O objeto específico desta pesquisa de mestrado é investigar qual o modelo prosódico inicial na aquisição do português brasileiro (doravante PB) e a possível influência da metodologia utilizada nos resultados. Partindo da pressuposição de que há uma gramática inicial, dada pela gramática universal (CHOMSKY, 1981), autores que lidam com línguas germânicas afirmam que o troqueu é o modelo prosódico default na aquisição (cf. GERKEN, 1994; FIKKERT, 1994), e o mesmo é defendido por estudos que lidam com outras famílias lingüísticas (cf. ADAM & BAT-EL, 2007 para o hebraico; PRIETO, 2005 para o catalão, por exemplo). No entanto, os dados infantis do PB trazem complicações para a suposta tendência trocaica universal, pois estudos observacionais (naturalísticos) encontram uma tendência iâmbica (SANTOS, 2001, 2007; BONILHA, 2004; BAIA, 2006). Apesar de haver no cenário da literatura brasileira debates e estudos recentes a respeito do modelo prosódico inicial (cf. RAPP, 1994; BONILHA, 2004; SANTOS, 2006, 2007), algumas questões ainda permanecem. A maior parte desses trabalhos é composta por estudos observacionais e não experimentais, o contrário do que normalmente acontece na literatura estrangeira. O único estudo experimental no PB conhecido até então é o de Rapp (1994), o qual afirma haver uma tendência trocaica nos dados iniciais do PB. Enquanto a autora aponta uma tendência trocaica, nenhum estudo observacional a confirma; ao contrário, estes estudos levantam indícios a favor de uma tendência iâmbica inicial (BONILHA, 2004; SANTOS, 2006, 2007; BAIA, 2006). Logo a pesquisa aqui conduzida visa verificar se há influência da metodologia empregada nos resultados apresentados pela literatura brasilera. Para isso, nesta dissertação, são utilizadas as duas metodologias na análise dos dados (a experimental e a observacional): no estudo experimental, são analisados dados de 42 crianças na faixa etária de 1;5 3;0 anos, e no estudo observacional, são analisados dados de uma criança (LUI) na mesma faixa etária do estudo experimental. Os resultados obtidos por meio dos dois estudos realizados nesta pesquisa corroboram o que é afirmado pelo estudo experimental de Rapp (1994) e pelos estudos observacionais (SANTOS, 2006, 2007; BONILHA, 2004; BAIA, 2006). Dessa maneira, os resultados apresentam a mesma discrepância a respeito da tendência prosódica inicial presente na comparação entre os estudos que adotam diferentes métodos. No entanto, foi encontrada uma explicação para o que ocasiona tal discrepância. Notou-se que os iambos diminuem se o léxico particular e os verbos são excluídos dos dados. Sem o léxico particular e verbos, há uma predominância de SW em DES e DEX. Dessa maneira, a diferença entre os resultados do estudo experimental e dos estudos observacionais está relacionada com a metodologia empregada e, particularmente, com o inventário lexical e classe gramatical considerados na análise. Por fim, acredita-se que o estudo que desconsidere todos os tipos de produções infantis não pode afirmar, categoricamente, uma outra tendência inicial. Por essa razão, afirma-se que o PB apresenta uma tendência iâmbica inicial, tendência defendida pelos estudos observacionais (BAIA, 2006; SANTOS, 2007) que lidam com a produção lexical infantil na sua totalidade, embora não se trate de uma tendência forte e seja apenas uma tendência aparente de acordo com os resultados estatísticos deste estudo. Palavras-chave: acento, prosódia, modelo prosódico inicial, aquisição de linguagem / This research aims at investigating the initial prosodic template in the acquisition of Brazilian Portuguese (henceforth BP) and the influence of the methodology on the results presented by Brazilian literature so far. Following the view that there is an initial grammar (universal grammar) (CHOMSKY, 1981), authors who deal with Germanic languages state that the trochee is the initial prosodic template (see GERKEN, 1994; FIKKERT, 1994), and the same is claimed by studies that deal with languages from other families (see ADAM & BAT-EL, 2007 about Hebrew acquisition; PRIETO, 2005 about Catalan acquisition, for example). However, data from Brazilian children bring complications for this trochaic bias when show the results of observational studies (naturalistic studies), which point out an iambic bias instead (SANTOS, 2001, 2007; BONILHA, 2004; BAIA, 2006). Besides the discussions and recent studies about the prosodic initial template (see RAPP, 1994; BONILHA, 2004; SANTOS, 2006, 2007) that have been conducted by Brazilian researchers, some questions still remain. Most of these studies on BP acquisition are observational and they assert that there is an initial iambic bias, whereas there is only one experimental study (RAPP, 1994), which states that there is a trochaic bias. Therefore, the research conducted here aims at analyzing the influence of the employed methodology on the results. To make it possible, two methodologies are used in the analysis of data (the experimental and observational): in the experimental study, we analyze data of 42 children at age 1;5 3;0 years old, and in the observational study, we analyze data of a child (LUI) who