3,208 research outputs found
Age-Gapped and Age-Condensed Lineages: Patterns of Intergenerational Age Structure among Canadian Families
This paper examines intergenerational connections within Canadian families. Its focus is on intergenerational age structure, the interval or 'gap' in years that separates one generation from the next. Intergenerational age structure is measured in terms of the age of a mother at the birth of her first child. Using data from the 1995 General Social Survey of Canada, the study examines the socio-demographic characteristics of women (n=404) in three- and four-generation families (lineages) that are age-condensed (small age distances between generations that are the result of early fertility) and those that are age- gapped (with large age distances between generations that are the result of late fertility patterns). Across two generations of women, there is a striking similarity in the distributions of age at first birth with just under one-third of the sample having early fertility, just over one-half falling into a normative or "on-time" category, and one-seventh having delayed fertility. However, when matched pairs of mothers and daughters are compared across generations, age-condensed and age-gapped lineage patterns show considerable variability. Although just under one-half of mother-daughter dyads show lineage consistency in family age structure across three generations (most typically in age-condensed/age-condensed or normative/normative age structures), low percentages of women whose family of origin was age-gapped repeat that age structure pattern in their own families of procreation. Socio-demographic factors such as mother's and daughter's age, family size, age at first marriage, and level of education are associated with lineage continuity and discontinuity in family age structure.intergenerational age structure; GSS
Could Fire and Rescue Services identify older people at risk of falls?
Protecting or improving the efficiency and effectiveness of services while reducing costs in response to public sector funding reductions is a significant challenge for all public service organisations. Preventing falls in older people is a major public health objective. We propose here an innovative model of community partnership with Fire and Rescue Services assisting falls prevention services to enhance the safety and well-being of older people in local communities through early identification of those who are at risk of injury from a fall or accidental domestic fire
Daily Sleep Quality is Associated with Daily Cognition in Late-Life
Background: Older adults often face sleep disturbance or cognitive decline that goes beyond the scope of normal aging. The present study examined the relationship between self-reported sleep quality and self-reported daytime attention in a community-dwelling sample of older men at the between-persons and within-persons levels of association.
Methods: Thirty-eight participants (M age =75.36 years, SD age =7.51 years, range=66-90 years) completed a twice-daily sleep diary for one week. Sleep quality and attention were assessed using a single-item 0-10 rating scales from the morning diary (âHow was the quality of your sleep last night?â) and from the evening diary (âHow was your attention today?â). A two-level multilevel model was parameterized with days nested within individuals to examine whether nightly sleep quality predicts an individualâs daily attention rating.
Results: A multilevel model predicting self-reported attention revealed (1) older individuals who reported better sleep quality reported having better daily attention [Beta=0.64, t(248.15)=10.12, p\u3c0.001] and (2) following a day of above-average sleep quality, older individuals experienced above-average attention [Beta=0.16, t(259.79)=2.75, p=.006].
Conclusion: Not only was overall sleep quality associated with self-reported attention, but a good night\u27s sleep was associated with better self-reported next-day attention. Results point to the potential importance of fluctuations in sleep quality for daytime functioning. Interventions aimed at improving nightly sleep consistency may be worth exploring as methods to improve daytime cognitive functioning in older adults.
Support: This work was supported by the Sleep Research Society Foundation/Jazz Pharmaceuticals (001JP13, PI: Dzierzewski) and by the National Institute on Aging of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number K23AG049955 (PI: Dzierzewski), and National Heart Lung and Blood Institute at the National Institutes of Health under award number K24HL143055 (PI: Martin). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health or the Department of Veterans Affairs.https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/gradposters/1089/thumbnail.jp
Winter Wheat Resistant to Increases in Rain and Snow Intensity in a Semi-Arid System
As the atmosphere warms, precipitation events have been predicted and observed to become fewer and larger. Changes in precipitation patterns can have large effects on dryland agricultural production, but experimental tests on the effects of changing precipitation intensity are limited. Over 3 years, we tested the effects of increased precipitation intensity on winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.; Promontory variety) in a temperate dryland agricultural system that was on a rotation of crop and fallow years. We used 11 (2.1 Ă 2.5 m) shelters to collect and redeposit rain and snow as larger, more intense events. Total precipitation was the same in all plots, but event sizes in each plot varied from 1 to 18 mm. Treatments increased soil water availability, but winter wheat biomass and grain yield did not differ among treatments. Similarly, other measured plant growth responses, including vegetation greenness, leaf area index, canopy temperature, photochemical efficiency, root area, and new root growth, did not differ among treatments. Results indicate that at least in the semiarid climate and silt loam soils studied here, anticipated increases in precipitation intensity are unlikely to affect winter wheat production negatively. Further, increased precipitation intensity may mitigate water stress caused by increasing temperatures and encourage the use of wheat varieties that utilize deeper, later season soil water
Non-specific abdominal pain and air pollution: a novel association.
