Background: Autism Spectrum Conditions are associated with difficulties in core social communication and social interaction (American Psychiatric Association, 2013) and comorbid psychopathology (Simonoff, Pickles, Charman, Chandler, Loucas & Baird, 2008). These problems are often exacerbated in middle childhood and adolescence owing to the increased complex social milieu for children on the spectrum. The present study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a short-term LEGO®-based therapy for children and adolescents with high functioning Autism Spectrum Conditions. Another interesting and novel aspect of this study is the application of repertory grid technique (Kelly, 1955) to explore psychological changes in construing over the course of the LEGO®-based therapy. Methods: Twenty-five high functioning children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Conditions (M =12.40, SD = 2.02) took part in an eight-week, clinic based LEGO®-based therapy sessions within an outpatient, mental health setting. Baseline, pre- and post-intervention outcome measures, including parent- and self-reports and repertory grid technique, were administered to assess changes during the eight-week baseline period with that during the eight-week intervention period in the area of autism specific social behaviours, adaptive functioning, psychopathology, and construing. Results: On average, participants made significant gains across autism specific social behaviours, adaptive social and maladaptive behaviour, psychopathology, and coping following LEGO®-based therapy but not during the baseline period. In addition, participants also showed some changes in construing, including the way they viewed themselves and person with ASC, a loosening of construing and an overall change in construing from pre- to post- intervention. Effect sizes (Pearson's r) for these statistical significant results ranged from medium to large. Correlations between construing and psychopathology were also noted but not for autism-specific social behaviours or adaptive functioning. Conclusions: Overall, LEGO®-based therapy was a highly attended group (M = 89.5%) and well received by participants and their parents. These findings suggest that LEGO®-based therapy is feasible, cost-effective and can be set up in mental health services as part of the treatment plan for children and adolescents with high functioning Autism Spectrum Conditions. Future studies should focus on the effectiveness of LEGO®-based therapy with girls on the spectrum or children with social related conditions and conduct large scale randomised controlled trials.

No description available.

Home-based psychotherapy has expanded in the mental health community; however, little was known about the therapists' comfort level in a home-based venue. The purpose of this quantitative study was to assess therapists' comfort level (TCL) in providing psychotherapy in a home-based setting and how therapeutic competency (TC), therapeutic relationship (TR), and advanced therapeutic training (ATT) related to the comfort level. The social-ecological systems theory and the theory of comfort served as the theoretical frameworks. The present study used the Therapist Comfort Scale, Counseling Competencies Scale-Revised, the Scale to Assess Therapeutic Relationship in Community Mental Health Care-Clinician, and a demographic questionnaire. A multiple linear regression and correlational analysis were conducted to assess the predictive relationships among the variables. The participants were 76 therapists who provided psychotherapy in a home-based setting. The results revealed a statistically significant positive relationship between TCL and TR. This finding indicated that as the TR score increased, TCL also increased. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between TCL and TC, which indicated that as the TC score increased, TCL also increased. There was a statistically significant positive relationship between TCL and ATT, which indicated that as the ATT score increased, TCL also increased. It was hoped that this study's findings can serve to inform and guide the home-based psychotherapists to improve their therapeutic relationship. Once the therapeutic relationship is formed, the therapists will obtain a high level of comfort in discussing concerns openly with the patients, and parents/caregivers. In addition, when therapists reach a high level of comfort, it could make a positive difference in the patients' treatment outcomes. Thus, the findings of this study initiated positive social change at the level of the individual home-based therapist as well as to the vulnerable population that they serve.

