Post-mortem human surrogate (PMHS) head specimens were subjected to two different angular speed pulses. Each pulse was approximately a half-sine with either a peak angular speed of either 40 or 20 rad/s and duration of either 30 or 60 milliseconds. High-speed biplane x-ray was used to record the motion of the brain and skull via radio-opaque markers implanted at specified locations in the brain, and lead markers on the skull. Specimens were perfused to physiologic conditions throughout preparation and testing to maintain the integrity of the brain tissue and ensure coupling of the brain and skull. Intracranial pressure was measured anteriorly and posteriorly. The test event was controlled by a cam-follower-flywheel mechanism, which facilitated control of pulse parameters and provided a form of "infinite energy" so that the device and therefore the test input would not be influenced by the characteristics of the object under test. This approach kept the independent and dependent variables separated. The brain targets were also deployed in a prescribed manner with two methodologies that were scalable to different specimens. The repeatable input and target deployment schemes helped reduce experimental variation (between tests and subjects) to produce consistent response data. Displacement of the brain was calculated with respect to a body-fixed basis on the skull. The relative motion of the brain with respect to the skull was shown to be dependent on the location of the target in the brain. The major deformation axis of each target followed the contour of the skull or bony landmark to which it was closest. Intracranial pressure was relatively low because the changes were due to inertial effects in the absence of impact. Tests with lower speeds and longer durations produced less deformation, lower intracranial pressures, and longer pressure durations than the tests that were high-speed, short-duration. The response of the brain to rotation of the head was quantified at two test levels and on two PMHS specimens. / Master of Science / Motor-vehicle collisions (MVCs) are the second leading cause of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in the United States and the leading cause of TBI-related death [1a]. Regulations are in place for vehicle design to reduce the occurrence and severity of head injuries during MVCs. The metric used is based on the resultant linear acceleration at the center of gravity of the occupant’s head. However, TBI are still occurring despite the current regulations. This suggests the importance of using additional injury metrics to predict TBI in MVCs. In automotive impact biomechanics, a combination of real world, experimental, and simulation data is used to determine how the human body responds during MVCs. While computer (finite element) simulations can provide extensive information about the kinematic and kinetic response of the human body, these models require experimental data to validate and evaluate their responses. This study focuses on determining the response of the human cadaver brain to angular speed loading without contact of the head. High-speed biplane x-ray and radiopaque markers were used to quantify the displacement of the brain with respect to the skull throughout rotational events. Two angular speed profiles with different peak angular speeds and durations were used. The methods were determined to reduce experimental variation to obtain data that is useful for finite element model validation. The average peak angular speed for the high-speed tests was 41.8 rad/s and the average peak angular speed for the low-speed tests was 22.0 rad/s. The peak angular speed only varied by 10% between similar tests. The motion of the brain lagged behind that of the skull, producing a relative displacement of the brain with respect to the skull. The magnitude and primary direction of the relative displacement was dependent on the location at which it was measured. The location of the radiopaque target with respect the anatomical coordinate system and bony landmarks of the skull are both important in determining the characteristics of the relative displacement profiles. The high-speed tests produced an average displacement of +/-5 mm, while the low-speed tests had an average displacement of +/-2.5 mm in the X-direction. Intracranial pressure (ICP) was also measured at two points in the cranial cavity, and showed the delayed response of the brain to the rotational loading of the head.

Thesis (D Phil (Psychotherapy))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Includes bibliographical references. Available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of California, San Diego and San Diego State University, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 103-116).

This study focused on trauma and seeked to demonstrate that the application of a Buberian understanding to the experience of trauma can help shed light on the impact of trauma on a sufferer's life. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the impact of trauma on interpersonal relationships as well as to determine components of psychotherapy found most helpful in the recovering process.

This investigation examined the association between Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition (DSM-IV) posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD; American Psychological Association, 1994) symptoms as measured by the Children’s PTSD Inventory (CPTSDI; Saigh, 2003a) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, 3rd Edition (WISC-III; Wechsler, 1991) scores of 78 traumatized children (mean age = 13.42 years, SD = 2.68 years). Child diagnostic interviews determined that the participants did not have major comorbid disorders and were not taking medications that could influence cognitive functioning. Significant inverse correlations were observed between the different symptom CPTSDI clusters and the WISC-III Verbal indices. Moreover, with the exception of the WISC-III Block Design subtest, nonsignificant correlations were observed between the WISC-III Performance measures and the CPTSDI symptom clusters. Theoretical and clinical implications are considered.

