Dramatherapy Performance and Schizophrenia

This research project examines the impact of therapeutic performance-making within Dramatherapy practice for clients with schizophrenia. "Dramatherapy Performance", a specific model of therapeutic work which is defined and presented here, consists of the clients' construction of a performance through a therapeutic process and its presentation to an invited audience of their Significant Others. The context of existing evaluation methods in Dramatherapy concerns either the development of the clients' abilities within a group process, such as role-playing or dramatic involvement, or the change of the clients' symptoms after a groupwork as measured by existing psychometric scales. However, no specific method of evaluation of performance-making to be used within clinical practice has been constructed yet. For this reason a new instrument for evaluating this model of work was formulated, namely the "Dramatherapy Performance Evaluation", which derives from a combination of psychiatric and theatre semiotics. This instrument is inspired by Aristotle's "Poetics", used for the first time for assessment in Dramatherapy and analyses the structural elements of a performance in relation to the clients' schizophrenic psychopathology. Furthermore, this project examines the effect of a "Dramatherapy Performance" on the clients' overall psychopathology, and their relationship to self and others. A clinical trial conducted in a Day Hospital for young adult clients with schizophrenia allowed a qualitative evaluation of the therapeutic process as well as quantitative measurements of the clients' symptom change. The outcomes of this project suggest that "Dramatherapy Performance" has a significant effect on the clients' dramatic involvement within the group process, on the decrease of their overall "negative symptomatology", on increasing their "competence and efficacy" and on changing their perceived support from their significant others. The "Dramatherapy Performance Evaluation" showed the importance of the performance's unifying cathartic structure as well as demonstrating how non-verbal therapeutic processes reinforce the impact of verbal processes. It also distinguished the usefulness of collective techniques- such as participation in a chorus- for the less functional clients as opposed to character work for the more functional clients. This research confirms the value of "Dramatherapy Performance" as a treatment for specific schizophrenic symptoms, in addition to medication, and provides Dramatherapy practice with a new and useful instrument for the evaluation of both the therapeutic process and the progress of clients with schizophrenia

Targeting Receptor-Type Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases with Biotherapeutics: Is Outside-in Better than Inside-Out?

Protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs), of the receptor and non-receptor classes, are key signaling molecules that play critical roles in cellular regulation underlying diverse physiological events. Aberrant signaling as a result of genetic mutation or altered expression levels has been associated with several diseases and treatment via pharmacological intervention at the level of PTPs has been widely explored; however, the challenges associated with development of small molecule phosphatase inhibitors targeting the intracellular phosphatase domain (the “inside-out” approach) have been well documented and as yet there are no clinically approved drugs targeting these enzymes. The alternative approach of targeting receptor PTPs with biotherapeutic agents (such as monoclonal antibodies or engineered fusion proteins; the “outside-in” approach) that interact with the extracellular ectodomain offers many advantages, and there have been a number of exciting recent developments in this field. Here we provide a brief overview of the receptor PTP family and an update on the emerging area of receptor PTP-targeted biotherapeutics for CD148, vascular endothelial-protein tyrosine phosphatase (VE-PTP), receptor-type PTPs σ, γ, ζ (RPTPσ, RPTPγ, RPTPζ) and CD45, and discussion of future potential in this area

Sources of cross sectional and time series variation in stock returns in Canada

In this study, I will use attribute-sorted portfolios for some of the most popular fundamental and technical factors mentioned in past literature. The study will be the first to address whether or not the joint hypothesis of the Fama and French multi-factor model and the Efficient Market Hypothesis hold for Canadian firms. In addition, I will explore whether or not recent variance of the Fama and French approach have validity in Canada. The results show that although the multi-factor model is significant in explaining returns it does not fully explain the cross section of Canadian returns. Furthermore, when using the multi-factor approach on portfolios sorted by capital investment expenditures the model does poorly. The case for efficient markets is not supported by the Canadian data

Differential Effects of KIM-1 in Subcutaneous and Orthotopic Renca Models of Kidney Cancer

Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) is the most common and fatal type of kidney cancer. Over 30% of patients that are diagnosed with RCC exhibit metastases. Almost 88% of patients with distant metastases succumb to the disease within 5 years of diagnosis. Kidney Injury Molecule-1 (KIM-1) is a cell surface glycoprotein that is not expressed in a healthy kidney but becomes highly expressed on proximal tubular epithelial cells (PTECs) following injury. Data from the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) reveals that \u3e90% of RCC tumours express KIM-1 mRNA and that higher expression levels correlate with increased overall survival rates of patients. The pathophysiological role of KIM-1 in RCC is not well understood. Using human (786-O) and murine (RENCA) models, we recently uncovered that KIM-1 may inhibit the metastatic properties (invasion and extravasation) of RCC cells using in vivo and in vitro systems. The aim of this thesis work was to elucidate the mechanism by which KIM-1 regulates RCC tumour progression using syngeneic and pre-clinical orthotopic RENCA models. Transcriptomic analysis of RENCA cells lacking or overexpressing KIM-1, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), revealed significant upregulation of genes involved in extracellular matrix (ECM) interactions in association with KIM-1 expression. In vivo, subcutaneous implantation of RENCA tumours resulted in the development of thick, collagen dense, stromal capsules surrounding the tumours. This was observed in both immune-competent and immune-deficient mice. In a pre-clinical (orthotopic) model, KIM-1 expression inhibits primary RENCA tumour growth within the kidneys. Lastly, significant phenotypic differences in primary tumour growth, and histology were observed in between subcutaneous and orthotopic implantation of RENCA tumours