Using inquiry based stress reduction to address self-stigma in severe spectrum obesity in general practice.

Background: Obesity is a driver of multimorbidity. Knowledge regarding individual and population based solutions is evolving in primary care. Stigma/self-stigma are important in developing clinical solutions.

Altered place engagement since COVID-19: A multi-method study of community participation and health among older americans.

Little is known about longer-term changes to community participation since the COVID-19 pandemic onset and potential implications for health and wellbeing in later life. This multi-method investigation analyzes national data from the COVID-19 Coping Study. Statistical analyses of survey data ( = 1,630; mean age 67.

"I just can't go back": Challenging Places for Older Americans since the COVID-19 Pandemic Onset.

During the pandemic, many older adults felt 'out of place' in their home, work, and community spaces with potentially long-term consequences for health and wellbeing. Using national data from the COVID-19 Coping Study, thematic analysis of online long-answer responses (n = 1171; mean age 68 years; 71% female; 93% non-Hispanic White; 86% with at least a 4-year college degree; data collected April-June 2022) identified four themes regarding particular places are challenging since the pandemic onset: (1) viral exposure fears, (2) frustrating regulations, (3) uncomfortable and hostile social dynamics, and (4) 'out of place' negative emotions. Participants also shared they continuously address or adapt to place-based challenges through lifestyle adjustments and coping strategies.

A differentiable simulation package for performing inference of synchrotron-radiation-based diagnostics.

The direction of particle accelerator development is ever-increasing beam quality, currents and repetition rates. This poses a challenge to traditional diagnostics that directly intercept the beam due to the mutual destruction of both the beam and the diagnostic. An alternative approach is to infer beam parameters non-invasively from the synchrotron radiation emitted in bending magnets.

Educational Attainment and Later-Life Cognitive Function in High- and Middle-Income Countries: Evidence From the Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol.

Objectives: Identifying social policies that can promote cognitive health is crucial for reducing the global burden of dementia. We evaluated the importance of educational attainment for later-life cognitive function in various social and geographic settings.

Methods: Using harmonized data for individuals aged ≥65 years from the United States Health and Retirement Study (HRS) and its international partner studies in England, Mexico, China, and India, and each study's respective Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocol (HCAP), we conducted a cross-national comparative study to examine the role of educational attainment in later-life cognitive function across countries (n = 14,980, 2016-2019).

Lifetime occupational skill and later-life cognitive function among older adults in the United States, Mexico, India, and South Africa.

Introduction: We conducted a cross-national comparison of the association between main lifetime occupational skills and later-life cognitive function across four economically and socially distinct countries.

Methods: Data were from population-based studies of aging and their Harmonized Cognitive Assessment Protocols (HCAPs) in the US, South Africa, India, and Mexico (N = 10,037; Age range: 50 to 105 years; 2016 to 2020). Main lifetime occupational skill was classified according to the International Standard Classification of Occupations.

Multimorbidity and Mental Health Trajectories Among Middle-Aged and Older U.S. Adults During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Longitudinal Findings From the COVID-19 Coping Study.

Background And Objectives: This study aimed to examine the associations between multimorbidity at the COVID-19 pandemic onset and subsequent longitudinal trajectories of depressive symptoms, anxiety symptoms, and loneliness in middle-aged and older adults over a 12-month follow-up.

Research Design And Methods: Data were from monthly online questionnaires in the COVID-19 Coping Study of U.S.

Acute relationships between mental health and cognitive function during the COVID-19 pandemic: Longitudinal evidence from middle-aged and older US adults.

Background: The acute impacts of COVID-19-related mental health concerns on cognitive function among middle-aged and older adults are unknown. We investigated whether between-person (BP) differences and within-person (WP) changes in loneliness, anxiety, and worry about COVID-19 were related to cognitive function and abilities in a longitudinal cohort of middle-aged and older United States (US) adults over a nine-month period during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Data were from bimonthly questionnaires in the nationwide COVID-19 Coping Study from August/September 2020 through April/May 2021 (N = 2262 adults aged ≥55).

Physical isolation and mental health among older US adults during the COVID-19 pandemic: longitudinal findings from the COVID-19 Coping Study.

Purpose: We investigated the relationships between physical isolation at home during the period when many US states had shelter-in-place orders and subsequent longitudinal trajectories of depression, anxiety, and loneliness in older adults over a 6 month follow-up.

Methods: Data were from monthly online questionnaires with US adults aged ≥ 55 in the nation-wide COVID-19 Coping Study (April through October 2020, N = 3978). Physical isolation was defined as not leaving home except for essential purposes (0, 1-3, 4-6, and 7 days in the past week), measured at baseline (April-May).

Loneliness Among US Adults Aged ≥55 Early in the COVID-19 Pandemic : Findings From the COVID-19 Coping Study.

