Age Differences Research Articles

Assessment of Employee Well-Being on Organisational Effectiveness & Productivity: A Literature Review

This paper examines the various and complex aspects of employee well-being, including global and individual perspectives. The study examines the pivotal role of leadership, organizational culture, job satisfaction, job quality, age and gender dynamics, and family-friendly practices in shaping employee well-being. Through a synthesis of existing research, key findings emerge, highlighting the significance of engaged leadership in promoting employee performance and well-being. Additionally, the impact of organizational justice and supportive work environments on employee perceptions of fairness and well-being is discussed. Furthermore, the relationship between job satisfaction, job quality, and employee well-being is explored, emphasizing the importance of addressing diverse employee needs. The study also delves into age and gender differences in well-being, as well as the influence of family-friendly practices on reducing work-life conflict. Overall, this literature review provides valuable insights for organizations seeking to prioritize employee well-being as a strategic imperative in today's dynamic business landscape, ultimately contributing to enhanced organizational performance and success.

Analysis of hippocampal local field potentials by diffusion mapped delay coordinates

Spatial navigation through novel spaces and to known goal locations recruits multiple integrated structures in the mammalian brain. Within this extended network, the hippocampus enables formation and retrieval of cognitive spatial maps and contributes to decision making at choice points. Exploration and navigation to known goal locations produce synchronous activity of hippocampal neurons resulting in rhythmic oscillation events in local networks. Power of specific oscillatory frequencies and numbers of these events recorded in local field potentials correlate with distinct cognitive aspects of spatial navigation. Typically, oscillatory power in brain circuits is analyzed with Fourier transforms or short-time Fourier methods, which involve assumptions about the signal that are likely not true and fail to succinctly capture potentially informative features. To avoid such assumptions, we applied a method that combines manifold discovery techniques with dynamical systems theory, namely diffusion maps and Takens’ time-delay embedding theory, that avoids limitations seen in traditional methods. This method, called diffusion mapped delay coordinates (DMDC), when applied to hippocampal signals recorded from juvenile rats freely navigating a Y-maze, replicates some outcomes seen with standard approaches and identifies age differences in dynamic states that traditional analyses are unable to detect. Thus, DMDC may serve as a suitable complement to more traditional analyses of LFPs recorded from behaving subjects that may enhance information yield.

The association of the dietary inflammatory potential with risk of overall and site-specific cancers: A community-based longitudinal study in the UK Biobank

ObjectivesThe association of the dietary inflammatory potential with cancer risk remains uncertain. We examined the relationship of the dietary inflammatory potential with risk of overall and site-specific cancers and explored its sex and age differences. DesignA community-based longitudinal study. SettingParticipants from the UK Biobank completed baseline surveys during 2006–2010 and were followed for up to 15 years to detect incident cancer. Participants170,899 cancer-free participants with dietary data available (mean age: 55.73 ± 7.95, 54.10% female). MeasurementsAt baseline, dietary intake was assessed with a 24-h dietary record for up to 5 times. The inflammatory diet index (IDI) was calculated to assess the dietary inflammatory potential as a weighted sum of 31 food groups (including 14 anti-inflammatory and 17 pro-inflammatory) based on plasma high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP) levels, and tertiled as low (indicating low-inflammatory diet), moderate, and high IDI (as reference). Overall and site-specific cancers were ascertained via linkage to routine hospital admission, cancer registry, and death certificate data. Data were analyzed using Cox regression and Laplace regression. ResultsDuring the follow-up (median 10.32 years, interquartile range: 9.95–11.14 years), 18,884 (11.05%) participants developed cancer. In multi-adjusted Cox regression, low IDI scores were associated with decreased risk of rectal cancer (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval, CI] 0.76 [0.61, 0.94]), thyroid cancer [0.45 (0.27, 0.74)], lung cancer [0.73 (0.61, 0.88)]. However, the association between IDI score and the risk of overall cancer was not significant. Laplace regression analysis showed that 10th percentile differences (95% CIs) of cancer onset time for participants with low IDI scores was prolonged by 1.29 (0.32, 2.27), 1.44 (0.58, 2.30), and 2.62 (0.98, 4.27) years for rectal cancer, thyroid cancer, and lung cancer, respectively, compared to those with high IDI scores. Stratified analysis revealed that low IDI scores were associated with a lower risk of rectal cancer (p interaction between IDI score and sex = 0.035) and lung cancer in males, but not in females, and with a reduced risk of thyroid cancer in females, but not in males. Moreover, low IDI scores were associated with a reduced risk of rectal cancer and lung cancer in the participants aged ≥60 years, but not in those <60 years, and with a reduced risk of thyroid cancer in those aged ≥60 years and <60 years. ConclusionsA low-inflammatory diet is associated with decreased risk and prolonged onset time of rectal cancer and lung cancer, especially among males and individuals aged ≥60 years, and thyroid cancer among females.

