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The prevention of fraud against older adults and other age groups, has been the subject of limited research with very few systematic attempts to map different tools and strategies that are used. This paper using the UK and South Korea as a starting point, but other countries too, maps some of the most common tools and strategies used to prevent frauds that target older adults. It develops the first comprehensive typology of strategies built upon the degree to which they embrace modern technology. It shows much of the prevention used is low tech, but high-tech solutions rooted in the fourth industrial revolution technologies are emerging and growing. The paper draws these different strategies and tools together to offer a holistic model for the prevention of fraud against older adults for further debate and utilisation by professionals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Suicide is the leading cause of death of children and young people under 35 in the UK, and suicide rates are rising in this age group. Schools are considered an appropriate and logical setting for youth suicide prevention activities, with universal, selective, and indicated approaches all demonstrating efficacy. Given that international best practice recommends suicide prevention programmes combine these approaches, and that to date this has not been done in school settings in the UK, this study aims to evaluate the feasibility of delivering a suicide prevention programme incorporating universal, selective, and indicated components in UK schools. Methods: This study is a feasibility cluster-randomised controlled trial (RCT) of an adapted version of the Multimodal Approach to Preventing Suicide in Schools (MAPSS) programme. The programme, initially developed in Australia, involves delivering universal psychoeducation to all pupils, screening them for suicide risk, and delivering Internet-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (Reframe IT-UK) to those students identified as being at high-risk for suicide. The programme will be trialled in six secondary schools in Northwest England and will target Year 10 students (14- and 15-year-olds). The primary aims are to assess: 1) the acceptability and safety of delivering MAPSS in a school setting in the UK; 2) the social validity of the MAPSS programme; and 3) the feasibility of delivering a large-scale, appropriately powered, cluster-RCT and economic evaluation of this intervention in the future. Secondary aims are to assess changes over time in mental health and wellbeing outcomes. Discussion: This study is the first to evaluate a suicide prevention programme comprising universal, selective, and indicated components in UK schools. If the programme is found to be feasible, it could be more widely tested in schools and may ultimately lead to reduced rates of suicide and suicidal behaviour in young people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mechanisms through which most known Alzheimer's disease (AD) loci operate to increase AD risk remain unclear. Although Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is known to regulate lipid homeostasis, the effects of broader AD genetic liability on non-lipid metabolites remain unknown, and the earliest ages at which metabolic perturbations occur and how these change over time are yet to be elucidated. We examined the effects of AD genetic liability on the plasma metabolome across the life course. Using a reverse Mendelian randomization framework in two population-based cohorts [Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC, n = 5648) and UK Biobank (n ≤ 118,466)], we estimated the effects of genetic liability to AD on 229 plasma metabolites, at seven different life stages, spanning 8 to 73 years. We also compared the specific effects of APOE ε4 and APOE ε2 carriage on metabolites. In ALSPAC, AD genetic liability demonstrated the strongest positive associations with cholesterol-related traits, with similar magnitudes of association observed across all age groups including in childhood. In UK Biobank, the effect of AD liability on several lipid traits decreased with age. Fatty acid metabolites demonstrated positive associations with AD liability in both cohorts, though with smaller magnitudes than lipid traits. Sensitivity analyses indicated that observed effects are largely driven by the strongest AD instrument, APOE, with many contrasting effects observed on lipids and fatty acids for both ε4 and ε2 carriage. Our findings indicate pronounced effects of the ε4 and ε2 genetic variants on both pro- and anti-atherogenic lipid traits and sphingomyelins, which begin in childhood and either persist into later life or appear to change dynamically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigated the effects of long-term greenspace deprivation on sleep during adolescence. Using data from a UK birth cohort, we studied deviations from age-recommended sleep duration through Time Use Diaries. Our sample (N = 1370; 53% female) of urban adolescents had been exposed to the same levels of neighbourhood greenspace from birth up to age 14 years when their time use was tracked. We factored in sex and ethnicity, family income, long-term illness, sharing of a bedroom, access to a garden, as well as air pollution and perceived area safety. Even after full adjustment, there was a significant interaction between greenspace availability and income when predicting sleep duration, such that low-income adolescents living in the greyest urban areas were found to sleep more than the 8–10 h recommended for their age group, while the inverse was true for their counterparts living in areas with more greenspace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]