Depressive Symptoms, Social Activity, and Physical Activity in older adults

Depressive symptoms are negatively related to mental health and quality of life. Social and physical activities have been used as indicators of depressive symptoms in older populations. Participation in high levels of social and physical activities has been associated with decreased depressive symptoms. This pilot study explored the relationship between the levels of social and physical activities and depressive symptoms among older adults living in an independent living facility. Twenty-two participants (Age M=87.50; SD=7.50; 82% women) were recruited and completed The Geriatric Depression Scale short form, the Revised Change in Activity and Interest Index (assessed social activity level), and Godin Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire (assessed physical exercise level). Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted to examine the association between depressive symptoms and social and physical activities while controlling for age, gender, and education. No association was found between physical activities and depressive symptoms. Individuals’ reported participation in social activities was related to lower depressive symptoms (p=.022). In particular, “attend meeting groups” (p=.005) and “going to new restaurants/places” (p=.047) were significantly correlated with lower depressive symptoms. The relevance of these activities compared to others such as “visit with old friends and neighbors”, “invitations to events with new people”, and “spending time alone appeals”, highlights interest in activities that have a shared interest and socialization with at least some familiar people. This study demonstrates the importance of how participation in specific activities with social purposes can be associated with decreased depressive symptoms among older adults in an independent portion of a retirement community

Relationships Between Depressive Symptoms and Physical Resilience in Adulthood

Aging is a natural and multi-faceted process with changes in cognitive, psychological, and physical functioning. The experience of each person is different and may be impacted by individual levels of cognitive, psychological, and physical resilience–these are separate constructs, but may be related. Resilience is crucial as it contributes to sustained physical functioning, personal well-being, and cognitive competence, in addition to facilitating adjustment to change in capacity, activity motivations, and participation in everyday life activities. Depression is one risk factor that can negatively influence cognitive, psychological, and physical resilience. The purpose of the study was to investigate how depressive symptoms and total resilience scores were related to physical resilience. Six participants aged 61.17±9.56years (range 42-68; 4 males) performed three one-minute walking trials (physical resilience). The Brief Resilience Scale (BRS) and Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) measured total resilience and depression, respectively. Correlations and multiple regressions were conducted to examine relationships between the independent variables: depression and total resilience (BRS), and the dependent variable (physical resilience measured by walking speed). There was significant positive correlation between depression and walking speed (p=.008), but no correlations between depression and total resilience, or between walking speed and total resilience. Walking speed was significantly predicted by total resilience and depression scores (p=.048), such that faster walking speed (meaning a high number) was associated with lower scores on resilience, and higher scores on depression. Since the collected sample size is very small (n=6), the results are preliminary as data collection is still underway

High Cognitive Load Situations Decrease Both Gait and Cognitive Performance

A high cognitive load situation (HCLS) is completing two or more tasks simultaneously (i.e. walking while talking). Differential allocation of attentional demands creates HCLS, potentially deteriorating cognitive and/or gait performance, impacting fall risk. This study investigated whether different load types [(Single-task (ST): talking/walking only, and HCLS: walking while talking on a phone)] impacted gait and cognitive performance among young (n=8; age=23.16±1.96yrs), middle-aged (n=14; age=44.79±7.42yrs), and older (n=15; age=74.47±3.91yrs) adults. In 3-minute trials, participants completed single-task walking (ST-W) and phone conversations with easy (e.g., favorite food, ST-E) and difficult (e.g., personal relationships, ST-D) topics, and also combined walking and talking (easy: HCLS-E and difficult: HCLS-D). For gait, speed, step length (SL) and stride width (SW) were analyzed with 3(ST-W, HCLS-E, HCLS-D) x 3(Age) repeated-measures ANOVAs. HCLS resulted in slower speed (

Singlet Fermionic Dark Matter with Dark ZZ

We present a fermionic dark matter model mediated by the hidden gauge boson. We assume the QED-like hidden sector which consists of a Dirac fermion and U(1)$_X$ gauge symmetry, and introduce an additional scalar electroweak doublet field with the U(1)$_X$ charge as a mediator. The hidden U(1)$_X$ symmetry is spontaneously broken by the electroweak symmetry breaking and there exists a massive extra neutral gauge boson in this model which is the mediator between the hidden and visible sectors. Due to the U(1)$_X$ charge, the additional scalar doublet does not couple to the Standard Model fermions, which leads to the Higgs sector of type I two Higgs doublet model. The new gauge boson couples to the Standard Model fermions with couplings proportional to those of the ordinary $Z$ boson but very suppressed, thus we call it the dark $Z$ boson. We study the phenomenology of the dark $Z$ boson and the Higgs sector, and show the hidden fermion can be the dark matter candidate.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Design principles for transforming making programs into online settings at public libraries

