Is the risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia declining?

Abstract Background The number of older adults with dementia will increase around the world in the decades ahead as populations age. Current estimates suggest that about 4.2 million adults in the US have dementia and that the attributable economic cost of their care is about $200 billion per year. The worldwide dementia prevalence is estimated at 44.3 million people and the total cost at$604 billion per year. It is expected that the worldwide prevalence will triple to 135.5 million by 2050. However, a number of recent population-based studies from countries around the world suggest that the age-specific risk of dementia may be declining, which could help moderate the expected increase in dementia cases that will accompany the growing number of older adults. Discussion At least nine recent population-based studies of dementia incidence or prevalence have shown a declining age-specific risk in the US, England, The Netherlands, Sweden, and Denmark. A number of factors, especially rising levels of education and more aggressive treatment of key cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and hypercholesterolemia, may be leading to improving ‘brain health’ and declining age-specific risk of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia in countries around the world. Summary Multiple epidemiological studies from around the world suggest an optimistic trend of declining population dementia risk in high-income countries over the past 25 years. Rising levels of education and more widespread and successful treatment of key cardiovascular risk factors may be the driving factors accounting for this decline in dementia risk. Whether this optimistic trend will continue in the face of rising worldwide levels of obesity and diabetes and whether this trend is also occurring in low- and middle-income countries are key unanswered questions which will have enormous implications for the extent of the future worldwide impact of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia on patients, families, and societies in the decades ahead.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/110799/1/13195_2015_Article_118.pd

The role of ex-offenders in implementing the Community Work Programme as a crime and violence prevention initiative

This article deals with the perceived impact of the Community Work Programme (CWP) (a statesponsored job creation project) in preventing crime and violence in the townships of Ivory Park and Orange Farm, South Africa. The focus of this article is on the role that ex-offenders who work in the CWP play in the implementation of crime and violence prevention initiatives in the two communities. Individual interviews and focus groups were conducted with ex-offenders involved in the CWP. The thematic content analysis was used to analyse the data. Findings show that the involvement of ex-offenders in the CWP was found to be a positive factor in that it protected them from recidivism by providing them with job opportunities and facilitating their re-integration into their communities. Ex-offenders described their involvement in the CWP as an opportunity to apologise for the pain they had caused community members when they committed crimes against them. It is against this background that the CWP is perceived to have a positive impact through the community work done by ex-offenders who talk to the youth-at-risk about the negative consequences of crime and violence, as well as of substance abuse.Key words: Community Work Programme, crime, ex-offenders, violence, youth

'So I decided not to invade straight black men's space': exploring heteronormative spaces on campus

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Opportunities for New Insights on the Life-Course Risks and Outcomes of Cognitive Decline in the Kavli HUMAN Project

The Kavli HUMAN Project (KHP) will provide groundbreaking insights into how biological, medical, and social factors interact and impact the risks for cognitive decline from birth through older age. It will richly measure the effect of cognitive decline on the ability to perform key activities of daily living. In addition, due to its family focus, the KHP will measure the impact on family members, including the amount of time that family members spend providing care to older adults with dementia. It will also clarify the division of caregiving duties among family members and the effects on caregivers' work, family life, and balance thereof. At the same time, for care that the family cannot provide, it will clarify the extent to which cognitive decline impacts healthcare utilization and end-of-life decision making.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/140315/1/big.2015.0015.pd

P3‐114: The association of executive function with limitations in instrumental activities of daily living among older adults in the United States: The aging, demographics, and memory study

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/152613/1/alzjjalz2010051611.pd

The Effects of Activity-Based Anorexia on the Rewarding Properties of Methamphetamine and Wheel Running

An activity-based anorexia (ABA) paradigm in adolescent female mice was used to explore whether anorexia affects circuits underlying reward. The ABA paradigm significantly enhanced methamphetamine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP), but not wheel-induced CPP. These results indicate that the ABA paradigm enhances the rewarding properties of methamphetamine, but not wheel running

