Introduction: How American Literature Understands Poverty

Together, the essays in this issue of American Literature stage what is at stake in how literature understands poverty, elucidating not only the problem of poverty but also, and especially, the problem of how we see it. To see poverty differently, they might conclude, is not only a matter of what we see. It is a matter of reflecting on how we see

Surface, but Not Age, Impacts Lower Limb Joint Work during Walking and Stair Ascent

Older adults often suffer an accidental fall when navigating challenging surfaces during common locomotor tasks, such as walking and ascending stairs. This study examined the effect of slick and uneven surfaces on lower limb joint work in older and younger adults while walking and ascending stairs. Fifteen young (18–25 years) and 12 older (\u3e65 years) adults had stance phase positive limb and joint work quantified during walking and stair ascent tasks on a normal, slick, and uneven surface, which was then submitted to a two-way mixed model ANOVA for analysis. The stair ascent required greater limb, and hip, knee, and ankle work than walking (all p \u3c 0.001), with participants producing greater hip and knee work during both the walk and stair ascent (both p \u3c 0.001). Surface, but not age, impacted positive limb work. Participants increased limb (p \u3c 0.001), hip (p = 0.010), and knee (p \u3c 0.001) positive work when walking over the challenging surfaces, and increased hip (p = 0.015), knee (p \u3c 0.001), and ankle (p = 0.010) work when ascending stairs with challenging surfaces. Traversing a challenging surface during both walking and stair ascent tasks required greater work production from the large proximal hip and knee musculature, which may increase the likelihood of an accidental fall in older adults

Surface, but Not Age Impact Lower Limb Joint Work During Walk and Stair Ascent

During common locomotor activates, such as walk or stair negotiation, older adults exhibit unfavorable lower limb biomechanical changes, including diminished joint torque and power, and proximal mechanical work redistribution that may increase their fall risk. Twelve young (18 to 25 years) and 12 older (\u3e 65 years) adults performed a walk and stair ascent task on a normal, slick, and uneven surface. For each walk and stair ascent trial, synchronous 3D marker trajectories and GRF data were collected. Stance phase positive limb and joint work, and relative joint work were submitted to statistical analysis. Ascending stairs required more positive work than the walk, particularly from the knee, which may increase fall risk. Yet, both walking and ascending stairs over a challenging surface required more, proximally distributed work

Surface, but Not Age Impacts Lower Limb Joint Work During Stair Ascent

Introduction: Age-related loss in lower limb strength, particularly at the ankle, may impair older adults (over 65 years of age) mobility, and result in biomechanical deficits compared to their younger counterparts. Older adults tend to walk slower with shorter steps and exhibit diminished ankle joint kinetics (i.e., moment, power and work). Although the compromised ankle function leads older adults to produce smaller ankle joint torques and power output, reducing forces to propel the center of mass forward, it is unclear if they redistributed, or increase hip or knee work to safely walk, particularly when challenged with an uneven or slick surface. Objective: To compare positive lower limb work for young and older adults when walking over challenging surfaces, and determine whether redistributed power output. Methods: Twenty-eight (16 young, 18 to 25 years and 12 older, over 65 years) adults had positive work in the lower limb quantified when walking a self-selected speed over three surfaces (normal, uneven, and slick). Total limb, hip, knee and ankle positive work, and relative effort (% of total) at each joint were submitted to RM ANOVA to test main effect and interaction between surface (normal, uneven, and slick) and age (young and older adults). Results: Surface, but not age impact positive lower limb work. Surface impacted total limb (p=0.000), hip (p=0.007) and knee (p=0.001) positive work. The limb and knee produced more positive work on the uneven compared normal (

Different frequencies and triggers of canyon filling and flushing events in Nazaré Canyon, offshore Portugal

