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OBJECTIVE: We explored which factors are associated with subjective age (SA), i.e. feeling younger, the same as, or older than one's chronological age, and whether these factors differ between men and women and between two age sub-groups. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study using qualitative and quantitative data for 1457 individuals (mean age= 67.2 years). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants reported how old they feel they are and provided comments in relation to their SA judgments. RESULTS: By using content analysis participants' comments were assigned to 13 categories, grouped into three higher-order categories (antecedents of age-related thoughts, mental processes, and issues when measuring subjective age). SA may result from the interaction between factors that increase or decrease age-related thoughts and mental processes that individuals use to interpret age-related changes. Chi-squared tests show that individuals reporting an older SA are more likely to experience significant negative changes and to engage in negative age-related thoughts than individuals reporting an age-congruent SA or a younger SA. Women experience a more negative SA and more age-salient events than men. CONCLUSION: Individuals reporting an older SA may benefit from interventions promoting adaptation to negative age-related changes. There is the need to eradicate negative societal views of older women.

UNLABELLED: Higher awareness of positive age-related changes (AARC gains) is related to better mental health, whereas higher awareness of negative age-related changes (AARC losses) is related to poorer mental and physical health. So far perceived gains and losses have been explored separately, but people report gains and losses concurrently in varying degrees, and different profiles of gains and losses may be differentially associated with health. We identified profiles of gains and losses and explored whether different profiles differed in physical, mental, and cognitive health. We used cross-sectional data from the PROTECT study (N = 6192; mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.0)). Using latent profile analysis, a four-class solution showed the best model fit. We found that 45% of people perceived many gains and few losses (Class 1); 24% perceived moderate gains and few losses (Class 2); 24% perceived many gains and moderate losses (Class 3); 7% perceived many gains and many losses (Class 4). Analysis of variance and Chi-squared tests showed that Class 1 had relatively better physical, mental, and cognitive health, followed by Classes 2, 3, and 4. Experiencing one's ageing to a high degree as gain may be related to better health only when individuals interpret ageing as involving low levels of loss across several life domains. Risk in terms of poorer health emerged in those who perceived high losses. Considering gains and losses in parallel, rather than separately, may lead to a more fine-tuned understanding of relations with health. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10433-021-00673-z.

BACKGROUND: Only one study has explored the associations of subjective sleep difficulties with self-perceptions of aging. It focused on a global indicator of self-perceptions of aging (subjective age) despite individuals reporting different experiences of aging in relation to different life domains. The concept of awareness of negative age-related change, capturing perceived losses across five domains (e.g., physical health, cognition), may be more appropriate when relating subjective sleep difficulties to self-perceptions of aging. We examined whether nine different indicators of subjective sleep difficulties predict levels of awareness of negative age-related change and subjective age, measured concurrently and one year later, while controlling for covariates (mood and daily function). PARTICIPANTS/METHODS: We used data from the PROTECT cohort study; 4,482 UK residents (mean age = 66.1; SD = 6.9) completed measures of awareness of age-related change, subjective age, mood, daily function, and subjective sleep difficulties. RESULTS: Based on linear regression analyses, poorer quality of sleep, lower alertness after awakening, satisfaction with sleep, depth of sleep, more frequent early awakening, difficulty falling asleep, more times awake during a night, fewer hours of sleep during the night and more hours of sleep during the day predicted higher awareness of negative age-related change at baseline and follow-up (p< .001). Associations were small in size. Associations between subjective sleep difficulties and subjective age were either negligible or statistically non-significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although subjective sleep difficulties are one of the many factors associated with awareness of negative age-related change, addressing sleep difficulties, alongside negative mood, and poor daily functioning, may promote a small additional increase in positive self-perceptions of aging.