<p>This project is undergoing the patent application, so it is confidential and should not be disclosed. Further questions can be asked by contacting Dr. Jeroen Goos, whose contact information was shown in the supervisor section.</p>

While physical rehabilitation facilitates some recovery, it is uncommon for patients to recover completely from stroke. Cell based therapies derived from stem cells have produced promising results in enhancing recovery in pre-clinical studies, but the mechanism is not yet completely understood. We previously evaluated human umbilical tissue-derived cells (hUTC) in our non-human primate model of cortical injury, limited to the hand area of primary motor cortex. hUTC treatment, injected intravenously 24 hours after injury, resulted in significantly greater recovery of fine motor function compared to treatment with vehicle. Based on these striking findings, in the current study, we investigated the hypothesis that hUTC treatment leads to functional recovery through reducing cytotoxic responses and enhancing neurorestorative processes following cortical injury. Brain sections were assessed using histological techniques to quantify perilesional oxidative damage, hemosiderin accumulation, microglial activation, Betz cell number, synaptic density, and astrocytic complexity. Brain sections outside of the primary area of injury were also assessed for microglial activation in white matter pathways, cell activation through c-Fos in premotor cortices, and neurogenesis in neurogenic niches. Finally, blood samples from throughout the recovery period and CSF samples from 16 weeks after injury were analyzed for BDNF levels. In the perilesional area, hUTC treatment was associated with lower oxidative damage and hemosiderin accumulation, but not with a difference in microglial activation. hUTC also resulted in a trend toward higher astrocyte complexity and synaptic density in the lesion area, but no difference in ipsilesional Betz cell number. Further, hUTC treatment led to more microglia in white matter pathways, higher c-Fos activation in ventral premotor cortex, and a trend toward higher neurogenesis in the hippocampus. Finally, BDNF levels were higher in blood with hUTC treatment one week after injury, but there was no change beyond one week in blood serum or in CSF, when compared with vehicle. Taken together, these results suggest that hUTC treatment modulates immune responses, limits perilesional damage and cell death, enables neuroplasticity and reorganization, and enhances acute neurotrophic factor secretion. While many cell therapies are currently undergoing clinical trials, this study advances our understanding of the mechanism of cell based therapies.

No description available.

No / Chronic pain is currently under-diagnosed and under-treated, partly because doctors' training in pain management is often inadequate. This situation looks certain to become worse with the rapidly increasing elderly population unless there is a wider adoption of best pain management practice. This paper reviews current knowledge of the development of chronic pain and the multidisciplinary team approach to pain therapy. The individual topics covered include nociceptive and neuropathic pain, peripheral sensitization, central sensitization, the definition and diagnosis of chronic pain, the biopsychosocial model of pain and the multidisciplinary approach to pain management. This last section includes an example of the implementation of a multidisciplinary approach in Belgium and describes the various benefits it offers; for example, the early multidimensional diagnosis of chronic pain and rapid initiation of evidence-based therapy based on an individual treatment plan. The patient also receives continuity of care, while pain relief is accompanied by improvements in physical functioning, quality of life and emotional stress. Other benefits include decreases in catastrophizing, self-reported patient disability, and depression. Improved training in pain management is clearly needed, starting with the undergraduate medical curriculum, and this review is intended to encourage further study by those who manage patients with chronic pain.

Author's first name and surname: Jiří Otta, BA Title of the master thesis: Use of computer based exercise therapy in patients with Parkinson's disease. Comparation effectiveness of computer based exercise therapy and conventional therapy in parkinsonian pacients with postural instability-pilot study. Department: Department of Neurology 1st Faculty of Medicine and General teaching Hospital Supervisor: As. MUDr. Martina Hoskovcová Consultant: Mgr. Ondřej Čakrt, Ph.D. The year of presentation: 2013 Abstract Introduction: Stability and walking disorder is an important part of clinical image of Parkinson's disease (further only as PD) and another neurodegenerative diseases with Parkinson-syndrome aspects (further only as PS). Above all in the late PD - phases stability and walking disorders and falls resulting from them responsible for serious functional restrictions and they can lead up to a self - sufficiency decreasing. In the clinical application for patients with PD are so far ordinarily accepted as a standard the guidelines Clinical Practice Guidelines - KNGF (Koninklijk Nederlands Genootschap voor Fysiotherapie - Royal Hollandian Physiotherapeutical Societies). In these days there are appearing new, unconvenional methods in rehabilitation (further only as RHB) of stability disorder and falls in patients...