Submarine canyons are one of the most important pathways for sediment transport into ocean basins. For this reason, understanding canyon architecture and sedimentary processes has importance for sediment budgets, carbon cycling, and geohazard assessment. Despite increasing knowledge of turbidity current triggers, the down-canyon variability in turbidity current frequency within most canyon systems is not well constrained. New AMS radiocarbon chronologies from canyon sediment cores illustrate significant variability in turbidity current frequency within Nazaré Canyon through time. Generalised linear models and Cox proportional hazards models indicate a strong influence of global sea level on the frequency of turbidity currents that fill the canyon. Radiocarbon ages from basin sediment cores indicate that larger, canyon-flushing turbidity currents reaching the Iberian Abyssal Plain have a significantly longer average recurrence interval than turbidity currents that fill the canyon. The recurrence intervals of these canyon-flushing turbidity currents also appear to be unaffected by long-term changes in global sea level. Furthermore, canyon-flushing and canyon-filling have very different statistical distributions of recurrence intervals. This indicates that the factors triggering, and thus controlling the frequency of canyon-flushing and canyon-filling events are very different. Canyon-filling appears to be predominantly triggered by sediment instability during sea level lowstand, and by storm and nepheloid transport during the present day highstand. Canyon-flushing exhibits time-independent behaviour. This indicates that a temporally random process, signal shredding, or summation of non-random processes that cannot be discerned from a random signal, are triggering canyon flushing events

A multi-disciplinary investigation of the AFEN Slide: The relationship between contourites and submarine landslides

Contourite drifts are sediment deposits formed by ocean bottom currents on continental slopes worldwide. Although it has become increasingly apparent that contourites are often prone to slope failure, the physical controls on slope instability remain unclear. This study presents high-resolution sedimentological, geochemical and geotechnical analyses of sediments to better understand the physical controls on slope failure that occurred within a sheeted contourite drift within the Faroe-Shetland Channel. We aim to identify and characterize the failure plane of the late Quaternary landslide (the AFEN Slide), and explain its location within the sheeted drift stratigraphy. The analyses reveal abrupt lithological contrasts characterized by distinct changes in physical, geochemical and geotechnical properties. Our findings indicate that the AFEN Slide likely initiated along a distinct lithological interface, between overlying sandy contouritic sediments and softer underlying mud-rich sediments. These lithological contrasts are interpreted to relate to climatically-controlled variations in sediment input and bottom current intensity. Similar lithological contrasts are likely to be common within contourite drifts at many other oceanic gateways worldwide; hence our findings are likely to apply more widely. As we demonstrate here, recognition of such contrasts requires multi-disciplinary data over the depth range of stratigraphy that is potentially prone to slope failure

Impact of COVID-19 on 'Living Well' with Mild-to-Moderate Dementia in the Community: Findings from the IDEAL Cohort

Background: Negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on people with dementia have been widely-documented, but most studies have relied on carer reports and few have compared responses to information collected before the pandemic. Objective: We aimed to explore the impact of the pandemic on community-dwelling individuals with mild-to-moderate dementia and compare responses with pre-pandemic data. Methods: During the second wave of the pandemic, we conducted structured telephone interviews with 173 people with dementia and 242 carers acting as informants, all of whom had previously participated in the IDEAL cohort. Where possible, we benchmarked responses against pre-pandemic data. Results: Significant perceived negative impacts were identified in cognitive and functional skills and ability to engage in self-care and manage everyday activities, along with increased levels of loneliness and discontinuity in sense of self and a decline in perceived capability to 'live well'. Compared to pre-pandemic data, there were lower levels of pain, depression, and anxiety, higher levels of optimism, and better satisfaction with family support. There was little impact on physical health, mood, social connections and relationships, or perceptions of neighborhood characteristics. Conclusion: Efforts to mitigate negative impacts of pandemic-related restrictions and restore quality of life could focus on reablement to address the effects on participation in everyday activities, creating opportunities for social contact to reduce loneliness, and personalized planning to reconnect people with their pre-COVID selves. Such efforts may build on the resilience demonstrated by people with dementia and carers in coping with the pandemic

