Mcwilliamshenneberg3836

Previous studies suggest that cholesterol metabolic dysregulation, characterized by abnormally low or high serum total cholesterol (TC) values, constitutes a risk for pronounced cognitive decline in old age. We tested this prediction using a population-based representative Swedish sample (N = 382), born in 1901-1902, and subsequently assessed on TC and 3 cognitive outcomes (verbal ability, spatial ability, and perceptual-motor-speed) at ages 70, 75, 79, 85, 88, and 90. None of the participants were on lipid-lowering medication, as prescription availability for these medications were not initiated in Sweden until the mid-1990s. We used a 3-level hierarchical model, with cognitive tests nested within time, nested within individuals. Estimates from this model revealed a nonlinear between-person association between TC and cognition, indicating that low, and to some degree high, TC values were associated with poorer cognition. This association was stronger among nondementia-cases (n = 255). Among subsequent dementia cases (n = 127), the data suggested a linear trend, indicating that lower TC values were associated with poorer cognition. TC levels declined over time in the vast majority (96%), and the steepness of this decline was associated with the rate of cognitive decline. This within-person association was particularly strong among incident dementia cases with low TC values. Our findings indicate an optimal range of TC values associated with better cognition in old age and that the within-person association between TC and cognition is related to dementia pathologies. Further, our findings demonstrate the need to separate between-person from within-person associations when evaluating the relation between TC and cognition in old age. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).Visual working memory (VWM) is an essential aspect of cognitive functioning that becomes compromised in older adults. A canonical probe of VWM is the change detection task in which participants compare a visually presented stimulus with items being maintained in VWM. Older adults show a decreased ability to detect changes between a stimulus and the contents of VWM compared with younger adults. Previously, we used a dynamic neural field (DNF) model to explore changes in neural connectivity that can explain this pattern of decline in performance. These simulations suggest that older adults have cortical interactions that are more diffuse compared to younger adults. In the current article, we examined the precision of representations in VWM using the delayed-estimation task. Participants are first presented with a memory array. After a delay, a location is cued, and participants click on a color wheel to indicate which color was at that location. The model predicted that older adults should show increased guessing rates and decreased precision (defined as the variability of color responses around the target location) relative to younger adults. The model also predicted that presenting the nontarget items during test should improve the precision of responses for older adults but not for younger adults. Results from two experiments supported these predictions of the model. These findings further advance an emerging theory of the neurocognitive decline of VWM and illustrate how older adults' VWM representations are influenced by the context in which information is being recalled. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE Health care providers' attitudes of marginalized groups can be key factors that contribute to health care access and outcome disparities because of their influence on patient encounters as well as clinical decision-making. Despite a growing body of knowledge linking disparate health outcomes to providers' clinical decision making, less research has focused on providers' attitudes about disability. The aim of this study was to examine providers' explicit and implicit disability attitudes, interactions between their attitudes, and correlates of explicit and implicit bias. Research Method/Design We analyzed secondary data from 25,006 health care providers about their disability attitudes. In addition to analyzing people's explicit and implicit attitudes (Disability Attitudes Implicit Association Test), we used Son Hing, Chung-Yan, Hamilton, & Zanna's (2008) model of two-dimensional prejudice to compare provider's explicit and implicit attitudes. Finally, we used linear regression models to examine correlates of providers' explicit and implicit attitudes. RESULTS While on average, provider's explicit attitudes (M = 4.41) indicated little prejudice, their implicit attitudes (M = 0.54) revealed they moderately preferred nondisabled people-they were aversive ableists. Correlates of providers' explicit and implicit attitudes also included age, gender, political orientation, and having relationships with disability (friends, family, and being a person with disability). CONCLUSIONS/IMPLICATIONS This study revealed that despite a majority of providers self-reporting not being biased against people with disabilities, implicitly, the overwhelming majority were biased. This study's findings can be used to better understand how provider disability bias can contribute to inequitable health care access and health outcomes for people with disabilities. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).OBJECTIVE Using a conceptual model of postpartum depression risk in Latinas including both contextual and cultural stressors, we tested contributions to depressive symptom levels and trajectories over the course of 1 year following birth in a community sample of Latinas. METHOD A multisite sample of low-income U.S.-born and foreign-born Latinas (n = 537; M age = 25.70) was interviewed on many topics including measures of stress and maternal health at 1, 6, and 12 months postpartum. Nested multilevel growth curve models were implemented to test associations of contextual stressors (poverty, domestic violence) with trajectories of depressive symptoms, adjusting for confounds. This model was compared to 1 that added cultural stress variables (everyday discrimination, foreign-born status, language preference, age at immigration) measured 1-month postpartum. RESULTS The best fitting model provided evidence for the independent effects of cultural and contextual stressors. this website Discrimination (β = .13 SE = .02, p = less then .