In recent years, several studies have suggested that obesity may play an important role in cognitive impairment. Individuals with cognitive impairment often also exhibit depressive symptoms. This ...study aimed to explore the association between obesity and cognitive impairment and to elucidate the mediating role of depressive symptoms in this association.
Older participants in the U.S. were examined in this cross-sectional study (n = 2391). The WWI was computed as follows: WWI = waist circumference/square root of body weight. The Consortium for Alzheimer's Disease Word Learning (CERAD-WL), the Animal Fluency Test (AFT), and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST) were used to evaluate cognitive function. Depression symptoms were evaluated with the Patient Health Questionnaire 9 (PHQ-9). Subgroup analysis and multiple logistic regression analysis were utilized to investigate the relationships between the WWI and depressive symptoms and cognitive decline. Threshold effects were computed using a two-segment linear regression model. To ascertain whether depression mediates the relationship between the WWI and cognitive impairment, mediation analysis was also employed.
A total of 2391 participants were included, 33.29 % of whom had cognitive impairment. There was a significant correlation between the WWI and depressive symptoms and cognitive function (P < 0.05). With increasing WWI quartiles, the prevalence of cognitive impairment increased (Q1: 27.09 %, Q2: 33.00 %, Q3: 31.44 %, Q4: 41.64 %). It was highly likely that the WWI and cognitive impairment were positively correlated (OR = 1.34, 95 % CI = 1.13, 1.59), and this link was steady across all subgroups (P for trend >0.05). A nonlinear curve with an inflection point of 10.71 connected the WWI and cognitive deterioration. A significant correlation was found between the WWI and cognitive impairment on the left side of the inflection point (OR = 3.58, 95 % CI = 1.57, 8.15). With a 5.4 % mediation rate, mediation analysis revealed that depressive symptoms mediated the relationship between cognitive impairment and the WWI.
There was a positive association between the WWI and the incidence of cognitive impairment in older Americans. Among other factors, depressive symptoms slightly mediated the association between the WWI and cognitive impairment. However, large-scale prospective studies are still needed to analyse the interactions between the three factors in depth.
•This study explores the Waist-to-Weight Index (WWI) and its link to cognitive impairment, highlighting depression's mediating role.•Higher WWI linked to increased cognitive impairment risk, suggesting abdominal obesity's role in cognitive decline.•Study links abdominal obesity and depression with cognitive impairment, offering insights into prevention strategies.
This cohort study’s aim was to assess the association between the weight-adjusted waist index (WWI) and frailty among middle-aged and elderly individuals in China.
Seven-year complete follow-up data ...from 10,349 adults aged ≥45 years, initially surveyed in 2 011 in the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study, were analyzed, including clinical demographic characteristics, anthropometric indices, frailty scores, and relevant covariates. The WWI was calculated as waist circumference divided by the square root of the body weight. Frailty was evaluated using the Frailty Index. Relationships between the WWI and frailty were evaluated via Cox proportional hazards modeling. Receiver operating characteristic curve analyses assessed the effectiveness of obesity-related indicators in predicting frailty.
Over a median 84-month follow-up period, frailty occurred in 23.7% (2453/10,349) of participants. After potential confounder adjustment, the WWI positively correlated with frailty (adjusted hazard ratio: 1.14; 95% confidence interval: 1.08–1.20; p < 0.001). After WWI-stratification into quartiles based on frailty and covariate adjustment, regression analyses were conducted; the adjusted hazard ratios exhibited a significant upward trend (p < 0.001). The subgroup analyses revealed higher positive correlations between the WWI and frailty in males and those aged ≥65 years and lower correlations in those with a high school or higher educational level and in married or cohabiting individuals. The strong positive correlation was unaltered in the other subgroup analyses. The WWI outperformed all other obesity-related indicators as a frailty predictor.
The WWI is a dependable and innovative obesity-related predictor of frailty and could help in mitigating its development.
The Great War brought about important changes in the way society perceived gender roles and norms. Women entered the public sphere because their contribution was needed to the war effort; they were ...assigned various jobs, which allowed them to become more independent than ever before. Stereotypes and patriarchal bias were still common, and women writers tried to use literature as a medium to propagate feminist ideas. It is the case of Edith Wharton who, although not a declared feminist, attempted to challenge patriarchal power. Her short story “Writing a War Story” introduces the reader to a plot that becomes subversive to male authority.
