Comparison of epidemiology, treatments, and outcomes in pediatric versus adult ependymoma

Abstract Background Mounting evidence supports the presence of heterogeneity in the presentation of ependymoma patients with respect to location, histopathology, and behavior between pediatric and adult patients. However, the influence of age on treatment outcomes in ependymoma remains obscure. Methods The SEER database years 1975–2016 were queried. Patients with a diagnosis of ependymoma were identified using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology, Third Edition, coding system. Patients were classified into one of 4 age groups: children (age 0–12 years), adolescents (age 13–21 years), young adults (age 22–45 years), and older adults (age >45 years). The weighed multivariate analysis assessed the impact of age on survival outcomes following surgical treatment. Results There were a total of 6076 patients identified with ependymoma, of which 1111 (18%) were children, 529 (9%) were adolescents, 2039 (34%) were young adults, and 2397 (40%) were older adults. There were statistically significant differences between cohorts with respect to race (P < .001), anatomical location (P < .001), extent of resection (P < .001), radiation use (P < .001), tumor grade (P < .001), histological classification (P < .001), and all-cause mortality (P < .001). There was no significant difference between cohorts with respect to gender (P = .103). On multivariate logistic regression, factors associated with all-cause mortality rates included males (vs females), supratentorial location (vs spinal cord tumors), and radiation treatment (vs no radiation). Conclusions Our study using the SEER database demonstrates the various demographic and treatment risk factors that are associated with increased rates of all-cause mortality between the pediatric and adult populations following a diagnosis of ependymoma.

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Differential brain activity in visuo-perceptual regions during landmark-based navigation in young and healthy older adults

10.1101/2020.03.13.990572 ◽

2020 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Stephen Ramanoël ◽

Marion Durteste ◽

Marcia Bécu ◽

Christophe Habas ◽

Angelo Arleo

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Age Groups ◽

Retrosplenial Cortex ◽

Central Visual Field ◽

Cortical Projection ◽

Age Related ◽

The Impact

AbstractOlder adults exhibit prominent impairments in their capacity to navigate, reorient in unfamiliar environments or update their path when faced with obstacles. This decline in navigational capabilities has traditionally been ascribed to memory impairments and dysexecutive function whereas the impact of visual aging has often been overlooked. The ability to perceive visuo-spatial information such as salient landmarks is essential to navigate in space efficiently. To date, the functional and neurobiological factors underpinning landmark processing in aging remain insufficiently characterized. To address this issue, this study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the brain activity associated with landmark-based navigation in young and healthy older participants. Twenty-five young adults (μ=25.4 years, σ=4.7; 7F) and twenty-one older adults (μ=73.0 years, σ=3.9; 10F) performed a virtual navigation task in the scanner in which they could only orient using salient landmarks. The underlying whole-brain patterns of activity as well as the functional roles of scene-selective regions, the parahippocampal place area (PPA), the occipital place area (OPA), and the retrosplenial cortex (RSC) were analyzed. We found that older adults’ navigational abilities were diminished compared to young adults’ and that the two age groups relied on distinct navigational strategies to solve the task. Better performance during landmark-based navigation was found to be associated with increased neural activity in an extended neural network comprising several cortical and cerebellar regions. Direct comparisons between age groups further revealed that young participants had enhanced anterior temporal activity. In addition, young adults only were found to recruit occipital areas corresponding to the cortical projection of the central visual field during landmark-based navigation. The region-of-interest analysis revealed increased OPA activation in older adult participants. There were no significant between-group differences in PPA and RSC activations. These results hint at the possibility that aging diminishes fine-grained information processing in occipital and temporal regions thus hindering the capacity to use landmarks adequately for navigation. This work helps towards a better comprehension of the neural dynamics subtending landmark-based navigation and it provides new insights on the impact of age-related visuo-spatial processing changes on navigation capabilities.

