Ageing and Development Newsletter No. 5

Special Edition Brasilia 2007. Society for all ages and social protection in the old age. ECLAC: The challenges of the next half-decade. Demographic transition in the region: A rapid and heterogeneous ageing process. Situation of older persons: Income, health, environments and the public responses.

Gilded bronze conservation: assessment of protective treatments by accelerated ageing and of treatment removal procedures by laser cleaning

In the current study, we analyze the effectiveness of an organosilane compound, 3-mercapto-propyl-tri-methoxy-silane (abbreviated PropS-SH), in the corrosion protection of fire-gilded bronzes. Firstly, the coating was applied on as-gilded bronze. Subsequently, it was also applied on pre-patinated bronze, because the substrate on which protective coatings are applied in real conservation interventions are corroded artifacts (cleaning procedures never remove all the corrosion products). Aiming to obtain results that simulate the situation of real artifacts, a dropping test that simulates outdoor exposure in runoff conditions (unsheltered areas of monuments) was employed in order to prepatinate the gilded bronze samples, which are the substrate for applying the protective coating. The preparation of the samples by applying the protective coating was performed in collaboration with the Corrosion Studies Centre “Aldo Daccò” from Ferrara University. After the artificial exposure cycles the samples underwent investigations through a variety of spectroscopic methods including SEM, Raman, FIB, AAS and color measurements. In order to evaluate the possible removal of the organosilane coating, protected samples were subjected to laser cleaning tests and characterized by SEM/EDS so as to assess the changes in composition and morphology of the treated surfaces. The laser cleaning treatment was performed at the Institute of Applied Physics “Nello Carrara” (CNR Sesto Fiorentino (FI)). The morphology and chemical composition of the samples was observed before and after the operation in order to obtain information about the fluence and type of laser which are best suited to the removal of this type of coating.

Thyroid function and prevalent and incident metabolic syndrome in older adults: the health, ageing and body composition study

Both subclinical hypothyroidism and the metabolic syndrome have been associated with increased risk of coronary heart disease events. It is unknown whether the prevalence and incidence of metabolic syndrome is higher as TSH levels increase, or in individuals with subclinical hypothyroidism. We sought to determine the association between thyroid function and the prevalence and incidence of the metabolic syndrome in a cohort of older adults.

Migration and Wellbeing at the Lower Echelons of the Economy: A Study of Delhi Slums

This paper based on a primary survey of households (2004-05) in the slum clusters of Delhi examines whether migrants are likely to experience upward mobility in their place of destination or alternatively, if they merely transfer their poverty from rural areas to large cities. First, a simple bifurcation of population in terms of poor and non-poor sub-groups is examined along with the incidence of poverty across different categories of occupations and non-workers. Then, an explanation of the variations in per capita expenditure across households is provided, and a binomial logit model (poor/non-poor) is developed identifying the variables which raise (or reduce) the probability of being non-poor (or poor). Next, an estimate of the wellbeing (deprivation) index is derived from factor analysis of a large number of variables including demographic and economic aspects of households. Empirical findings suggest that while duration of migration and the wellbeing index do not have a definite relationship, migrant households who have been in the city for a very long time have a higher wellbeing index on average than those who migrated in the last ten years. This tends to support the view that migrants do not merely transfer rural poverty to urban areas, and further that population mobility yields improvement in the living standard, if only in the very long term. Implementation of "employment-cum-shelter" support schemes in the urban areas may contribute to their wellbeing.

Water for Food Security and Wellbeing in Latin America: Status and Challenges in a Globalized World.

Water for Food Security and Wellbeing in Latin America and the Caribbean. Side Event organizado por el OA en colaboración con el Centro del Agua de América Latina y el Caribe y el Tecnológico de Monterrey. World Water Week Stockholm, 2 September 2013.

Measuring ageing and the need for longer working lives in the EU. CEPS Working Document No. 417/February 2016 Wednesday, 24 February 2016

This study considers different ways of measuring the ageing of societies and their implications for public policy. The first part characterises the ongoing ageing of the population in the EU28 by relating it to past and future longer-term demographic trends for broad groups of countries. It goes beyond traditional chronological measures to include recently suggested prospective measures of ageing. The second part of the study is concerned with economic dependency ratios; a more relevant measure for summarising the economic challenges related to ageing. Three main findings emerge: first, prospective indicators of ageing reveal the challenge of population ageing to be less onerous than traditional chronological measures would suggest. Their relevance, however, will depend on the degree to which policy changes can respond to the changing age structure of the population. Second, substantial increases in the length of working lives are necessary to maintain current economic dependency ratios. Taking a year-2000 perspective view of the economic challenges of ageing shows that substantial progress has been made. Third, looking towards 2050, education will have limited direct impact on the scale of the ageing challenge.

