The influence of timeshift on ciradian rhythm of sensitivity to X-irradiation in mice

For two groups of male C3H mice an eastbound transmeridional flight was simulated by inducing a time shift of the L:D schedule of 8 hr. The assumed flight brought about a maxima) reduction of the daily light and dark span, respectively. A third group remained unshifted. At seven different times during the following day, subgroups of the time shifted mice as well as of the group with unchange schedule were exposed to whole body X-irradiation. Mortality and body temperature of each animal were registered for 30 days following exposure and were regarded as indicators of radiation response. Radioresistance was found to be highest during the second half of the daily light span, confirming earlier reports by other authors. Well defined effects of the time shift and a corresponding shift of the acrophase of radioresistance could be demonstrated. There was no significant difference between the two time shifted groups, but there was a consistent slight trend towards an advantage for the group whose L:D shift resulted in a maximally reduced dark span

Parental Self-Efficacy of the “Unexpected Parent”

Background: Research focused on the “unexpected parent” is limited. This population of parent is increasing in frequency. Purpose: The purpose of this capstone study was to provide support to unexpected parents. The study focused on the area of establishing and maintaining routines and consistency as a means to decrease negative behavior in order to improve parental selfefficacy. With improved skills and perceived improved abilities, the aim of this study was to improve this performance of this group of parents during their participation in the occupation of parenting. Theoretical Framework. The theory driving this research is the occupation-based model called the Canadian Model of Occupational Performance and Engagement (CMOP-E). Methods. This quantitative study analyzed the parental self-efficacy of a group of “unexpected parents” utilizing the Tool to Measure Parenting Self Efficacy (TOPSE). Self-efficacy was measured before and after the implementation of a routines-based parenting group. Seven participants met the inclusion criteria and participated in the fourweek group. The objective of this study was to determine if participation in a routinesbased parenting education group would increase parental self-efficacy in a group of “unexpected parents”. Results. Six out of seven participants increased in parental self-efficacy scores from pretest to post-test. A paired sample t-test analysis compared mean scores from pre-test to post-test and found a p-value = 0.009. Conclusions: Based on the results of this study, participation in a routines-based parenting group increases parental self-efficacy of “unexpected parents” as measured by the TOPSE. The findings of this study suggest that an occupational therapist led, routines-based parenting group incorporating peer support, activities, and education can lead to increased perceived self-efficacy among a group of “unexpected parents”

Remote-Frequency Masking and Speech Perception in Adults

The primary purpose of this study is threefold: to use SRT measurements to examine the effect of various remote-frequency, narrowband maskers on adult’s perception of narrowband speech, to compare the performance between low and high band speech stimuli, and to evaluate the combination of these approaches by examining the correlation between the masking effect observed with speech and pure tone stimuli. Twelve subjects aged 22-34, with hearing thresholds no worse than 15 dB HL for frequencies 500-8000 Hz, participated in two listening tasks. In the speech perception task, coordinate response measure (CRM) sentences and their maskers were separately filtered into two ½-octave wide frequency bands with respective center frequencies of 500 Hz (low-band) and 2500 Hz (high-band). Three types of maskers were utilized: Gaussian noise, CRM sentences spoken by a talker different from the talker of the target sentences (speech-masked conditions), and time-reversed CRM sentences. Speech reception thresholds (SRTs) of either low- or high-band sentences were assessed in quiet and in the presence of a high- or low-band masker. Speech recognition scores (SRSs), or the percentages of keywords correctly identified, were measured in the same conditions. In the informational masking task, detection thresholds of a 1 kHz tone were measured in quiet and in the presence of a muli-tonal masker. SRTs in quiet were found to be significantly higher than in GNB and reverse speech maskers. SRTs were also found to be lower for high band target speech. In the SRS task, only the forward speech masker produced significantly worse recognition scores. Using pure tone stimuli, an average masking effect of approximately 18 dB was observed across participants. The pure tone masking effect was not found to correlate with the SRT masking effect, however, a trend of correlation appears to exist that may potentially reach significance with a larger sample size