Search results for "LONG"
showing 10 items of 3969 documents
How Do Unisex Life Care Annuities Embedded in a Pay-As-You-Go Retirement System Affect Gender Redistribution?
2017
This paper deals with the idea of converting retirement benefit into a life care annuity with graded benefits using a pre-existing public pay-as-you-go pension scheme. Based on accurate biometric data from Australia and the US, the paper shows that using gender-neutral annuity factors to compute the initial benefit involves a large increase in ex-ante gender redistribution compared to a system without long-term coverage. In spite of the very different biometric data, the results are surprisingly similar for both countries. To disentangle the hidden redistribution, a methodology based on conversion (actuarial) factors is used. The value of the actuarial factor relies on a multistate framewor…
Notional defined contribution pension schemes: Why does only Sweden distribute the survivor dividend?
2015
The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of the survivor dividend in notional defined contribution (NDC) pension schemes. At present, this feature can only be found in the Swedish defined contribution scheme. We develop a model that endorses the idea that the survivor dividend has a strong basis for enabling the NDC scheme to achieve financial equilibrium and that not including the dividend is a non-transparent way of compensating for increases in longevity and/or legacy costs from old pension systems. We also find that the average effect of the dividend remains unchanged for any constant annual rate of population growth, that contribu-tors who reach retirement age always get a higher r…
Should a Survivorship Dividend Be Included in Notional Defined Contribution Accounts (NDCs)?
2013
The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of the survivor dividend in notional defined contribution (NDC) pension schemes. With this aim in mind, we first extend the model developed by Boado-Penas & Vidal-Melia (2014) by allowing for changes in the growth of the active population. We then compute the effect of the survivor dividend on the relationship between the individual’s internal rate of return for contributors who reach retirement age and the system’s internal rate of return. Finally we develop the main entries to include on the system's actuarial balance sheet. The model endorses the idea that the survivor dividend has a strong basis for enabling the NDC scheme to achieve financia…
Maternal body mass index, change in weight status from childhood to late adulthood and physical activity in older age
2021
This study aimed to examine the longitudinal associations of maternal body mass index (BMI), weight status in childhood and late adulthood and device-measured total physical activity (TPA) in older age. The study involves 552 participants from Helsinki Birth Cohort Study who were born in Helsinki, Finland, in 1934-1944. TPA was measured with a multisensory body monitor at a mean age of 70 years and expressed in metabolic equivalent of task hours/day (METh/d). Childhood overweight (BMI > 85th percentile) was based on school health records at 6-7 years of age, and late adulthood overweight (BMI >= 25 kg/m(2)) was based on clinical measurements at the mean age of 61 years. Childhood overweight…
Argan oil prevents down-regulation induced by endotoxin on liver fatty acid oxidation and gluconeogenesis and on peroxisome proliferator-activated re…
2015
In patients with sepsis, liver metabolism and its capacity to provide other organs with energetic substrates are impaired. This and many other pathophysiological changes seen in human patients are reproduced in mice injected with purified endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide, LPS). In the present study, down-regulation of genes involved in hepatic fatty acid oxidation (FAOx) and gluconeogenesis in mice exposed to LPS was challenged by nutritional intervention with Argan oil. Mice given a standard chow supplemented or not with either 6% (w/w) Argan oil (AO) or 6% (w/w) olive oil (OO) prior to exposure to LPS were explored for liver gene expressions assessed by mRNA transcript levels and/or enzyme a…
Persistence of the effects of the covid-19 lockdown on sleep: A longitudinal study
2021
The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on sleep have been widely documented, but longitudinal evaluations during different phases of the “COVID-19 era” are needed to disentangle the specific consequences of the r145estrictive measures on sleep variables. The aim of this study was to assess the immediate effect of the lockdown’s end on sleep and sleep-related dimensions in an Italian sample, also considering the stress and depressive symptoms. We used an online survey to longitudinally collect data on sociodemographic, environmental, clinical, sleep, and sleep-related variables in two time points: during and immediately after the lockdown. The final sample included 102 participants. The large …
Task persistence mediates the effect of children’s literacy skills on mothers’ academic help
2015
This longitudinal study aimed at examining the relationship between children's task persistence, mothers' academic help, and the development of children’s literacy skills (reading and spelling) at the beginning of primary school. The participants were 870 children, 682 mothers, and 53 class teachers. Data were collected three times – at the beginning and the end of Grade 1 and at the end of Grade 2. Better literacy skills predicted higher persistence in completing school tasks and, correspondingly, higher persistence was related to better subsequent skills. Also, lower task persistence at the end of Grade 1 corresponded to more frequent academic help from mothers in Grade 2. Moreover, child…
Recent progress in understanding the persistent luminescence in SrAl2O4:Eu,Dy
2019
This work was conducted with the funding of Scientific Research Project for Students and Young Researchers realised at the Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia [SJZ/2018/2].
The development of the rank-order stability of the Big Five across the life span.
2021
Several studies have suggested that the rank-order stability of personality increases until midlife and declines later in old age. However, this inverted U-shaped pattern has not consistently emerged in previous research; in particular, a recent investigation implementing several methodological advances failed to support it. To resolve the matter, we analyzed data from two representative panel studies and investigated how certain methodological decisions affect conclusions regarding the age trajectories of stability. The data came from Australia (N = 15,465; Study 1) and Germany (N = 21,777; Study 2), and each study included four waves of personality assessment. We investigated the life spa…
Exercise acts as a drug; the pharmacological benefits of exercise.
2012
The beneficial effects of regular exercise for the promotion of health and cure of diseases have been clearly shown. In this review, we would like to postulate the idea that exercise can be considered as a drug. Exercise causes a myriad of beneficial effects for health, including the promotion of health and lifespan, and these are reviewed in the first section of this paper. Then we deal with the dosing of exercise. As with many drugs, dosing is extremely important to get the beneficial effects of exercise. To this end, the organism adapts to exercise. We review the molecular signalling pathways involved in these adaptations because understanding them is of great importance to be able to pr…