Preliminary Danish Norms for the Odense Child Trauma Screening (OCTS)

AbstractThe Odense Child Trauma Screening (OCTS) is Danish story stem screening tool applicable for assessment of preschoolers and young children in risk of being traumatized. Having shown initial evidence of validation, Danish norms are needed to strengthen the clinical assessment with the OCTS by serving as a baseline comparison for assessment of potentially traumatized children. We tested 169 children from the Danish general population aged 4–8 with the OCTS and investigated sex and age differences in play-based behavior and narrative representations. Caregivers reported electronically on child demographic information, psychosocial functioning, and history of trauma exposure using The Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) and The Diagnostic Infant and Preschool Assessment (DIPA) trauma list. Across the 145 scores of the OCTS coding scheme, significant sex and age differences were only found in five and sixteen scores respectively. In the five codes where significant sex differences were observed, boys’ normative scores were higher. No significant sex differences were found in the partial story scores or the OCTS total score. Three significant age differences in partial story and OCTS total scores emerged with 4-year-olds scoring higher than 6–8-year-olds. We further found 13 significant age differences in code scores with higher scores among the youngest of the two groups in question suggesting that scores tend to decrease along older age. Few significant sex and age differences were found in children’s OCTS play-based behavior and narrative representations. Indicative of few sex and age biases of the OCTS coding scheme and stories, results suggest that the OCTS can be applied across the intended target group of children aged 4 to 8 years. As higher scores were found in the younger age groups, clinicians should be attentive to age in certain codes of the OCTS coding scheme in their assessment of children in clinical practice. The preliminary normative scores must be interpreted and clinically applied with caution due to our non-representative sample and lack of analyses on factors potentially influencing children’s responses to the OCTS (e.g., developmental, contextual, cultural factors).

Who Will Be More Egocentric? Age Differences in the Impact of Retrospective Self-Experience on Interpersonal Emotion Intensity Judgment.

This study investigates whether the retrospective self-experience of older adults affects and biases interpersonal emotion judgment more than that of younger adults by adopting the paradigm of the self-generated anchoring effect. Participants (older adults: n = 63; younger adults: n = 65) were required to retrospectively consider their self-experiences and judge their possible emotion intensity in anchor-generating scenarios (high- or low-anchor scenarios). Subsequently, participants estimated the protagonist's emotion intensity in target scenarios. The age-related interaction effect showed that older adults exhibited a significant self-generated anchoring effect in more emotion categories (four emotions) compared with younger adults (two emotions). After controlling for inhibition or working memory as a covariant, this interaction effect was no longer significant. The results from multilevel regression analysis also indicated the significant effect of self-emotion across all models on participants' judgment of others' emotions. The results indicated that older adults were more affected by retrospective self-experiences, leading to more egocentric judgment, than younger adults. This different influence from the retrospective self-experiences might partially have been caused by the age-related difference in cognitive abilities.

The Mediating Role of Cortical Atrophy on the Relationship between the Resilience Index and Cognitive Function: Findings from the Healthy Brain Initiative.