We studied whether short-term exposure to air pollution was associated with non-specific abdominal pain in epidemiologic and animal studies.
Patients visiting the emergency department with non-specific abdominal pain were identified in Edmonton (1992 to 2002, n = 95,173) and Montreal (1997 to 2002, n = 25,852). We calculated the daily concentrations for ozone (O(3)), nitrogen dioxide (NO(2)), sulfur dioxide (SO(2)), carbon monoxide (CO), and particles <10 (PM(10)) or <2.5 (PM(2.5)) ”m. A case crossover study design was used to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) associated with an increase in the interquartile range of the air pollutants. We investigated differential effects by age and sex. Mice were gavaged with urban particle extracts. In animal models, colonic motility was tested, and visceral abdominal pain was measured using a writhing test, and behavioral response to oil of mustard and neostigmine. Motility and pain was measured acutely (1.5 hours after gavage) and chronically (7-days and 21-days after gavage).
Emergency department visits for non-specific abdominal pain were primarily by women between the ages of 15-24 years. Individuals aged 15 to 24 years were at increased risk of non-specific abdominal pain in Edmonton (same day CO: OR = 1.04, 95% CI = 1.02-1.06; and NO(2): OR = 1.06, 95% CI = 1.03-1.09). The risk of air pollution among 15-24 year olds in Montreal was significantly positive (same day CO: OR = 1.11, 95% CI = 1.05-1.17; NO(2): OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.01-1.16; SO(2): OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.10-1.25; PM(2.5): OR = 1.09, 95% CI = 1.04-1.15). Abdominal pain was increased by an acute gavage of pollution extract but not to chronic exposure to pollutants. Colonic transit was delayed following chronic but not acute exposure with the pollutants.
Epidemiological and animal data suggest that short-term exposure to air pollution may trigger non-specific abdominal pain in young individuals
Experimental evidence for Wigner's tunneling time
Tunneling of a particle through a potential barrier remains one of the most
remarkable quantum phenomena. Owing to advances in laser technology, electric
fields comparable to those electrons experience in atoms are readily generated
and open opportunities to dynamically investigate the process of electron
tunneling through the potential barrier formed by the superposition of both
laser and atomic fields. Attosecond-time and angstrom-space resolution of the
strong laser-field technique allow to address fundamental questions related to
tunneling, which are still open and debated: Which time is spent under the
barrier and what momentum is picked up by the particle in the meantime? In this
combined experimental and theoretical study we demonstrate that for
strong-field ionization the leading quantum mechanical Wigner treatment for the
time resolved description of tunneling is valid. We achieve a high sensitivity
on the tunneling barrier and unambiguously isolate its effects by performing a
differential study of two systems with almost identical tunneling geometry.
Moreover, working with a low frequency laser, we essentially limit the
non-adiabaticity of the process as a major source of uncertainty. The agreement
between experiment and theory implies two substantial corrections with respect
to the widely employed quasiclassical treatment: In addition to a non-vanishing
longitudinal momentum along the laser field-direction we provide clear evidence
for a non-zero tunneling time delay. This addresses also the fundamental
question how the transition occurs from the tunnel barrier to free space
classical evolution of the ejected electron.Comment: 31 pages, 15 figures including appendi
First-Pass Meconium Samples from Healthy Term Vaginally-Delivered Neonates : An Analysis of the Microbiota
Acknowledgments The authors would like to thank the parents who consented to provide samples with limited notice at an emotional and stressful time. This work was supported entirely from personal donations to the neonatal endowments fund at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital and we thank families for their continued generosity, year-on-year. The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health receives funding from the Scottish Government (SG-RESAS). Funding: This work was funded from NHS Grampian Neonatal Endowments. The Rowett Institute receives funding from the Rural and Environmental Science and Analytical Services programme of the Scottish Government. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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Fatty acylation of Vaccinia virus proteins : dual myristylation and palmitylation of the A-type inclusion protein
The attachment of myristic acid to the N-terminal glycine residue of many
eukaryotic and viral proteins is often essential for the acquisition of the protein's
biological activity. Vaccinia virus (VV), the prototype member of the Poxviridae,
expresses several myristylated proteins during the course of infection. Only one of
these proteins, L1R, has been identified and characterized.