is the same age of experimental group. The results corroborate what has been stated by the experimental study (RAPP, 1994) and by the observational ones (Santos, 2006, 2007; BONILHA, 2004; BAIA, 2006) because it was found the same discrepancy showed by these studies. But there is an explanation. It was noted that the number of iambs decreases if the particular lexicon (familiar words and lexical creations) and verbs are kept out of the data. Without this sort of words, there is a predominance of SW in DES and DEX. Thus, the difference between the results of the experimental study and observational ones is due to the employed methodology, particularly, due to the lexical inventory considered in the analysis. Finally, we believe that if the study does not take into account all types of childrens productions it can not state, categorically, any initial prosodic bias. Therefore, this study agrees with what has been stated by observational studies, i.e. BP early data show an iambic bias (BAIA, 2006; SANTOS, 2007), also, this was observed in the analysis of DES. However, the statistical results did not show any significant predominance of a specific prosodic template. Santos (2007) claims that there is not a universal prosodic template. For that reason we find a trochaic bias in Germanic languages and an iambic bias in BP

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:42:48Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adriana Parravano Neves.pdf: 1028496 bytes, checksum: 2e5a2cc2cdc758b411b3da5578f47a45 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2014-08-05 / The central object of the present research is the supervised internship in a pedagogy course as a guideline for the constitution of interdisciplinary experiences in initial teachers‟ education. This work analyzed a teacher-training course, Pedagogy, in the city of São Paulo, to confront theoretical aspects of the necessity of initiating an interdisciplinary posture in the orientation for initial teacher education. For this, it was made a bibliographic review, utilizing authors focused on themes about Teacher Education, Interdisciplinary Subjects, Curriculum and Supervised Practice Internship, in addition to field research, where I utilized the fieldnote as data collection tools, in which I registered the routine of the classes observed of the course. A five-question questionnaire was applied with the aim of reflecting about the ideas of the theory and practice developed in the course. During the analysis, it was possible to observe the difficulty students in pedagogical training have in relating theory with practice, using as an argument the lack of stimulus, the observed practice in formation and the perception of the current context. The internship was revealed as fundamental for the students to be exposed to projects and proposals, which gather reflections, and interdisciplinary analyzes during initial teacher education, becoming their formation more coherent in relation to the contemporary needs of a thought and an action more complex. Among results, it was perceived the student s perspective before the internship in this initial teacher education course, as well the significance of the interdisciplinary issue in the context of formation, cause, although students did not have the chance to experience the interdisciplinary challenge, they have brought concerns about it. / A presente pesquisa tem por objeto central o estágio supervisionado no curso de Pedagogia como eixo norteador para constituição de experiências interdisciplinares na formação inicial do professor. Foi analisado um curso de formação de professores na capital paulista para confrontar os aspectos teóricos da necessidade de desencadear uma postura interdisciplinar presente nas orientações para formação inicial de professores Para tanto, foi feita uma revisão bibliográfica, utilizando autores centrados em temas sobre Formação de Professor, Interdisciplinaridade, Currículo e Estágio Supervisionado; além da pesquisa de campo, onde utilizei como ferramentas de coleta de dados o caderno de campo, em que registrei a rotina e as aulas observadas do curso, além da aplicação de um questionário com cinco perguntas voltadas à reflexão sobre a ideia de teoria e prática e de documentos do curso de Pedagogia. Durante as análises da coleta, foi possível perceber a dificuldade que os alunos em formação pedagógica possuem em relacionar a teoria com a prática, argumentando falta de estímulo, prática observada na formação e percepção do contexto atual. O estágio revelou-se como fundamental para que os discentes sejam expostos a projetos e propostas que congreguem reflexões e análises interdisciplinares durante a formação inicial, tornando mais coerentes a formação em relação às necessidades contemporâneas de um pensamento e uma ação mais complexos. Dentre os resultados, foi possível conhecer o olhar dos alunos perante o estágio no curso de formação inicial bem verificar a importância da questão interdisciplinar no contexto de formação, pois embora não tivessem a possibilidade de vivenciar o desafio interdisciplinar, os alunos trouxeram inquietações nesse sentido.

Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo identificar, por meio de análise documental e de entrevistas semiestruturadas com docentes e coordenadores que atuam em cursos de Pedagogia em quatro universidades do estado do Rio de Janeiro UFF, UNIRIO, UFRJ e UFRRJ em que medida e como a questão racial é tratada no currículo desses cursos, de modo a preparar o professor para atuar com a diversidade pluriétnica nas escolas da educação básica brasileiras. Como resultados ressaltam-se os conflitos para incluir esse conteúdo no currículo de uma forma que fomente a intersecção entre disciplinas nos cursos analisados, de modo a tornar mais consistente a sua abordagem. Somado a isso, outros elementos revelaram-se como dificuldades para a entrada desse debate na formação dos pedagogos: as políticas de corte de investimentos na educação pública, que acarretam a diminuição de concursos públicos específicos para docentes que conduzirão essa discussão; as dificuldades para tratar da religiosidade africana e afrobrasileira junto aos estudantes de Pedagogia; a força dos Núcleos de Estudos Africanos e Indígenas no processo de inserção do tema étnico-racial nos currículos, dentre outros aspectos. Desse modo, observou-se que o tratamento conferido à questão étnico-racial pelas universidades investigadas revela um potencial para contribuir para o desenvolvimento da consciência quanto à existência do racismo em nossa sociedade e para o reconhecimento e a valorização de alguns elementos da cultura africana e afro-brasileira; no entanto, sua contribuição é menos evidente no que se refere à instrumentalização dos futuros docentes para o enriquecimento do currículo escolar, tanto no que se refere ao conteúdo quanto à forma de abordagem dessas questões. Acredita-se que somente uma mudança curricular mais profunda e apoiada numa aposta a ser sustentada pelo coletivo de docentes das universidades, poderá conduzir a uma formação inicial de professores da Educação Infantil e dos primeiros anos do Ensino Fundamental que de fato apoie esses profissionais no tratamento da temática nas escolas de ensino básico. / This research, by means of documentary analysis and semi-structured interviews with teachers and coordinators who perform in Pedagogy courses taught at four universities in the State of Rio de Janeiro UFF, UNIRIO, UFRJ and UFRRJ , aims at identifying to what extent and how the racial issue is addressed in the curriculums of those courses, as a way to prepare teachers for dealing with the multiethnic diversity at Basic Education schools in Brazil. Among the results obtained, what stand out are the conflicts concerning the inclusion of this content in the curriculum in a way that fosters the intersection of subjects taught in the courses analyzed, so that the issue is approached more consistently. In addition to that, other elements proved to be difficulties for entering this debate in the education of pedagogues: the policies to cut the investment in public education, which bring the reduction in number of specific public tenders for teachers who will conduct this discussion; the difficulties in addressing the African and African-Brazilian religious belief issue with Pedagogy students; the strength of African and Indigenous Study Centers in the process of inserting the racial-ethnic theme in curriculums, among other aspects. Thus, we observed that the treatment the universities studied give to the racial-ethnic issue reveals the potential for contributing to developing the awareness of the existence of racism in our society, and for acknowledging and appreciating some elements of the African and African-Brazilian cultures. However, the contribution is less apparent when it comes to providing tools to future teachers for the enrichment of the school curriculum, concerning content as well as how those issues are to be approached. We believe that only a deeper curriculum change that is based on a bet to be supported by the collective of University teachers, will be able to lead to an initial education of early years teachers and that of those who teach the first grades of Primary Education, and will actually support these professionals in addressing this theme at Basic Education schools.