Lifestyle factors are linked to differences in brain aging and risk for Alzheimer's disease, underscored by concepts like 'cognitive reserve' and 'brain maintenance'. The Resilience Index (RI), a composite of 6 factors (cognitive reserve, physical and cognitive activities, social engagement, diet, and mindfulness) provides such a holistic measure. This study aims to examine the association of RI scores with cognitive function and assess the mediating role of cortical atrophy. Baseline data from 113 participants (aged 45+, 68% female) from the Healthy Brain Initiative were included. Life course resilience was estimated with the RI, cognitive performance with Cognivue®, and brain health using a machine learning derived Cortical Atrophy Score (CAS). Mediation analysis probed the relationship between RI, cognitive outcomes, and cortical atrophy. In age and sex adjusted models, the RI was significantly associated with CAS (β= -0.25, p = 0.006) and Cognivue® scores (β= 0.32, p < 0.001). The RI-Cognivue® association was partially mediated by CAS (β= 0.07; 95% CI [0.02, 0.14]). Findings revealed that the collective effect of early and late-life lifestyle resilience factors on cognition are partially explained by their association with less brain atrophy. These findings underscore the value of comprehensive lifestyle assessments in understanding the risk and progression of cognitive decline and Alzheimer's disease in an aging population.

Mitochondrial remodeling underlying age-induced skeletal muscle wasting: let’s talk about sex

Sarcopenia is associated with reduced quality of life and premature mortality. The sex disparities in the processes underlying sarcopenia pathogenesis, which include mitochondrial dysfunction, are ill-understood and can be decisive for the optimization of sarcopenia-related interventions. To improve the knowledge regarding the sex differences in skeletal muscle aging, the gastrocnemius muscle of young and old female and male rats was analyzed with a focus on mitochondrial remodeling through the proteome profiling of mitochondria-enriched fractions. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study analyzing sex differences in skeletal muscle mitochondrial proteome remodeling. Data demonstrated that age induced skeletal muscle atrophy and fibrosis in both sexes. In females, however, this adverse skeletal muscle remodeling was more accentuated than in males and might be attributed to an age-related reduction of 17beta-estradiol signaling through its estrogen receptor alpha located in mitochondria. The females-specific mitochondrial remodeling encompassed increased abundance of proteins involved in fatty acid oxidation, decreased abundance of the complexes subunits, and enhanced proneness to oxidative posttranslational modifications. This conceivable accretion of damaged mitochondria in old females might be ascribed to low levels of Parkin, a key mediator of mitophagy. Despite skeletal muscle atrophy and fibrosis, males maintained their testosterone levels throughout aging, as well as their androgen receptor content, and the age-induced mitochondrial remodeling was limited to increased abundance of pyruvate dehydrogenase E1 component subunit beta and electron transfer flavoprotein subunit beta. Herein, for the first time, it was demonstrated that age affects more severely the skeletal muscle mitochondrial proteome of females, reinforcing the necessity of sex-personalized approaches towards sarcopenia management, and the inevitability of the assessment of mitochondrion-related therapeutics.

Used to Be a Dime, Now It's a Dollar: Revised Speech Perception in Noise Key Word Predictability Revisited 40 Years On.

