by Ng Ping-chung. / Thesis (M. Phil.)--Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1991. / Includes bibliographical references. / Chapter 1. --- Introduction / Chapter 1.1 --- Natural History of the Bird and the Nest --- p.1 / Chapter 1.2 --- What is More Important in Saliva: Mucin or Proteoglycan? --- p.9 / Chapter 1.3 --- Extraction and characterization of salivary glycoprotein --- p.27 / Chapter 2. --- Materials and Methods / Chapter 2.1 --- Preparation of Swiftlet's Nest Extracts --- p.38 / Chapter 2.2 --- Chemical and Biochemical Analysis of SN extracts --- p.38 / Chapter 2.2.1 --- Chemical Analysis --- p.38 / Chapter 2.2.1.1 --- Element Analysis --- p.38 / Chapter 2.2.1.2 --- Ash and Atomic Absorption Analysis --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2.2 --- Biochemical Analysis --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2.2.1 --- Protein Determination --- p.39 / Chapter 2.2.2.2 --- Hexose Determination --- p.40 / Chapter 2.2.2.3 --- Uronic Acid Determination --- p.40 / Chapter 2.2.2.4 --- Hexosamine Determination --- p.41 / Chapter 2.2.2.5 --- Sialic Acid Determination --- p.42 / Chapter 2.2.2.6 --- Sulphate Determination --- p.42 / Chapter 2.3 --- Assay of Co-mitogenic Activity in Lymphocyte Culture --- p.43 / Chapter 2.3.1 --- Preparation of Human Peripheral Blood Lymphocytes --- p.43 / Chapter 2.3.2 --- Co-mitogenic Assay --- p.43 / Chapter 2.4 --- Effect of SN pretreatment on Concanavalin A-stimulated Blastogenic Response in Mouse Splenocytes --- p.44 / Chapter 2.4.1 --- Administration of SN extracts --- p.44 / Chapter 2.4.2 --- Preparation of Mouse Splenocytes --- p.45 / Chapter 2.4.3 --- Concanavalin A-stimulated Blastogenic Response Assay --- p.45 / Chapter 2.5 --- Characterization of SN extracts by Chromatographic Methods --- p.45 / Chapter 2.5.1 --- Gel Filtration Chromatography --- p.45 / Chapter 2.5.1.1 --- Sephadex G-200 Chromatography --- p.45 / Chapter 2.5.1.2 --- Superose-Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography --- p.46 / Chapter 2.5.2 --- Ion-exchange Chromatography --- p.46 / Chapter 2.5.2.1 --- DEAE-Sepharose --- p.46 / Chapter 2.5.2.2 --- Mono-Q FPLC --- p.46 / Chapter 2.5.3 --- Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.4 --- Wheat-germ lectin Sepharose Chromatography --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.5 --- Octyl-Sepharose Chromatography --- p.47 / Chapter 2.5.6 --- Limulus Polyemus Agarose Chromatography --- p.48 / Chapter 2.5.7 --- Heparin-Agarose Chromatography --- p.48 / Chapter 2.6 --- Electrophoretic Analysis of SN extract --- p.49 / Chapter 2.6.1 --- Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate/Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis --- p.49 / Chapter 2.6.2 --- Isoelectrofocusing in Polyacrylamide Gel --- p.50 / Chapter 2.6.2.1 --- Preparation of Gel --- p.50 / Chapter 2.6.2.2 --- Isoelectrofocusing Procedure --- p.51 / Chapter 2.6.2.3 --- "Fixing, Staining and Destaining" --- p.51 / Chapter 2.6.3 --- Gradient Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis --- p.51 / Chapter 2.6.3.1 --- Preparation of Gradient Polyacrylamide Gel --- p.52 / Chapter 2.7 --- Enzymatic Modification of SN extracts --- p.53 / Chapter 2.7.1 --- B-glucuronidase (EC 3.2.1.31) --- p.53 / Chapter 2.7.2 --- Hyaluronidase (EC 3.2.1.35) --- p.53 / Chapter 2.7.3 --- Chondroitinase ABC (EC 4.2.2.4) --- p.54 / Chapter 2.8 --- Miscellaneous Reagents --- p.54 / Chapter 2.8.1 --- Phosphate-buffer-saline (PBS) --- p.54 / Chapter 2.8.2 --- Fetal Calf Serum (FGS) --- p.54 / Chapter 2.8.3 --- Mitogen --- p.55 / Chapter 2.3.4 --- Penicillin-Streptomycin-Fungizone Solution --- p.55 / Chapter 2.8.5 --- RPMI-1640 Medium --- p.55 / Chapter 2.8.6 --- Scintillant --- p.55 / Chapter 2.8.7 --- Trypan Blue Solution --- p.55 / Chapter 3 --- Results --- p.57 / Chapter 3.1 --- Extraction of Biologically active fractions from swiflet's nest --- p.57 / Chapter 3.2 --- Effect of SN pretreatment on Con A-stimulated Blastogenesis response in mouse splenocytes --- p.57 / Chapter 3.3 --- Chemical and Biochemical Analysis of SN extracts --- p.57 / Chapter 3.3.1 --- Atomic absorption analysis of metal elements --- p.57 / Chapter 3.3.2 --- Element analysis --- p.61 / Chapter 3.3.3 --- Biochemical analysis --- p.61 / Chapter 3.4 --- Chromatographic characterization of SN extracts --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4.1 --- Sephadex G-200 chromatography --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4.2 --- DEAE-Sepharose chromatography --- p.67 / Chapter 3.4.3 --- Immobilized Metal Affinity Chromatography --- p.73 / Chapter 3.4.4 --- Wheat-germ lectin Sepharose Chromatography --- p.73 / Chapter 3.4.5 --- Limulus Polyemus Agarose Chromatography --- p.73 / Chapter 3.4.6 --- Octyl-Sepharose Chromatography --- p.81 / Chapter 3.4.7 --- Heparin-Agarose Chromatography --- p.81 / Chapter 3.5 --- Electrophoretic Analysis of SN extract --- p.88 / Chapter 3.5.1 --- Sodium Dodecyl Sulphate/Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis --- p.88 / Chapter 3.5.2 --- Isoelectrofocusing in Thin Layer of Polyacrylamide Gel --- p.88 / Chapter 3.5.3 --- Gradient Polyacrylamide Gel Electrophoresis --- p.88 / Chapter 3.6 --- Enzymatic Modification of SN extracts --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.1 --- B-glucuronidase (EC 3.2.1.31) --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.1.1 --- Alteration in co-mitogenic activity --- p.92 / Chapter 3.6.1.2 --- Alternation in uronic acid content --- p.92 / Chapter 3.7 --- Co-mitogenic activity of glycosaminoglycans --- p.92 / Chapter 3.8 --- Effect of heparin on the co-mitogenic activity of SNp2C fraction --- p.96 / Chapter 4 --- Discussion --- p.99 / Chapter 4.1 --- Extraction of Biologically active fraction from edible bird's nest --- p.99 / Chapter 4.2 --- Chemical and Biochemical characterization of active component(s) in SN extract --- p.100 / Chapter 4.3 --- Some mechanistic considerations --- p.107 / Chapter 4.4 --- Summary and Conclusion --- p.111 / References --- p.114