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Older Adults Have a Low Capacity To Opsonize Pneumococci Due to Low IgM Antibody Response to Pneumococcal Vaccinations

Infection and Immunity ◽

10.1128/iai.00768-10 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 79 (1) ◽

pp. 314-320 ◽

Cited By ~ 71

Author(s):

Saeyoung Park ◽

Moon H. Nahm

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Functional Difference ◽

Igg Antibody ◽

Igm Antibodies ◽

Igm Antibody ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Difference ◽

Antibody Levels

ABSTRACTSince the 23-valent pneumococcal polysaccharide vaccine (PPV23) is less effective for older adults than for young adults, it is important to investigate the immunologic basis for the reduced efficacy of PPV23 among older adults. We determined the effectiveness of PPV23 among young (n= 55) and older (n= 44) adults by measuring the serum IgG, IgM, and IgA concentrations and opsonic capacities against serotypes 14, 18C, and 23F. While young and older adults showed no difference in levels of IgG antibodies against pneumococcal polysaccharide (PPS), older adults had lower IgA and IgM antibody levels than young adults for all three serotypes. In both age groups, anti-PPS IgA or IgM antibody levels were much lower than anti-PPS IgG antibody levels. Young adults showed higher opsonic capacities than older adults for serotypes 14 and 23F. In order to determine the effects of anti-PPS IgA or IgM antibodies on the functional difference between young and older adults, anti-PPS IgA or IgM antibodies were removed from immune sera by affinity chromatography. The difference in opsonic capacity between young and older adults disappeared for serotypes 14 and 23F (but not for serotype 18C) when IgM antibody was removed. However, there was no significant difference between the two age groups when IgA antibody was removed. In conclusion, even though anti-PPS IgG antibody levels are high compared with anti-PPS IgM antibody levels, the low levels of anti-PPS IgM antibody alone can explain the functional difference observed between young and older adults immunized with PPV23 with regard to some pneumococcal serotypes.

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Alcohol control policies add to secular trends in all-cause mortality rates in young adults

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-94562-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Alexander Tran ◽

Jakob Manthey ◽

Shannon Lange ◽

Huan Jiang ◽

Mindaugas Štelemėkas ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Control Policy ◽

Mortality Rates ◽

Secular Trends ◽

Interrupted Time Series Analysis ◽

Control Policies ◽

Alcohol Control ◽

All Cause Mortality ◽

The Impact

AbstractAlcohol consumption is a major risk factor for premature mortality. Although alcohol control policies are known to impact all-cause mortality rates, the effect that policies have on specific age groups is an important area of research. This study investigates the effect of alcohol control policies implemented in 2009 and 2017 in Lithuania on all-cause mortality rates. All-cause mortality rates (deaths per 100,000 people) were obtained for 2001–2018 by 10-year age groups (20–29, 30–39, 40–49 years, etc.). All-cause mortality rates, independent of macro-level secular trends (e.g., economic trends) were examined. Following a joinpoint analysis to control for secular trends, an interrupted time series analysis showed that alcohol control policies had a significant effect on all-cause mortality rates (p = .018), with the most significant impact occurring among young adults (20–29 and 30–39 years of age). For these age groups, their mortality rate decreased during the 12 months following policy implementation (following the policy in 2009 for those 20–29 years of age, p = .0026, and following the policy in 2017 for those 30–39 years of age, p = .011). The results indicate that alcohol control policy can impact all-cause mortality rates, above and beyond secular trends, and that the impact is significant among young adults.

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Self perceived oro-facial behaviour and malocclusion among young adults in Hyderabad city

International Journal of Adolescent Medicine and Health ◽

10.1515/ijamh-2018-0297 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 0 (0) ◽

Author(s):

Dasari Tejaswini ◽

Suhas Kulkarni ◽

Dolar Doshi ◽

Adepu Srilatha

Keyword(s):

Gender Differences ◽

Young Adults ◽

Health Knowledge ◽

Simple Random Sampling ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Sampling Procedure ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Face ◽

