Realización de actividades y extraversión como variables predictoras del bienestar psicológico en personas mayores

IntroductionThe relationship between extraversion and wellbeing has been discussed in the literature, however, the impact that this trait has on the wellbeing of older people has been studied to a lesser extent. The relationship between extraversion, participation in activities and psychological wellbeing in older people is analysed in this study.Material and methodsThe sample comprised 139 individuals over 55 years from rural and urban areas of the province of Granada who completed the extraversion subscale of the NEO-FFI and the Ryff Scales of the Psychological Wellbeing, as well as responding to questions that evaluated their social participation.ResultsA greater social participation was found in rural areas and among women. The activities more frequently performed by the participants were educational and religious activities, walking, everyday chores, crafts, and home improvements. A low positive correlation between extraversion and wellbeing was observed. The multiple regression analysis revealed that extraversion explained 19.9% of the variance in psychological wellbeing, which increased to 25.3% when social participation, gender, and the origin of the sample were considered.ConclusionsPsychological wellbeing appears to be associated with personality traits, such as extraversion. In addition this personality trait is linked to the number and type of activities the elderly perform which also contributes to wellbeing in old age.     

A Review of Frailty Analysis in Older Adults: From Clinical Tools Towards Fully Automated Preventive Systems

ObjectivesFrailty is a geriatric syndrome characterized by sarcopenia and physiological impairment. Although the majority of older adults wish to age at home, being frail threatens this choice since it increases the risk of falls and loss of functional independence. Hence, frailty screening and early detection are needed to stop or at least slow down the physical weakening process. In this paper, we present a review in which we discuss the proposed methods from the literature that targets frailty detection and analysis, starting from traditional clinical tools then introducing data-driven studies before highlighting the importance of fully automated systems.Material and methodsWe conducted a review study by searching several databases such as Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, MDPI, and ScienceDirect to name a few. This work presents clinical tools and classical performance tests to assess the health status and the physical function, as well as statistical and observational studies to analyze the frailty syndrome. Moreover, we discuss briefly the work of our research team in this context, represented by the development of a telemonitoring system which aims at the transition from a curative to a preventive model.ResultsFirstly, this review points out the absence of a gold standard to detect frailty in older individuals. Secondly, it discusses the limitations of self-reported measures/questionnaires and other traditional performance tests which are based on subjective data and done under supervised conditions. Thirdly, our study emphasizes the lack of robust approaches that target the early detection of frailty and the prediction of a future risk of physical worsening. We propose new research directions based, on the one hand, on automatic activity identification and tracking and, on the other hand, on the analysis of spontaneous speech of elderly.ConclusionThis paper describes research findings and highlights the existing gaps in the context of frailty, and serves as a state of the art for researchers. Additionally, this work suggests future research directions regarding the early detection and prevention of frailty.     

Spatial proximity among adult siblings in greylag geese (Anser anser): evidence for female bonding?

By staying close to allies, individuals may enjoy benefits through social support. In the socially monogamous greylag goose (Anser anser), pair-partners, parents, and even human foster parents may provide social support, facilitating access to resources or reducing agonistic pressure. In the present work, we analysed the spatial distribution of individuals within a semi-feral flock of 120 greylag geese, which contained 23 adult sibling groups of 2–4 individuals from 2 to 12 years old. During resting periods we scored dyadic distances between 28 focal individuals of different social categories, their siblings and unrelated control individuals of the same age. Adult female siblings (i.e. those hatched in the same year and raised together) rested significantly closer to each other than to either their brothers or unrelated control individuals. We attribute this to social attraction rather than to just a common preference for the same resting site. Thus, kinship bonds as expressed by cohesion might persist into adulthood, at least in the females. We discuss the potential benefits of proximity between related individuals with regard to reduced social stress via social support. Received: 21 February 2000 / Received in revised form: 16 May 2000 / Accepted: 17 May 2000     

Recommendation for the minimum number of steps to analyze when performing the uncontrolled manifold analysis on walking data

The uncontrolled manifold (UCM) analysis quantifies the extent to which co-variation among a set of variables facilitates consistent performance by partitioning variance in those variables into two components then calculating their normalized difference (i.e., the synergy index). Although UCM-derived measures are thought to depend on the number of data points analyzed, the minimum number needed to reasonably approximate true values of these measures is unknown. For each of two performance variables related to mechanical stability of gait, we evaluated changes in UCM-derived measures when increasing the number of analyzed points, here steps. Fourteen older adults walked on a treadmill while motion capture tracked movement. For each subject, n steps (where n = 2–99) were randomly sampled from the first 100, then used to calculate UCM-derived variables. For each subject, variables were expressed as a percent of the subject-specific value with n = 100 and averaged across 50 simulations. For each n, 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated from group data. The minimum number of steps to “reasonably approximate” a variables was defined as the value of n for which the lower CI was >90% of the value with n = 100. Regardless of performance variable, reasonable approximations of the synergy index were attained with n = 16 steps, whereas n = 50 steps were needed for each of the variance components However, the differences between using 16 steps and 50 steps were small. Collecting 15–20 steps is recommended for a reasonable approximation of the synergy indices considered herein, particularly when data collection is constrained to a limited number of steps.     

