Spatial, temporal, and demographic nonstationary dynamics of COVID-19 exposure among older adults in the U.S.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Huang Q
PROVIDER: S-EPMC11341038 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Spatial and temporal expectations act synergistically to facilitate visual perception. In the current study, we sought to investigate the anticipatory oscillatory markers of combined spatial-temporal orienting and to test whether these decline with ageing. We examined anticipatory neural dynamics associated with joint spatial-temporal orienting of attention using magnetoencephalography (MEG) in both younger and older adults. Participants performed a cued covert spatial-temporal orienting task requiring the discrimination of a visual target. Cues indicated both where and when targets would appear. In both age groups, valid spatial-temporal cues significantly enhanced perceptual sensitivity and reduced reaction times. In the MEG data, the main effect of spatial orienting was the lateralised anticipatory modulation of posterior alpha and beta oscillations. In contrast to previous reports, this modulation was not attenuated in older adults; instead it was even more pronounced. The main effect of temporal orienting was a bilateral suppression of posterior alpha and beta oscillations. This effect was restricted to younger adults. Our results also revealed a striking interaction between anticipatory spatial and temporal orienting in the gamma-band (60-75 Hz). When considering both age groups separately, this effect was only clearly evident and only survived statistical evaluation in the older adults. Together, these observations provide several new insights into the neural dynamics supporting separate as well as combined effects of spatial and temporal orienting of attention, and suggest that different neural dynamics associated with attentional orienting appear differentially sensitive to ageing.
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Project description:Although the disparities in COVID-19 outcomes have been proved, they have not been explicitly associated with COVID-19 full vaccinations. This paper examines the spatial and temporal patterns of the county-level COVID-19 case rates, fatality rates, and full vaccination rates in the United States from December 24, 2020 through September 30, 2021. Statistical and geospatial analyses show clear temporal and spatial patterns of the progression of COVID-19 outcomes and vaccinations. In the relationship between two time series, the fatality rates series was positively related to past lags of the case rates series. At the same time, case rates series and fatality rates series were negatively related to past lags of the full vaccination rates series. The lag level varies across urban and rural areas. The results of partial correlation, ordinary least squares (OLS) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR) also confirmed that the existing COVID-19 infections and different sets of socioeconomic, healthcare access, health conditions, and environmental characteristics were independently associated with COVID-19 vaccinations over time and space. These results empirically identify the geographic health disparities with COVID-19 vaccinations and outcomes and provide the evidentiary basis for targeting pandemic recovery and public health mitigation actions.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s44212-022-00019-9.
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Project description:BackgroundDiseases such as COVID-19 are spread through social contact. Reducing social contacts is required to stop disease spread in pandemics for which vaccines have not yet been developed. However, existing data on social contact patterns in the United States (U.S.) is limited.MethodWe use American Time Use Survey data from 2003-2018 to describe and quantify the age-pattern of disease-relevant social contacts. For within-household contacts, we construct age-structured contact duration matrices (who spends time with whom, by age). For both within-household and non-household contacts, we also estimate the mean number and duration of contact by location. We estimate and test for differences in the age-pattern of social contacts based on demographic, temporal, and spatial characteristics.ResultsThe mean number and duration of social contacts vary by age. The biggest gender differences in the age-pattern of social contacts are at home and at work; the former appears to be driven by caretaking responsibilities. Non-Hispanic Blacks have a shorter duration of contact and fewer social contacts than non-Hispanic Whites. This difference is largely driven by fewer and shorter contacts at home. Pre-pandemic, non-Hispanic Blacks have shorter durations of work contacts. Their jobs are more likely to require close physical proximity, so their contacts are riskier than those of non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics have the highest number of household contacts and are also more likely to work in jobs requiring close physical proximity than non-Hispanic Whites. With the exceptions of work and school contacts, the duration of social contact is higher on weekends than on weekdays. Seasonal differences in the total duration of social contacts are driven by school-aged respondents who have significantly shorter contacts during the summer months. Contact patterns did not differ by metro status. Age patterns of social contacts were similar across regions.ConclusionSocial contact patterns differ by age, race and ethnicity, and gender. Other factors besides contact patterns may be driving seasonal variation in disease incidence if school-aged individuals are not an important source of transmission. Pre-pandemic, there were no spatial differences in social contacts, but this finding has likely changed during the pandemic.