Being, Belonging, and Connecting: Filipino Youths' Narratives of Place(s) and Wellbeing in Hawai'i

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2016-04

Water characteristics in cooked beef as influenced by ageing and high-pressure treatment -an NMR micro imaging study

The water characteristics in cooked pressure-heat treated (45 degreesC for 45 min prior to pressurisation at 150 MPa for 30 min) and non-pressurised, cooked (control) samples of beef Longissimus aged for 1, 3, 8 or 16 days were studied by nuclear magnetic resonance microscopy. A multi-echo sequence was used to obtain T2 images, and independent of ageing period, the T2 values were found to be lower in pressure-heat treated meat revealing alterations in water characteristics of pressure-treated, cooked meat compared with cooked meat. With increasing ageing duration, the T2 values in both pressure-treated, cooked and cooked meat decreased indicating that the water became more tightly trapped in the protein network. In addition, independent of length of ageing period the relationship between cooking loss in the cooked meat and transverse relaxation differed between non-pressurised and pressure-treated meat. which reveals that the mechanisms changing the water properties in beef during ageing are different from those occuring during pressure-heat treatment of meat. (C) 2003 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Population ageing and the implications for finanical markets

How will financial institutions respond to the transactions and asset management needs of both the ageing population and their carers? The ageing of the population has generated increased interest from both government and business, including banking and financial services, in the sorts of services that will be required by older people, and how their money and property will be managed. This article examines the trends and implications for banking practice of this increasing population of customers and their carers.

Attaching unit costs to Australia's National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing

Background: In mental health, policy-makers and planners are increasingly being asked to set priorities. This means that health economists, health services researchers and clinical investigators are being called upon to work together to define and measure costs. Typically, these researchers take available service utilisation data and convert them to costs, using a range of assumptions. There are inefficiencies, as individual groups of researchers frequently repeat essentially similar exercises in achieving this end. There are clearly areas where shared or common investment in the development of statistical software syntax, analytical frameworks and other resources could maximise the use of data. Aims of the Study: This paper reports on an Australian project in which we calculated unit costs for mental health admissions and community encounters. In reporting on these calculations, our purpose is to make the data and the resources associated with them publicly available to researchers interested in conducting economic analyses, and allow them to copy, distribute and modify them, providing that all copies and modifications are available under the same terms and conditions (i.e., in accordance with the 'Copyleft' principle), Within this context, the objectives of the paper are to: (i) introduce the 'Copyleft' principle; (ii) provide an overview of the methodology we employed to derive the unit costs; (iii) present the unit costs themselves; and (iv) examine the total and mean costs for a range of single and comorbid conditions, as an example of the kind of question that the unit cost data can be used to address. Method: We took relevant data from the Australian National Survey of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHWB), and developed a set of unit costs for inpatient and community encounters. We then examined total and mean costs for a range of single and comorbid conditions. Results: We present the unit costs for mental health admissions and mental health community contacts. Our example, which explored the association between comorbidity and total and mean costs, suggested that comorbidly occurring conditions cost more than conditions which occur on their own. Discussion: Our unit costs, and the materials associated with them, have been published in a freely available form governed by a provision termed 'Copyleft'. They provide a valuable resource for researchers wanting to explore economic questions in mental health. Implications for Health Policies: Our unit costs provide an important resource to inform economic debate in mental health in Australia, particularly in the area of priority-setting. In the past, such debate has largely, been based on opinion. Our unit costs provide the underpinning to strengthen the evidence-base of this debate. Implications for Further Research: We would encourage other Australian researchers to make use of our unit costs in order to foster comparability across studies. We would also encourage Australian and international researchers to adopt the 'Copyleft' principle in equivalent circumstances. Furthermore, we suggest that the provision of 'Copyleft'-contingent funding to support the development of enabling resources for researchers should be considered in the planning of future large-scale collaborative survey work, both in Australia and overseas.