This study focused on trauma and seeked to demonstrate that the application of a Buberian understanding to the experience of trauma can help shed light on the impact of trauma on a sufferer's life. The aim of the study was to gain an understanding of the impact of trauma on interpersonal relationships as well as to determine components of psychotherapy found most helpful in the recovering process.

abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a leading cause of disability worldwide with 1.7 million TBIs reported annually in the United States. Broadly, TBI can be classified into focal injury, associated with cerebral contusion, and diffuse injury, a widespread injury pathology. TBI results in a host of pathological alterations and may lead to a transient blood-brain-barrier (BBB) breakdown. Although the BBB dysfunction after TBI may provide a window for therapeutic delivery, the current drug delivery approaches remains largely inefficient due to rapid clearance, inactivation and degradation. One potential strategy to address the current therapeutic limitations is to employ nanoparticle (NP)-based technology to archive greater efficacy and reduced clearance compared to standard drug administration. However, NP application for TBI is challenging not only due to the transient temporal resolution of the BBB breakdown, but also due to the heterogeneous (focal/diffuse) aspect of the disease itself. Furthermore, recent literature suggests sex of the animal influences neuroinflammation/outcome after TBI; yet, the influence of sex on BBB integrity following TBI and subsequent NP delivery has not been previously investigated. The overarching hypothesis for this thesis is that TBI-induced compromised BBB and leaky vasculature will enable delivery of systemically injected NPs to the injury penumbra. This study specifically explored the feasibility and the temporal accumulation of NPs in preclinical mouse models of focal and diffuse TBI. Key findings from these studies include the following. (1) After focal TBI, NPs ranging from 20-500nm exhibited peak accumulation within the injury penumbra acutely (1h) post-injury. (2) A smaller delayed peak of NP accumulation (40nm) was observed sub-acutely (3d) after focal brain injury. (3) Mild diffuse TBI simulated with a mild closed head injury model did not display any measurable NP accumulation after 1h post-injury. (4) In contrast, a moderate diffuse model (fluid percussion injury) demonstrated peak accumulation at 3h post-injury with up to 500 nm size NPs accumulating in cortical tissue. (5) Robust NP accumulation (40nm) was found in female mice compared to the males at 24h and 3d following focal brain injury. Taken together, these results demonstrate the potential for NP delivery at acute and sub-acute time points after TBI by exploiting the compromised BBB. Results also reveal a potential sex dependent component of BBB disruption leading to altered NP accumulation. The applications of this research are far-reaching ranging from theranostic delivery to personalized NP delivery for effective therapeutic outcome. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Biomedical Engineering 2018

Sexual assault is a wide public health problem given the number of people who are sexually assaulted. Sexual assault affects the psychological well being of people who experience it.The most common reported psychological problems are PTSD and depressive symptoms especially after four to six weeks post sexual assault.These Co morbid disorders affect the normal functioning of an individual such home chores, work and increase mortality rate among sexual assaulted survivors. It was also documented that coping strategies (maladaptive or adaptive) employed by sexual assaulted survivors are the one that determine their recovery.Hence, there was a need to investigate the correlation between coping strategies, the level of PTSD and the level of depression in Ngaka Modiri Molema in the North West Province of South Africa. The study aimed to investigate correlation between coping strategies and the levels of PTSD and depression among sexual assaulted survivors. Correlational cross-sectional design was used in this study.Sample size of 115 of sexually assaulted participants between the age of 18 and 50 was determined through the use of Raosoft calculator. PCL for PTSD, BDI and brief COPE instruments were used to collect data. Information about socio demographic was also obtained.Data analysis was done through frequency distribution to describe the demographic data, levels of PTSD and depression.Data were also analysed through Pearson correlations to determine the possible relationship between coping, PTSD and depressive symptoms. ANOVA, chi-square, cross tabulation were also done to determine the possible relationship between demographic data, level of PTSD and depression. Results showed high level of PTSD and low level of depression among sexual assaulted survivors.They have also showed that there is no relationship between coping strategies and PTSD, and that there was a relationship between coping and depressive symptoms.These findings indicate that coping strategies cannot be regarded as one the factors that can control the non-development and development of PTSD, but could be regarded as one the factors that can account to development and non development of depression. / Thesis (M Cur) North-West University, Mafikeng Campus, 2013