The Impact

AbstractBackgroundAesthetic alterations in the face can be self-perceived and can affect quality of life in young adults.ObjectiveTo assess the impact of malocclusion on self- perceived oro-facial behaviour among young adults.MethodsA Cross sectional study was conducted among 638 young adults (aged 18–21 years) of Hyderabad city. One college from each of the five zones of the Hyderabad city (five colleges) were selected by simple random sampling procedure. A 21-item Oro-facial investment scale (OFIS) questionnaire assessing self-perceived oral health knowledge, attitude, practice and Dental Aesthetic Index (DAI) assessing the severity of malocclusion was used. Data were analysed with standard statistical software (SPSS, Statistical package for the social sciences, version 20.0). p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant.ResultsMales had higher mean scores for knowledge (2.90 ± 0.49) than females (2.73 ± 0.82) and was statistically significant (p = 0.002*). No statistically significant gender differences were found in relation to attitude and practice. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that there was a significant difference in all the three scores (knowledge, attitude, practice) with respect to age, with significantly high score for knowledge and practice among 18 year old subjects (p = 0.0001*; p = 0.0003* respectively) and attitude among 21 year old subjects (p = 0.0049*). No statistically significant age, gender differences were found in relation to DAI scores. Upon correlation, DAI significantly and positively correlated with knowledge (p = 0.03*) and attitude (p = 0.0001*).ConclusionThis study has shown significant impact of malocclusion on the self-perceived oro-facial behaviour.

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Opioid Literacy in an Immigrant Group in Rural Area: Use of Social Determinant of Health Framework

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1277 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. 397-397

Author(s):

Hee Yun Lee ◽

Eun Young Choi ◽

Jieun Song ◽

Jamie Gajos ◽

Yan Luo

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Health Literacy ◽

Rural Area ◽

Limited English Proficiency ◽

English Proficiency ◽

Age Groups ◽

Social Determinant ◽

Opioid Overdose ◽

Middle Aged

Abstract Opioid overdose risk is particularly high in immigrant communities partly due to limited English proficiency (Guarino et al., 2015). Previous studies reported that social determinants of health (SDH) have been associated with risk for opioid overdose (Dasgupta et al., 2018). The current study examines the association between SDH and literacy of opioid overdose risk among the immigrant population living in a rural area. Specifically, we examine the association in various age groups including young adults (aged 20 to 34), middle-aged (aged 35 to 49), and older adults (ages 50 to 75). Data were drawn from a sample of Korean American immigrants residing in rural Alabama (N=225). The participants administered the Brief Opioid Knowledge (BOOK) Questionnaire (Dunn et al., 2016). Multiple regression analyses were conducted for three age groups to identify predictors of opioid literacy. Overall, older adults had lower levels of opioid literacy relative to their younger counterparts. Among young adults, low English proficiency, more chronic conditions, and greater depressive symptoms were significant predictors of limited opioid literacy. For the middle-aged adults, lower levels of health literacy and more pain symptoms were associated with limited opioid literacy. Among older adults, women, those with higher English proficiency, and lower health literacy had lower levels of opioid literacy. The findings demonstrated a greater vulnerability of older immigrants to limited opioid literacy. Different predictors based on SDH of limited opioid literacy across age groups have implications for tailored health promotion strategies to reduce opioid overdose risk.

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Are the Acute Effects of THC Different in Aging Adults?

Brain Sciences ◽

10.3390/brainsci11050590 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (5) ◽

pp. 590

Author(s):

