Adolescents with Sluggish Cognitive Tempo (SCT) show symptoms of slowness, mental confusion, excessive daydreaming, low motivation, and drowsiness/sleepiness. Although many symptoms of SCT reflect internalizing states, no study has evaluated the utility of self-report of SCT in an ADHD sample. Further, it remains unclear whether SCT is best conceptualized as a unidimensional or multidimensional construct. In a sample of 262 adolescents comprehensively diagnosed with ADHD, the present study evaluated the dimensionality of a SCT scale and compared CFA and bifactor model fits for parent- and self-report versions. Analyses revealed the three-factor bifactor model to be the best fitting model. In addition, SCT factors predicted social and academic impairment and internalizing symptoms. Therefore, SCT as a multidimensional construct appears to have clinical utility in predicting impairment. Also, multiple reporters should be used, as they predicted different areas of functioning and were not invariant, suggesting that each rater adds unique information.

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Asperger's syndrome (AS) is a pervasive developmental disorder that is associated with marked social dysfunction. Deficits in the perception of nonverbal cues of emotion may be related to this social impairment. Research has indicated that children with autism are limited in their emotion perception abilities, but studies that have addressed this issue with individuals with AS or high-functioning autism (HFA) have yielded inconsistent findings. These inconsistencies may be related to methodological differences across studies including diagnostic criteria and failure to consider the intensity of the emotion cues. It was hypothesized that children with AS and HFA would both have deficits in emotion perception compared to typically-developing children. However, children with HFA were expected to have an even greater emotion perception deficit than children with AS and this difference was hypothesized to be most pronounced for low intensity cues of emotion. It is important to clarify whether individuals with AS and HFA differ in emotion perception because most studies of this skill combine them into one group or use poorly defined diagnostic criteria. This study examined the ability of 30 8- to 15-year-old children with either AS or HFA to perceive emotion from high and low intensity cues. In order to address limitations with the differential validity of the DSM-IV criteria for AS, diagnoses were based on diagnostic criteria proposed by Klin et al. (in press). A researcher who was blind to diagnosis administered a test that presented low and high intensity cues of emotion in photographs of facial expression and audiotapes of tone of voice. Comparison of the emotion perception accuracy of children with AS to the normative means of this instrument for typically-developing children did not reveal any significant differences. In contrast, the children with HFA were significantly less accurate in their perception of facial expressions and tone of voice than the normative sample and the participants with AS. Contrary to expectations, IQ was significantly related to emotion perception accuracy. After controlling for IQ, the difference in perception of facial expressions between children with AS and HFA was not significant. On the other hand, cue intensity moderated the relation between diagnosis and emotion perception accuracy for tone of voice even after IQ was taken into account. Children with AS perceived high and low intensity tone of voice cues with similar accuracy, but children with HFA had significantly poorer performance on the low intensity tone of voice cues. Although emotion perception accuracy was related to better adjustment, it was not correlated with the most sensitive measure of current social functioning. This suggests that even when children with AS or HFA perceive cues correctly, they may not know how or be able to properly integrate them for adaptive responses in social interaction. The findings have important implications for understanding inconsistencies in past research and identifying future directions.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-03-15T19:40:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Adelisandra Silva Santos Castelhano.pdf: 492676 bytes, checksum: 6118cc3994884f74daed04e57878c9e4 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010-01-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / The Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), conditions which affect the brain development, are characterized by impairments in reciprocal social interactions, communicative use of verbal and nonverbal language, and restricted/repetitive behaviors. Despite a wealth of descriptive data obtained from patient histories, imaging techniques, and genetic and molecular studies, the pathogenesis of ASD remains poorly understood. Progress toward understanding the etiology of an acquired neurological disorder, such as ASD, is largely dependent on the degree to which experimental animal models reflect the human condition. Status epilepticus (SE), the condition of ongoing seizures or repetitive seizure activity, is a clinical emergency more common in children than adults, with almost 40-50% of the case occurring in children younger than 2 years of age. Clinical and experimental