Purpose This paper aims to investigate design principles for transforming existing making communities of practice within public libraries into online knowledge-building communities to support youths, families with young children and adult members’ making and tinkering during COVID-19. Design/methodology/approach Building upon C4P and connected learning framework, the authors analyze existing literature and practitioner reports on informal learning projects related to making and STEM learning, family learning and online learning as well as emergent cases of innovative approaches in response to COVID-19 from public libraries, informal learning institutions and community groups. Findings The authors suggest 11 design principles around five areas: program design, facilitation, tools and materials, process documentation and sharing and feedback. Originality/value This work contributes to the information and learning sciences concerned with community engagement and knowledge creation by suggesting a design model to transform and sustain existing making communities of practice within public libraries into online knowledge-building communities during COVID-19

Path Analysis of Education and Disease Burden in Dementia Vulnerability

When considering the various extrinsic variables that affect disease vulnerability, it is valuable to study temporal ordering of factors to identify areas for disease intervention. This study sought to inform improvement of networks for the purposes of education and health by attempting to better define the causal ordering of ethnicity, age, gender, education, disease burden, and dementia diagnosis with the Aging, Demographics, and Memory Study, a sub-study of the Health and Retirement Study. Participants and/or proxies self-reported total number of chronic conditions, subsequently regarded as disease burden. Assessments occurred over four waves; participants were not reassessed after dementia diagnosis. The current study categorized participants as demented (n=414), identified in any wave, or normal (n=117), identified in the final wave. Cognitively-impaired-not-demented and deceased participants were not considered due to lack of diagnosis. Cross-sectional weighting was used. A path model was developed; ethnicity, age, and gender were antecedent to education, and education was casually ordered before disease burden, which was antecedent to dementia diagnosis. A series of logistic and linear regression analyses were conducted. Results revealed that being Black (Σβ=0.348, all p’s\u3c.001), Hispanic (Σβ=0.253, all p’s\u3c.001), of older age (Σβ=0.264, all p’s\u3c.001), female (Σβ=0.422, all p’s\u3c.001), and having increased disease burden (Σβ=0.113, p\u3c.001) all demonstrated a positive total effect on dementia diagnosis. Conversely, increased education (Σβ=-0.268, p\u3c.001) had a negative total effect on diagnosis. All direct and indirect pathways were statistically significant. Ultimately, these results may indicate a need for dementia interventions that target those with low education or high disease burden

Prevalence and Management of Diabetes in Korean Adults: Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys 1998–2005

OBJECTIVE: This research investigated recent changes in the prevalence and management status of diabetes among Korean adults. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (KNHANES), a nationwide survey examining the general health and nutrition status of the Korean people, was conducted in 1998, 2001, and 2005. Using the first (1998; n = 5,645), second (2001; n = 4,154), and third (2005; n = 4,628) KNHANES datasets, in the present study, we estimated the prevalence of diabetes among Korean adults (aged >or=30 years), the proportions of known cases of diabetes, and the proportions of well-controlled cases of diabetes, as defined by either the American Diabetes Association (A1C <7%) or the International Diabetes Federation guidelines (A1C <6.5%). RESULTS: In 2005, the prevalence of diabetes was estimated to be 9.1% (approximately 2.58 million people: 10.2% of men and 7.9% of women), including 6.2% with known diabetes and 2.9% with newly diagnosed diabetes. The prevalence of impaired fasting glucose was 17.4% (approximately 4.94 million people). The proportion of known cases of diabetes drastically increased from 23.2% in 1998 to 41.2% in 2001 and 68.0% in 2005 (P < 0.0001). Among known diabetic patients in 2005, 43.5 and 22.9% had A1C levels <7.0 and <6.5%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The overall prevalence of diabetes in Korea has not changed significantly between 1998 and 2005. Physician diagnosis and treatment rates of diabetes have significantly improved during this period, but glycemic control was still poorer than that in other developed countriesope