Raeghan L. Mueller ◽

Jarrod M. Ellingson ◽

L. Cinnamon Bidwell ◽

Angela D. Bryan ◽

Kent E. Hutchison

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Age Groups ◽

Young Group ◽

Self Administration ◽

Behavioral Measures ◽

Younger Adults ◽

Different Types ◽

Before And After ◽

Aging Adults

In recent years of expanding legalization, older adults have reported the largest increase in cannabis use of any age group. While its use has been studied extensively in young adults, little is known about the effects of THC in older adults and whether the risks of cannabis might be different, particularly concerning intoxication and cognition. The current study investigated whether age is associated with the deleterious effects of THC on cognitive performance and other behavioral measures before and after ad libitum self-administration of three different types of cannabis flower (THC dominant, THC + CBD, and CBD dominant). Age groups consisted of young adults (ages 21–25) and older adults (ages 55–70). Controlling for pre-use scores on all measures, the THC dominant chemovar produced a greater deleterious effect in younger adults compared with older adults in tests of learning and processing speed, whereas there were no differences between old and young in the effects of the other chemovars. In addition, the young group reported greater cannabis craving than the older group after using the THC chemovar. Consistent with some reports in the preclinical literature, the findings suggest that older adults may be less sensitive to the effects of THC on cognitive and affective measures.

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Do millennials value travel time differently because of productive multitasking? A revealed-preference study of Northern California commuters

Transportation ◽

10.1007/s11116-020-10148-2 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Aliaksandr Malokin ◽

Giovanni Circella ◽

Patricia L. Mokhtarian

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Willingness To Pay ◽

Travel Time ◽

Choice Model ◽

Mode Choice ◽

Revealed Preference ◽

Northern California ◽

Factors Affecting ◽

The Impact

AbstractMillennials, the demographic cohort born in the last two decades of the twentieth century, are reported to adopt information and communication technologies (ICTs) in their everyday lives, including travel, to a greater extent than older generations. As ICT-driven travel-based multitasking influences travelers’ experience and satisfaction in various ways, millennials are expected to be affected at a greater scale. Still, to our knowledge, no previous studies have specifically focused on the impact of travel multitasking on travel behavior and the value of travel time (VOTT) of young adults. To address this gap, we use an original dataset collected among Northern California commuters (N = 2216) to analyze the magnitude and significance of individual and household-level factors affecting commute mode choice. We estimate a revealed-preference mode choice model and investigate the differences between millennials and older adults in the sample. Additionally, we conduct a sensitivity analysis to explore how incorporation of explanatory factors such as attitudes and propensity to multitask while traveling in mode choice models affects coefficient estimates, VOTT, and willingness to pay to use a laptop on the commute. Compared to non-millennials, the mode choice of millennials is found to be less affected by socio-economic characteristics and more strongly influenced by the activities performed while traveling. Young adults are found to have lower VOTT than older adults for both in-vehicle (15.0% less) and out-of-vehicle travel time (15.7% less), and higher willingness to pay (in time or money) to use a laptop, even after controlling for demographic traits, personal attitudes, and the propensity to multitask. This study contributes to better understanding the commuting behavior of millennials, and the factors affecting it, a topic of interest to transportation researchers, planners, and practitioners.

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Slowed sensory reweighting and postural illusions in older adults: the moving platform illusion

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.00389.2018 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 121 (2) ◽

pp. 690-700 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Chesney E. Craig ◽

Michail Doumas

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Young Adults ◽

Postural Sway ◽

Age Groups ◽

Age Group ◽

Sensory Reweighting ◽

Perceptual Illusion ◽

Healthy Older Adults ◽

Stable Conditions ◽

Illusory Perception

We investigated whether postural aftereffects witnessed during transitions from a moving to a stable support are accompanied by a delayed perception of platform stabilization in older adults, in two experiments. In experiment 1, postural sway and muscle cocontraction were assessed in 11 healthy young, 11 healthy older, and 11 fall-prone older adults during blindfolded stance on a fixed platform, followed by a sway-referenced platform and then by a fixed platform again. The sway-referenced platform was more compliant for young adults, to induce similar levels of postural sway in both age groups. Participants were asked to press a button whenever they perceived that the platform had stopped moving. Both older groups showed significantly larger and longer postural sway aftereffects during platform stabilization compared with young adults, which were pronounced in fall-prone older adults. In both older groups elevated muscle cocontraction aftereffect was also witnessed. Importantly, these aftereffects were accompanied by an illusory perception of prolonged platform movement. After this, experiment 2 examined whether this illusory perception was a robust age effect or an experimental confound due to greater surface compliance in young adults, which could create a larger perceptual discrepancy between moving and stable conditions. Despite exposure to the same surface compliance levels during sway-reference, the perceptual illusion was maintained in experiment 2 in a new group of 14 healthy older adults compared with 11 young adults. In both studies, older adults took five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports that sensory reweighting is inefficient in older adults. NEW & NOTEWORTHY This is the first paper to show that postural sway aftereffects witnessed in older adults after platform stabilization may be due to a perceptual illusion of platform movement. Surprisingly, in both experiments presented it took older adults five times longer than young adults to perceive platform stabilization. This supports a hypothesis of less efficient sensory reintegration in this age group, which may delay the formation of an accurate postural percept.

