Older parents caring for adults with intellectual disability

Background: Older parents of adults with intellectual disability (ID) face a lifetime of care. Despite the physical and psychological strains of caring many are reluctant to ‘retire’ and plan for their child’s external residential placement. Method: Using a case study approach, parents and siblings of adults with ID from three families were interviewed in relation to their understandings of past and current care and also future planning. Results: Parents who viewed the carer role as a parental obligation were at risk of isolating themselves from siblings of ID child thereby leaving siblings ill-prepared in an emergency situation. Though all families had considered residential planning, no plans had been established. Explicit barriers included complexity of disability, negative transitioning experiences in the past, and unpredictable changes within the family system. Enablers included personal growth of the adult with ID, and encouragement from professional supports such as psychologists. Discourses of ID may also be a factor, with descriptions of the adult as ‘child-like’ potentially preventing transition into adulthood, such as leaving home. Clinical Implications: Psychologists could play a pivotal role in assisting families who are faced with such non-normative development of the family system, and so encourage future planning for care. Psychologists could also support parents in negotiating complex support systems such as the NDI

Re-evaluating the factor structure of the self-assessed wisdom scale (saws)

Background. Although wisdom is a desirable developmental goal, researchers often lack valid and reliable construct measures. Webster’s (2007) popular 40-item five factor SAWS structure has had mixed support in the literature. We tested this factor structure, and age group equivalencies. We also examined whether the SAWS Openness dimension is a wisdom precursor, as proposed by other models of wisdom. Methods. Data from 709 respondents were randomly split into two. We performed confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on Sample 1. If the model did not fit the data, then exploratory factor analysis (EFA) on Sample 2 would offer an alternative model that could be confirmed on Sample 1. Structural equation models analysed Openness as a SAWS antecedent and a wisdom component. Multigroup CFA tested invariance across age groups. Results. The SAWS failed to replicate in the initial CFA. We extracted a 12-item four factor EFA solution, which excluded Humour factor. Openness as a wisdom component was a better model than as antecedent. Implications. The 12-item four factor model clarifies the key components of the SAWS and can be used across the adult lifespan as different age groups are invariant. We suggest Openness is better understood as a component of the SAWS

Characteristics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Older Adults Living in Residential Care: Protocol for a Systematic Review

Background: The prevalence rates of depressive and anxiety disorders are high in residential aged care settings. Older adults in such settings might be prone to these disorders because of losses associated with transitioning to residential care, uncertainty about the future, as well as a decline in personal autonomy, health, and cognition. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is efficacious in treating late-life depression and anxiety. However, there remains a dearth of studies examining CBT in residential settings compared with community settings. Typically, older adults living in residential settings have higher care needs than those living in the community. To date, no systematic reviews have been conducted on the content and the delivery characteristics of CBT for older adults living in residential aged care settings. Objective: The objective of this paper is to describe the systematic review protocol on the characteristics of CBT for depression and/or anxiety for older adults living in residential aged care settings. Methods: This protocol was developed in compliance with the recommendations of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis Protocols (PRISMA-P). Studies that fulfill the inclusion criteria will be identified by systematically searching relevant electronic databases, reference lists, and citation indexes. In addition, the PRISMA flowchart will be used to record the selection process. A pilot-tested data collection form will be used to extract and record data from the included studies. Two reviewers will be involved in screening the titles and abstracts of retrieved records, screening the full text of potentially relevant reports, and extracting data. Then, the delivery and content characteristics of different CBT programs of the included studies, where available, will be summarized in a table. Furthermore, the Downs and Black checklist will be used to assess the methodological quality of the included studies. Results: Systematic searches will commence in May 2018, and data extraction is expected to commence in July 2018. Data analyses and writing will happen in October 2018. Conclusions: In this section, the limitations of the systematic review will be outlined. Clinical implications for treating late-life depression and/or anxiety, and implications for residential care facilities will be discussed

Effect of physical activity, social support, and skills training on late-life emotional health: a systematic literature review and implications for public health research

Purpose: Given that emotional health is a critical component of healthy aging, we undertook a systematic literature review to assess whether current interventions can positively affect older adults’ emotional health. Methods: A national panel of health services and mental health researchers guided the review. Eligibility criteria included community-dwelling older adult (aged ≥ 50 years) samples, reproducible interventions, and emotional health outcomes, which included multiple domains and both positive (well-being) and illness-related (anxiety) dimensions. This review focused on three types of interventions – physical activity, social support, and skills training – given their public health significance and large number of studies identified. Panel members evaluated the strength of evidence (quality and effectiveness). Results: In all, 292 articles met inclusion criteria. These included 83 exercise/physical activity, 25 social support, and 40 skills training interventions. For evidence rating, these 148 interventions were categorized into 64 pairings by intervention type and emotional health outcome, e.g., strength training targeting loneliness or social support to address mood. 83% of these pairings were rated at least fair quality. Expert panelists found sufficient evidence of effectiveness only for skills training interventions with health outcomes of decreasing anxiety and improving quality of life and self-efficacy. Due to limitations in reviewed studies, many intervention–outcome pairings yielded insufficient evidence. Conclusion: Skills training interventions improved several aspects of emotional health in community-dwelling older adults, while the effects for other outcomes and interventions lacked clear evidence. We discuss the implications and challenges in moving forward in this important area

