Despite waves of democratic backsliding over the last decade, most global citizens still claim to support democracy. On the other hand, many citizens become more supportive of specific ...anti-democratic actions when their preferred political side can benefit. How, then, do citizens justify their consistent “explicit support for democracy” with their more malleable support for the implementation of liberal democracy? This paper uses cross-national survey data from 74 countries and two methods—a standard cross-sectional analysis and a within-country variation design—to show that a citizen’s conceptualization of democracy, or what democracy means to them, is subject to partisan-motivated reasoning. In other words, citizens are more likely to conceptualize democracy in illiberal terms, like emphasizing the need for obeying authority, when their preferred political party is in power. The findings suggest one’s conception of democracy can be a fluid attitude that citizens mold to match their partisan self-interest.
The burden of dementia continues to increase as the population ages, with no disease-modifying treatments available. However, dementia risk appears to be decreasing, and progress has been made in ...understanding its multifactorial etiology. The 2018 National Institute on Aging-Alzheimer's Association (NIA-AA) research framework for Alzheimer's disease (AD) defines AD as a biological process measured by brain pathology or biomarkers, spanning the cognitive spectrum from normality to dementia. This framework facilitates interventions in the asymptomatic space and accommodates knowledge that many additional pathologies (e.g., cerebrovascular) contribute to the Alzheimer's dementia syndrome. The framework has implications for how we think about risk factors for "AD": Many commonly accepted risk factors are not related to AD pathology and would no longer be considered risk factors for AD. They may instead be related to other pathologies or resilience to pathology. This review updates what is known about causes, risk factors, and changing patterns of dementia, addressing whether they are related to AD pathology biomarkers, other pathologies, or resilience.
We examined the association of social activity with cognitive decline in 1138 persons without dementia at baseline with a mean age of 79.6 (SD = 7.5) who were followed for up to 12 years (mean = 5.2; ...SD = 2.8). Using mixed models adjusted for age, sex, education, race, social network size, depression, chronic conditions, disability, neuroticism, extraversion, cognitive activity, and physical activity, more social activity was associated with less cognitive decline during average follow-up of 5.2 years (SD = 2.7). A one point increase in social activity score (range = 1-4.2; mean = 2.6; SD = 0.6) was associated with a 47% decrease in the rate of decline in global cognitive function (p < .001). The rate of global cognitive decline was reduced by an average of 70% in persons who were frequently socially active (score = 3.33, 90th percentile) compared to persons who were infrequently socially active (score = 1.83, 10th percentile). This association was similar across five domains of cognitive function. Sensitivity analyses revealed that individuals with the lowest levels of cognition or with mild cognitive impairment at baseline did not drive this relationship. These results confirm that more socially active older adults experience less cognitive decline in old age.
To assess the burden of mortality attributable to Alzheimer disease (AD) dementia in the United States.
Data came from 2,566 persons aged 65 years and older (mean 78.1 years) without dementia at ...baseline from 2 cohort studies of aging with identical annual diagnostic assessments of dementia. Because both studies require organ donation, ascertainment of mortality was complete and dates of death accurate. Mortality hazard ratios (HRs) after incident AD dementia were estimated per 10-year age strata from proportional hazards models. Population attributable risk percentage was derived to estimate excess mortality after a diagnosis of AD dementia. The number of excess deaths attributable to AD dementia in the United States was then estimated.
Over an average of 8 years, 559 participants (21.8%) without dementia at baseline developed AD dementia and 1,090 (42.4%) died. Median time from AD dementia diagnosis to death was 3.8 years. The mortality HR for AD dementia was 4.30 (confidence interval = 3.33, 5.58) for ages 75-84 years and 2.77 (confidence interval = 2.37, 3.23) for ages 85 years and older (too few deaths after AD dementia in ages 65-74 were available to estimate HR). Population attributable risk percentage was 37.0% for ages 75-84 and 35.8% for ages 85 and older. An estimated 503,400 deaths in Americans aged 75 years and older were attributable to AD dementia in 2010.
A larger number of deaths are attributable to AD dementia in the United States each year than the number (<84,000 in 2010) reported on death certificates.