BACKGROUND: It is unclear whether people with dementia (PwD) have more negative attitudes toward own aging (ATOA) than people without dementia and what factors influence ATOA among PwD. We investigated whether PwD have more negative ATOA than individuals without dementia and whether cognition and dementia subtype are associated with ATOA in PwD. METHODS: Data from the IDEAL and PROTECT studies were used to compare ATOA between 1502 PwD (mean (SD) age = 76.3 (8.5)) and 6377 individuals without dementia (mean (SD) age = 66.1 (7.1)). Linear regressions and ANOVA were used. RESULTS: PwD reported slightly more negative ATOA than people without dementia; this relationship disappeared after controlling for depression and self-rated health. In PwD more positive ATOA showed negligible associations with better general cognition, memory performance, verbal fluency, and visuospatial ability. However, after adjusting for covariates only better visuospatial ability predicted more positive ATOA. Additional analyses showed that before and after controlling for covariates, individuals with poorer self-reported visual acuity have more negative ATOA. Amongst dementia subtypes, people with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies reported most negative ATOA. CONCLUSIONS: ATOA between PwD and people without dementia do not differ. ATOA in PwD appear to be affected not by cognitive impairment but by other characteristics that vary across dementia subtypes. Among PwD, those with Parkinson's disease dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies may have higher risk of experiencing negative ATOA due to the motor and visual impairments that they experience.

Objectives: Evidence linking subjective concerns about cognition with poorer objective cognitive performance is limited by reliance on unidimensional measures of self-perceptions of aging (SPA). We used the awareness of age-related change (AARC) construct to assess self-perception of both positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses). We tested whether AARC has greater utility in linking self-perceptions to objective cognition compared to well-established measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. We examined the associations of AARC with objective cognition, several psychological variables, and engagement in cognitive training. Design: Cross-sectional observational study. Participants: The sample comprised 6056 cognitively healthy participants (mean [SD] age = 66.0 [7.0] years); divided into subgroups representing middle, early old, and advanced old age. Measurements: We used an online cognitive battery and measures of global AARC, AARC specific to the cognitive domain, subjective cognitive change, attitudes toward own aging (ATOA), subjective age (SA), depression, anxiety, self-rated health (SRH). Results: Scores on the AARC measures showed stronger associations with objective cognition compared to other measures of self-perceptions of cognition and aging. Higher AARC gains were associated with poorer cognition in middle and early old age. Higher AARC losses and poorer cognition were associated across all subgroups. Higher AARC losses were associated with greater depression and anxiety, more negative SPA, poorer SRH, but not with engagement in cognitive training. Conclusions: Assessing both positive and negative self-perceptions of cognition and aging is important when linking self-perceptions to cognitive functioning. Objective cognition is one of the many variables - alongside psychological variables - related to perceived cognitive losses.

BACKGROUND: Awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) captures the perceived changes that older individuals experience in several domains of their lives including physical, cognitive and social functioning; interpersonal relationships; and lifestyle. Exploring antecedents of AARC is important to identify those individuals that could benefit the most from interventions promoting positive experiences of ageing and/or adaptation to age-related changes. This study investigates the experience of pain as a predictor of lower AARC gains and higher AARC losses. METHODS: Analyses are based on cross-sectional data from the PROTECT cohort (2019); 1013 UK residents (mean (SD; range) age: 65.3 (7.1; 51.4-92) years, 84.4% women) completed measures of AARC and pain and provided demographic information. Linear regression models were fitted to examine pain as a predictor of AARC gains and AARC losses. RESULTS: Higher levels of pain predicted more AARC losses both before (regression coefficient, B = 0.36; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.29 to 0.42, p-value < 0.001; R 2 = 0.11) and after adjusting for demographic covariates (B = 0.34; 95% CI: 0.27 to 0.40; p-value < 0.001; Partial R 2 = 0.11). Pain was not significantly associated with AARC gains (unadjusted B = 0.05; 95% CI: -0.03 to 0.12, p-value = 0.21; Partial R 2 = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Individuals experiencing pain may perceive more AARC losses. Interventions aiming to decrease levels of pain could include a component targeting self-perceptions of ageing and/or promoting acceptance of the negative changes that can happen with ageing. STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE: The predictive role of greater levels of pain for more negative perceptions of age-related changes extends the literature on the negative psychological outcomes of pain and on predictors of perceived awareness of age-related changes (AARC). As individuals experiencing pain may be more at risk of perceiving their own ageing in a more negati