Multiomic analyses implicate a neurodevelopmental program in the pathogenesis of cerebral arachnoid cysts

Cerebral arachnoid cysts (ACs) are one of the most common and poorly understood types of developmental brain lesion. To begin to elucidate AC pathogenesis, we performed an integrated analysis of 617 patient-parent (trio) exomes, 152,898 human brain and mouse meningeal single-cell RNA sequencing transcriptomes and natural language processing data of patient medical records. We found that damaging de novo variants (DNVs) were highly enriched in patients with ACs compared with healthy individuals (P = 1.57 × 10-33). Seven genes harbored an exome-wide significant DNV burden. AC-associated genes were enriched for chromatin modifiers and converged in midgestational transcription networks essential for neural and meningeal development. Unsupervised clustering of patient phenotypes identified four AC subtypes and clinical severity correlated with the presence of a damaging DNV. These data provide insights into the coordinated regulation of brain and meningeal development and implicate epigenomic dysregulation due to DNVs in AC pathogenesis. Our results provide a preliminary indication that, in the appropriate clinical context, ACs may be considered radiographic harbingers of neurodevelopmental pathology warranting genetic testing and neurobehavioral follow-up. These data highlight the utility of a systems-level, multiomics approach to elucidate sporadic structural brain disease

Transparent Meta-Analysis: Does Aging Spare Prospective Memory with Focal vs. Non-Focal Cues?

Background: Prospective memory (ProM) is the ability to become aware of a previously-formed plan at the right time and place. For over twenty years, researchers have been debating whether prospective memory declines with aging or whether it is spared by aging and, most recently, whether aging spares prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues. Two recent meta-analyses examining these claims did not include all relevant studies and ignored prevalent ceiling effects, age confounds, and did not distinguish between prospective memory subdomains (e.g., ProM proper, vigilance, habitual ProM) (see Uttl, 2008, PLoS ONE). The present meta-analysis focuses on the following questions: Does prospective memory decline with aging? Does prospective memory with focal vs. non-focal cues decline with aging? Does the size of age-related declines with focal vs. non-focal cues vary across ProM subdomains? And are age-related declines in ProM smaller than agerelated declines in retrospective memory? Methods and Findings: A meta-analysis of event-cued ProM using data visualization and modeling, robust count methods, and conventional meta-analysis techniques revealed that first, the size of age-related declines in ProM with both focal and non-focal cues are large. Second, age-related declines in ProM with focal cues are larger in ProM proper and smaller in vigilance. Third, age-related declines in ProM proper with focal cues are as large as age-related declines in recall measures of retrospective memory

