Ageing in Germany: content, quality and accessibility of relevant data sources: results of the Data Mapping Project of the Joint Programming Initiative "More Years, Better Lives"

This report outlines the German results of the Data Mapping Project of the Joint Programming Initiative "More Years, Better Lives - The Potential and Challenges of Demographic Change" (JPI MYBL http://www.jpi-dataproject.eu). Joint Programming as a European Union research policy activity is member-states driven and basically aims at fostering collaboration and coordination in research and development in Europe Research Area (ERA) into practice

YOUNG PEOPLE FEEL WISE, OLD PEOPLE FEEL ENERGETIC: COMPARING AGE STEREOTYPES AND SELF-EVALUATIONS ACROSS ADULTHOOD

Using questionnaire data from the MIDUS study (N=6.325) we examined the extent to which people in their late 20s, 40s, and 60s think that positive stereotypic “old” and “young” characteristics describe themselves, their age peers, and other age groups. A constellation of “old” characteristics (e.g., wise, caring, calm) was seen as more descriptive of older adults, while a constellation of “young” characteristics (e.g., healthy, energetic) was seen as more descriptive of younger adults. Self-evaluations were highly positive and largely consistent across age groups. Compared to their age peers, younger adults saw themselves as having as many positive “young” characteristics but more positive “old” characteristics whereas older adults saw themselves as having more positive “young” characteristics but fewer positive “old” characteristics. The results support the stability of the aging self despite the existence of age stereotypes and the role of negative age stereotypes as a frame of reference for making self-evaluations

Regionale Unterschiede in den Lebenssituationen älterer Menschen in Deutschland

Im vorliegenden Bericht wird der Einfluss des regionalen Kontextes auf die individuelle Lebenssituation alter Menschen untersucht. Als räumliche Ebene wurde die Ebene der (Land-)Kreise und kreisfreien Städte ausgewählt, da dort ein großer Teil der für Lebensqualität im Alter bedeutsamen Infrastruktur angesiedelt ist. Es wurde danach gefragt, ob sich ältere Menschen in unterschiedlichen Regionstypen mit Blick auf Gesundheit, subjektives Wohlbefinden, soziale Integration sowie Aktivitäten und Engagement unterscheiden

Regionale Unterschiede in den Lebenssituationen älterer Menschen in Deutschland

REGIONALE UNTERSCHIEDE IN DEN LEBENSSITUATIONEN ÄLTERER MENSCHEN IN DEUTSCHLAND Regionale Unterschiede in den Lebenssituationen älterer Menschen in Deutschland / Wiest, Maja (Rights reserved) ( -

Cognitive outcome is related to functional thalamo-cortical connectivity after paediatric stroke.

The thalamus has complex connections with the cortex and is involved in various cognitive processes. Despite increasing interest in the thalamus and the underlying thalamo-cortical interaction, little is known about thalamo-cortical connections after paediatric arterial ischaemic stroke. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate thalamo-cortical connections and their association with cognitive performance after arterial ischaemic stroke. Twenty patients in the chronic phase after paediatric arterial ischaemic stroke (≥2 years after diagnosis, diagnosed <16 years; aged 5-23 years, mean: 15.1 years) and 20 healthy controls matched for age and sex were examined in a cross-sectional study design. Cognitive performance (selective attention, inhibition, working memory, and cognitive flexibility) was evaluated using standardized neuropsychological tests. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine functional thalamo-cortical connectivity. Lesion masks were integrated in the preprocessing pipeline to ensure that structurally damaged voxels did not influence functional connectivity analyses. Cognitive performance (selective attention, inhibition, and working memory) was significantly reduced in patients compared to controls. Network analyses revealed significantly lower thalamo-cortical connectivity for the motor, auditory, visual, default mode network, salience, left/right executive, and dorsal attention network in patients compared with controls. Interestingly, analyses additionally revealed higher thalamo-cortical connectivity in some subdivisions of the thalamus for the default mode network (medial nuclei), motor (lateral nuclei), dorsal attention (anterior nuclei), and the left executive network (posterior nuclei) in patients compared with controls. Increased and decreased thalamo-cortical connectivity strength within the same networks was, however, found in different thalamic subdivisions. Thus, alterations in thalamo-cortical connectivity strength after paediatric stroke seem to point in both directions, with stronger as well as weaker thalamo-cortical connectivity in patients compared with controls. Multivariate linear regression, with lesion size and age as covariates, revealed significant correlations between cognitive performance (selective attention, inhibition, and working memory) and the strength of thalamo-cortical connectivity in the motor, auditory, visual, default mode network, posterior default mode network, salience, left/right executive, and dorsal attention network after childhood stroke. Our data suggest that the interaction between different sub-nuclei of the thalamus and several cortical networks relates to post-stroke cognition. The variability in cognitive outcomes after paediatric stroke might partly be explained by functional thalamo-cortical connectivity strength

