The current study is an initial molecular characterization of patterning mechanisms in the embryonic limb. The basis of this work is that the mechanisms that are utilized during normal limb formation are likely to be the same pathways utilized in regenerative responses. Therefore, by understanding the molecular basis of normal limb development we may eventually understand regenerative limb formation. The first part of this work demonstrates that the regenerative ability of mouse digit tips is restricted to levels in which the amputation plane is within the region of Msx1, but not Msx2, expression in early fetal digits and to levels where both Msx1 and Msx2 are expressed in late fetal and neonatal digits. In both fetal and neonatal digits we find that both Msx1 and Msx2 are expressed during regeneration, but not during wound healing associated with proximal amputations where no regenerative response is observed. Thus, developmental expressed genes are re-utilized during regenerative responses. Secondly, I have characterized the regulation of Sonic hedgehog when ZPA signaling tissue is grafted into the anterior or distal regions of the limb bud-prior to the formation of additional limb structures. The evidence demonstrates that Sonic hedgehog expression is AER/FGF-2/FGF-4-dependent, limited to posterior cells, and modulated by mesenchymal cell-cell interactions between host and graft cells. These data points to a novel signal within the limb mesenchyme that can modulate the ZPA signal. Finally, the characterization of the molecular changes associated with the acquisition and maintenance of ZPA-signaling in limb cells and the molecular changes associated with supernumerary digit formation from host tissues, provide interesting insights into the pathways of limb development. This study provides the first evidence indicating that ZPA-signaling can occur in the absence of Sonic hedgehog expression and moreover, that there are multiple molecular pathways to the formation of extra digit structures. Cumulatively, our results show that the mechanisms underlying limb development are very complex, but that some of the mechanisms used during limb development are re-utilized during regenerative processes / acase@tulane.edu

Cocaine use among women of child bearing age has significantly increased over the past several years. Consequently, the number of infants born prenatally exposed to cocaine has also risen. The influence of prenatal cocaine exposure on child development and the influence of maternal cocaine addiction on parenting are only beginning to be explored. However the effects of prenatal and postnatal maternal cocaine use place these dyads at risk for impaired interaction, and these infants at risk for developmental delay. The present study is a longitudinal investigation of infant development and mother-infant interaction in 25 cocaine-affected dyads over the first 9 postnatal months. The goals of this research were to provide descriptive data about infant development and mother-infant interaction in cocaine-affected dyads, and to investigate the relation between these two factors over the first 9 months of life. Infant cognitive and motor development was assessed at 4, 6, and 9 months. Mother-infant interaction measured in feeding and teaching situations, was assessed at 1, 4, 6 and 9 months. In general, the cognitive and motor development of these infants was in the normal range at each testing. Evidence was provided that maternal postnatal drug use was associated with lower cognitive scores in infants. Cognitive and motor development in the present sample was consistent over time. Mother-infant interaction in both feeding and teaching contexts was found to be below the tenth percentile established in standardization research, indicating risk and need for intervention. In addition, the quality of interaction in the present sample was lower than that in two high-risk samples of previous research. Feeding interaction quality was consistent over time, whereas interaction in the teaching situation showed significant improvement between 6 and 9 months. The relation between infant development and mother-infant interaction was found to be complex. However there was some evidence that child development had a more important influence on interaction quality than interaction quality had on child development. The implications of these results for future research and intervention are discussed / acase@tulane.edu

The development in the last decade of methodology for measuring and scaling household food insecurity and hunger in U.S. populations makes systematic examination of the ways in which hunger and food insecurity affect individuals and families possible. The impact of food insecurity on children has always been of primary concern for policy, advocacy, and science because of the vulnerability of children to long-term developmental sequelae. There is an emerging and rapidly growing literature demonstrating deleterious links between inadequate food and a variety of developmental outcomes for children, including poorer health status, school absenteeism, and emotional and behavioral dysfunction. The research presented here explores the relationship of household food insecurity to children's well-being in terms of cognitive and social development at kindergarten entry, utilizing a large and representative sample children in the United States. The timing of this evaluation, in the fall and spring of the child's first school experience, allows not only a snapshot of a child's development throughout his/her preschool years but also the effect of the first year of schooling in relation to these outcomes The data are from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study of Kindergartners (ECLS-K), collected in 1998--99 by the National Center for Education Statistics, and comprise 20,929 children attending 1,000 private and public schools. Results indicate that measures of reading, math, and general knowledge competence were not impacted by household food insecurity independent of other influences, but child emotional and functioning were negatively associated with household food insecurity even when controlling for many other relevant variables. The relationship of household food insecurity to children's attained growth was also examined and no independent relationship of household food insecurity to height for age or weight for height was found in either the fall or the spring of kindergarten / acase@tulane.edu

