There are relatively few preschools in Sweden that have an animal profile. Previous research on the interaction between children and animals has mostly focused on how adults explain the relationship between children and animals. The purpose of this study is to explore how children express the way in which they experience preschools that focus on work with animals. I then take this data and compare it to earlier research. Vygotskij’s thoughts give the theoretical framework for the study. A sociocultural perspective lifts the notion that all learning occurs in social relationships. The conception of mediation through language and the zone of proximal development are two relevant characteristics of the study. I visited a preschool with an animal profile and used qualitative interviews and observations in order to gather data. The children express that they experience happiness when working with the animals. In their words, dogs are playmates and comforters. The children enjoy playing, riding and caring for the animals. Occasionally children express fear around the animals. Research shows that children receive unconditional love and learn the social rules of relationships with animals. Children learn to read the animal’s body language. This leads to a better understanding of relationships with people. Friendly petting of the animals along with the animal’s non-judgmental presence stimulates oxytocin production. This leads to contentment and relaxation. The interaction between children and animals promotes self-esteem, empathy, responsibility and gross-motor skills development. This study shows that in situations where fear is experienced, the outcome can lead to increased bravery and sense of responsibility. At all times during the interaction between children and animals learning is taking place. An interesting conclusion of this study is that it is possible to achieve all of the goals outlined in the Curriculum for the Preschool by working together with children and animals.

Undesirable and variable behavior in mares related to the estrous cycle is a common issue reported in the equine industry, especially for mares in a performance setting. These behaviors can interfere with, as well as decrease, overall performance. The objective of this study was to determine if administration of sixty units of oxytocin once daily for 29 days, regardless of when treatment was initiated during the estrous cycle, would induce prolonged corpus luteum (CL) function in cycling mares. Mares were randomly assigned to two groups: 1) saline-treated control (n=7) and 2) oxytocintreated (n=9). Control mares received 3 cc saline and oxytocin-treated mares received sixty units (3 cc) of oxytocin intramuscularly (IM) for 29 consecutive days. Treatment was initiated in all mares on the same day, independent of the day of the cycle. Jugular blood samples for determination of progesterone concentration were collected three times weekly (M, W, F) for 21 days before treatment was initiated. Beginning on the first day of treatment, blood samples were collected daily for seven days, three times weekly for the remainder of the treatment period, and then three times weekly for 45 days after the last treatment. Mares were considered to have prolonged CL function if serum progesterone remained >1.0 ng/mL for at least 30 days during/after the treatment period. The proportion of mares with prolonged CL function was higher in the oxytocin-treated group compared to the saline-treated group (7/9 vs. 1/7, respectively; P1.0 ng/mL throughout the treatment period and into the post-treatment period. All mares with prolonged CL function maintained elevated progesterone concentrations through at least day 56 of the study. Sixty units of exogenous oxytocin treatment for 29 consecutive days was effective in prolonging CL function as a means of estrus suppression in mares.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

Reports have linked energy balance along with adipocyte derived leptin action to improved fertility. Recent evidence indicates that leptin hormone is present in breast milk and leptin receptors are well expressed in mammary epithelial cells. The hypothesis that insufficiency of leptin restraint in the hypothalamus may underlie infertility in rodents and the failure of lactating breast to express adequate amount of milk was tested. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were injected leptin through intracerebroventricular cannulation (ICVC) of the third ventricle. Female rats were mated with stud males and observed throughout gestation. Compared to the control groups, leptin treatment increased prolactin levels in the dams and increased milk transfer to pup. Hypothalamic mRNA leptin levels and brain size in the offspring from leptin treated dams were significantly higher than the control. These findings support the involvement of leptin in reproduction and could lead to better understanding of leptin transfer from dam to offspring.

Att använda sig av och våga prova nya olika verktyg i den specialpedagogiska undervisningen är en viktig del i mötet med elever i behov av särskilt stöd. Ett verktyg som framför allt har använts internationellt under en längre tid är hundassisterande pedagogik. Denna systematiska litteraturstudie har i syfte att ta reda på om det finns stöd i tidigare internationell forskning för att hundar ökar motivationen för lärande och vad som i så fall är verksamt i mötet mellan elev, hund och dess förare genom följande forskningsfrågor: ”Hur kan elever i behov av särskilt stöd öka motivationen för lärande med hjälp av en hund som specialpedagogiskt verktyg?”, ”Om motivationen ökar, vad är det i mötet med elev och hund som ökar elevens motivation för lärande?” och ”Vilken syn på motivation framträder i artiklarna?”Resultatet visade att användningen av hundassisterande pedagogik kan öka elevens motivation till lärande och detta var särskilt gynnsamt för de elever som var längst ifrån att nå kunskapsmålen. De högsta effekterna kunde ses i beteendet som förändrades i positiv riktning i umgänget med hunden. Eleverna blev lugnare, gladare, mer koncentrerade och hade lättare för den sociala interaktionen både med pedagogerna och med klasskamraterna. Resultaten visade även en ökning av läsförmågan men den var inte lika framträdande som de beteendemässiga- och sociala färdigheterna. Denna studie ger förslag på hur man kan arbeta och ett nytt sätt att tänka inom denspecialpedagogiska verksamheten och det kan leda till att skolan lyckas bättre med att tillgodose elevens behov av stöd som leder till ökad motivation för lärandet. Framför allt eftersom resultaten visar att eleven mår bättre och detta leder till positiva förändringar i beteenden som i sin tur kan ge framgångsrika resultat för lärandemålen över tid. Eftersom hunden med fördel kan skapa goda och trygga relationer med en elev som är i behov av något extra skulle detta forskningsfält behöva utökas ytterligare och då framför allt med mer longitudinella studier för att mäta lärandeeffekterna under en längre period. Särskilt då inom det svenska forskningsfältet för att kunskapen enklare ska nå fram till skolans praktik och dess beslutsfattare.

