Twin Similarity for Neighborhood, Geographic Mobility, and Health Outcomes in Late Adulthood

Socioeconomic status (SES) is one of the most robust predictors of health. The source of SES-health associations is heavily debated; one approach is investigating neighborhood-level environmental characteristics. Challenges include selection effects and the possibility of reverse causation: people choose their neighborhoods. Longitudinal twin research can overcome these issues by assessing location choice over time as well as twin similarity; however, few existing twin studies have incorporated neighborhood-level data, and none of those focus on aging. Using longitudinal data from the Swedish Adoption/Twin Study of Aging, the current study examined the impact of location at various points in life. Location at birth and in 1993 were available for 972 participants. Birth years ranged from 1926 to 1948; mean age in 1993 was 54.55 (range = 35-67). Thirty-nine percent of the sample had moved to a different county between birth and midlife: individuals who moved had significantly higher parental SES and had achieved significantly higher education. Moreover, identical twin concordance for geographic mobility (77%) was significantly higher than fraternal twin concordance (65%), indicating a modest but significant genetic contribution. Geographic mobility did not impact identical twin similarity on a functional aging factor (corrected for age and education), but fraternal twins concordant for mobility were more similar than discordant twins, suggesting genetic contributions to mobility may also impact health. Ongoing retrieval of location information for twins born 1900-1925 and geocoding of location information available at 9 waves of data collection will allow for expanded investigation of the SES-health relationship at the neighborhood level.

Development and Validation of a Box and Flux Model to Describe Major, Trace and Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) in Scottish Soils

The box and flux model is a mathematical tool used to describe and forecast the major and trace elements perturbations of the Earth biogeochemical cycles. This mathematical tool describes the biogeochemical cycles, using kinetics of first, second and even third order. The theory and history of the box and flux modeling are shortly revised and discussed within the framework of Jim Lovelok’s Gaia theory. The objectives of the investigation were to evaluate the natural versus anthropic load of Potentially Toxic Elements (PTEs) of the Scottish soils, investigate the soil components adsorbing and retaining the PTEs in non-mobile species, evaluate the aging factor of the anthropic PTEs and develop a model which describes the leaching of PTEs in layered soils. In the Scottish land, the soil-to-rock enrichment factorinversely correlates with the boiling point of the PTEs. The same is observed in NW Italy and USA soils, suggesting the common source of the PTEs. The residence time in soils of the measured PTEs linearly correlates with the Soil Organic Matter (SOM). The element property which mostly explains the adsorption capacity for PTEs’ is the ionic potential (IP). The downward migration rates of the PTEs inversely correlate with SOM, and in Scottish soil, they range from 0.5 to 2.0 cm·year−1. Organic Bentoniteis the most important soil phase adsorbing cation bivalent PTEs. The self-remediation time of the polluted soil examined ranged from 50 to 100 years. The aging factor, the adsorption of PTEs’ into non-mobile species, and occlusion into the soil mineral lattice was not effective. The box and flux model developed, tested and validatedhere does not describe the leaching of PTEs following the typical Gaussian shape distribution of the physical diffusion models. Indeed, the mathematical model proposed is sensitive to the inhomogeneity of the layered soils.

Oxidative Stress: A Double Edged Sword

Oxidative stress (OS) in simple words is defined as a state of imbalance between antioxidant and pro-oxidants defenses. The purpose of this article is to find out the connection of oxidative stress and free radical species with different aspects of human health. Owing to its harmful effects on proteins and nucleic acids, oxidative stress causes chronic diseases such as cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes and cancer. It highlights the impacts of antioxidants and pro-oxidants particularly on fertility and infertility. It also focuses on the adverse effects caused by the long-term exposure to pro-oxidant factors leading to structural defects of mitochondrial DNA. As modern life style consists of more reliance on the processed foods and lack of physical activity, a nutrition deficiency, which is common in the present lifestyle, is also one of the reasons for oxidative stress to cause inflammation. However, this review also focuses on how diet affects and triggers inflammation. Redox mechanism with potential threats to health of mankind is discussed, how mere stress can provoke biological stress responses leading to development of disease or metabolic errors. Methods for reduction of oxidative stress are discussed in this review. It also highlights mitochondria as an aging factor as many ROS, particularly mitochondria ROS contribute directly to aging in human body. We will be discussing the recent findings in the oxidative stress field and its negative and positive impacts on human health.

DESCRIPTION OF PARTIALLY EDENTULOUS PATTERN AMONG PATIENTS AT RSGMP GUSTI HASAN AMAN IN BANJARMASIN

ABSTRACTBackground: Partial edentulism is the process when single or multiple teeth is missing from the alveolar socket and it may become an indicator for oral health. Partial edentulism can occur since the age of six and the aging factor increases the risk. Partial edentulism can be caused by some factors including: ages, gender, economic level, education level, knowledge level, and the etiology of the tooth loss. Purpose: To describe the distribution of partially edentulous pattern from RSGMP Gusti Hasan Aman’s patients in Banjarmasin. Method: This study was including patients from RSGMP Gusti Hasan Aman between the age of 17-45 years old in Banjarmasin using purposive sampling. Questionnaires were distributed to determined patient knowledge on oral health with Kennedy classification for the partially edentulous pattern. Result: Kennedy Class II was the most frequent edentulous pattern observed on the upper (37%) and the lower jaw (39%). In particular, the adolescent group had the highest percentage (43%) of partial edentulism based on age. Women had the highest percentage (57%) of partial eduntulism based on gender. Respondents with moderate economic status had the highest percentage (35%) of partial edentulism. Respondents that have high school or above education level were the highest percentage (87%) identified with partial edentulous. The most common etiology that identified with partial edentulous was the caries (52%). Conclusion: It can be concluded that Kennedy class III is the most confronted partially edentulous pattern among patients at RSGMP Gusti Hasan Aman in Banjarmasin.Keywords: Partially Teeth Loss Pattern, Kennedy, RSGMP Gusti Hasan Aman

