1,721,043 research outputs found
Genetics, lifestyles, evironment and longevity: a look in a complex phenomenon
No full textIn the last decades, the worldwide progressive ageing of population has had as a principal consequence to focus attention of researchers on the study of different variables that can help people to age well (1-6). The awareness that ageing is a complex phenomenon, that affects different aspects and dominions of life, has led researchers to analyze it from different points of view (physiological one, psychological one, sociological one and so on). From a functional and a physiological point of view, ageing could be seen as a complex process where something changes. The results of these changes can be a reduction of functional abilities, the quantity of these reduction can vary a lot (7). Nowadays there is a relative agreement between researchers in the findings that genetic and constitutional factors can control about 25%-30% of these changes and of the chance to age well, while other variables, mainly related to lifestyles, can control the remaining 70%-75 (8). What variables are related to these changes and what can be the real level of reduction of functional abilities is perhaps the consequences of the complex interaction between different variables, genetics or constitutional ones, on one side, and behavioral and environmental ones, on the other side. The study of this complex mechanism is the focus of recent studies, mainly aiming to derive specific models of intervention to promote well-being in people who are ageing. A field of specific interest is the study of genetic basis of longevity (6, 8-18). In this paper we will describe and analyze some recent findings in this field, also deriving from the experiences of long-lived people and centenarians (15) which can be a sort of “natural experiment” from which we could derive information about ageing and ageing well. Then, we will discuss some issues for future researches and for intervention
L’invecchiamento sano ed attivo, attività di vita quotidiana, demenza: il progetto A.Te.ne (ageing and teulada’s neurocognition),
No full textNell’attuale rivoluzione demografica, gli oldest old rappresentano la fascia di età che si caratterizza per maggiore velocità di accrescimento di numerosità. I pochi studi epidemiologici relativi a questa fascia d’età indicano una attesa di elevata prevalenza di forme di demenza ed una elevata frequenza di difficoltà nello svolgimento in autonomia delle attività di vita quotidiana e di disabilità (Corrada et al., 2010, Brumback- Peltz et al., 2011, Bullain e Corrada, 2013, Gardner et al., 2013, Yang et al, 2013, Slavin et al., 2013) Emergono tuttavia dati contrastanti sia in riferimento alla prevalenza di demenza (che varia dal 6 al 21% negli studi) sia per descrizioni di riscontri di popolazioni di longevi che si caratterizzano per adeguate abilità cognitive, ridotto tasso di demenza e di disabilità (Corrada et al., 2010).Lo studio di queste popolazioni può fornire spunti sullo studio delle relazioni tra stili di vita, variabili alimentari e profilo funzionale e cognitivo negli anziani e stimolare la realizzazione di interventi di prevenzione dell’invecchiamento patologico. Allo scopo di fornire un contributo in questo ambito, il nostro lavoro si è focalizzato su un campione di oldest old residenti in un piccolo centro della Sardegna, la cui popolazione totale è di 3700 abitanti e che si caratterizza per un inatteso tasso di longevi (oltre il 9%).
Al fine di valutare la frequenza di difficoltà cognitive, demenza e difficoltà nello svolgimento delle attività di vita quotidiana di base e strumentali, 88 ultraottantenni residenti a Teulada (media di età 88 anni) selezionati casualmente, sono stati sottoposti ad un protocollo di valutazione che includeva una valutazione delle ADL, delle IADL, il BIMC (Blessed Information Memory Concentration Test) e la scala CDR (Clinical Dementia Rating).
Verranno discussi i dati emersi e la relazione tra questi e gli stili di vita, gli stili alimentari e variabili sociali e culturali
Mental disorders in obese patients with and without metabolic syndrome
No full textObjective: The authors sought to evaluate lifetime prevalence of mental disorders in patients affected by metabolic syndrome compared with patients affected by central obesity alone.
Methods: One hundred eighty-six (63.5%) patients affected by central obesity and 107 (36.5%) affected by metabolic syndrome according to ICF criteria were interviewed by means of SCID I and SCID II.
