The Elusive Silver Gamer: Representations and Practices of Older Video Game Players

Over the past two decades, the increasing academic, institutional and media interest in older adults who play video games has popularized the figure of the “silver gamer” and its project of successful aging through digital play. This doctoral research examines what is at stake in older adults’ video game play. It stands at the intersection of the studies of aging, game studies, and studies of technology. The research accounts for the reciprocal relationship between discourses and practices as well as the agentivity of players within a constraining environment. It draws on fieldwork conducted in 2019-2020 in France: on one hand, biographical semi-directive interviews with sixteen older adults who play video games on their own; and, on the other hand, the ethnography of an association that organizes video game workshops in aged care institution, with non-participant observation in thirty of these workshops. The dissertation begins with an examination of the conflicted relationship between old age, play, and digital technology that limits older adults’ ability to become video game players. It then investigates the “silver gamer” discourse, outlining its techno-enthusiastic anti-aging narrative and its difficult implementation as a result of older players’ indifference towards its promises. The figure of the “silver gamer” establishes a narrow scope for older adults’ play, associated with health and self-discipline rather than fun or skill. The dissertation proposes an analysis of older adults’ gaming careers and play practices. The distinctive patterns in older adults’ video game play reflect the uneasy cultural and social condition of old age in contemporary societies. Older players tend to be particularly selfconscious, isolated from other players, discreet, and stable in their choice of games. Their play articulates a complex moral economy around time, freedom, and productivity. Their video game play exhibits a sense of marginality and restriction, but also adaptability and resistance, that is grounded in the experience of old age. The present research argues that the cultural representations, social norms, and material conditions associated with this stage of the life course interacts with individuals’ experience of leisure, play, and technology. In sum, (old) age matters in (video game) play

« Silver Gamers », des joueurs et joueuses comme les autres ? Ce que l’âge fait au jeu vidéo

Cet article propose de formaliser une réflexion sur l’importance de l’âge dans l’expérience du jeu vidéo en s’intéressant au cas des joueurs et joueuses « seniors ». Confrontés à un sentiment d’incongruité et à l’émergence d’une figure héroïque du « silver gamer », mais aussi aux circonstances sociales et matérielles de la vieillesse, les joueurs et joueuses âgés bricolent des pratiques vidéoludiques spécifiques qui mettent en évidence ce que l’âge fait au jeu vidéo. Les catégories d’âge renvoient en effet à des représentations, des normes et des rôles spécifiques qui transforment l'expérience vidéoludique sur le plan symbolique comme sur le plan des pratiques.This paper reflects on the ways in which age shapes video game play, with a focus on the experience of older players. Confronted with a feeling of incongruity and the emergence of the "silver gamer" figure, as well as the social and material circumstances of old age, older video game players engage in bricolage to play on their own terms. The experience of older players brings to light what age does to video games: age categories each carry a distinct set of representations, norms and roles that structure video game play, its meanings and practices

Sobre abonos azoados y sus aplicaciones

De las numerosas sustancias agregadas al suelo con el objeto de fertilizarlo la más antiguamente conocida es, sin duda alguna bajo formas diversas, el estiércol producido por las deyecciones de los animales y también del hombre. Este producto preparado en las granjas con los cuidados requeridos, constituye el abono por excelencia, porque á más del ázoe contiene otras materias reconocidas como indispensables á la vegetación y que es de gran interés restituirlas y aumentar su proporción ya existente en las tierras cultivadas, tales como la potasa y el ácido fosfórico. Además, el estiércol se transforma en los suelos en humus y modifica sus propiedades físicas de una manera altamente favorabie á la vegetación.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Sobre abonos azoados y sus aplicaciones

De las numerosas sustancias agregadas al suelo con el objeto de fertilizarlo la más antiguamente conocida es, sin duda alguna bajo formas diversas, el estiércol producido por las deyecciones de los animales y también del hombre. Este producto preparado en las granjas con los cuidados requeridos, constituye el abono por excelencia, porque á más del ázoe contiene otras materias reconocidas como indispensables á la vegetación y que es de gran interés restituirlas y aumentar su proporción ya existente en las tierras cultivadas, tales como la potasa y el ácido fosfórico. Además, el estiércol se transforma en los suelos en humus y modifica sus propiedades físicas de una manera altamente favorabie á la vegetación.Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestale

Seroprevalence Dynamics of European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 in a Multispecies Bat Colony

We report an active surveillance study of the occurrence of specific antibodies to European Bat Lyssavirus Type 1 (EBLV-1) in bat species, scarcely studied hitherto, that share the same refuge. From 2004 to 2012, 406 sera were obtained from nine bat species. Blood samples were subjected to a modified fluorescent antibody virus neutralization test to determine the antibody titer. EBLV-1-neutralizing antibodies were detected in six of the nine species analyzed (Pipistrellus pipistrellus, P. kuhlii, Hypsugo savii, Plecotus austriacus, Eptesicus serotinus and Tadarida teniotis). Among all bats sampled, female seroprevalence (20.21%, 95% CI: 14.78%-26.57%) was not significantly higher than the seroprevalence in males (15.02%, 95% CI: 10.51%-20.54%). The results showed that the inter-annual variation in the number of seropositive bats in T. teniotis and P. austriacus showed a peak in 2007 (>70% of EBLV-1 prevalence). However, significant differences were observed in the temporal patterns of the seroprevalence modeling of T. teniotis and P. austriacus. The behavioral ecology of these species involved could explain the different annual fluctuations in EBLV-1 seroprevalence

