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The Gerontologist Feb 2024Response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic required rapid changes to physical, social, and technological environments. There is a need to understand how...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
Response to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic required rapid changes to physical, social, and technological environments. There is a need to understand how independent-living older adults are adapting to pandemic-borne transformations of place and how environmental factors may shape experiences of aging well in the context of a public health emergency response.
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
We conducted a photovoice study to examine the characteristics associated with aging in place. Our study investigated how independent-living older adults characterized aging in a "right" place approximately 1 year after the onset of the pandemic.
RESULTS
Six themes categorized into 2 groups capture how older adults describe a "right" place to age. The first category, "places as enactors of identity and belonging," describes the significance of places contributing to intimate relationships, social connections, and a sense of personal continuity. The second category, "places as facilitators of activities and values," recognizes environments that promote health, hobbies, goals, and belief systems. Participants reported modifying their daily living environments with increased use of technology and more time outdoors.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Our findings emphasize older adults' active engagement with place and strategies used to maintain healthy aging despite public health restrictions. The results also identify place-based characteristics that may help overcome stressful circumstances from older adults' perspectives. These findings inform pathways to pursue to facilitate resiliency for aging in place.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Independent Living; Health Promotion; Pandemics; Housing; Aging
PubMed: 37417468
DOI: 10.1093/geront/gnad087 -
Research and Reports in Urology 2023This study aimed to evaluate what objectives are most important to men undergoing radical prostatectomy to allow treating physicians to personalize perioperative... (Review)
Review
PURPOSE
This study aimed to evaluate what objectives are most important to men undergoing radical prostatectomy to allow treating physicians to personalize perioperative counselling and improve patient quality of life outcomes.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
A predefined search protocol of the Medline and Embase databases was performed from database inception to May 2023. The search was limited to English language and full text. All articles with a specific consideration of patient objectives, preferences or reasons for decision to undergo radical prostatectomy were included for review.
RESULTS
Ten articles out of 375 screened met inclusion criteria for review. All 10 articles utilized a qualitative design and originated across 5 countries across the developed world. A common theme of men placing importance on having their tumor physically removed was found. Methodologies allowing free response beyond predefined categories identified a breadth of considerations including personal circumstance, personal belief and current function in the decision-making process. An investigation on radical prostatectomy performed robotically found some men placed preference on the quicker treatment time with surgery compared to radiation therapy, reflective of shorter recovery times with the robotic approach.
CONCLUSION
Variability in results across studies highlights the heterogeneity in patient preferences. Directed investigation of patient objectives with an open-ended questioning approach would personalize the perioperative experience and may improve patient satisfaction and quality of life outcomes.
PubMed: 38145157
DOI: 10.2147/RRU.S444033 -
Kidney Diseases (Basel, Switzerland) Aug 2023Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an incurable disease requiring lifelong management. China has a high prevalence of CKD, which disproportionately affects older adults and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is an incurable disease requiring lifelong management. China has a high prevalence of CKD, which disproportionately affects older adults and those with chronic risk factors for CKD development. The rising prevalence of CKD in China places a substantial burden on the general population and the healthcare system.
SUMMARY
In China, there are currently many unmet needs for patients with CKD and high-risk individuals, resulting from a lack of education and support to reduce risk factors, delayed diagnoses, limited knowledge of CKD among primary-care physicians, and poor access to treatments among some patient populations. An integrated, nationwide approach is required to improve the current situation of CKD management in China. There are currently several national healthcare frameworks in place that focus on new major health policies to prevent disease and encourage people to adopt healthier lifestyles, and while they do not directly target CKD, they may have a positive indirect impact. We explore the unmet needs for patients with CKD in China and discuss the potential strategies that may be required to overcome them. Such strategies include improving physician and patient education, establishing a targeted screening programme, supporting patients to improve self-management behaviours, accelerating the creation of medical consortia and medical satellite centres, and migrating from hospital- to community-based management. In addition to policy-driven strategies, development of novel therapies will be key to providing new solutions for the long-term management of CKD.
KEY MESSAGES
An integrated, nationwide approach is required, incorporating policy-driven changes to the clinical management of CKD, as well as the development of novel CKD treatments.