Almost 40 years after its development, in this article, we reexamine the relevance and validity of the ubiquitously used Revised Speech Perception in Noise (R-SPiN) sentence corpus. The R-SPiN corpus includes "high-context" and "low-context" sentences and has been widely used in the field of hearing research to examine the benefit derived from semantic context across English-speaking listeners, but research investigating age differences has yielded somewhat inconsistent findings. We assess the appropriateness of the corpus for use today in different English-language cultures (i.e., British and American) as well as for older and younger adults. Two hundred forty participants, including older (60-80 years) and younger (19-31 years) adult groups in the the United Kingdom and United States, completed a cloze task consisting of R-SPiN sentences with the final word removed. Cloze, as a measure of predictability, and entropy, as a measure of response uncertainty, were compared between culture and age groups. Most critically, of the 200 "high-context" stimuli, only around half were assessed as highly predictable for older adults (United Kingdom: 109; United States: 107); and fewer still, for younger adults (United Kingdom: 75; United States: 81). We also found dominant responses to these "high-context" stimuli varied between cultures, with U.S. responses being more likely to match the original R-SPiN target. Our findings highlight the issue of incomplete transferability of corpus items across English-language cultures as well as diminished equivalency for older and younger adults. By identifying relevant items for each population, this work could facilitate the interpretation of inconsistent findings in the literature, particularly relating to age effects.

The precision by the Face Arm Speech Time (FAST) algorithm in stroke capture, sex and age differences: a stroke registry study

BackgroundThe shift towards milder strokes and studies suggesting that stroke symptoms vary by age and sex may challenge the Face-Arm-Speech Time (FAST) coverage. We aimed to study the proportion of...

Sleep Patterns in Patients After Solid Organ Transplantation Including Gender and Age Differences. Survey Results From One Transplantation Centre in Poland

Sleep plays a crucial role in maintaining health. Transplant patients are exposed to numerous stressors and are at risk of sleep disturbances. The aim of this study was to assess the sleep patterns of transplant patients. An anonymous paper survey was carried out among patients from one transplant center in Poland. Respondents were asked about the quality and quantity of sleep and the overall impact of the transplantation on their night rest. Data were collected from June to November 2023. Data were obtained from 212 respondents (122 males and 90 females), aged 48.38 ± 13.68. The positive impact of transplantation on sleep hygiene was indicated by 57.4% of respondents, 28.9% observed no impact, and 13.6% rated the impact as negative. Our study showed that sleep is more satisfying in males than in females (62.8% of males and 46.7% of females). The analysis revealed that 38.9% of females need 30 minutes more than men to fall asleep. Additionally, females tend to get up half an hour later compared to men. About 71.9% of males declared good well-being the next day compared to 62.2% of females. Furthermore females declared more sleepiness the next day. The study also showed that older transplant recipients (over 50 years-of-age) report more frequent awakenings at night. The data collected showed differences in sleep patterns according to gender and age. Females and older patients should be screened for sleep disturbances during post-transplantation care.

Multicomponent Exercise Program to Avoid Productivity Loss Due to COVID-19

Objective: To evaluate and quantify the mitigation of productivity deficits in individuals recovering from post-COVID-19 conditions by implementing a multicomponent exercise program (MEP). Methods: Thirty-nine post-COVID-19 patients meeting specific criteria participated in a 7-week intervention program involving cycloergometer interval training, strength exercises, and respiratory physiotherapy. Follow-up assessments occurred 2 weeks post-intervention and 23 months later via telephone interviews. The study computed the average avoided loss of productivity to estimate indirect costs. Results: Over 2 years, 51.4% had persistent symptoms and 48.7% reported complex issues. Age differences were observed between retired and employed individuals. Multinomial regression revealed a 91.849 times higher likelihood of simple signs in employed individuals and a 1.579 times higher likelihood of being older in retirees. Simple symptoms were associated with a 90 000 times higher likelihood of returning to work. Sensitivity analysis indicated potential productivity gains from €117 955 to €134 004 per patient over a 4-year horizon. Conclusion: The MEP is a safe and effective post-COVID recovery intervention, notably aiding workforce reintegration for individuals with simple signs. Patients with such signs were significantly more likely to return to work, highlighting potential productivity gains and emphasizing the need for further research on the program's cost-effectiveness and broader societal benefits.

