Abstract
Objectives:
Research on the health-enhancing effects of later life activities gives limited attention to the age-segregated nature of many organizations; such consideration draws into focus ...identity processes contributing to these benefits. Studies also focus more on social than on educational organizations. We address these limitations by examining older adults’ identity work within the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI), a not-for-credit later life educational organization.
Method:
We use qualitative data from three sources: interviews with OLLI participants and staff (n = 32); observations at OLLI courses, events, and two regional conferences (118 hours); and content analysis of program materials. Data analyses followed a grounded theory approach.
Results:
Analyses revealed identity work allowing members to view themselves as “lifelong learners.” This work involved four processes: (a) framing as a college experience, (b) distancing from nonacademic pursuits, (c) embracing the mature love of learning, and (d) (re)casting themselves as lifelong students.
Discussion:
Our study contributes to research on the benefits of later life activity by illuminating identity work processes operating within an age-segregated educational organization. These processes allow members to positively frame themselves as older adults; however, they not only reinforce stereotypes of younger and older adults but also devalue older adults unable to participate or uninterested in lifelong learning programs.
We examine 4 potential explanations for the lower quality of life reported by older adults with greater visual impairment.
Using 2 waves of data from a nationally representative sample of older ...persons (a subsample of the Americans' Changing Lives Study, 1986 and 1989), we run residual change regression analysis to assess the extent to which the effect of visual impairment on quality of life, indicated by depressive symptoms and life satisfaction, is explained by changes in each of the following: (1) activity limitations; (2) socioeconomic resources, measured as income and financial strain; (3) social resources, indicated by social integration and perceived support; and (4) psychological resources, measured by self-efficacy.
Higher levels of visual impairment are associated with more depressive symptoms and lower life satisfaction over the 3-year period. Each hypothesized mediator plays a role in explaining the effect of visual impairment on declines in quality of life; however, the strongest mediating effects are found for self-efficacy.
By identifying multiple pathways through which visual impairment diminishes quality of life among older adults, this study highlights the importance of multipronged intervention efforts.
Transmission of canine heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis) from infected to naïve dogs is dependent on successful mosquito feeding and survival.
To determine whether treating heartworm-infected dogs with ...fluralaner (Bravecto
) limits the survival of infected mosquitoes, and potentially the transmission of D. immitis, we allowed female mosquitoes to feed on microfilaremic dogs and evaluated mosquito survival and infection with D. immitis. Eight dogs were experimentally infected with D. immitis. On day 0 (~ 11 months post-infection), four microfilaremic dogs were treated with fluralaner according to label directions while the other four were non-treated controls. Mosquitoes (Aedes aegypti Liverpool) were allowed to feed on each dog on days -7, 2, 30, 56, and 84. Fed mosquitoes were collected, and the number of live mosquitoes determined at 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h post-feeding. Surviving mosquitoes held for 2 weeks were dissected to confirm third-stage D. immitis larvae; PCR (12S rRNA gene) was performed post-dissection to identify D. immitis in mosquitoes.
Prior to treatment, 98.4%, 85.1%, 60.7%, and 40.3% of mosquitoes fed on microfilaremic dogs were alive at 6 h, 24 h, 48 h, and 72 h post-feeding, respectively. Similarly, mosquitoes fed on microfilaremic, non-treated dogs were alive 6 h post-feeding (98.5-100%) throughout the study. In contrast, mosquitoes fed on fluralaner-treated dogs 2 days after treatment were dead or severely moribund by 6 h post-feeding. At 30 and 56 days post-treatment, > 99% of mosquitoes fed on treated dogs were dead by 24 h. At 84 days post-treatment, 98.4% of mosquitoes fed on treated dogs were dead by 24 h. Before treatment, third-stage larvae of D. immitis were recovered from 15.5% of Ae. aegypti 2 weeks after feeding, and 72.4% were positive for D. immitis by PCR. Similarly, 17.7% of mosquitoes fed on non-treated dogs had D. immitis third-stage larvae 2 weeks after feeding, and 88.2% were positive by PCR. Five mosquitoes fed on fluralaner-treated dogs survived 2 weeks post-feeding, and 4/5 were from day 84. None had third-stage larvae at dissection, and all were PCR-negative.
The data indicate that fluralaner treatment of dogs kills mosquitoes and thus would be expected to reduce transmission of heartworm in the surrounding community.
In our society that values men over women and youth over old age, sexism and ageism intersect to erode women's status more rapidly and severely than men's. However, limited attention is given to ...women's responses to their devaluation, particularly collective efforts to either resist or accommodate dominant beliefs about ageing women. We examine membership in the Red Hat Society, an international organisation for middle-aged and older women, as a response to gendered ageism. Drawing on data from semi-structured interviews with members (N = 52), our analysis focuses on the group's ‘performance of girlhood’, which involves adopting children's social roles, dressing up and playing. We examine its resonance with a dominant cultural metaphor for old age as ‘second childhood’, illustrating how it not only provides opportunities for resistance to gendered ageism but also contributes to its entrenchment. The behaviours constitute a performative act that resists gendered ageism by increasing ageing women's visibility and asserting their right to leisure. However, its accommodative features reproduce inequality by valuing youth over old age and depicting older women as girls engaging in frivolous activities, which can be seen as obstructing social change.
Increasing numbers of women, of all ages, are choosing to travel alone - a trend accompanied by online articles providing advice to them. However, we are aware of only one study examining these ...articles, and it gave no attention to age. We conduct a content analysis of 75 online articles directed at solo women travelers, including 29 written for older women. Results revealed three themes - regulating risk, letting go, and discovering self. Their prevalence varied by articles' targeted age group, with those aimed at younger women focusing on solo travel's risks and those for older women highlighting its rewards.
