Im Rahmen des vorliegenden Dissertationsprojektes wurde der Zusammenhang zwischen Ausprägung des regulativen Temperaments und SERT-Verfügbarkeit als Indikator für die Funktionalität des zentralen serotonergen Systems mittels Positronen-Emissions-Tomographie (PET) bei adipösen im Vergleich zu normalgewichtigen Personen untersucht.

Background: Although bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severe obesity, a subgroup of patients shows insufficient postbariatric outcomes. Differences may at least in part result from heterogeneous patient profiles regarding reactive and regulative temperament, emotion dysregulation, and disinhibited eating. This study aims to subtype patients based on these aspects before and two years after bariatric surgery and tests the predictive value of identified subtypes for health-related outcomes three years after surgery.

Language is the way in which individuals are able to express ideas, feelings, needs, expectations, and form relationships with others in their surrounding environment. A disruption in language development may negatively impact a child's social development. Research shows that children with language delays or disorders tend to have increased social and behavioral difficulties (Cantwell & Baker, 1977; Caulfield, Fischel, DeBaryshe, & Whitehurst, 1989). However, research has not examined temperament differences in young children with language delays or disorders. The question this study sought to answer was: Is there a significant difference in the dimensions of temperament between children with a history of slow expressive language development and their peers with normal language development? The subjects in this study ranged in age from 64 to 74 months. They included 33 children with a history of slow expressive language development (SELD) and 27 children with normal language development. The temperamental characteristics of each of the subjects was assessed by ratings provided by their parents, utilizing the Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas, Chess, & Korn, 1977), a questionnaire to assess the way a child behaves during everyday situations. The question was analyzed by calculating the means and standard deviations for the nine temperament dimensions for· the two groups. To determine if there were significant differences among the two groups, two tailed t-tests were computed at the .05 level of significance. The Parent Temperament Questionnaire for Children (Thomas et al., 1977) showed the children with a history of slow expressive language development to have significantly different scores in the dimensions of approach-withdrawal and intensity of reaction than the subjects with normal language development at 5 years of age.

Many young children develop language over a broad range of ages yet present as having normal language development. When language development lags behind what is considered a normal time line, it is important to consider the various factors that may contribute to the delay in development. The purpose of the current study was to examine various aspects of temperament among three groups of children with varying language histories. The specific question to be answered was, do significant differences occur on parent and clinician questionnaires of temperament among three groups of first grade children demonstrating varying levels of language development: those with normal language (NL), those with a history of expressive language delay (HELD), and those with chronic expressive language delay (ELD)? Subjects for this study included 23 subjects in the NL group, 22 subjects in the HELD group, and 6 subjects in the ELD group. The groups were compared utilizing the Temperament Assessment Battery for Children (TABC) on six variables of temperament on Parent Forms and five variables of temperament on Clinician Forms. The data were analyzed to see if significant differences existed among the language diagnostic groups. On the Parent Forms, a trend towards low approach/withdrawal characteristics was observed between the NL and ELD groups. On the Clinician Forms, a significant difference was observed on the variable, approach/withdrawal, between the NL group and HELD group. Both parametric and non-parametric analyses were in agreement on this finding. The suggestion that low approach/withdrawal tendencies exist within late talking children may be the long term result of interaction between expressive language delayed children and the communication environment. These results must be viewed tentatively because the sample groups were of unequal numbers. If all diagnostic groups had been of equivalent size, the results may have been yielded stronger significance.

Easily observable infant characteristics have been shown to influence others; perceptions of infant competence. This study examined the relation between infant characteristics and a tester's willingness to repeat opportunities for the infant to pass items during administration of a cognitive test. Results showed that infant physical attractiveness was related to lower elicited infant performance (the ratio of items initially failed). Positive affect was related to higher test scores. Because first impressions are likely to contribute to future relationships, it may be important to educate adults who interact with infants about the effects of stereotyping infants based on first impressions.

"Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Occupational Therapy Department, College of Allied Health and Nursing, Nova Southeastern University." Objective. The purpose of this study was to predict the length of employment (in months) from a common occupational profile as derived from the MBTI and WAIQ scores. This study employed the MBTI and the WAI instruments to gather information about subjects' personality types and temperament traits. These measures were used to predict length of employment for individuals with AS/HFA. Methods. A convenience sample of N=83 adults self -disclosed with AS/HFA completed the MBTI and WAI instruments. Backward Elimination Multiple Regression was used for data analysis. Results. A standard multiple regression analyses with average months on the job as the dependent variable and WAIQ, Gender (GND), age (AGE) and the subscales for the MBTI as the predictors was conducted. R for regression was significantly different from zero, F (7,75) = 8.20, p< .001. The statistically significant predictors were WAIQ (t = - 2.18, p < .05), GND (t=-3.14 p < .05), and AGE (t = 5.79, p < .001). A backward elimination model was conducted for the same predictors and dependent variable. After step 4, R = 0.65, F(4,78) = 14.17, p < .001. The statistically significant predictors were WAIQ (t = - 2.20, p < .05), GND (t=-3.40 p < .05), AGE (t = 6.39, p < .001), and SNS (t = -2.17, p < .05). A backward elimination model was also conducted on average months on the job (dependent variable) with the WAIQ and MBTI subscores as predictors. After step 7, with the remaining variables in the equation, R = 0.52, F(4,78) = 7.06, p < .001. The predictors that emerged statistically significant were Activity Raw score (t = - 2.76, p < .01), Sociability Raw score (t=1.70, p = .06), Assertiveness Raw score (t = -3.62, p < .01), and SNS (t = -2.17, p < .01). Conclusion. The data supports the identification of an Occupational Profile for adults with AS/HFA. The results support the development of interventions to assist individuals with AS/HFA in the workplace to potentially increase the likelihood of successful job performance as measured by length of employment.

Syftet med studien är att bidra med kunskap kring hur förskollärare bemöter tysta barn i förskolans verksamhet. Studien grundas på en kvalitativ ansats med utgångspunkt ur fem semistrukturerade intervjuer med förskollärare. Resultatet analyseras med hjälp av den sociokulturella teorin och tre begrepp som synliggörs inom den, vilka är: Social interaktion, mediering och scaffolding. Studiens resultat visar att förskollärarna beskriver att faktorer såsom blyghet, självkänsla och ett bristande språk kan bidra till barnets tysthet. Förskollärarna i studien lyfter även fram att den psykosociala och fysiska miljön är områden som behöver utvecklas för att främja det tysta barnet. Förskollärarnas resonemang är att det är fördelaktigt att arbeta i mindre grupper. De belyser även att ett arbetssätt med olika artefakter som stöd är gynnsamt för det tysta barnets deltagande i verksamheten, två av dessa är TAKK och bildstöd. Förskollärarna i studien uttrycker att de bemöter det tysta barnet genom stödjande uppmuntran och vägledande närvaro, men deras resonemang är samtidigt att det tysta barnet får för lite uppmärksamhet i verksamheten. För att synliggöra det tysta barnets intresse och behov beskriver förskollärarna att det tysta barnet används som ett verktyg för att främja en balanserad barngrupp, genom att hen placeras som en kil mellan högljudda och aktiva barn. Under arbetet med studien har aspekter synliggjorts beträffande resultatet och metoden. I resultatdiskussionen synliggörs aspekter som har påverkat resultatet. Aspekter belyses i metoddiskussionen samt utgår där från den valda metoden och dess trovärdighet, tillförlitlighet och överförbarhet.

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An adequate vascular perfusion status is essential not only to maintain life, but to ensure the proper physiology of the different systems that form the animal’s body. Due to its role in the transport of oxygen and nutrients toward, and the removal of cellular waste products away from the body’s tissues, the circulatory system is responsible for the maintenance of body homeostasis. Production related functions in farm animals are not an exception, and directly depend on sufficient vascular physiology. In the past, the study of blood flow in large domestic species was restricted to highly invasive techniques. However, even when such techniques are the foundation for the actual understanding of vascular dynamics in these animals, their limited feasibility and potential impact over the normal vascular physiology represent significant limitations to these approaches. Recently, the development and application of non-invasive technologies (i.e., Doppler and B- mode ultrasound) to the area of animal sciences has provided the potential for the study of vascular dynamics while, the negative implications aforementioned are avoided. In our studies, these technologies were applied to assess the role of the circulatory system on different production related variables such as: temperament, reproduction, and milk production in the bovine. A tendency toward differences in jugular blood flow was associated with the temperament in beef calves in this study. Also, a significant increase in vasodilation in the uterine arteries of beef cows was found to be associated with a numerically higher reproductive efficiency (i.e., pregnancy rates). Moreover, an increase in blood flow towards the mammary gland in dairy cows was associated with administration of bovine somatotropin. In conclusion, B- mode and Doppler ultrasound resulted in tools able to reflect the essential role of an adequate vascular perfusion in the normal physiology and productive performance in the bovine. However, in real farm scenarios the feasibility of these techniques in large domestic species is limited. Therefore, further specialization of this instrument to the conditions existent in such farm scenarios are recommended to improve its feasibility and to significantly accelerate the rate of knowledge acquisition in this area.