Examining the range of strategies mothers use to cope when caring for a child with an intellectual disability

Dissertação de mestrado em Psicologia do Desenvolvimento, apresentada à Faculdade de Psicologia e de Ciências da Educação da Universidade de CoimbraA presente investigação tem como objetivo geral estudar os sentimentos, as representações e as expectativas da gestante relativamente ao filho. Num plano mais específico, pretende-se estudar aspetos da vinculação pré-natal materna, através dos sentimentos que a mãe tem pelo bebé e da interação que estabelece com ele; explorar a importância da representação criada pela mãe sobre a gravidez e sobre o bebé, através da representação gráfica da gravidez; e analisar possíveis expetativas da gestante relativamente ao bebé e a sua capacidade de lhe conceber e atribuir características físicas e psicológicas. Para tal, foi estudada uma amostra composta por 50 grávidas, em regime de consulta no Centro Hospitalar Cova da Beira, com uma média de idades de 29,9±5,91 anos (entre os 18 e os 40 anos). Os instrumentos utilizados foram a Escala de Vinculação Pré-Natal Materna (adaptação portuguesa de Camarneiro & Justo, 2010); o Teste do Desenho da Gravidez; e a Entrevista sobre a Gestação e as Expectativas da Gestante (Gidep, 1998). Os resultados indicaram que a maioria das gestantes apresenta vinculação forte ou saudável ao feto; os desenhos elaborados pelas gestantes parecem refletir elementos, hipoteticamente, sugestivos da ligação afetiva materno-fetal, do reconhecimento da imagem corporal, da aceitação da gravidez e da diferenciação fetal; e as respostas das gestantes à entrevista parecem expressar a existência de uma relação materno-fetal pautada por sentimentos e expectativas das gestantes quanto ao sexo do bebé e quanto às suas características físicas e psicológicas.The present research study has the general objective of studying the feelings, representations and expectations of pregnant women in relation to the child. In a more specific way, is intended to study aspects of maternal prenatal attachment, through the feelings that the mother has by the baby and the interaction that she establishes with him; explore the importance of representation raised by the mother about the pregnancy and the baby, through the graphical representation; and analyze possible expectations of pregnant women in relation to the baby and their ability to conceive and give him physical and psychological characteristics. For this purpose, has been studied a sample of 50 pregnant women in the consultation regime on the Cova da Beira Hospital Center, with a mean age of 29.9±5.91 years (between 18 and 40 years). The instruments used were the Maternal Antenatal Attachment Scale (portuguese adaptation of Camarneiro & Justo, 2010); the Drawing of Pregnancy; and the Interview about the Pregnancy and the Expectations of Pregnant Women (Gidep, 1998). The results indicate that most of the pregnant women present strong or healthy attachment to the fetus; the drawings produced by pregnant women seem to reflect elements, hypothetically, suggestive of maternal-fetal emotional attachment, recognition of the body image, acceptance of pregnancy and fetal differentiation; and the answers of the pregnant women to the interview seem to express the existence of a maternal-fetal relationship guided by feelings and expectations of pregnant women as the sex of the baby and as to their physical and psychological characteristics.Cette étude vise à décrire les sentiments, les représentations et les attentes des femmes enceintes par rapport à l'enfant. Sur un niveau plus spécifique, nous avons l'intention d'étudier les aspects de l'attachement maternel prénatal, à travers les sentiments que la mère a par rapport à l'enfant et l'interaction qu’elle a avec lui; explorer l'importance des idées que la mère se fait par rapport à la grossesse et au bébé, à partir de la représentation graphique de la grossesse; et d'analyser les attentes des femmes enceintes par rapport à l'enfant, à leur capacité à concevoir et à leur donner des caractéristiques physiques et psychologiques. A cet effet, un échantillon de 50 femmes enceintes a été étudié dans le service des consultations à Cova da Beira Centre Hospitalier, avec un âge moyen de 29,9±5,91 années (entre 18 et 40 ans). Les instruments utilisés ont été Échelle de l'attachement maternel prénatal (adaptation portugaise de Camarneiro & Justo, 2010); Dessin de la Grossesse; et Interview sur la Grossesse et les Attentes de le femme enceinte (Gidep, 1998). Les résultats ont indiqué que la plupart des femmes enceintes présentent un attachement maternel fort ou bon pour le foetus; les dessins réalisés par les femmes enceintes semblent donner des éléments, hypothétiquement, suggestifs de l'attachement émotionnel materne-foetale, la reconnaissance de l'image corporelle, de l'acceptation de la grossesse et de la différenciation du foetus; et les réponses de ces femmes lors de l’interview semblent exprimer l'existence d'une relation materne-foetale guidé par les sentiments et les attentes des femmes enceintes par rapport au sexe du bébé et à leurs caractéristiques physiques et psychologiques

