Trends in absolute socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in Sweden and New Zealand. A 20-year gender perspective

BACKGROUND: Both trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality, and cross-country comparisons, may give more information about the causes of health inequalities. We analysed trends in socioeconomic differentials by mortality from early 1980s to late 1990s, comparing Sweden with New Zealand. METHODS: The New Zealand Census Mortality Study (NZCMS) consisting of over 2 million individuals and the Swedish Survey of Living Conditions (ULF) comprising over 100, 000 individuals were used for analyses. Education and household income were used as measures of socioeconomic position (SEP). The slope index of inequality (SII) was calculated to estimate absolute inequalities in mortality. Analyses were based on 3–5 year follow-up and limited to individuals aged 25–77 years. Age standardised mortality rates were calculated using the European population standard. RESULTS: Absolute inequalities in mortality on average over the 1980s and 1990s for both men and women by education were similar in Sweden and New Zealand, but by income were greater in Sweden. Comparing trends in absolute inequalities over the 1980s and 1990s, men's absolute inequalities by education decreased by 66% in Sweden and by 17% in New Zealand (p for trend <0.01 in both countries). Women's absolute inequalities by education decreased by 19% in Sweden (p = 0.03) and by 8% in New Zealand (p = 0.53). Men's absolute inequalities by income decreased by 51% in Sweden (p for trend = 0.06), but increased by 16% in New Zealand (p = 0.13). Women's absolute inequalities by income increased in both countries: 12% in Sweden (p = 0.03) and 21% in New Zealand (p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in mortality were clearly most favourable for men in Sweden. Trends also seemed to be more favourable for men than women in New Zealand. Assuming the trends in male inequalities in Sweden were not a statistical chance finding, it is not clear what the substantive reason(s) was for the pronounced decrease. Further gender comparisons are required

Heterogeneity of prodromal Parkinson symptoms in siblings of Parkinson disease patients

A prodromal phase of Parkinson’s disease (PD) may precede motor manifestations by decades. PD patients’ siblings are at higher risk for PD, but the prevalence and distribution of prodromal symptoms are unknown. The study objectives were (1) to assess motor and non-motor features estimating prodromal PD probability in PD siblings recruited within the European PROPAG-AGEING project; (2) to compare motor and non-motor symptoms to the well-established DeNoPa cohort. 340 PD siblings from three sites (Bologna, Seville, Kassel/Goettingen) underwent clinical and neurological evaluations of PD markers. The German part of the cohort was compared with German de novo PD patients (dnPDs) and healthy controls (CTRs) from DeNoPa. Fifteen (4.4%) siblings presented with subtle signs of motor impairment, with MDS-UPDRS-III scores not clinically different from CTRs. Symptoms of orthostatic hypotension were present in 47 siblings (13.8%), no different to CTRs (p = 0.072). No differences were found for olfaction and overall cognition; German-siblings performed worse than CTRs in visuospatial-executive and language tasks. 3/147 siblings had video-polysomnography-confirmed REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD), none was positive on the RBD Screening Questionnaire. 173/300 siblings had &lt;1% probability of having prodromal PD; 100 between 1 and 10%, 26 siblings between 10 and 80%, one fulfilled the criteria for prodromal PD. According to the current analysis, we cannot confirm the increased risk of PD siblings for prodromal PD. Siblings showed a heterogeneous distribution of prodromal PD markers and probability. Additional parameters, including strong disease markers, should be investigated to verify if these results depend on validity and sensitivity of prodromal PD criteria, or if siblings’ risk is not elevated

A geroscience approach for Parkinson's disease: Conceptual framework and design of PROPAG-AGEING project

Advanced age is the major risk factor for idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD), but to date the biological relationship between PD and ageing remains elusive. Here we describe the rationale and the design of the H2020 funded project “PROPAG-AGEING”, whose aim is to characterize the contribution of the ageing process to PD development. We summarize current evidences that support the existence of a continuum between ageing and PD and justify the use of a Geroscience approach to study PD. We focus in particular on the role of inflammaging, the chronic, low-grade inflammation characteristic of elderly physiology, which can propagate and transmit both locally and systemically. We then describe PROPAG-AGEING design, which is based on the multi-omic characterization of peripheral samples from clinically characterized drug-naïve and advanced PD, PD discordant twins, healthy controls and "super-controls", i.e. centenarians, who never showed clinical signs of motor disability, and their offspring. Omic results are then validated in a large number of samples, including in vitro models of dopaminergic neurons and healthy siblings of PD patients, who are at higher risk of developing PD, with the final aim of identifying the molecular perturbations that can deviate the trajectories of healthy ageing towards PD development

Early downregulation of hsa-miR-144-3p in serum from drug-naïve Parkinson’s disease patients

