Student Learning of Perceptual Skills Related to Differentiating Motor Speech Disorders

Purpose: This study aimed to determine if Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) graduate students’ perceptual skills improved after taking an MSD course by comparing pre- and posttest performance. The potential relationship between posttest perceptual-skills performance and academic performance was also investigated.Method: Before beginning instruction in MSD course content, students in a Master’s program in SLP were given a pretest (The Baseline & Post Learning Assessment of Listening & Diagnostics Skills (BPLALDS; Duffy, n.d.a)). Throughout the semester, students were exposed to didactic learning in the classroom supplemented by audio and video modules. At the end of the course, the BPLALDS was used as a posttest. Variation in perceptual skills development was described and compared to overall course performance. Results: Scores on posttests of perceptual ability were significantly higher than pretest scores. Post-hoc comparisons revealed that students who learned relatively more were those who generalized perceptual knowledge to novel stimuli. Academic grade assignment correlated strongly with but accounted for only some of the variation in perceptual ability. Conclusion: Although some variation in perceptual ability related to differentially diagnosing motor speech disorders can be accounted for by academic attainment, additional factors, such as students’ ability to generalize knowledge from novel to new cases, likely contribute. The authors reflect on the manner in which learning theory can inform these results

Hydrogen-bonded aggregates in the mixtures of piperidine with water: Thermodynamic, SANS and theoretical studies

© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Structures resembling semiclathrates probably arise in liquid aqueous solutions of piperidine at the amine mole fraction below 0.03. With the increasing concentration, the structures gradually decay, but the 1:1 complexes of piperidine with water remain linked one to another through the OH⋯O bonds between the hydration water molecules. A periodic order of the bicontinuous microemulsion type occurs in the range of the mole fractions from 0.08 to 0.5. In the piperidine-rich mixtures, the 1:1 complexes are dispersed uniformly in the amine. Relatively low stabilization energy of these complexes probably causes that piperidine is totally miscible with water

Supporting social learning and knowledge management withing the ecological infrastructure for water security project

In this section, we outline processes relating to stakeholder engage-ment relevant to the SLKMM strategy, which include stakeholder analy-sis, a stakeholder tracking tool and a stakeholder database. These pro-cesses and products required on-going refinement during implementa-tion of the SLKMM strategy. The implications of the stakeholder analy-sis work in developing the SLKMM strategy are articulated further in CHAPTER 3: STRATEGY-AS-PRACTICE FOR SOCIAL LEARNING, KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT AND MEDIATION (SLKMM

Design and methods for a randomized clinical trial treating comorbid obesity and major depressive disorder

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Obesity is often comorbid with depression and individuals with this comorbidity fare worse in behavioral weight loss treatment. Treating depression directly prior to behavioral weight loss treatment might bolster weight loss outcomes in this population, but this has not yet been tested in a randomized clinical trial.</p> <p>Methods and design</p> <p>This randomized clinical trial will examine whether behavior therapy for depression administered prior to standard weight loss treatment produces greater weight loss than standard weight loss treatment alone. Obese women with major depressive disorder (N = 174) will be recruited from primary care clinics and the community and randomly assigned to one of the two treatment conditions. Treatment will last 2 years, and will include a 6-month intensive treatment phase followed by an 18-month maintenance phase. Follow-up assessment will occur at 6-months and 1- and 2 years following randomization. The primary outcome is weight loss. The study was designed to provide 90% power for detecting a weight change difference between conditions of 3.1 kg (standard deviation of 5.5 kg) at 1-year assuming a 25% rate of loss to follow-up. Secondary outcomes include depression, physical activity, dietary intake, psychosocial variables and cardiovascular risk factors. Potential mediators (e.g., adherence, depression, physical activity and caloric intake) of the intervention effect on weight change will also be examined.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Treating depression before administering intensive health behavior interventions could potentially boost the impact on both mental and physical health outcomes.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>NCT00572520</p

