Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / Secretory immunity is believed to play a role in natural resistance to dental caries. Although dental caries has dramatically decreased in children in the United States, there remains a population of caries-susceptible children even in fluoridated communities. Previous studies have shown a positive correlation between salivary immunoglobulin A (sIgA) antibody levels to Streptococcus mutans and caries resistance in adults. In the present study, an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to compare IgA antibody levels to S. mutans in saliva from 20 caries susceptible (DMFS greater than 5) and 20 caries-resistant (DMFS less than or equal to 1) children (ages 7-11). All subjects resided in fluoridated communities. Salivary S. mutans numbers were significantly higher (p ≤ 0.05) in the caries susceptible (31.2 percent of total streptococci) group than in the caries resistant (1.6 percent of total streptococci) group. Whole saliva from caries-resistant children had significantly higher (p = 0.05) levels of IgA antibodies to S. mutans than saliva from caries-susceptible children. However, whole saliva from caries-resistant children had similar levels of IgA1 or IgA2 antibodies against S. mutans to saliva from caries-susceptible children. These results suggest that IgA antibody to S. mutans may play a role in natural protection from dental caries in children and confirm previous reports indicating a role for salivary IgA antibodies to S. mutans in mediation of caries.

No description available.

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Medicine, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Johannesburg, 1994. / Dislocation of the hip is a common deformity in cerebral palsied (CP) patients who are not walking. Surgery of the hip is performed to prevent or correct the deformity. This surgery is based on the assumption that a dislocated hip contributes towards patient management problems, in that it compromises nursing care, interferes with sitting, snd may be painful. Reports on the outcome of surgery vary, and there is a controversy as to whether an established hip dislocation should be reduced. This study was undertaken to investigate the above assumptions, and to assess the long term outcome of hip surgery, both in terms of stability, and patient management, In the background to the study, abnormal development of the CP hip, causation theory, rationale of treatment (both conservative and surgical) and the evolution of hip surgery are described. This comparative study involves two groups of patients. Surgically treated patients are compared to a random sample of untreated patients matched for age and nonambulatory status. The treated patients (Group A) had undergone surgery at the Johannesburg Hospital between 1980 and 1987, and the minimum follow-up period

The aim of this study was to determine the effects of an eight-week weight bearing exercise program coupled with whole body vibration (WBV) on gross motor function, functional mobility and spasticity in hemiplegic type cerebral palsied school going children. The experimental group was compared to a control group undergoing the same exercise program. The control group excluded WBV training. Fifteen children participated in the study nine females and six males. There were eight children with right hemiplegia and seven with left hemiplegia; all children had gross motor classification (GMFCS) of Level 1. Significant improvements were seen in both groups for gross motor function. There was no difference in the amount of change seen between the two groups. A decline was noticed in the functional mobility assessment. The findings of this study demonstrated that both the children in the control and the experimental groups showed significant improvements in the GMFM scores after a weight bearing exercise program. The children in the experimental group who received WBV while exercising showed significant improvement from baseline to completion of the study compared to the group that did weight bearing exercise alone; better carry over effect in this group from WBV. Time up and down stairs (TUDS) and modified ashworth scale (MAS) scores showed less convincing results and need further investigation. Further research is required to determine the most effective and efficient way of managing children with cerebral palsy in a resource poor area.

Social contingency, or prompt and meaningful back-and-forth exchanges between infant and caregiver, is a powerful feature of the early language environment. Research suggests that infants with better attentional skills engage in more social contingency during interactions with adults and that adult contingent responding influences infant attention during the interaction. This dissertation examines reciprocal relations between infant attention and social contingency as well as the associations each have with infant language. This study utilizes secondary data from 106 participants collected as part of a longitudinal study of attention development run at Florida International University. Sustained attention (duration of looking) and attention shifting (speed of gaze-shifting) were assessed at 6 months and 12 months in social and nonsocial contexts with varying levels of distraction. Social contingency was assessed during toy play with a caregiver at 6 months and 12 months using fluency and connectedness. Child language was measured via caregiver-report and direct assessment at 18 months. Results indicated that attention shifting related more strongly to contingency at 6 months and sustained attention related more strongly at 12 months. Sustained attention to nonsocial stimuli and attention shifting towards social stimuli related most strongly to contingency. Attention and contingency each related to language independently. These findings suggest that attentional skills relate to both contingency and language. These relations shift over the first year of life, and the attentional skills that relate to contingency may not be the same as those that relate to language development broadly. / Psychology

During the first year of life, infants’ capacities for face processing are shaped by experience with faces in their environment; a process known as perceptual narrowing. Perceptual narrowing has been found to lead to a decline in infants’ abilities to identify and differentiate faces of other races. In the current study, it is hypothesized that this decline may also lead to differential processing of emotion information in own- versus other-race faces. In the current research, we recorded electrophysiological data (Event-related potential; ERP) from 5- and 9-month-old infants while they were presented with paired emotion non-verbal sounds and faces. ERPs in response to the sounds suggest that both 5- and 9-month old infants differentiate happy and sad sounds. The pattern of results, however, is different across ages. ERPs in response to the faces suggest that whereas 5-month-olds exhibit differential responses to happy and sad faces for both the N290 and P400 components, 9-month-olds did not differentiate happy and sad faces. Nine-month old infants did exhibit a great P400 in response to own- relative to other-race faces. These results suggest that although both 5- and 9-month olds differentiate happy and sad emotional sounds, their processing of emotion faces differs.

