Morphological and Syntactical Variation and Change in Latin American Spanish

The Spanish language, as it spread throughout Latin America from the earliest colonial times until the present, has evolved a number of syntactic and morphological configurations that depart from the Iberian Peninsula inheritance. One of the tasks of Spanish variational studies is to search for the routes of evolution as well as for known or possible causal factors. In some instances, archaic elements no longer in use in Spain have been retained entirely or with modification in Latin America. One example is the use of the subject pronoun vos in many Latin American Spanish varieties. In Spain vos was once used to express the second-person plural (‘you-pl’) and was later replaced by the compound form vosotros, while in Latin America vos is always used in the singular (with several different verbal paradigms), in effect replacing or coexisting with tú. Other Latin American Spanish constructions reflect regional origins of Spanish settlers, for example, Caribbean questions of the type ¿Qué tú quieres? ‘What do you (sg)want?’ or subject + infinitive constructions such as antes de yo llegar ‘before I arrived’, which show traces of Galician and Canary Island heritage. In a similar fashion, diminutive suffixes based on -ico, found in much of the Caribbean, reflect dialects of Aragon and Murcia in Spain, but in Latin America this suffix is attached only to nouns whose final consonant is -t-. Contact with indigenous, creole, or immigrant languages provides another source of variation, for example, in the Andean region of South America, where bilingual Quechua–Spanish speakers often gravitate toward Object–Verb word order, or double negation in the Dominican Republic, which bears the imprint of Haitian creole. Other probably contact-influenced features found in Latin American Spanish include doubled and non-agreeing direct object clitics, null direct objects, use of gerunds instead of conjugated verbs, double possessives, partial or truncated noun-phrase pluralization, and diminutives in -ingo. Finally, some Latin American Spanish morphological and syntactic patterns appear to result from spontaneous innovation, for example, use of present subjunctive verbs in subordinate clauses combined with present-tense verbs in main clauses, use of ser as intensifier, and variation between lo and le for direct-object clitics. At the microdialectal level, even more variation can be found, as demographic shifts, recent immigration, and isolation come into play.

Shifting Pathways of Stimulant Use Among Individuals With Opioid Use Disorder: A Retrospective Analysis of the Last Thirty Years

Background: Stimulant use among individuals with opioid use disorder has recently increased, driven by changes in drug distribution channels. However, our understanding of polysubstance use is often limited by a need to provide targeted treatment to a primary drug of addiction. Yet there is a crucial need to better understand pathways to addiction, and how the use of multiple substances may differ between populations, as well as time periods.Methods: Using a national opioid surveillance system, we analyzed survey data from new entrants to 124 opioid use disorder treatment centers from 2017 to 2020. Age of first use was collected for prescription opioids, illicit opioids, prescription stimulants, crack/cocaine, and methamphetamines. Year of initial use of an opioid or stimulant was calculated and grouped by 5 year blocs, inclusive of initial use starting from 1991 and ending in 2020 (n = 6,048).Results: Lifetime exposure to stimulants was 82.5% among individuals with opioid use disorder. Mean age of initiation increased for all drugs in 2016–2020, in particular prescription opioids (22.3 to 31.8). Stimulants were initiating drugs for a substantial proportion of individuals with opioid use throughout the analyzed time period. Those initiating opioid/stimulant use from 1991 to 1995 had a mean average of 6.8 years between first and second drug exposure, which steadily decreased to 1.5 years between exposures in 2016–2020. Sankey plots depict significantly more drug transitions in those initiating use from 1991 to 2000 (65.1% had at least two drug transitions) compared to 2010–2020 (16.0%). Opioid-stimulant use increased over time among racial/ethnic minorities, sexual minorities, and those with an educational attainment of high school or less.Conclusion: These data highlight not only the substantial prevalence of stimulant use among individuals who develop opioid use disorder, but also the variability through which pathways of use occur. Prevention and intervention efforts need to take into account increasing ages of initial drug exposures, demographic shifts in stimulant-using populations, and more rapid drug transitions between opioid and stimulants. But at a broader level, prevention, harm reduction ideology, and addiction medicine needs to take into account the ubiquity of polysubstance use among individuals with substance use disorders.

