Increased Aβ40 in plasma is associated with severity of exposure to airborne pollutants at the World Trade Center: a cross-sectional study of neurological biomarkers.

World Trade Center (WTC) responders who were more severely exposed to the airborne pollution while working in rescue and recovery work would have heightened circulating levels of β-Amyloid (Aβ) levels in plasma. Plasma for 905 WTC responders was retrieved in 2019 and flash frozen and assayed using single molecule analysis to measure circulating levels of two subtypes of Aβ (Aβ40, Aβ42), alongside phosphorylated tau-181, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), and neurofilament-light. Plasma data were linked to demographics, blood volume, apolipoprotein-ε4 status, and medical outcomes as well as, in a subsample, with neuroimaging-based measures of cortical thickness.

Aging dimensions and markers as relative predictors of mortality in a longitudinal epidemiological sample.

Measurement of aging is critical to understanding its causes and developing interventions, but little consensus exists on what components such measurements should include or how they perform in predicting mortality. The aim of this study was to identify factors of aging among a comprehensive set of indicators, and to evaluate their relative performance in predicting mortality. Measurements on 34 clinical, survey, and neuroimaging variables, along with epigenetic age markers, were obtained from two waves (2004-2021) of the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study.

Cumulative social advantage across the lifespan: Examining the convergent and predictive validity of a multidimensional hierarchical construct for health and longevity.

This study introduces the concept of cumulative social advantage as a hierarchical construct encompassing multiple aspects of social connection, including religious, psychosocial, familial, and emotional dimensions. Using data from the Midlife Development in the United States-II ( = 4,028) and Refresher ( = 2,586) cohorts, we assessed the dimensionality, replicability, measurement invariance, and validity of a hierarchical model. Results support measurement invariance across demographic groups and demonstrate the model's convergent and predictive validity.

World Trade Center response activities and cognitive health: A moderated mediation study of the role of surgical/nuisance dust mask usage.

Objective: This study explores the relationship between World Trade Center (WTC) response activities (WRAs) and cognitive impairment (CI) and uses a moderated-mediation model to examine the role of wearing a surgical/nuisance dust mask.

Methods: This study includes 3285 WTC responders. Responders were placed into eight WRA groups based on self-report structured responses and free-text descriptions of activities at the WTC.

Prevalence of Mild and Severe Cognitive Impairment in World Trade Center Exposed Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) and General Emergency Responders.

Background: The emergency personnel who responded to the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks endured severe occupational exposures, yet the prevalence of cognitive impairment remains unknown among WTC-exposed-FDNY-responders. The present study screened for mild and severe cognitive impairment in WTC-exposed FDNY responders using objective tests, compared prevalence rates to a cohort of non-FDNY WTC-exposed responders, and descriptively to meta-analytic estimates of MCI from global, community, and clinical populations.

Methods: A sample of WTC-exposed-FDNY responders (n = 343) was recruited to complete an extensive battery of cognitive, psychological, and physical tests.

Associations Between Loneliness, Epigenetic Aging, and Multimorbidity Through Older Adulthood.

Objectives: Loneliness is a pressing public health concern, but the mechanisms by which it leads to declining physical health are uncertain. Prior work has begun to explore epigenetic pathways, with some evidence suggesting a link between loneliness and DNA methylation, though it is unclear whether epigenetic variation can help explain loneliness-health associations.

Methods: Associations between loneliness and epigenetic age acceleration (EAA) were estimated, as well as the degree to which EAA mediated and moderated the association between loneliness and the development of chronic physical health conditions (multimorbidity) in older adulthood.

Prevalence of Mild and Severe Cognitive Impairment in World Trade Center Exposed Fire Department of the City of New York (FDNY) and General Emergency Responders.

Background: The emergency personnel who responded to the World Trade Center (WTC) attacks endured severe occupational exposures, yet the prevalence of cognitive impairment remains unknown among WTC-exposed-FDNY-responders. The present study screened for mild and severe cognitive impairment in WTC-exposed FDNY responders using objective tests, compared prevalence rates to a cohort of non-FDNY WTC-exposed responders, and descriptively to meta-analytic estimates of MCI from global, community, and clinical populations.

