Thesis (D. Min.)--Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1994. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 122-125).

Regensburg, Univ., Diss., 2008

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2009. / Title from title screen (site viewed March 2, 2010). PDF text: iv, 90 p. ; 2 Mb. UMI publication number: AAT 3386753. Includes bibliographical references. Also available in microfilm and microfiche formats.

Thesis (M.S.W.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 141-[144]).

Despite the prevalence of CNS disorders, treatment options for CNS disorders fall woefully behind treatment options for other systemic disorders. This is due to the presence of the blood brain barrier (BBB) acting as an obstacle, preventing foreign substances from entering the brain. A newly developed and innovative biomedical procedure attempts to bypass the BBB in the delivery of therapeutics by using focused ultrasound (FUS) to disrupt and temporarily open the BBB. The use of FUS-facilitated BBB opening is able to target specific tissue for noninvasive, localized BBB penetration. As the technique is experimental and in it's nascent stage of development, there are only a few studies that investigate its abilities in delivering treatments directly to the brain. The studies involve delivery of large, hydrophilic molecules that traditionally would not be able to bypass the BBB and enter the brain, and analysis of CNS concentrations of the molecules after FUS treatment, as well as the therapeutic successes. Results of FUS the studies are promising and the results demonstrate that the procedure is able to significantly increase drug concentrations in the brain, increase survival rates in animal models, decrease tumor growth, and decrease tumor margins and volume. The potential and power of FUS should be further explored as the future of CNS disorder treatments.

Orientadores: Jacobus Willibrordus Swart, Stanislav Moshkalev / Dissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Eletrica e de Computação / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-13T05:10:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Silva_MarceloMacchida_M.pdf: 6148337 bytes, checksum: d4ca724ac84a5417bdd4995685227913 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007 / Resumo: A nanotecnologia e uma área nova e promissora que englobam muitas disciplinas de ciência e engenharia. Seu rápido crescimento nas ultimas duas décadas é devido ao crescimento simultâneo na fabricação e caracterização de materiais em escala nanométrica. O objetivo deste trabalho é desenvolver uma técnica de processo híbrido para a fabricação de micro e nanocontatos assim como sua caracterização elétrica. Esse processo híbrido combina a fotolitografia seguida da técnica de lift-off e a deposição de platina por FIB. Para determinar a resistividade da platina depositada por FIB (Focuded Ion Beam), foram fabricas estruturas quadradas variando sua espessura de 5 nm - 100 nm e sua área 150 µm 150 µm e 20 µm x 20 µm. Resistores com comprimento de 30 µm variando sua área de secção (50 nm x 50 nm - 1 µm x 1 µm) foram fabricados a fim de uma melhor na caracterização do processo de deposição do filme de Pt assim como sua caracterização elétrica. As medidas elétricas foram realizadas na estação Keythley 4200 SCS, onde foi utilizado o método de quatro pontas nas estruturas quadradas para a caracterização da resistividade. Nos resistores utilizamos a configuração de dois terminais para a caracterização de resistência dos nanocontatos. / Abstract: Nanoscale science and technology is a young and burgeoning field that encompasses nearly every discipline of science and engineering, the rapid growth of the field in the past decades has been enable by the sustained advances in the fabrication and characterization of materials. This work presents the hybrid process for fabrication of micro and nanocontacts, this process include the lift - off technique and platinum deposited by FIB. For measurements, two types of test structures were fabricated: (i) 150 x 150 µm and 20 x 20 µm squares with thickness of 5, 10, 30 and 100 nm, and (ii) 30 µm long resistors with variable cross - section (50 nm x 50 nm to 1 µm x 1 µm). The Pt film resistivity has been measured by a four points probe method. / Mestrado / Eletrônica, Microeletrônica e Optoeletrônica / Mestre em Engenharia Elétrica

A Thesis submitted to The University of Arizona College of Medicine - Phoenix in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Medicine. / The increase in available ultrasound technology has allowed healthcare professionals to begin learning the skills to use it starting early in their training and careers. The best methods of training to increase proficiency in its use have not been investigated, however. This study compares two different training methods of the Focused Assessment with Sonography in Trauma (FAST). First year medical students were randomized into two groups; one who trained using a conventional live human model and the other who trained using themselves as the model. Both groups were then assessed on a non-self live human model and scored based on time to completion of the FAST and the ability to identify pertinent anatomic landmarks. There was no significant difference in mean scores between both groups. The non-self training group was significantly faster than the self training group. This suggests that the conventional training model remains the best method for increasing proficiency in the FAST exam, although there are significant limitations and further investigations are needed.

