Narrative exposure therapy with parents who have been traumatized in pediatric settings: A case series.

There is increasing evidence that a significant number of parents are affected by symptoms of posttraumatic stress and anxiety for many months after their children's serious illnesses or accidents. It is important, therefore, that psychological treatments for use with this population are tried and evaluated for effectiveness with this population. The application of a new brief treatment, narrative exposure therapy (NET), is described here in relation to a case series of 4 parents who met criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder following their children's intensive care treatment. This approach, which has shown promise with other samples of people who have suffered repeated traumas, was associated with significant symptom relief (Cohen's ds = 1.01-2.37). The main themes that emerged in therapy are discussed, along with other treatment considerations

An analysis of frictional effects in non-stationary contact problems for metal forming simulations

The finite element method (FEM) is widely used for the simulation of metal forming processes and has been successfully used in contact problems which arise in processes such as deep-drawing, punching, extrusion and rolling. All these processes involve friction between the contact surfaces: the sheet-metal workpiece and the toolpieces. The model of friction is thus an important part of any simulation of metal forming processes. Most FEM codes use a friction model that assumes that the contact surface is a plane. Attempts to address this problem have focused on the convective description of deformation, which has the advantage of being naturally extended to numerical methods like the FEM at the expense of additional computation and numerical complexity. The convective description is used in this work, which focuses on the numerical implementation of the objective measure. The effects of the rotation of the material contact point is taken into account by including objective time derivatives of the slipping (tangential) direction function. The objective rate of the direction function includes the surface spin induced by the rigid motion of a contact point sliding over the tool surface, and the material spin occurring during the elastic-plastic deformation of the blank. This is introduced by adapting the incremental relations of the friction slip. This thesis presents the results of numerical experiment to determine the influence that the rotation and convection of contact points has on the frictional stresses and slipping energy. Four different friction models are implemented within the finite element program ABAQUS and applied to simulations of standardmetal forming benchmark processes: the square-cup and s-rail deep drawing benchmarks of the Numisheet conferences, for which several experimental and numerical results are available to compare with the solution of a finite element simulation. The results for each metal-forming simulation are calculated for different friction models, and are compared and a choice made as to which is the “best” friction model for the process. Further, the reverse problem of determining the values of friction parameters by comparison of simulation and experimental results is performed for these benchmark problems. As there is yet no ideal friction model for all processes that are modelled, finding the most appropriate friction model by numerical means is proposed to improve the quality of a simulation

Characterizing toxicity pathways of fluoxetine to predict adverse outcomes in adult fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas)

Current ecotoxicity testing programs mandated by regulatory agencies are impeded as they predominantly rely on slow and expensive animal tests measuring traditional adverse outcomes such as mortality, growth, disease, reproductive failure, or developmental dysfunction. To address these concerns and support environmental risk assessment, the development of new approach methodologies (NAMs) is increasingly involving short-term mechanistic assays that employ molecular endpoints, such as transcriptomics and proteomics, to predict adverse outcomes of regulatory relevance. The research in this thesis aimed to use fluoxetine (FLX) as the model compound for the development of a novel mechanism-based toxicity assay through elucidation of its molecular toxicity pathways in adult fathead minnows. Specifically, the objectives of this study were to characterize the relationships between molecular response patterns using whole proteomics and transcriptomics and apical level effects of regulatory relevance (fecundity and histopathology). In two parallel studies, fish were exposed to three FLX concentrations (measured: 2.42, 10.7, and 56.7 µgL-1) and a control. After the 96-hour exposure, molecular response signatures were characterized using whole proteomics and transcriptomics analyses in livers and brains of exposed male fish. Following the 21-day exposure, fish were sampled and assessed for liver histopathology and morphometric measurements. Fecundity was monitored throughout the study and revealed a significant reduction at all FLX-treatment levels. Hepatic histopathological assessment found presence of lipid-type vacuolation in two of five specimens of fish exposed to 56.7 µgL-1 FLX. Whole transcriptomic analysis in the liver revealed dysregulation of pathways associated with biosynthesis and metabolism of fatty acids, which may be an upstream molecular response that led to lipid-type vacuolation of hepatocytes, as observed in the histology analysis. Whole proteome analysis of the same fish revealed dysregulation of several processes including PPAR signalling. These molecular signatures may be upstream responses that led to lipid-type vacuolation of hepatocytes. Upregulated genes in the brain suggested alterations in serotonin-related signalling processes and reproductive behaviour, which may explain the observed significant decrease in fecundity. While the relationships between molecular responses and adverse outcomes remain complex, this research provided important insights into the mechanistic toxicity of FLX. This work achieved the research objectives in demonstrating the potential of large-scale omics data to elucidate the complex physiological response of adult fathead minnows to FLX as well as added to the growing body of literature on the utility of these methods in support of chemical hazard assessment