Changes in life satisfaction when losing one's spouse: individual differences in anticipation, reaction, adaptation and longevity in the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP)

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Losing a spouse is among the most devastating events that may occur in people's lives. We use longitudinal data from 1,224 participants in the German Socio-economic Panel Study (SOEP) to examine (a) how life satisfaction changes with the experience of spousal loss; (b) whether socio-demographic factors and social and health resources moderate spousal loss-related changes in life satisfaction; and (c) whether extent of anticipation, reaction and adaptation to spousal loss are associated with mortality. Results reveal that life satisfaction shows anticipatory declines about two and a half years prior to (anticipation), steep declines in the months surrounding (reaction) and lower levels after spousal loss (adaptation). Older age was associated with steeper anticipatory declines, but less steep reactive declines. Additionally, younger age, better health, social participation and poorer partner health were associated with better adaptation. Higher pre-loss life satisfaction, less steep reactive declines and better adaptation were associated with longevity. The discussion focuses on the utility of examining the interrelatedness among anticipation, reaction and adaptation to further our understanding of change in life satisfaction in the context of major life events

Cerebral blood flow and cognitive outcome after pediatric stroke in the middle cerebral artery.

Adaptive recovery of cerebral perfusion after pediatric arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) is sought to be crucial for sustainable rehabilitation of cognitive functions. We therefore examined cerebral blood flow (CBF) in the chronic stage after stroke and its association with cognitive outcome in patients after pediatric AIS. This cross-sectional study investigated CBF and cognitive functions in 14 patients (age 13.5 ± 4.4 years) after pediatric AIS in the middle cerebral artery (time since AIS was at least 2 years prior to assessment) when compared with 36 healthy controls (aged 13.8 ± 4.3 years). Cognitive functions were assessed with neuropsychological tests, CBF was measured with arterial spin labeled imaging in the anterior, middle, and posterior cerebral artery (ACA, MCA, PCA). Patients had significantly lower IQ scores and poorer cognitive functions compared to healthy controls (p < 0.026) but mean performance was within the normal range in all cognitive domains. Arterial spin labeled imaging revealed significantly lower CBF in the ipsilesional MCA and PCA in patients compared to healthy controls. Further, we found significantly higher interhemispheric perfusion imbalance in the MCA in patients compared to controls. Higher interhemispheric perfusion imbalance in the MCA was significantly associated with lower working memory performance. Our findings revealed that even years after a pediatric stroke in the MCA, reduced ipsilesional cerebral blood flow occurs in the MCA and PCA and that interhemispheric imbalance is associated with cognitive performance. Thus, our data suggest that cerebral hypoperfusion might underlie some of the variability observed in long-term outcome after pediatric stroke

German Ageing Survey (DEAS) - the second half of life: research instruments of the third wave

Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Main research areas; 3. Sampling; 4. Survey methods; 5. Project management and staff; 6. Data access; 7. Survey documents

German Ageing Survey (DEAS) - the second half of life: research instruments of the third wave

Contents: 1. Introduction; 2. Main research areas; 3. Sampling; 4. Survey methods; 5. Project management and staff; 6. Data access; 7. Survey documents