‘‘You try to keep a brave face on but inside you are in bits’’: Grandparent experiences of engaging with professionals in Children’s Services

This article presents findings from an evaluation conducted in 2012, of the advice and advocacy service provided by the charity Family Rights Group for families involved with children’s services. It specifically focuses on the experiences of grandparents and explores accounts from grandparents who were either in the process of seeking care of their grandchildren or were already caring for grandchildren but without formal support or recognition. The findings suggest that there is a need to pay greater attention to the fears of such grandparents about children’s services in a context where there appears to be a policy preference for adoption. Also evident is a paradox at the heart of contemporary social work practices towards grandparents. While some felt dismissed and marginalized very quickly by social workers and imaginative approaches to care possibilities did not appear to be pursued, others were carrying enormous burdens of care often for very long periods of time without either financial support or legal recognition. To strengthen the care options for children and respect the ethic of care that is clearly to be observed operating in grandparenting practices, it is suggested that a more thorough interrogation of the multiple and often highly contradictory meanings attached to family is required on the part of social workers

Differences in trajectories of quality of life according to type of dementia: 6-year longitudinal findings from the IDEAL programme

Background: People with different types of dementia may have distinct symptoms and experiences that affect their quality of life. This study investigated whether quality of life varied across types of dementia and over time. Methods: The participants were 1555 people with mild-to-moderate dementia and 1327 carers from the IDEAL longitudinal cohort study, recruited from clinical services. As many as possible were followed for up to 6 years. Diagnoses included were Alzheimer’s disease, vascular dementia, mixed Alzheimer’s and vascular dementia, Parkinson’s disease dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, and frontotemporal dementia. Self- and informant-rated versions of the Quality of Life in Alzheimer’s Disease scale were used. A joint model, incorporating a mixed effects model with random effects and a survival model to account for dropout, was used to examine whether quality of life varied by dementia type at the time of diagnosis and how trajectories changed over time. Results: The strongest associations between dementia type and quality of life were seen around the time of diagnosis. For both self-ratings and informant ratings, people with Parkinson’s disease dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies had lower quality of life scores. Over time there was little change in self-rated scores across all dementia types (− 0.15 points per year). Informant-rated scores declined over time (− 1.63 points per year), with the greatest decline seen in ratings by informants for people with dementia with Lewy bodies (− 2.18 points per year). Conclusions: Self-rated quality of life scores were relatively stable over time whilst informant ratings showed a steeper decline. People with Parkinson’s disease dementia or dementia with Lewy bodies report particularly low levels of quality of life, indicating the importance of greater attention to the needs of these groups

Health conditions in spousal caregivers of people with dementia and their relationships with stress, caregiving experiences, and social networks: longitudinal findings from the IDEAL programme

Objectives: Longitudinal evidence documenting health conditions in spousal caregivers of people with dementia and whether these influence caregivers’ outcomes is scarce. This study explores type and number of health conditions over two years in caregivers of people with dementia and subgroups based on age, sex, education, hours of care, informant-rated functional ability, neuropsychiatric symptoms, cognition of the person with dementia, and length of diagnosis in the person with dementia. It also explores whether over time the number of health conditions is associated with caregivers’ stress, positive experiences of caregiving, and social networks Methods: Longitudinal data from the IDEAL (Improving the experience of Dementia and Enhancing Active Life) cohort were used. Participants comprised spousal caregivers (n = 977) of people with dementia. Self-reported health conditions using the Charlson Comorbidity Index, stress, positive experiences of caregiving, and social network were assessed over two years. Mixed effect models were used Results: On average participants had 1.5 health conditions at baseline; increasing to 2.1 conditions over two years. More health conditions were reported by caregivers who were older, had no formal education, provided 10 + hours of care per day, and/or cared for a person with more neuropsychiatric symptoms at baseline. More baseline health conditions were associated with greater stress at baseline but not with stress over time