University–school partnerships: literacy and students with additional learning needs

A estimulação magnética transcraniana (do inglês, transcranial magnetic stimulation, TMS) é uma técnica médica utilizada no tratamento de patologias neuropsiquiátricas, tal como a depressão (aprovada em 2008 pela United States Food and Drug Administration). Esta técnica consiste na indução de correntes cerebrais através da aplicação de campos magnéticos transientes. A TMS foi proposta em 1985, contudo, a sua utilização no tratamento de várias doenças neurológicas não tem sido mais aprofundada devido à sua incapacidade de estimulação de regiões cerebrais profundas. Este facto deve-se sobretudo às limitações físicas resultantes da presença de descontinuidades, particularmente a existente entre o escalpe e o ar. O trabalho aqui apresentado propõe um sistema otimizado formado por várias bobinas, que visa a estimulação profunda de todo o cérebro ou de apenas um hemisfério. Este sistema é designado por configuração ortogonal. A configuração ortogonal foi desenvolvida através do software COMSOL Multiphysiscs AC/DC. Os resultados das simulações revelam que este sistema é capaz de originar um valor de indução relativa no centro do cérebro, relativamente à indução máxima na superfície do mesmo, sem precedentes (57,6%). Tal capacidade de penetração supera os sistemas do estado da arte de TMS. Este avanço de capacidade de indução (57,6%), resulta da presença de líquido condutor (e.g., uma simples solução salina) a envolver o conjunto de bobinas, bem como parte da cabeça do doente. Além da capacidade de estimulação de todo o cérebro (e.g. potencialmente útil para a profilaxia de doentes com epilepsia), o sistema proposto é também capaz de estimular preferencialmente um hemisfério, que poderá ser útil na reabilitação após acidente vascular cerebral, entre outras aplicações. Para completar este trabalho foi proposto e simulado um sistema de estimulação cerebral profunda de TMS adaptado a ratos. Concluiu-se que apenas uma bobina circular simples, quando imersa em líquido condutor, permite um elevado valor de indução relativa no centro do modelo do cérebro de um rato. Estes resultados sugerem a continuação do desenvolvimento de um tal sistema TMS dedicado ao cérebro de ratos. Palavras-chave: Estimulação magnética transcraniana; Estimulação cerebral humana e animal; Estimulação cerebral profunda; Otimização; Protótipo

Exploiting Intrinsic Clustering Structure in Discrete-Valued Data Sets for Efficient Knowledge Discovery in the Presence of Missing Data

Scalable algorithm design has become central in the era of large-scale data analysis. The vast amounts of data pouring in from a diverse set of application domains, such as bioinformatics, recommender systems, sensor systems, and social networks, cannot be analyzed efficiently using many data mining and statistical tools that were designed for a small scale setting. It is an ongoing challenge to the data mining, machine learning, and statistics communities to design new methods for efficient data analysis. Confounding this challenge is the noisy and incomplete nature of real-world data sets. Research scientists as well as practitioners in industry need to find meaningful patterns in data with missing value rates often as high as 99%, in addition to errors in the data that can obstruct accurate analyses. My contribution to this line of research is the design of new algorithms for scalable clustering, data reduction, and similarity evaluation by exploiting inherent clustering structure in the input data to overcome the challenges of significant amounts of missing entries. I demonstrate that, by focusing on underlying clustering properties of the data, we can improve the efficiency of several data analysis methods on sparse, discrete-valued data sets. I highlight new methods that I have developed with my collaborators for three diverse knowledge discovery tasks: (1) clustering genetic markers into linkage groups, (2) reducing large-scale genetic data to a much smaller, more accurate representative data set, and (3) computing similarity between users in recommender systems. In each case, I point out how the underlying clustering structure can be used to design more efficient algorithms, even when high missing value rates are present

Vaccinia virus protein A49 is an unexpected member of the B-cell Lymphoma (Bcl)-2 protein family.

