Psychometric Properties of the Adult Self-Report: Data from over 11,000 American Adults

The first purpose of this study was to examine the factor structure of the Adult Self-Report (ASR) via traditional confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and contemporary exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM). The second purpose was to examine the measurement invariance of the ASR subscales across age groups. We used baseline data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development study. ASR data from 11,773 participants were used to conduct the CFA and ESEM analyses and data from 11,678 participants were used to conduct measurement invariance testing. Fit indices supported both the CFA and ESEM solutions, with the ESEM solution yielding better fit indices. However, several items in the ESEM solution did not sufficiently load on their intended factors and/or cross-loaded on unintended factors. Results from the measurement invariance analysis suggested that the ASR subscales are robust and fully invariant across subgroups of adults formed on the basis of age (18–35 years vs. 36–59 years). Future research should seek to both CFA and ESEM to provide a more comprehensive assessment of the ASR.</p

Suomalaisessa leivonnassa tapahtuvista tiamiinihäviöistä

The investigation comprised a number of different types of wheat and rye bread. They could be considered to represent the most common types of bread in Finland. A part of the flours were still of the standard conditioned by the war-time regulations, a part can be regarded as normal. Customary baking technique was employed. The vitamin content of the crumb and of the crust of the loaf were determined separately in each case. The bread types examined were as follows: Soft types of wheat bread 1. The so-called French bread (weight of the loaf 400 g., volume 1530 ml., height 65 mm., length 335 mm., breadth 90 mm.) made from half-white wheat flour of war-time qaulity (ash content 0.85 %, dry basis). 2. The so-called yeast bread, leavened with yeast, round loaf (weight 446 g., volume 920 ml., height 65 mm., diameter 145 mm.) made from dark high-extraction flour (mill stream BM3, ash content 4.00 %). 3. Yeast bread, round loaf (weight 389 g., volume 730 ml., height 67 mm., diameter 135 mm.) from the same flour as the previous one (2) but vitaminized with thiamine hydrochloride. 4. Whole-meal yeast bread, round loaf (height 60 mm., diameter 158 mm.). 5. Sweet bread (weight of the loaf 460 g., height 55 mm., length 330 mm., breadth 100 mm.) made from fine white flour (mill stream 82, ash content 0.70 %). In addition to flour, the dough contained 3.5 % eggs, 13 % butter, 10 % sugar, 1 %*salt, 3 % yeast ,35 % milk, and 5 % water colculated on the weight of flour. Soft types of rye bread 6. Whole-meal sour bread, leavened with acid ferment, round loaf (height 60 mm., diameter 143 mm.). 7. Whole-meal sour bread, leavened with acid ferment, round loaf with a hole in the centre (weight 378 g., volume 580 ml., height 24 mm., diameter 195 mm.) 8. Whole-meal bread, leavened with yeast, round loaf) weight 370 g., volume 530 ml., height mm., diameter 143 mm.). 9. Strongly fermented bread (height of the loaf 70 mm., diam. 193 mm.) made from a mixture of rye whole-meal and high-extraction wheat flour (97; 3). 10. Sour bread (weight of the loaf 470 g., volume 645 ml., height 55 mm., diam. 146 mm.) made from a mixture of rye whole-meal and high-extraction wheat flour (85 : 15). Hard thin bread (crisp bread) 11. Whole-meal wheat bread, leavened with yeast (thickness of the loaf 9 mm., diam. 230 mm water content 8.4 %) (same dough as in n:o 4). 12. Sout bread from a mixture of rye whole-meal and highextraction wheat flour (same as no. 9) (thickness of the loaf 6 mm., diam. 230 mm., water content 9.1 %). 13. Whole-meal rye bread, leavened with yeast, commercial quality (Elanto's bakery, size of the loaf 7,5x240x265 mm., water content 9.7 %). 14. Whole-meal rye bread, leavened with yeast, commercial quality (Elanto's bakery, size of the loaf 6.5x240x280 mm., water content 8.4 %). Customary baking procedure, adapted to each bread type, was followed. The additional ingredients were: common salt 1—2% and yeast 3 % of the weight of the flour. In making the sour bread (loaves nos. 6,7, 9, 10, 12) and acid ferment was used, instead of yeast, in 1.3—1.7 % of the weight of flour to raise the dough. The pH of the sour bread was 3.32—3.95. Baking was carried out in this laboratory, except that two of the hard thin loaves were made in a big Finnish bakery (Elanto). There the baking was performed in a wire-net travelling oven, the temperature being, with no 3, at the start 270°C and at the end 230°C, and with no 6, 280°C and 230°C respectively. The baking temperature of the wheat loaves was 225—240°C, that of the rye loaves 240—260°C Vitamin B1 was determined in the soft loaves, from which the crust could be removed, in the entire loaf, and besides, in the crumb and in the bottom and top crust separately. For this purpose the crust was very carefully removed from the loaf. It weighed 20—30 % of the total weight of the loaf. Determination of vitamin B1 was made according to the method of Feilenberg and Bernhard (9, 10). For the enzymatic hydrolysis diastase and papain were used and in some experiments cysteine for reduction of the disulphide form of thiamine. However, cysteine was not found to affect the results. Before oxidation to thiochrome the solution to be examined was purified by shaking it twice with 2.5 volumes of isobutanol (12). This because we had previously noted that the extracts of rye-meal and ryebread have a strong fluorescense of their own (19). The same is true of the extracts obtained from the crust of wheat bread. The method of Andrews and Nordgren (1) was also tested for determination of thiamine. The results obtained were in fairly good agreement with these obtained by the first mentioned method. The loss of vitamin B1 occuring in baking was 10—25 % of the initial amount (Table 2). In the group of soft wheat bread the loss was smaller (11 %) in the whole-meal loaves than in the others (16 —20 %). The difference between wheat and rye bread was not great. The loss was 15—25 % in the soft rye bread, or slightly higher than in the wheat bread. This may be due, for instance, to differences in the baking temperature or in the acidity. The loss was regularly greater in the crust of bread than in the crumb, in certain cases 3, even 4 times greater. In the bottom crust the loss was always greater than in the top crust. In particular, the attention was drawn to the fact that in the hard thin crisp bread which in fact consists of crust only, the losses of vitamin B1 were of the same order as in the corresponding soft-bread loaves. Thus, for instance, the loss was 11 % in a yeast bread loaf (no. 4) made from wheat whole-meal and 14 % in the hard thin loaf (no. 11) from the same material. In the loaf (no. 9) made from mixed rye meal the loss was 21 %, while in the corresponding crisp bread (loaf no. 12) it was 15 %- For the sake of comparison some data have been collected from the literature concerning the losses of thiamine in baking (Table 1)

