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This portfolio presents the research component of my work during my five-year training for the Practitioner Doctorate in Psychotherapeutic and Counselling Psychology at the University of Surrey. It comprises of a literature review and two qualitative research studies. My literature review explores the professional and ethical issues in the therapeutic relationship between clients who meet the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and trainee counselling psychologists. My first qualitative study then follows on from this review. This empirical research, is an Interpretative-Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) of trainee counselling psychologists' lived experience of working therapeutically with clients who meet the DSM-5 criteria for BPD. Lastly, my final research project is a Thematic Analysis (T.A.) of how therapists use their own embodied experiences in the therapeutic process.

Peripheral vascular grafts are used for the treatment of peripheral arterial disease and arteriovenous grafts for vascular access in end stage renal disease. The development of neo-intimal hyperplasia and thrombosis in the distal anastomosis remains the main reason for occlusion in that region. The local haemodynamics produced by a graft in the host vessel is believed to significantly affect endothelial function. Single spiral flow is a normal feature in medium and large sized vessels and it is induced by the anatomical structure and physiological function of the cardiovascular system. Grafts designed to generate a single spiral flow in the distal anastomosis have been introduced in clinical practice and are known as spiral grafts. In this work, spiral peripheral vascular and arteriovenous grafts were compared with conventional grafts using ultrasound and computational methods to identify their haemodynamic differences. Vascular-graft flow phantoms were developed to house the grafts in different surgical configurations. Mimicking components, with appropriate acoustic properties, were chosen to minimise ultrasound beam refraction and distortion. A dual-beam two-dimensional vector Doppler technique was developed to visualise and quantify vortical structures downstream of each graft outflow in the cross-flow direction. Vorticity mapping and measurements of circulation were acquired based on the vector Doppler data. The flow within the vascular-graft models was simulated with computed tomography based image-guided modelling for further understanding of secondary flow motions and comparison with the experimental results. The computational assessments provided a three-dimensional velocity field in the lumen of the models allowing a range of fluid dynamic parameters to be predicted. Single- or double-spiral flow patterns consisting of a dominant and a smaller vortex were detected in the outflow of the spiral grafts. A double- triple- or tetra-spiral flow pattern was found in the outflow of the conventional graft, depending on model configuration and Reynolds number. These multiple-spiral patterns were associated with increased flow stagnation, separation and instability, which are known to be detrimental for endothelial behaviour. Increased in-plane mixing and wall shear stress, which are considered atheroprotective in normal vessels, were found in the outflow of the spiral devices. The results from the experimental approach were in agreement with those from the computational approach. This study applied ultrasound and computational methods to vascular-graft phantoms in order to characterise the flow field induced by spiral and conventional peripheral vascular and arteriovenous grafts. The results suggest that spiral grafts are associated with advanced local haemodynamics that may protect endothelial function and thereby may prevent their outflow anastomosis from neo-intimal hyperplasia and thrombosis. Consequently this work supports the hypothesis that spiral grafts may decrease outflow stenosis and hence improve patency rates in patients.

A bidirectional selection experiment for increased and decreased somatic cell counts (SCC) in milk was conducted with two selected lines (high line or HSCC, low line or LSCC) and one control line (CSCC) of mice. Distribution of milk SCC in mice was 4 to 5 times the distribution in Holsteins. The shape of the lactation curve of mice was similar to that of Holsteins with maximum yield at day 7 (2.06 gms). The phenotypic regression of lactation milk yield on lactation milk SCC (-0.276) was significant (P < .05) and indicated that dams with higher SCC produce less milk. Small phenotypic correlations of milk SCC with blood SCC (-0.09) and percentage phagocytic cells (-0.06) were found, indicating that these traits are unrelated. A small but significant (P < .05) negative correlation (-0.14), was found between response to endotoxin challenge and milk SCC indicating that dams with inherently higher milk SCC responded less to endotoxin challenge than dams with lower milk SCC. No major pathogens which cause mastitis in cattle were detected in milk of mice. In addition, the bacteria identified (Bacillus sp., Corynebacterium sp. etc) did not cause any serious infections and/or increase in milk SCC in mice. Selection for high and low milk SCC produced a symmetrical response in the two selected lines (HSCC and LSCC), such that after 7 generations of selection, the two lines differed by more than 500,000 cells/ml of milk. A small negative genetic regression ( -0.162) of milk yield on milk SCC suggested a small correlated response in yield opposite in direction from the direct response for milk SCC. Small negative genetic regressions of blood SCC and percentage phagocytic cells on milk SCC ( -0.087 and -3.492) suggested that these three traits are genetically independent. Selection on milk SCC did not result in change either in total leukocytic cells per ml of blood or in percentage phagocytic leukocytes in blood. A negative genetic regression of response to challenge on milk SCC (-3.201) was found suggesting that selection for low milk SCC results in an increase of the ability of the individual mouse to elevate milk SCC after an injection with E. coli endotoxin. However, more data are needed to confirm this conclusion. Phenotypic correlations between milk SCC and several measures of fitness and genetic regressions of these measures on milk SCC were negligible.