Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of North Texas, August, 2008. / Title from title page display. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.L.T.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (leaves 62-71). Also available via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (D.PT.)--Sage Colleges, 2010. / "May 2010." "A Capstone project for PTY 768 presented to the faculty of The Department of Physical Therapy Sage Graduate School in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Physical Therapy." Includes bibliographical references.

The study investigates .the use of the Bender Gestalt Test (BGT) amongst low-educated adults. Three versions of the BGT are used in this study; the original 'copy' version as well as the 'immediate' and 'delayed'recall versions. This is done so as to expand the ability of the BGT to identify neurological impairment and to differentiate between this and functional impairment. A literature review explores the problems of standardization in the administration, scoring and application of all three versions of the test Suggestions are made to correct the problems identified and a novel system of scoring the recall versions are proposed, which allows for the comparison of results of the three versions of the test and which is based on Lacks's (1984) and Weiss's (1970) systems. Administration procedures were also developed to suit the context of the study. The copy, immediate and delayed versions of the BGT were administered to a group of 184 low-educated adults. Statistical analyses revealed significant education effects for the sample tested with regards to both test scores and performance time. The finding of an education effect for performance time is discussed at length, as some literature regards excessive time as a neurological indicator. An anomaly for the group with no education was found to exist, with the scores of these subjects not Significantly different from those with 4-6 years of education. Possible reasons for this were explored. In addition, the findings of this research revealed a plateau effect with those having less than 6 years of education scoring substantially lower than those with 7 years and more. The scores of adults with 7 and more years of education level out with no significant differences between educational levels. This appears to suggest that education effects rather than the developmental maturity level proposed by Koppitz, are involved. In addition, the scores of low-educated adults on the expanded Bender Gestalt Test were significantly lower than those of children with similar educational levels, in other studies. These findings and possible explanations are discussed. The study concludes by suggesting new research areas and emphasizing the urgent need for separate normative data on the expanded BGT for low-educated adults, and the establishment of appropriate 'cut-off' points.

Thesis (Ed.D.)--Boston University

No description available.

No description available.

Le laboratoire a récemment identifié la protéine Damaged-DNA-Binding 2 (DDB2), connue à l’origine pour son rôle dans la réparation de l’ADN comme une protéine impliquée dans la tumorigenèse mammaire. En effet, nous avons montré son rôle dans la croissance et la progression des tumeurs mammaires via la régulation transcriptionnelle de gènes cibles. Dans ce travail, nous avons montré que la surexpression de DDB2 augmente la sensibilité des cellules tumorales MDA-MB231 et SKBr3 traitées à la doxorubicine et au 5-fluorouracile (5-FU). Inversement, l’inhibition de l’expression de DDB2 dans les cellules T47D qui l’expriment naturellement s’accompagne d’une baisse de la sensibilité à ces agents anticancéreux. Nos résultats montrent que la sensibilité des cellules au 5-FU mais pas à la doxorubicine, lorsque DDB2 est surexprimée, dépend en partie du contrôle négatif qu’exerce cette dernière sur l’activité de NF-κB, en régulant positivement l’expression d’IκBα. Enfin, la recherche d’autres gènes cibles de DDB2, impliqués dans l’apoptose, nous a conduits à celui codant le facteur anti-apoptotique Bcl-2. DDB2 agit négativement sur l’expression de Bcl-2 en interagissant avec une région de l’ADN localisée dans le promoteur P2 du gène correspondant. De part, son rôle anti-apoptotique, la régulation de son expression pourrait bien être à l’origine de la sensibilité aux agents anticancéreux induite par DDB2. L’ensemble de ces résultats met donc en évidence l’intérêt clinique de DDB2 comme marqueur prédictif de la réponse aux agents anticancéreux, et devrait contribuer à une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes impliqués dans l’échappement des cellules tumorales aux thérapies / The laboratory has recently identified the Damaged-DNA Binding 2 protein (DDB2), a protein involved in DNA repair, as an important actor in breast tumorigenesis. Our laboratory has shown that DDB2 is involved in breast tumor growth and progression through the transcriptional regulation of target genes. Thus, the first aim of this work was to study the role of DDB2 and its target genes in the response of breast cancer cells to anticancer drugs. We showed that DDB2 overexpressed in breast cancer cell lines, such as MDA-MB231 and SKBr3, increased the cells sensitivity to apoptosis induced by doxorubicin and 5-Fluorouracil (5-FU). Conversely, the inhibition of DDB2 expression in T47D cells, which express endogenously this protein, decreased cell sensitivity to anticancer agents. Our results showed that cell sensitivity induced by DDB2 expression to 5-FU but not doxorubicin depended on its ability to repress NF-κB activity via the regulation of IκBα expression. At last, the search of potential DDB2 target genes implicated in apoptosis has led us to identify the anti-apoptotic factor Bcl-2. We showed the ability of DDB2 to downregulate Bcl-2 expression via its interaction with DNA region located in P2 promoter of the corresponding gene. Results suggest that Bcl-2 dowregulation by DDB2 could be a major event that explains the enhanced sensitivity of cancer cells to therapeutic agents. Altogether, these data highlight the clinical interest of DDB2, as a predictive marker of the response to anticancer agents. A better understanding of its mode of action will contribute to improve therapeutic treatments and avoid their failure in resistant patients