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Project description:Understanding the temporal dynamics of communities is crucial to predict how communities respond to climate change. Several factors can promote variation in phenology among species, including tracking of seasonal resources, adaptive responses to other species, demographic stochasticity, and physiological constraints. The activities of ectothermic vertebrates are sensitive to climatic variations due to the effect of temperature and humidity on species physiology. However, most studies on temporal dynamics have analyzed multi-year data and do not have resolution to discriminate within-year patterns that can determine community assembly cycles. Here, we tested the temporal stability and synchrony of calling activity and also how climatic variables influence anuran species composition throughout the year in a metacommunity in the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil. Using a multivariate method, we described how the relationship between species composition and climatic variables changes through time. The metacommunity showed a weak synchronous spatial pattern, meaning that species responded independently to environmental variation. Interestingly, species composition exhibited a nonstationary response to climate, suggesting that climate affects species composition differently depending on the season. The species-climate relationship was stronger during the spring, summer, and winter, mainly influenced by temperature, rainfall, and humidity. Thus, temporal community dynamics seem to be mediated by species life-history traits, in which independent fluctuations promote community stability in temporally varying environments.
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Project description:Pyrethroid compounds are widely used in household insecticides and agricultural pesticides. Recent studies, however, report that pyrethroid exposures affect neurobehavioral function in animals and may be associated with adverse neurocognitive development in children. This study aimed to examine the association between pyrethroid exposure and cognitive dysfunction in older adults using a well-defined general population. We analyzed data from 336 individuals, aged 60-84 years, who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2001-2002. We used urinary 3-phenoxybenzoic acid (3-PBA) concentration as a biomarker of pyrethroid exposures and assessed cognitive function with the digit-symbol coding test. The geometric means (±geometric standard errors) of creatinine-uncorrected and corrected urinary 3-PBA were 0.30 (±0.87) μg/L and 0.36 (±0.89) μg/g. After adjusting for sociodemographic factors, higher 3-PBA concentrations (> vs. ≤0.30 μg/g creatinine (median)) were associated with lower scores of cognitive function (-3.83 95% confidence interval: -7.11, -0.54). Significance was persistent after additionally adjusting for physical activity and smoking pack-year (-3.76 95% CI: -7.16, -0.36) and further adjusting for BMI and presence of hypertension and diabetes (-3.82 95% CI: -6.92, -0.71). Our findings suggest that pyrethroid exposure is associated with cognitive dysfunction in older adults.
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Project description:In early 2020, Ecuador reported one of the highest surges of per capita deaths across the globe. We collected a comprehensive dataset containing individual death records between 2015 and 2020 from the Ecuadorian National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government. We computed the number of excess deaths across time, geographical locations and demographic groups using Poisson regression methods. Between January 1 st and September 23 rd , 2020, the number of excess deaths in Ecuador is 36,402 (95% CI: 35,762-36,827) or 208 per 10 5 population, which is 171% of the expected deaths in that period in a typical year. Only 20% of the excess deaths are attributable to confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Strikingly, in provinces that were most affected by COVID-19, such as Guayas and Santa Elena, the all-cause deaths are more than double the expected number of deaths that would have occurred in a normal year. The extent of excess deaths in men is higher than in women, and the number of excess deaths increases with age. Indigenous populations had the highest level of excess deaths among all ethnic groups. Overall, the exceptionally high level of excess deaths in Ecuador highlights the enormous burden and heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 on mortality especially in older age groups and indigenous populations in Ecuador that was not fully revealed by COVID-19 death counts. Together with the limited testing in Ecuador, our results suggest that the majority of the excess deaths were likely to be undocumented COVID-19 deaths.
