25 research outputs found
Loneliness in mid-life and older adults from ethnic minority communities in England and Wales: measure validation and prevalence estimates
No full text© 2020, The Author(s). We investigated the prevalence of loneliness among 1206 adults aged 40 + from six minority communities in England and Wales: Black Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese. Replicating the approach from the previous studies, we demonstrate robust acceptability, reliability and validity for both the six-item De Jong Gierveld (DJG) and single-item loneliness scales in our six ethnic groups. The prevalence of loneliness using a single-item question (loneliness reported as often/always) ranges from 5% (Indian) to 14% (Chinese) compared with approximately 5% for the general population aged 40 + in Britain. Levels of loneliness are very much higher using the DJG scale. Using a loneliness threshold score of 5 +, the percentage ranged from 13% (Indian) to 36% (Chinese). We explored the importance of six established loneliness vulnerability factors for our sample using regression modelling. Three factors were not associated with loneliness—number of children, gender and health rating, and three factors were protective: younger age, being married and low financial strain. The addition of ethnicity did not change these relationships or enhance statistical power of our models. Being a member of the African Caribbean group was protective against loneliness but not for the other groups included in our study. We suggest that exposure to loneliness vulnerability factors rather than ethnicity per se or measurement artefact underpins differences in loneliness across ethnic groups
Loneliness in mid-life and older adults from ethnic minority communities in England and Wales: measure validation and prevalence estimates
No full text© 2021, The Author(s). We investigated the prevalence of loneliness among 1206 adults aged 40 + from six minority communities in England and Wales: Black Caribbean, Black African, Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Chinese. Replicating the approach from the previous studies, we demonstrate robust acceptability, reliability and validity for both the six-item De Jong Gierveld (DJG) and single-item loneliness scales in our six ethnic groups. The prevalence of loneliness using a single-item question (loneliness reported as often/always) ranges from 5% (Indian) to 14% (Chinese) compared with approximately 5% for the general population aged 40 + in Britain. Levels of loneliness are very much higher using the DJG scale. Using a loneliness threshold score of 5 +, the percentage ranged from 13% (Indian) to 36% (Chinese). We explored the importance of six established loneliness vulnerability factors for our sample using regression modelling. Three factors were not associated with loneliness—number of children, gender and health rating, and three factors were protective: younger age, being married and low financial strain. The addition of ethnicity did not change these relationships or enhance statistical power of our models. Being a member of the African Caribbean group was protective against loneliness but not for the other groups included in our study. We suggest that exposure to loneliness vulnerability factors rather than ethnicity per se or measurement artefact underpins differences in loneliness across ethnic groups.Leverhulme Trust (F/00275/Q); National Institute of Social Care and Health Research (SCRA/10/02)
Comparing species and ecosystem-based estimates of fisheries yields
No full textAuthor Posting. © The Author(s), 2011. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Elsevier B.V. for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Fisheries Research 111 (2011): 139-144, doi:10.1016/j.fishres.2011.07.009.Three methods are described to estimate potential yields of commercial fish species: (i) single-species calculation of maximum sustainable yields, and two ecosystem-based methods derived from published results for (ii) energy flow and for (iii) community structure. The requirements imposed by food-web fluxes, and by patterns of relative abundance, provide constraints on individual species. These constraints are used to set limits to ecosystem-based yields (EBY); these limits, in turn, provide a comparison with the usual estimates of maximum sustainable yields (MSY). We use data on cod and haddock production from Georges Bank for the decade 1993-2002 to demonstrate these methods. We show that comparisons among the three approaches can be used to demonstrate that ecosystem based estimates of yields complement, rather than supersede, the single-species estimates. The former specify the significant changes required in the rest of the ecosystem to achieve a return to maximum sustainable levels for severely depleted commercial fish stocks. The overall conclusion is that MSY defines changes required in particular stocks, whereas EBY determines the changes required in the rest of the ecosystem to realize these yields. Species specific MSY only has meaning in the context of the prey, predators and competitors that surround it.We acknowledge NSF awards OCE081459 (to DJG) and OCE0814474 (to JHS)
Cadaveric Renal transplantation with Cyclosporine: Experiences in 148 patients at a single institution.
No full textDopaminergic neuromodulation of prefrontal cortex activity requires the NMDA receptor coagonist d-serine
No full textPrefrontal control of cognitive functions critically depends upon glutamatergic transmission and N-methyl D-aspartate (NMDA) receptors, the activity of which is regulated by dopamine. Yet whether the NMDA receptor coagonist d-serine is implicated in the dopamine-glutamate dialogue in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and other brain areas remains unexplored. Here, using electrophysiological recordings, we show that d-serine is required for the fine-tuning of glutamatergic neurotransmission, neuronal excitability, and synaptic plasticity in the PFC through the actions of dopamine at D1 and D3 receptors. Using in vivo microdialysis, we show that D1 and D3 receptors exert a respective facilitatory and inhibitory influence on extracellular levels and activity of d-serine in the PFC, with actions expressed primarily via the cAMP/protein kinase A (PKA) signaling cascade. Further, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral assessment, we show that d-serine is required for the potentiation of cognition by D3R blockade as revealed in a test of novel object recognition memory. Collectively, these results unveil a key role for d-serine in the dopaminergic neuromodulation of glutamatergic transmission and PFC activity, findings with clear relevance to the pathogenesis and treatment of diverse brain disorders involving alterations in dopamine-glutamate cross-talk
Investigation of the band structure of <sup>132,134</sup> Nd and <sup>135</sup> Pm at medium spin
No full textHow much fiscal adjustment is enough? The case of Colombia
No full textThis paper concludes that Colombia's impressive fiscal adjustment during 1985 - 1987 was due to structural changes in fiscal policy, not simply to such fortuitous events as the coffee boom. Although impressive, the fiscal adjustment fell short of actually improving the government's net financial position. Total public debt as a percentage of GDP was roughly unchanged, even after correcting for the effect of currency devaluation on dollar denominated instruments. Public development lending as a percentage of GDP fell slightly during the same period. The model simulations suggest that to reduce interest rates to more manageable levels would require continued reduction of the fiscal deficit, below levels currently envisioned. To reduce inflation would require even tighter fiscal policy. The magnitudes of required deficit reduction do not seem out of reach however, even allowing for uncertainty about the figures.Economic Stabilization,Economic Theory&Research,Banks&Banking Reform,Macroeconomic Management,Financial Intermediation