Breastfeeding offers significant benefits to the breastfed infant as well as the breastfeeding woman. The World Health Organization now recommends exclusive breastfeeding until six months, followed by supplementation and continued breastfeeding to two years or more. Around the world, public health programs endeavour to promote breastfeeding through educational programs. In Brazil, such programming is widespread, and yet less than 30% of women in São Paulo breastfeeding exclusively even to four months post-partum. This study uses a qualitative-quantitative bio-experiential approach to explore the way that stressful experiences and circumstances in the lives of low-income women from the Eastern Zone of São Paulo, Brazil, influence their decision to wean or supplement their infant before 12 weeks post-partum. Sixty-five first-time mothers participated in a 12-week longitudinal study of life stressors and breastfeeding practice. Participants were asked to complete one pre-partum and six post-partum interviews. Narrative and biological data were collected from each participant at each interview. Statistical analysis revealed that among these participants the breastfeeding hormone oxytocin did not mediate breastfeeding duration. Oxytocin appeared to act as a biomarker of stressful experience, while Epstein-Barr Virus antibody titre, a commonly used biological measure of psychosocial stress, did not. Unplanned pregnancy, older age and higher mean oxytocin level were statistically associated with weaned outcome at 12 weeks. Unplanned pregnancy, older age, higher mean oxytocin level, higher mean satisfaction score regarding financial situation and lower mean satisfaction score regarding interpersonal factors were associated with decreased duration of any breastfeeding. Unplanned pregnancy, older age and lower mean satisfaction score regarding interpersonal factors were associated with decreased duration of exclusive breastfeeding. Ethnographic analysis revealed that the effect of unplanned pregnancy may be connected to the discourse of the self-sacrificial, child-centric “good mother.” Exclusive breastfeeding was seen as a hallmark of this idealised maternal type. Single women with unplanned pregnancies expressed a great deal of ambivalence towards their own maternity and toward the somewhat unobtainable good mother ideal, especially with relation to the physical and psychological challenges breastfeeding. Women’s ambivalence appeared to influence their decisions to supplement or wean their infants by or before 12 weeks post-partum.

<p> In vivo and in vitro studies on the biosynthesis of vasopressin in the supraoptic nuclei of the dog and guinea pig1 using 35s-cysteine and 3H-tyrosine have suggested that vasopressin could be synthesized by wa;y of a precursor, which is modified to release active hormone. In vivo injection of 3H-tyrosine into the cerebrospinal fluid of rats2 had resulted in incorporation of the label into both oxytocin and vasopressin. In this work, an attempt was made to develop an in vitro system for the biosynthesis of oxytocin. Incubations of either 3H-isoleucine or 14c-leucine with rat hypothalamic neuronal perikaya, ribosomes and cell sap, cell sap, fractions of cell sap and homogenate, and incubations of 3H-isoleucine and l4C-leucine with rat hypothalamic tissue fragments were analyzed for the incorporation of label into purified hormone. Gel filtration, partition chromatography, high voltage electrophoresis, and thin layer chromatography were applied, followed by measurement of radio-activity and biological activity. It is concluded that in no reproducible case was either radioactive isotope incorporated into material with the chromatographic and biological properties of oxytocin. Other radioactive products of incubation were detected in hypothalamic cell sap, ribosomes and cell sap, and homogenate. In hypothalamic homogenate incubations, considerable degradation of both oxytocin and other material absorbing at 280 nm was observed. It is suggested that future investigations should attempt to first develop isolation procedures for the labelled hormone produced in vivo, and then reduce the complexity of the system in small stages, through the cultured hypothalamic-neurohypophyseal system of Sachs3 to simpler in vitro systems. </P> / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc)

Motiv: Dagens induktionsmetoder och policyn för när den ska utföras, har i både praktik och forskning setts bidra till ökad förekomst av komplikationer och akuta kejsarsnitt. Startar en förlossning på konstgjord väg är det inte säkert att den födandes kropp eller barnet är redo vilket kan leda till maternella och neonatala komplikationer. Det finns därför ett intresse att öka kunskapen om alternativa metoder för förlossningsinduktion. Syfte: Syftet var att sammanställa kunskap om alternativa metoder för förlossningsinduktion vid fullgången okomplicerad graviditet. Metod: För att svara på studiens syfte användes scoping review, vilket är en översiktsstudie som kan rikta in sig på en bredd av vetenskapliga artiklar. Data hämtades från tre olika databaser där 21 kvantitativa artiklar uppfylle inklusionskriterierna och användes i resultatet. Artiklarna analyserades genom en integrativ analysmetod. Resultat: Denna scoping review visade att akupressur och akupuntkur inte hade effekt att sätta igång en förlossning spontant. Bröststimulering visade sig ha effekten att öka oxytocinnivåerna, men ingen induktionseffekt. Med ricinolja som metod fanns effekt hos omföderskor men inte förstföderskor vad gäller kortare förlossningsförlopp. Ricinolja medförde ofta bieffekter som illamående och diarré. Dadlar, nattljusolja och samlag visade sig alla kunna spontant starta förlossning och att färre behövde medicinsk induktion. Konklusion: Resultatet visade viss effekt med några alternativa induktionsmetoder, men mer forskning behövs inom området och metoderna behöver testas på högre antal deltagare för ett trovärdigt resultat.