Genetic variability and the ecology of geographic range: a test of the central-marginal hypothesis in Australian scincid lizards

For many species, both local abundance and regional occupancy are highest near the center of their geographic distributions. One hypothesis for this pattern is that niche suitability declines with increasing distance from a species geographic center, such that populations near range margins are characterized by reduced density and increased patchiness. In these smaller edge populations, genetic drift is more powerful, leading to the loss of genetic diversity. This simple verbal model has been formalized as the central-marginal hypothesis, which predicts that core populations should have greater genetic diversity than edge populations. However, demographic shifts over time can generate a similar pattern. For example, in species with expanding ranges, populations at the range edge experience serial founder effects, creating a gradient of declining genetic diversity from the range core to edge. Testing the central-marginal hypothesis properly thus requires us to consider the confounding role of historical demography. Here, we account for the role of history in testing the central-marginal hypothesis using a genomic dataset of 25 species-level taxa of Australian skink lizards (genus: Ctenotus and Lerista). We found support for the central-marginal hypothesis in 16 of our 25 taxa, of which eight taxa recovered significant support. Unexpectedly, species with the strongest evidence for range expansion were the least likely to follow predictions of the central-marginal hypothesis. The majority of these species had range expansions that originated at the range edge, which led to lower genetic diversity at the range edge compared to the core, contrary to the central-marginal hypothesis.

Now What? Maintaining Momentum after Achieving Designation as an Age-Friendly University

The Age-Friendly University (AFU) designation in higher education recognizes the institution’s commitment to a culture of age-inclusivity across programs and policies. While AFU institutions are embracing the demographic shifts in higher education and society at-large, effectively responding to the needs and desires of an increasingly older population requires ongoing acceptance and support from campus leaders to maintain momentum and stay relevant within a dynamic field. This session will describe the intentional and systematic approach utilized by an AFU steering committee to build interest in and develop meaningful collaborations in multiple domains across campus, including at the level of the president. Our initiatives focus on five themes that align with the 10 age-friendly university principles: support for workforce development, broadening community engagement, expanding engagement in aging research and dissemination, addressing barriers related to aging and our physical environment, and facilitating age-friendly efforts across our state. We will present our experiences in expanding awareness of and support for the AFU movement on our campus and share a model for institutions seeking ideas for sustainability of their own initiatives.

Making the Case for Advancing Age Inclusivity

How do you present the most effective case for promoting age-inclusivity to your campus leadership? Educational institutions differ in their missions and resources; and these factors affect their readiness to becoming more age-inclusive. This presentation suggests that the best approaches are tailored to intentionally and robustly advance your institution’s values, mission, and strategic plan as demonstrated through your proposed age-inclusivity initiative. We review the persuasive arguments for increasing the focus on age-inclusivity in higher education, including securing increasing external research and development funding, supporting employees and alums exploration of encore careers, attracting more students in light of demographic shifts, contributions to overall campus diversity, etc. Identifying the most compelling arguments for particular institutions, consistent with their missions, is connected to the various resources in the AFU toolkit. Finally, we show examples from a range of institutions who successfully made their cases for embracing age inclusivity and have not looked back.

Intergenerational Exchanges In Aging South Asian Muslim Families: An Intersectional Lifecourse Perspective

International migration flows are increasing at a rapid pace and are often accompanied by emergent global realities, (re)negotiation of identities and familial bonds, anticipated challenges, and unforeseen exigencies. Concomitantly, advances in public health have resulted in longer lives with an increasing proportion of the global population now 65 years and older. While these demographic shifts have received considerable research attention, little is known about aging South Asian Muslim families in the US and the ways in which they adjust and adapt to shifting social realities. To address this gap, this qualitative study explores the intersections of faith, culture, gender, age, and immigrant status, and how these seminal life course events shape intergenerational care and support exchanges in South Asian Muslim families. Building on findings from 30 in-depth narrative interviews with three generations of immigrant South Asian Muslim women, and using an intersectional lifecourse perspective, this study explores the (re)negotiation of familial bonds and the enactment of religious beliefs and practices such as those around filial expectations in a transnational Islamic context. It shows how, for the grandmothers, daughters, and granddaughters in the study, their Islamic faith was a part of both the public sphere and a collective ideology, as well as a deeply personal and intimate attachment that provided structure and continuity in their everyday lives. Finally, the implications of these findings in the broader context of Islamophobia and salient structural barriers to accessing available health and social support services for aging South Asian Muslim families are discussed.

