Emotional well-being and adjustment to vision loss in later life: a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies.

Purpose: To review perceived emotional well-being in older people with visual impairment and perceived factors that inhibit/facilitate psychosocial adjustment to vision loss. Method: The databases of MEDLINE, EMBASE, PsycINFO and CINAHL were searched for studies published from January 1980 to December 2010, which recruited older people with irreversible vision loss, and used qualitative methods for both data collection and analysis. Results sections of the papers were synthesised using a thematic-style analysis to identify the emergent and dominant themes. Results: Seventeen qualitative papers were included in the review, and five main themes emerged from the synthesis: 1) the trauma of an ophthalmic diagnosis, 2) impact of vision loss on daily life, 3) negative impact of visual impairment on psychosocial well-being, 4) factors that inhibit social well-being, and 5) factors that facilitate psychological well-being. We found the response shift model useful for explaining our synthesis. Conclusions: Acquired visual impairment can have a significant impact on older people's well-being and make psychosocial adjustment to the condition a major challenge. Acceptance of the condition and a positive attitude facilitate successful psychosocial adjustment to vision loss as well as social support from family, friends and peers who have successfully adjusted to the condition. [Box: see text].

Do variations in substitution rates and male mutation bias correlate with life-history traits? A study of 32 mammalian genomes

Life-history traits vary substantially across species, and have been demonstrated to affect substitution rates. We compute genomewide, branch-specific estimates of male mutation bias (the ratio of male-to-female mutation rates) across 32 mammalian genomes and study how these vary with life-history traits (generation time, metabolic rate, and sperm competition). We also investigate the influence of life-history traits on substitution rates at unconstrained sites across a wide phylogenetic range. We observe that increased generation time is the strongest predictor of variation in both substitution rates (for which it is a negative predictor) and male mutation bias (for which it is a positive predictor). Although less significant, we also observe that estimates of metabolic rate, reflecting replication-independent DNA damage and repair mechanisms, correlate negatively with autosomal substitution rates, and positively with male mutation bias. Finally, in contrast to expectations, we find no significant correlation between sperm competition and either autosomal substitution rates or male mutation bias. Our results support the important but frequently opposite effects of some, but not all, life history traits on substitution rates. KEY WORDS: Generation time, genome evolution, metabolic rate, sperm competition.

Basic Income, Republican Freedom, and Effective Market Power

This article examines republican arguments for a basic income that turn on a right to exit the labour market. It gives criteria for the maintenance of republican freedom in markets, arguing that a right to exit or effective market power will guarantee republican freedom in markets. The article then considers whether a basic income is either sufficient or necessary to protect republican freedom both in labour markets and elsewhere. If a basic income is necessary to protect republican freedom in the labour market, I argue it is not sufficient to protect that freedom elsewhere. If citizens lack the means to maintain their republican freedom in the labour market, then there may be other spheres of life where they are vulnerable to subordination, whether or not they have a basic income. Some sociological evidence on cultural consumption patterns is presented.

Reasonable adjustments for disabled pupils: what support do parents want for their child?

Schools in England (as elsewhere in Europe) have a duty to promote equality for disabled people and make reasonable adjustments for disabled children. There is, however, a degree of uncertainty about how well-placed parents are addressed to use the legislation to ensure their child’s needs. This paper presents data drawn from a national questionnaire designed for schools to use to identify their disabled pupils and examines, in detail, parental responses to a question on the kinds of support their child finds helpful in offsetting any difficulties they experience. It illustrates the complex and varied nature of the ‘reasonable adjustments’ that are required and an overriding sense that need to be underpinned by the values of a responsive child-centred approach, one that recognises that parents’ knowledge and understanding of their child are important. Schools need to have in place the two-way communication process that supports them in ‘knowing’ about the visible and invisible challenges that pupils with difficulties and disabilities face in participating in school life.

Thinking about a limited future enhances the positivity of younger and older adults’ recall: support for socioemotional selectivity theory

Compared with younger adults, older adults have a relative preference to attend to and remember positive over negative information. This is known as the “positivity effect,” and researchers have typically evoked socioemotional selectivity theory to explain it. According to socioemotional selectivity theory, as people get older they begin to perceive their time left in life as more limited. These reduced time horizons prompt older adults to prioritize achieving emotional gratification and thus exhibit increased positivity in attention and recall. Although this is the most commonly cited explanation of the positivity effect, there is currently a lack of clear experimental evidence demonstrating a link between time horizons and positivity. The goal of the current research was to address this issue. In two separate experiments, we asked participants to complete a writing activity, which directed them to think of time as being either limited or expansive (Experiments 1 and 2) or did not orient them to think about time in a particular manner (Experiment 2). Participants were then shown a series of emotional pictures, which they subsequently tried to recall. Results from both studies showed that regardless of chronological age, thinking about a limited future enhanced the relative positivity of participants’ recall. Furthermore, the results of Experiment 2 showed that this effect was not driven by changes in mood. Thus, the fact that older adults’ recall is typically more positive than younger adults’ recall may index naturally shifting time horizons and goals with age.