Satisfaction with adult children’s achievements is associated with depression and loneliness in later-life: the mediating roles of children’s support and gratitude

We examined the mediating roles of gratitude and children support in the relationship between satisfaction with adult children’s achievements, and depression/loneliness in a sample of 465 community elders of Ekiti State, Nigeria. The sample includes 294 women and 171 men with mean age 74.18 (SD = 9.42) selected by means of multistage sampling method. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM). Results suggested that satisfaction with adult children’s achievements was negatively associated with depression and loneliness. However, these relationships were found to be successively mediated by children’s support and gratitude. Specifically, gratitude fully mediated the relationship between satisfaction with adult children’s achievements and loneliness while children’s support was a partial mediator. Also, gratitude partially mediated the relationship between satisfaction with adult children’s achievements and depression while children’s support did not. The fit indices for the mediation model achieved the acceptable cuff-off for model fitness, CFI = .95, RMSEA = .042, 90% CI = (.033, .05, SRMR = .05, with 46% and 28% variance in depression and loneliness, respectively. In the management of geriatric depression and loneliness, mental health professionals may assess satisfaction with adult children’s achievements and utilize gratitude interventions for a happy and successful aging.     

Are learning skills associated with academic emotions elicited by master’s thesis work?

ABSTRACT

Academic emotions in the context of master’s thesis work is a highly understudied issue. This study examined the association between self-regulated learning skills and academic emotions elicited by master’s thesis work. Altogether, 84 behavioural sciences students conducting their master’s theses completed a survey comprised of a modified version of Pintrich’s Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MLSQ) and academic emotions derived from Pekrun’s (2006) Achievement Emotions Questionnaire complemented by enthusiasm. Linear and logistic regressions were employed in the data analyses. Higher skills in combining prior and new knowledge, application of theories, self-assessment and the combination of all learning skills were associated with higher positive academic emotions. Higher skills in self-assessment were associated with lower negative academic emotions. Higher combined learning skills were associated with higher pride and enthusiasm and lower shame elicited by master’s thesis work. Supporting students to develop their self-regulated learning skills might reflect positively on their academic emotions and vice versa.

Abbreviation: Self-regulated learning skills - (SRL) skills     

MRS study on lentiform nucleus in idiopathic Parkinson’s disease with unilateral symptoms

Objective: To investigate changes in magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) of lentiform nucleus during the early stage of Parkinson’s disease. Methods: Twenty-five patients with idiopathic Parkinson disease with unilateral symptoms (IPDUS) and 25 healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. MRS of the lentiform nucleus in each patient was taken and then concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), Creatine (Cr) and Choline, (Cho) were calculated. Results: Compared to that in the control, NAA/(Cho+Cr) was significantly lower in the lentiform nucleus contralateral to symptoms and even that in the ipsilateral side in IPDUS patients (allP<0.05); while there was no difference between the two sides in the healthy volunteer (P>0.05). The ratio of NAA/(Cho+Cr) ipsilateral to the sympatomatic side of the patient was also lower than that of the controll (P<0.05). Conclusions: there might be some changes with MRS on the lentiform nucleus during the early stage of idiopathic Parkinson’s disease with unilateral symptom. MRS may be one of the reliable methods for early or even sub-clinical diagnosis.     

Mini-review:Is alcohol consumption associated with gastroesophageal reflux disease?

Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is one of the most common disorders with an increasing incidence and prevalence. Alcohol consumption may be a risk factor for GERD; however, the relationship remains to be fully elucidated. The results of different studies are diverse and contradictory. Systematic investigations concerning this matter are inappropriate and further well-designed prospective studies are needed to clarify the effect of alcohol on GERD.     

On Anne Bradstreet’s Inconsistency with Puritanism

Anne Bradstreet,the first American poet,is popular among the puritan community.Yet a close examination of her poetry reveals her belying inconsistency with the Puritan values.While Puritan community devoted itself to the religious,disliked virtually every kind of recreation including literature and prejudiced against the female,Anne Bradstreet passionately expresses the secular pains and joys and firmly asserts the role of the poetry and the female.Her popularity among the Puritans both proves a success of her strategy and indicates Puritan society’s certain flexibility and tolerance.     

On Anne Bradstreet’s Inconsistency with Puritanism

Anne Bradstreet, the first American poet, is popular among the puritan community. Yet a close examination of her po?etry reveals her belying inconsistency with the Puritan values. While Puritan communi...     

Inverse associations of outdoor activity and vitamin D intake with the risk of Parkinson’s disease

Early studies had suggested that vitamin D intake was inversely associated with neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and multiple sclerosis. However, the associations of vitamin D intake and outdoor activities with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are still unclear, so this study is to evaluate these relationships from a case-control study in elderly Chinese. The study population involved 209 cases with new onsets of PD and 210 controls without neurodegenerative diseases. The data on dietary vitamin D and outdoor activities were collected using a food-frequency questionnaire and self-report questionnaire. Multivariable logistic regressions were used to examine the associations between dietary outdoor activities, vitamin D intake and PD. Adjustment was made for sex, age, smoking, alcohol use, education, and body mass index (BMI). Adjusted odds ratios (ORs) for PD in quartiles for outdoor physical activity were 1 (reference), 0.739 (0.413, 1.321), 0.501 (0.282, 0.891), and 0.437 (0.241, 0.795), respectively (P=0.002 for trend). Adjusted ORs for PD in quartiles for total vitamin D intake were 1 (reference), 0.647 (0.357, 1.170), 0.571 (0.318, 1.022), and 0.538 (0.301, 0.960), respectively (P=0.011 for trend). Our study suggested that outdoor activity and total vitamin D intake were inversely associated with PD, and outdoor activity seems to be more significantly associated with decreased risk for PD.     