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Negative Effects of Embodiment in a Visuo-Spatial Working Memory Task in Children, Young Adults, and Older Adults

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.688174 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Gianluca Amico ◽

Sabine Schaefer

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Working Memory ◽

Young Adults ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Spatial Working Memory ◽

Cognitive Task ◽

Memory Performance ◽

Age Groups ◽

Memory Task ◽

Negative Effects

Studies examining the effect of embodied cognition have shown that linking one’s body movements to a cognitive task can enhance performance. The current study investigated whether concurrent walking while encoding or recalling spatial information improves working memory performance, and whether 10-year-old children, young adults, or older adults (Mage = 72 years) are affected differently by embodiment. The goal of the Spatial Memory Task was to encode and recall sequences of increasing length by reproducing positions of target fields in the correct order. The nine targets were positioned in a random configuration on a large square carpet (2.5 m × 2.5 m). During encoding and recall, participants either did not move, or they walked into the target fields. In a within-subjects design, all possible combinations of encoding and recall conditions were tested in counterbalanced order. Contrary to our predictions, moving particularly impaired encoding, but also recall. These negative effects were present in all age groups, but older adults’ memory was hampered even more strongly by walking during encoding and recall. Our results indicate that embodiment may not help people to memorize spatial information, but can create a dual-task situation instead.

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The Seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 in Europe: A Systematic Review

10.1101/2021.04.12.439425 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Natasha Marcella Vaselli ◽

Daniel Hungerford ◽

Ben Shenton ◽

Arwa Khashkhusha ◽

Nigel A. Cunliffe ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Public Health ◽

Systematic Review ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Grey Literature ◽

Age Groups ◽

Significant Heterogeneity ◽

Community Studies ◽

Past Infection ◽

Significant Difference ◽

The Impact

AbstractBackgroundA year following the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, new infections and deaths continue to increase in Europe. Serological studies, through providing evidence of past infection, can aid understanding of the population dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 infection.ObjectivesThis systematic review of SARS-CoV-2 seroprevalence studies in Europe was undertaken to inform public health strategies including vaccination, that aim to accelerate population immunity.MethodsWe searched the databases Web of Science, MEDLINE, EMBASE, SCOPUS, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and grey literature sources for studies reporting seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Europe published between 01/12/2019 - 30/09/20. We provide a narrative synthesis of included studies. Studies were categorized into subgroups including healthcare workers (HCWs), community, outbreaks, pregnancy and children/school. Due to heterogeneity in other subgroups, we only performed a random effects meta-analysis of the seroprevalence amongst HCWs stratified by their country.Results109 studies were included spanning 17 European countries, that estimated the seroprevalence of SAR-CoV2 from samples obtained between November 2019 – August 2020. A total of 53/109 studies included HCWs with a reported seroprevalence among HCWs ranging from 0.7% to 45.3%, which did not differ significantly by country. In community studies significant heterogeneity was reported in the seroprevalence among different age groups and the majority of studies reported there was no significant difference by gender.ConclusionThis review demonstrates a wide heterogeneity in reported seroprevalence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies between populations. Continued evaluation of seroprevalence is required to understand the impact of public health measures and inform interventions including vaccination programmes.

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