Tele-revista: representaciones, imágenes y libertad política en un informativo de la televisión pública suiza para la emigración española

Desde 1973 hasta 2003 la televisión pública suiza emitió el programa Telerevista una vez cada dos semanas, los fines de semana, y con una duración de quince minutos. Tele-revista era un programa en español dirigido a los emigrantes españoles en el país helvético que contenía reportajes de temas relacionados con la realidad de la comunidad española. En una primera parte abordaremos la imagen y la puesta en escena del poder institucional de la administración española en Suiza en el programa y de su evolución a lo largo del tiempo. En una segunda parte trataremos los esfuerzos del programa por formar a los espectadores en cuestiones de democracia y libertades en Suiza. Finalmente nos ocuparemos de la presencia cada vez mayor en la información cultural del programa de las particularidades y de las relaciones entre cultura popular y alta cultura.Between 1973 and 2003 Swiss television used to broadcast at the weekend the biweekly news magazine Tele-revista, which lasted 15 minutes. Tele-revista was sent in Spanish and addressed to Spanish migrants living in Switzerland. It contained reportages about the Spanish community’s reality. This paper focuses first on the image and the staging of the Spanish administration’s institutional power in Switzerland and its evolution in the course of time. Then it will consider the efforts to educate the audience in matters of democracy and liberties in Switzerland. Finally it will treat the increasing presence in the magazine’s cultural section of the characteristics and the relation between popular and high culture

Overexpression of the short endoglin isoform reduces renal fibrosis and inflammation after unilateral ureteral obstruction

33 p.-9 fig.-2 tab. Muñoz-Felix. J. M. et al.Transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGF-β1) is one of the most studied cytokines involved in renal tubulo¬interstitial fibrosis, which is characterized by myofibroblast abundance and proliferation, and high buildup of extracellular matrix in the tubular interstitium leading to organ failure. Endoglin (Eng) is a 180-kDa homodimeric transmembrane protein that regulates a great number of TGF-β1 actions in different biological processes, includ¬ing ECM synthesis. High levels of Eng have been observed in experimental models of renal fibrosis or in biopsies from patients with chronic kidney disease. In humans and mice, two Eng isoforms are generated by alternative splicing, L-Eng and S-Eng that differ in the length and composition of their cytoplasmic domains. We have previously described that L-Eng overexpression promotes renal fibrosis after unilateral ureteral obstruction (UUO). However, the role of S-Eng in renal fibrosis is unknown and its study would let us analyze the possible function of the cytoplasmic domain of Eng in this process. For this purpose, we have generated a mice strain that overexpresses S-Eng (S-ENG+) and we have performed an UUO in S-ENG+ and their wild type (WT) control mice. Our results indicate that obstructed kidney of S-ENG+ mice shows lower levels of tubulo-interstitial fibrosis, less inflammation and less interstitial cell proliferation than WT littermates. Moreover, S-ENG+ mice show less activation of Smad1 and Smad2/3 pathways. Thus, S-Eng overexpression reduces UUO-induced renal fibrosis and some associated mechanisms. As L-Eng overexpression provokes renal fibrosis we conclude that Eng-mediated induction of renal fibrosis in this model is dependent on its cytoplasmic domain.This study has been supported by grants from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad of Spain (SAF2013-43421-R to CB; and SAF2013-45784-R to JML-N), Junta de Castilla y León (GR100, JML-N), Institute Queen Sophie for Renal Research, Fundación Renal Íñigo Álvarez de Toledo, Madrid, Spain (0016¬002), Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Raras (CIBERER, CB) (ISCIII-CB06/07/0038) and Red de Investigación Cooperativa en Enfermedades Renales (REDINREN, JML-N) (R12/0021/ 0032). CIBERER and REDINREN are initiatives of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) of Spain supported by FEDER funds. BO and ENG are supported by fellowships from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (BES-2011-048968 and BES-2008-005550). JMMF, LPR and CC are supported by fellowships from Junta de Castilla y León and Fondo Social Europeo (EDU/1204/2010 and EDU/1083/2013).Peer reviewe