Defective Gas Transport Function of Stored Red Blood Cells: With Observations on the Oxygen Dissociation Curve in Anaemia

Abstract Not Provided

The Effects of Superordinate Identity Recategorization and Social Value Orientation on Ethical Decision-Making in a Business Dilemma

The purpose of the present study was to investigate potential solutions to the prevalence of unethical behavior in groups, specifically through the use of superordinate recategorization. Superordinate recategorization allows group members to feel an affinity with others not typically included in their in-group. This should promote ethical decision-making by enabling the inherent in-group favoring tendencies found in groups to be extended to a more inclusive category. In the context of the present study, the ethicality of participants\u27 behavior in the Panalba scenario was determined by their choices on a 1 to 6 scale from least to most ethical. Additionally, participants’ Social Value Orientations (SVO) were measured to determine if the SVO composition of a group also influences the ethicality of group decisions. Consistent with past research, it was predicted that groups would behave more unethically than individuals. It was also predicted that participants in the relevant superordinate prime condition would choose a more ethical decision compared to those in the irrelevant superordinate prime and no prime conditions. Additionally, it was predicted that groups with a greater proportion of pro-social group members would choose a more ethical option compared to groups with a smaller proportion. The findings reinforce the idea that groups tend to behave more unethically than individuals, as groups, on average, chose more unethical options compared to individuals. Furthermore, while the findings were non-significant, groups in the relevant superordinate prime condition made slightly more ethical decisions compared to those in the other prime conditions, suggesting a possible effect of recategorization

Studies Towards Nucleic Acids at the Origins of Life

Nucleic acids are at the heart of extant biology and the structure of life’s original genetic polymer is still a question of debate. The RNA world theory proposes that RNA was the first nucleic acid employed as life’s genetic polymer due to its dual ability as informational storage (genotype) and primordial catalyst (phenotype). However, ribonucleotides are complex chemical structures, and simpler or more stable nucleic acids, such as threose nucleic acid (TNA) or DNA, can also carry genetic information. In principle, nucleic acids like TNA could have played a vital role in the origins of life but the advent of any genetic polymer requires synthesis of its monomers. This work demonstrates a high-yielding, stereo-, regio- and furanosyl-selective prebiotic synthesis of threo-cytidine, an essential component of TNA. This work uses key intermediates (aminooxazolines) and reactions previously exploited in the prebiotic synthesis of the canonical pyrimidine ribonucleoside cytidine. It avoids the low yielding glycosylations that have previously been demonstrated for constructing nucleic acids and utilises and efficient photochemical anomerization that is enabled by selective anhydronucleoside thiolysis. This work also demonstrates that erythro-specific 2',3'-cyclic phosphate synthesis provides a mechanism to photochemically select TNA cytidine and suggests that TNA may have coexisted with RNA during the emergence of life. This thesis also investigates whether DNA be delivered simultaneously with RNA, the co-emergence of both would further probe the place and importance of DNA at the origin of life. This work expands on previous work towards DNA and examines the role of irreversible thiol addition to anhydronucleosides as a route towards DNA precursors. Finally, the question of why the nucleobases present in extant biology (A, G, C, U/T) were chosen is addressed. This work explores the paradigm of UV stability as a selection pressure and the results contrast with current thinking that the purine nucleobases were chosen for their ability to resist degradation by UV-light