By myself and liking it? Predictors of distinct types of solitude experiences in daily life

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Objective: Solitude is a ubiquitous experience, often confused with loneliness, yet sometimes sought out in daily life. This study aimed to identify distinct types of solitude experiences from everyday affect/thought patterns and to examine how and for whom solitude is experienced positively versus negatively. Method: One hundred community-dwelling adults aged 50–85 years (64% female; 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% other/mixed heritage) and 50 students aged 18–28 years (92% female; 42% East Asian, 22% European, 36% other/mixed) each completed approximately 30 daily life assessments over 10 days on their current and desired social situation, thoughts, and affect. Results: Multilevel latent profile analysis identified two types of everyday solitude: one characterized by negative affect and effortful thought (negative solitude experiences) and one characterized by calm and the near absence of negative affect/effortful thought (positive solitude experiences). Individual differences in social self-efficacy and desire for solitude were associated with everyday positive solitude propensity; trait self-rumination and self-reflection were associated with everyday negative solitude propensity. Conclusions: This study provides a new framework for conceptualizing everyday solitude. It identifies specific affect/thought patterns that characterize distinct solitude experience clusters, and it links these clusters with well-established individual differences. We discuss key traits associated with thriving in solitude.Vancouver FoundationFaculty of Arts, University of British ColumbiaAlpha Mater Society, University of British ColumbiaMichael Smith FoundationSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canad

Neuroticism and Extraversion Magnify Discrepancies Between Retrospective and Concurrent Affect Reports

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Wiley via the DOI in this record.Objective: Although research often relies on retrospective affect self-reports, little is known about personality's role in retrospective reports and how these converge or deviate from affect reported in the moment. This micro-longitudinal study examines personality (Neuroticism, Extraversion) and emotional salience (peak and recent affect) associations with retrospective-momentary affect report discrepancies over different time frames. Method: Participants were 179 adults aged 20–78 (M = 48.7 years; 73.7% Caucasian/White) who each provided up to 60 concurrent affect reports over 10 days, then retrospectively reported overall intensity of each affective state after 1 day and again after 1–2 months. Results: Multilevel models revealed that individuals retrospectively overreported or underreported various affective states, exhibiting peak associations for high arousal positive and negative affect, recency associations for low arousal positive affect, and distinct personality profiles that strengthened over time. Individuals high in both Extraversion and Neuroticism exaggerated high arousal positive and negative affect and underreported low arousal positive affect, high Extraversion/low Neuroticism individuals exaggerated high arousal positive affect and underreported low arousal positive affect, and low Extraversion/high Neuroticism individuals exaggerated high and low arousal negative affect. Conclusions: This study is the first to identify arousal-specific retrospective affect report discrepancies over time and suggests retrospective reports also reflect personality differences in affective self-knowledge.National Institutes of HealthMichael Smith Foundation for Health ResearchSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of CanadaCanada Research Chairs Programm

Choosing Solitude: Age Differences in Situational and Affective Correlates of Solitude-Seeking in Midlife and Older Adulthood

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this record.Objectives Despite a basic need for social connection, individuals across the adult lifespan sometimes seek solitude—a phenomenon that is not well understood. This study examined situational and affective correlates of solitude-seeking and how they may differ between middle-aged and older adults. Method One hundred community-dwelling adults aged 50–85 years (64% female, 56% East Asian, 36% European, 8% other) completed approximately 30 electronic daily life assessments over 10 days regarding their current location, affect, activities, and current and desired social context. Results Solitude was common; 86% of solitude instances happened by individuals’ own choosing. When desiring solitude, older adults were more likely to be at home and less likely to be outdoors, compared to other locations. Middle-aged adults showed no such solitude-location associations. Among middle-aged adults, desire for solitude was associated with decreased positive affect. Older adults experienced no such dip in affect. Discussion Findings suggest that compared to middle-aged adults, older adults are more likely to go to locations that match their desired social context, and also that solitude-seeking has more positive ramifications for older adults. Findings are discussed in the context of age differences in activities, social preferences, and emotion regulation.Vancouver FoundationUniversity of British Columbia Faculty of ArtsMichael Smith FoundationSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canad

Hot Instantaneous Temperature and Affect: Meaningful Activities as a Buffer for Older Adults With Low Socioeconomic Status