Experiments were performed to identify and analyze four additional VV
myristylproteins. These proteins were identified as the A-type inclusion protein (92
kDa), G9R (39 kDa), A16L (36 kDa), and E7R (17 kDa). The latter three proteins
were shown to be myristylated on an N-terminal glycine residue. Additional studies
demonstrated that both A16L and E7R are soluble proteins, unlike L1R, which is a
constituent of the viral envelope. Furthermore, A16L could not be detected in either purified extracellular enveloped virus (EEV) or in intracellular mature virus (IMV).
These are the two predominant forms of infectious virions produced during a VV
infection. E7R was detected in EEV and, to a lesser extent, in IMV.
Unlike the other proteins, the amino terminal sequence of the A-type inclusion
protein did not fit the consensus sequence for N-myristylation (M-G-X-X-X-S/T/A/C/N), suggesting that it was internally myristylated. A combination of studies
revealed that the protein is both myristylated and palmitylated. Addition of each acyl
group could be separated temporally: myristylation occured co-translationally, while
palmitylation occurred post-translationally. Genetic analyses of lysine doublets and
arginine/lysine doublets within the A-type inclusion protein indicated that these sites
are not utilized for myristylation. This is in contrast to the precursors of TNFoc and Ilia
which are internally-myristylated on a lysine doublet.
It is not clear why this protein would be both myristylated and palmitylated.
Only class four palmitylproteins, such as the Src family of proteins, have been shown
to be both myristylated and palmitylated. The A-type inclusion protein expressed by
cowpox virus forms a large symmetrical matix in the cytoplasm of infected cells and
generally contains mature virions. It is possible, therefore, that the function of
acylation may be to stabilize the protein matrix or to assist in occlusion of enveloped
virus particles
Closed-Loop Process Control for Electron Beam Freeform Fabrication and Deposition Processes
A closed-loop control method for an electron beam freeform fabrication (EBF(sup 3)) process includes detecting a feature of interest during the process using a sensor(s), continuously evaluating the feature of interest to determine, in real time, a change occurring therein, and automatically modifying control parameters to control the EBF(sup 3) process. An apparatus provides closed-loop control method of the process, and includes an electron gun for generating an electron beam, a wire feeder for feeding a wire toward a substrate, wherein the wire is melted and progressively deposited in layers onto the substrate, a sensor(s), and a host machine. The sensor(s) measure the feature of interest during the process, and the host machine continuously evaluates the feature of interest to determine, in real time, a change occurring therein. The host machine automatically modifies control parameters to the EBF(sup 3) apparatus to control the EBF(sup 3) process in a closed-loop manner
Polysaccharide utilization loci and nutritional specialization in a dominant group of butyrate-producing human colonic Firmicutes
Acknowledgements The Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health (University of Aberdeen) receives financial support from the Scottish Government Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS). POS is a PhD student supported by the Scottish Government (RESAS) and the Science Foundation Ireland, through a centre award to the APC Microbiome Institute, Cork, Ireland. Data Summary The high-quality draft genomes generated in this work were deposited at the European Nucleotide Archive under the following accession numbers: 1. Eubacterium rectale T1-815; CVRQ01000001âCVRQ0100 0090: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9320 2. Roseburia faecis M72/1; CVRR01000001âCVRR010001 01: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9321 3. Roseburia inulinivorans L1-83; CVRS01000001âCVRS0 100 0151: http://www.ebi.ac.uk/ena/data/view/PRJEB9322Peer reviewedPublisher PD
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