear. 2. To... [to full text]

The aim of this study was to measure the effects of video self-modelling on three children with dog fears aged between 7 and 13 years old. The study also aimed to teach these three children appropriate dog safety techniques and dog body language identification skills which they could use in everyday life. All three participants were recruited through school newsletters. The three participants attended two meetings with the researcher to discuss their dog fears and what they wanted to achieve from taking part in the study. Videos of each participant were then created to depict the participants being within the same environment as a dog while acting calm and displaying coping skills. Participants were also given hypothetical scenarios of where they may encounter a dog and were asked to rate their fear level. A book was created to teach the participants how to read a dog’s body language and how to behave around dogs. Participants viewed their videos and read their books for two weeks. They then went back to the same setting of the video with a real life dog and were asked to rate their fear levels for the same hypothetical scenarios. Results showed an overall decrease in reported fear levels in two of the three participants, with the third participants showing variable fear levels. It can be concluded that the video along with the book had positive effects on the participants’ fear levels and knowledge about dog behaviour. One major limitation of this study is whether the video or the book alone or a combination of both was responsible for the participants’ results and behaviour changes.

The purpose of this study is to determine if research on the concept “the fear of the Lord” can lead to a better understanding of the message of the Pentateuch in different times and contexts. The study begins with a discussion regarding the shortcomings of studies done on “the fear of the Lord” in both Old Testament theology and the Pentateuch research. These studies are often dated or deal insufficiently with the problem. The place and function of the concept “the fear of the Lord” in the Pentateuch has not yet been determined. In chapter two a discussion follows on “the fear of the Lord” in relation to education and the retelling of “history”. The concept “the fear of the Lord” is compared with historical developments in biblical interpretation. This section of the study comes to the conclusion that “the fear of the Lord” emphasises the meaning the Scripture has for the reader and does not necessarily present an objective/rational reading thereof. Chapter three discusses the developments in semantics. The different words that can be translated with “fear” are discussed according to their semantic domains. This chapter also discusses the possible development of the concept “the fear of the Lord” within the Old Testament. The idea of the fear of the gods in Middle Eastern texts is also considered. Chapter four is a discussion of the composition of the Pentateuch. The history of its research is discussed and conclusions are drawn with regard to the different sources in the Pentateuch. This chapter comes to the conclusion that “ the fear of the Lord” is present in the Elohist, J material, Deuteronomist source as well as the Holiness code, but is absent from the Priestly material. Chapter five is an exegetical study of texts that contain references to fear directed towards God. Words translated with “fear” are discussed according to their semantic domains. The exegetical study also involves a study of other terms or subjects in the Pentateuch which are used in close relation to “the fear of the Lord”. The study concludes that research based on the concept “the fear of the Lord” and its function in the Pentateuch in its final form as well as its different sources, does indeed lead to a better understanding of the message of the Pentateuch in different times and contexts. / PhD (Biblical Studies/Theology), North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2014

This paper investigates in 2 studies the role of invulnerability in predicting young workers’ intentions to speak up about hazards. I propose a model in which perceptions of hazardous work are related to safety voice intentions via fear of injury, and that higher invulnerability buffers (a) the extent to which potential hazards generate fear of injury and (b) the extent to which fear of injury motivates voice. In Study 1, I randomly assigned participants (n = 115, aged 15-25) to an unsafe or safe scenario. Participants with lower invulnerability reported higher safety voice intentions across all levels of fear of injury. Participants with higher invulnerability reported as high safety voice intentions only when fear of injury was high, and reported much lower safety voice intentions than those with low invulnerability when fear of injury was low. Study 2 replicates this model using field data from young workers (n = 67).

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a psychiatric condition that can develop when people experience a stressful and life-threatening event. Clinical research indicates that the presence of a state of hyperarousal after a traumatic experience is the best predictor of a subsequent diagnosis of PTSD. The role of arousal peptides called orexins (hypocretins) in a PTSD-like condition produced by exposing rats to a single episode of footshocks (5× 2 s episodes of 1.5 mA) was investigated in this thesis. The first part of my thesis involves the characterization of the footshock model of PTSD and the second part examines the involvement of orexins in this footshock model. The following findings are reported. First, shock rats that exhibited a high level of anxiety to a novel tone (high responders, HR) the day after the footshock exposure subsequently displayed more avoidance when compared to shock rats that exhibited a low level of anxiety (low responders, LR). These results highlight the importance of individual differences in the reaction to a strong fear-inducing experience. Second, the orexin precursor peptide prepro-orexin (ppOX) mRNA was found to be elevated in rats at 6 and 14 days after exposure to footshocks. In addition, ppOX mRNA levels were found to be positively correlated with anxiety at 14 days post-shock. Third, pre-shock injections of the corticotropin releasing factor receptor antagonist antalarmin were found to attenuate the anxiety expressed to the shock chamber and eliminate the correlation between ppOX mRNA levels and anxiety. Fourth, systemic injections of the nonselective orexin receptor antagonist TCS-1102 was found to attenuate the anxiety expressed in rats at 14 days post-shock. Fifth, TCS-1102 was found to have anxiolytic effects that were specific for the HR. The results of these experiments provide evidence linking the orexin system to the anxiety produced by exposure of rats to footshocks. They also provide preclinical evidence in support of the use of orexin antagonists for the treatment of anxiety in PTSD.