Comparative Study of Thermal-Oxidative Aging and Salt Solution Aging on Bitumen Performance

The aging of bitumen is detrimental to the durability and service life of asphalt pavement. Previous studies found that bitumen was suspected to be aged by not only thermal oxidation but also solution immersion. This research aims to compare the effect of thermal-oxidative aging and salt solution aging on bitumen performance. For this purpose, a thin film oven test (TFOT) and pressure aging vessel aging (PAV) were selected as thermal-oxidative aging, and 10% NaCl aging and 10% CaCl2 aging were selected as salt solution aging. The morphology, oxygen content, physical properties, low-temperature properties, and high-temperature properties of bitumen were analysed by employing scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive spectrometer (SEM-EDS), physical tests, a bending beam rheometer (BBR), and a dynamic shear rheometer (DSR). Test results show that both thermal-oxidative aging and salt solution aging had similar influencing trends in the oxygen content, physical, low-temperature, and high-temperature properties of bitumen but had different changes in morphology. The aging degrees caused by four kinds of aging methods were obtained based on the summed values of the absolute aging factor of all parameters: PAV > 10% NaCl > TFOT > 10% CaCl2. The conclusions could provide a theoretical basis to establish a standard for the solution aging of bitumen.

Prognostic Value of Bleeding in Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors: A Meta-Analysis

Background: Gastrointestinal bleeding is the most common clinical manifestation of gastrointestinal stromal tumor. It is of great significance to the prognosis of patients. But the results are controversial. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relationship between gastrointestinal bleeding and clinical prognosis in patients with GIST. Methods: A systematic literature search was performed in Pumbed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, ClinicalTrials.gov , CNKI, VIP and wanfang databases with the pattern of unlimited languages. 12 studies with 2781 individuals were included in the final analysis. The overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival/disease-free survival (RFS/DFS) and related factors affecting bleeding in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) were extracted. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were used for in the meta-analysis. Results: A total of 12 articles were included in the study, including 2781 patients with GIST, including 845 patients with gastrointestinal bleeding. The OS of GIST patients with gastrointestinal bleeding was significantly worse (HR = 2.54, 95% CI = 1.13-5.73, P = 0.025). But there was no significant difference in RFS between gastrointestinal bleeding patients and non-bleeding patients (HR = 1.35, 95% CI = 0.70-2.61, P = 0.371). Further analysis of the related factors of GI bleeding in GIST patients was observed, besides the aging factor (HR = 1.02, 95% CI = 0.69-1.50, P = 0.929), Small intestinal stromal tumor (HR = 0.56, 95% CI = 0.41-0.76, P < 0.001), tumor diameter ≥ 5 cm (HR = 2.09, 95% CI = 1.20-3.63, P = 0.009), Mitotic index ≥ 5/50 HPF (HR = 1.66, 95% CI = 1.11-2.49, P = 0.014) and tumor rupture (HR = 2.04, 95% CI = 1.0-3.82, P = 0.026) all increased the risk of GI bleeding in patients with GIST. Conclusions: The OS of GIST patients with GI bleeding was worse than non-GI bleeding, but had no significant effect on RFS. Nevertheless the aging factor, the location of GIST in the small intestine, tumor diameter ≥ 5 cm, Mitotic index ≥ 5/50 HPF and tumor rupture all increased the risk of GI bleeding in patients with GIST.

Successful Aging: Re-Conceptualized

A review of the aging literature yields 105 operational definitions of “successful aging” in use. These theoretical discrepancies have caused some investigators to question the utility of the concept (Cosco et al., 2014). Investigators who remain committed to the concept acknowledge its conceptual messiness, but have found no consensus for resolution. We propose a revised concept of successful aging, combining a life-course perspective (Rowe & Kahn, 2015) with a neo-Aristotelian theoretical framework. Such a framework justifies certain changes to the definition of “successful aging;” it situates our concept of successful aging within a broader view of human development, is more inclusive, and suggests empirically adequate research questions. Specifically, conceptualizing “successful aging” along neo-Aristotelian lines means defining it as the maintenance of proper human functioning across the life-course and into late adulthood. For Aristotle, proper human functioning entails realizing one’s potential as a “rational social animal,” with rational implying goal-oriented thinking, means-ends reasoning, other forms of instrumental rationality (not excluding emotionality). Social suggests active engagement in a community, within the limits of an individuals’ comfort and ability. These two criteria determine “success” in older age. Recent research on successful aging reveals that absence of disease and disability does not appear to be a constituent of “successful aging.” Therefore, physical health is neither necessary nor sufficient for “success.” Our re-conceptualization of “successful aging” could be tested using confirmatory factor analysis, with social and reasoning/problem-solving factors loading onto a second order Successful Aging factor. This understanding allows for greater empowerment of older adults.