Sexual health and function in later life: a population-based study of 606 older adults with a partner.

Background: Sexual health and function is an important yet understudied aspect of overall health and well-being in older adults. There are limited data on the relative strength of associations between various aspects of sexual health with the physical, emotional, and cognitive function in older adults. Additionally, there is little information on how these associations differ by age and sex.

Candidate SNP associations of optimism and resilience in older adults: exploratory study of 935 community-dwelling adults.

Objective: Optimism and resilience promote health and well-being in older adults, and previous reports suggest that these traits are heritable. We examined the association of selected single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with optimism and resilience in older adults.

Design: Candidate gene association study that was a follow-on at the University of California, San Diego, sites of two NIH-funded multi-site longitudinal investigations: Women's Health Initiative (WHI) and SELenium and vitamin E Cancer prevention Trial (SELECT).

Development of a new multidimensional individual and interpersonal resilience measure for older adults.

Objectives: Develop an empirically grounded measure that can be used to assess family and individual resilience in a population of older adults (aged 50-99).

Methods: Cross-sectional, self-report data from 1006 older adults were analyzed in two steps. The total sample was split into two subsamples and the first step identified the underlying latent structure through principal component exploratory factor analysis (EFA).

From suffering to caring: a model of differences among older adults in levels of compassion.

Objective: Compassion is an important contributor to pro-social behavior and maintenance of interpersonal relationships, yet little is known about what factors influence compassion in late life. The aim of this study was to test theories about how past and current stressors and emotional functioning, resilience, and demographic indicators of life experiences are related to compassion among older adults.

Methods: One thousand and six older adults (50-99 years) completed a comprehensive survey including self-report measures of compassion, resilience, past and present stress, and emotional functioning (i.

Association between schizophrenia symptoms and neurocognition on mobility in older adults with schizophrenia.

Objectives: Older persons with schizophrenia develop problems associated with aging, such as poor mobility, at more rapid rates than people without serious mental illness. Decrements in mobility contribute to poor health outcomes. Impaired neurocognitive function and psychiatric symptoms are central aspects of schizophrenia.

Individual and Societal Wisdom: Explaining the Paradox of Human Aging and High Well-Being.

Objective: Although human aging is characterized by loss of fertility and progressive decline in physical abilities, later life is associated with better psychological health and well-being. Furthermore, there has been an unprecedented increase in average lifespan over the past century without corresponding extensions of fertile and healthy age spans. We propose a possible explanation for these paradoxical phenomena.

Successful cognitive aging and health-related quality of life in younger and older adults infected with HIV.

Neurocognitive impairments commonly occur and adversely impact everyday functioning in older adults infected with HIV, but little is known about successful cognitive aging (SCA) and its health-related quality of life (HRQoL) correlates. Seventy younger (≤40 years) and 107 older (≥50 years) HIV+ adults, as well as age-matched seronegative comparison groups of younger (N = 48) and older (N = 77) subjects completed a comprehensive battery of neuropsychological, psychiatric, medical, and HRQoL assessments. SCA was operationalized as the absence of both performance-based neurocognitive deficits and self-reported symptoms (SCA-ANDS) as determined by published normative standards.

Diagnostic criteria for vascular cognitive disorders: a VASCOG statement.

Background: Several sets of diagnostic criteria have been published for vascular dementia since the 1960s. The continuing ambiguity in vascular dementia definition warrants a critical reexamination.

Methods: Participants at a special symposium of the International Society for Vascular Behavioral and Cognitive Disorders (VASCOG) in 2009 critiqued the current criteria.

Cognitive complaints correlate with depression rather than concurrent objective cognitive impairment in the successful aging evaluation baseline sample.

Objective: Whether subjective cognitive complaints are suggestive of depression or concurrent cognitive impairment in older adults without dementia remains unclear. The current study examined this question in a large (N = 1000), randomly selected, community-based sample of adults aged 51 to 99 years without a formal diagnosis of dementia (Successful AGing Evaluation [SAGE] study).

Methods: The modified Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status (TICS-m) measured objective cognitive function, the Cognitive Failures Questionnaire (CFQ) measured subjective cognitive complaints, and the 9-item Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) measured depression.

Late-onset schizophrenia: do recent studies support categorizing LOS as a subtype of schizophrenia?

Purpose Or Review: To review recent literature about late-onset schizophrenia (LOS): schizophrenia with onset between ages 40 and 60 years. New findings are presented in the context of the previous literature.

Recent Findings: Newer studies continue to suggest that early-onset schizophrenia (EOS) and LOS share fundamental clinical features (i.

Longitudinal study of sustained attention in outpatients with bipolar disorder.

Individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) may exhibit attentional deficits, however, the extent of impairment and long-term fluctuations in performance in attention are relatively unknown. We investigated the relationship between sustained attention and affective symptoms over time among BD patients. We also examined whether global differences in attentional capacity differed among BD versus normal comparison (NC) subjects.

