Age Differences in Attributions of Causality: Implications for Intellectual Assessment

The present investigation was designed to test the hypothesis that failure experienced by the individual in a testing situation is moderated by causal attributions and these attributions influence subsequent test measures. The effect of manipulating cause (lack of effort or Lack of ability) to response-independent failure and its relationship to scores on the Reasoning, Hidden Patterns, and Paper Folding Test, in younger an older person\u27s was investigated. The same measures were assessed in a group that experienced the same response-independent-failure but with no explanation offered as to the cause for the failure, a group that was not given any information concerning the outcome, and a control group that did not experience the response-independent-failure. Analysis of results indicated that younger subjects obtained significantly higher scores than one subjects on all three subtests. A significant age by condition effect in results from the Paper Folding Test was also found. The failure-ability group showed lower scores than the failure-effort group for both age categories. The two non manipulated-attribution groups were lower than the failure-effort group for the elderly, and were higher than the failure-ability group for younger subjects. The results supported the hypothesis that elderly individuals may demonstrate lower cognitive scores in part, due to influences that are extraneous to cognitive assessment. Implications of the results for elderly cognitive assessment were discussed

Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Needs of Middle-Aged and Older Adults: A Rural-Urban Comparison in Delaware, USA.

Background: Older adults in rural areas have unique transportation barriers to accessing medical care, which include a lack of mass transit options and considerable distances to health-related services. This study contrasts non-emergency medical transportation (NEMT) service utilization patterns and associated costs for Medicaid middle-aged and older adults in rural versus urban areas. Methods: Data were analyzed from 39,194 NEMT users of LogistiCare-brokered services in Delaware residing in rural (68.3%) and urban (30.9%) areas. Multivariable logistic analyses compared trip characteristics by rurality designation. Results: Rural (37.2%) and urban (41.2%) participants used services more frequently for dialysis than for any other medical concern. Older age and personal accompaniment were more common and wheel chair use was less common for rural trips. The mean cost per trip was greater for rural users (difference of $2910 per trip), which was attributed to the greater distance per trip in rural areas. Conclusions: Among a sample who were eligible for subsidized NEMT and who utilized this service, rural trips tended to be longer and, therefore, higher in cost. Over 50% of trips were made for dialysis highlighting the need to address prevention and, potentially, health service improvements for rural dialysis patients

Health Policy Development: Health Promotion and Illness Prevention Among Older Adults in Illinois

This paper offers recommendations for health promotion and illness prevention for older adults in Illinois and offers a structure for policy development. It is based on the premise that policy development should consider the experiences of older adults, family members, and health care providers delivering direct services. Personal experiences and expert analyses were examined in the context of strategies to promote health. This example of policy development is discussed in terms of its application to alternative methods of social and health change and identifies roles for the sociological practitioner

The Footprint Sorting Problem

Phylogenetic footprints are short pieces of noncoding DNA sequence in the vicinity of a gene that are conserved between evolutionary distant species. A seemingly simple problem is to sort footprints in their order along the genomes. It is complicated by the fact that not all footprints are collinear:  they may cross each other. The problem thus becomes the identification of the crossing footprints, the sorting of the remaining collinear cliques, and finally the insertion of the noncollinear ones at “reasonable” positions. We show that solving the footprint sorting problem requires the solution of the “Minimum Weight Vertex Feedback Set Problem”, which is known to be NP-complete and APX-hard. Nevertheless good approximations can be obtained for data sets of interest. The remaining steps of the sorting process are straightforward:  computation of the transitive closure of an acyclic graph, linear extension of the resulting partial order, and finally sorting w.r.t. the linear extension. Alternatively, the footprint sorting problem can be rephrased as a combinatorial optimization problem for which approximate solutions can be obtained by means of general purpose heuristics. Footprint sortings obtained with different methods can be compared using a version of multiple sequence alignment that allows the identification of unambiguously ordered sublists. As an application we show that the rat has a slighly increased insertion/deletion rate in comparison to the mouse genome

A cross-sectional study of depressive symptoms and diabetes self-care in African Americans and Hispanics/Latinos with diabetes: the role of self-efficacy

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between depressive symptoms and diabetes self-care in African American and Hispanic/Latino patients with type 2 diabetes and whether the association, if any, is mediated by diabetes-related self-efficacy. Methods The sample included self-report baseline data of African American and Hispanic/Latino patients with type 2 diabetes who were aged ≥18 years and enrolled in a diabetes self-management intervention study. Depressive symptoms were assessed with the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire. The Summary of Diabetes Self-care Activities measured engagement in healthy eating, physical activity, blood glucose checking, foot care, and smoking. The Diabetes Empowerment Scale–Short Form assessed diabetes-related psychosocial self-efficacy. Indirect effects were examined with the Baron and Kenny regression technique and Sobel testing. Results Sample characteristics (n = 250) were as follows: mean age of 53 years, 68% women, 54% African American, and 74% with income <$20 000. Depressive symptoms showed a significant inverse association with the self-care domains of general diet, specific diet, physical activity, and glucose monitoring in the African American group. In Hispanics/Latinos, depression was inversely associated with specific diet. Self-efficacy served a significant mediational role in the relation between depression and foot care among African Americans. Conclusions Self-efficacy mediated the relationship between depression and foot care in the African American group but was not found to be a mediator of any self-care areas within the Hispanic/Latino group. In clinical practice, alleviation of depressive symptoms may improve self-care behavior adherence. Diabetes education may consider inclusion of components to build self-efficacy related to diabetes self-care, especially among African American patients

Effect of dietary or genetic copper deficiency on brain catecholamines, trace metals and enzymes in mice and rats

ABSTRACT Previous studies by others indicated that alterations in brain catecholamines were different for perinatal copper deficiency produced by diet in rats and that resulting from a genetic mutation on the X-chromosome, Menkes&apos; syndrome in humans and brindled mice. Thus, copper deficiency was studied in a model in which dietary and genetic deficiency (brindled mice) were compared in two strains of the same species, C57BL and C3H/HeJ mice