Denna uppsats ämnar att undersöka de kommunikativa processer för blockedjeteknologi startups som ska lansera en så kallad “initial coin offering” och således mynta sin egna kryptovaluta, såsom till exempel bitcoin. Vi avser att undersöka det strategiska kommunikation processerna detta involverar. Från ena perspektivet är ett decentraliserat blockkedjesystem högt värderat på grund av det faktum att det jämställer samtliga medverkande och på så vis skapar en “perfekt demokrati”, å andra sidan argumenterar många att centralisering behövs för att bibehålla tillit. Tillit till organisationer skapas genom vetandet att det finns konsekvenser till dess handlingar som kan införas av högre auktoriteter ifall dessa handlingar faller utanför ramarna av vad som anses accepterat (De Fillipe & Wright, 2015). Utan en högre auktoritet som kan implementera detta blir tillit svårare att upprätthålla. Dock verkar blockkedjeteknologi motbevisa detta koncept. Hur är det möjligt för organisationer utan någon reglering från centrala myndigheter att skapa legitimitet och tillit för att på så sätt kunna få investeringar? Resultaten vi fann ställdes i jämförelse sig till våra tre legitimitets teorier som var kognitiv legitimitet, moral legitimitet och pragmatisk legitimitet, samt centrala teman och nyckelord. Att etablera en levande närvaro på sociala medier som till exempel Twitter, LinkedIn och framför allt Telegram grupper var mycket relevant. I telegram grupper sågs en grupp med många aktiva medlemmar och snabb svarsfrekvens från organisationen som mycket betydelsefullt, samt att ha botar som städar upp irrelevant material utan att deltagarna upplever detta som automatiserat och genuint. Att delta på event och etablera relationer med andra individer inom området och även närliggande områden som till exempel banksektorn var centralt, målet med detta var i många fall att kunna få betydelsefulla individer i sin styrelse av rådgivare vilket ökar legitimiteten. Att kunna ställa organisationens implementering av decentraliserad blockkedjeteknologi i jämförelse med den nuvarande centraliserade lösningen var essentiellt för att locka investerare som var villiga att riskera kapital för en ny modernare lösning.

Previous studies have shown that thermal feedback from protostars plays a key role in the process of low-mass star formation. In this thesis, we explore the effects of protostellar heating on the formation of stellar clusters. We describe new methods for modelling protostellar accretion luminosities and protostellar evolution in calculations of star formation. We then present results of a series of numerical simulations of stellar cluster formation which include these effects, and examine their impact. We begin by investigating the dependence of stellar properties on the initial density of molecular clouds. We find that the dependence of the median stellar mass on the initial density of the cloud is weaker than the dependence of the thermal Jeans mass when radiative effects are included. We suggest that including protostellar accretion luminosities and protostellar evolution may weaken this dependence further, and may account for the observed invariance of the median stellar mass in Galactic star-forming regions. Next, we investigate the effects of including accretion feedback from sink particles on the formation of small stellar groups. We find that including accretion feedback in calculations suppresses fragmentation even further than calculations that only include radiative transfer within the gas. Including feedback also produces a higher median stellar mass, which is insensitive to the sink particle accretion radius used. Finally, we compare calculations of small stellar clusters which model the evolution of protostars using a live stellar model with those which use a fixed stellar structure. We find that the dynamics of the clusters are primarily determined by the accretion luminosities of protostars, but that the relative effects of protostellar evolution depend on the accretion rate and advection of energy into the protostar. We also demonstrate how such calculations may be used to study the properties of young stellar populations.

Submitted by Rosina Valeria Lanzellotti Mattiussi Teixeira (rosina.teixeira@unisantos.br) on 2016-08-23T11:55:23Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Lascani Y¿red.pdf: 1316247 bytes, checksum: ae8f7ba1cf6dd70c0a789c98af008cf0 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-08-23T11:55:23Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Patricia Lascani Y¿red.pdf: 1316247 bytes, checksum: ae8f7ba1cf6dd70c0a789c98af008cf0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / This research is part of the teacher-training discussions and focuses on a group of teacher-trainers who teach in an undergraduate Parfor-Pedagogy Program, part of the National Plan for the Training of Basic Education Teachers (Parfor) at a Confessional University in Baixada Santista (SP). This program was created by the Ministry of Education (MEC) as an emergency plan, and was implemented by the Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Level Staff (CAPES), with the purpose of achieving the goals of the National Plan for the Training of Basic Education Teachers, by offering scholarships for teachers who teach in public schools. We chose to investigate the implications of teaching in the Parfor-Pedagogy program for teacher professionalism of teacher-trainers. The authors who served as a solid foundation for this study were: Freire (2009), Gatti, Barretto & André (2011), Imbernón (2011), Mizukami (2005-2006), Roldão (2005), Tardif (2011), Tardif & Lessard (2005), among others. The approach for the research was of qualitative aspect. For data collection, we created a discussion group, composed of five trainers, and analysis of two accounts published