Neighbourhood cohesion and mental wellbeing among older adults:A mixed methods approach

There is now a body of evidence that demonstrates strong links between neighbourhood characteristics and mental health and wellbeing. There is an increasing interest in how this relationship varies for individuals of different ages. Understanding the link between neighbourhood and wellbeing for older adults is of particular significance, given the changing age structure of the population and the desire among policy makers and practitioners to promote healthy and active ageing. This paper provides further evidence on the nature and strength of the link between individual perceptions of neighbourhood belonging and mental wellbeing among those over age fifty using both qualitative and quantitative data from three British cohort studies. Between 2008 and 2011 quantitative data were collected from 10,312 cohort members, and 230 of them took part in qualitative biographical interviews.Quantitative analysis confirms that there is a moderate association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing measured at the individual level in each of the three cohorts. This association persists after controlling for a range of covariates including personality. The association between neighbourhood cohesion and wellbeing is stronger for individuals in the older two cohorts than in the younger cohort.Using qualitative biographical interviews with 116 men and 114 women we illustrate how individuals talk about their sense of neighbourhood belonging. The importance of social participation as a mechanism for promoting neighbourhood belonging, and the use of age and life stage as characteristics to describe and define neighbours, is clear. In addition, the qualitative interviews point to the difficulties of using a short battery of questions to capture the varied and multi-dimensional nature of neighbourhood relations.<br/

An Optically-Discovered Outburst from XTE J1859+226

Using the Zwicky Transient Facility, in 2021 February we identified the first known outburst of the Black Hole X-ray Transient XTE J1859+226 since its discovery in 1999. The outburst was visible at X-ray, UV, and optical wavelengths for less than 20 days, substantially shorter than its 320-day full outburst in 1999, and the observed peak luminosity was two orders of magnitude lower. Its peak bolometric luminosity was only $2\times 10^{35}$ erg s$^{-1}$, implying an Eddington fraction of about $3\times10^{-4}$. The source remained in the hard spectral state throughout the outburst. From optical spectroscopy measurements we estimate an outer disk radius of 10$^{11}$ cm. The low observed X-ray luminosity is not sufficient to irradiate the entire disk, but we observe a surprising exponential decline in the X-ray lightcurve. These observations highlight the potential of optical and infrared (O/IR) synoptic surveys to discover low-luminosity activity from X-ray transients.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

PLZF induces an intravascular surveillance program mediated by long-lived LFA-1–ICAM-1 interactions

PLZF-expressing NKT cells establish residence at intravascular locations, failing to enter the circulation because of constitutive interactions with LFA-1 and ICAM-1