Effect of physical activity, social support, and skills training on late-life emotional health: a systematic literature review and implications for public health research.

Purpose: Given that emotional health is a critical component of healthy aging, we undertook a systematic literature review to assess whether current interventions can positively affect older adults' emotional health.

Methods: A national panel of health services and mental health researchers guided the review. Eligibility criteria included community-dwelling older adult (aged ≥ 50 years) samples, reproducible interventions, and emotional health outcomes, which included multiple domains and both positive (well-being) and illness-related (anxiety) dimensions.

Summer research training for medical students: impact on research self-efficacy.

There is a well-documented shortage of physician researchers, and numerous training programs have been launched to facilitate development of new physician scientists. Short-term research training programs are the most practical form of research exposure for most medical students, and the summer between their first and second years of medical school is generally the longest period they can devote solely to research. The goal of short-term training programs is to whet the students' appetite for research and spark their interest in the field.

Brains of optimistic older adults respond less to fearful faces.

The authors examined the neural correlates of emotion processing and how they relate to individual differences in optimism among older adults. Brain response during processing of fearful faces was measured by functional magnetic resonance imaging in 16 older adults and was correlated with level of optimism. Greater optimism was associated with reduced activation in the fusiform gyrus and frontal regions, which may reflect decreased salience of negative emotional information or better emotion regulation among optimistic individuals.

Atypical antipsychotics for older adults: are they safe and effective as we once thought?

The initial enthusiasm for atypical antipsychotics as being safe and effective for treating older adults with psychotic disorders has diminished. Despite multiple short-term double-blind trials, these drugs have not been approved by the FDA for the most common form of psychosis in this population – i.e.

A prospective study of the trajectories of clinical insight, affective symptoms, and cognitive ability in bipolar disorder.

Background: Clinical insight in bipolar disorder is associated with treatment adherence and psychosocial outcome. The short-term dynamics of clinical insight in relationship to symptoms and cognitive abilities are unknown.

Methods: In a prospective observational study, a total of 106 outpatients with bipolar disorder I or II were assessed at baseline, 6 weeks, 12 weeks, and 26 weeks.

Reliability and validity of a self-rated analogue scale for global measure of successful aging.

Objective: Dimension-specific objective measures are criticized for their limited perspective and failure to endorse subjective perceptions by respondents, but the validity and correlates of a subjective global measure of successful aging (SA) are still not well established. We evaluated the reliability and validity of a self-rated analogue scale of global SA in an elderly Singaporean population.

Design: Cross-sectional data analysis using a comprehensive questionnaire survey.

Empathic fear responses in mice are triggered by recognition of a shared experience.

Empathy is an important psychological capacity that involves the ability to recognize and share emotions with others. In humans, empathy for others is facilitated by having had a similar prior experience. It increases with the intensity of distress that observers believe is occurring to others, and is associated with acute emotional responses to witnessing others' distress.

Associations of schizophrenia symptoms and neurocognition with physical activity in older adults with schizophrenia.

Background: Low levels of physical activity contribute to the generally poor physical health of older adults with schizophrenia. The associations linking schizophrenia symptoms, neurocognition, and physical activity are not known. Research is needed to identify the reasons for this population's lack of adequate physical activity before appropriate interventions can be designed and tested.

To what factors do rural-dwelling hispanics attribute depressive symptoms?

This study is a retrospective chart review comparing rural-dwelling Caucasian and Hispanic outpatients' attribution of depressive symptoms. Based on the data gathered at intake, Hispanics were more likely to attribute depression to curse/spell and supernatural causes, while Caucasians were more likely to attribute symptoms to hereditary factors or job stress. Among both groups, higher CESD score was associated with problems with significant others or how they got along with others.

A case-controlled study of successful aging in older HIV-infected adults.

Objective: There is a growing public health interest in the aging human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected (HIV+) population, although there is a dearth of research on successful aging with HIV. This study aimed to understand the risk and protective factors associated with self-rated successful aging (SRSA) with HIV.

Design: Cross-sectional, case-controlled.

"It's good for me": physical activity in older adults with schizophrenia.

Physical activity (PA) interventions to improve the physical function of older adults with schizophrenia are necessary but not available. Older adults with schizophrenia may have unique barriers and facilitators to PA. The purpose of this study was to describe the perceptions of older adults with schizophrenia about barriers and facilitators to engage in physical activities that promote physical function.

Changes in capacity to consent over time in patients involved in psychiatric research.

Background: Informed consent is a key element of ethical clinical research. Patients with serious mental illness may be at risk for impaired consent capacity. Corrective feedback improves within-session comprehension of consent-relevant information, but little is known about the trajectory of patients' comprehension after the initial enrolment session.