This study examined the changes in symptoms of anxiety, depression, and social ill dysfunction associated with a history of child trauma after adding animal-assisted therapy (AAT) to conventional psychotherapy for adolescents living in a residential treatment facility in northern California. Using a quasiexperimental design, participants were followed over a period of nine weeks, with both groups completing the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory , an abbreviated version of the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Youth Self-Report, and residential staff completing the Youth Outcome Questionnaire at three time points. In addition, the treatment group completed state anxiety and depression assessments before and after receiving the adjunctive AAT at each of these assessment points. Analyses suggest that the treatment group mean depression score was lower than the control group's score, but only at week 5. The significance of group differences in mean anxiety at posttest assessments could not be determined due to pretreatment group differences. Within-subjects analyses suggest that the treatment group experienced significant reductions in mean state anxiety scores after receiving the AAT at each of the three assessment points over the nine weeks. These reductions in anxiety were not, however , maintained between assessments. No significant changes in self- or other-reported social behaviors were found. Implications of these findings are discussed as well as suggestions for future research.

Individuals with schizophrenia consume nearly three times more caffeine than the general population. In healthy controls, caffeine intake has been linked to better cognitive performance on several of the cognitive domains typically impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Despite this, only one prior study examined the association between caffeine intake and cognitive functioning in patients with a psychotic disorder. The current cross-sectional study compared moderate (0-250 mg/day) and high caffeine users (251 mg or more/day) on measures of cognitive functioning and symptomatology in 19 outpatients diagnosed with either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. Participants were divided into one of the two caffeine groups based on their self-reported daily caffeine intake. Primary analysis was to compare moderate and high caffeine users on measures of cognitive functioning, namely working memory, sustained attention/vigilance, processing speed, verbal learning, and visual learning. Secondary analysis compared moderate caffeine users to high caffeine users on measures of symptomatology, namely positive symptoms, negative symptoms, and cognitive symptoms. Measures included the Cogstate battery and the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Independent samples t-test was used to examine potential differences between the two caffeine groups on measures of demographic and illness-related variables, cognitive functioning, and symptomatology. The results showed that, when assessing demographic and illness-related variables, participants with high caffeine consumption were prescribed higher antipsychotic doses and were more dependent on nicotine compared to participants with moderate caffeine consumption. With respect to cognitive functioning, participants with moderate caffeine consumption demonstrated better performance on a task measuring executive function (e.g., the Groton Maze Learning Test) compared to participants with high caffeine consumption. Finally, with respect to symptomatology, participants with high caffeine consumption demonstrated fewer negative symptoms compared to participants with moderate caffeine consumption. No other differences were discovered. In conclusion, the results from this study appear to suggest that moderate caffeine consumption, rather than high caffeine consumption, is associated with better cognitive functioning in patients with schizophrenia, while high caffeine consumption, rather than moderate caffeine consumption, is associated with fewer negative symptoms without necessarily exacerbating positive symptoms. The small sample size in this study limits the generalizability of its findings. More research is warranted.

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No description available.

The overall aim of the present research is to contribute to the literature base regarding interventions for women who have experienced Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The research utilised questionnaires and repertory grid technique to investigate the impact of The Freedom Programme, a group intervention for women who have experienced IPV. 24 participants at pre-intervention and 18 participants at post-intervention completed the measures. The findings suggest that the intervention can be beneficial in terms of lowering: severity of symptoms; utilisation of emotionally focused coping strategies, utilisation of less helpful coping strategies and Triadic Conflict (Bell, 2004). There was a tightening of construing at post-intervention. Participants reported the most helpful aspects of the intervention were ‘Universality’ and ‘Personal Contact’. The most unhelpful aspects were finding it difficult to speak in a group context and the practicalities of the group. The author concludes that the programme provides a valuable first step for women who have experienced IPV, however, development of services that follow on from the intervention need to be more focused to meet individual needs. Recommendations for future research include more longitudinal research, which encompasses Randomised Control Trail methodology reviewing packages of support. There is also a need to conduct research with harder to access women who have experienced IPV.

