Age‐Related Differences in the Lifestyle Regularity of Seniors Experiencing Bereavement,Care‐Giving,Insomnia, and Advancement Into Old‐Old Age

Compared to younger adults, seniors (≥60 yrs) often adopt a highly regular lifestyle, perhaps as an adaptive response to age‐related changes in their sleep and circadian rhythms. At baseline, diary measures of lifestyle regularity (SRM‐5) were obtained from 104 seniors of three separate groups. Thirty‐three subjects were challenged by spousal bereavement or the need to care for a spouse at home with dementia (Challenged); 33 were suffering from formally diagnosed (DSM‐IV) insomnia (Insomnia); and 38 were healthy, well‐functioning older seniors in the second half of their eighth decade of life or later (Healthy Older). The objective of this study was to determine whether lifestyle regularity increased as a function of age within each of these three senior groups. Overall, age was significantly correlated with SRM‐5 (r=0.41, p<0.001), with the SRM score increasing by 0.67 units/decade. The same was true for the Challenged and Insomnia groups, which also showed a significant correlation between SRM and age (Challenged: r=0.48, p<0.01; Insomnia: r=0.36, p<0.05), though with a slightly faster rate of SRM increase in the Challenged (0.95 units/decade) than Insomnia (0.55 units/decade) group. Perhaps there was no correlation between age and SRM (r=0.07, n.s.) in the Healthy Older group due to the small age range, although this group did have a higher overall SRM score than the other two groups (p<0.01). The study thus confirmed that the previously observed increase in lifestyle regularity over the adult lifespan persists into later life. This may represent an adaptive behavioral response that might be used in future therapeutic approaches.     

Regularity of Daily Activities in Stroke

Various studies have been performed using the Social Rhythm Metric (SRM), though none has been developed with stroke patients. Stroke is a pathology that provokes a strong physical and social impact caused by an abnormality in cerebral circulation. Consequently, we performed two studies to validate the SRM and translate it into Portuguese, and to evaluate the regularity of the daily activities of stroke patients. Both healthy individuals and patients with unilateral cerebral lesions were evaluated. Subjects were of both sexes and between 45 and 65 yrs of age. Participants underwent clinical evaluation and recorded the time of 17 daily activities on the SRM for two weeks. Data were analyzed by the Pearson correlation and Fisher tests. After conceptual translation into Portuguese, corrections were made to arrive at the final version. Normative SRM scores varied from 3.2 to 7.0, suggesting that the activities presented in SRM adequately represented the daily routines of the patients. A correlation was found in SRM between the weeks (r=0.84; p=0.0001), indicating instrument reliability. The mean (±SD) score of the stoke patients was 4.8 (±1.0), and the correlation between the SRM and level of neurological damage showed that patients with lower SRM values were more physically compromised (r=?0.29; p=0.04), suggesting that SRM may be a clinical predictor. Activities related to eating and the sleep‐wake cycle were rated by most patients. In all, 71% of the patients did not work, while 84% of healthy individuals did (p=0.001). Only 64% of patients left home compared to 90% of the healthy subjects (p=0.001), and 59% of patients recorded the activity of going home compared to 82% of healthy individuals (p=0.001). According to the results, there is evidence of the validity and reliability of the SRM, enabling it to be reliably used in chronobiological studies of stroke patients. Given that a less regular lifestyle may be associated with neurological compromise and a decrease in social activities, we suggest new studies with the repeated application of this instrument over the clinical evolution of the disease to better define improvement or worsening of the patient's condition in terms of their social and health aspects.     

Depression Scores Associate With Chronotype and Social Jetlag in a Rural Population

In public health, mood disorders are among the most important mental impairments. Patients with depressive episodes exhibit daily mood variations, abnormal patterns in sleep-wake behavior, and in the daily rhythms of several endocrine-metabolic parameters. Although the relationship between the sleep/circadian processes and mood disorders is poorly understood, clock-related therapies, such as light therapy, sleep deprivation, and rigid sleep schedules, have been shown to be effective treatments. Several studies investigated the relationship between circadian phenotype (chronotype) and depression. These focused mainly on urban populations and assessed diurnal preferences (Morningness-Eveningness score) rather than the actual timing of sleep and activity. Here, we used the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) in an essentially rural population (N?=?4051), and investigated its relation to circadian phenotype (chronotype and social jetlag), assessed with the Munich Chronotype Questionnaire (MCTQ). In our study design, we (i) normalized both chronotype and BDI scores for age and sex (MSF_sas and BDI_as, respectively); (ii) calculated individual social jetlag (misalignment of the biological and social time); and (iii) investigated the relationship between circadian phenotypes and BDI scores in a population homogeneous in respect to culture, socioeconomic factors, and daily light exposure. A 15.65% (N?=?634) of the participants showed mild to severe depressive BDI scores. Late chronotypes had a higher BDI_as than intermediate and early types, which was independent of whether or not the participants were smokers. Both chronotype and BDI_as correlated positively with social jetlag. BDI_as was significantly higher in subjects with >2?h of social jetlag than in the rest of the population—again independent of smoking status. We also compared chronotype and social jetlag distributions between BDI categories (no symptoms, minimal symptoms, and mild to severe symptoms of depression) separately for men and women and for four age groups; specifically in the age group 31–40 yrs, subjects with mild to severe BDI scores were significantly later chronotypes and suffered from higher social jetlag. Our results indicate that misalignment of circadian and social time may be a risk factor for developing depression, especially in 31- to 40-yr-olds. These relationships should be further investigated in longitudinal studies to reveal if reduction of social jetlag should be part of prevention strategies. (Author correspondence: karla.allebrandt@med.uni-muenchen.de)     