Gender and Age Differences in Using Apology Strategies in Saudi Arabia

Apology has been an important topic in personal relationship studies over the past three decades. This study is based on Sugimoto’s empirically derived characterization of apology strategies and explores how Saudis of both genders and of different ages use apology strategies to demonstrate their politeness. The study’s three main objectives were to identify the most commonly employed apology strategies and to determine the significance of gender and of age on how people used apology strategies. Data collection relied on the Multiple Discourse Completion Task Questionnaire, which contains questions about different real-life scenarios and multiple answers that measure the use of apology strategies. It was distributed to 102 female and 93 male participants of different ages (between 18 and 50). The study established that the most used apology strategies are self-blame and then compensation, while the least used are blaming the victim and asking the victim not to be angry. The rest of the apology strategies occur at different frequencies. The study also found that women use apology strategies significantly more than men do. Women tend to use thanking, lack of intent, asking for forgiveness, and asking the victim not to be angry, whereas men use compensation, avoiding the victim, blaming the victim, promising not to repeat, and offending the victim more than women do. In addition, the study found significant differences in which apology strategies people of different ages used.

Age Differences in a Combined Walking and Grasping Task

Previous studies have identified patterns of coordinated control when adults combine gait and grasping. What remains unclear is whether the coordination of these two tasks differs between adolescent and adult groups. Groups of adults and adolescents were asked to walk across an instrumented gait mat in three conditions: walk forward, walk and grasp a small target, and walk and grasp a large target. Spatiotemporal measures of gait/gait variability and grasp/grasp variability were quantified. Both adolescents and young adults exhibited decreased velocity, decreased step-extremity ratio, and increased percent of gait cycle spent in double support when grasping compared to walking alone. The major influence of grasping was seen during the final step before grasp in both groups. Change scores between walk forward and walk and grasp conditions were larger for adolescents. Furthermore, spatiotemporal measures of gait and grasping were more variable in adolescents. These results suggest that superimposing grasp onto gait is more challenging for adolescents than young adults. The challenges associated with combining these two tasks is particularly evident in the last step prior to object contact and suggests that the increased planning and execution demands required to perform these coordinated skills affects adolescents to a greater extent than young adults.

Abnormal Bone Turnover Observed in Obese Children Based on Puberty Stage -Specific Bone Turnover Marker Reference.

Childhood and adolescence are critical periods for lifelong bone health. The impact of obesity on these phases is controversial, which may be due to the lack of standards for age-, sex-, and puberty-specific Bone turnover markers (BTMs) which could sensitively reflect bone metabolism. To generate age-, sex, and puberty stage-specific BTMs reference curves in children and adolescents and to explore the effect of obesity on bone metabolism in the Chinese population. Our study was part of the Evaluation and Monitoring on School-based Nutrition and Growth in Shenzhen study. 800 participants aged 6∼18 years with normal body mass index (BMI) were selected to establish BTM reference curves for boys and girls at different ages under different pubertal development stages. Additionally, 200 participants with obesity (BMI >P95th) were matched with healthy children from the original cohort at a 1:1 ratio. All participants underwent bone mineral density assessment, and serum levels of P1NP and β-CTX were measured. The BTMs values presented significant age, sex, and puberty stage differences. Analysis of serum BTMs based on the established reference revealed a higher percentage of low-level P1NP in boys with obesity (P=0.005); no significant difference was observed in girls. However, the obese group showed a significantly higher proportion of high β-CTX levels for girls, not boys (P=0.022). We provide age-, sex-, and puberty stage-specific P1NP and β-CTX reference curve. According to these, obesity appeared to be a negative factor for bone formation in boys and for bone resorption in girls.

Gender differences in global advantage effect in school-aged children

This study investigated age and gender differences in global-local processing (the perception of parts forming a whole) in middle childhood. While there is a consensus on a global advantage effect regarding priority, speed, and accuracy of processing, its universality is debated. A Navon-type selective attention task with hierarchical stimuli was administered to 199 students aged 9 to 12 years. Repeated measures mixed ANCOVA with reaction times and accuracy scores showed that only boys exhibited a global advantage effect in speed, while girls demonstrated higher accuracy in both global and local conditions. A trade-off effect was suggested by a complementary analysis using Balanced Integration Score. An improvement with age was found regarding speed and overall performance, with no differential effect between hierarchical levels. These results are presented in the hopes of providing information on gender-specific challenges that can be mitigated through future interventions.

