Objectives: To estimate the proportion of older adults in primary care screening positive for depression and identify associated factors.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted involving 1,639 older adults (aged ≥ 60 years) from fourteen primary care units in a city of São José dos Campos in the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, between December 2023 and April 2024. Depression was assessed using the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-2), with a score ≥ 3 being considered to indicate the presence of depression. Logistic regression analyses were carried out to evaluate associations between sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, marital status and employment) and health related variables (any chronic disease, alcohol consumption, and tobacco use) with a positive PHQ-2 score.

Results: The mean age of the 1,639 participants was 68.6 (SD ± 6.2; range: 60– 95). The prevalence of a positive PHQ-2 score was 20.5%. Women, those with chronic diseases, and current smokers were more likely to have a positive score, (OR: 1.72; 95% CI: 1.33 –2.23, p < 0.000), (OR: 3.13; 95% CI: 1.50–6.56, p: 0.002), and (OR: 1.55; 95% CI: 1.10– 2.18, p: 0.011), respectively. Those who had a job or a partner were less likely to have a positive score, (OR: 0.60; 95% CI: 0.37–0.97, p: 0.036) and (OR: 0.71; 95% CI: 0.55– 0.92, p < 0.010), respectively. There were no significant associations between age and alcohol consumption and screening positive for depression.

Conclusions: Mental health services in primary care typically serve as the initial interface between the community and healthcare services. A substantial proportion of older adults screened positive for depression, which was particularly associated with being female, not having a partner, being unemployed, chronic diseases, and tobacco use. Despite the cross-sectional nature of this study, the results suggest that these factors may play a significant role in the development of depression in this population, and underscores the importance of considering these factors when designing interventions and prevention strategies aimed at the mental health ofolderadults.

Modifying the food environment holds promise for instilling healthier behaviours in children and may be an effective public health strategy for preventing childhood obesity and adverse health outcomes. The school food environment is a valuable setting to influence most children’s dietary behaviours from an early age, yet evidence suggests that the New Zealand and Australian school food environment is not conducive to healthy food and drink consumption. The present study aimed to investigate the level of compliance in New Zealand and Australia with government guidelines for food and drink availability within schools and the subsequent effect on food consumption and purchasing behaviours of children. A systematic review utilising three databases, PubMed, Scopus and the Cochrane Library, was conducted. The research covered peer-reviewed studies from both New Zealand and Australia that met predefined inclusion criteria. Fifteen studies focused on assessing food availability within schools on the basis of government guidelines, and ten studies explored food purchasing and consumption by students influenced by changes to the school food environment. Results showed low compliance with government healthy food guidelines for schools, and significant socioeconomic disparities. Western Australia’s clear targets as well as the mandatory monitoring systems in place stand out as being a significant enabler of greater compliance with government food policies. Interventions aimed at improving healthy food availability and promoting healthy options in the canteen may positively influence student purchasing and consumption habits. Strategies such as feedback models and incentivisation hold promise for promoting healthier school environments and influencing children’s food choices.

Introduction: Recently researchers started investigating brain aging and what factors can influence the way our brains age. As it is unclear at this point whether psychosocial stressor influence brain aging, the aim of the study was to investigate the association between psychosocial stress and brain aging.

Methods: Data from the German population-based cohort Study of Health in Pomerania (N = 991; age range 20– 78 years) were used to calculate a total psychosocial stress score by combining sub-scores from five domains: stress related to the living situation, the occupational situation, the social situation, danger experiences, and emotions. Associations with brain aging, indicated by an MRI-derived score quantifying age-related brain atrophy, were estimated by using regression models adjusted for age, gender, education, diabetes, problematic alcohol consumption, smoking, and hypertension.

Results: High emotional stress came with a relative risk of 1.21 (CI95% = 1.04 – 1.41) for advanced brain aging in fully adjusted models. Mental health symptoms additionally influenced brain aging, as statistically significant interactions between emotional stress and mental health symptoms on advanced brain aging indicate.

Discussion: Among the psychosocial stressors that we investigated; emotional stress seems to be relevant regarding brain aging. More research is needed to explore the potential pathways.

Let µ be a finite positive Borelmeasure on $[0,1)$ and $\alpha \gt -1$. The generalized integral operator of Hilbert type $\mathcal {I}_{\mu_{\alpha+1}}$ is defined on the spaces $H(\mathbb{D})$ of analytic functions in the unit disc $\mathbb{D}$ as follows:

\begin{equation*}\mathcal {I}_{\mu_{\alpha+1}}(f)(z)=\int_{0}^{1} \frac{f(t)}{(1-tz)^{\alpha+1}}d\mu(t),\ \ f\in H(\mathbb{D}),\ \ z\in \mathbb{D} .\end{equation*}

In this paper, we give a unified characterization of the measures µ for which the operator $\mathcal {I}_{\mu_{\alpha+1}}$ is bounded from the Bloch space to a Bergman space for all $\alpha \gt -1$. Additionally, we also investigate the action of $\mathcal {I}_{\mu_{\alpha+1}}$ from the Bloch space to the Hardy spaces and the Besov spaces.

