Biomedical subjects

E Jahr

Publications and source records attributed to E Jahr.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed1980

Effects of the reduction and S-carbamidomethylation on the conformation, activity and heparin-binding capacity of human antithrombin III.

Antithrombin III has been shown to contain three disulphide bridges. They can be broken by reduction under non-denaturing conditions. The completely reduced and S-carbamidomethylated protein is devoid of thrombin-inhibiting activity and does not bind heparin. However, the immunological reactivity as determined by electroimmunoassay is almost unchanged, indicating that no large conformational changes occur upon cleavage of the disulphide bonds. This is also supported by the observation that the reduced and S-carbamidomethylated protein has the same fluorescence properties as the native protein dichroic spectrum of the native protein shows a pronounced pattern in the near-ultraviolet region, indicating restricted rotation of the aromatic amino acid side chains. This is drastically changed by the reduction and carbamidomethylation. The character of the far-ultraviolet circular dichroic spectrum is similar in the native and reduced S-carbamidomethylated protein. The reduction and S-carbamidomethylation of antithrombin III induces some local changes in the tertiary structure affecting the inhibitor activity, heparin binding and near-ultraviolet circular dichroic spectrum, but do not seem to induce any substantial general conformation change.

2,2'-Dipyridyl↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Teaching children with autism to initiate and sustain cooperative play.

This study investigated the acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of cooperative play in six children with autism. Two approaches were compared. In one approach, the participants observed two models engaging in cooperative play, before taking the place of one of the models while the play episode just observed was repeated. The second approach was identical to the first except that the participants were now required to verbally describe the modeled play episode before taking the place of one of the models. During training, modeled play episodes varied across play topics, and the criterion for mastery was first trial learning of novel play episodes. A nonconcurrent multiple baseline design across participants was applied. The results showed that the participants failed to acquire cooperative play until the verbal description was included in the training procedure. Following training with verbal description, all participants: a) could initiate episodes and sustain episodes initiated by their play partner; b) were able to take turns in episodes that were considerably longer than the episodes practiced during training; c) varied their play within and between play episodes; and, d) transferred those skills across play partners, settings, and time.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

The UCLA reading and writing program: an evaluation of the beginning stages.

Some individuals with developmental disabilities fail to acquire functional speech despite extensive teaching efforts. To help such individuals develop functional communication skills, a "reading and writing" program was developed. This study was designed to evaluate early parts of the program. Acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of "reading and writing" skills was examined and compared with the acquisition, transfer, and maintenance of sign language. Participants were four children with autism, who scored within the mentally retarded range on standardized tests of intellectual, adaptive, and language functioning, and three 3-year-old non-disabled children. A simultaneous-treatment design was employed to compare the rate of acquisition of "reading and writing" skills to the rate at which the participants acquired receptive and expressive signs. For the participants with autism, acquisition of "reading and writing" was more successful than receptive and expressive signing on all variables assessed. All non-disabled participants acquired all of the "reading and writing" and sign language skills, but participants with autism did not. However, "reading" was acquired slightly quicker by the participants with autism than the non-disabled participants, and the participants with autism also showed some evidence of better transfer and maintenance than the non-disabled participants did.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Teaching children with autism to answer novel wh-questions by utilizing a multiple exemplar strategy.

This study investigated the transfer and maintenance of question-answering skills in five children diagnosed with autism. A multiple baseline design across classes of questions (i.e., what, where, who and why) was applied for each child. Question-answer exemplars were selected within each class, and each class was trained separately in consecutive order. The dependent variable was the proportion of appropriate answers (i.e., complete sentences) to novel questions within each class, on first trial. The results showed that all children became able to answer novel questions with complete sentences within each of the classes that were trained, and they showed transfer of these skills across persons, settings and time. The findings support the use of analogous question-answer exemplars in order to facilitate response-transfer to novel questions. It is also suggested that this type of transfer is more likely to occur if the answers trained are in full sentence and there is a structural correspondence between the question and the answer in each single exemplar and across exemplars within a class of questions.

Autistic Disorder↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Current issues in staff training.

Staff competence in the application of behavioral techniques is critical to improve quality of life for persons with a developmental disability. Development of efficient staff training programs is therefore of great importance. This paper describes some of the procedures most frequently used in staff training research. Research in this area is reviewed in relation to client outcomes as a function of staff training, maintenance of staff skills, and transfer of staff skills across settings, clients, and programs. Current concerns and further improvements in behavioural techniques, acquisitional strategies, and assessment are discussed.

Behavior Therapy↗