as books, about the training practices developed by two members of the faculty. Data analysis was developed under the perspective of content analysis, proposed by Franco (2012). Data highlights what teacher-trainers do and what they think of the student-teachers as well as the activities that are developed on the training locus. Student-teacher profiles, as regards to the functional situation of the schools where they work and also to the lack of knowledge about cultural heritage and symbolic aspects of language, has required further search for answers concerning the training needs of these student-teachers. This has led teacher-trainers to develop teaching strategies in order to enhance student-teachers learning and also to articulate academic-theoretical knowledge. This practice has shown that teaching in the Parfor Program has encouraged trainers to rebuild their knowledge and their practices. It is highly desirable that the actions and teaching practices that have been developed by these teacher-trainers at Parfor are properly recorded, discussed and shared, so that it can help to improve teachertraining policies. / A presente pesquisa insere-se nas discussões sobre formação de professores e tem como foco um grupo de professoras formadoras que atuam em um curso de Pedagogia do Plano Nacional de Formação de Professores da Educação Básica (Parfor), em uma instituição de educação superior confessional da Baixada Santista (SP). O programa Parfor foi instituído pelo Ministério da Educação (MEC), em caráter emergencial, tendo sido implantado pela Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES), com o intuito de atender aos objetivos da Política Nacional de Formação dos Profissionais da Educação Básica, com o oferecimento de bolsas de estudo para professores em exercício na rede pública de ensino. Optou-se por investigar as implicações da atuação no curso de Pedagogia Parfor para a profissionalidade docente das professoras formadoras. Os principais autores que subsidiaram o estudo foram: Freire (2009), Gatti, Barretto e André (2011), Imbernón (2011), Mizukami (2005-2006), Roldão (2005), Tardif (2011), Tardif e Lessard (2005), dentre outros. A investigação utilizou-se de uma abordagem qualitativa. Para a coleta dos dados, foi realizado um grupo de discussão composto por cinco formadoras, além da análise de dois relatos sobre as práticas formativas desenvolvidas por duas docentes do curso, publicados em forma de capítulo de livro. A análise dos dados foi realizada na perspectiva da análise de conteúdo proposta por Franco (2012). Os dados obtidos colocam em destaque o que as professoras formadoras fazem e o que pensam dos estudantes-professores e das atividades desenvolvidas no lócus de formação. O perfil dos professores-estudantes em relação à situação funcional nas redes em que atuam e à falta de domínio dos bens culturais e simbólicos da língua exigiu a busca de respostas no que se refere às suas necessidades formativas. Esse movimento possibilitou que as professoras formadoras desenvolvessem estratégias didáticas que contribuíssem para o aprendizado dos professores-estudantes e para a articulação do conhecimento teórico-acadêmico com a prática, evidenciando que a docência no programa Parfor levou essas profissionais a reconstruírem seus saberes e suas práticas. É desejável que as ações e práticas de ensino desenvolvidas por professores formadores do Parfor sejam registradas, discutidas e compartilhadas, contribuindo, assim, com o aprimoramento das políticas de formação de professores.

Axonal pathology is a key contributor to long-term disability in multiple sclerosis (MS), an inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS), but the mechanisms that underlie axonal insults remain unclear. While most axonal pathologies characterized in MS are a direct consequence of myelin loss, we propose that axonal pathologies also occur independent of demyelination. In support of this idea, we recently reported that mice that develop experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a model commonly used to mimic the pathogenesis of MS, exhibit a structural and functional disruption of the axon initial segment (AIS), a subdomain of the axon that acts as the trigger-zone for action potential generation. Importantly, this disruption is independent of myelin loss. Although the mechanism responsible for AIS disruption remains unclear, we observed an attenuation of the AIS insult following treatment with a known scavenger of oxygen free radicals. To further investigate the role of oxidative stress in modulating AIS stability, we employed an in vitro model in which neurons were exposed to a spontaneous reactive oxygen and nitrogen species generator. Through this approach, we demonstrated that oxidative stress is capable of AIS modulation acting through induction of cytosolic calcium (Ca2+) influx from both extracellular and intracellular sources, resulting in calpain protease activation. Furthermore, because rises in intracellular Ca2+ are central to these and other mechanisms of AIS disruption, we next investigated the cisternal organelle (CO), an AIS-localized Ca2+-regulating structure. Although this organelle could prove to be central to AIS modulation, very little is known about the mechanisms regulating its stability. Through this line of investigation, we provide the first evidence of pathological alteration to the CO in a disease state. This disruption precedes loss of AIS protein clustering and axo-axonic GABAergic input in both EAE and MS postmortem tissue. Overall, these studies reveal a primary axonal insult, independent of myelin loss, in a disease classically characterized as a white-matter pathology. Instead, this insult is most likely driven by oxidative stress through local Ca2+ dysregulation at the AIS, providing novel therapeutic targets for MS.