studies have been showing that despite of immature brain to be more resistant to structural damage when compared with adult brain, it has been demonstrated that neonatal SE may produce learning deficits, memory impairment, and emotional sequels in adulthood, altered GABAergic intracortical and hipocampal circuitries and reduced dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex. Taking all information together, the aim of the present study was to evaluate a possible social impairment, learning and exploratory deficits after pilocarpine-induced SE in rats of both genders during development. Wistar rats of both gender at PN9 received intraperitoneal injection of pilocarpine (380 mg/kg). Control animals received saline solution instead pilocarpine. Social and exploratory behaviors were assessed between 30-35 postnatal days using paired-exposure paradigm. Learning performance was assessed, at PN90 using skinner Box apparatus, by quantification of the number of sections to acquire bar pressing conditioning. Our results demonstrated that neonatal SE produced social impairment, learning and exploratory deficits. Furthermore, the social impairment was gender-dependent, affecting predominantly male rats. On the other hand, the exploratory behavior was reduced in both genders, however female rats seems to be more affected, since selfgrooming was enhanced in this specific group. Quite interesting, both behaviors are affected by emotionality and environmental context, suggesting that SE was able to affect more severely the emotionality of the female animals. Moreover, it is also important to note that learning deficits were observed in both genders as well. Based on this evidences, we propose that this animal model can be a valuable tool to investigate the neurobiological basis of ASD. / Os Transtornos do Espectro Autista (TEA) são condições que afetam o desenvolvimento cerebral prejudicando a interação social recíproca, a comunicação verbal e não verbal e são acompanhados por comportamentos repetitivos e padrões anormais de interesses e atividades. Apesar da riqueza dos dados obtidos a partir da história dos pacientes, dos exames de neuroimagem, dos estudos genéticos e moleculares, a patogênese do TEA permanece mal compreendida. Modelos animais têm propiciado a ampliação do conhecimento acerca da neurobiologia dos TEA. O Status epilepticus (SE), uma condição aguda caracterizada por convulsões repetitivas ou prolongada, é uma emergência clínica que ocorre mais frequentemente em crianças que em adultos, e em 40-50% dos casos em crianças com idade inferior a dois anos. Estudos clínicos e experimentais indicam que embora o SE produza menos danos estruturais no cérebro imaturo que no cérebro adulto, SE em neonatos leva a prejuízos na aprendizagem, memória, sequelas emocionais na idade adulta, alteração da circuitaria GABAérgica hipocampal e intracortical, e redução dos níveis de dopamina no córtex pré-frontal. Este trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar se o SE em ratos neonatos de ambos os gêneros produz prejuízos na interação social, na cognição e no comportamento exploratório. Ratos wistar de ambos os gêneros com nove dias pós-natal (PN9) receberam injeção intraperitoneal de pilocarpina (380 mg/kg). Animais controles receberam solução salina. Os comportamentos sociais e exploratórios foram avaliados entre PN30-PN35, empregando-se o paradigma de observação por pares. O desempenho cognitivo foi avaliado empregando-se a caixa de Skinner, quantificando-se o número de sessões para aquisição do comportamento de pressão à barra. Os resultados mostraram que o SE no cérebro em desenvolvimento alterou a sociabilidade, a cognição e o comportamento exploratório. Os prejuízos na interação social foram gênero-dependentes, afetando predominantemente os machos. O comportamento exploratório foi reduzido em ambos os gêneros, no entanto, as fêmeas parecem ter sido mais afetadas, desde que paralelamente observou-se aumentou do selfgrooming. Ambos os comportamentos são afetados pela emocionalidade e pelo contexto ambiental, sugerindo que o SE afetou mais severamente a emocionalidade das fêmeas. Os prejuízos cognitivos foram igualmente observados em ambos os gêneros. Baseando-se nestas evidências, sugerimos que este modelo pode ser utilizado para explorar mecanismos neurobiológicos do TEA.

The aim of the thesis is to present the concept of social farming and to see if it is a suitable method of social integration of people with health and social disadvantages. It is an innovative approach that brings together two concepts: multifunctional agriculture and social services. The theoretical part of the thesis clarifies the idea of social economy and social business. It also focuses on social farming in the Czech Republic and Europe. It defines its theoretical background, actors and sources of funding. The thesis examines the link between agricultural activities and social work, benefits and limits of the concept for employees, farmers and the local community, and further focuses on the current problems that social farming in the Czech Republic is facing and that hinder its development. The data was obtained through semi- structured interviews. The results of the research showed countless benefits for all involved. The biggest disadvantage was the ignorance of the concept and the associated underestimation in society.