Cloning cultures: the social injustices of sameness

Cloning is widely considered only to be a biological discourse. Few, however, have paid attention to the cultural contexts that have made cloning conceivable. The relation between the biological and cultural considerations of cloning are revealed by the anxieties conjured up by the prospects of cloning human beings. By cloning we understand the reproduction of sameness which is deeply ingrained in the organization and reproduction of culture. The ease with which cloning has been taken up in contemporary thinking has been made possible by the widespread saturation of the normative assumption of socio-cultural sameness underpinning much of mainstream modern thinking around politics, law, education, management, aesthetics, the military and processes of production. We consider the cultural considerations regarding the reproduction of sameness and the implications of cloning for issues of social injustice.     

The economic returns of bonding and bridging social capital for immigrant men in Germany

Using longitudinal data, this paper analyses the effect of different forms of social capital on the likelihood of employment and the occupational status of first generation immigrant men in Germany. This allows me to examine to what extent social capital of the bonding and the bridging types yield different returns. The study considers how contacts with natives, co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital are beneficial to the economic position of immigrant men. Random effects and fixed effects models show that strong inter-ethnic ties are beneficial both for employment and occupational status. There is no effect of co-ethnic ties and family-based social capital. It is concluded that, when using panel data, bridging social capital contributes to a better economic position and bonding social capital does not.     

The Otavalo trade diaspora: social capital and transnational entrepreneurship

This article examines the role of historical social resources in the development of a transnational trade diaspora of Ecuador's indigenous Otavalan merchants. The Otavalans are well known for their production of handicrafts, using pre-industrial and industrial technologies, and for their far-flung trips in search of foreign buyers. In this account, the role of 'social capital', typically defined as a 'public good', is highlighted to better gauge its usefulness to other migrant and indigenous groups. I conclude that the Otavalo case suggests that in-group 'social capital' is: (a) not sufficient or necessary for 'grass-roots' transnational entrepreneurship; (b) the political origins of an ethnic group's 'trust-worthiness' reveal a more diverse set of symbolic and cultural 'capitals', which may then be used by an emergent merchant class to gain financial capital for a business venture; and (c) 'globalization' notwithstanding, contemporary trade diasporas may rise and fall due to similar causal dynamics found among much older and ubiquitous 'cross-cultural trade diasporas'.     

Dufour’s gland secretion,sterility and foraging behavior: Correlated behavior traits in bumblebee workers

Bombus terrestris colonies go through two major phases: the “pre-competition phase” in which the queen is the sole reproducer and aggression is rare, and the “competition phase” in which workers aggressively compete over reproduction. Conflicts over reproduction are partially regulated by a group of octyl esters that are produced in Dufour’s gland of reproductively subordinate workers and protect them from being aggressed. However, workers possess octyl esters even before overt aggression occurs, raising the question of why produce the ester-signal before it is functionally necessary?In most insect societies, foragers show reduced aggression and low dominance rank. We hypothesize that ester production in B. terrestris is not only correlated with sterility but also with foraging, signaling cooperative behavior by subordinate workers. Such a signal helps to maintain social organization, reduce the cost of fights between reproductives and helpers, and increase colony productivity, enabling subordinates to gain greater inclusive fitness. We demonstrate that foragers produce larger amounts of esters compared to non-foragers, and that their amounts positively correlate with foraging efforts. We further suggest that task performance, potential fecundity, and aggression are interlinked, and that worker–worker interactions are involved in regulating foraging behavior.B. terrestris, being an intermediate phase between primitive and derived eusocial insects, provides an excellent model for understanding the evolution of early phases of eusociality. Our results, combined with those in primitively eusocial wasps, suggest that at early stages of social evolution, reproduction was regulated by a “primordial division of labor”, that comprised foragers and reproducers, which further evolved to a more complex division of labor, a hallmark of eusociality.     

EXTINCTION SPACE—A METHOD FOR THE QUANTIFICATION AND CLASSIFICATION OF CHANGES IN MORPHOSPACE ACROSS EXTINCTION BOUNDARIES

Three main modes of extinction are responsible for reductions in morphological disparity: (1) random (caused by a nonselective extinction event); (2) marginal (a symmetric, selective extinction event trimming the margin of morphospace); and (3) lateral (an asymmetric, selective extinction event eliminating one side of the morphospace). These three types of extinction event can be distinguished from one another by comparing changes in three measures of morphospace occupation: (1) the sum of range along the main axes; (2) the sum of variance; and (3) the position of the centroid. Computer simulations of various extinction events demonstrate that the pre‐extinction distribution of taxa (random or normal) in the morphospace has little influence on the quantification of disparity changes, whereas the modes of the extinction events play the major role. Together, the three disparity metrics define an “extinction‐space” in which different extinction events can be directly compared with one another. Application of this method to selected extinction events (Frasnian‐Famennian, Devonian‐Carboniferous, and Permian‐Triassic) of the Ammonoidea demonstrate the similarity of the Devonian events (selective extinctions) but the striking difference from the end‐Permian event (nonselective extinction). These events differ in their mode of extinction despite decreases in taxonomic diversity of similar magnitude.     

Increased functional connectivity with puberty in the mentalising network involved in social emotion processing

This article is part of a Special Issue “Puberty and Adolescence”.