Thesis (M.Sc.(Med.))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2014.

Despite a growing body of research regarding the effects of media on very young children, most studies have focused on relatively short-term effects, and those that examined long-term effects have not done so with a representative sample. The current study examined long-term effects of screen media exposure on children aged 0 to 35 months. The data for this study came from the first and second waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) Child Development Supplement (CDS-I and CDS-II), which offers several advantages in examining the longitudinal relationships between early television exposure and subsequent academic performance. This nationally representative dataset includes a measure of cognitive skills, as well as time diaries that provide a record of how and with whom children spent their time. First, this study examined television viewing contexts likely to be operative in infancy and toddlerhood -- what these children view, whom they co-view with, what they co-view, and what they are doing while the television is on. Second, this study assessed the long-term effects of early exposure to different program content (i.e., child-educational programs, child-noneducational programs & adult programs) on subsequent cognitive outcomes (mainly academic achievement) in early childhood. Finally, the role of parental co-viewing in the long-term effects of exposure to child-educational content on academic skills was examined. Descriptive analyses and multiple OLS regressions were conducted. On weekdays, children were exposed to child-educational content, child-noneducational content and adult content on TV (33 minutes, 29 minutes, 27 minutes, respectively); on weekends, children were exposed to child-educational content, child-noneducational content and adult content on TV (23 minutes, 31 minutes, 31 minutes, respectively). Although it is commonly believed that television displaces time spent with others and playing, nearly half of infants and toddlers' time spent viewing television was spent playing and in social interaction (30% and 16%, respectively). Different relationships emerged among groups with differing amounts of total television exposure: children who were exposed to 1 to 2 hours of television per day had higher academic test scores compared to children who were exposed to less (those who watched no TV at all and those who were exposed to between 0 and 1 hour). As regards television content, the only relationship found was among toddlers exposed to adult content. Toddlers who were exposed to more adult programs in their early years were likely to have worse passage comprehension test scores 5 year later. However, there was no relationship between early exposure to child programs (i.e., child-educational and child-noneducational content) and subsequent academic test scores. Parental co-viewing of child-educational content was positively related to the academic achievement test scores (the passage comprehension test scores and the applied problem scores), indicating that parental co-viewing plays an important role in children's experience of media in infancy and toddlerhood. The findings have implications that may allow us to increase the effectiveness of learning from screen media in infancy and toddlerhood. / text

No description available.

