Since the introduction of sunbleak (Leucaspius delineatus) to southern England in 1986, its life history characteristics (such as reproductive behaviour, early sexual maturity and an unusually small adult size) have contributed to its rapid dispersal. This study examines the length-weight relationships and age of this non-indigenous cyprinid to highlight the potential threat to native 0+ cyprinids. Sunbleak populations demonstrated an unusual growth pattern for a cyprinid, with an average of 42 % of its maximum growth occurring in the first year, followed by extremely low annual growth until death. Very few significant differences were found between the mean length of several sunbleak age groups and the length of native 0+ bream Abramis brama, roach Rutilus rutilus, bleak Alburnus alburnus and rudd Scardinius erythrophthalmus. We have also found that young-of-the-year of these cyprinids share the same food and habitat with all sunbleak year class, which in some places has had a detrimental impact on the recruitment of native species.
It is unknown whether physiological ageing also goes along with electromechanical asynchrony of contraction. Aim of the study was to evaluate synchrony of contraction in older people with (“non-healthy”) or without (”healthy”) evidence for structural cardiac disease. In 547 persons (age 76.7±5.5 years, 306 male, 241 female) recruited from a population-based cohort of the ActiFE-Ulm study including a random sample of people ≥65 years old living in the region of Ulm, Germany, various PW- and TDI-Doppler based markers for asynchrony were obtained by echocardiography. Within a subgroup of 84 healthy subjects, at most minimal systolic and diastolic asynchrony was found. Concerning systolic asynchrony, similar observations were made within the non-healthy subgroup. However, extent of diastolic left ventricular intraventricular asynchrony and also – by tendency –
diastolic interventricular asynchrony was increased in comparison to the healthy subgroup. To conclude, no evidence that physiological ageing might go along with relevant left or right ventricular systolic or diastolic electromechanical asynchrony was found in our study. Furthermore, our population-based data support the results from other clinical studies with rather selected cohorts that structural heart diseases might go along with increased diastolic asynchrony.
The aim of this study is to find out which characteristics affect the age identity of individuals. The main question is: What determines whether the people in the Czech Republic find themselves young, middle aged or old? Two alternative hypotheses were tested: a) the age identity is mainly influenced by person's family and working roles; b) the age identity is primarily a function of person’s chronological age and his health. While the second hypothesis understands the age identity as an ordinal variable, the first hypothesis views values of youth, middle age and old age as three different nominal constructs. The question is answered by analysis of quantitative data from European Social Survey Round 4. The sample contains 1864 respondents aged 20-95. Author uses binary logistic regression to find models for adopting age identities in different age categories. The second hypothesis of age identity being primarily an effect of age and health is proved. The influence of some family and working roles on age identity are, however, also discussed., Romana Trusinová., and Obsahuje bibliografii a bibliografické odkazy
The aim of this study is to find out which characteristics affect the age identity of individuals. The main question is: What determines whether the people in the Czech Republic find themselves young, middle aged or old? Two alternative hypotheses were tested: a) the age identity is mainly influenced by person’s family and working roles; b) the age identity is primarily a function of person’s chronological age and his health. While the second hypothesis understands the age identity as an ordinal variable, the first hypothesis views values of youth, middle age and old age as three different nominal constructs. The question is answered by analysis of quantitative data from European Social Survey Round 4. The sample contains 1864 respondents aged 20-95. Author uses binary logistic regression to find models for adopting age identities in different age categories. The second hypothesis of age identity being primarily an effect of age and health is proved. The influence of some family and working roles on age identity are, however, also discussed.
The paper focuses on the union formation in later life using SHARELIFE data from 13 European countries. First, it shows that proportion of single individuals aged 50-69 and the proportion of those who (re)partner vary significantly across European countries. The highest levels of (re)partnering were observed in Scandinavia and the lowest in Southern and Central Europe. Second, it shows that women are much less likely to enter a new coresidential union than men in all studied countries but the relative difference between men and women vary. The smallest difference was observed in Scandinavia and the Czech Republic, the largest in Southern Europe, Austria, and Switzerland. Third, repartnered individuals tend to be younger, more educated, and more likely divorced than widowed comparing to those who stay single., Dana Hamplová., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Plants of spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Saxana) were grown during the autumn. Over the growth phase of three leaves (37 d after sowing), some of the plants were shaded and the plants were grown at 100 (control without shading), 70, and 40 % photosynthetically active radiation. Over 12 d, chlorophyll (Chl) and total protein (TP) contents, rate of CO2 assimilation (PN), maximal efficiency of photosystem 2 photochemistry (FV/FP), level of lipid peroxidation, and activities of antioxidative enzymes ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) were followed in the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd leaves (counted according to their emergence). In un-shaded plants, the Chl and TP contents, PN, and FV/FP decreased during plant ageing. Further, lipid peroxidation increased, while the APX and GR activities related to the fresh mass (FM) decreased. The APX activity related to the TP content increased in the 3rd leaves. The plant shading accelerated senescence including the increase in lipid peroxidation especially in the 1st leaves and intensified the changes in APX and GR activities. We suggest that in the 2nd and 3rd leaves a degradation of APX was slowed down, which could reflect a tendency to maintain the antioxidant protection in chloroplasts of these leaves. and M. Špundová ... [et al.].
Záměr. Studie shrnuje poznatky o použití české verze Dotazníku proaktivního zvládání (Proactive Coping Inventory, PCI) u seniorské populace. V práci je srovnáván vztah mezi jednotlivými škálami dotazníku PCI, paměťovým výkonem a koncentrací.