Orientador: Daniela Carvalho dos Santos / Resumo: O bicho-da-seda, Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae), é o inseto de maior importância econômica na produção de seda. A lagarta se alimenta de folhas de amoreira e é altamente sensível a agrotóxicos, assim o uso destes em culturas agrícolas circunvizinhas às plantações de amoreira pode afetar o desenvolvimento de B. mori, acarretando em desequilíbrio nas suas funções metabólicas e, consequentemente, comprometendo a produção de casulos. Entre estes agrotóxicos, destaca-se o Novaluron, inseticida inibidor da síntese de quitina nos insetos e empregado no controle de insetos pragas de culturas agrícolas próximas as plantações de amoreira. Assim, investigamos os efeitos tóxicos de Novaluron no desenvolvimento de B. mori. Lagartas de B. mori, foram separadas em dois grupos experimentais: grupo controle (GC) e grupo tratamento (GT: tratado com 0, 15 mL/L de Novaluron). Após ecdise do 2° para o 3° instar, lagartas do GT foram alimentadas por 24 horas com folhas de amoreira tratadas com o inseticida. Paralelamente foi realizada uma nova exposição, porém em lagartas que realizavam a ecdise do 4° para o 5° instar. Lagartas, pupas e adultos de B. mori foram anestesiadas e segmentos do intestino médio, glândula da seda e órgãos reprodutores retirados e processados convencionalmente para técnicas de microscopias de luz, eletrônica e imunohistoquímica. Além disso, os efeitos no desenvolvimento, reprodução e qualidade do casulo também foram avaliados. O Novaluron provocou efeitos citotóxico... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: The silkworm, Bombyx mori (Lepidoptera: Bombycidae is the insect of major economic importance in the production of silk. The larvae feeds on mulberry leaves and is highly sensitive to agrochemicals, thus the use of these in agricultural crops surrounding the mulberry plantations can affect the development of B. mori, causing an imbalance in its metabolic functions and, consequently, compromising the production of cocoons. Among these agrochemicals, stands out the Novaluron, an insecticide inhibitor of the synthesis of chitin in insects and used in the control of insect pests of crops near mulberry plantations. Thus, we investigated the lethal and sublethal effects of Novaluron on the development of B. mori. Larvae were selected into two experimental groups: control group (CG) and treatment group (TG: treated with 0, 15 mL/L Novaluron). After ecdysis from the 2nd to the 3rd instar, the TG larvae were fed for 24 hours with mulberry leaves treated with the insecticide. In parallel, a new exposition was carried out, however in larvae that carry out the ecdysis from the 4th to the 5th instar. B. mori larvae, pupae and adults were anesthetized and segments of the midgut, silk gland and reproductive organs were removed and processed conventionally for light microscopy, electron microscopy and immunohistochemistry. In addition, the effects on the development, reproduction and quality of the cocoon were also evaluated. Novaluron caused cytotoxic effects on the midgut and the silk glan... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