open101siThis work was supported by the Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (Grant number 634821, PROPAG-AGING).Advanced age represents one of the major risk factors for Parkinson’s Disease. Recent biomedical studies posit a role for microRNAs, also known to be remodelled during ageing. However, the relationship between microRNA remodelling and ageing in Parkinson’s Disease, has not been fully elucidated. Therefore, the aim of the present study is to unravel the relevance of microRNAs as biomarkers of Parkinson’s Disease within the ageing framework. We employed Next Generation Sequencing to profile serum microRNAs from samples informative for Parkinson’s Disease (recently diagnosed, drug-naïve) and healthy ageing (centenarians) plus healthy controls, age-matched with Parkinson’s Disease patients. Potential microRNA candidates markers, emerging from the combination of differential expression and network analyses, were further validated in an independent cohort including both drug-naïve and advanced Parkinson’s Disease patients, and healthy siblings of Parkinson’s Disease patients at higher genetic risk for developing the disease. While we did not find evidences of microRNAs co-regulated in Parkinson’s Disease and ageing, we report that hsa-miR-144-3p is consistently down-regulated in early Parkinson’s Disease patients. Moreover, interestingly, functional analysis revealed that hsa-miR-144-3p is involved in the regulation of coagulation, a process known to be altered in Parkinson’s Disease. Our results consistently show the down-regulation of hsa-mir144-3p in early Parkinson’s Disease, robustly confirmed across a variety of analytical and experimental analyses. These promising results ask for further research to unveil the functional details of the involvement of hsa-mir144-3p in Parkinson’s Disease.openZago E.; Dal Molin A.; Dimitri G.M.; Xumerle L.; Pirazzini C.; Bacalini M.G.; Maturo M.G.; Azevedo T.; Spasov S.; Gomez-Garre P.; Perinan M.T.; Jesus S.; Baldelli L.; Sambati L.; Calandra Buonaura G.; Garagnani P.; Provini F.; Cortelli P.; Mir P.; Trenkwalder C.; Mollenhauer B.; Franceschi C.; Lio P.; Nardini C.; Adarmes-Gomez A.; Azevedo T.; Bacalini M.G.; Baldelli L.; Bartoletti-Stella A.; Bhatia K.P.; Marta B.-T.; Boninsegna C.; Broli M.; Dolores B.-R.; Calandra-Buonaura G.; Capellari S.; Carrion-Claro M.; Cilea R.; Clayton R.; Cortelli P.; Molin A.D.; De Luca S.; De Massis P.; Dimitri G.M.; Doykov I.; Escuela-Martin R.; Fabbri G.; Franceschi C.; Gabellini A.; Garagnani P.; Giuliani C.; Gomez-Garre P.; Guaraldi P.; Hagg S.; Hallqvist J.; Halsband C.; Heywood W.; Houlden H.; Huertas I.; Jesus S.; Jylhava J.; Labrador-Espinosa M.A.; Licari C.; Lio P.; Luchinat C.; Macias D.; Macri S.; Magrinelli F.; Rodriguez J.F.M.; Massimo D.; Maturo M.G.; Mengozzi G.; Meoni G.; Mignani F.; Milazzo M.; Mills K.; Mir P.; Mollenhauer B.; Nardini C.; Nassetti S.A.; Pedersen N.L.; Perinan-Tocino M.T.; Pirazzini C.; Provini F.; Ravaioli F.; Sala C.; Sambati L.; Scaglione C.L.M.; Schade S.; Schreglmann S.; Spasov S.; Strom S.; Tejera-Parrado C.; Tenori L.; Trenkwalder C.; Turano P.; Valzania F.; Ortega R.V.; Williams D.; Xumerle L.; Zago E.Zago E.; Dal Molin A.; Dimitri G.M.; Xumerle L.; Pirazzini C.; Bacalini M.G.; Maturo M.G.; Azevedo T.; Spasov S.; Gomez-Garre P.; Perinan M.T.; Jesus S.; Baldelli L.; Sambati L.; Calandra Buonaura G.; Garagnani P.; Provini F.; Cortelli P.; Mir P.; Trenkwalder C.; Mollenhauer B.; Franceschi C.; Lio P.; Nardini C.; Adarmes-Gomez A.; Azevedo T.; Bacalini M.G.; Baldelli L.; Bartoletti-Stella A.; Bhatia K.P.; Marta B.-T.; Boninsegna C.; Broli M.; Dolores B.-R.; Calandra-Buonaura G.; Capellari S.; Carrion-Claro M.; Cilea R.; Clayton R.; Cortelli P.; Molin A.D.; De Luca S.; De Massis P.; Dimitri G.M.; Doykov I.; Escuela-Martin R.; Fabbri G.; Franceschi C.; Gabellini A.; Garagnani P.; Giuliani C.; Gomez-Garre P.; Guaraldi P.; Hagg S.; Hallqvist J.; Halsband C.; Heywood W.; Houlden H.; Huertas I.; Jesus S.; Jylhava J.; Labrador-Espinosa M.A.; Licari C.; Lio P.; Luchinat C.; Macias D.; Macri S.; Magrinelli F.; Rodriguez J.F.M.; Massimo D.; Maturo M.G.; Mengozzi G.; Meoni G.; Mignani F.; Milazzo M.; Mills K.; Mir P.; Mollenhauer B.; Nardini C.; Nassetti S.A.; Pedersen N.L.; Perinan-Tocino M.T.; Pirazzini C.; Provini F.; Ravaioli F.; Sala C.; Sambati L.; Scaglione C.L.M.; Schade S.; Schreglmann S.; Spasov S.; Strom S.; Tejera-Parrado C.; Tenori L.; Trenkwalder C.; Turano P.; Valzania F.; Ortega R.V.; Williams D.; Xumerle L.; Zago E

Work Engagement, Burnout and Personal Accomplishments Among Social Workers: A Comparison Between Those Working in Children and Adults’ Services in England

Social workers (SWs) provide emotional and practical support to vulnerable service users who are likely to suffer from emotional trauma and mental health conditions. Stress and burnout levels are reported to be high among SWs, however, little is known about their relationships with different characteristics. The current article utilises unique and large dataset (n?=?3786) on SWs working in adults and children’s services to examine factors associated with burnout. Employing job-demand/resources model and structural equations modelling, we highlight the varying significant impact of work-engagement, administrative support and work experience as moderating factors to burnout across adult and children service specialism in this sample

Evidence-based PET for thoracic tumours

AbstractFluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) is a robust imaging tool that is currently used in daily clinical practice for the evaluation of thoracic malignancies. This chapter provides an overview of the current evidence-based data on the usefulness of PET/CT for the evaluation of patients with thoracic tumours including lung cancer, pleural and thymic tumours, and esophageal cancer