It has been well established that fear of crime is, at least in part, influenced by the media. Past research has shown that escalation of fear in many Western societies has resulted from increased media coverage of crime. Despite the diversity of media outlets, a common discourse emergescriminal behaviour is a product of bad people, from poor neighbourhoods, preying on innocent and undeserving victims. Critical approaches to the study of media show crime reporting as a political act, involving deepening stereotypes and Othering of marginalized people based on their age, race, and gender. Missing from the literature is a detailed portrait of the nature of media representations of crime and how it may shift over time. The goal of my research is to fill this gap by analyzing how differences between offenders and victims’ race, age, and gender as described in newspaper crime reports significantly impact the probability that these articles would contain language promoting a discourse of fear and marginalization. A combination of critical theoriesincluding critical criminology, feminism, postcolonial theory, and critical discourse analysisare used to develop themes related to media representations of gender, race, and language. Because race, gender, and age in the context of crime cannot be extracted from class, discussions of class also appear throughout the thesis. Four newspapersthe Vancouver Sun, Saskatoon Star Phoenix, Winnipeg Free Press, and the Toronto Starwere examined over a span of thirty years through a mixed methods approach combining content and critical discourse analyses. A total of 480 newspapers and 1, 190 crime articles constituted the empirical sample for this research. Two themesfear and marginalizationas well as twelve subthemes emerge from the empirical and theoretical literature. The research results show that differences in language can be observed in Canadian crime reports based on mentions of race, age, and gender of both the offenders and victims. Throughout all thirty years, articles indicated that crimes against white victims used fearful language, while visible minority victims were blamed for their victimization. White offenders were disproportionately criminalized and dehumanized with depictions that frequently undermined their claim to normal membership of their racial group through extraordinary character defect. Visible minority offenders were linked to poverty. Portrayals of female offenders accurately depicted them as generally low risk; both female offenders and female victims were treated in a largely equal manner. Women offenders were dichotomized into sexualized bad girls or malicious black widows. Female victims were either depicted as bad victims (i.e. racialized victims) who were blamed for their circumstances, or good victims who garnered sympathy through negative portrayals of their offenders. Young offenders and victims were often linked to gang activity, and language regarding them contained a mix of both fear and marginalization. The dissertation concludes by providing support to the critical paradigms with which it engages, demonstrating the need to include an analysis of critical criminology, race, gender, and a deconstruction of language. The study directs our attention to the necessity for further research on the benefits of educational programs for both those disseminating the discourse of crime and those consuming it.

Syftet med studien var att undersöka förekomst av gravida kvinnors upplevelse av förlossningsrädsla i relation till deras sociodemografiska, psykiatriska och obstetriska bakgrund samt önskat förlossningssätt. Metod. Förstföderskor och omföderskor som skrevs in på barnmorskemottagning tillfrågades om deltagande i studien och fick besvara två frågeformulär under graviditeten. Resultat. Totalt 776 kvinnor svarade på båda frågeformulären och svarsfrekvensen för de flesta frågor som användes till studien var över 92 %. I tidig graviditet upplevdes förlossningsrädsla av 12 % av kvinnorna i studien och av 15,5 % i sen graviditet. Nästan hälften av de med tidig upplevelse av förlossningsrädsla upplevde i slutet på graviditeten ingen eller liten rädsla. Upplevd förlossningsrädsla var vanligare bland kvinnor som tidigare varit gravida, omföderskor med erfarenhet av kejsarsnitt, kvinnor födda utanför Sverige och kvinnor som tidigare haft kontakt med psykiater och kurator. Kvinnor med upplevd förlossningsrädsla var mer benägna att önska kejsarsnitt än de som upplevde ingen eller liten rädsla. Av kvinnor med upplevd förlossningsrädsla hade omkring en fjärdedel under graviditeten varit i kontakt med Klaramottagningen, en mottagning med specialisering på förlossningsrädsla och en femtedel av dessa kvinnor rapporterade mot slutet av graviditeten ingen eller liten rädsla. Kontakt med Klaramottagningen hade även kvinnor som i tidig graviditet rapporterade ingen eller liten rädsla. Av dessa kvinnor rapporterade 45,8 % att de upplevde förlossningsrädsla i slutet på graviditeten. Konklusion. Former för hur identifiering, fördelning av vårdens resurser och utformning av stödet till gravida kvinnor och framförallt till de med upplevd förlossningsrädsla bäst sker kan utvecklas ytterligare.