Background: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is frequently linked with substance use disorder (SUD). However, the nature of this association remains unclear. A clearer understanding of the dynamic associations between PTSD and SUD may shed light on the course of these two disorders thereby, identifying areas for intervention, which may potentially reduce some of the associated costly and harmful outcomes. Methods: Firstly, a systematic review was conducted to investigate the evidence base regarding the relationship between PTSD and SUD. Secondly, an empirical project was undertaken to explore functional associations between PTSD and SUD. This was achieved by comparing, motives for substance use, anxiety and depression symptoms, and SUD symptom severity amongst treatmentseeking adults with and without PTSD. Results: Results from the systematic review suggest that individuals with comorbid PTSD and SUD have more severe clinical profiles compared to individuals with a SUD alone. The results from the empirical study indicate that those with PTSD endorse coping-related motives for substance use significantly more than those without PTSD. Furthermore, those with PTSD had significantly elevated SUD severity ratings and higher anxiety and depression scores. Conclusions: Findings suggest that individuals with comorbid PTSD and SUD are motivated to use substances to cope with negative affect. The clinical implications of this are discussed.

The purpose of the current study was to determine if the Nova Multilingual Neuropsychological Battery (NMNB) can detect neurological deficits in the traumatic brained injured (TBI) Hispanic sample by comparing subtest mean scores to the normal group mean scores. The NMNB is comprised of 39 subtests and was developed to account for language and cultural factors thought to influence neuropsychological test results. It was hypothesized that significant differences would be found in NMNB measures sensitive to brain damage. A sample size of 100 English-Spanish speaking bilinguals (50 TBI and 50 cognitively intact participants) was tested in Spanish in order to compare cognitive performance across the various NMNB measures. Due to the number of comparisons, the alpha level for this study was set to .01 to reduce Type I error. Results of the ANCOVA's partially supported the hypothesis after controlling for age and education. Findings show that the NMNB measures were able to successfully detect the TBI Spanish group from the normal Spanish group. Significant differences were displayed in the tests measuring nonverbal abilities, memory and learning, visual spatial skills, and executive functioning. More specifically, no significant differences were displayed in the tests measuring crystallized premorbid abilities, while tests measuring more fluid abilities detected problems with abstract thinking and information processing in the TBI sample. A similar deficit pattern was displayed across all measures of higher functioning systems. Deficits were detected in the nonverbal measures that involved complex attention (selective, divided, and alternating forms of attention) and concentration for visuospatial tasks, pattern synthesis and manipulation, but not for simple visuospatial attentional activities. Significant differences were found in motor speed, but not in the number of errors. These findings support previous research indicating that Hispanics tend to favor accuracy over speed. Additionally, results reveal significant differences across all memory measures. Using Cohen's d, large effect sizes were displayed between the groups ranging from 1.5 to 2.3 in the verbal and visual memory measures. Similar effect sizes were also displayed in tests of executive functioning. Preliminary data of this study suggests that the NMNB may be a sound assessment tool for detecting neurological impairments in TBIs. Collectively, the NMNB displayed significant differences in motor and processing speed, memory, visuospatial tasks, and executive functioning commonly documented in non-Hispanic TBIs. This study concluded that culturally sensitive neuropsychological tests that also control for demographic variables such as age and education can provide accurate results for Hispanics with TBI. However, these results should be interpreted with caution as this study was limited to a small sample size with an unequal proportion of TBI severity levels and educational experiences beyond educational levels. Future studies should focus on obtaining larger samples with varying TBI severity levels. Samples should also include bilingual Hispanics tested in English as well as monolingual Spanish speakers in order to develop profiles that may be useful in differential diagnosis.