The concept of margins of stability can be used to better understand a change in obstacle crossing strategy with an increase in age

The purpose of the current study was to use the margins of stability (MoS) to investigate how older adults choose between minimizing the risk of a forward fall when crossing an obstacle and the ease of maintaining forward progression during the steps taken behind the obstacle. In the current study 143 community-dwelling older adults aged between 55 and 83 years old, were divided into three age groups based on tertials of age. All participants were asked to complete five trials of obstacle walking and five trials of normal walking. For the trials of normal walking, the main difference between groups was that MoS at initial contact was lower in the older age groups. For the trials of obstacle crossing the MoS at the instants of obstacle crossing with both the leading and trailing limb became smaller with an increase in age. This result might imply that older people choose to use a strategy during obstacle crossing that results in smaller chance of falling forward if an obstacle was struck. A negative consequence of this more conservative strategy was a smaller MoS at the instants of initial contact after crossing the obstacle, thus a larger chance of a backward fall. These findings provide more insight into the regulation of stability during obstacle crossing and specifically in the differences in strategy between younger and older people, and therefore these results might be used for further research to investigate whether obstacle crossing strategies are trainable in older adults, which could be used as advisory programs aimed at fall prevention and/or engagement in an active lifestyle.     

Assessing and Addressing the Risk of Venous Thromboembolism Across the Spectrum of Gender Affirming Care: A Review

ObjectiveAccumulating evidence demonstrates that gender affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) improves mental health outcomes in transgender persons. Data specific to the risks associated with GAHT for transgender persons continue to emerge, allowing for improvements in understanding, predicting, and mitigating adverse outcomes while informing discussion about desired effects. Of particular concern is the risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in the context of both longitudinal GAHT and the perioperative setting. Combining what is known about the risk of VTE in cisgender individuals on hormone therapy (HT) with the evidence for transgender persons receiving HT allows for an informed approach to assess underlying risk and improve care in the transgender community.ObservationsHormone formulation, dosing, route, and duration of therapy can impact thromboembolic risk, with transdermal estrogen formulations having the lowest risk. There are no existing risk scores for VTE that consider HT as a possible risk factor. Risk assessment for recurrent VTE and bleeding tendencies using current scores may be helpful when assessing individual risk. Gender affirming surgeries present unique perioperative concerns, and certain procedures include a high likelihood that patients will be on exogenous estrogens at the time of surgery, potentially increasing thromboembolic risk.Conclusions and RelevanceWithholding GAHT due to potential adverse events may cause negative impacts for individual patients. Providers should be knowledgeable about the management of HT in transgender individuals of all ages, as well as in the perioperative setting, to avoid periods in which transgender individuals are off GAHT. Treatment decisions for both anticoagulation and HT should be individualized and tailored to patients’ overall goals and desired outcomes, given that the physical and mental health benefits of gender affirming care may outweigh the risk of VTE.     

Revisión sistemática de aceptación de la tecnología digital en personas mayores. Perspectiva de los modelos TAM

In this study, a systematic review of researches published about the determining factors in the intention of the use of devices and digital technology in older adults has been carried out. The technology acceptance model is the framework used. The main result of the analysis of 60 scientific articles published between 2010 and 2020 has been summarized after a bibliographic research and a subsequent selection process in the most important bibliographic databases: Web of Science (n = 45), Scopus (n = 66) and Google Scholar (n = 224). It has been proved the predominance of quantitative studies with a prevalence of study factors that associate the intention to use technology with: Facilitating conditions, experience, health, social support, emotions, perceived enjoyment, perceived satisfaction in using technology, anxiety, perceived risk, motivation, cost, subjective norm and social influence. The results of the systematic review allow us to conclude the urgent need to incorporate new research on the identification and influence of these factors that stand between older adults and technology, as possible barriers or facilitators of use.     

Effects of cold exposure discontinuation on finger cold-induced vasodilation of older retired Korean female divers ‘Haenyeos’

The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects of cold exposure discontinuation on local cold tolerance of older retired female haenyeos in Korea. A total of 30 older women participated in this study: older retired haenyeos (89 ± 4 y in age, N = 10), active haenyeos (current divers) (75 ± 4 y, N = 10), and age-matched non-divers (75 ± 6 y, N = 10). Our criterion for local cold tolerance was cold-induced vasodilation (CIVD) of the finger. Active haenyeos showed greater local cold tolerance in terms of higher minimum temperature of the left finger during immersion and recovery than the other two groups (P < 0.05). Furthermore, active haenyeos showed higher skin temperatures of the right finger and left foot as well (P < 0.05). Older retired haenyeos displayed the second best minimum finger temperature both during immersion and during recovery (15 min and 20 min), whereas their local cold tolerance was evaluated as inferior to active haenyeos and the age-matched non-divers in CIVD frequency, finger pain sensation, thermal comfort, and finger temperature during the earlier period of recovery (5 min and 10 min). These results suggested that older retired haenyeos’ cold tolerance in their extremities disappeared in terms of finger temperature in their initial recovery periods, but that they might still retain cold adaptation in terms of minimum finger temperature or later recovery responses, even though the attributes were not marked as much as those of active haenyeos.     

Horizontal transmission of the father's song in the zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata)

As is the case for human speech, birdsong is transmitted across generations by imitative learning. Although transfer of song patterns from adults to juveniles typically occurs via vertical or oblique transmission, there is also evidence of horizontal transmission between juveniles of the same generation. Here, we show that a young male zebra finch (Taeniopygia guttata) that has been exposed to its father during the sensitive period for song learning can lead a brother, that has never heard the paternal song, to imitate some sounds of the father. Moreover, song similarity between the two brothers was higher than the similarity measured between the paternal song and the song of the brother that had a week-long exposure to the father. We speculate that the phenomenon of within-generation song learning among juveniles may be more widespread than previously thought and that when a juvenile evaluates potential models for imitative learning, a sibling may be as salient as an adult.