bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
‘They ought to do this for their parents’: perceptions of filial obligations among immigrant and Dutch older people
Authors: de VALK HELGA A. G. , SCHANS DJAMILA 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper presents a study of the perceptions of filial obligations among immigrant and Dutch older people in The Netherlands. It is first questioned how and to what extent these perceptions are determined by ethnic background or attributable to socio-demographic factors. Secondly, we study how filial obligations among immigrant older people differ by level of acculturation. Data from the main and migrant sample of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study (2002–2003) for respondents aged 50–80 years in five ethnic groups are used. The analysis sample included 470 Dutch, 70 Turks, 73 Moroccans, 125 Surinamese and 59 Antilleans. Immigrant background was found to be an important determinant of the perception of a child's obligations towards parents. Immigrant elders generally expected more weekly visits and care from their children, and more facilitation of co-residence to parents than was the case for the Dutch. Among elderly people in all ethnic groups, including the Dutch, the attained level of education was related to perceptions of filial obligation, but marital status and current health status were not. Finally, it was found that different aspects of acculturation were related to the perception of filial obligations among older people with Mediterranean and Caribbean backgrounds.
The outcomes of rehousing older homeless people: a longitudinal study
Authors: CRANE MAUREEN , WARNES ANTHONY M. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTOlder people who become homeless have attracted increasing attention in North America, Western Europe and Australia over the last 20 years, but there have been few projects dedicated to their support, and even fewer studies of the outcomes. This paper reports a longitudinal study of the resettlement of 64 older people who were rehoused into permanent accommodation from homeless people's hostels in England. Their progress was monitored for two years by face-to-face interviews. The theoretical model was that the outcomes of rehousing are a function of personal factors and behaviour, the support that people receive, and the characteristics of the new home. After 24 months, 28 respondents were housed and ‘settled’, 10 were housed but ‘unsettled’, 11 had abandoned their accommodation, and six had been evicted (nine had died or ceased contact). The factors that significantly associated with remaining housed and settled included: previous stable accommodation histories, revived contacts with relatives, taking up activities, and regular help from housing-support workers. Unsettledness and tenancy failure associated with prolonged prior homelessness, worries about living independently, and continuing contacts with homeless people. Rehousing older homeless people successfully is difficult, particularly among those with long histories of homelessness and instability, and more needs to be known about the types of accommodation and the types of support that promote tenancy sustainment.
Problematic drug use, ageing and older people: trends in the age of drug users in northwest England
Authors: BEYNON CARYL M. , McVEIGH JIM , ROE BRENDA 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTIn the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere, little is known about problematic drug use among older people (defined here as aged 50–74 years), either because few older drug users exist or because they represent a ‘hidden’ population. In this paper, we show that the average age of drug users in contact with treatment services and agency-based syringe exchange programmes (SEPs) in the counties of Cheshire and Merseyside in northwest England is rising. Between 1998 and 2004–05, the number of older male drug users in treatment increased from 80 to 310, and the number of older females rose from 46 to 117. Consequently, the median age rose from 30.8 years in 1998 to 34.9 years in 2004–05. Similarly, between 1992 and 2004, the number of older injectors accessing SEPs increased from three to 65 men and from one to nine women. The median age of SEP attenders was 27.0 years in 1992 and 34.9 years in 2004. Drug use amongst older people is associated with poor physical and psychological health and longer hospital stays. The future cost of the ageing of drug users may be considerable. Detailed research is needed to identify the characteristics and health needs of this vulnerable population.
Lay theories of quality of life in older age
Authors: BOWLING ANN , GABRIEL ZAHAVA 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper presents findings from a national survey of quality of life (QoL) in older age. The main aim of the analyses was to examine the definitions of quality of life given by people aged 65 or more years and the underlying reasons. Open-ended questions were used to elicit their perceptions of QoL. These were followed by structured measures of self-rated QoL overall, and of domains of QoL commonly reported in the literature. The main things said by the respondents to give their lives quality were categorised into ‘themes’. These were: social relationships; social roles and activities; leisure activities enjoyed alone; health; psychological outlook and wellbeing; home and neighbourhood; financial circumstances; and independence. Thereasonspeople gave to explain why these things were important to their QoL focused on: the freedom to do the things they wanted to do without restriction (whether in the home or socially); pleasure, enjoyment and satisfaction with life; mental harmony; social attachment and having access to companionship, intimacy, love, social contact and involvement, help; social roles; and feeling secure. This paper also presents data that demonstrates the ability of theoretically informed, structured survey indicators of QoL to predict respondents' self-rated overall QoL. Logistic regression analyses showed that most of these indicators were strong, independent predictors of self-ratings of QoL, although those that were not significant in the model did not fully incorporate lay reasons of QoL in their measurement scales. In conclusion, the indicators which were not significant in the model did not fully incorporate lay values in their measurement properties. It is also likely that those indicators that were significant could have been improved.