Methods: A sample of WTC-exposed-FDNY responders ( = 343) was recruited to complete an extensive battery of cognitive, psychological, and physical tests.

Cross-sectional association between posttraumatic stress and cognition is moderated by pulmonary functioning in world trade center responders.

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptomatology and poorer pulmonary function are highly prevalent psychiatric and medical conditions. In the present study, we tested for the individual, additive, and modifying associations of PTSD symptomatology and pulmonary function with cognitive performance.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, a total of 1,401 World Trade Center (WTC) responders (mean age = 53, SD = 8 years, 92% males) participated in the study.

Incidence of Dementia Before Age 65 Years Among World Trade Center Attack Responders.

Importance: Reports suggest that the individuals who served in rescue operations following the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center (WTC) have poorer brain health than expected.

Objective: To assess the incidence of dementia before age 65 years in a prospective study of WTC responders and to compare incidence among responders with severe exposures to debris vs responders not exposed to building debris or who wore personalized protective equipment (PPE).

Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective cohort study was conducted from November 1, 2014, to January 1, 2023, in an academic medical monitoring program available to verified WTC responders residing on Long Island, New York.

A novel approach to model cumulative stress: Area under the s-factor curve.

Objective: Using a large longitudinal sample of adults from the Midlife in the United States (MIDUS) study, the present study extended a recently developed hierarchical model to determine how best to model the accumulation of stressors, and to determine whether the rate of change in stressors or traditional composite scores of stressors are stronger predictors of health outcomes.

Method: We used factor analysis to estimate a stress-factor score and then, to operationalize the accumulation of stressors we examined five approaches to aggregating information about repeated exposures to multiple stressors. The predictive validity of these approaches was then assessed in relation to different health outcomes.

Behavioral Impairments and Increased Risk of Cortical Atrophy Risk Scores Among World Trade Center Responders.

World Trade Center (WTC) responders are susceptible to both cognitive and neuropsychiatric impairments, particularly chronic posttraumatic stress disorder. The present study examined self-reported behavioral impairments in a sample of 732 WTC responders, 199 of whom were determined to have high risk of WTC-related cortical atrophy by an artificial neural network. We found that responders at increased risk of cortical atrophy showed behavioral impairment across five domains: motivation, mood, disinhibition, empathy, and psychosis (14.

Cohort Changes and Sex Differences After Age 50 in Cognitive Variables in the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing.

Objectives: This paper models cognitive aging, across mid and late life, and estimates birth cohort and sex differences in both initial levels and aging trajectories over time in a sample with multiple cohorts and a wide span of ages.

Methods: The data used in this study came from the first 9 waves of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, spanning 2002-2019. There were n = 76,014 observations (proportion male 45%).

Linking genetic foundations of sleep disturbances to personality traits: a study of mid-life twins.

Risk of sleep disturbances depends on individuals' personality, and a large body of evidence indicates that individuals prone to neuroticism, impulsivity, and (low) extraversion are more likely to experience them. Origins of these associations are unclear, but common genetic background may play an important role. Participants included 405 twin pairs (mean age of 54 years; 59% female) from the National Survey of Midlife Development in the United States (MIDUS) who reported on their personality traits (broad and specific), as well as sleep disturbances (problems with falling asleep, staying asleep, waking early, and feeling unrested).

It Runs in the Family: Testing for Longitudinal Family Flynn Effects.

The Flynn effect refers to increases over time in measured (particularly fluid) intelligence of approximately 3 IQ points per decade. We define the Flynn effect at the family level, using longitudinal data and two new family-level cohort definitions. Multilevel growth curve analyses of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 data showed that children in families with later-born mothers had higher average PIAT math scores, and lower average reading comprehension scores and growth, in young and middle childhood.

Pathological personality in relation to multiple domains of quality of life and impairment: Evidence for the specific relevance of the maladaptive poles of major trait domains.