PubMed: 37899997
DOI: 10.1159/000530022 -
Journal of Aging Studies Mar 2024We focus on the linkages between relocation, new forms of partner cohabitation, and retirement. What are the patterns and trajectories of moving in with a partner in...
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES
We focus on the linkages between relocation, new forms of partner cohabitation, and retirement. What are the patterns and trajectories of moving in with a partner in retirement? How do older adults experience different transitions, place attachment, and placemaking when they move in with a partner?
RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS
In this qualitative study, 50 persons between 60 and 75 years old were interviewed in Sweden and Germany. For this paper, we focused on nine participants who experienced a relocation with a partner in retirement. Interviews were transcribed and analyzed using a strategy derived from social constructivist Grounded Theory and thematic analysis.
RESULTS
Research participants described experiences of several relocations and cohabitation trajectories. In particular, we identified two patterns of relocating with a partner in retirement: moving into a new place with a partner and moving into a partner's pre-existing home, the latter proving more challenging for forming place attachment and for the couple relationship. Relocation experiences appeared to form a joint process in which relationships and retirement were renegotiated.
DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS
Using cross-cultural data, this novel study shows an unexpected diversity in housing and cohabitation trajectories among older adults. More research is needed to understand what "aging in the right place" with "the right person" really means and the role of life course trajectories and couple negotiations in such processes. Future research should focus on what comes before and after relocation rather than solely studying the decision-making process that leads up to a move.
Topics: Humans; Aged; Aging; Housing; Retirement; Life Change Events; Germany
PubMed: 38458716
DOI: 10.1016/j.jaging.2023.101191 -
Experimental and Clinical... Dec 2023Recently, use of the synthetic cathinone (aka "bath salt") eutylone has risen in the United States and globally. Due to its novelty in drug markets, its affective...
Recently, use of the synthetic cathinone (aka "bath salt") eutylone has risen in the United States and globally. Due to its novelty in drug markets, its affective properties remain largely uninvestigated. In this context, drugs of abuse have both rewarding and aversive effects and understanding these effects, their relative balance, and factors that impact each are important to understanding the likelihood of drug use and abuse. This investigation attempted to characterize eutylone's rewarding and aversive effects in a combined conditioned taste avoidance/place preference assay. Female Sprague-Dawley rats were given 20-min access to saccharin, injected with one of five doses of eutylone (0, 3, 10, 18, 32 mg/kg; intraperitoneally; IP), and placed on one side of a place conditioning apparatus. On the following day, subjects were given 20-min access to water, injected IP with vehicle, and placed on the other side of the apparatus. After five conditioning cycles, place preference and saccharin avoidance were assessed. Eutylone induced significant taste avoidance but did not significantly increase time spent on the drug-paired side (relative to controls). Excluding animals with high initial side preference, however, eutylone induced a preference at all doses with the high dose group displaying higher preference than controls. There was no significant correlation between eutylone's aversive and rewarding effects. These data indicate that eutylone (like other synthetic cathinones) induces both rewarding and aversive effects and highlight the need to assess the impact of various factors on its affective properties (and their balance) and on their use and abuse. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).
Topics: Humans; Rats; Animals; Female; Rats, Sprague-Dawley; Synthetic Cathinone; Taste; Saccharin; Avoidance Learning
PubMed: 37227884
DOI: 10.1037/pha0000657 -
Cureus Oct 2023Various donor sites have been extensively documented in the literature for bone free flaps in head and neck reconstruction. These include the radius, scapula, rib,... (Review)
Review
Various donor sites have been extensively documented in the literature for bone free flaps in head and neck reconstruction. These include the radius, scapula, rib, ilium, femur, fibula, and metatarsal bone. Among them, the fibula, ilium, and scapula are the most commonly used and studied for placing endosseous implants and for rehabilitation purposes. Each donor site has its own advantages and disadvantages, which depend on factors such as whether the reconstruction is for the maxilla or mandible, the required volume and length of the bone and soft tissue, and the location, extent, and type of defect that needs to be reconstructed. The aim of this current review is to comprehensively assess the existing literature on the survival of implants in fibula, radial, and iliac flaps.
