Search

Objective: This study aimed to examine race and apolipoprotein E-e4 allele (APOE-e4) status differences in the longitudinal associations between loneliness and cognitive decline., Methods: The study sample is composed of participants ( N = 7696, 64% Black participants and 36% White participants) from the Chicago Health and Aging Project, a population-based cohort study. Mixed-effects regression models were conducted to examine the longitudinal associations between loneliness on global cognitive function and individual tests of cognitive function. Models were also stratified by race and APOE-e4., Results: A greater percentage of Black participants (17%) reported loneliness at baseline visit compared with White participants (12%). Black and White participants who were lonely individuals had a similar rate of decline in global cognitive function at 0.075 (95% confidence interval [CI] = -0.082 to -0.068) standard deviation unit (SDU) per year for Black participants and at 0.075 (95% CI = -0.086 to -0.063) SDU per year for White participants. Lonely participants with APOE-e4 had a higher rate of global cognitive decline at -0.102 (95% CI = -0.115 to -0.088) SDU per year than for lonely participants without APOE-e4 at -0.052 (95% CI = -0.059 to -0.045) SDU per year., Conclusions: The burden of loneliness and its relation to cognitive decline is higher among participants with APOE-e4 compared with those without APOE-e4. Loneliness is associated with cognitive decline in both Black and White participants., (Copyright © 2022 by the American Psychosomatic Society.)

There is growing evidence for the adverse health effects of structural and individual forms of discrimination in multiple religious, ethnic, and racial groups. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Arab Americans have experienced increasingly more frequent and visible forms of discrimination. However, the impact of these experiences on their mental well-being requires further investigation. This study examines the association between perceived discrimination and several markers of mental health and well-being, using cross-sectional data from a convenience sample of 279 Arab American adults from southeast Michigan. After adjustment for a series of relevant confounders, perceived discrimination was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (estimate 0.93, 95% CI 0.53, 1.34, p < 0.01), anxiety symptoms (estimate 0.48, 95% CI 0.19, 0.77, p < 0.01), and poor self-rated health (OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.08, 1.58, p < 0.01). The study highlights the need to address and mitigate health disparities among individuals of Arab descent and improves awareness of the potential health effects of ongoing structural and interpersonal discrimination toward this population.

Staphylococcus aureus is considered a major pathogen in veterinary and human medicine, and the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains, such as livestock-associated methicillin-resistant S. aureus, means that reliable, inexpensive, and fast methods are required to identify S. aureus obtained from animal sources. We tested the accuracy of a PCR targeting the genes femA, nuc, and coa in identifying S. aureus from animals. A total of 157 Staphylococcus spp. isolates were examined by matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight (MALDI-TOF) mass spectrometry; 18 different Staphylococcus species were identified. Of 68 S. aureus isolates, the genes femA, nuc, and coa were found in 61, 53, and 32 isolates, respectively. Considering MALDI-TOF as the gold standard, the PCR assays targeting all 3 genes showed 100% specificity; the sensitivity values were 89.7, 77.9, and 47.0% for femA, nuc, and coa, respectively. Sensitivity was 100% when femA and nuc markers were targeted simultaneously. These results confirm PCR as an accurate method to identify S. aureus species from animal sources and strongly suggest the simultaneous use of primers targeting femA and nuc genes.