In this doctoral thesis, a culturally-sensitive couple therapy model was developed and empirically investigated. In particular, a Western-based couple therapy, Emotionally-Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), was modified to enhance the cultural relevancy of this model to the Japanese population. An extensive literature review was conducted to examine the status of psychotherapy and couple research in Japan, and cultural differences between Western and Japanese couples, with a particular emphasis on important couple variables, including emotional expression, communication, conflict resolution, and attachment. Study objectives included an empirical investigation into cultural differences on key relationship variables of trust, attachment, communication, and conflict resolution, and the use of these findings to guide adaptations of EFT to enhance cultural relevance, and an exploration of the adapted EFT model with three Japanese couples. This study is significant in that it is the first to empirically evaluate the cross-cultural validity of EFT. This dissertation consists of two studies that have been combined in one article for the purpose of publishing the document in a Japanese journal. Both studies were combined in one article for various reasons. First, study one findings are integral to the development of the culturally-sensitive EFT model that is empirically investigated in the second study. Second, the article included in this dissertation will be translated and prepared for publication in a Japanese journal. Including both studies in one article is important given the lack of familiarity in the Japanese research community about key relationship variables, and particularly their applicability to a couple therapy system (i.e., EFT), and their use to measure change in a couple therapy outcome study.

This study reports the application and outcomes of Conversation Analysis (CA)-motivated interaction-focused therapy for a case series of eight couples managing the impact of aphasia on their conversations. It builds on previously reported interaction-focused therapy case studies (e.g. Lock, Wilkinson, & Bryan, 2001, Wilkinson, Bryan, Lock & Sage, 2010; Wilkinson, Lock, Bryan & Sage, 2011). Therapy was individualised for each couple, based on CA findings, but taking account of language, cognitive and self-reported disability assessments, and the couples' own observations during informal interviews. The participating couples were beyond the spontaneous recovery period for aphasia and presented with different types (e.g. Wernicke's, Broca's, Anomic) and severities of aphasia. Each couple video-recorded at least 80 minutes of baseline conversation at home, over eight recordings of ten minutes or more. Another eighty minutes were recorded immediately post-therapy, and again three months later. Results were evaluated by comparing pre- and post-therapy data, with the maintenance data used to evaluate whether changes were sustained three months after therapy ended. The findings indicated that four couples implemented behavioural changes following interaction-focused therapy. There was no systematic evidence of change in the other four couples' data. Reasons for successful and unsuccessful outcomes are hypothesised, including resistance to changing adaptations that mask aphasic difficulties, despite the loss of communicative effectiveness these adaptations may cause. Preliminary analysis of linguistic and cognitive assessment data has not revealed any patterns that can be related to response to therapy, but more work is warranted to further explore this data. New findings include two interaction-focused therapy targets: 1) eye gaze by people with aphasia to stall/mobilise help with repair from their partners, and 2) facilitating the person with aphasia to gain the floor more regularly by beginning a turn in the partner's turn space. Other new findings are the use of CA to assess aphasic comprehension impairments, the effectiveness of environments of possible occurrence (Schegloff, 1993) as a measure for evaluating success in interaction-focused therapy studies, and benign pedagogics. The study identified some areas for future research, including the development of an interview to elicit attitudes and beliefs about managing aphasia, as these seemed to influence response to therapy. Clinical applications have been suggested in terms of when this form of therapy may be relevant and for whom it might be expected to prove beneficial.

The deposition of ultrasonic energy in tissue can cause tissue damage due to local heating. For pressures above a critical threshold, cavitation will occur in tissue and bubbles will be created. These oscillating bubbles can induce a much larger thermal energy deposition in the local region. Traditionally, clinicians and researchers have not exploited this bubble-enhanced heating since cavitation behavior is erratic and very difficult to control. The present work is an attempt to control and utilize this bubble-enhanced heating. First, by applying appropriate bubble dynamic models, limits on the asymptotic bubble size distribution are obtained for different driving pressures at 1 MHz. The size distributions are bounded by two thresholds: the bubble shape instability threshold and the rectified diffusion threshold. The growth rate of bubbles in this region is also given, and the resulting time evolution of the heating in a given insonation scenario is modeled. In addition, some experimental results have been obtained to investigate the bubble-enhanced heating in an agar and graphite based tissue- mimicking material. Heating as a function of dissolved gas concentrations in the tissue phantom is investigated. Bubble-based contrast agents are introduced to investigate the effect on the bubble-enhanced heating, and to control the initial bubble size distribution. The mechanisms of cavitation-related bubble heating are investigated, and a heating model is established using our understanding of the bubble dynamics. By fitting appropriate bubble densities in the ultrasound field, the peak temperature changes are simulated. The results for required bubble density are given. Finally, a simple bubbly liquid model is presented to estimate the shielding effects which may be important even for low void fraction during high intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) treatment.