Hyperphosphorylated transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43, encoded by TARDBP ) proteinopathy has recently been described in ageing and in association with cognitive impairment, ...especially in the context of Alzheimer's disease pathology. To explore the role of mixed Alzheimer's disease and TDP-43 pathologies in clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia, we performed a comprehensive investigation of TDP-43, mixed pathologies, and clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia in a large cohort of community-dwelling older subjects. We tested the hypotheses that TDP-43 with Alzheimer's disease pathology is a common mixed pathology; is related to increased likelihood of expressing clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia; and that TDP-43 pathologic stage is an important determinant of clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia. Data came from 946 older adults with ( n = 398) and without dementia ( n = 548) from the Rush Memory and Aging Project and Religious Orders Study. TDP-43 proteinopathy (cytoplasmic inclusions) was present in 496 (52%) subjects, and the pattern of deposition was classified as stage 0 (none; 48%), stage 1 (amygdala; 18%), stage 2 (extension to hippocampus/entorhinal; 21%), or stage 3 (extension to neocortex; 14%). TDP-43 pathology combined with a pathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease was a common mixed pathology (37% of all participants), and the proportion of subjects with clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia formerly labelled 'pure pathologic diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease' was halved when TDP-43 was considered. In logistic regression models adjusted for age, sex, and education, TDP-43 pathology was associated with clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia (odds ratio = 1.51, 95% confidence interval = 1.11, 2.05) independent of pathological Alzheimer's disease (odds ratio = 4.30, 95% confidence interval = 3.08, 6.01) or other pathologies (infarcts, arteriolosclerosis, Lewy bodies, and hippocampal sclerosis). Mixed Alzheimer's disease and TDP-43 pathologies were associated with higher odds of clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia (odds ratio = 6.73, 95% confidence interval = 4.18, 10.85) than pathologic Alzheimer's disease alone (odds ratio = 4.62, 95% confidence interval = 2.84, 7.52). In models examining TDP-43 stage, a dose-response relationship with clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia was observed, and a significant association was observed starting at stage 2, extension beyond the amygdala. In this large sample from almost 1000 community participants, we observed that TDP-43 proteinopathy was very common, frequently mixed with pathological Alzheimer's disease, and associated with a higher likelihood of the clinical expression of clinical Alzheimer's-type dementia but only when extended beyond the amygdala.
Obtaining accurate and widespread measurements of the vertical structure of the Earth’s forests has been a long-sought goal for the ecological community. Such observations are critical for accurately ...assessing the existing biomass of forests, and how changes in this biomass caused by human activities or variations in climate may impact atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Additionally, the three-dimensional structure of forests is a key component of habitat quality and biodiversity at local to regional scales. The Global Ecosystem Dynamics Investigation (GEDI) was launched to the International Space Station in late 2018 to provide high-quality measurements of forest vertical structure in temperate and tropical forests between 51.6° N & S latitude. The GEDI instrument is a geodetic-class laser altimeter/waveform lidar comprised of 3 lasers that produce 8 transects of structural information. Over its two-year nominal lifetime GEDI is anticipated to provide over 10 billion waveforms at a footprint resolution of 25 m. These data will be used to derive a variety of footprint and gridded products, including canopy height, canopy foliar profiles, Leaf Area Index (LAI), sub-canopy topography and biomass. Additionally, data from GEDI are used to demonstrate the efficacy of its measurements for prognostic ecosystem modeling, habit and biodiversity studies, and for fusion using radar and other remote sensing instruments. GEDI science and technology are unique: no other space-based mission has been created that is specifically optimized for retrieving vegetation vertical structure. As such, GEDI promises to advance our understanding of the importance of canopy vertical variations within an ecological paradigm based on structure, composition and function.
•GEDI is the first spaceborne lidar optimized to measure ecosystem structure.•GEDI has a 2 year mission length on the International Space Station.•GEDI samples about 4% of the Earth’s land surface between 51.6° N&S.•GEDI data are used to create data sets on canopy structure, biomass and topography.•GEDI helps quantify the net carbon impact of forest loss and subsequent regrowth.