Bridging the gap: the creation of continuity by men on the verge of retirement
Authors: NUTTMAN-SHWARTZ ORIT 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThe aim of this study is to examine the means by which men on the verge of retirement create continuity or bridges between their past and present in their autobiographical narratives. Based on Whitbourne's ‘lifespan construct model of adaptation’, 56 Israeli men on the verge of retirement were asked to relate their ‘life stories’ and ‘life scenarios’ (their vision of the future). Their bridging strategies were examined using qualitative structural analyses, focusing on the ‘crossovers’ to the future in the ‘life stories’, and those to the past in their ‘life scenarios’. The findings show three main bridging patterns in the life stories and three in the life scenarios. Each was associated with differences in the ways that the men were coping emotionally with the transition to retirement, and pointed to the different ways by which they used continuity to cope with the anxieties aroused by their impending retirement. After trying to account for the greater frequency of bridging attempts in the ‘scenarios’ than the ‘life stories’, the discussion elaborates on the different bridging strategies and their associated features. The findings suggest that the identification of crossover patterns in life stories and life scenarios may be a useful tool for assessing a person's coping abilities and adjustment to difficult transitions.
Older male carers and the positive aspects of care
Authors: RIBEIRO OSCAR , PAÚL CONSTANÇA 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTOlder men are becoming more visible in care-giving research but there are still few studies that focus expressly on the extent to which care-giving has made positive contributions to their life and has been rewarding. Drawing on data from in-depth personal interviews, this Portuguese study analyses the positive statements in the personal descriptions of the care-giving experience of 53 elderly men who were caring for chronically-ill wives. It also explores the differences between the positive references made by the men who were caring for a wife who had dementia and those made by men whose wives had physical impairments. Using open coding and content analysis, positive aspects were identified in 32 of the 53 care-giving situations. The most prevalent themes were ‘satisfaction’ and ‘perceived social honour’. The findings show that positive returns from the caring experience and role were strongly associated with previous good marital relationships and the husband's good self-rated health, and manifested in both specific coping strategies and global and situational meaning-making processes. The study demonstrates that much more can be learnt about the positive dimensions of care in older men's lives, and that such understanding can inform and strengthen formal and therapeutic support.
In sure and uncertain faith: belief and coping with loss of spouse in later life
Authors: COLEMAN PETER G. , McKIERNAN FIONNUALA , MILLS MARIE , SPECK PETER 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThis paper reports a study of the religious, spiritual and philosophical responses to spouse bereavement. Twenty-five bereaved spouses aged 60 or more years living in the south of England and from Christian backgrounds were followed from the first to the second anniversary of the loss. The participants expressed a range of attitudes, from devout religious belief to well-articulated secular conceptions of the meaning of life, but the largest group had moderate spiritual beliefs that were characterised by doubts as much as hopes. Uncertain faith was more often associated with depressive symptoms and low levels of experienced meaning. Nine case studies are presented that illustrate different levels of adjustment to bereavement and both changing and stable expressions of faith across the one year of observation. Attention is drawn to the importance of both secular agencies and religious organisations developing a better understanding of older people's spiritual responses to loss. Although to many British older people, practise of the Christian faith may be less evident now than in their childhood, quality of life assessment should not ignore sources of spiritual satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Moreover, previous and especially early-life religious experiences provide useful points of reference for understanding present religious and spiritual attitudes. The study suggests that there may be a substantial need for pastoral counselling among today's older people, especially those of uncertain or conflicted belief.
Health status and access to health care of British nationals living on the Costa Blanca, Spain
Authors: LA PARRA DANIEL , MATEO MIGUEL ANGEL 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTThe aims of this paper are to review the health status of British nationals living on the Costa Blanca in the Province of Alicante, Spain, and to examine their access to health-care services. A sample of 155 of those that spent over three months a year in the area was interviewed. The results for those aged 45 or more years have been compared with those of the Health Survey for England 2003, the British Household Panel Survey 2004, the National Health Survey for Spain 2003, and the Spanish Household Panel Survey 2000. British nationals resident on the Costa Blanca appear to have a similar health profile to the Spanish and the British populations, and score higher than Spaniards and the British home population on some indicators: they have, for example, fewer mobility problems and a more positive perception of their state of health. These findings are consistent with the ‘healthy migrant hypothesis’. The Valencia Region Health Service provides health-care services to 62 per cent of this population. The total number of British residents' visits to a general practitioner is approximately the same as that of their Spanish neighbours. As for admissions to hospital, British residents on the Costa Blanca show trends similar to the population of the United Kingdom. The use of private health-care is relatively high, compared to the Spanish and the British populations.
Virtue is its own reward? Support-giving in the family and loneliness in middle and old age
Authors: DE JONG GIERVELD JENNY , DYKSTRA PEARL A. 
Published: February 2008