Therapy in Parkinson’s disease: Some recent developments

Even though research is going on throughout the world, it is clear that at the present time there is really no cure for Parkinson’s disease. Treatment with drugs, with physiotherapy can slow down the progress of this disease. Treatment through brain grafting or reparative therapy using different nerve growth factors may be the only alternative for this disease. Researchers are still hoping that the newly discovered substances could one day help doctors treat this invincible disease and possibly cure it also.     

Association of Graves’ disease and Graves’ ophthalmopathy with the polymorphisms in promoter and exon 1 of cytotoxic T lymphocyte associated antigen-4 gene

INTRODUCTION Graves’ disease (GD) is an autoimmune diseasecharacterized clinically by hyperthyroidism, diffusegoiter, Graves’ ophthalmopathy (GO) and the pres-ence of TSH (thyroid-stimulating hormone) receptorautoantibodies. GD is a multifactorial disease thadevelops as the result of a complex interaction be-tween genetic susceptibility genes and environmentafactors. Multiple genetic factors are believed to in-fluence the autoimmunity evident in GD, but a firmgenetic basis for GD …     

Writing difficulties in Alzheimer’s disease and mild cognitive impairment

The present study addresses the scope of the writing difficulties observed in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Patients with AD, patients with MCI and healthy controls performed a written picture-naming task and a direct copy transcoding task in which phonology-to-orthography (P–O) consistency was manipulated. Written latencies, inter-letter durations, mean word pen pressure and number of errors were measured. Results revealed that there was a significant difference between the control group and both groups of patients in written latencies and number of errors. However, in inter-letter interval or mean pen pressure there were significant differences only between the group with AD and the other groups. P–O consistency and the type of task produced similar effects in the three groups of participants, suggesting a general deficit affecting the ability to access/generate orthographic representations. The relevance of these results for understanding the spelling impairment in AD and MCI are discussed.

     

Gone with the Wind and Women’s Awakening

Scarlett who was the heroine in the world famous book Gone with the Wind,is regarded as one of the most impressive images in the world literature.Her charm lies in her perverse personality of independence and her spirit of freedom.This essay analyzes the characters of the heroine through highlighting women’s social status in the South during the age of Scarlett’s time.It could be safely concluded that Scarlett’s characters and her courage to face the difficulties during the war reveal the awakening of women’s self-consciousness and the realization of feminine value.     

Scarlett’s Character on Gone with The Wind

I .Scarlett is a girl who has the spirit of rebellious
Searlett is born in plantation family of Civil War period. Although her father is not a really aristocrat, hut through he hard-working, he becomes rich. When Scarlett was born, the family is first-grade class in Georgia. In her family, her mother is mild, industry and capable. Her father seems serious. But under him serious, he is a really good-tempered father. Her Mammy who is stern, also love Scarlett deeply. Her two sisters, who have a complete different characters.     

King Lear’s“look with thine ears”and Shakespeare’s Grammar School Training

About Shakespeare’s classic learning, Ben Jonson’s“small Latin and less Greek”has long been regarded precise and pertinent. This essay, however, is to explore the other part of the picture. In King Lea...     

On other people’s terms: schools’ encounters with disabled students

According to Swedish legislation as well as laws pertaining to disabled citizens, Swedish schools are to be accessible for all children and adolescents. This implies that disabilities of any type must not be allowed to prevent students from completing their schooling on their own terms. The purpose of this research was to study the degree to which the Swedish school is accessible for all students. A total 200 professionals and politicians were interviewed alongside more than 30 upper secondary school students. The results show that the ambition level is high with regard to adapting educational programmes for the disabled student group, especially in the rhetoric of politicians and civil servants. However, in practice, teachers and head teachers have considerably more difficulty in delivering to students satisfactory schooling. This is often due to conflict between the striving for inclusion and the difficulty adapting learning environments during everyday classroom instruction. By use of institutional theory the study demonstrates that intentions as described of responsible politicians are altered in the system when confronted with the institutional reality. Schools’ meeting the natural variation of difference in the student group causes complications in educational work in which various solutions are attempted. When educational differentiation is found wanting in attempts to meet students’ various needs, various types of special solutions are sought, which have the objective of reducing heterogeneity among the students. This type of organisational differentiation seems accepted and legitimised where it concerns students having various kinds of school‐related difficulties, while seeming to create a disadvantage for some other students. One should understand this as thought coercion, where pressure from professionals in schools leaves little room for other strategies and in which the concept of the inclusive school is challenged.     

Critical Pedagogy’s Problem with Changing Teachers’ Dispositions Towards Critical Teaching

Increasing teachers’ dispositions towards critical teaching is a fundamental goal for critical pedagogy. Because critical educational change cannot occur without teachers’ “buy-in,” developing teachers’ inclination to implement critical teaching into their classrooms is a prerequisite for any successful critical pedagogy focused on change in K-12 schools. However, critical educators too often approach K-12 teachers’ dispositions in ways that are at best unproductive and at worst harmful to critical change efforts. Some critical pedagogy exists that approaches teachers’ knowledge and beliefs in “teacher friendly” ways, but most critical pedagogy suffers from the problem of totality and speaks merely to educators who already hold critical dispositions. In response to this problem, this paper identifies and examines three areas in which critical education scholars can work to better connect with a crucial, yet essentially unaddressed constituency: teachers in neighborhood schools. These three areas are critical pedagogy’s audience, teachers’ professional knowledge, and teachers’ beliefs about what constitutes ‘real schools’ and ‘real teachers.’ The paper ends by suggesting approaches to teachers’ dispositions that do not sacrifice the possible to the ideal, that value practical and eclectic change efforts, and that appreciate teachers’ already existing knowledge and beliefs as a foundational medium for developing critical education.