Fairness Expectations and Altruistic Sharing in 15-Month-Old Human Infants

Human cooperation is a key driving force behind the evolutionary success of our hominin lineage. At the proximate level, biologists and social scientists have identified other-regarding preferences – such as fairness based on egalitarian motives, and altruism – as likely candidates for fostering large-scale cooperation. A critical question concerns the ontogenetic origins of these constituents of cooperative behavior, as well as whether they emerge independently or in an interrelated fashion. The answer to this question will shed light on the interdisciplinary debate regarding the significance of such preferences for explaining how humans become such cooperative beings. We investigated 15-month-old infants' sensitivity to fairness, and their altruistic behavior, assessed via infants' reactions to a third-party resource distribution task, and via a sharing task. Our results challenge current models of the development of fairness and altruism in two ways. First, in contrast to past work suggesting that fairness and altruism may not emerge until early to mid-childhood, 15-month-old infants are sensitive to fairness and can engage in altruistic sharing. Second, infants' degree of sensitivity to fairness as a third-party observer was related to whether they shared toys altruistically or selfishly, indicating that moral evaluations and prosocial behavior are heavily interconnected from early in development. Our results present the first evidence that the roots of a basic sense of fairness and altruism can be found in infancy, and that these other-regarding preferences develop in a parallel and interwoven fashion. These findings support arguments for an evolutionary basis – most likely in dialectical manner including both biological and cultural mechanisms – of human egalitarianism given the rapidly developing nature of other-regarding preferences and their role in the evolution of human-specific forms of cooperation. Future work of this kind will help determine to what extent uniquely human sociality and morality depend on other-regarding preferences emerging early in life

Induction and Regulation of CXCL10 in Hepatocytes During Hepatitis C Virus Infection

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Washington, 2013Chronic Hepatitis C affects an estimated 170 million people worldwide and 4 million in the United States. The pro-inflammatory chemokine CXCL10 is induced by hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in vitro and in vivo, and is associated with the outcome of interferon (IFN)-based therapies. Since persistent hepatic inflammation can lead to degenerative liver disease, this work sought to evaluate how innate immune sensors of HCV infection (Toll-like receptor 3 [TLR3] and retinoic acid inducible gene I [RIG-I]) contribute to CXCL10 induction in hepatocytes. CXCL10 mRNA and protein were measured in primary human hepatocytes (PHH) and hepatocyte lines harboring functional or non-functional TLR3 and RIG-I pathways following HCV infection or exposure to receptor-specific stimuli. The contribution of hepatocyte-derived type I and type III IFNs and specific pro-inflammatory transcription factors to CXCL10 induction were also examined. In this study, PHH and immortalized PH5CH8 hepatocytes were confirmed to express functional TLR3 and RIG-I. Specific activation of TLR3 and RIG-I led to CXCL10 induction in a non-synergistic manner, and Huh7 human hepatoma cells expressing both receptors (TLR3+/RIG-I+ Huh7 cells) produced maximal CXCL10 during early HCV infection. Neutralization of type I and type III IFNs had no impact on virus-induced CXCL10 expression in TLR3+/RIG-I+ Huh7 cells, but reduced CXCL10 expression in PHH. PHH cultures were positive for monocyte, macrophage, and dendritic cell mRNAs, suggesting that standard PHH cultures contain non-parenchymal cells (NPCs). Immunodepletion of NPCs eliminated expression of immune and anti- inflammatory markers in PHH cultures, which then showed no IFN requirement for CXCL10 induction during HCV infection. Instead, HCV infection and specific TLR3/RIG-I activation induced binding of NF-κB and IRF3 to the CXCL10 promoter. Together, these data indicate that initial CXCL10 induction in hepatocytes during early HCV infection is independent of hepatocyte-derived type I and type III IFNs, while NPC- and immune cell-derived IFNs contribute to CXCL10 induction during HCV infection in PHH cultures and in vivo. Further elucidation of the regulatory pathways controlling CXCL10 induction may reveal novel targets for host-oriented therapies to reduce chronic inflammation, as well as provide insight into the complex and redundant signaling network of the innate immune system