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Background: Prehabilitation might attenuate common surgery-induced losses in muscle mass and physical performance. Beneficial effects of physical exercise with protein supplementation have been reported in older adults, but typically after an intervention of at least 12 weeks. The time-window for pre-surgery training is often limited to around 30 days, and it is not known if it is possible to achieve comparable results in such a short time window. Objectives: The aim of this study was to pilot-test the effectiveness of a controlled four-week combined exercise and protein supplementation program on skeletal muscle-related outcomes in a Dutch older adult population. Design: This study was a one-armed pilot trial. Participants: Seventeen older men and women, aged 55-75y, not scheduled for surgery. Intervention: A 4-week intervention program consisting of a twice-weekly supervised resistance and high-intensity aerobic exercise training of 75 min, combined with daily protein supplementation (2 doses of 15.5 g/day at breakfast and lunch). Measurement: After two and four weeks, isometric quadriceps maximal voluntary contraction (MVC) was assessed via Biodex and quadriceps cross-sectional area (CSA) via magnetic resonance imaging. Other outcome measures were handgrip strength, chair rise time and maximal aerobic capacity (VO2-max), as assessed from a submaximal exercise test. Results: Compliance to the supervised training sessions (99.3%) and the protein supplementation (97%) was very high. The 4-week exercise and protein program led to an increase in quadriceps CSA of 2.3 ± 0.7 cm2 (P = 0.008) in the dominant leg and 3.2 ± 0.7 cm2 (P < 0.001) in the non-dominant leg. Isometric quadriceps MVC increased in the dominant leg (Δ14 ± 4 Nm, P = 0.001) and in the non-dominant leg (Δ17 ± 5 Nm, P = 0.003). Chair rise test time improved with −3.8 ± 0.5 s (P < 0.0001), and VO2-max improved with 3.3 ± 1.1 ml/min/kg (P = 0.014). We observed

Using new direct measures of numeracy and literacy skills among 85,875 adults in 17 Western countries, we find that foreign-born adults have lower mean skills than native-born adults of the same age (16 to 64) in all of the examined countries. The gaps are small, and vary substantially between countries. Multilevel models reveal that immigrant populations' demographic and socioeconomic characteristics, employment, and language proficiency explain about half of the cross-national variance of numeracy and literacy skills gaps. Differences in origin countries' average education level also account for variation in the size of the immigrant-native skills gap. The more protective labor markets in immigrant-receiving countries are, the less well immigrants are skilled in numeracy and literacy compared to natives. For those who migrate before their teens (the 1.5 generation), access to an education system that accommodates migrants' special needs is crucial. The 1 and 1.5 generation have smaller numeracy and literacy skills gaps in more ethnically diverse societies.

BACKGROUND The complex impact of migration on children's development has received extensive attention in both developed and developing countries. In China, more than 100 million children are directly affected by the massive internal migration. OBJECTIVE This study investigates the impact of different migration processes (parental migration, child migration, and hukou conversion) on Chinese children's developmental outcomes, measured by their cognitive abilities, school engagement, school attachment, physical and mental health, educational aspirations, and confidence about the future. METHODS We analyze the data from a nationally representative, school-based survey covering approximately 20,000 children aged 12 to 16 in both rural and urban areas. We employ the propensity score matching method to ensure different groups of children are intrinsically comparable to each other. RESULTS Migration both brings benefits and imposes costs on children. Bringing rural children to cities significantly improves their school performance and physical health but also reduces their educational aspirations and increases their anxiety toward the future. Leaving children behind in the countryside, while sparing them from potential social exclusion in cities, results in a negative impact on their physical and mental health. Gaining local urban hukou status improves rural-origin children's academic achievements but has no effect on the other well-being indicators. CONCLUSIONS These results reveal that the current migration processes and China's hukou system have generated both opportunities and challenges for the children involved. CONTRIBUTION The conceptual framework set out in this paper enables researchers to obtain a more comprehensive picture of migration's impact on children's well-being rather than looking at small fragments of the larger story. © 2018 Duoduo Xu, Xiaogang Wu, Zhuoni Zhang & Jaap Dronkers.