Atypical Brain Aging and Its Association With Working Memory Performance in Major Depressive Disorder

BackgroundPatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) can present with altered brain structure and deficits in cognitive function similar to those seen in aging. However, the interaction between age-related brain changes and brain development in MDD remains understudied. In a cohort of adolescents and adults with and without MDD, we assessed brain aging differences and associations through a newly developed tool that quantifies normative neurodevelopmental trajectories. MethodsA total of 304 participants with MDD and 236 control participants without depression were recruited and scanned from 3 studies under the Canadian Biomarker Integration Network for Depression. Volumetric data were used to generate brain centile scores, which were examined for 1) differences between participants with MDD and control participants; 2) differences between individuals with versus without severe childhood maltreatment; and 3) correlations with depressive symptom severity, neurocognitive assessment domains, and escitalopram treatment response. ResultsBrain centiles were significantly lower in the MDD group than in the control group. Brain centile was also significantly correlated with working memory in the control group but not the MDD group. No significant associations were observed between depression severity or antidepressant treatment response and brain centiles. Likewise, childhood maltreatment history did not significantly affect brain centiles. ConclusionsConsistent with previous work on machine learning models that predict brain age, brain centile scores differed in people diagnosed with MDD, and MDD was associated with differential relationships between centile scores and working memory. The results support the notion of atypical development and aging in MDD, with implications for neurocognitive deficits associated with aging-related cognitive function.

Association of estimated cardiorespiratory fitness in middle-aged and elderly people with cardiovascular disease: Evidence from the China health and retirement longitudinal study

Background and aimCardiovascular diseases (CVD) is a major threat to public health, while cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is a key predictor of chronic disease. Given this, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between estimated CRF (eCRF) and CVD in middle-aged and elderly Chinese people. Methods and resultsThe China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) with 4761 individuals were included in analysis. Participants were divided into three groups according to eCRF quantile in sex subgroups. Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to explore the correlation of eCRF with CVD (stroke or cardiac events). In total, 4761 participants were included in this cohort study (2500 [52.51%] women). During a 7-year follow-up from 2011 to 2018, 796 CVDs (268 Strokes and 588 cardiac events) were recorded. In multivariable-adjusted analyses, for per 1 SD increase of eCRF, the age-adjusted risk of CVD was reduced by about 18% (HR = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.72–0.93) in men, and was reduced by about 29% (HR = 0.71; 95% CI, 0.62–0.81) in women. Similar associations were also found between eCRF and stroke and cardiac events. Both subgroup and interaction analyses showed that the interaction of age had a statistically significant effect on CVD risk. ConclusionECRF was inversely associated with CVD risk (stroke or cardiac events) in both men and women. Remarkable sex and age differences exist in the effectiveness of increasing eCRF to reduce the risk of CVD. As a potential, efficient and cost-effective risk prediction tool, eCRF deserves further attention and wide application.

Age uncertainties of red giants due to cumulative rotational mixing of progenitors calibrated by asteroseismology