ABSTRACTGerontologists have emphasised that older adults are not only recipients of support but also important support providers. Using data from the first wave of the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study of 727 middle-generation adults aged 45 to 79 years, we examined the associations between loneliness and giving support up, across and down family lineages. Overall, the findings were consistent more with an altruism perspective, that giving brings rewards, than with an exchange perspective, which emphasises the costs of giving support. The results showed an inverse relationship between the number of generations supported and loneliness, and that those engaged in balanced exchanges with family members in three generations (parents, siblings and children) were generally the least lonely. As regards the direction of support giving, the findings showed that the association between giving support and loneliness was insignificant if the support was for parents, negative for support to siblings, and positive for support to children. Imbalanced support exchanges were differentially associated with loneliness, and depended on the type of family relationship involved. Non-reciprocated support made parents more vulnerable to loneliness, whereas non-reciprocated giving in sibling ties was associated with low levels of loneliness. Imbalanced support giving in relationships with parents was not associated with loneliness.
On Bernstein–Heinz–Chern–Flanders inequalities
Authors: BARBOSA J. L. M. , BESSA G. P. , MONTENEGRO J. F. 
Published: February 2008

AbstractWe give an interpretation of the Chern–Heinz inequalities for graphs in order to extend them to transversally oriented codimension one C2-foliations of Riemannian manifolds. It contains Salavessa's work on mean curvature of graphs and fully generalizes results of Barbosa–Kenmotsu–Oshikiri [3] and Barbosa–Gomes–Silveira [2] about foliations of 3-dimensional Riemannian manifolds by constant mean curvature surfaces. This point of view of the Chern–Heinz inequalities can be applied to prove a Haymann–Makai–Osserman inequality (lower bounds of the fundamental tones of bounded open subsets Ω ⊂ ℝ2 in terms of its inradius) for embedded tubular neighbourhoods of simple curves of ℝn.
Smooth Siegel disks without number theory
Authors: GEYER LUKAS 
Published: February 2008

AbstractX. Buff and A. Chéritat proved that there are quadratic polynomials having Siegel disks with smooth boundaries. Based on a simplification of Avila, we give yet another simplification of their proof. The main tool used is a harmonic function introduced by Yoccoz whose boundary values are the sizes of the Siegel disks. The proof also applies to some other families of polynomials, entire and meromorphic functions.
Generating functions of orbifold Chern classes I: symmetric products
Authors: OHMOTO TORU 
Published: February 2008

AbstractIn this paper, for a possibly singular complex variety X, generating functions of total orbifold Chern homology classes of the symmetric products SnX are given. These are very natural “class versions” of known generating function formulae of (generalized) orbifold Euler characteristics of SnX. Our Chern classes work covariantly for proper morphisms. We state the result more generally. Let G be a finite group and Gn the wreath product G ∼ Sn. For a G-variety X and a group A, we show a “Dey–Wohlfahrt type formula“ for equivariant Chern–Schwartz–MacPherson classes associated to Gn-representations of A (Theorem 1ċ1 and 1ċ2). When X is a point, our formula is just the classical one in group theory generating numbers |Hom(A, Gn)|.
The fixed point theorem for simplicial nonpositive curvature
Authors: PRZYTYCKI PIOTR 
Published: February 2008

AbstractWe prove that for an action of a finite group G on a systolic complex X there exists a G–invariant subcomplex of X of diameter ≤5. For 7–systolic locally finite complexes we prove there is a fixed point for the action of any finite G. This implies that free products with amalgamation (and HNN extensions) of 7–systolic groups over finite subgroups are also 7–systolic.
PCR–ELISA method for Mycoplasma contamination detection in veterinary vaccines
Authors: Ying Zhang , Jun-Bing Jiang , Jin-Ping Liu , Li-Yan Jia 
Published: February 2008

AbstractA polymerase chain reaction–enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (PCR-ELISA) method was set up to detect Mycoplasma in live vaccines and to establish the optimal experimental conditions. According to the 16S rRNA gene sequences published in GenBank, which include Mycoplasma gallisepticum of chicken and M. hyopneumoniae, M. hyosynoviae and M. flocculare of swine (submitted nos: Mg AY744942, Mhp AE017244, Mhs AY973563 and Mf X63377), PCR primers, labelled with digoxin (Dig), and probe, labelled with biotin, were designed using the software DNAstar and Primer Premier 5.0. The system and conditions of PCR–ELISA were optimized using purified genomic DNA extracted from Mycoplasma as a template. Samples of 30 batches of Newcastle disease live vaccines (I strain), 30 batches of Newcastle disease live vaccines (La Sota strain) and 30 batches of swine fever live vaccine were tested by PCR-ELISA. Results showed that the detection rate of Mycoplasma contamination from different vaccines was higher (36.5%) with this technique than with PCR (24.4%). The PCR–ELISA appeared to be a simple, fast and reliable method for qualitative and quantitative analysis of Mycoplasma. The practical use of PCR–ELISA as a kit to detect Mycoplasma contamination in live vaccine seems very promising.
Variation in biological characteristics of purified pea ferritin (Fer) transgenic rice
Authors: Hong-Xia Ye , Ze-Jian Guo , Mei Li , Xiao-Hui Xu , Jin-Song Bao , Sheng-Quan Shen 
Published: February 2008