Association of social isolation, loneliness and genetic risk with incidence of dementia: UK Biobank Cohort Study

BACKGROUND: Social isolation and loneliness have been associated with increased risk of dementia, but it is not known whether this risk is modified or confounded by genetic risk of dementia. METHODS: We used the prospective UK Biobank study with 155 070 participants (mean age 64.1 years), including self-reported social isolation and loneliness. Genetic risk was indicated using the polygenic risk score for Alzheimer's disease and the incident dementia ascertained using electronic health records. RESULTS: Overall, 8.6% of participants reported that they were socially isolated and 5.5% were lonely. During a mean follow-up of 8.8 years (1.36 million person years), 1444 (0.9% of the total sample) were diagnosed with dementia. Social isolation, but not loneliness, was associated with increased risk of dementia (HR 1.62, 95% CI 1.38 to 1.90). There were no interaction effects between genetic risk and social isolation or between genetic risk and loneliness predicting incident dementia. Of the participants who were socially isolated and had high genetic risk, 4.4% (95% CI 3.4% to 5.5%) were estimated to developed dementia compared with 2.9% (95% CI 2.6% to 3.2%) of those who were not socially isolated but had high genetic risk. Comparable differences were also in those with intermediate and low genetic risk levels. CONCLUSIONS: Socially isolated individuals are at increased risk of dementia at all levels of genetic risk

Structural and functional aspects of social support as predictors of mental and physical health trajectories: Whitehall II cohort study

BACKGROUND: Social support is associated with better health. However, only a limited number of studies have examined the association of social support with health from the adult life course perspective and whether this association is bidirectional. METHODS: Participants (n=6797; 30% women; age range from 40 to 77 years) who were followed from 1989 (phase 2) to 2006 (phase 8) were selected from the ongoing Whitehall II Study. Structural and functional social support was measured at follow-up phases 2, 5 and 7. Mental and physical health was measured at five consecutive follow-up phases (3–8). RESULTS: Social support predicted better mental health, and certain functional aspects of social support, such as higher practical support and higher levels of negative aspects in social relationships, predicted poorer physical health. The association between negative aspects of close relationships and physical health was found to strengthen over the adult life course. In women, the association between marital status and mental health weakened until the age of approximately 60 years. Better mental and physical health was associated with higher future social support. CONCLUSIONS: The strength of the association between social support and health may vary over the adult life course. The association with health seems to be bidirectional