Natural and technological disasters impact thousands of families in the United States each year. Catastrophic events leave homelessness, unemployment, injury, and death in their wake. The cost to society is usually measured in homes destroyed, jobs lost, casualties, and expected dollar expense of recovery. There are the social, psychological, and family consequences of catastrophic stressors. Anecdotal reports suggest that among these consequences is an increase in family violence, including child abuse. This dissertation tests the hypotheses that reported and confirmed child abuse increases in the wake of natural disasters. Child Protective Services (CPS) records of several jurisdictions that have experienced natural disasters during the past decade were examined. Data were collected from counties in South Carolina impacted by Hurricane Hugo in 1989, counties in California affected by the Loma Prieta Earthquake in 1989, and parishes in Louisiana impacted by Hurricane Andrew in 1992. The numbers of reports and confirmations for a one-year period following each of these events were compared with those for the year prior to the disaster. Analyses of these data indicated statistically significant increases in child abuse reports during the first 6 months following Hurricane Hugo and the Lama Prieta Earthquake, but showed no statistically significant change following Hurricane Andrew. The study concluded that reactions to natural disasters vary for a number of different reasons. The findings from California and South Carolina indicated that there are changes in patterns of reporting and/or confirmation of child abuse following catastrophes. CPS workers in each of the impacted areas were interviewed to obtain their impressions regarding the extent and causes of these changes in reporting and substantiation. Recommendations that governmental and social service agencies dedicate resources and develop programs to address this specific problem following catastrophes were included. Future research that replicates this study and the development of methodologies that do not depend on official reports and investigations were recommended.

This research sought to identify factors that might be useful in helping to predict family strengths in families caring for a child with a disability. Based on the ABCX model designed for families in crisis, this research examined severity of child's disability (A); the family's existing resources of household income, education of the mother, and mother's marital status (B); the family's perception of family resources, family support, and parenting stress (C); and how these influence family strength (X) over time. In relation to the ABCX model, it was hypothesized that the aforementioned constructs would be associated with each other, and would significantly predict family strengths. Results did not support the overall predictive value of severity of child's disability, household income, education of mother, or mother's marital status toward family strength. However, results indicated that the predictive value of the perception of family resources, family support, and parenting stress did explain variability in family strengths as measured by the Family Functioning Style Scale.

The purpose of this study was not to judge the rightness or wrongness of Planned Parenthood. It is an empirical question to ask what influence, if any, Planned Parenthood has had on reproductive behavior in the State of Utah. This was accomplished by gathering data from each county in the State of Utah from 1970 to 1979. The data gathered were for the five dependent variables of General Fertility, General Abortion, General Illegitimacy, Teen Fertility and Teen Illegitimacy. A mean rate for each county and variable was computed. Each county was also weighed per population so as to give counties with large populations more weight than counties with small populations. A comparison of the rates in counties with Planned Parenthood and counties without Planned Parenthood was then made. It was noted that counties with Planned Parenthood had higher rates for each variable except General Fertility which was lower than counties without Planned Parenthood. But the differences were not of a significant level. In most cases the differences already existed before Planned Parenthood was established.

This study examined the effects of a computer CD-ROM storybook program on 73 Head Start children in Logan, Utah. A variation on the two-group pretest/posttest design was used to determine if there was any increase in emergent literacy skills after spending an average of 15 minutes per day for an average of 12 days on the computer. Previous research suggests that a child's home environment is integral to the preschool child 's emergent literacy development. A parent questionnaire designed for assessing information regarding the child 's I iterate environment at home was administered. Mean scores indicated that those children scoring highest on an aggregate score of four questions from the parental questionnaire also scored highest on three assessments of emergent literacy, supporting previous research that children who have been read to at home are more prepared to learn reading in the classroom. Posttest scores indicated an increase in scores for the experimental group over the not-well-read-to control group on all three assessments. Two of the three measures indicated statistically significant differences from the well-read-to control group (p = < .05). One of the most interesting findings, however, was that the experimental group's assessment scores increased over the not-well-read-to control group, but did not exceed the well-read-to control group's scores, further supporting the evidence discussed above that children who are read to in the home have an advantage over those children who are not. From these results, it was determined that computers cannot take the place of effective instruction in the home; however, when used appropriately in the classroom, the results of this study suggest that it is useful to integrate computers in the preschool classroom to augment the emergent literacy instruction already taking place.