During the Third Indochina War (1979-1991), the ideological alignments of involved parties differed from those during the Second Indochina War, also known as the Vietnam War. Whereas the Second Indochina War pitted communists squarely against non-communists and anti-communists, the Third Indochina War was more complicated and less ideological or political, with communists often fighting against other communists due to the Sino-Soviet ideological split. The enemy of one's enemy was frequently viewed as a friend, often leading to unlikely alliances not rooted in ideological or political similarities. In this article, I argue that it is important to consider the unlikely alliances that emerged during the Third Indochina War by focusing on the particular cross-border interactions and conflicts between communists and non-communists that occurred in the Emerald Triangle, the tri-border region between Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Focusing particularly on the Lao insurgent perspective, I consider how Lao anti-communist insurgents, the Khmer Rouge, the Communist Party of Thailand, other armed groups, and the Thai military participated in transnational collaboration in this region during the Third Indochina War. In particular, based largely on Lao-language interviews with key figures in the Lao insurgency conducted for over a decade, I examine how Lao insurgents interacted with Khmer Rouge to oppose a common enemy, communist Vietnam and their allies, the People's Republic of Kampuchea and the Lao People's Democratic Republic, and how the Thai military supported them, but only insofar as it enabled them to maintain control over security inside Thailand.

While physical activity reduces the risk for chronic disease development, evidence suggests those experiencing early life growth-restriction do not express positive adaptations in response to physical activity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of low birthweight (LBW) on markers of chronic disease, adult physical activity, and the response to physical activity engagement in a longitudinal human cohort study. Data from the Framingham Offspring Cohort were organized to include participants with birthweight, physical activity, and chronic disease biomarker/treatment data available at two timepoints (exam 5 and exam 9, 19-year difference). A two-way ANCOVA was performed to determine the association of LBW and sex on physical activity engagement (63.0% female, 10.4% LBW). A multinomial logistic regression was performed to examine the associations of low birthweight and sex on chronic disease development while adjusting for physical activity. LBW was associated with elevated blood glucose and triglycerides (Exam 9). Though not statistically significant (p = 0.08), LBW females potentially spent more time in sedentary activity at exam 5 than LBW males and normal birthweight (NBW) females. LBW males spent significantly more time (p = 0.03) sedentary at exam 9 compared to NBW males and LBW females. There were no differences in the likelihood of chronic disease treatment between groups. Chronic disease biomarkers remained elevated when adjusted for total physical activity. In conclusion, LBW participants in the Framingham Offspring Cohort were not more likely to be treated for chronic diseases when controlling for physical activity engagement, though biomarkers of chronic disease remained elevated.

The conflict over abortion in the United States shows no sign of abatement. Both supporters and opponents of abortion rights have mobilized movements, engaged in collective action, suffered defeats and won victories, and survived over many decades. To understand how the current battle is likely to progress, we need to examine the movement/countermovement dynamics that drive the mobilization and outcomes of the opposing movements (Meyer and Staggenborg 1996). This article demonstrates how ongoing mobilization is fueled by the strategies and tactics of each side, which are strongly influenced by the actions of their opponents.

Several broadleaf crops on the Canadian prairies suffer economic damage by Lygus bugs (Hemiptera: Miridae), populations of which are suppressed by parasitoids in the genus Peristenus (Hymenoptera: Braconidae). We used three different methods to assess levels of this parasitism for different instars of Lygus collected in southern Alberta, Canada. Screening Lygus for Peristenus DNA using a molecular polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method identified levels of parasitism ranging from 35 (second and third instars) to 47 (fifth instars) per cent. With dissection, parasitoids were recovered from 13 (second instars) to 44 (fifth instars) per cent of Lygus. For Lygus collected in the field and reared in the lab, Peristenus emerged from about 22 per cent of individuals. Our results show that use of PCR or dissection for fifth-instar larvae provides comparable estimates of parasitism. For earlier instars, PCR identifies levels of parasitism undetected using dissection – that is, 2.7-fold more for second instars in the present study. For the purposes of pest management and conservation biological control, dissection can provide adequate estimates of parasitism to inform a decision to reduce insecticides to protect Peristenus parasitoids.

Chronic coin shortages plagued Ireland and Britain's American colonies throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Despite complaints, every proposal to mint money in early modern Britain's overseas Atlantic empire failed, whether in Ireland, the Caribbean, or North America. This article explains why. Although the rulers in the court and Parliament were sometimes enthusiastic about colonial mints, the Officers of the Royal Mint exercised enduring influence and managed to obstruct each of these projects. The evolution of the Mint officers’ advice into a maxim of monetary uniformity allowed the doctrine of “one certain standard” to survive the ensuing decades of upheaval as it shed its visible politics. While their advice grew out of the particular politics of the early Restoration, it gained special power and durability when it took on the character of technocratic expertise. Still, an investigation of the same actors’ treatment of a parallel issue—the rates of the foreign coins that circulated in colonies—reveals that an authoritarian style had an enduring hold on imperial monetary policy. This article offers an explanation for the British Empire's peculiar monetary geography, and also demonstrates the way that seemingly apolitical technical knowledge can disguise a potent politics.

The scientific literature indicates that chokeberry is widely used as a supplement to support the maintenance of the body’s homeostasis by reducing inflammation and oxidative stress. In recent years, positive effects of chokeberry on intestinal parameters have also been observed. Oxidative stress, inflammation and, according to recent reports, also the gut microbiome are closely related to the overall well-being and health of the population. This study, therefore, attempts to summarise all the health benefits of black chokeberry supplementation. This study was registered in PROSPERO (International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews) under registration number CRD42023395969. Additionally, the systematic review was conducted following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. Electronic databases were searched in Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus and EBSCO using the following combination of the words ‘chokeberry or aronia’ and ‘inflammation or oxidative stress or microbiota or microbiome or permeability or gut’. Ultimately, fifty-seven studies were summarised in the review. Data analysis showed that black chokeberry has a positive effect on the reduction of inflammation, oxidative stress and intestinal microflora, but the size of the changes varies and depends on many variables. Therefore, the researchers concluded that the compounds found in black chokeberry play a pivotal role in maintaining the overall balance within the system. This is a crucial consideration given the tendency for disturbances in organismal homeostasis to accompany disease processes and various disorders. However, further research is necessary to elucidate the mechanisms and optimise its use fully.