"This paper focuses on the role of parents' living arrangement in the attitudes of their children toward society. It uses data from the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study conducted by the International Educational Association in 2009, which surveys the civic attitudes and participation of 13- and 14-year-old students across 38 countries. In this paper, we use only 22 European countries and examine adolescents' attitudes toward trust in civic institutions, positive attitudes toward one's own country, equal rights for all ethnic groups, and positive attitudes toward gender equality. We distinguish between five living arrangements: twoparent families, stepfamilies, single fathers, single mothers who live alone with their children, and single mothers in multi-generational households. The analysis shows strong and significant differences between the civic attitudes of 13- and 14- year-old students living in a two-parent family and those living in other family forms, irrespective of the country, and also after controlling for parental socioeconomic background." (author's abstract), "In diesem Artikel wird darauf fokussiert, welchen Einfluss die elterliche Familienform auf die Einstellungen ihrer Kinder gegenüber der Gesellschaft ausübt. Datengrundlage ist die International Civic and Citizenship Education Study, die 2009 von der International Educational Association durchgeführt wurde und in der in 38 Ländern Daten zu den staatsbürgerlichen Einstellungen und staatsbürgerlichen Aktivitäten 13- und 14-jähriger Schüler(innen) erhoben wurden. Wir beziehen uns in diesem Beitrag nur auf 22 Länder Europas und untersuchen die Einstellungen dieser Heranwachsenden bezüglich ihres Vertrauens in die staatsbürgerlichen Institutionen, im Hinblick auf positive Einstellungen gegenüber dem eigenen Land, zu gleichen Rechten für alle ethnischen Gruppen sowie zur Gleichheit der Geschlechter. Wir unterscheiden zwischen fünf Familienformen: Zwei-Eltern-Familien, Stieffamilien, alleinerziehende Väter, Mütter, die alleine mit ihren Kindern zusammenleben und alleinstehende Mütter, die in Mehrgenerationenhaushalten leben. Die Befunde aus den Analysen zeigen große und signifikante Differenzen in den staatsbürgerlichen Einstellungen zwischen denjenigen 13- und 14- jährigen Schüler(inne)n, die in Zwei-Eltern-Familien leben und denjenigen, die in anderen Familienformen leben, auf. Dies ist unabhängig vom jeweiligen Land. Die Effekte bleiben auch unter Kontrolle des sozio-ökonomischen Hintergrunds der Eltern bestehen." (Autorenreferat)

Background: The influence of physical activity on patient-reported recovery of physical functioning after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery is unknown. Therefore, we studied recovery of physical functioning after hospital discharge by (a) a relative increase in physical activity level and (b) absolute activity levels before and after surgery. Methods: We included 327 incident CRC patients (stages I-III) from a prospective observational study. Patients completed questionnaires that assessed physical functioning and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity shortly after diagnosis and 6 months later. Cox regression models were used to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs) of no recovery of physical functioning. All PRs were adjusted for age, sex, physical functioning before surgery, stage of disease, ostomy and body mass index. Results: At 6 months post-diagnosis 54% of CRC patients had not recovered to pre-operative physical functioning. Patients who increased their activity by at least 60 min/week were 43% more likely to recover physical function (adjusted PR 0.57 95%CI 0.39-0.82), compared with those with stable activity levels. Higher post-surgery levels of physical activity were also positively associated with recovery (P for trend = 0.01). In contrast, activity level before surgery was not associated with recovery (P for trend = 0.24). Conclusions: At 6 month post-diagnosis, about half of CRC patients had not recovered to preoperative functioning. An increase in moderate-to-vigorous physical activity after CRC surgery was associated with enhanced recovery of physical functioning. This benefit was seen regardless of physical activity level before surgery. These associations provide evidence to further explore connections between physical activity and recovery from CRC surgery after discharge from the hospital.

This article analyses perceived in-group discrimination of 29,189 first and second generation immigrant respondents from 201 different countries of origin currently living in one of 27 EU countries. In addition to testing effects of individual factors, the article estimates the effects of macro-characteristics of both origin and destination countries and community variables. The migration history of these groups is relevant for perceived discrimination: immigrants with citizenship, who speak the majority language at home and have at least one native parent perceive less in-group discrimination, whereas religious respondents, especially from religions that differ more in comparison to the majority, perceive more in-group discrimination. Furthermore, macrocharacteristics of the country of origin are most important in explaining differences between European countries. Immigrants from socio-economically more developed countries with higher living standards – and for that reason more comparable to the native population – are less likely to perceive in-group discrimination.

Tracking is widely used in secondary schools around the world. Some countries put more emphasis on the use of performance to place students into tracks (e.g. the Netherlands), while in other countries parents have more influence on the track their child will go to (e.g. Germany). This article examines whether selection into tracks based on performance has an effect on the relation between tracking and student performance and educational opportunities. Using data from the Programme for International Student Assessment for around 185000 students in 31 countries, different estimation models are compared. The results indicate that a highly differentiated system is best for performance when schools always consider prior performance when deciding on student acceptance. In systems with a few tracks, there is no such impact. Equality of opportunity is best provided for in a system with many tracks when schools always consider prior performance.