Context. Galactic archaeology largely relies on precise ages of distant evolved stars in the Milky Way. Nowadays, asteroseismology can deliver ages for many red giants observed with high-cadence, high-precision photometric space missions such as CoRoT, Kepler, K2, TESS, and soon PLATO. Aims. Our aim is to quantify the age uncertainties of currently slowly rotating red giants due to the cumulative effect of their fast rotation during core-hydrogen burning: their rotation in earlier evolutionary phases caused mixing of elements, resulting in heavier helium cores and the prolongation of their main-sequence lifetime. These rotational effects are usually ignored when age-dating red giants, despite our knowledge of fast rotation for stars with M ≥ 1.3 M⊙. Methods. We used a sample of 490 F-type gravito-inertial pulsators (γ Doradus stars) with precise asteroseismic estimates of their internal rotation rate from Kepler asteroseismology and with luminosity estimates from Gaia. For this sample, which includes stars rotating from nearly zero to about 60% of the critical rate, we computed the cumulative effect on the age in their post-main-sequence evolution caused by rotational mixing on the main sequence. We used stellar model grids with different physical prescriptions that mimic rotational mixing to assess systematic uncertainties on the age. Results. With respect to non-rotating models, the sample of 490 γ Doradus stars, as red giant progenitors, reveals age differences up to 5% by the time they start hydrogen-shell burning when relying on the theory of rotationally induced diffusive mixing as included in the MIST isochrones. Using rotational mixing based on an advective-diffusive approach that includes meridional circulation leads to an age shift of 20% by the time of the tip of the red giant branch. Conclusions. The age-dating of red giants is affected by the cumulative effect of rotational mixing during the main sequence. Such rotationally induced age shifts should be taken into account in addition to other effects if the aim is to perform Galactic archaeological studies at the highest precision.

Searching Reproducible Brain Features using NeuroMark: Templates for Different Age Populations and Imaging Modalities

A primary challenge to the data-driven analysis is the balance between poor generalizability of population-based research and characterizing more subject-, study- and population-specific variability. We previously introduced a fully automated spatially constrained independent component analysis (ICA) framework called NeuroMark and its functional MRI (fMRI) template. NeuroMark has been successfully applied in numerous studies, identifying brain markers reproducible across datasets and disorders. The first NeuroMark template was constructed based on young adult cohorts. We recently expanded on this initiative by creating a standardized normative multi-spatial-scale functional template using over 100,000 subjects, aiming to improve generalizability and comparability across studies involving diverse cohorts. While a unified template across the lifespan is desirable, a comprehensive investigation of the similarities and differences between components from different age populations might help systematically transform our understanding of the human brain by revealing the most well-replicated and variable network features throughout the lifespan. In this work, we introduced two significant expansions of NeuroMark templates first by generating replicable fMRI templates for infants, adolescents, and aging cohorts, and second by incorporating structural MRI (sMRI) and diffusion MRI (dMRI) modalities. Specifically, we built spatiotemporal fMRI templates based on 6,000 resting-state scans from four datasets. This is the first attempt to create robust ICA templates covering dynamic brain development across the lifespan. For the sMRI and dMRI data, we used two large publicly available datasets including more than 30,000 scans to build reliable templates. We employed a spatial similarity analysis to identify replicable templates and investigate the degree to which unique and similar patterns are reflective in different age populations. Our results suggest remarkably high similarity of the resulting adapted components, even across extreme age differences. With the new templates, the NeuroMark framework allows us to perform age-specific adaptations and to capture features adaptable to each modality, therefore facilitating biomarker identification across brain disorders. In sum, the present work demonstrates the generalizability of NeuroMark templates and suggests the potential of new templates to boost accuracy in mental health research and advance our understanding of lifespan and cross-modal alterations.

Psychological resilience and mental health among older Tekun men in long-term care facilities in rural China

ABSTRACT This study examines age differences in the association of psychological resilience with mental health among older Tekun (socially and economically vulnerable) men. It analyzed the 2019 data from 718 Tekun men (≥60 years) residing in rural long-term care (LTC) facilities in Anhui Province, China. Results indicated that the oldest-old (≥80 years) reported significantly lower levels of psychological resilience than the other age groups (the young-old: 60–69 years and the middle-old: 70–79 years). Hierarchical logistic regression analyses revealed a significant negative association between psychological resilience and poor mental health among the middle-old (OR = 0.95, 95% CI: 0.93–0.98) and the oldest-old (OR = 0.93, 95% CI: 0.88–0.98) groups. Psychological resilience plays a more crucial role in maintaining mental health among the oldest-old participants compared to the young-old and middle-old participants. Implications for social work practice were discussed.