Does Compassion Predict Blood Pressure and Hypertension? The Modifying Role of Familial Risk for Hypertension

Background This study investigated (i) whether compassion is associated with blood pressure or hypertension in adulthood and (ii) whether familial risk for hypertension modifies these associations. Method The participants (N = 1112-1293) came from the prospective Young Finns Study. Parental hypertension was assessed in 1983-2007; participants' blood pressure in 2001, 2007, and 2011; hypertension in 2007 and 2011 (participants were aged 30-49 years in 2007-2011); and compassion in 2001. Results High compassion predicted lower levels of diastolic and systolic blood pressure in adulthood. Additionally, high compassion was related to lower risk for hypertension in adulthood among individuals with no familial risk for hypertension (independently of age, sex, participants' and their parents' socioeconomic factors, and participants' health behaviors). Compassion was not related to hypertension in adulthood among individuals with familial risk for hypertension. Conclusion High compassion predicts lower diastolic and systolic blood pressure in adulthood. Moreover, high compassion may protect against hypertension among individuals without familial risk for hypertension. As our sample consisted of comparatively young participants, our findings provide novel implications for especially early-onset hypertension.Peer reviewe

The relationship of dispositional compassion with well-being : a study with a 15-year prospective follow-up

We investigated the associations of individual's compassion for others with his/her affective and cognitive well-being over a long-term follow-up. We used data from the prospective Young Finns Study (N = 1312-1699) between 1997-2012. High compassion was related to higher indicators of affective well-being: higher positive affect (B = 0.221, p <.001), lower negative affect (B = -0.358, p <.001), and total score of affective well-being (the relationship of positive versus negative affect) (B = 0.345, p <.001). Moreover, high compassion was associated with higher indicators of cognitive well-being: higher social support (B = 0.194, p <.001), life satisfaction (B = 0.149, p <.001), subjective health (B = 0.094, p <.001), optimism (B = 0.307, p <.001), and total score of cognitive well-being (B = 0.265, p <.001). Longitudinal analyses showed that high compassion predicted higher affective well-being over a 15-year follow-up (B = 0.361, p <.001) and higher social support over a 10-year follow-up (B = 0.230, p <.001). Finally, compassion was more likely to predict well-being (B = [-0.076; 0.090]) than vice versa, even though the predictive relationships were rather modest by magnitude.Peer reviewe

Three Decades of Internet- and Computer-Based Interventions for the Treatment of Depression: Protocol for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Background: Depression is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide. Internet- and computer-based interventions (IBIs) have been shown to provide effective, scalable forms of treatment. More than 100 controlled trials and a growing number of meta-analyses published over the past 30 years have demonstrated the efficacy of IBIs in reducing symptoms in the short and long term. Despite the large body of research, no comprehensive review or meta-analysis has been conducted to date that evaluates how the effectiveness of IBIs has evolved over time.Objective: This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to evaluate whether there has been a change in the effectiveness of IBIs on the treatment of depression over the past 30 years and to identify potential variables moderating the effect size.Methods: A sensitive search strategy will be executed across the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and PsycINFO. Data extraction and evaluation will be conducted by two independent researchers. Risk of bias will be assessed. A multilevel meta-regression model will be used to analyze the data and estimate effect size.Results: The search was completed in mid-2019. We expect the results to be submitted for publication in early 2020.Conclusions: The year 2020 will mark 30 years since the first paper was published on the use of IBIs for the treatment of depression. Despite the large and rapidly growing body of research in the field, evaluations of effectiveness to date are missing the temporal dimension. This review will address that gap and provide valuable analysis of how the effectiveness of interventions has evolved over the past three decades; which participant-, intervention-, and study-related variables moderate changes in effectiveness; and where research in the field may benefit from increased focus.</p

Biomarkers and Long-term Labour Market Outcomes: The Case of Creatine

Using the Young Finns Study (YFS) combined with the Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) we show that quantities of creatine measured in 1980 prior to labour market entry affect labour market outcomes over the period 1990–2010. Those with higher levels of creatine (proxied by urine creatinine) prior to labour market entry spend more time in the labour market in the subsequent two decades and earn more. The associations between creatine and labour market outcomes are robust to controlling for other biomarkers, educational attainment and parental background. Creatine is a naturally occurring nitrogenous organic acid which supplies energy to body cells, including muscles. Our findings are consistent with high energy levels, induced by creatine, leading to productivity-enhancing traits such as a high propensity for effort, perseverance, and high-commitment