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol. inst. / Härtill 5 uppsatser.

Respiratory failure accounts for a large, if not the largest, percentage of deaths during the first 48 hours of life. During the last ten years a great deal of research has been devoted to this early respiratory failure. The syndrome has been known by different names at different times; hyaline membrane disease (because pulmonary hyaline membrane is a frequent autopsy finding), congestive pulmonary failure, vernix membrane disease, pulmonary syndrome, and more recently the respiratory distress syndrome. A vast literature on the subject has accumulated. Many new and interesting facts have come to light and although many new theories have been put forth to explain the syndrome, the cause is still unknown.

Although the relationship between increased anteversion and abnormal motor control in children with cerebral palsy is well documented there are no published studies that look at the possible links between motor control and femoral anteversion in children without neurological deficits. Children with intoeing gait are reported to be clumsy; but this clumsiness is usually ascribed to the gait angle. The aim of this study, therefore, is to explore the possible relationship between detorsion of the femur during growth and the development of hip posture and movement. Hip internal and external rotation are commonly used as a clinical measure of anteversion of the femur. In this study the range of hip internal and external rotation (as a clinical measure of anteversion) was related to performance of motor tasks requiring control of the posture and movement of the hip. If the degree of femoral anteversion is linked to the development of motor control, the next step would be to investigate the effectiveness of exercise programmes on the process of detorsion of the femur in children with excessive medial femoral torsion.

No description available.

Musical behaviours, such as singing, dancing and musical production, encourage high levels of interpersonal synchrony. In adults, interpersonal synchrony (i.e. moving in time with others) has been shown to encourage affiliative behaviours among those involved. People are more cooperative, helpful, and trusting toward people with whom they have moved synchronously compared to asynchronously. Until the present thesis, it was unknown if these affiliative effects of interpersonal synchrony influenced social behaviour from an early age. In Chapter 2, I provided the first evidence that 14-month-old infants are more helpful toward synchronously- compared to asynchronously-moving partners. In Chapter 3, I showed that interpersonal synchrony only boosts infant helping directed toward their synchronously-moving partner, but not a neutral stranger. However, in Chapter 4, I showed that infants are more likely to help the positive affiliate (“friend”) of their synchronously-moving partner over the “friend” of their asynchronously-moving partner. Chapter 5 explores how background music in Chapters 2-4 contributed to the overall experience. Here, I found that even in a non-musical context, infants still helped synchronously-moving partners more than asynchronously-moving partners. However, infants were more distressed and took more time to help than in Chapters 2-4, suggesting that music may provide an emotionally regulating context within which interpersonal synchrony can be experienced. Together, these findings suggest that behaviours encouraging high levels of synchronous movement, such as musical behaviours, have important consequences for early social development. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Recently scholars involved in narrative analysis seem to have overlooked the role of the narrator and overemphasized that of the readers. They even have different perspectives on the identification of the readers. Whoever the reader is, they place an omnipotent ability onto the reader as the master of interpreting the biblical narratives so that the reader maintains an unchanged position in this field but the narrator loses his/her effect. Such a tendency becomes more problematic in dealing with biblical characterization. With this problem in mind, the principal objective of this dissertation is to demonstrate the dynamic relationship between the narrative themes and characters created by the Lukan narrator rather than the reader in the Infancy Narrative. This study considers the narrator as the main entity who creates the narrative themes, especially in relation to the narrative characters, and presents a model of narrative analysis which has been formalized for the study of the Luke's thematic characterization in the Infancy Narrative (Luke 1-2). The main question of the dissertation is two-fold: 1) how does the narrator characterize his characters for the sake of his narrative themes?; 2) What is the thematic function of the Infancy Narrative in the Lukan Gospel in relation to the narrator's thematization of the characters? In order to answer this question, this study suggests three steps for analyzing the narrative. One is to define the types of characters (on-stage: front ground, foreground, and background; and off-stage: setting and potential), another is to determine narrative themes based upon three dimensions (textual, intertextual, and extratextual), and the other is to observe thematic relations between the characters in the Infancy Narrative and the following parts of the Lukan Gospel. With these steps, this study defmes all characters of the Infancy Narrative and evaluates their thematic roles, and the narrator's themes conveyed by his characters. Lastly, after examining the thematic coherence through narrative characters in the Gospel, this dissertation attests that the Infancy Narrative is a well-designed thematic introduction of the Gospel which establishes the major themes of the Gospel, conveyed by the divine characters (God, the Holy Spirit, and the angel), John, Jesus, and others. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)