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-22T17:27:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 sabrina.pdf: 822862 bytes, checksum: d20df0a3fa2fe3dd3ba6c2f9dfa8aece (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-29 / The general aim of this study was to verify the generalizations obtained by children with phonological deviations, submitted to the treatment proposed in the ABAB withdrawal and multiple probe (TYLER & FIGURSKI, 1994), which takes the relations of distance and markedness among the distinctive features that were identified considering the target segment(s) used in therapy, as well as the segments absent in the child s phonological system, as their parameters of analysis. These two types of relations between features have motivated the application, in this research, of two therapeutic models: (a) the MICT Modelo Implicacional de Complexidade de Traços , proposed by Mota (1996), and (b) the MOTIDT Modelo Terapêutico Implicacional de Distância entre Traços , which is being proposed in this study. Both therapeutic models assume that the treatment, starting with a target segment that presents an internal structure with a complex feature configuration, makes its acquisition possible, and conducts to generalization, making the segments with simpler internal structure and feature configuration emerge. What differs fundamentally in the two therapeutic proposals is the criterion for the choice of the target segment of the therapy and the expectation of generalization. In the subjects treated by MICT, the choice of the target segment(s) is derived from the relations of complexity established by the co-occurrence between the features and the ways the subjects increased complexity during the phonological acquisition with phonological deviations following the existing implicational laws between the marked features, as described in the model. In the MOTIDT, the choice of the target segments is determined based on the distances among the features that integrate their structure and the structure of the missing segment(s) in the child s phonological system. This distance was determined following the feature geometry proposed by Clements & Hume (1995). The sample of this work was composed of six subjects with phonological deviations, which were divided into pairs, following the criterion of the degree of equivalency, considering the severity of the deviation, constituting three pairs of subjects in the research. Initially, the data were collected according to the proposal of Tyler & Figurski (1994), in which two sessions are destined for the application of the Phonological Evaluation of the Child (YAVAS, MATZENAUER-HERNANDORENA & LAMPRECHT, 1991), and a session is reserved for collecting spontaneous speech. After this, the data were transcribed and submitted to a contrasting analysis, based on Autosegmental Phonology (CLEMENTS & HUME, 1995), and an analysis based on the two therapeutic models used in the study: the MICT and the MOTIDT. The analysis of the subjects in this study have shown that the MOTIDT can constitute an alternative therapeutic model for the clinical practice of treating phonological deviation. The generalizations occurred in the phonological systems of the subjects treated by this therapeutic model have reduced the treatment period once the subjects transferred knowledge of the target segments in a faster and more comprehensive form, when compared to the patients treated under the MICT model. It is believed, however, that there are still more points to be explored and proven, with a greater number of subjects. / Este estudo teve por objetivo geral verificar as generalizações obtidas por crianças com desvios fonológicos, submetidas a um tratamento delineado segundo o modelo ABAB Retirada e Provas Múltiplas , de Tyler & Figurski (1994), tomando-se, como parâmetro de análise, as relações de distância e de complexidade entre traços distintivos identificadas entre o(s) segmento(s)-alvo utilizado(s) na terapia e entre o(s) segmento(s) ausente(s) no sistema da criança. Esses dois tipos de relações entre traços levaram ao emprego, nesta pesquisa, de dois modelos terapêuticos: (a) o MICT Modelo Implicacional de Complexidade de Traços , proposto por (MOTA, 1996) e (b) o MOTIDT Modelo Terapêutico Implicacional de Distância entre Traços , que está sendo proposto no presente estudo. Ambos os modelos terapêuticos têm como pressuposto que o tratamento a partir de um segmento-alvo que apresente uma estrutura interna com configuração de traços complexa possibilita a sua aquisição e a generalização, fazendo emergirem segmentos com estrutura interna e configuração de traços considerada menos complexa. O que difere fundamentalmente as duas propostas terapêuticas é o critério para a escolha do segmentoalvo da terapia e a expectativa de generalização. No MICT, a escolha do(s) segmento(s)- alvo(s) deriva das relações de complexidade estabelecidas pelas coocorrências entre os traços. Os caminhos percorridos pelas crianças, para o incremento de complexidade durante a aquisição fonológica com desvio, seguem leis implicacionais existentes entre os traços marcados, como descrito no modelo. No MOTIDT, a escolha do(s) segmento(s)- alvo(s) é determinada com base nas distâncias entre os traços que integram a sua estrutura e a estrutura do(s) segmento(s) ausente(s) no sistema da criança. Essa distância foi determinada a partir da geometria de traços proposta por Clements & Hume (1995). A amostra deste trabalho foi composta por seis sujeitos com desvios fonológicos, os quais foram divididos em pares, seguindo-se o critério de grau de equivalência em se considerando a severidade do desvio, constituindo-se, assim, três pares de sujeitos na investigação. Inicialmente os dados foram coletados, segundo a proposta de Tyler & Figurski (1994), em que duas sessões são destinadas para a aplicação do Instrumento de Avaliação Fonológica da Criança (Yavas, Matzenauer-Hernandorena & Lamprecht, 1991) e uma sessão é reservada para a coleta de fala espontânea. Após, foram transcritos e submetidos a uma análise contrastiva, a uma análise através do modelo teórico da Fonologia Autossegmental (Clements & Hume, 1995) e a uma análise através dos dois modelos terapêuticos utilizados no estudo: o MICT e o MOTIDT. O MOTIDT, pelos dados dos sujeitos aqui estudados, mostrou que também pode ser mais uma opção de modelo terapêutico para a prática clínica dos desvios fonológicos. As generalizações ocorridas nos sistemas fonológicos dos sujeitos tratados por esse modelo terapêutico tornaram a duração do tratamento fonoaudiológico reduzida, uma vez que os sujeitos transferiram a aprendizagem dos segmentos-alvo de forma mais rápida e abrangente, quando comparados aos sujeitos tratados através do MICT. Acredita-se que haja ainda muitos pontos a serem explorados e comprovados ou não, com um número maior de sujeitos.