Nesta tese, pesquisamos filmes que investigaram o Brasil com o objetivo de revelar as suas doenças ocultas. Esse projeto do início dos anos 2000 gerou imagens repletas de deformações, de repetições, de estados de descontrole, de doenças do olhar e de crueldade, entre outras características que destacamos ao longo do trabalho. A hipótese que desenvolvemos é de que houve uma profusão da referida estética no início dos anos 2000 e que ela se dispersou ao longo da década. Podemos vê-la em filmes como Cronicamente inviável, Através da janela, Latitude zero, O invasor, Amarelo manga, Contra todos, Quanto vale ou é por quilo?, O cheiro do ralo e Baixio das bestas. Defendemos ainda que essas imagens atualizam um projeto naturalista e se desdobram em uma sintomatologia. Para enfrentar o desafio de análise, apropriamo-nos do conceito de imagem-pulsão proposto por Gilles Deleuze na sua taxonomia de imagens. Trata-se de um conceito marginal na taxonomia do autor, que no entanto se revelou adequado porque oferece um método rigoroso para lidar com o problema da pulsão (de morte) no cinema. As imagens-pulsão em Deleuze são aqui compreendidas como um desdobramento dos conceitos instinto de morte e corpo sem órgãos, que o autor havia desenvolvido ao longo dos anos 1960 e 1970. Com relação às análises, a tese está composta em três eixos: imagens-pulsão, neonaturalismo e sintomatologia. No primeiro, procuramos evidenciar nas imagens a articulação que existe entre a dimensão da realidade (meios derivados), a dimensão da doença (mundos originários) e as dinâmicas de ação das doenças sobre a realidade (momentos privilegiados). É nesse eixo que tecemos algumas das principais proposições deste trabalho: os deslocamentos naturalizantes; os espaços centrados; os métodos de testemunho da pulsão (de morte) irrepresentável; a plasmaticidade de retorno ao inorgânico; as repetições que condenam no tempo; os estados de descontrole que revelam uma impossibilidade de agir. No segundo eixo, evidenciamos a influência naturalista nessas imagens: a visão entrópica; a associação entre o trágico e o cotidiano; a opção por narrativas em queda ou circulares; o gosto pelo submundo, pelas deformações e pela violência animalesca; o interesse pelos diagnósticos e sua eficácia. No terceiro eixo, propomos que o gesto político nessa estética é a sintomatologia, no sentido de que a própria imagem é concebida para fazer sintoma em civilização. A sintomatologia tem dupla estratégia: desconfortar e satisfazer o espectador. Finalmente, sistematizamos as proposições da tese e evidenciamos aquilo que julgamos ser o desafio por excelência dessas imagens: descobrir e testemunhar a pulsão (de morte) que elas acreditam encontrar nas profundidades da realidade brasileira. / In this Thesis, we study Brazilian films that investigated the country with the intention of revealing its inner diseases. This project from the beginning of the 2000s led to images replete of deformation, repetitions, uncontrolled behaviors, eye diseases and cruelty, among other characteristics we demonstrate in this work. Our hypothesis is that this aesthetics has expanded in the beginning of the 2000s and dispersed over the decade. We can see this aesthetics in films such as Chronically Unfeasible, Through the Window, Latitude Zero, The Trespasser, Mango Yellow, Up Against Them All, What Is It Worth?, Drained and Bog of Beasts. We also assert that these images update a naturalistic project and result in a symptomatology. In order to analyze the images, we employ the concept of impulse-image proposed by Gilles Deleuze in his taxonomy of images. It is a less popular concept in his taxonomy, but it has been suitable to this research because it offers a rigorous method for working with the instinct of (death) in the cinema. In this work, we understand Deleuze’s impulse-images as a development of the concepts of death instinct and body without organs, proposed by the author in the 1960s and the 1970s. Concerning the analysis, the Thesis is composed in three axes: impulse-images, neo-naturalism and symptomatology. In the first, we highlight the connection between the spheres of reality (derived milieu), the one of disease (originary world), and the dynamics of action from disease to reality (privileged moments). It is in this axis that we make some of the key proposals in this work: the naturalizing displacements; the centered spaces; the methods of testifying the unrepresentable instinct (of death); the repetitions that condemn in time; the plasmaticity of the return to the inorganic; the uncontrolled behaviors that reveal an impossibility of action. In the second axis, we demonstrate the naturalistic influence in these images: the entropic vision; the association between the tragic and everyday life; the option for narratives based either in falls or in circularity; the taste for the underworld, the deformations and the animalistic violence; the interest in diagnosis and its efficacy. In the third axis, we propose that the political gesture in this aesthetics is the symptomatology, in the sense that image itself should stand as a symptom in civilization. The symptomatology has a double strategy: producing discomfort and satisfaction in the spectator. Finally, we systematize the propositions from the Thesis and put in evidence what we believe is the key objective in these images: discovering and testifying the instinct (of death) that they believe lies deep in Brazilian reality.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-11T13:38:31Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Maria Scheffer.pdf: 2086782 bytes, checksum: 928db75671ab568b474a01a176b2665e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012-12-12 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Shigellosis is a disease manifested from mild diarrhea to severe ysentery. The ability to invade cells, cause injury and imbalance in the homeostasis to the intestinal mucosa and modulate the inflammatory response has been attributed to several factors of pathogenicity of Shigella spp. In this study, thirty-six isolates of Shigella were identified from an etiologic study of childhood diarrhea in 1,500 children aged 0-10 years who were admitted to hospitals in Manaus (East-South-and-West Zones) between August 2007 and July 2009. Shigella flexneri was the most common (65%), followed by Shigella sonnei (20%), Shigella boydii (12.5%) and Shigella dysenteriae (2.5%). Among the isolates, one isolate (intermediate) resistant to ciprofloxacin and 1 (intermediate) to ceftriaxone, which are antibiotics recommended by WHO. Molecular typing of the pathogenicity factors showed evidence of the pathogenic potential of shet- 1B subunit of Shigella and can lead to complications related to dehydration. Frequencies of the IpaBCD (the most prevalent factors among isolates) followed by IpaH suspect associations to fever and bowel injury. The IpaH was clearly associated to bloody diarrhea. And finally, differences in the frequencies of Shet-2 positives between febrile-based groups reinforce its role in the inflammatory response. This study has contributed to the few data in the literature on the pathogenicity of wild Shigella isolates associated to shigellosis and consolidate the importance of finding ways to block the toxicity of these major pathogenicity factors / A shigelose é uma doença manifestada desde uma diarreia leve até uma severa disenteria. A habilidade de invadir células e provocar lesão na mucosa intestinal, bem como levar ao desequilíbrio na homeostase e modular a resposta inflamatória em nível intestinal tem sido atribuídos a diversos fatores de patogenicidade das Shigella spp. Neste trabalho, trinta e seis isolados de Shigella foram identificados a partir de um estudo etiológico de diarreia infantil em 1.500 crianças com idade entre zero a dez anos que deram entrada nos hospitais de Manaus (Zona Leste, Zona Sul e Zona Oeste) com quadro diarreico, no período entre agosto de 2007 a julho de 2009. Shigella flexneri foi à espécie mais frequente (65%), seguida por S. sonnei (20%), S. boydii (12,5%) e S. dysenteriae (2,5%). Entre os isolados, merece destaque o aparecimento de um isolado resistente (intermediária) à ciprofloxacina e 1 resistente (intermediária) à ceftriaxona, que são os antibióticos recomendados pela OMS. A tipagem molecular dos fatores de patogenicidade mostrou evidências sobre o potencial patogênico da subunidade shet-1B das Shigellas, podendo levar a complicações relacionadas à desidratação, de IpaH na febre e na lesão do intestino evidenciado pelo diarreia sanguinolenta. IpaBCD foram os fatores de virulência mais predominantes seguido de IpaH. E uma frequência maior de Shet-2+ em crianças febris em relação a não febris foi verificada. Este estudo vem contribuir com a pouca literatura que existe em relação aos fatores de patogenicidade de isolados de Shigella selvagens com quadro diarreico com ou sem shigelose e consolidar a importância de encontrar caminhos para bloquear a toxicidade destes principais fatores de patogenicidade