PubMed: 37916255
DOI: 10.7759/cureus.48031 -
Human Brain Mapping Feb 2024The recognition and perception of places has been linked to a network of scene-selective regions in the human brain. While previous studies have focussed on functional...
The recognition and perception of places has been linked to a network of scene-selective regions in the human brain. While previous studies have focussed on functional connectivity between scene-selective regions themselves, less is known about their connectivity with other cortical and subcortical regions in the brain. Here, we determine the functional and structural connectivity profile of the scene network. We used fMRI to examine functional connectivity between scene regions and across the whole brain during rest and movie-watching. Connectivity within the scene network revealed a bias between posterior and anterior scene regions implicated in perceptual and mnemonic aspects of scene perception respectively. Differences between posterior and anterior scene regions were also evident in the connectivity with cortical and subcortical regions across the brain. For example, the Occipital Place Area (OPA) and posterior Parahippocampal Place Area (PPA) showed greater connectivity with visual and dorsal attention networks, while anterior PPA and Retrosplenial Complex showed preferential connectivity with default mode and frontoparietal control networks and the hippocampus. We further measured the structural connectivity of the scene network using diffusion tractography. This indicated both similarities and differences with the functional connectivity, highlighting biases between posterior and anterior regions, but also between ventral and dorsal scene regions. Finally, we quantified the structural connectivity between the scene network and major white matter tracts throughout the brain. These findings provide a map of the functional and structural connectivity of scene-selective regions to each other and the rest of the brain.
Topics: Humans; Brain Mapping; Magnetic Resonance Imaging; Diffusion Tensor Imaging; Memory; Neocortex
PubMed: 38376190
DOI: 10.1002/hbm.26628 -
Journal of the American Society of... Dec 2023Hispanic patients are known to have a higher risk of kidney failure and lower rates of home dialysis use and kidney transplantation than non-Hispanic White patients....
SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT
Hispanic patients are known to have a higher risk of kidney failure and lower rates of home dialysis use and kidney transplantation than non-Hispanic White patients. However, it is unknown whether these outcomes differ within the Hispanic community, which is heterogeneous in its members' places of origins. Using United States Renal Data System data, the authors found similar adjusted rates of home dialysis use for patients originating from places outside the United States and US-born Hispanic patients, whereas the adjusted risk of mortality and likelihood of transplantation differed depending on place (country or territory) of origin. Understanding the heterogeneity in kidney disease outcomes and treatment within the Hispanic community is crucial in designing interventions and implementation strategies to ensure that Hispanic individuals with kidney failure have equitable access to care.
BACKGROUND
Compared with non-Hispanic White groups, Hispanic individuals have a higher risk of kidney failure yet lower rates of living donor transplantation and home dialysis. However, how home dialysis, mortality, and transplantation vary within the Hispanic community depending on patients' place of origin is unclear.
METHODS
We identified adult Hispanic patients from the United States Renal Data System who initiated dialysis in 2009-2017. Primary exposure was country or territory of origin (the United States, Mexico, US-Puerto Rico, and other countries). We used logistic regression to estimate differences in odds of initiating home dialysis and competing risk models to estimate subdistribution hazard ratios (SHR) of mortality and kidney transplantation.
RESULTS
Of 137,039 patients, 44.4% were US-born, 30.9% were from Mexico, 12.9% were from US-Puerto Rico, and 11.8% were from other countries. Home dialysis rates were higher among US-born patients, but not significantly different after adjusting for demographic, medical, socioeconomic, and facility-level factors. Adjusted mortality risk was higher for individuals from US-Puerto Rico (SHR, 1.04; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.01 to 1.08) and lower for Mexico (SHR, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.78 to 0.81) and other countries (SHR, 0.83; 95% CI, 0.81 to 0.86) compared with US-born patients. The adjusted rate of transplantation for Mexican or US-Puerto Rican patients was similar to that of US-born patients but higher for those from other countries (SHR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.15 to 1.30).
CONCLUSIONS
Hispanic people from different places of origin have similar adjusted rates of home dialysis but different adjusted rates of mortality and kidney transplantation. Further research is needed to understand the mechanisms underlying these observed differences in outcomes.