El artículo aborda las formas en las que los
debates en torno a la reforma fiscal en Argentina se reflejaron y
readaptaron a los ámbitos municipales durante la crisis económica
provocada por la ...Primera Guerra Mundial. A partir del caso de Posadas,
capital del entonces territorio nacional de Misiones, se propone
observar cómo se reflejaban los nuevos debates planteados en torno al
problema tributario y a las atribuciones municipales de establecer
gravámenes progresivos desde el periódico local La Tarde. A través de este análisis se
sostiene que los temas discutidos dan cuenta de la difusión de un
conjunto de ideas según las cuales las municipalidades eran
reconocidas como instituciones de gobierno dotadas de las atribuciones
necesarias para introducir reformas tributarias o direccionar su
política fiscal sobre la base de gravámenes progresivos, y a la vez
regular los precios de los alimentos en favor de los sectores
perjudicados por la crisis. Asimismo se argumenta que estas
percepciones también se nutrían de las experiencias de otras
municipalidades que funcionaban como modelos de lo posible. En este
marco las iniciativas municipales pueden comprenderse como insertas en
un espacio amplio de discusión sobre el alcance de las capacidades
municipales ante la crisis y no solo como respuestas locales.
The paper approaches ways
in which the debates around the tax reform in Argentina were reflected
and readjusted into municipal levels during the WWI economic crisis.
By taking the case of Posadas, capital city of the national territory
of Misiones, it proposes to observe how the new debates on the tax
system and the municipal attributions to establish a more progressive
levy were reflected from the local newspaper La Tarde. Through this analyses it is
sustained that the issues discussed show the circulation of ideas
according to which municipalities were conceived as government
institutions provided with the necessary attributions to introduce tax
reforms or redirect their tax policies based on a progressive levy,
and also regulate the prices of basic foodstuffs, in order to favor
low-income sectors affected by the crisis. Likewise, we argue that
although these conceptions were nurtured by widespread economic ideas
such as Georgism, they also received influence from the experiences of
other municipalities that worked as models of what could be done. In
this context, municipal initiatives can be understood as inserted in a
wider field of discussions over the scope of municipal capacities
during the crisis and not only as local responses.
Using four bombarded coastal locations in north-east England as case studies, this article explores the phenomenon of bomb damage imagery and its use in propaganda and commemorative processes during ...the First World War. Through an analysis of postcards, souvenirs and other aspects of wartime material culture, this article posits that depictions of bomb-damaged and destroyed buildings - both monumental and vernacular - were central to local and national efforts to memorialise and make sense of the passing of enemy actions on the home front, during a period when civilians were increasingly seen as legitimate targets.
This study is unique in that it presents the first empirically developed framework for use as a tool for measuring historical empathy. The Historical Empathy Measurement Tool (HEMT) was developed ...using a design-based research method with three iterative macrocycles of design, experiment, and retrospective analysis. The study involved question responses from 276 students in grade 8 studying WWI trench warfare. The research resulted in a framework of seven levels. (0) Non-response, (1) Facts, (2) Assumptions and Deficits, (3) General Comparison of the Past and Present, (4) Emotional Comparison of the Past and Present, (5) Understanding Motives, Behaviors, Thoughts, & Emotions in the Past, and (6) Acknowledgement of Differences from those in the Past. The inter-rater reliability at the end of macrocycle three was 95%.
Winter wheat is one of the most important staple crops in the world. Accurate and timely information on the spatial distribution and temporal change of winter wheat is critical for food security and ...environmental sustainability. Multi-temporal images and time series data of medium resolution are widely used in winter wheat mapping. However, relatively long revisit times and image noise often result in a deficiency in full time series data. In this paper, a new spectral index, called the winter wheat index (WWI), using multi-temporal Landsat normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) data of four key growth stages of winter wheat, was proposed to highlight and map winter wheat. Two distinctive NDVI contrasts, each consisting of an NDVI peak and trough, were identified and used in the WWI. The proposed index was evaluated through qualitative and quantitative analyses as well as winter wheat mapping, and compared with three state-of-the-art methods. To map winter wheat using WWI, a Monte Carlo cross validation procedure was adopted to determine the optimal thresholds of the WWI. Visual comparison showed that winter wheat was highlighted by higher WWI values, whereas other land cover types had lower WWI values. The experimental results from quantitative analysis indicated that WWI achieved better separability between winter wheat and other land cover types than the other comparative indices. The proposed WWI also produced more accurate winter wheat mapping results, compared with the state-of-art methods. Therefore, the proposed WWI provides a useful variable for winter wheat mapping, which reduced the dependence on full time series data and the use of noise images, and can be applied in other study areas.
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