Predictors of Major Depressive Disorder in Older People

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common mental disorders in older people. There are several biological, psychological, and social factors associated with this disorder. This study aimed to describe the depressive state to identify the associated factors and potential predictors of MDD in a population of community-dwelling older people with probable MDD. The sample consisted of 378 participants with probable dementia, with 47.3% of them presenting MDD. The factors that were found to be associated with MDD were sex, living status, mobility, and nutritional status. Knowing the factors that can predict a condition such as MDD is extremely important, both for prevention and for the customization of interventions.

Sociology of generation’s social structure

In sociology, the concept of “generation” is usually applied to a wide variety of social categories. This is a cohort of peers, and a cohort of several years of birth — as in studies of social mobility, as well as a community of those who share acceptable values, simultaneously experienced significant events, is a bearer of similar experiences and memories. Theoretical reflection in modern literature continues to excite the fundamental essay of K. Mannheim “The Problem of Generations”. The cognitive intuitions it contains have a priority status, but the published reviews state that the empirical potential of the concept outlined there is minimal, and new times require new approaches to analyzing the role of generations in the intensification of social dynamics and the movement of history. Sociology of the social structure of a generation is mainly a way of observing, fixing and describing the transformations of the morphological structure of a community. The heterogeneity of the age cohort is prescribed by origin from different types of families and birth in a particular region and type of settlement. In the course of primary socialization, general patterns of worldview and worldview are formed, an attitude to the past, present and future on the basis of internalized values, standards and norms of behavior. The degree of stratification of life chances and opportunities given by birth is subsequently corrected or fixed by institutions of secondary and higher education, which is monitored in studies of professional and status mobility. Events are capable of elevating an age cohort to the status of a generation, constructing an identity (“we,” shared ways of feeling, thinking, acting) and, almost synchronously, differentiating peers, establishing differences and distances.

Keep On Moving: Rural University Graduates as Sales Workers in South and Central China

Between 1978 and 2018 the percentage of the Chinese workforce in the service sector rose from 12.2 to 46.3. A large share of this workforce is in sales, selling products ranging from household goods, insurance, advertising space, and education, to various other services. The proliferation of salespeople in China is facilitated by the dramatic increase in the number of university graduates. Personnel in sales jobs, which are particularly popular among graduates from rural backgrounds with degrees from universities with indifferent reputations, experience an extraordinarily high level of mobility. They typically change jobs every few months, either because they are fired or they pursue better opportunities. Based on one year of fieldwork undertaken between 2015 and 2017, this article shows how the rapid expansion of China's higher education subjects students from rural backgrounds to new inequalities, which, in turn, reconfigure the rural-urban divide into multiple intersecting hierarchies. Building on the concept of complexed development, this article analyzes how salespeople experience contradictory mobilities in a web of intersecting hierarchies. It shows how they achieve upward status mobility by breaking away from agricultural and manual labour and becoming university graduates and white-collar workers; but also, how they sometimes experience downward mobility in terms of income in comparison to previous generations of migrants and their less-educated peers.

The SARS-CoV2 pandemic explained via asymptomatic infection and susceptibility heterogeneity. Buenos Aires first wave

BackgroundThe rapid global spread of SARS-COV-2 forced governments to implement drastic interventions. The existence of a large but undetermined number of mild or non-symptomatic but infectious cases seems to be involved in the rapid spread, creating a high level of uncertainty due to the difficulty to measure them, and difficulty for epidemiologic modelling.MethodsWe developed a compartmental model with deterministic equations, that accounts for clinical status, mobility, r heterogenous susceptibility and non-pharmaceutical interventions. The model was calibrated using data from different regions and we used it to predict the dynamic in Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA).ResultsThe model adjusted well to different geographical regions. In AMBA the model predicted 21400 deaths at 300 days, with 27% of the population in the region immunized after the first wave, partly due to the high incidence of asymptomatic cases. The mobility restriction is approximately linear, with any restriction bringing a positive effect. The other interventions have a combined effect of 27% reduction in infection rates.ConclusionOur research underlines the role of asymptomatic cases in the epidemics’ dynamic and introduces the concept of susceptibility heterogeneity as a potential explanation for otherwise unexplained outbreak dynamics. The model also shows the big role of non-pharmaceutical interventions both in slowing down the epidemic dynamics and in reducing the eventual number of deaths. The model results are closely compatible with observed data.

Patients Age is a critical Factor in determining the Severity of Osteoarthritis of the Shoulder

Background: Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders in the aging population. The correlation of radiographic OA severity, disability and pain is variable and inconsistent for the different joints. This study aims to elucidate the relationship between histological and radiological signs of shoulder OA with pain sensation and functional impairment to potentially adapt the recommendation for surgical treatment for primary total shoulder arthroplasty (TSA). Methods: Forty-four patients with shoulder OA undergoing TSA using an anatomic stemless implant were included in this study. The radiological OA severity was scored preoperatively on true ap X-rays according to the Kellgren-Lawrence-Score (KL-Score). Acromial types according to Bigliani were defined by preoperative radiological images. The histological OA severity was determined according to the OARSI-Score using bone-cartilage sections from loaded areas of the humeral head. Pain was quantified using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS). The functional status was assessed by the items “mobility” and “strength” out of the Constant-Murley-Score (CS-Score). Demographic data including BMI, age, gender, diabetes mellitus and smoking were recorded. Results: There was no correlation between radiographic and histological severity in shoulder OA. However, a correlation of age and the severity of radiological changes was observed. Further, pain did not correlate with histological or radiological scores, whereas it correlated with age and the presence of diabetes mellitus. The functional shoulder status (mobility, strength) correlated with the severity of radiological changes, but not with the histologic scoring, which correlated with nicotine abuse. Conclusion: This study shows that increased age is the main determinant of radiological changes in shoulder OA, as well as pain. Therefore, age and pain sensation should be considered as important parameters for the recommendation for TSA.

Rehabilitation of Aging Persons: The Past, The Present & The Promise

The 2020 Excellence in Rehabilitation of Aging Persons Award presentation will address my efforts over the past 35 years related to research methods, functional status, mobility, and self-care. Studies conducted in the past 25 years on disability and recovery in older adults with an emphasis on minority health will be presented. Research examining rehabilitation outcomes related to health care reform including the Improving Medicare Post-Acute Care Transformation (IMPACT) Act, and using Medicare files, will be described. The role of Data Science and Discovery, as defined by the NIH and related to rehabilitation in older adults, will also be presented.