The purpose of this exploratory study was to develop, test, and apply a questionnaire which would be used to determine the possibility of PMS in women being admitted to psychiatric facilities. Although a review of the literature supported the assumption that PMS symptoms and symptoms of psychiatric illness share overlapping features, the evaluation process currently implemented in psychiatric facilities does not allow for the possibility of a diagnosis of PMS. The questionnaire, created to detect PMS symptom changes in intensity and timing, was administered to women newly admitted to psychiatric facilities. Thirty-two percent of the group demonstrated the possibility of having PMS. The results of this study would suggest that women of child-bearing potential, admitted to a psychiatric facility, might be evaluated for the possibility of PMS.

This study was designed to address several issues related to PMS. One purpose was to compare women who say they have PMS with those who say they do not have PMS and to compare women diagnosed with PMS with those not diagnosed as having it. Forty-eight women and 11 men (included for comparison) who had a mean age of 34 years, were not students, and met other screening criteria, volunteered to keep daily charts for 120 days (prospective daily data). They did not know the menstrual purpose of the study. Each participant's daily reports were examined individually for PMS patterns according to strict criteria, and they were accordingly assigned to one of five groups. Only six women (12.5%) met the diagnostic criteria for premenstrual syndrome, but 62.5% said they had PMS. Fourteen women and 2 men (randomly assigned to menstrual cycles), 28% of the total sample, had diagnosable "downs" in other phases. The greater proportion of diagnosable downs in phases other than the premenstrual phase calls into question the appropriateness of a singular focus on PMS rather than on general cyclicity in adults' day-to-day experiences. Indeed, 74% of all participants in this study(including 73% of the men) had one or more diagnosed cyclic patterns in at least one of the three (menstrual, day of week, lunar) cycles studied. Participants also recalled (retrospective data) their menstrual (women only), weekday, and lunar moods. When prospective and retrospective data were compared, analyses revealed that participants may have used menstrual and day of week stereotypes to assist in their recall. Both parametric (normative) and nonparametric (idiographic)analyses were conducted, with sometimes contrasting results. These contradictions and their implications are discussed. It was concluded that it may be inappropriate to refer to a premenstrual syndrome, that the proposed inclusion of Late Luteal Phase Dysphoric Disorder (LLPDD) in the Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistics Manual (DSM) is questionable, and that more needs to be known about healthy cyclical changes before conclusions about unhealthy cyclic changes can be drawn.

A forced-choice reaction time (RT) task was used to examine the relations between covert orienting (shifts of visual attention independent of eye movement) and filtering (the inhibition of processing of irrelevant stimuli) components of attention in persons with Down syndrome (n = 17) and children of average intelligence (n = 17) matched for mental age (MA), (MA = approximately 5 years). Conditions varied with regard to presence or absence of distractors, and the validity (valid, invalid, or neutral) of location cues. RT/p(correct) scores of both groups were longer in distractor-present conditions and in conditions when the location cue provided incorrect information (invalid cue). In addition, RT/p(correct) scores of both groups were longer when it was necessary to simultaneously search for a target and filter out irrelevant information, than when each of these attention demanding tasks was utilized separately. However, there were no differences in performance between persons with Down syndrome and MA matched children of average intelligence. This evidence is used to challenge the notion of an overall deficit in selective attention abilities in persons with Down syndrome as compared to MA matched children of average intelligence. Findings are also discussed in terms of their support for a capacity sharing relationship between covert orienting and filtering.