Topics: Adult; Humans; Hispanic or Latino; Renal Dialysis; Renal Insufficiency; Retrospective Studies; Risk Factors; United States; Treatment Outcome; Geography, Medical; Kidney Transplantation; Health Status Disparities
PubMed: 37755821
DOI: 10.1681/ASN.0000000000000239 -
BMC Public Health Jul 2023Pornography consumption is higher in men, but we do not know if this association can be modified by different variables, such as sexual attraction and place of origin....
BACKGROUND
Pornography consumption is higher in men, but we do not know if this association can be modified by different variables, such as sexual attraction and place of origin. Given the impact pornography has on minors, there are limited studies that analyze the use of pornography in representative samples of the adult population. The aim was analyze the prevalence and factors associated with using pornography in young adult men and women, living in Spain, with different sexual attractions and different places of birth.
METHODS
Cross-sectional study with an online survey conducted with 2515 men and women aged between 18 and 35 years of age. The prevalence of pornography consumption is described and analyzed in the total sample and stratified by sex, according to socio-demographic and sexual attraction variables. The association between covariates and pornography consumption at some point in life was estimated with prevalence ratios (PR) obtained with the Poisson models of robust variance.
DEPENDENT VARIABLE
voluntarily using pornography at some point in life. Socio-demographic variables were included in the analysis: age, sex, level of education, place of birth. Sexual attraction was also analyzed.
RESULTS
In Spain, 94.7% of men between 18 and 34 years and 74.6% of women have voluntarily used pornography at some point in their life. The mean age to start using it is earlier in men [Mean:14.2; Standard Deviation (SD):2.3]. Bisexual/homosexual attraction (reference: heterosexual) increases the probability of using pornography in women [(PR (95%CI): 1.30 (1.22; 1.38)]. Yet this is not observed in men. In both sexes, the probability of using pornography increases with age [(PR (95%CI): 1.01(1.00; 1.01)] and coming from abroad (reference: native), being the effect of country of birth significantly higher in women [(PR (95%CI): 1.17 (1.09; 1.26)] than in men [(PR (95%CI): 1.04 (1.01; 1.07).
CONCLUSIONS
Public health programmes aimed at improving affective-sexual health should consider the high use of pornography among young adults in Spain, as well as those variables that increase its use.
Topics: Male; Humans; Young Adult; Female; Adolescent; Adult; Cross-Sectional Studies; Erotica; Sexual Behavior; Gender Identity; Surveys and Questionnaires
PubMed: 37442986
DOI: 10.1186/s12889-023-16216-3 -
Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience Feb 2024Proper names are linguistic expressions referring to unique entities, such as individual people or places. This sets them apart from other words like common nouns, which...
Proper names are linguistic expressions referring to unique entities, such as individual people or places. This sets them apart from other words like common nouns, which refer to generic concepts. And yet, despite both being individual entities, one's closest friend and one's favorite city are intuitively associated with very different pieces of knowledge-face, voice, social relationship, autobiographical experiences for the former, and mostly visual and spatial information for the latter. Neuroimaging research has revealed the existence of both domain-general and domain-specific brain correlates of semantic processing of individual entities; however, it remains unclear how such commonalities and similarities operate over a fine-grained temporal scale. In this work, we tackle this question using EEG and multivariate (time-resolved and searchlight) decoding analyses. We look at when and where we can accurately decode the semantic category of a proper name and whether we can find person- or place-specific effects of familiarity, which is a modality-independent dimension and therefore avoids sensorimotor differences inherent among the two categories. Semantic category can be decoded in a time window and with spatial localization typically associated with lexical semantic processing. Regarding familiarity, our results reveal that it is easier to distinguish patterns of familiarity-related evoked activity for people, as opposed to places, in both early and late time windows. Second, we discover that within the early responses, both domain-general (left posterior-lateral) and domain-specific (right fronto-temporal, only for people) neural patterns can be individuated, suggesting the existence of person-specific processes.
PubMed: 38319891
DOI: 10.1162/jocn_a_02125