ABSTRACT
Aims Our study has two goals: to evaluate variation in symptoms of substance abuse/dependence by family structure and to examine several potential explanations for this association, ...including differences in socio‐economic status, social support, social stress and perceived approval and use of substances by family and friends.
Design Ordinary least squares (OLS) regression is used to examine the association between family type and problematic substance use and to assess the hypothesized mediators.
Setting Data were collected between 1998 and 2000 as part of a study of the prevalence and social distributions of psychiatric and substance use disorders. The study involved face‐to‐face interviews with a representative sample of young adults in a South Florida community.
Participants Respondents (n = 1760) were between 18 and 23 years of age. Approximately 25% were of Cuban origin, 25% other Caribbean basin Hispanic, 25% African American and 25% non‐Hispanic white.
Measurements Four family types are examined: mother–father families, single‐parent families, single‐parent families that include other adult relative(s) and stepfamilies. Problematic substance use is measured by a set of 22 substance abuse/dependence symptoms.
Findings Controlling for race–ethnicity and gender, respondents from single‐parent families report a significantly higher level of problematic substance use than those from mother–father families. Although nearly all explanations receive support, we find the strongest evidence for differential association with deviant peers and exposure to stress.
Conclusions Our findings suggest that—rather than representing a unique and independent predictor of substance use problems—family structure can be viewed as a marker of the unequal distribution of factors influencing the risk of problematic substance use.
LITAF (LPS-induced TNF-activating factor) is an endosome-associated integral membrane protein important for multivesicular body sorting. Several mutations in LITAF cause autosomal-dominant Charcot ...Marie Tooth disease type 1C. These mutations map to a highly conserved C-terminal region, termed the LITAF domain, which includes a 22 residue hydrophobic sequence and flanking cysteine-rich regions that contain peptide motifs found in zinc fingers. Although the LITAF domain is thought to be responsible for membrane integration, the membrane topology of LITAF has not been established. Here, we have investigated whether LITAF is a tail-anchored (TA) membrane-spanning protein or monotopic membrane protein. When translated in vitro, LITAF integrates poorly into ER-derived microsomes compared with Sec61β, a bona fide TA protein. Furthermore, introduction of N-linked glycosylation reporters shows that neither the N-terminal nor C-terminal domains of LITAF translocate into the ER lumen. Expression in cells of an LITAF construct containing C-terminal glycosylation sites confirms that LITAF is not a TA protein in cells. Finally, an immunofluorescence-based latency assay showed that both the N- and C-termini of LITAF are exposed to the cytoplasm. Recombinant LITAF contains 1 mol/mol zinc, while mutation of predicted zinc-binding residues disrupts LITAF membrane association. Hence, we conclude that LITAF is a monotopic membrane protein whose membrane integration is stabilised by a zinc finger. The related human protein, CDIP1 (cell death involved p53 target 1), displays identical membrane topology, suggesting that this mode of membrane integration is conserved in LITAF family proteins.
Mammals obtain nitrogen via the uptake of di- and tri-peptides in the gastrointestinal tract through the action of PepT1 and PepT2, which are members of the POT family of proton-coupled oligopeptide ...transporters. PepT1 and PepT2 also play an important role in drug transport in the human body. Recent crystal structures of bacterial homologs revealed a conserved peptide-binding site and mechanism of transport. However, a key structural difference exists between bacterial and mammalian homologs with only the latter containing a large extracellular domain, the function of which is currently unknown. Here, we present the crystal structure of the extracellular domain from both PepT1 and PepT2 that reveal two immunoglobulin-like folds connected in tandem, providing structural insight into mammalian peptide transport. Functional and biophysical studies demonstrate that these domains interact with the intestinal protease trypsin, suggesting a role in clustering proteolytic activity to the site of peptide transport in eukaryotic cells.
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•Crystal structure of the extracellular domains of PepT1 and PepT2•Modular architecture for a mammalian MFS transporter•Extracellular domains contain immunoglobulin-like fold and interact with trypsin
The crystal structure of PepT1 and PepT2 reported by Beale et al. reveals two immunoglobulin-like domains connected in tandem inserted within the canonical major facilitator superfamily fold. Biophysical analyses reveal a specific interaction with trypsin, suggesting a role in clustering proteolytic activity to the site of peptide uptake across the membrane.
Abstract
Background and Objectives
Chronic pain, which affects more than 1 in 4 middle-aged and older adults, can have profound implications for everyday behaviors like driving. The literature ...examining it, however, is relatively small and is limited by its reliance on patient populations and its lack of attention to some driving-related behaviors and self-assessments that may signal the start of a transition from driving.
Research Design and Methods
We address these issues using data from an online survey of Floridians aged 50 and older that was conducted between December 2020 and April 2021 and funded by the Florida Department of Transportation (n = 3,832). We ran multivariate regression analyses to examine the association between pain’s interference with driving and 5 driving-related outcomes: self-rated driving ability, driving frequency, self-regulated driving, perceived nearness of driving retirement, and planning for driving retirement.
Results
Results indicate that experiencing more pain that interferes with driving is associated with worse self-rated driving ability, more frequent self-regulated driving, and greater planning for driving retirement. It is not associated with driving frequency or with anticipating that driving retirement will occur in the next 5 years.
Discussion and Implications
These findings indicate that greater pain may hasten the transition from driving, along with planning for it. These patterns suggest that pain may increase people’s risk of isolation and other negative outcomes that can follow driving retirement; however, pain’s effect on planning may reduce these risks. By focusing on transitioning from driving, our study reveals a largely overlooked benefit of reducing pain—It could extend people’s years behind the wheel.
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