BACKGROUND: A questionnaire assessing awareness of positive and negative age-related changes (AARC gains and losses) was developed in the US and Germany. We validated the short form of the measure (AARC-10 SF) and the cognitive functioning subscale from the 50-item version of the AARC (AARC-50) questionnaire in the UK population aged 50 and over. METHODS: Data from 9410 participants (Mean (SD) age = 65.9 (7.1)) in the PROTECT cohort were used to explore and confirm the psychometric properties of the AARC measures including: validity of the factor structure; reliability; measurement invariance across men and women, individuals with and without a university degree, and in middle age, early old age, and advanced old age; and convergent validity with measures of self-perception of aging and mental, physical, and cognitive health. We explored the relationship between demographic variables (age, sex, marital status, employment, and university education) and AARC. RESULTS: We confirmed the two-factor structure (gains and losses) of the AARC-10 SF and the AARC-50 cognitive functioning subscale. Both scales showed good reliability and good convergent validity for AARC losses, but weak convergent validity for AARC gains. For both scales metric invariance was held for the two subgroups defined by education level and age. For the AARC-50 subscale, but not for the AARC-10 SF, strong invariance was also held for the two subgroups defined by sex. Age, sex, marital status, employment, and university education predicted AARC gains and losses. CONCLUSIONS: The AARC-10 SF and AARC-50 cognitive functioning subscale identify UK individuals who perceive age-related changes in their mental, physical, and cognitive health.

Objectives: In this large population study we set out to examine the profile of Mild Behavioral Impairment using the Mild Behavioral Impairment Checklist (MBI-C), and explore its factor structure when employed as a self-report and informant rated tool. Design: Population based cohort study. Setting: Online testing via the PROTECT study (http://www.protectstudy.org.uk) Participants: 5,742 participant-informant dyads. Measurements: Both participants and informants completed the MBI-C. The factor structure of the MBI-C was evaluated by exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Results: The most common MBI-C items as rated by self-report and informants related to affective dysregulation (mood/anxiety symptoms), being present in 34% and 38% of the sample respectively. The least common were items relating to abnormal thoughts and perception (psychotic symptoms) (present in 3 and 6% of the sample respectively). There were only weak correlations between self-report and informant-report MBI-C responses. EFA for both sets of respondent answers indicated a five-factor solution for the MBI-C was appropriate, reflecting the hypothesized structure of the MBI-C. Conclusion: This is the largest and most detailed report on the frequency of MBI symptoms in a non-dementia sample. The full spectrum of MBI symptoms was present in our sample, whether rated by self-report or informant report. However, we show that the MBI-C performs differently in self-report versus informant-report situations, which may have important implications for the use of the questionnaire in clinic and research.

The actin cytoskeleton is modulated by regulatory actin-binding proteins which fine- tune the dynamic properties of the actin polymer to regulate function. One such actin-binding protein is tropomyosin (Tpm), a highly-conserved alpha-helical dimer which stabilises actin and regulates interactions with other proteins. Temperature sensitive mutants of Tpm are invaluable tools in the study of actin filament dependent processes, critical to the viability of a cell. Here we investigated the molecular basis of the temperature sensitivity of fission yeast Tpm mutants which fail to undergo cytokinesis at the restrictive temperatures. Comparison of Contractile Actomyosin Ring (CAR) constriction as well as cell shape and size revealed the cdc8.110 or cdc8.27 mutant alleles displayed significant differences in their temperature sensitivity and impact upon actin dependent functions during the cell cycle. In vitro analysis revealed the mutant proteins displayed a different reduction in thermostability, and unexpectedly yield two discrete unfolding domains when acetylated on their amino-termini. Our findings demonstrate how subtle changes in structure (point mutations or acetylation) alter the stability not simply of discrete regions of this conserved cytoskeletal protein but of the whole molecule. This differentially impacts the stability and cellular organisation of this essential cytoskeletal protein.

Life is dependent upon the ability of a cell to rapidly respond to changes in environment. Small perturbations in local environments change the ability of molecules to interact and hence communicate. Hydrostatic pressure provides a rapid non-invasive, fully-reversible method for modulating affinities between molecules both in vivo and in vitro. We have developed a simple fluorescence imaging chamber that allows intracellular protein dynamics and molecular events to be followed at pressures up to 200 bar in living cells. Using yeast we investigate the impact of hydrostatic pressure upon cell growth and cell cycle progression. While 100 bar has no affect upon viability, it induces a delay in chromosome segregation, resulting in the accumulation of long-undividedbent cells, consistent with disruption of the cytoskeletons. This delay is independent of stress signalling and induces synchronisation of cell-cycle progression. Equivalent affects were observed in Candida albicans, with pressure inducing a reversible cell-cycle delay and hyphal growth. We present a simple novel non-invasive fluorescence microscopy based approach to transiently impact molecular dynamics to visualise, dissect and study signalling pathways and cellular processes in living cells.