The current study examined whether personality domains have nonmonotonic relationships with functional outcomes, specifically in relation to quality of life and impairment. Four samples were utilized, which were drawn from the United States and Germany. Personality trait domains were measured via the IPIP-NEO and PID-5; quality of life (QoL) was measured with the WHOQOL-BREF, and impairment was measured using the WHODAS-2.

Discrimination Exposure and Polygenic Risk for Obesity in Adulthood: Testing Gene-Environment Correlations and Interactions.

Introduction: Exposure to discrimination has emerged as a risk factor for obesity. It remains unclear, however, whether the genotype of the individual can modulate the sensitivity or response to discrimination exposure (gene × environment interaction) or increase the likelihood of experiencing discrimination (gene-environment correlation).

Methods: This was an observational study of 4,102 white/European Americans in the Health and Retirement Study with self-reported, biological assessments, and genotyped data from 2006 to 2014.

Intersectional vulnerability in the relationship between discrimination and inflammatory gene expression.

Addressing social disparities in health and well-being requires understanding how the effects of discrimination become biologically embedded, and how embedding processes might vary across different demographic contexts. Emerging research suggests that a threat-related gene expression response may contribute to social disparities in health. We tested a contextual vulnerability model of discrimination embedding using an empirical intersectionality (interaction discovery) analysis of pro-inflammatory gene expression in a national sample of non-institutionalized, English-speaking adults with RNA biomarker data (n = 543).

Comparing Phenotypic, Genetic, and Environmental Associations between Personality and Loneliness.

As a strong risk factor for mortality, individual differences in loneliness are of clear public health significance. Four of the Big Five traits have emerged as cross-sectional correlates, but the etiology of these links is unclear, as are relations with more specific personality facets. Thus, we estimated phenotypic, genetic, and environmental associations between loneliness and both broader and narrower personality dimensions.

A Mixed-Methods Approach to Refining and Measuring the Construct of Positive Risk-Taking in Adolescence.

Adolescence is a peak period for risk-taking, but research has largely overlooked positive manifestations of adolescent risk-taking due to ambiguity regarding operationalization and measurement of positive risk-taking. We address this limitation using a mixed-methods approach. We elicited free responses from contemporary college students (N = 74, M  = 20.

Polygenic association of glomerular filtration rate decline in world trade center responders.

Background: The factors associated with estimated glomerular filtrate rate (eGFR) decline in low risk adults remain relatively unknown. We hypothesized that a polygenic risk score (PRS) will be associated with eGFR decline.

Methods: We analyzed genetic data from 1,601 adult participants with European ancestry in the World Trade Center Health Program (baseline age 49.

The weight of childhood adversity: evidence that childhood adversity moderates the impact of genetic risk on waist circumference in adulthood.

Objective: The present study tested the interactive effects of childhood adversity and polygenic risk scores for waist circumference (PRS-WC) on waist circumference (WC). Consistent with a diathesis-stress model, we hypothesize that the relationship between PRS-WC and WC will be magnified by increasing levels of childhood adversity.

Methods: Observational study of 7976 adults (6347 European Americans and 1629 African Americans) in the Health and Retirement Study with genotyped data.

Comparing associations between personality and loneliness at midlife across three cultural groups.

Objective: Loneliness represents a public health threat given its central role in predicting adverse mental and physical health outcomes. Prior research has established four of the Big Five personality traits as consistent cross-sectional predictors of loneliness in largely western, White samples. However, it is not clear if the personality predictors of loneliness vary across cultures.

Demographic correlates of inflammatory and antiviral gene expression in the study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS).

The present study examined the demographic correlates of gene expression in a sample of adults ( = 543) from the Study of Midlife in the United States (MIDUS). Inflammatory and antiviral gene sets were operationalized using composite scores and empirically derived co-regulatory gene sets. For both composite scores and co-regulatory gene sets, White/European Americans showed lower while Black/African Americans showed higher expression of genes involved in interferon responses and antibody synthesis.