This is the final version. Available on open access from Oxford University Press via the DOI in this recordData Availability: The study in this article is aligned with open practices in scientific research. Materials, data, and code are publicly accessible at: https://osf.io/cn9zs/?view_only=d0161eb2337346f19db3096624faeb5bBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Extremely hot temperature affects psychological well-being negatively, especially for older adults with lower socioeconomic status (SES). The objectives of this study are to examine: (a) the impact of hot instantaneous temperature on older adults' emotional well-being and (b) whether meaningful engagement could reduce the above impact, particularly for those of lower SES. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: We conducted a quantitative time-sampling study during hot-weather months (May-September) in 2021 and 2022. The sample comprises 344 participants aged 60 years or older (Mage = 67.15, SDage = 5.26) living in urban areas of Hong Kong, where hot days (daily maximum temperature ≥33°C) accounted for 23% of the study days. Participants reported positive and negative affect, and engagement in meaningful activities, three times a day over a 10-day period, and wore sensors that tracked the instantaneous temperature of their immediate environment. Multilevel modeling was employed to examine the impacts on affect from temperature, SES, and meaningful activity engagement. RESULTS: Hotter instantaneous temperature predicted greater momentary negative affect and less positive affect immediately afterwards. Meaningful engagement significantly buffered against the affective impacts of hotter temperature, and this buffering effect was more salient among older adults of lower SES. DISCUSSION AND IMPLICATIONS: This study highlights the role of meaningful engagement in reducing the impact of hotter instantaneous temperature on older adults' emotional well-being, particularly for those of lower SES. Meaningful activity engagement may be capitalized on, as a strategy, to reduce climate-related social inequality.University Grants Council of Hong KongFaculty of Social Science, the Chinese University of Hong Kon

The perks of doing housework: Longitudinal associations with survival and underlying mechanisms

This is the final version. Available from BioMed Central via the DOI in this record. Data Availability. The data that support the findings of this study are available from Mr. & Ms. Os Hong Kong cohort study (http://www.jococ.org/en/mros-msos.php), but restrictions apply to the availability of these data, which were used under license for the current study, and so the data are not publicly available. Data are, however, available from Prof. Timothy Kwok ([email protected]) upon reasonable request and with permission of the Jockey Club Centre for Osteoporosis Care and Control.BACKGROUND: Although the majority of existing literature has suggested positive effects of housework on older adults' health and survival rate, the underlying mechanisms of such effects remain unclear. To address potential mechanisms, the present study examined the association between older adults' housework engagement and days of survival across 14 years and tested three potential mediation pathways in this association. METHODS: Four thousand Hong Kong older adults (50% female; aged between 65 and 98 years) participated in a longitudinal study in which they reported initial housework engagement and health status across three domains (cognitive functioning, physical health, and mental health) at the baseline, and the numbers of days they survived over the subsequent 14-year period were recorded. Linear regression, Cox proportional hazard, and parallel mediation analyses were performed to examine the relationship between housework engagement and days survived, and the mediating effects of these three health factors. RESULTS: The results showed a positive association between housework engagement and days survived after controlling for demographic variables (age, sex, education, marital status, subjective social status, and living alone). Physical health and mental health, but not cognitive functioning, partially mediated the relationship between housework engagement and days survived. The findings suggest that doing housework may contribute to longer survival by improving older adults' physical and mental health. CONCLUSION: The current study confirms positive relations of housework with health and mortality among Hong Kong older adults. As the first study examining the relationships and mediation pathways between doing housework and survival in later life, the findings advance our understanding of the mechanisms underlying the positive association between housework and mortality and provide insights for future daily-life health-promotion interventions for older adults.National Institutes of HealthResearch Grants Counci

The 2009 Samoa–Tonga great earthquake triggered doublet

Great earthquakes (having seismic magnitudes of at least 8) usually involve abrupt sliding of rock masses at a boundary between tectonic plates. Such interplate ruptures produce dynamic and static stress changes that can activate nearby intraplate aftershocks, as is commonly observed in the trench-slope region seaward of a great subduction zone thrust event1. The earthquake sequence addressed here involves a rare instance in which a great trench-slope intraplate earthquake triggered extensive interplate faulting, reversing the typical pattern and broadly expanding the seismic and tsunami hazard. On 29 September 2009, within two minutes of the initiation of a normal faulting event with moment magnitude 8.1 in the outer trench-slope at the northern end of the Tonga subduction zone, two major interplate underthrusting subevents (both with moment magnitude 7.8), with total moment equal to a second great earthquake of moment magnitude 8.0, ruptured the nearby subduction zone megathrust. The collective faulting produced tsunami waves with localized regions of about 12 metres run-up that claimed 192 lives in Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga. Overlap of the seismic signals obscured the fact that distinct faults separated by more than 50 km had ruptured with different geometries, with the triggered thrust faulting only being revealed by detailed seismic wave analyses. Extensive interplate and intraplate aftershock activity was activated over a large region of the northern Tonga subduction zone

