1,721,112 research outputs found
Demographic aspects of aging
No full textPopulation aging is occurring in almost all developed countries, albeit with differences in timing and intensity. This unprecedented phenomenon is evident not only in the change in the population age structure, but also in the impressive increase in the average length of life. After describing past, current, and future population trends, this contribution presents theories explaining the reasons for this long-term process that is completely reshaping the age structure of the population. It also describes the inequalities in aging (focusing in particular on the differences by gender, education, and cause of death), and introduces some measures of the individual health and economic consequences of population aging. The conclusions mention the main consequences of an aging society (e.g., problems related to the costs of health and pension programs for old people), and of an increase in individual life span (e.g., the effects on the well-being and life-styles of individuals, and on the social and economic lives of older people and their families)
Longevity hotspot in Sicily. The exploration of a new possible blu zone
Full text linkWe are conducting a survey in some mountainous Sicilian populations, particularly in villages sited in the Palermo province, part of the Madonie Park. To ascertain the true longevity rate, we checked the born and death registers, analyzing about 37,000 newborns between 1881 and 1917 in a sample of five small municipalities located in Madonie. About 1,700 individuals died at the age of 90 years and over, and about one hundred were centenarians. Therefore, the probability to reach 90 and 100 years old was of 4.6% and 0.22% respectively. Accordingly, we observed significant lower mortality rates for all causes of death when compared to those measured in Palermo town. Therefore, the population of these municipalities is experiencing a higher longevity as compared to other places in Sicily and in Italy.
Considering the healthy conditions of the population and the low rate of mortality, a total of 42 (14 males and 28 females) long-living individuals (LLIs) (≥ 90 years, mean age 97) were recruited between Madonie municipalities and Palermo city. A group of trained nutritionists administered a questionnaire to collect demographic data, cognitive and health status, clinical anamnesis, eating habits, and drug use, and the history of major age-related diseases were accurately reported.
Regarding the social and psychological aspects, 35 of 42 analysed subjects lived with their offspring or with spouse. Only 4 lived in retirement home and 3 with in-home nurse. The Geriatric Depression Scale was administered to 27/42 subjects with medium score of 5.44 (not depressed). The Mini Mental State was administered to 33/39 LLIs with medium score of 19.26 (cognitive impairment from moderate to mild). Most of LLIs attended few years of primary school and 6 had a high school (and University) education.
About the life-style, the ex-smokers were 9/42 and the alcohol consumption was limited, in few cases, to red/white wine. Concerning the eating habits, nobody consumed red meat more than once a week, whereas almost all consumed plant foods several times a week.
This study represents a picture of longevity in Sicily with the limitation of the small sample size. So, further recruitment and demographic studies are needed to validate the Blue Zone and the possible explanation of the extreme longevity
Aging of immune system
No full textIn old people, many alterations of innate and adaptive immunity have been described and viewed as deleterious, hence the term immunosenescence. Immunosenescence is a complex process involving multiple reorganizational and developmentally regulated changes, rather than a simple unidirectional decline of the whole function. Whereas innate immunity is relatively well preserved in older people, adaptive immunity is more susceptible due both to the functional decline associated with the passage of time and to antigen burden to which an individual has been exposed during lifetime. Although it is conceivable that global immune changes may lead to various diseases, it is also obvious that these changes may be needed for extended survival/longevity. This chapter summarizes recent data on the dynamic reassessment of immune changes with aging
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
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