Results: Axis I and axis II lifetime prevalence were respectively 53.8% and 30.1% among patients with central obesity, 50.5% and 28% among patients with metabolic syndrome, differences which were not significant. No statistically significant differences were found between groups as far as each single axis I and II diagnostic category was considered.
Conclusion: Metabolic syndrome is not associated with a higher risk of mental disorders compared to central obesity alone
On the Semantic of Ageing: from Successful Ageing to Dynamic and Developmental Model of Ageing
No full textDuring the second part of Twentieth Century worldwide there has been an important process of conceptualization on active ageing and healthy ageing, related to the progressive ageing of population in most of the countries, the so called “Demographic revolution” or “Demographic transition” (Rowe e Kahn, 1987, 1988, 1998, Bates and Bates, 1990, 1993, Kahn, 2002, 2004, Pruchno et al., 2010, Petretto et al., 2016a). We can divide the conceptualization in different groups: American conceptual models, European conceptual models and other conceptual models related to different points of view on ageing (Fernandez-Ballesteros et al., 2011a e b, . The conceptualization of ageing is strictly related to the anthropological framework at the bottom of it and to the interest to all phases of the life, but it is also strictly related to semantical choices at the bottom of the conceptual models (Petretto et al., 2016).
In the semantic of ageing we found different words, like active ageing, healthy ageing, and successful ageing and so on. There are different variables that make the difference: a focus on subject and subjectivity, a focus on well-being and quality of life as central outcomes, and on the sociocultural influences that make some variables more important than others and define the role of oldest people in the society.
The aim of paper is to discuss different variables related to different semantical choices and to propose some critical hints of analysis in this field
Epigenetic dysregulation in advanced kidney cancer: Opportunities for therapeutic interventions
No full textUnderstanding the complex epigenome of advanced renal cell carcinoma may lead to novel epigenomic-based pharmaceutical strategies and identify new targets for therapeutic interventions. Epigenetic changes, such as DNA methylation and histone acetylation, modulate the activity of significant oncogenic signaling pathways by regulating gene expression. Such pathways include the WNT-ß-catenin pathway, the von Hippel-Lindau-hypoxia-inducible factor pathway, and epithelial-mesenchymal transition pathway. Common genetic alterations in histone modifier genes in renal cell carcinoma may not only be responsible for the pathogenesis of this disease but also represent potential biomarkers of response to immunotherapies. Rational combinations strategies with histone deacetylase inhibitors are being tested in clinic trials. Renal cell carcinoma represents an ideal setting to dissect the epigenetic-driven changes in the tumor microenvironment that modulate the response to targeted therapies
Ageing and COVID-19: What is the Role for Elderly People?
Full text linkItaly is one of the oldest countries in Europe and in the world and now it is also one of the first countries that are fighting against COVID-19. In our country, the increasing life expectancy (80.5 for males and 84.9 for females, with a total life expectancy of 82.9) has led to very positive consequences for health and the well-being of elderly people: a very high number of older adults lives and acts independently in their daily life, even if they have one or more than one chronic disease. In the time of COVID-19′s outbreak in Italy, the focus of the media was on elderly people for two main reasons. First, many older people demonstrated a very high civic sense and they were helping society to fight against the pandemic. Second, also in Italy, like in China, the older adults are at higher risk in being infected with COVID-19 and if they get ill, they have a higher risk of death. The balance previously achieved between age-related disorders and a good quality of life and good health is now under high pressure. It is very important to protect elderly people from infection, but also it is important to respect them and to support them in this complex situation. There is a great risk of “ageism”. In agreement with Lloyd-Sherlock and colleagues (2020), in this editorial we propose some hints of analysis, starting from the ongoing experience in Italy
Ageing and Disability According to the Perspective of Clinical Psychology of Disability
Full text linkThe progressive ageing of the global population is an important anthropological and social phenomenon, and it is due to the overall increasing of life expectancy and the overall increasing of health and living conditions, even if with various trends and speeds in various countries all over the world [...
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
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