Soubor a procedura. Soubor tvořilo 257 samostatně žijících dospělých ve věku 55 až 92 let z Prahy a okolí. Při výzkumu byl využit Dotazník proaktivního zvládání. Paměťový výkon byl měřen pomocí Paměťového testu učení (AVLT) a subtestu Logická paměť z WMS-III. Kromě kognitivních testů byly administrovány dotazníky Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (CFQ), Schwartz Outcomes Scale (SOS-10) a doplňkové škály Implicitního asociačního testu zaměřeného na sebehodnocení (IAT).
Statistická analýza. Nejprve byla provedena psychometrická analýza škál dotazníku PCI, kde autoři zjišťovali vnitřní konsistenci škál a korelace jednotlivých položek v rámci škály. V druhém kroku byly zjišťovány vztahy mezi vzděláním, věkem a jednotlivými škálami PCI pomocí korelací (Spearmanův koeficient korelace). Pomocí korelační analýzy byl srovnáván vztah jednotlivých škál PCI s výsledky ostatních nástrojů.
Výsledky. Srovnání ukázalo, že paradoxně horší paměťový výkon souvisí s vyšší preferencí řešení situací, které zahrnují reflexi a plánování (škály reflektivní řešení a strategické řešení situací). Tento jev je interpretován jako kompenzace. Psychometrická analýza potvrdila, že česká verze dotazníku má při použití u starších osob srovnatelné vlastnosti s původním nástrojem. U seniorů byly nalezeny nižší hodnoty Proaktivního zvládání.
Omezení studie. Sledovaný soubor není reprezentativní, převažují v něm ženy, a úroveň vzdělání je nadprůměrná. and Proactive coping and cognitive performance in elderly
Objectives. The study reports the results of Czech version of Proactive Coping Inventory (PCI) in the elderly. The results of PCI subscales were compared to the cognitive performance in memory and attention domains.
Subjects and setting. The sample included 257 community-dwelling senior citizens from Prague region. The Czech version of Proactive Coping Inventory was administered. The memory performance was assessed using AVLT and Logical Memory subtest from WMS-III. Besides the cognitive tests Cognitive Failure Questionnaire (CFQ), Schwartz Outcomes Scale (SOS-10) and explicit measures from self-esteem Implicit Association Test were administered. Statistical analysis. The psychometric properties of PCI subscales were calculated (Cronbach alpha, item-scale correlations). The relationship of PCI subscales to demographic factors (age, education), cognitive performance and other measures was investigated in correlation analysis.
Results. Contrary to prior expectations worse cognitive performance is related to higher scores in Reflective Coping and Strategic Planning subscales, which refer to the use of reflection and planning. This effect is interpreted as a compensation mechanism. The psychometric analysis confirmed similar psychometric properties of the questionnaire in elderly compared to the original study. Lower Proactive Coping scores were found in this study.
Study limitations. The sample is not representative, with majority of women and above-average education level.
V posledních letech se můžeme v gerontologické literatuře setkat s novými termíny reflektujícím jevy nové či nově sledované. Mezi tyto termíny patří tzv. „SuperAging“. Tato stať seznamuje čtenáře s obsahem termínu ve dvou hlavních souvislostech: 1) v rámci společnosti – sociologie a demografie, 2) v rámci neuropsychologie a kognitivního stárnutí jedinců. Cílem je rozšířit tyto pojmy a jejich obsah mezi českou psychologickou obec. and Novel terms have been introduced in gerontology, reflecting new or newly observed phenomena. „SuperAging“ is one of those terms. This text introduces its content to the readers in the main areas of interest: 1) societal view of sociology and demography, 2) neuropsychology and cognitive ageing of individuals. Our goal is to make the aspects of SuperAgeing familiar to Czech psychologists.
We studied the genetic architecture of the differences in the longevity between lines selected for postponed senescence and a control population of the seed beetle Acanthoscelides obtectus maintained on two hosts. By using lines with increased longevity, which were obtained by selection on natural variation in longevity, we showed that the genetic architecture of seed beetle longevity is complex, with sex-specific effects and variation attributable to many interacting genes, whose expression depend on the host on which the beetles were reared. The nonadditive genetic effects were more strongly expressed when reared on chickpeas, a novel host, than on beans. Outbreeding depression, with respect to longevity, was a consequence of both the intrinsic effect of interactions between genes from different parental sources (disruption of coadapted gene complexes) and the genotype × host interaction (loss of local adaptation).
Senescence-induced changes in the xanthophyll cycle activity and chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence parameters were compared in detached barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) leaf segments kept for 6 d in darkness or under continuous " white light" (90 μmol m-2 s-1). Before detachment of the leaf segments, the plants were grown at periodic regime [12 h light (90 μmol m-2 s-1)/12 h dark]. The de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle pigments (DEPS) in the leaf samples was determined immediately (the actual DEPS), after 1 h of dark-adaptation (the residual DEPS), and during 14 min of a high-irradiance (HI) exposure (500 μmol m-2 s-1) (HI-induced DEPS). In the light-senescing segments, senescence was delayed pronouncedly compared to dark-senescing ones as the Chl content, the photosystem 2 photochemistry, and electron transport processes were highly maintained. Further, the actual DEPS increased, probably due to the increased mean photon dose. The HI-induced increase in the DEPS was stimulated in the light-senescing segments, whereas it was slowed down in the dark-senescing ones. However, after the 14 min HI-exposure of the dark-senescing segments the HI-induced DEPS was not markedly lower than in the mature leaves, which indicated the maintenance of the xanthophyll cycle operation. and M. Špundová, K. Strzałka, J. Nauš.