Hydrogels have gained interest for use in tissue regeneration and wound healing because of their absorbing and swelling properties as well as their ability to mimic the natural extracellular matrix. ...Their use in wound healing specifically may be in the form of a patch or wound dressing or they may be administered within the wound bed as a filler, gel in situ, to promote healing. Thiolated hyaluronic acid‐polyethylene diacrylate (tHA‐PEGDA) hydrogels are ideal for this purpose due to their short gelation times at physiological temperature and pH. But these hydrogels alone are not enough and require added components to gain bioactivity. In this work, RGD adhesion peptides and an antivascular endothelial growth factor receptor‐2 (VEGF‐R2) DNA aptamer are incorporated into a tHA‐PEGDA hydrogel to make a bifunctional hyaluronic acid hydrogel. RGD peptides promote attachment and growth of cells while the anti‐VEGF‐R2 DNA aptamer seems to improve cell viability, induce cell migration, and spur the onset of angiogenesis by tube formation by endothelial cells. This bifunctional hydrogel supports cell culture and has improved biological properties. The data suggest that these hydrogels can be used for advanced tissue regeneration applications such as in wound healing.
In this work, a bifunctional hyaluronic acid‐based hydrogel supports endothelial cell culture and shows improved biological properties. The gel is functionalized with both RGD peptides and anti‐VEGF‐R2 DNA aptamer. The data suggest improved cell viability, cell migration, and the initiation of angiogenesis by tube formation by endothelial cells. The data suggest that these hydrogels can be used in wound healing.
This study examined correlates of susceptibility to scams in 639 community-dwelling older adults without dementia from a cohort study of aging. Regression models adjusted for age, sex, education, and ...income were used to examine associations between susceptibility to scams, measured by a five-item self-report measure, and a number of potential correlates. Susceptibility was positively associated with age and negatively associated with income, cognition, psychological well-being, social support, and literacy. Fully adjusted models indicated that older age and lower levels of cognitive function, decreased psychological well-being, and lower literacy in particular may be markers of susceptibility to financial victimization in old age.
Objective
Our objectives were to characterize the inter‐relation of known dementia‐related neuropathologies in one comprehensive model and quantify the extent to which accumulation of ...neuropathologies accounts for the association between age and dementia.
Methods
We used data from 1,362 autopsied participants of three community‐based clinicopathological cohorts: the Religious Orders Study, the Rush Memory and Aging Project, and the Minority Aging Research Study. We estimated a series of structural equation models summarizing a priori hypothesized neuropathological pathways between age and dementia risk individually and collectively.
Results
At time of death (mean age, 89 years), 44% of our sample had a clinical dementia diagnosis. When considered individually, our vascular, amyloid/tau, neocortical Lewy body, and TAR DNA‐binding protein 43 (TDP‐43)/hippocampal sclerosis pathology pathways each accounted for a substantial proportion of the association between age and dementia. When considered collectively, the four pathways fully accounted for all variance in dementia risk previously attributable to age. Pathways involving amyloid/tau, neocortical Lewy bodies, and TDP‐43/hippocampal sclerosis were interdependent, attributable to the importance of amyloid beta plaques in all three. The importance of the pathways varied, with the vascular pathway accounting for 32% of the association between age and dementia, wheraes the remaining three inter‐related degenerative pathways together accounted for 68% (amyloid/tau, 24%; the Lewy body, 1%; and TDP‐43/hippocampal sclerosis, 43%).
Interpretation
Age‐related increases in dementia risk can be attributed to accumulation of multiple pathologies, each of which contributes to dementia risk. Multipronged approaches may be necessary if we are to develop effective therapies. Ann Neurol 2018;84:10–22
Although sex differences have been noted in cellular function and behavior, therapy efficacy, and disease incidence and outcomes, the adoption of sex as a biological variable in tissue engineering ...and regenerative medicine remains limited. Furthering the development of personalized, precision medicine requires considering biological sex at the bench and in the clinic. This review provides the basis for considering biological sex when designing tissue-engineered constructs and regenerative therapies by contextualizing sex as a biological variable within the tissue engineering triad of cells, matrices, and signals. To achieve equity in biological sex within medicine requires a cultural shift in science and engineering research, with active engagement by researchers, clinicians, companies, policymakers, and funding agencies.
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