This dissertation explored factors related to heterosexual women's use of the label "PMS" and the question of why so many women who say that they have PMS do not meet prospectively-based researcher criteria. Participants were recruited through Vancouver city newspapers and posters for a study of emotional, behavioural, and health patterns. They were screened for hysterectomies, ovariectomies, pregnancy, and chronic illnesses. The 58 women in this study (mean age=34.5) provided daily prospective data over a mean of 15 weeks for 15 variables representing 4 different types of symptoms: mood, relationship, concentration and work performance, and physical and activity symptom types. At the beginning of the study, they completed the Beck Depression Inventory. During a final interview they completed various questionnaires regarding romantic relationships, stress, history of abuse, and attitudes toward menstruation. During her final interview, each woman was asked whether she had ever had PMS and, if so, what she believed caused it. Only 16% of the women met researcher-designated criteria for PMS and 9% met researcher-criteria for PDD (Premenstrual Dysphoric Disorder, APA, 1994), but 60% believed that they currently had PMS. There was very little match between researcher-designations and self-designations for any of the 15 prospective variables. Instead, consistent with schematic theories of PMS, it was women's attitudes toward menstruation that were most strongly related to self-designation. Women who said that they currently had PMS were more likely to view menstruation as debilitating, natural, and predictable. They had higher depression scores and reported more frequent and enduring experiences of anger. More of these women reported having been emotionally abused as an adult, emotionally abused as a child, and physically abused by a past or current romantic partner. Although women who said that they had never had PMS perceived menstruation as more bothersome, they believed that women should be able to ignore it. Current-Say and Never-Say women did not significantly differ for other forms of abuse, partner satisfaction, or daily uplifts. Daily hassles did not reach statistical significance at the multivariate level, but univariate significance indicated that Never-Say women might experience fewer daily hassles than Current-Say women. The prospective data were analyzed idiographically using prediction analyses. Current-Say women demonstrated more uncharacteristic cyclicity during the midcycle phase across the 15 variables and 4 symptom types. Never-Say women showed more uncharacteristic cyclicity during the postmenstrual phase. No differences were found for other phases. These findings, and other results, argue against the use of simple premenstrual-postmenstrual and premenstrual-intermenstrual difference measures in diagnosing PMS or PDD. It was concluded that, although the women's self-designations did not match their prospective data, they could not be explained simply as a mislabelling of negative cyclicity in other phases. There was also mixed evidence for the hypothesis that women's reports of having "PMS" were part of a generalized over-reporting of symptomatology or dissatisfaction. Possible explanations for women's self-designations are discussed, including schematic representations of both menstruation and general illness and a "contrast hypothesis" modified from the version proposed by McFarlane and Williams (1994). This contrast hypothesis suggests that cyclical changes occurring during a particular non-premenstrual phase are related to women's self-designations according to (a) the timing of these changes relative to the visible and salient menses, in conjunction with (b) their attitudes toward menstruation. Close to half (45%) the women who said that they had experienced PMS attributed their perceived PMS to a bidirectional model of physiology and environment, and 58% of the women saying that they had PMS believed that it happened occasionally rather than inevitably. Overall, the women's representations of menstrual cyclicity were neither simple reflections of cultural stereotypes nor pervasively negative, but rather diverse and complex. The results that link depression, anger, and specific forms of abuse to self-designations suggest that women saying that they have PMS are indicating difficulties that may or may not be menstrually-related. Researchers and other professionals need to assess the nature of those difficulties in women presenting with "PMS".

Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) is an important inner membrane phospholipid synthesized de novo by the CDP-ethanolamine pathway and by the decarboxylation of phosphatidylserine. CTP: phosphoethanolamine cytidylyltransferase (Pcyt2) is the main regulatory enzyme in the CDP-ethanolamine pathway and catalyzes the formation of CDP-ethanolamine from phosphoethanolamine. Complete deletion of the mouse Pcyt2 gene is embryonic lethal, and the single allele deficiency leads to development of metabolic syndrome phenotype, including liver steatosis, hypertriglyceridemia, obesity, and insulin resistance. This study aimed to specifically elucidate the effects of dietary methyl group donors betaine and choline supplementation in Pcyt2 heterozygous mice (ETKO). Evidence here shows choline and its oxidized metabolite betaine are responsible for lowering whole body weight, restoring insulin resistance, reducing hypertriglyceridemia, hepatic steatosis, and alleviating adipose and liver tissue inflammation, by restoring hepatic metabolism and gene expression. Collectively, these results establish that the impaired systemic metabolism resulting from Pcyt2 deficiency is a metabolic adaptation that is restored after methyl group supplementation.

The purpose of this study was to determine the utility of decomposition-based quantitative electromyography (DQEMG) in detecting signs of motor unit loss and collateral sprouting in compression neuropathy. In order to accomplish this, needle- and surface-detected motor unit potential (MUP) morphological features, determined by DQEMG, were used to determine evidence of collateral sprouting. Evidence of motor unit loss was measured using motor unit number estimates (MUNEs). Six subjects with severe carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), eight subjects with mild CTS and nine healthy individuals with no known neuropathy participated in this cross sectional study. All subjects completed two phases of data collection: 1) an examination consisting of physical and electrophysiological tests to assess the presence and/or severity of CTS and 2) quantitative electromyography techniques to record MUNEs and MUP morphological characteristics. The needle-detected MUP parameters included peak-to-peak amplitude, duration and number of phases. The presence of satellite potentials was also investigated in the needle-detected MUPs. The surface-detected MUP parameters examined included peak-to-peak amplitude, duration and negative peak area. Kruskall-Wallace tests were used to determine group differences for all outcome measures. The MUNEs were lower (p<0.017) in the severe CTS group as compared to those with mild or no CTS. This result suggests that individuals with severe CTS experience a decrease in the number of functioning motor units. Despite statistically similar surface-detected MUP morphology, there were significantly larger needle-detected MUP amplitudes (p<0.017) and satellite potentials (p<0.05) were present in the severe CTS group as compared to the mild CTS group and healthy control group. These findings suggest there is collateral reinnervation in individuals with severe CTS. The results of this study support the use of DQEMG in future studies of compression neuropathies as an effective means to document the progression of motor deficits. / Thesis (Master, Rehabilitation Science) -- Queen's University, 2008-09-16 12:08:13.587