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Project description:BackgroundIn early 2020, Ecuador reported one of the highest surges of per capita deaths across the globe.MethodsWe collected a comprehensive dataset containing individual death records between 2015 and 2020, from the Ecuadorian National Institute of Statistics and Census and the Ecuadorian Ministry of Government. We computed the number of excess deaths across time, geographical locations and demographic groups using Poisson regression methods.ResultsBetween 1 January and 23 September 2020, the number of excess deaths in Ecuador was 36 402 [95% confidence interval (CI): 35 762-36 827] or 208 per 100 000 people, which is 171% of the expected deaths in that period in a typical year. Only 20% of the excess deaths are attributable to confirmed COVID-19 deaths. Strikingly, in provinces that were most affected by COVID-19 such as Guayas and Santa Elena, the all-cause deaths are more than double the expected number of deaths that would have occurred in a normal year. The extent of excess deaths in men is higher than in women, and the number of excess deaths increases with age. Indigenous populations had the highest level of excess deaths among all ethnic groups.ConclusionsOverall, the exceptionally high level of excess deaths in Ecuador highlights the enormous burden and heterogeneous impact of COVID-19 on mortality, especially in older age groups and Indigenous populations in Ecuador, which was not fully revealed by COVID-19 death counts. Together with the limited testing in Ecuador, our results suggest that the majority of the excess deaths were likely to be undocumented COVID-19 deaths.
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Project description:Analysis of the structure, diversity, and demographic dynamics of tree assemblages in tropical forests is especially important in order to evaluate local and regional successional trajectories.We conducted a long-term study to investigate how the structure, species richness, and diversity of secondary tropical forests change over time. Trees (DBH ≥ 5 cm) in the Atlantic Forest of southern Brazil were sampled twice during a 10-year period (2007 and 2017) in six stands (1 ha each) that varied in age from their last disturbance (25, 60, 75, 90, and more than 100 years). We compared forest structure (abundance and basal area), species richness, alpha diversity, demographic rates (mortality, recruitment, and loss or gain in basal area), species composition, spatial beta diversity, and temporal beta diversity (based on turnover and nestedness indices) among stand ages and study years.Demographic rates recorded in a 10-year interval indicate a rapid and dynamic process of species substitution and structural changes. Structural recovery occurred faster than beta diversity and species composition recovery. The successional gradient showed a pattern of species trade-off over time, with less spatial dissimilarity and faster demographic rates in younger stands. As stands grow older, they show larger spatial turnover of species than younger stands, making them more stochastic in relation to species composition. Stands appear to split chronologically to some extent, but not across a straightforward linear axis, reflecting stochastic changes, providing evidence for the formation of a nonequilibrium community. Policy implications. These results reiterate the complexity and variability in forest succession and serve as a reference for the evaluation and monitoring of local management and conservation actions and for defining regional strategies that consider the diversity of local successional trajectories to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration measures in secondary forests of the Atlantic Forest biome.
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Project description:BackgroundThe success of vaccination efforts to curb the COVID-19 pandemic will require broad public uptake of immunization and highlights the importance of understanding factors associated with willingness to receive a vaccine.MethodsU.S. adults aged 65 and older enrolled in the HeartlineTM clinical study were invited to complete a COVID-19 vaccine assessment through the HeartlineTM mobile application between November 6-20, 2020. Factors associated with willingness to receive a COVID-19 vaccine were evaluated using an ordered logistic regression as well as a Random Forest classification algorithm.ResultsAmong 9,106 study participants, 81.3% (n = 7402) responded and had available demographic data. The majority (91.3%) reported a willingness to be vaccinated. Factors most strongly associated with vaccine willingness were beliefs about the safety and efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines and vaccines in general. Women and Black or African American respondents reported lower willingness to vaccinate. Among those less willing to get vaccinated, 66.2% said that they would talk with their health provider before making a decision. During the study, positive results from the first COVID-19 vaccine outcome study were released; vaccine willingness increased after this report.ConclusionsEven among older adults at high-risk for COVID-19 complications who are participating in a longitudinal clinical study, 1 in 11 reported lack of willingness to receive COVID-19 vaccine in November 2020. Variability in vaccine willingness by gender, race, education, and income suggests the potential for uneven vaccine uptake. Education by health providers directed toward assuaging concerns about vaccine safety and efficacy can help improve vaccine acceptance among those less willing.Trial registrationClinicaltrials.gov NCT04276441.
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