The objective of this study was to examine symptomatology; stress responses for everyday academic and social stressors; and cognitive coping resources among 11-year-old children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Two groups were established by the amount of time spent within the institutional system. Early adoptees (EAs, n=25) spent less than 6 months while late adoptees (LAs, n=14) endured 6 months or more of institutionalization. A comparison group of non adopted, same-age peers (Canadian Born (CBs), n=25) was included. The first goal was to investigate whether there were differences between EAs and LAs in ratings of symptomatology and stress responses. The second goal was to compare all Romanian adoptees (RAs) to CBs on the same set of factors. The third goal was to identify predictors of symptomatology and predictors of stress responses for RAs only. The main findings were as follows. EAs and LAs did not differ in any symptom ratings or stress responses, showing a lack of evidence for duration of deprivation as a grouping factor. Significant differences were detected by adoption status. Ratings were higher for RAs than CBs in parent-rated symptomatology, including the rate of RAs who exceeded the borderline clinical cut-off. RAs reported less secondary control coping for social stressors than CBs. Models to predict symptoms from stress responses were not supported, with one exception. More disengagement coping for social stress and less involuntary disengagement for academic stress predicted less externalizing and generalized symptoms by teacher report. Models to predict stress responses from cognitive coping resources were significant except for disengagement coping. One of the main findings was that predictors of secondary control coping varied by stressor domain. In conclusion, the findings were important in demonstrating that duration of deprivation does not differentiate between post-institutionalized preadolescents in aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Adoption status is a significant factor. Stress responses do not contribute to models of symptoms. The cognitive coping resources of perceived academic competency and social-support contribute to models of stress responses, yet with room to improve the predictive power of the models. Implications of the findings are discussed along with limitations and directions for future research.

The objective of this study was to examine symptomatology; stress responses for everyday academic and social stressors; and cognitive coping resources among 11-year-old children adopted from Romanian orphanages. Two groups were established by the amount of time spent within the institutional system. Early adoptees (EAs, n=25) spent less than 6 months while late adoptees (LAs, n=14) endured 6 months or more of institutionalization. A comparison group of non adopted, same-age peers (Canadian Born (CBs), n=25) was included. The first goal was to investigate whether there were differences between EAs and LAs in ratings of symptomatology and stress responses. The second goal was to compare all Romanian adoptees (RAs) to CBs on the same set of factors. The third goal was to identify predictors of symptomatology and predictors of stress responses for RAs only. The main findings were as follows. EAs and LAs did not differ in any symptom ratings or stress responses, showing a lack of evidence for duration of deprivation as a grouping factor. Significant differences were detected by adoption status. Ratings were higher for RAs than CBs in parent-rated symptomatology, including the rate of RAs who exceeded the borderline clinical cut-off. RAs reported less secondary control coping for social stressors than CBs. Models to predict symptoms from stress responses were not supported, with one exception. More disengagement coping for social stress and less involuntary disengagement for academic stress predicted less externalizing and generalized symptoms by teacher report. Models to predict stress responses from cognitive coping resources were significant except for disengagement coping. One of the main findings was that predictors of secondary control coping varied by stressor domain. In conclusion, the findings were important in demonstrating that duration of deprivation does not differentiate between post-institutionalized preadolescents in aspects of psychosocial adjustment. Adoption status is a significant factor. Stress responses do not contribute to models of symptoms. The cognitive coping resources of perceived academic competency and social-support contribute to models of stress responses, yet with room to improve the predictive power of the models. Implications of the findings are discussed along with limitations and directions for future research.