The European Silver Economy

The European Union is going through a period of profound transformation due to socio-economic and demographic changes. Europe's population is aging as a result of declining fertility and increasing life expectancy, and its share of the world's population continues to decline. The top 10 countries on the planet with the oldest populations include nine EU countries. Older citizens are increasingly shaping the economy, constituting a growing segment in many areas of consumption. The expansion of this age group is expected to lead to an increased demand in many sectors, and in the not-too-distant future will provide significant economic opportunities for European businesses. The so-called “silver economy” (or longevity economy) is a concept of responding to and adapting to the challenges determined by demographic shifts at the global, regional and country levels by inclusively supporting job growth and productivity in traditional and new sectors of the modern digital economy, acceptable to government, business and the entire population, and supposedly capable of becoming the engine of the future economy. Population aging, its density, and household size, in turn, have also had an impact on the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, whose outbreak tested health and welfare systems as well as economic and social sustainability. This is why demographic processes need to be taken into account in the post-pandemic economic cycle, managing their long-term effects has many different aspects concerning health care, including care for the elderly, as well as government budgets. The integration of digital solutions, robotic technologies in these areas can significantly empower the elderly, promote independent and active lifestyles, and integrate into the labor market. Thus, it can be argued that the potential risks of the modern demographic transition are not inevitable, and the challenge is to find tools, opportunities and means to adapt the economy and society to it.

Exclusion and Inequality in Late Working Life: National Country Context: UK

Extending Working Lives (EWLs hereafter) is an important policy goal across many Western countries. This document traces how policy developments have formed the existing EWLs agenda in the UK context. It explores the interrelationship between demographic shifts, policy reform, changing organisational and cultural practices, and technological drivers across groups with diverse life course trajectories. It needs to be borne in mind that UK development is influenced by wider, global influences and shared experiences, such as the OECD level shift toward later retirement pathways. There are also imminent political and cultural changes taking place in the UK which will have an ongoing influence on EWLs, such as the European Union exit. Section 7 provides an overview of the development and framing of policies relevant to EWL, as well as levels of participation. Section 8 focuses on macro national regime characteristics and socio-demographic characteristics across subgroups of older people. Section 9 goes into greater detail on the main inequalities which have a negative impact on EWLs and Section 12 draws on the key policies that impact on EWLs, with consideration of the main inequalities within this.

Genomic insights into the recent population history of Mapuche Native Americans

The last few years have witnessed an explosive generation of genomic data from ancient and modern Native American populations. These data shed light on key demographic shifts that occurred in geographically diverse territories of South America, such as the Andean highlands, Southern Patagonia and the Amazon basin. We used genomic data to study the recent population history of the Mapuche, who are the major Native population from the Southern Cone (Chile and Argentina). We found evidence of specific shared genetic ancestry between the Mapuche and ancient populations from Southern Patagonia, Central Chile and the Argentine Pampas. Despite previous evidence of cultural influence of Inca and Tiwanaku polities over the Mapuche, we did not find evidence of specific shared ancestry between them, nor with Amazonian groups. We estimated the effective population size dynamics of the Mapuche ancestral population during the last millennia, identifying a population bottleneck around 1650 AD, coinciding with a period of Spaniards invasions into the territory inhabited by the Mapuche. Finally, we show that admixed Chileans underwent post-admixture adaptation in their Mapuche subancestry component in genes related with lipid metabolism, suggesting adaptation to scarce food availability.