Kognitive Fähigkeiten und psychosoziale Auffälligkeiten bei Kindern und Jugendlichen nach Lebertransplantation

Psychological aspects of pediatric liver transplantation (LTx) have been widely understudied so far. In this dissertation, intellectual abilities, attention and psychosocial functioning were assessed. Internationally used and well standardized methods were used. Significant impairments in different dimensions of attention are demonstrated. Up to 47R0of the patients achieved below-average results. When compared to both the standard population and an age- and gender-matched reference group, pediatric LTx recipients exhibited significantly lower intellectual performances. These were associated with a genetic metabolic primary disease and a reduced height percentile at LTx. Psychosocial disturbances were also frequent. In a clinical interview, 48R0of the sample met the criteria for at least one psychosocial disturbance. In patients who have experienced organ rejection, the probability for this was more than doubled. In the future, psychological diagnosis and support should be integrated in the routine medical treatment procedure of these patients

Chimpanzees Extract Social Information from Agonistic Screams

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) agonistic screams are graded vocal signals that are produced in a context-specific manner. Screams given by aggressors and victims can be discriminated based on their acoustic structure but the mechanisms of listener comprehension of these calls are currently unknown. In this study, we show that chimpanzees extract social information from these vocal signals that, combined with their more general social knowledge, enables them to understand the nature of out-of-sight social interactions. In playback experiments, we broadcast congruent and incongruent sequences of agonistic calls and monitored the response of bystanders. Congruent sequences were in accordance with existing social dominance relations; incongruent ones violated them. Subjects looked significantly longer at incongruent sequences, despite them being acoustically less salient (fewer call types from fewer individuals) than congruent ones. We concluded that chimpanzees categorised an apparently simple acoustic signal into victim and aggressor screams and used pragmatics to form inferences about third-party interactions they could not see

Cognitive abilities and psychosocial functioning in children and adolescents after liver transplantation

Psychological aspects of pediatric liver transplantation (LTx) have been widely understudied so far. In this dissertation, intellectual abilities, attention and psychosocial functioning were assessed. Internationally used and well standardized methods were used. Significant impairments in different dimensions of attention are demonstrated. Up to 47R0of the patients achieved below-average results. When compared to both the standard population and an age- and gender-matched reference group, pediatric LTx recipients exhibited significantly lower intellectual performances. These were associated with a genetic metabolic primary disease and a reduced height percentile at LTx. Psychosocial disturbances were also frequent. In a clinical interview, 48R0of the sample met the criteria for at least one psychosocial disturbance. In patients who have experienced organ rejection, the probability for this was more than doubled. In the future, psychological diagnosis and support should be integrated in the routine medical treatment procedure of these patients

Joint Attention in Wild Chimpanzees and Human Infants: a Comparative Approach

The ability to engage in joint attention is a pivotal milestone during human development. Whether this ability is uniquely human or shared with chimpanzees is hotly debated. Progress has been hampered by testing chimpanzees and humans with different methods, which has prevented meaningful species comparisons. In addition, little is known about cultural variation of joint attention in human infants and the socio-environmental factors linked to its development. In order to address these issues, I applied a standard set of experiments to chimpanzee, Ugandan and British mother-offspring dyads in their natural environments. I presented a novel laser stimulus into the visual field of the offspring or an offspring-mother dyad and analysed the resulting behaviour and interactions. In all three groups, offspring showed similarly low rates of laser-related communicative behaviours, when their mothers were inattentive and instead engaged with the laser individually. When the laser was visible to both the mother and offspring, however, humans engaged significantly more in joint attention than chimpanzees who only engaged in two instances of joint attention. Furthermore, human mothers of both cultures observed their infant’s interaction with the laser more and communicated more during mutual gaze than chimpanzee mothers, suggesting that mothers play an important role in scaffolding early joint attention interactions. Socio-environmental factors that might explain this species difference were identified by collecting observational data on the participants’ everyday activities. Chimpanzee offspring vocalised less and spent less time engaged in activities that may promote joint attention (social activities, dyadic play, play with objects) than human infants. The offspring’s main social partner during everyday life activities did not, however, predict group-level joint attention performance. To conclude, the overall patterns of results of this thesis suggest joint attention skills are present in chimpanzees, but the motivation to engage in joint attention may be uniquely human

Chimpanzees Extract Social Information from Agonistic Screams

Chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes) agonistic screams are graded vocal signals that are produced in a context-specific manner. Screams given by aggressors and victims can be discriminated based on their acoustic structure but the mechanisms of listener comprehension of these calls are currently unknown. In this study, we show that chimpanzees extract social information from these vocal signals that, combined with their more general social knowledge, enables them to understand the nature of out-of-sight social interactions. In playback experiments, we broadcast congruent and incongruent sequences of agonistic calls and monitored the response of bystanders. Congruent sequences were in accordance with existing social dominance relations; incongruent ones violated them. Subjects looked significantly longer at incongruent sequences, despite them being acoustically less salient (fewer call types from fewer individuals) than congruent ones. We concluded that chimpanzees categorised an apparently simple acoustic signal into victim and aggressor screams and used pragmatics to form inferences about third-party interactions they could not see.</p

Cognitive abilities in children after liver transplantation

Background. The authors investigated the cognitive status during the late postoperative phase in children who had undergone liver transplantation (LTx). Methods. The authors examined 44 children who had undergone liver transplantation at their center. The children were 8.9 &PLUSMN; 2.3 (mean &PLUSMN; SD) years of age and had received the transplant 6.1 &PLUSMN; 2.6 years previously. In 24 of the 44 children, a living-related transplantation had been carried out. Cognitive abilities were assessed with the three subscales of the Kaufman Assessment Battery for Children (K-ABC): the sequential processing scale (SES), the simultaneous processing scale (SIS), and the achievement scale (AS). Results. The children scored below the population mean but within the normal range on all subscales of the K-ABC. In the SIS and the AS, age at transplantation influenced the cognitive outcome, as the children who were younger at transplantation scored significantly better than the older children and their results were within the normal range. However, for the SES, no such differences were found. A multiple regression analysis revealed that duration-of illness and height at transplantation predicts the performance in the SIS and the AS. To a lesser degree, type of transplantation (cadaveric vs. living-related) predicts performance in the AS. Performance in the SES was not predicted by any of these variables. Time since LTx and type of immunosuppressive regimen were not associated with the cognitive status after transplantation. Conclusions. Children who are younger, with a shorter duration of illness, and who are more physically developed before LTx have a better prognosis regarding their mental development. However, this result does not hold for sequential processing functions, which showed no relationship with any of these variables. This could indicate differential effects of liver disease and consecutive metabolic derangements on brain development during the preoperative phase

Production of food-associated calls in wild male chimpanzees is dependent on the composition of the audience

Chimpanzees produce acoustically distinct calls when encountering food. Previous research on a number of species has indicated that food-associated calls are relatively widespread in animal communication, and the production of these calls can be influenced by both ecological and social factors. Here, we investigate the factors influencing the production of food-associated calls in wild chimpanzees and examine whether male chimpanzees produce food-associated calls selectively in the presence of important social partners. Male chimpanzees form stable long-term social relationships with each other, and these social bonds are vital in enabling a range of cooperative activities, such as group hunting and territory defence. Our data show that males were significantly more likely to produce food-associated calls if an important social partner was nearby, regardless of the size of the audience or the presence of oestrus females. Call production was also mediated by the size of the food patch and by whether or not the food could be monopolised. The presence of important social partners explained most of the variation in male calling behaviour, indicating that food-associated calls are socially directed and serve a bonding function.</p