Older adults' experiences of a pandemic : how foods, routines, and socialisation have been impacted by COVID-19 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science (by thesis) in Psychology at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand

The objective of this research study was to investigate the experiences of older adults in New Zealand during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, with a specific focus on how food habits were impacted. A great deal of disaster research fails to recognise first-hand experience, with an even greater shortage of research investigating how older adults cope during disasters. Such research is imperative in order to fully prepare to effectively support older adult populations during such disasters as the COVID-19 pandemic. Gaining first-hand experience via semi-structured interviews is an effective way to comprehend these experiences. In the present study, semi-structured interviews were conducted with six older adults in New Zealand: four from the small town of Morrinsville and two from the large city of Auckland. A media analysis was also conducted to better understand the context of these experiences: news articles, government documents, and seniors’ newsletters were analysed. Thematic analysis was used to identify common themes, with the overarching theme being that of resilience: each of the participants demonstrated a high degree of resilience throughout the pandemic lockdown. However, there existed a great deal of concern over being a burden to others as most of the participants were unable to do their own shopping due to government restrictions. All participants also experienced dramatically reduced socialisation and freedom, which proved challenging for the capable and independent people they were. The participants understood the reasons for having to stay at home and were supportive of the government’s decisions. They spoke of following the rules and the strategies used to protect themselves if they did go out. The participants were proactive in maintaining their routines as part of maintaining healthy habits and eating well. They recognised the crucial importance of staying in contact with friends and family. These older adults were resilient, proactive, and accepting in the face of adversity. Implications for future research include investigating older adults of other socio-economic statuses where resilience may be impacted by financial constraints. Additionally, investigating the role of culture, and especially the difference between collectivist and individualist cultures on the experience of a disaster would be valuable

How Self-Esteem Affects Eye Fixation When Viewing Images of Strangers Compared to Images of Self

Self-esteem has been shown to play a role in overall health. A previous study explained that humans are self-motivated to protect and enhance self-esteem and when self-esteem is enhanced, psychological wellbeing shows improvements. With that, another study evaluated depression and facial fixation and found that those who had depression looked at the mouth region more so than the eye region. By keeping prior research in mind, we aimed to evaluate how self-esteem plays a role in how one views themselves compared to a stranger. Thus, we hypothesized that those who exhibit lower self-esteem will demonstrate fixations on the mouth more so than the eyes. We also expect that those who show lower self-esteem will have more specific fixation on their own face, compared to the faces of others. This study is a within-group experimental design with the independent variable being a photo of each participant placed into a mix of other faces pulled from the Chicago Face Database. This allowed us to compare the visual attention on strangers compared to their own face by drawing areas of interest on specific facial features such as the eyes, nose, and mouth. Our participants were Belmont students aged 18 years or older and excluded anyone who depend on glasses to see

Examining the association between perceived discrimination and heart rate variability in African Americans.

Previous research attempting to delineate the role of discrimination in racial/ethnic disparities in hypertension has focused largely on blood pressure, which is chiefly governed by the sympathetic branch of the autonomic nervous system. Consequently, few studies have considered the role of the parasympathetic branch and particularly its regulation of the heart via the vagus nerve

Well-being and Relaxation

Achieving balance in one\u27s lifestyle and health is essential to maximizing human potential and flourishing. This sort of ‘equilibrium’ is the focus of ongoing debates regarding general health and wellbeing. However, it is generally understood that this balance is a state of complete physical, psychological, and social well-being (Straub, 2022). The research on intuitive health developed throughout the years indicates that one of the key components affecting well-being is relaxation (Keiber, 2000). There are many theorized methods to promote relaxation; among them, meditation is a common technique that has shown to decrease stress and physiological arousal (Rausch, 2006). Unfortunately, despite its effectiveness in promoting relaxation, finding the time to decompress and meditate is something many people find challenging; this inability to slow down can be a consequence of a wide range of everyday variables, such as work hours, general life stressors, social media usage, caffeine intake and exercise. In light of the importance of this underutilized practice, the present study examined the various components of well-being and their respective relationships to relaxation through a short meditation. The primary purpose of this investigation was to examine the relationship between wellbeing and relaxation in college students. In addition, this study investigated the impact of stress, caffeine, social media usage, work, exercise, and sleep on wellbeing and relaxation. It is hypothesized that individuals with self-reported high levels of wellbeing will demonstrate the highest levels of calmness as measured by a MUSE headset. Fifty undergraduate students from Belmont University were recruited from general psychology classes and volunteered for the study. All participants completed a wellbeing assessment and an 11 minute meditation session. The results are currently being processed

Coping with global uncertainty: Perceptions of COVID-19 psychological distress, relationship quality, and dyadic coping for romantic partners across 27 countries