Objectives: Loneliness is associated with increased risks of adverse health outcomes among middle-aged and older adults. We estimated the prevalence of loneliness and identified key sociodemographic, employment, living, and health-related risk factors for loneliness among adults aged ≥55 during the early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, when much of the country was under shelter-in-place orders.

Methods: We collected data from online questionnaires in the COVID-19 Coping Study, a national study of 6938 US adults aged ≥55 from April 2 through May 31, 2020.

Coping During the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Qualitative Study of Older Adults Across the United States.

Older adults may struggle with stresses and daily life challenges associated with the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Yet they may also utilize emotional and behavioral coping strategies. This qualitative paper aims to identify ways of coping with worries and stress during the pandemic from the perspectives of older adults in the United States.

Extremely Dense Gamma-Ray Pulses in Electron Beam-Multifoil Collisions.

Sources of high-energy photons have important applications in almost all areas of research. However, the photon flux and intensity of existing sources is strongly limited for photon energies above a few hundred keV. Here we show that a high-current ultrarelativistic electron beam interacting with multiple submicrometer-thick conducting foils can undergo strong self-focusing accompanied by efficient emission of gamma-ray synchrotron photons.

Cohort profile: the COVID-19 Coping Study, a longitudinal mixed-methods study of middle-aged and older adults' mental health and well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic in the USA.

Purpose: The COVID-19 pandemic, beginning in early 2020, has resulted in massive social, economic, political and public health upheaval around the world. We established a national longitudinal cohort study, the COVID-19 Coping Study, to investigate the effects of pandemic-related stressors and changes in life circumstances on mental health and well-being among middle-aged and older adults in the USA.

Participants: From 2 April to 31 May 2020, 6938 adults aged ≥55 years were recruited from all 50 US states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico using online, multi-frame non-probability-based sampling.

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Rate of Memory Decline From Mid to Later Life: Evidence From the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Evidence on the role of early-life adversity in later-life memory decline is conflicting. We investigated the relationships between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and memory performance and rate of decline over a 10-year follow-up among middle-aged and older adults in England. Data were from biennial interviews with 5,223 participants aged 54 years or older in the population-representative English Longitudinal Study of Ageing from 2006/2007 to 2016/2017.

Suppression of Deflecting Forces in Planar-Symmetric Dielectric Wakefield Accelerating Structures with Elliptical Bunches.

Wakefield based accelerators capable of accelerating gradients 2 orders of magnitude higher than present accelerators offer a path to compact high energy physics instruments and light sources. However, for high gradient accelerators, beam instabilities driven by commensurately high transverse wakefields limit beam quality. Previously, it has been theoretically shown that transverse wakefields can be reduced by elliptically shaping the transverse sizes of beams in dielectric structures with planar symmetry.

Preeclamptic serous retinal detachment without hypertension: A case report.

Preeclampsia is a disease of pregnancy classically defined by the development of new-onset hypertension and proteinuria. Serous retinal detachment is a rare complication of severe preeclampsia that is associated with a high incidence of morbidity and mortality. We present the case of a 24-year-old primigravida who was diagnosed with preeclamptic serous retinal detachment at 30 weeks of gestation that occurred in the absence of hypertension.

Cognitive assessment of older adults in general practice: the collateral history.

Background: The collateral (or informant) history is a key component in the assessment of older adults presenting with a memory problem or concern over cognition. Despite this, it rarely features in medical literature and academic curricula. Its role in general practice has never been assessed.

An analytic observational study on complaints management in the general practice out of hours care setting: who complains, why, and what can we do about it?

Background: General Practice Co-Operatives provide most out of hours care in communities in Ireland. Limited data exists on patient complaints. This study reports on complaints at Kildare and West Wicklow Doctors on Call ('K Doc'), a GP Co-Operative in Ireland, examining the impact of a formal risk reduction strategy implemented (2010-2013).

End-of-life planning with frail patients attending general practice: an exploratory prospective cross-sectional study.

Background: End-of-life planning means decision making with patients, formulating and recording decisions regarding their end-of-life care. Although clearly linked with benefits including improved quality of life, reduced hospital admissions, and less aggressive medical care, it is still infrequently undertaken and is regarded as challenging by healthcare professionals.

Aim: To ascertain the feasibility of improving the identification of patients at high risk of dying in general practice and the acceptability of providing patients identified with an end-of-life planning tool.

Demonstration of a positron beam-driven hollow channel plasma wakefield accelerator.

Plasma wakefield accelerators have been used to accelerate electron and positron particle beams with gradients that are orders of magnitude larger than those achieved in conventional accelerators. In addition to being accelerated by the plasma wakefield, the beam particles also experience strong transverse forces that may disrupt the beam quality. Hollow plasma channels have been proposed as a technique for generating accelerating fields without transverse forces.