AbstractAfter seven generations of self-crossing assisted by β-glucuronidase (GUS) detection, 26 homozygous transgenic rice lines were obtained. Transgene effects on iron content, agronomic traits, rice quality and stress tolerance were studied. The results indicated that the average iron content in the milled grain of the transgenic (pea ferritin, Fer) rice (Oryza sativa) was 10.37 μg/g among all the homozygous lines, and only four lines (Fer34, Fer36, Fer39 and Fer65) had significantly higher iron contents than that of the control, Xiushui11 (6.46 μg/g). Significant differences in main agronomic traits, such as days from sowing to heading, plant height, main panicle length, total grains of main panicle, seed setting rate, 1000-grain weight, and yield per plant were observed among some homozygous lines, but similar flag leaf length and number of panicles per plant were found. This showed that insertion of the foreign gene (Fer) had a slight impact on the main agronomic traits, but that the transgene had no negative effects. The quality traits of homozygous rice lines, such as the percentage of brown rice, milled rice and full milled rice, grain length, grain width, ratio of grain length and width, and amylose content were all similar to those of the control. However, variations were noticed in chalkiness, translucency, alkali spreading value and gel consistency among partial homozygous lines. Responses of homozygous lines to low and high temperatures were not significantly correlated with the iron contents, and resistance to rice blast (Pyricularia oryzae), bacterial blight (Xanthomonas oryzae) and brown planthopper (Niaparvata lugens) were enhanced with increased iron contents.
Construction and evaluation of near-isogenic lines for major QTLs of basal root thickness and 1000-grain-weight in lowland and upland rice
Authors: Li-Feng Liu , Hong-Liang Zhang , Ping Mu , Yan-Ying Qu , Zi-Chao Li 
Published: February 2008

AbstractThe development of near-isogenic lines (NILs) is an important fundamental step in the cloning of quantitative trait loci (QTL) and molecular marker assisted breeding. In the present study, NILs for two major QTLs of basal root thickness (BRT) and 1000-grain-weight (TGW) were obtained by molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS) through foreground selection for target QTL and background selection in three backcross generations (BC1F1, BC2F1and BC3F1). After phenotypic evaluation in the BC3F2generation, nine BRT QTL-NILs with BRT ranges of 1.07–1.16 mm (6.11–15.18% greater than the recurrent parent) and an average recovery ratio of genetic background (RRGB) of 97.22%, and 11 TGW QTL-NILs with ranges of 21.25–26.25 g (7.05–32.16% greater than the recurrent parent) and 95.97% of RRGB, were selected.
Enhanced antithrombotic effects of unfractionated heparin in rats after repeated oral doses and its relationship to endothelial heparin concentration
Authors: Hiebert L M , Ping T , Wice S M 
Published: February 2008

Background and purpose:An oral, single dose of 7.5 mg kg−1 of unfractionated heparin (UFH) reduces thrombosis by 50% in a rat model of venous thrombosis. As long‐term use is required clinically, our objectives were to study the antithrombotic effects following repeated oral UFH administration.Experimental approach:Bovine lung UFH was administered by oral gavage to rats in 3 doses of 7.5 mg kg−1 each 12, 24, 48, and 72 h apart; and in 3 or 15 doses of 1 mg kg−1 every 48 h. The last dose was given immediately after thrombus initiation where 10% formalin in methanol was applied to the jugular vein. The vessel was examined for thrombosis 4 h later. Amounts of heparin in tissue and endothelium, and plasma anticoagulant activity were measured.Key results:When 3 × 7.5 mg kg−1 heparin was given, thrombotic incidence was most reduced at 48 h dose‐intervals and was significantly less than single dose treatment. There was a negative correlation between endothelial heparin content and thrombotic incidence, but not anticoagulant activity. When 3 doses of 1 mg kg−1 every 48 h were given, thrombotic incidence was similar to single dose treatment. When 15 doses were given, total thrombotic incidence was less than for 3 doses and was similar to that after s.c. administration.Conclusions and implications:Antithrombotic activity increased with repeated doses of oral UFH, with antithrombotic effects similar to s.c. administration. Antithrombotic activity was related to heparin on endothelium.British Journal of Pharmacology (2008) 153, 1177–1184; doi:10.1038/bjp.2008.14; published online 11 February 2008