Crop Updates 2001 - Cereals

This session covers forty two papers from different authors: PLENARY 1. Planning your cropping program in season 2001, Dr Ross Kingwell, Agriculture Western Australia and University of Western Australia WORKSHOP 2. Can we produce high yields without high inputs? Wal Anderson, Centre for Cropping Systems, Agriculture Western Australia VARIETIES 3. Local and interstate wheat variety performance and $ return to WA growers, Eddy Pol, Peter Burgess and Ashley Bacon, Agritech Crop Research CROP ESTABLISHMENT 4 Soil management of waterlogged soils, D.M. Bakker, G.J. Hamilton, D. Houlbrooke and C. Spann, Agriculture Western Australia 5. Effect of soil amelioration on wheat yield in a very dry season, M.A Hamza and W.K. Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 6. Fuzzy tramlines for more yield and less weed, Paul Blackwell1 and Maurice Black2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Harbour Lights Estate, Geraldton 7. Tramline farming for dollar benefits, Paul Blackwell, Agriculture Western Australia NUTRITION 8. Soil immobile nutrients for no-till crops, M.D.A. Bolland1, R.F. Brennan1,and W.L. Crabtree2, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Western Australian No-Tillage Farmers Association 9. Burn stubble windrows: to diagnose soil fertility problems, Bill Bowden, Chris Gazey and Ross Brennan, Agriculture Western Australia 10. Calcium: magnesium ratios; are they important? Bill Bowden1, Rochelle Strahan2, Bob Gilkes2 and Zed Rengel2 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2Department of Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, UWA 11. Responses to late foliar applications of Flexi-N, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 12. A comparison of Flexi-N placements, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 13. What is the best way to apply potassium? Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, CSBP futurefarm 14. Claying affects potassium nutrition in barley, Stephen Loss, David Phelps, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm 15. Nitrogen and potassium improve oaten hay quality, Stephen Loss, Tim O’Dea, Patrick Gethin, Ryan Guthrie, Lisa Leaver, CSBP futurefarm AGRONOMY 16. Agronomic responses of new wheat varieties in the northern wheatbelt, Darshan Sharma and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 17. Wheat agronomy research on the south coast, Mohammad Amjad and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 18. Influence of sowing date on wheat yield and quality in the south coast environment, Mohammad Amjadand Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 19. More profit from durum, Md.Shahajahan Miyan and Wal Anderson, Agriculture Western Australia 20. Enhancing recommendations of flowering and yield in wheat, JamesFisher1, Senthold Asseng2, Bill Bowden1 and Michael Robertson3 ,1AgricultureWestern Australia, 2CSIRO Plant Industry, 3CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems 21. When and where to grow oats, Glenn McDonald, Agriculture Western Australia 22. Managing Gaidner barley for quality, Kevin Young and Blakely Paynter, Agriculture Western Australia PESTS AND DISEASES 23. Strategies for leaf disease management in wheat, Jatinderpal Bhathal1, Cameron Weeks2, Kith Jayasena1 and Robert Loughman1 ,1Agriculture Western Australia. 2Mingenew-Irwin Group Inc 24. Strategies for leaf disease management in malting barley, K. Jayasena1, Q. Knight2 and R. Loughman1, 1Agriculture Western Australia, 2IAMA Agribusiness 25. Cereal disease diagnostics, Dominie Wright and Nichole Burges, Agriculture Western Australia 26. The big rust: Did you get your money back!! Peter Burgess, Agritech Crop Research 27. Jockey – winning the race against disease in wheat, Lisa-Jane Blacklow, Rob Hulme and Rob Giffith, Aventis CropScience 28. Distribution and incidence of aphids and barley yellow dwarf virus in over-summering grasses in WA wheatbelt, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, CLIMA and Agriculture Western Australia 29. Further developments in forecasting aphid and virus risk in cereals, Debbie Thackray, Jenny Hawkes and Roger Jones, Agriculture Western Australia and Centre for Legumes in Mediterranean Agriculture 30. Effect of root lesion nematodes on wheat yields in Western Australia, S. B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia 31. Rotational crops and varieties for management of root lesion nematodes in Western Australia, S.B. Sharma, S. Kelly and R. Loughman, Crop Improvement Institute, Agriculture Western Australia WEEDS 32. Phenoxy herbicide tolerance of wheat, Peter Newman and Dave Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 33. Tolerance of wheat to phenoxy herbicides,Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and Mario F. D\u27Antuono, Agriculture Western Australia 34. Herbicide tolerance of durum wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia 35. Herbicide tolerance of new wheats, Harmohinder S. Dhammu, Terry Piper and David F. Nicholson, Agriculture Western Australia BREEDING 36. Towards molecular breeding of barley: construction of a molecular genetic map, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Garry Ablett3, Reg Lance4, Rob Potter5 and Peter Langridge6,1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Qld, 3Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5SABC Murdoch University, WA, 6Department of Plant Science University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 37. Toward molecular breeding of barley: Identifying markers linked to genes for quantitative traits, Mehmet Cakir1, Nick Galwey1, David Poulsen2, Reg Lance3, Garry Ablett4, Greg Platz2, Joe Panozzo5, Barbara Read6, David Moody5, Andy Barr7 and Peter Langridge7 , 1Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, UWA, 2Queensland Department of Primary Industries, Warwick, QLD,3Agriculture Western Australia, 4Centre for Plant Conservation Genetics, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW, 5VIDA Private Bag 260, Horsham VIC, 6NSW Dept. of Agriculture, Wagga Wagga NSW, 7Department of Plant Science, University of Adelaide, Glen Osmond SA 38. Can we improve grain yield by breeding for greater early vigour in wheat? Tina Botwright1, Tony Condon1, Robin Wilson2 and Iain Barclay2, 1CSIRO Plant Industry, 2Agriculture Western Australia MARKETING AND QUALITY 39. The Crop Improvement Royalty, Howard Carr, Agriculture Western Australia 40. GrainGuardÔ - The development of a protection plan for the wheat industry, Greg Shea, Agriculture Western Australia CLIMATE 41. Rainfall – what happened in 2000 and the prospects for 2001, Ian Foster, Agriculture Western Australia 42. Software for climate management issues, David Tennant,Agriculture Western Australia CONTRIBUTING AUTHOR CONTACT DETAIL