This study was an investigation of the association between executive functioning (EF) ability and language development in the latter half of the second year. Fifty-five typically developing 18- month-olds were brought into the lab. The elicited imitation with inappropriate object substitution (EIIOS) task was used as a developmentally sensitive measure of EF. Language acquisition was assessed using a real-time word learning task as well as a parent report measure of vocabulary size (MacArthur-Bates Communicative Development Inventory: Words and Sentences Version). Contrary to expectations, very few statistically significant associations were found between the EF measure and either language measure. Despite these findings there is still a need for research to identify an appropriate measure of EF in the latter half of the second year.

This study examined the development of attachment as it relates to co-regulation and vagal tone over the second half of the first year of life. Links to infants' attachment and developmental status were also examined. Symmetrical and unilateral co-regulated patterns of interactions at 6 months demonstrated significant linkages with attachment. Developmental status did not show direct linkages with attachment. Direct links between vagal tone and attachment were also not identified. Correlations between co-regulation and vagal tone at the 6 month time point were identified. Findings suggest an important role of co-regulation as it relates to attachment development. Future studies may benefit from evaluating the role of co-regulation as a mediating variable between vagal tone and attachment development.

Objectives: To determine whether task-shifting the treatment of Postpartum depression (PPD) is effective in both treating mothers and mitigating the potential negative effects of PPD exposure on infant emotion regulation (ER). Methods: In Study 1, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) with a waitlist control group was used to examine whether a nine-week group Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) intervention delivered by peers can effectively treat PPD in mothers. Study 2 used data from this same RCT to determine if maternal PPD treatment with peer-delivered group CBT intervention would lead to adaptive change in markers of ER in their infants. Finally, Study 3 used data from a RCT with a treatment-as-usual control group to examine whether maternal treatment with a Public Health Nurse (PHN)-delivered group CBT intervention led to adaptive change in markers of infant ER. In both Studies 2 and 3, markers of infant ER included two neurophysiological measures and a maternal-report measure of infant temperament. Results: Study 1 found that peer-delivered group CBT led to significant improvements in symptoms of depression and anxiety in mothers and reductions in symptoms remained stable six months after treatment initiation. Study 2 found evidence of change in two neurophysiological measures of infant ER following maternal treatment with peer-delivered intervention, but not in the maternal-report measure of infant temperament. Finally, Study 3 found evidence of change in a single neurophysiological marker of infant ER following maternal treatment with the PHN-delivered intervention, but found no change following maternal treatment in a second neurophysiological marker and maternal-report measure of infant ER. Conclusions: The studies in this thesis highlight the potential of using task-shifting to fill a gap in the healthcare system’s treatment of PPD. This work suggests that interventions delivered by peers and PHNs may not only be effective in treating those with PPD, but may also benefit their infants by mitigating any PPD-related consequences on infant ER development. This thesis contributes to the evidence that suggests timely maternal treatment of PPD may disrupt the transmission of psychiatric risk from parent to infant. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / Postpartum depression (PPD) is common and has consequences for both mothers and their infants. The negative impact of PPD exposure on infant emotion regulation (ER) is especially harmful because of its association with later psychopathology. As a result, the objectives of the present thesis were to i) determine whether task-shifting the treatment of PPD is effective in treating mothers while ii) mitigating the potential negative effects of PPD exposure on infant ER. The results of this thesis indicate that a task-shifted, peer-delivered treatment is effective in treating mothers with PPD and that treating mothers with a task-shifted treatment may also lead to adaptive changes in infant ER. This thesis indicates that task-shifting the treatment of PPD may improve outcomes for mothers, prevent PPD-related consequences on infant ER development, and ultimately, improve future outcomes for their infants.

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the role of pitch contours in directing infant attention to adult speech. Several studies have shown that infants from a few days old to 9 months of age prefer infant-directed (ID) over adult-directed (AD) speech. Moreover, 4-month-olds have been shown to prefer pitch contours that simulate ID speech, suggesting that the exaggerated pitch contours are necessary for infant attention. The current study investigated this attentional preference utilizing ID and AD pitch contours in a fixation-based preference procedure. Results from the first experiment failed to show a similar preference for the ID pitch contours. Because a lack of preference could have been due to a failure to discriminate, a habituation study was also conducted. The results from the second experiment showed that 4-month-olds can discriminate the ID and AD pitch contours. From these results, it is argued that the pitch contour may be but one of many possible prosodic characteristics that attract infant attention and this attention may occur only within a language context. It is suggested that future studies investigate ID speech using a more context-dependent procedure, where natural or more complete speech samples are utilized. / Master of Science