This thesis summarizes a study conducted to explore the effect of an educational intervention on cognitive autonomy, identity, hope, and educational aspirations. The primary goal of this study was to investigate (1) the impact of awareness and readiness educational intervention on low-income adolescents’ cognitive autonomy, identity, hope, and educational intentions, and (2) how the low-income adolescents receiving the awareness readiness educational intervention compared to adolescents who did not receive the intervention. The Cognitive Autonomy and Self-Evaluation (CASE) inventory, the Modified Extended Version of the Object Measure of Ego Identity Status (EOMEIS), The Children’s Hope Scale, and a self-report of educational aspirations were used to measure the four variables in this study. Subjects included 38 adolescents, ages 13 to 17, from lower socioeconomic status (SES), located in the two different school districts who participate in the GEAR UP intervention, and a comparison sample included 47 adolescents, ages 14 to 17, from various classes at a local high school. Findings reveal that changes from time 1 to time 2 (four months) for adolescents participating in the educational intervention were not significant in three of the four areas. The educational aspirations results were statistically significant. The adolescents in the educational intervention group and from the comparison sample found to be similar on all measures, thus establishing a form or social validation. Results may be contingent on the type of sample obtained and testing procedures. The results of this study indicate there may need to be further research in this area.

This research provides a descriptive study of the use of social science research contained in reported decisions of the United States Supreme Court. The cases were selected from case abstracts contained in two U.S. Supreme Court digests. The author relied on the court reporter's arrangement of abstracts of case decisions (sorted by substantive areas of the law) to identify relevant cases presenting issues of parent -child and husband-wife relations. The following substantive areas were initially selected using this method: abortion, adultery and fornication, adoption, immigration, exclusion and deportation, bigamy, bastards, dower, death, domicil, divorce and separation, guardian and ward, homestead, husband and wife, incompetent persons, infants, kidnapping, indecency, lewdness and obscenity, marriage, privacy, poor and poor laws, torts, schools, social security and unemployment compensation, wills, workman's compensation, and zoning. Substantive areas receiving one or none citations of social science (in the summary tabulations) were excluded, leaving the parent-child areas of abortion, bastards, infants, obscenity, poor and poor laws, schools and social security. The above exclusion process left the husband-wife areas of adultery and fornication, bigamy, divorce and separation, husband and wife, and marriage. The entire text and footnotes were analyzed in the selected cases . The date of the decision, use or non-use of social science research, and the nature or discipline of the research were recorded and tabulated. The substantive caselaw of schools and obscenity were the substantive areas containing the most frequent citations of social science. The study revealed a general trend consistent with Christensen's (1964) model of family research development. Parent-child opinions revealed a general utilization rate of four per cent. The study revealed that history and economics, as social science disciplines, have been cited more frequently by the Supreme Court during the period analyzed than the social science disciplines of sociology and psychology.

This study was designed to determine; (1) if adolescent self esteem is related to premarital sexual attitudes and intercourse behavior; (2) if religious affiliation and church attendance affect the relationship between adolescent self esteem and premarital sexual attitudes and behavior. Approximately 2400 adolescents residing in California, New Mexico, and Utah comprised the sample. Adolescents who attended church services more often reported less sexually permissive attitudes and behavior than those who attended church less often. Similarly, Mormons' premarital sexual attitudes and behavior was more conservative than was the case for non-Mormon adolescents. Findings indicated that the nature of the relationship between permissiveness and self esteem did depend on cultural norms or contexts. In the most conservative normative contexts (among Mormons and frequent church attenders) there was a negative relationship between self esteem and sexual attitudes and sexual behavior; there was no significant relationship between self esteem and sexual attitudes and sexual behavior among the more moderate sample groups.