This study investigated friendship formations of two girls with Down Syndrome who were integrated into a unit of 34 ten and eleven-year-old girls at a residential summer camp. While acting as participant observer, in the role of co-counsellor, I recorded behavioural observations and informal interviews in a journal, friendship log and personal log. A quantitative data analysis investigated the frequency with which campers elected to be with these two girls, as well as the number of campers who chose them as their best friends, as preferred bunkmates for next year and as those with whom they would want to keep in touch. A qualitative data analysis investigated the comments made by campers and counsellors concerning the program and the two girls of interest to this study. Results indicated that these two girls formed friendships during this month-long program. Limitations of this investigation are considered and some suggestions for further research are explored.

The goal of this study was to examine theory of mind and deliberate rule use in children with Down syndrome as compared to children of normal intelligence. Theory of mind was defined as the ability to understand that other people have thoughts, beliefs and desires. Deliberate rule use was considered to be the extent to which children were able to learn and subsequently switch between a set of ad hoc rules unrelated to mental states. Participants included 10 individuals with Down syndrome and 10 individuals of normal intelligence matched for mental age. The primary finding of this study was that individuals with Down syndrome do not possess a theory of mind at a mental age of 5 years. Furthermore, individuals with Down syndrome possess domain specific knowledge of embedded rules, whereas, individuals with normal intelligence apply an embedded rule structure that effects mental and non-mental state tasks equally. The embedded rule use of individuals with Down syndrome was characterized by: (a) an inability to effectively use embedded rules in theory of mind and deductive card sort tasks; and, (b) the ability to use embedded rules in a task assessing physical causality.

Persons with Down syndrome and MA matched typically developing children were tested on two measures each of hot and cool executive function (EF). Tasks were selected to be developmentally appropriate for mental ages between 3 and 6 years. Participants with Down syndrome performed at the same level as verbal mental age (VMA, M = 47.53 months) matched typically developing children on the Children's Gambling Task (Kerr & Zelazo, 2001), a delay of gratification task (Thompson, Barresi, & Moore, 1997) the Dimensional Change Card Sort (DCCS; Frye, Zelazo, & Palfai, 1995), and the Self-Ordered Pointing task (Petrides & Milner, 1982), but showed a disadvantage on the DCCS, a cool EF task, when matched on performance mental age (PMA, M = 58.34 months). These results reflect the complex cognitive profiles of persons with Down syndrome and highlight the need for more precise matching procedures.

Several studies claim to have demonstrated an increased frequency of Down syndrome (DS) dermatoglyphics and other DS characteristics in parents of DS children, which could be explained by unrecognized parental mosaicism for trisomy 21. The goal of this study was to test the following hypothesis: In some cases of DS the cause will be parental gonadal mosaicism for trisomy 21. These parents will also be mosaic in tissues other than the gonads and will therefore have quantitative deviations in the direction of the DS phenotype. Upon examination of such traits in 162 parents with one DS child it was found that 22 parents had dermatoglyphic characteristics within the DS distribution of the Preus diagnostic index (no significant increase), 6 had DS quantitative phenotypic traits, and 1 had both. There was no evidence of bimodality in the distribution of these traits, or of a correlation between these traits with one another or with the Preus dermatoglyphic index for DS. There were no trisomy 21 cells in 200 lymphoblast cells counted for each of the 5 subjects with the most DS-like dermatoglyphic characteristics. The one subject who has both DS dermatoglyphics and a trend toward DS phenotype had 1/300 trisomy 21 cells in lymphoblast culture and 0/100 cells in fibroblast culture. Neither these data nor these from the literature, provide support for the suggestion that parental mosaicism for trisomy 21 is associated with an increase in DS-like physical characteristics.