Any phonological theory needs to encompass an account of acquisition and any account of acquisition must take its place within a general theory of phonology. This thesis aims to ascribe phonological significance to speech perception in infancy, a move impossible unless phonology is defined, as it is here, from both a psycholinguistic and a formal viewpoint as a dedicated pattern-recognition system. Extant results from infant studies are reviewed and aligned with current phonological theory. In particular, such theory characterises phonology as bi-modular, so the acquisition of individual melodic and prosodic modules and their subsequent orientation with respect to one another must constitute three different developmental tasks. This delivers a relatively simple account of the mapping between psychoacoustics and phonology. Perception and pre-existing theories of segmental complexity are related using an original experiment into the perception of vowel-height contrast in Catalan. If infant perception has phonological import, then disparate phonetic reflexes which are predicted as phonologically identical should show parallels in acquisition. General theory argues that the same abstract melodic objects underlie both laryngeal contrasts in stops and lexical tonal contrasts. Earlier studies show that language-specific attunement to stop contrasts has taken place by the age of six months. New tests are now reported, using children of the same age, which demonstrate that infants acquiring Yorùbá, a language which has a three-way contrast for tone, attend more closely to pitch changes within the minimal domain word than do English controls. Further, they only attend to those pitch changes that possess phonological import within that domain in the steady-state language. In this their perception exactly parallels that displayed by adult speakers. Apparent anomalies in the results of these tests are shown to be closely parallelled by phonological asymmetries in the tonology of Yorùbá.

No description available.

No description available.

Background: Chylothorax occurs in ~4% of children undergoing cardiac surgery. Treatment requires transition to a medium chain triglyceride (MCT) based formula. Breast milk (EBM) is discontinued due to the presence of long chain triglycerides. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a modified fat breast milk for the treatment of chylothorax. Methods: Infants with chylothorax were eligible. Treatment infants (n=8) received EBM that had been modified by removing the fat layer (centrifugation) from EBM and adding MCT and nutrients to provide 67 kcal/ml and 11 g/100 ml protein. Control infants (n=8) received MCT formula. Results: Volume of chest tube drainage was not different (p<0.40). Treatment infants experienced declines in mean weight (p<0.006), length (p<0.013) and head circumference (p<0.008) z-scores. Conclusion: Modified fat breast milk allowed for successful resolution of chylothorax. Strategies to address poor growth, however, need to be tested before clinical adoption of this novel treatment.

Background: Chylothorax occurs in ~4% of children undergoing cardiac surgery. Treatment requires transition to a medium chain triglyceride (MCT) based formula. Breast milk (EBM) is discontinued due to the presence of long chain triglycerides. Objective: To determine the effectiveness of a modified fat breast milk for the treatment of chylothorax. Methods: Infants with chylothorax were eligible. Treatment infants (n=8) received EBM that had been modified by removing the fat layer (centrifugation) from EBM and adding MCT and nutrients to provide 67 kcal/ml and 11 g/100 ml protein. Control infants (n=8) received MCT formula. Results: Volume of chest tube drainage was not different (p<0.40). Treatment infants experienced declines in mean weight (p<0.006), length (p<0.013) and head circumference (p<0.008) z-scores. Conclusion: Modified fat breast milk allowed for successful resolution of chylothorax. Strategies to address poor growth, however, need to be tested before clinical adoption of this novel treatment.

Transition to motherhood is referred to as change in the new role and relationship during women's developmental stages. Difficult transitions may cause problems in the mother-infant relationship and influence the acceptance of this role. The purpose of this study was to investigate transition to motherhood as it relates to early mother infant interaction, stress and social support of first time Taiwanese mothers, and to determine other maternal characteristics related to transition to motherhood. Purposive sampling was used to recruit 63 first-time postpartum mothers between ages of 18 to 35 who intended to breastfeed their infants. The subjects were recruited from a maternity unit of one medical center in south of Taiwan between year 2004 to year 2005. Four major instruments were used to collect the data: Revised What Being the Parent of a Baby is like Questionnaire, The Nursing Child Assessment Scale, The Perceived Stress Scale and The Interpersonal Support Evaluation List. The first administration of all questionnaires was conducted and the feeding interaction was observed and scored on the postpartum day during hospitalization (Time 1). After observation, immediate feedback regarding their feeding interaction including positive feedback and suggestions were given to all participants by the investigator. The second administration of all questionnaires was conducted at 4 weeks postpartum (Time 2). The last administration of all questionnaires was mailed to participants at 4 months postpartum (Time3). T-test, analysis of variance, Pearson Correlation and stepwise multiple regression were utilized to analyze the data. Findings indicate that first- time mothers with lower perceived stress and longer breastfeeding had an easier transition process to motherhood. During this transition, social support mediates the effect of perceived stress. The data fit the model and explained 42 % of the variance in transition to motherhood. Up to 29 % of variance was explained by perceived stress and of 13 %was explained by the length ofbreastfeeding. The study provides a knowledge base for further research on transition to motherhood and designing advanced educational program for new parents and clinical practice is required. Key words: transition, motherhood, mother-infant interaction, stress, social support.

In Tanzania where HIV transmission is high, decisions to avoid or modify breastfeeding are crucial for infant survival yet difficult due to competing risks. This thesis explores the attitudes towards HIV and infant feeding of mothers and significant members of their social networks in Central Tanzania. It seeks to understand the perceived and potential role of social dynamics in infant feeding decisions to prevent HIV. Qualitative data was collected from in-depth interviews with twenty key informants, six HIV-positive mothers and four relatives of HIV-infected mothers. Thirteen focus group discussions were conducted in one urban and three village sites in the Dodoma region with mothers, fathers, grandparents, traditional midwives and healers, village leaders and people living with HIV. This process was adapted to benefit and maximise participation of respondents and people with HIV. Data was analysed using grounded theory and natural Swahili language. Cases of HIV-positive mothers and their close networks are used to explore the findings. Social graphs visually map and communicate the complex social context around infant feeding in new ways. Emerging themes based on Swahili categorisations provide original conceptualising of how social relations (jamii) are involved in decision-making. In the context of HIV, infant feeding is a moral issue of fear and safety (salama): decisions seek to maximise kinga (immunity). Social ties wield influence on infant feeding decisions by acting as kinga, and as gates or open paths for the flow of capacities (uwezo) into and within networks. Various kinds of capacities affect perceived possibilities for infant feeding and how social ties are involved. The embracing or rejecting of responsibilities within ties, especially after HIV status disclosure, affects mothers?? networks and choices. Networks of influence are constantly changing: resource availability and social support are dynamic. Original conceptualisations of infant-feeding, risk, trust and disclosure networks and their interaction and change explain these patterns of involvement. Swahili-based conceptualisations are used to explain how social ties manage HIV and infant feeding in complex, dynamic ways. This thesis helps reposition approaches to working with Tanzanian mothers, families and communities to enhance support for mothers?? choices by building on collective capacities and responsibilities.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karolinska institutet, 2001. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Uppsala : Univ., 2003. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.Med.Sc.)-- University of Adelaide, Dept. of Medicine, 1998? / Includes bibliographical references (29 leaves).