Jayne Draycott & Kate Cook, Women in Classical Video Games

Women in Classical Video Games, coordonné par Kate Cook et Jane Draycott, est un ouvrage qui se trouve au croisement des études classiques, des études des jeux vidéo et des études de genre. En effet, l’ouvrage est issu de l’engouement certain du jeu vidéo pour l’exploration de mondes antiques ainsi que de leurs mythologies. Les coordinatrices ont réuni un ensemble de spécialistes issus de diverses disciplines consacrées à l’étude de l’Antiquité. Les auteurs et autrices posent l’hypothèse que..

Stimulation of autophagy reduces neurodegeneration in a mouse model of human tauopathy

The accumulation of insoluble proteins is a pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders. Tauopathies are caused by the dysfunction and aggregation of tau protein and an impairment of cellular protein degradation pathways may contribute to their pathogenesis. Thus, a deficiency in autophagy can cause neurodegeneration, while activation of autophagy is protective against some proteinopathies. Little is known about the role of autophagy in animal models of human tauopathy. In the present report, we assessed the effects of autophagy stimulation by trehalose in a transgenic mouse model of tauopathy, the human mutant P301S tau mouse, using biochemical and immunohistochemical analyses. Neuronal survival was evaluated by stereology. Autophagy was activated in the brain, where the number of neurons containing tau inclusions was significantly reduced, as was the amount of insoluble tau protein. This reduction in tau aggregates was associated with improved neuronal survival in the cerebral cortex and the brainstem. We also observed a decrease of p62 protein, suggesting that it may contribute to the removal of tau inclusions. Trehalose failed to activate autophagy in the spinal cord, where it had no impact on the level of sarkosyl-insoluble tau. Accordingly, trehalose had no effect on the motor impairment of human mutant P301S tau transgenic mice. Our findings provide direct evidence in favour of the degradation of tau aggregates by autophagy. Activation of autophagy may be worth investigating in the context of therapies for human tauopathie

A New Perspective on Listeria monocytogenes Evolution

Listeria monocytogenes is a model organism for cellular microbiology and host–pathogen interaction studies and an important food-borne pathogen widespread in the environment, thus representing an attractive model to study the evolution of virulence. The phylogenetic structure of L. monocytogenes was determined by sequencing internal portions of seven housekeeping genes (3,288 nucleotides) in 360 representative isolates. Fifty-eight of the 126 disclosed sequence types were grouped into seven well-demarcated clonal complexes (clones) that comprised almost 75% of clinical isolates. Each clone had a unique or dominant serotype (4b for clones 1, 2 and 4, 1/2b for clones 3 and 5, 1/2a for clone 7, and 1/2c for clone 9), with no association of clones with clinical forms of human listeriosis. Homologous recombination was extremely limited (r/m<1 for nucleotides), implying long-term genetic stability of multilocus genotypes over time. Bayesian analysis based on 438 SNPs recovered the three previously defined lineages, plus one unclassified isolate of mixed ancestry. The phylogenetic distribution of serotypes indicated that serotype 4b evolved once from 1/2b, the likely ancestral serotype of lineage I. Serotype 1/2c derived once from 1/2a, with reference strain EGDe (1/2a) likely representing an intermediate evolutionary state. In contrast to housekeeping genes, the virulence factor internalin (InlA) evolved by localized recombination resulting in a mosaic pattern, with convergent evolution indicative of natural selection towards a truncation of InlA protein. This work provides a reference evolutionary framework for future studies on L. monocytogenes epidemiology, ecology, and virulence

Increase in Tau Pathology in P290S Mapt Knock-In Mice Crossed with AppNL-G-F Mice

Alzheimer's Disease (AD) is characterized by the pathological assembly of Aβ peptide, which deposits into extracellular plaques, and tau, which accumulates in intraneuronal inclusions. To investigate the link between Aβ and tau pathologies, experimental models featuring both pathologies are needed. We developed a mouse model featuring both tau and Aβ pathologies by knocking the P290S mutation into murine Mapt and crossing these MaptP290S KI mice with the AppNL-G-F KI line. MaptP290S KI mice developed a small number of tau inclusions, which increased with age. The amount of tau pathology was significantly larger in AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice from 18-months of age onwards. Tau pathology was higher in limbic areas, including hippocampus, amygdala and piriform/entorhinal cortex. We also observed AT100-and Gallyas-Braak-silver-positive dystrophic neurites containing assembled filamentous tau, as visualized by in situ EM. Using a cell-based tau seeding assay, we showed that sarkosyl-insoluble brain extracts from both 18-month-old MaptP290S KI and AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice were seed-competent, with brain extracts from double KI mice seeding significantly more than those from the MaptP290S KI mice. Finally, we showed that AppNL-G-FxMaptP290S KI mice had neurodegeneration in the piriform cortex from 18-months of age. We suggest that AppNL-G-F x MaptP290S KI mice provide a good model for studying the interactions of aggregation-prone tau, Aβ, neuritic plaques, neurodegeneration and aging