Background: Previous studies are inconclusive on whether poor socioeconomic conditions in the neighborhood are associated with major depressive disorder. Furthermore, conceptual models that relate neighborhood conditions to depressive disorder have not been evaluated using empirical data. In this study, we investigated whether neighborhood income is associated with major depressive episodes. We evaluated three conceptual models. Conceptual model 1: The association between neighborhood income and major depressive episodes is explained by diseases, lifestyle factors, stress and social participation. Conceptual model 2: A low individual income relative to the mean income in the neighborhood is associated with major depressive episodes. Conceptual model 3: A high income of the neighborhood buffers the effect of a low individual income on major depressive disorder., Methods: We used adult baseline data from the LifeLines Cohort Study (N = 71,058) linked with data on the participants' neighborhoods from Statistics Netherlands. The current presence of a major depressive episode was assessed using the MINI neuropsychiatric interview. The association between neighborhood income and major depressive episodes was assessed using a mixed effect logistic regression model adjusted for age, sex, marital status, education and individual (equalized) income. This regression model was sequentially adjusted for lifestyle factors, chronic diseases, stress, and social participation to evaluate conceptual model 1. To evaluate conceptual models 2 and 3, an interaction term for neighborhood income*individual income was included., Results: Multivariate regression analysis showed that a low neighborhood income is associated with major depressive episodes (OR (95 % CI): 0.82 (0.73;0.93)). Adjustment for diseases, lifestyle factors, stress, and social participation attenuated this association (ORs (95 % CI): 0.90 (0.79;1.01)). Low individual income was also associated with major depressive episodes (OR (95 % CI): 0.72 (0.68;0.76)). The interaction of individual income*neighborhood income on major depressive episodes was not significant (p = 0.173)., Conclusions: Living in a low-income neighborhood is associated with major depressive episodes. Our results suggest that this association is partly explained by chronic diseases, lifestyle factors, stress and poor social participation, and thereby partly confirm conceptual model 1. Our results do not support conceptual model 2 and 3.

This investigation reported for the first time the occurrence of intramammary infections caused by Staphylococcus in primiparous replacement goats before parturition and the persistence of clinical Staphylococcus aureus infection during the lactation period. Subclinical infections, mainly caused by coagulase negative staphylococci (CoNS), did not persist during lactation. Genotyping analysis indicated that environment seems to play a moderate role as source of intramammary infections to goats before parturition, but causative agents of mastitis in lactating animals are not genotypically related to environmental staphylococci. The occurrence and persistence of intramammary infections in replacement goats demonstrate the need to consider those animals as potential sources of infections in dairy goat herds.

Objective: The aim of the present study was to identify correlates of body image perception and dissatisfaction among school-aged children from Colombia, a country undergoing the nutrition transition., Design: Cross-sectional study. Using child-adapted Stunkard scales, children were asked to indicate the silhouette that most closely represented their current and desired body shapes. Body image dissatisfaction (BID) score was estimated as current minus desired silhouette. Height and weight were measured in all children. Sociodemographic data were collected through questionnaires completed by the children's mothers., Setting: Public primary schools in Bogotá, Colombia., Subjects: Children aged 5-12 years (n 629) and their mothers., Results: Mean BID score was 0·1 (SD 1·7). The strongest predictor of BID was actual BMI-for-age Z-score (BAZ). Compared with children with BAZ ≥ -1 and < 1, those with BAZ ≥ 2 had a 1·9 units higher BID score (P for trend < 0·0001). BID tended to be higher in girls than boys at any level of BAZ. Other correlates of BID included child's height-for-age Z-score, maternal BMI and dissatisfaction with the child's body, and home ownership., Conclusions: Among school-aged children from a country experiencing the nutrition transition, body image perception was associated with the child's weight and height, and with maternal BMI, dissatisfaction with the child's body and socio-economic level.

Background: Patients' viewpoint of their health status is increasingly used as an important outcome measure of the success of treatments. Because clinicians rarely formally measure patients' health-related quality of life, the question arises whether noninvasive testing for ischemia can provide similar information regarding physical functioning and general health perception., Methods: We measured physical functioning and general health status with the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form (SF-36) survey in 195 consecutive patients (68% male, mean age 55.6 +/- 11.1 years) referred for exercise testing with myocardial perfusion imaging. The survey was completed immediately before the exercise test., Results: In the multivariate analysis, the strongest predictor of physical functioning and general health perception was metabolic equivalents. However, the best model, including demographic, clinical, and test variables, predicted only 14% of the variation in physical functioning and 10% of the variability in general health perception., Conclusions: The variation in physical functioning and general health perception, as measured by the SF-36, among patients referred for exercise testing is not predicted well by the results of the test. As expected, several test results are significantly associated with physical functioning and general health perception; however, there was substantial overlap among individual patients, suggesting that the parameters are poor surrogates for the actual assessment of the domains. If these domains are deemed important to tracking patient outcomes, then they should supplement the current assessments of these patients.