When children have a moderate to severe traumatic brain injury (TBI), they are treated in a continuum of care that includes triage and emergency care, hospitalization, rehabilitation and outpatient therapy. Physical and cognitive recovery from brain injury may take several years. Children’s recovery varies, depending on numerous factors including pre-injury conditions and injury severity. While children and families are eager to return home to familiar activities, there are often significant physical, cognitive, behavioral and emotional changes that challenge families. Successful community reintegration depends on the ability of the family to understand and support the child, dealing with and responding effectively to those challenges. The purpose of this study is to understand how parents manage the care and community reintegration of their child who has experienced a TBI over time. This study utilized a mixed methods approach exploring the dimensions of the health challenge faced by parents caring for a child after a TBI, critical turning points as they face health challenges, and approaches for movement toward resolving health challenges. Story theory and story inquiry method were used to gather stories from 10 parents of children who experienced moderate to severe traumatic brain injury between the ages of 12 and 18, and between 2 and 5 years ago. Parents’ perceptions of their child’s quality of life and their ability to manage their child’s health challenge were explored using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory and Family Management Measure. Health challenges identified were: living with overwhelming personal upheaval, navigating the unknown, and struggling with how to support independence/dependence. Turning points were chronological or epiphanies. Approaches for movement toward resolving were continuously re-creating a new normal, being fully engaged in meeting the needs of one’s child, and embracing caring relationships to construct the new normal. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed to synthesize the findings. Results include a sense of ease in managing the health condition of the child associated with continuously creating a new normal. Healthcare providers can support and strengthen family management of children after TBI by understanding the health challenge, critical turning points and how parents move toward resolving. / Includes bibliography. / Dissertation (Ph.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 2014. / FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection

Due to the competitive nature of airline industry and the desire to minimise aircraft weight, there is a continual drive to develop lightweight, reliable and more comfortable seating solutions, in particular, a new generation slim economy seat. The key design challenge is to maximise the “living space” for the passenger, with strict adherence to the ‘Crash Safety Regulations’. Cranfield University is addressing the needs of airliners, seat manufactures and safety regulating bodies by designing a completely novel seat structure coined as “Sleep Seat”. A generous angle of recline (40 degree), movement of “Seat Pan” along the gradient, fixed outer shell of the backrest, and a unique single “Forward Beam” design distinguishes “Sleep Seat” form current generation seats. It is an ultra-lightweight design weighing 8kg (typical seat weight is 11kg). It has to sustain the static (CS 25.561) and dynamic (CS25.562) “Emergency landing” loads as specified by “Certification Specifications (CS). Apart from maintaining structural integrity; a seat-structure must not deform, which would impede evacuation, should absorb energy so that the loads transferred to Occupants are within human tolerance limits and should always maintain survivable space around the Occupant. All these parameters, which increase a life-expectancy in a ‘survivable’ crash, can be estimated using either experimental testing or virtual simulation tools such as “Finite Element Analysis (FEA). Design of the “Sleep Seat” is still in its conceptual phase and therefore experimental testing for all the design iterations involved is unrealistic, given a measure of the costs and timescales involved. Therefore focus of research is to develop practical and robust FE methodologies to assess static and dynamic performances of a seat-structure so as to compare different design concepts based on their strength, seat interface loads (a limit defined by strength of aircraft-floor), maximum deformations and cross-sectional forces ... [cont.].