Högkänslighet, eller så kallad sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS), har beskrivits som ett personlighetsdrag där individen bearbetar sensorisk information på ett djupare och starkare sätt än personer som inte är högkänsliga. Syftet med den aktuella studien var att, med hjälp av självskattningsformuläret ”the Highly Sensitive Person Scale” (HSP), undersöka högkänslighet mot skattningar av naturen (NR, NR-Self, NR-Perspective, NR-Experience), grubbleri (RRQ-Rumination) och självreflektion (RRQ-Reflection), subjektivt välbefinnande (WHO) och upplevelser av mindfulness (MAAS). Undersökningen skedde via en webb-baserad enkät och omfattade 213 deltagare. Resultatet visade att individer som är mer högkänsliga värderar naturen högre, samt grubblar och reflekterar mer kring sig själva, än mindre högkänsliga personer. Inga signifikanta skillnader förelåg mellan grupperna vad gäller mindfulness eller välbefinnande. Resultatet tyder på att både en interaktion med naturen och mindfulness kan vara gynnsamt för högkänsliga individer. Denna studie kan utgöra en startpunkt för framtida forskning, där experimentella studier med upprepad mätning kan genomföras för att undersöka naturens roll för högkänsliga personer. / Sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS) has been described as a personality trait where the individual process sensory information in a deeper and stronger way than people who are not highly sensitive. The aim of the present study was to, with the self-assessment form ”the Highly Sensitive Person Scale” (HSP), examine sensory-processing sensitivity against evaluations of nature (NR, NR-Self, NR-Perspective, NR-Experience), rumination (RRQ-Rumination) and self-reflection (RRQ-Reflection), subjective well-being (WHO) and experiences of mindfulness (MAAS). The survey was done through a web-based questionnaire and included 213 participants. The results showed that individuals who are more highly sensitive value nature higher, and also ruminate and reflect more on themselves, than people who are less highly sensitive. No significant differences existed between the groups concerning mindfulness or subjective well-being. The results suggest that both an interaction with nature and mindfulness can be favourable for highly sensitive persons. This study can serve as a starting point for future research, where experimental studies with repeated measures can be conducted to investigate the role of nature for highly sensitive persons.