Axon initial segment (AIS) disruption has been described in a number of pathological environments where neuroinflammation is a contributing factor; however, whether this disruption is reversible in unknown. To address the principle of AIS structural recovery, we employed an acute neuroinflammatory model. Acute neuroinflammation induced disruption of AIS structural and functional domains and, importantly, upon resolution of neuroinflammatory conditions, was reversed. Consistent with other studies, we observed a close interaction of microglia with AISs, and utilized this acute neuroinflammatory model to investigate the relationship between reactive microglia and AIS integrity. Gene expression analysis of microglial transcription profiles identified reactive oxygen species (ROS)-producing enzymes as candidates in AIS pathogenesis. Experiments employing mice lacking the major ROS-producing enzyme NOX2, identified ROS as mediators of AIS disruption. Furthermore, we established calcium-dependent protease calpain as a disruptor of AIS protein clustering in inflammation-induced disruption. Since we observed an intimate interaction between microglia and the AIS, we conducted studies designed to identify a candidate in microglia that regulates microglial-AIS contact. During chronic inflammatory conditions, microglia enhance contact with AISs often completely surrounding the domain. Concomitant with this morphological change, neurofascin (Nfasc) expression increased in microglia. Nfasc is a cell adhesion molecule with cell-specific isoforms known to mediate glial-neuronal interactions, but until now, was not reported to be expressed by microglia. Here, I characterize the unique Nfasc isoform expressed by microglia and present evidence that suggests that microglial Nfasc may mediate microglial-AIS contact, a potentially pivotal interaction in the induction of AIS disruption by pro-inflammatory factors.

According to the Center for Disease Control’s (CDC) report to the Congress, there are 2.2 million emergency department visits; 80,000 hospitalizations; and 50,000 deaths each year due to traumatic brain injury. Adults 65 years and older account substantially for the majority of the hospitalization and deaths. Over 70% of the traumatic brain injuries of the older adults are classified as mild to moderate; however, even with these milder injuries, older adults present with a significantly higher morbidity and mortality compared to all other age groups (LeBlanc et al., 2006). With that in mind, it seems essential to develop a deeper understanding of the causes behind higher mortality and morbidity of traumatic brain injury in the elder population. It is well documented that increased age is accompanied by increased CNS inflammation. Recently, our laboratory showed that inflammation drives brain pathology. Specifically, we reported that the axon initial segment of cortical neurons was structurally and functionally compromised in an inflamed CNS environment. With this in mind, we proposed that age-related inflammation predisposes that brain to exacerbated pathologic consequence. To test this hypothesis, we administered a mild to moderate central fluid percussion brain injury in aged and young adult mice. Using immunocytochemical labeling against the axon initial segment protein ankyrinG combined with laser scanning confocal microscopy, we quantitatively compared axon initial segment number and length between age groups and within age groups with and without injury. Additionally, we also quantified global axonal pathology by immunolabeling for amyloid precursor protein (APP) positive swelling as an indicator of compromised axonal transport. We proposed that ankyrinG labeling will be both reduced in the aged injured mice compared against aged uninjured, young adult injured and young adult non-injured. We observed a significant increase in APP accumulations due to injury independent of aging, and due to aging independent of injury. No significant changes in the effect of injury between young and aged injured mice were observed. Although AIS length was not altered between age groups following injury, our results demonstrate that the elderly population presents with significantly shorter initial segments. The consequence of this shortening is not clear but may reflect compensatory changes in the brain to maintain homeostasis.

Although the effectiveness of group therapy has been highlighted, the underlying mechanisms involved in the group process have been under studied. The purpose of this study is twofold. First, the current study utilized an outcome mediation model to examine whether initial level of participation in the intervention (Control/No intervention, non-participatory, participatory) predicted change in Identity Conflict Resolution (IDCR), Personal Expressiveness (PE) and Informational Identity Style (INFO) at posttest, and Internalizing (INT) and Externalizing (EXT) behaviors at post and follow-up assessment. Secondly, the current study examined whether relationships between variables varied as a result of group differences in initial participation. The study utilized an archival sample of 234 high school students, ages 14 to 18, who participated in the Changing Lives Program of the Youth Development Project (YDP) since 2003. Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to examine differences in direct effects as a result of initial participation on an outcome meditational model. To further analyze this model, SEM was utilized to conduct a multi-group solution to examine whether group differences based on level of initial participation in the variables