Following the global outbreak of COVID-19 in March 2020, individuals report psychological distress associated with the “new normal”—social distancing, financial hardships, and increased responsibilities while working from home. Given the interpersonal nature of stress and coping responses between romantic partners, based on the systemic transactional model this study posits that perceived partner dyadic coping may be an important moderator between experiences of COVID-19 psychological distress and relationship quality. To examine these associations, self-report data from 14,020 people across 27 countries were collected during the early phases of the COVID-19 pandemic (March–July, 2020). It was hypothesized that higher symptoms of psychological distress would be reported post-COVID-19 compared to pre-COVID-19 restrictions (Hypothesis 1), reports of post-COVID-19 psychological distress would be negatively associated with relationship quality (Hypothesis 2), and perceived partner DC would moderate these associations (Hypothesis 3). While hypotheses were generally supported, results also showed interesting between-country variability. Limitations and future directions are presented

Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries: Corrigendum

Published VersionA corrigendum on Marital Satisfaction, Sex, Age, Marriage Duration, Religion, Number of Children, Economic Status, Education, and Collectivistic Values: Data from 33 Countries by Sorokowski, P., Randall, A. K., Groyecka, A., Frackowiak, T.,Cantarero, K., Hilpert, P., et al. (2017). Front. Psychol. 8:1199. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2017.0119

Plasmodium falciparum Choline Kinase Inhibition Leads to a Major Decrease in Phosphatidylethanolamine Causing Parasite Death

This work was supported by Agencia Aragonesa para la Investigación y Desarrollo (ARAID), Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CTQ2013-44367-C2-2-P to R.H.-G.) and Diputación General de Aragón (DGA; B89 to R.H.-G.) and the EU Seventh Framework Programme (2007–2013) under BioStruct-X (grant agreement 283570 and BIOSTRUCTX 5186, to R.H.-G.). T.K.S. was supported by the Wellcome Trust grant 093228 and European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme under grant agreement No. 602773 (Project KINDRED).Malaria is a life-threatening disease caused by different species of the protozoan parasite Plasmodium, with P. falciparum being the deadliest. Increasing parasitic resistance to existing antimalarials makes the necessity of novel avenues to treat this disease an urgent priority. The enzymes responsible for the synthesis of phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine are attractive drug targets to treat malaria as their selective inhibition leads to an arrest of the parasite’s growth and cures malaria in a mouse model. We present here a detailed study that reveals a mode of action for two P. falciparum choline kinase inhibitors both in vitro and in vivo. The compounds present distinct binding modes to the choline/ethanolamine-binding site of P. falciparum choline kinase, reflecting different types of inhibition. Strikingly, these compounds primarily inhibit the ethanolamine kinase activity of the P. falciparum choline kinase, leading to a severe decrease in the phosphatidylethanolamine levels within P. falciparum, which explains the resulting growth phenotype and the parasites death. These studies provide an understanding of the mode of action, and act as a springboard for continued antimalarial development efforts selectively targeting P. falciparum choline kinase.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

Cross-cutting principles for planetary health education

Since the 2015 launch of the Rockefeller Foundation Lancet Commission on planetary health,1 an enormous groundswell of interest in planetary health education has emerged across many disciplines, institutions, and geographical regions. Advancing these global efforts in planetary health education will equip the next generation of scholars to address crucial questions in this emerging field and support the development of a community of practice. To provide a foundation for the growing interest and efforts in this field, the Planetary Health Alliance has facilitated the first attempt to create a set of principles for planetary health education that intersect education at all levels, across all scales, and in all regions of the world—ie, a set of cross-cutting principles

Combined point of care nucleic acid and antibody testing for SARS-CoV-2 following emergence of D614G Spike Variant

Rapid COVID-19 diagnosis in hospital is essential, though complicated by 30-50% of nose/throat swabs being negative by SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). Furthermore, the D614G spike mutant now dominates the pandemic and it is unclear how serological tests designed to detect anti-Spike antibodies perform against this variant. We assess the diagnostic accuracy of combined rapid antibody point of care (POC) and nucleic acid assays for suspected COVID-19 disease due to either wild type or the D614G spike mutant SARS-CoV-2. The overall detection rate for COVID-19 is 79.2% (95CI 57.8-92.9%) by rapid NAAT alone. Combined point of care antibody test and rapid NAAT is not impacted by D614G and results in very high sensitivity for COVID-19 diagnosis with very high specificity

Physiological Correlates of Volunteering

We review research on physiological correlates of volunteering, a neglected but promising research field. Some of these correlates seem to be causal factors influencing volunteering. Volunteers tend to have better physical health, both self-reported and expert-assessed, better mental health, and perform better on cognitive tasks. Research thus far has rarely examined neurological, neurochemical, hormonal, and genetic correlates of volunteering to any significant extent, especially controlling for other factors as potential confounds. Evolutionary theory and behavioral genetic research suggest the importance of such physiological factors in humans. Basically, many aspects of social relationships and social activities have effects on health (e.g., Newman and Roberts 2013; Uchino 2004), as the widely used biopsychosocial (BPS) model suggests (Institute of Medicine 2001). Studies of formal volunteering (FV), charitable giving, and altruistic behavior suggest that physiological characteristics are related to volunteering, including specific genes (such as oxytocin receptor [OXTR] genes, Arginine vasopressin receptor [AVPR] genes, dopamine D4 receptor [DRD4] genes, and 5-HTTLPR). We recommend that future research on physiological factors be extended to non-Western populations, focusing specifically on volunteering, and differentiating between different forms and types of volunteering and civic participation