Effect of Microthreads and Platform Switching on Crestal Bone Stress Levels: A Finite Element Analysis

Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/142288/1/jper2166.pd

Modulation of growth and angiogenic potential of oral squamous carcinoma cells in vitro using salvianolic acid B

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Our previous studies showed that Salvianolic acid B (Sal B) inhibited 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA)-induced oral carcinogenesis in hamsters and such anti-cancer effects might be related to the inhibition of angiogenesis. This study was aimed to further investigate the anti-proliferative effect of Sal B on the most common type of oral cancer, oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) and the possible mechanisms of action with respect to angiogenesis inhibition.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Two well-characterized oral squamous cell carcinoma cell lines, CAL27 and SCC4, and premalignant leukoplakia cells were treated with different concentrations of Sal B. Cytotoxicity was assessed by MTT assay. cDNA microarray was utilized to evaluate the expression of 96 genes known to be involved in modulating the biological processes of angiogenesis. Real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis was conducted to confirm the cDNA microarray data.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Sal B induced growth inhibition in OSCC cell lines but had limited effects on premalignant cells. A total of 17 genes showed a greater than 3-fold change when comparing Sal B treated OSCC cells to the control. Among these genes, HIF-1α, TNFα and MMP9 are specifically inhibited, expression of THBS2 was up-regulated.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Sal B has inhibitory effect on OSCC cell growth. The antitumor effect can be attributed to anti-angiogenic potential induced by a decreased expression of some key regulator genes of angiogenesis. Sal B may be a promising modality for treating oral squamous cell carcinoma.</p

Differences in bleeding behavior after endoscopic band ligation: a retrospective analysis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endoscopic band ligation (EBL) is generally accepted as the treatment of choice for bleeding from esophageal varices. It is also used for secondary prophylaxis of esophageal variceal hemorrhage. However, there is no data or guidelines concerning endoscopic control of ligation ulcers. We conducted a retrospective study of EBL procedures analyzing bleeding complications after EBL.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively analyzed data from patients who underwent EBL. We analyzed several data points, including indication for the procedure, bleeding events and the time interval between EBL and bleeding.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>255 patients and 387 ligation sessions were included in the analysis. We observed an overall bleeding rate after EBL of 7.8%. Bleeding events after elective treatment (3.9%) were significantly lower than those after treatment for acute variceal hemorrhage (12.1%). The number of bleeding events from ligation ulcers and variceal rebleeding was 14 and 15, respectively. The bleeding rate from the ligation site in the group who underwent emergency ligation was 7.1% and 0.5% in the group who underwent elective ligation. Incidence of variceal rebleeding did not vary significantly. Seventy-five percent of all bleeding episodes after elective treatment occurred within four days after EBL. 20/22 of bleeding events after emergency ligation occured within 11 days after treatment. Elective EBL has a lower risk of bleeding from treatment-induced ulceration than emergency ligation.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Patients who underwent EBL for treatment of acute variceal bleeding should be kept under medical surveillance for 11 days. After elective EBL, it may be reasonable to restrict the period of surveillance to four days or even perform the procedure in an out-patient setting.</p

Feasible mitigation actions in developing countries

Energy use is not only crucial for economic development, but is also the main driver of greenhouse-gas emissions. Developing countries can reduce emissions and thrive only if economic growth is disentangled from energy-related emissions. Although possible in theory, the required energy-system transformation would impose considerable costs on developing nations. Developed countries could bear those costs fully, but policy design should avoid a possible 'climate rent curse', that is, a negative impact of financial inflows on recipients' economies. Mitigation measures could meet further resistance because of adverse distributional impacts as well as political economy reasons. Hence, drastically re-orienting development paths towards low-carbon growth in developing countries is not very realistic. Efforts should rather focus on 'feasible mitigation actions' such as fossil-fuel subsidy reform, decentralized modern energy and fuel switching in the power sector