Vaccinia virus (VACV) encodes several proteins that inhibit activation of the proinflammatory transcription factor nuclear factor κB (NF-κB). VACV protein A49 prevents translocation of NF-κB to the nucleus by sequestering cellular β-TrCP, a protein required for the degradation of the inhibitor of κB. A49 does not share overall sequence similarity with any protein of known structure or function. We solved the crystal structure of A49 from VACV Western Reserve to 1.8 Å resolution and showed, surprisingly, that A49 has the same three-dimensional fold as Bcl-2 family proteins despite lacking identifiable sequence similarity. Whereas Bcl-2 family members characteristically modulate cellular apoptosis, A49 lacks a surface groove suitable for binding BH3 peptides and does not bind proapoptotic Bcl-2 family proteins Bax or Bak. The N-terminal 17 residues of A49 do not adopt a single well ordered conformation, consistent with their proposed role in binding β-TrCP. Whereas pairs of A49 molecules interact symmetrically via a large hydrophobic surface in crystallo, A49 does not dimerize in solution or in cells, and we propose that this hydrophobic interaction surface may mediate binding to a yet undefined cellular partner. A49 represents the eleventh VACV Bcl-2 family protein and, despite these proteins sharing very low sequence identity, structure-based phylogenetic analysis shows that all poxvirus Bcl-2 proteins are structurally more similar to each other than they are to any cellular or herpesvirus Bcl-2 proteins. This is consistent with duplication and diversification of a single BCL2 family gene acquired by an ancestral poxvirus.This work was supported by Wellcome Trust Principal Research Fellowship 090315 (to G. L. S.), Sir Henry Dale Fellowship 098406/Z/12/Z, jointly funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Royal Society (to S. C. G.), and United Kingdom Medical Research Council Grant G1000099 (to David Stuart).This is the final published version. It first appeared at http://dx.doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M114.62465

Supporting people with intellectual disabilities in preparation for partnership and family life: Preparedness of sexual confidants

The aim of the research was to analyse the perspectives of sexual trustees on supporting young people with intellectual disabilities for relationships and parenthood. The six participating sexual trustees adopted a respectful and open attitude to the sexuality of their clients. With respect to working with sexuality and relationships, the sexual trustees considered important to put in place an organisational framework and equip themselves with the relevant competencies. The family planning of their clients was not addressed at the organisation level, and the interviewed sexual trustees described conflicting feelings related to the support of their clients with concern to their desire to have children. Moreover, the trustees were felt societal pressure to prevent conception associated with the topic of family planning

An Assessment of Blood Vessel Remodeling of Nanofibrous Poly(ε-Caprolactone) Vascular Grafts in a Rat Animal Model

The development of an ideal vascular prosthesis represents an important challenge in terms of the treatment of cardiovascular diseases with respect to which new materials are being considered that have produced promising results following testing in animal models. This study focuses on nanofibrous polycaprolactone-based grafts assessed by means of histological techniques 10 days and 6 months following suturing as a replacement for the rat aorta. A novel stereological approach for the assessment of cellular distribution within the graft thickness was developed. The cellularization of the thickness of the graft was found to be homogeneous after 10 days and to have changed after 6 months, at which time the majority of cells was discovered in the inner layer where the regeneration of the vessel wall was found to have occurred. Six months following implantation, the endothelialization of the graft lumen was complete, and no vasa vasorum were found to be present. Newly formed tissue resembling native elastic arteries with concentric layers composed of smooth muscle cells, collagen, and elastin was found in the implanted polycaprolactone-based grafts. Moreover, the inner layer of the graft was seen to have developed structural similarities to the regular aortic wall. The grafts appeared to be well tolerated, and no severe adverse reaction was recorded with the exception of one case of cartilaginous metaplasia close to the junctional suture