In 2 experiments, young and older adults demonstrated modality effects of similar magnitude in perceptual identification tasks. That is, both young and older adults demonstrated more repetition priming when study and test modalities matched than when they were different, suggesting that contextual information was equally available across age. However, when asked explicitly to retrieve modality information, older adults were less accurate than young adults. These results constitute evidence for a dissociation between direct and indirect measures of memory for modality information. They call into question hypotheses that memory impairment in old age is due to deficient encoding of contextual information and challenge current accounts of modality effects in repetition priming.

The present study provides implications for both researchers and clinicians. Contrary to previous studies, results indicate that depressed and anxious older adults commonly use reminiscence and therefore may be appropriate candidates for reminiscence treatments.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has developed a Standard Reference Material (SRM) to support technology development in metabolomics research. SRM 1950 Metabolites in Human Plasma is intended to have metabolite concentrations that are representative of those found in adult human plasma. The plasma used in the preparation of SRM 1950 was collected from both male and female donors, and donor ethnicity targets were selected based upon the ethnic makeup of the U.S. population. Metabolomics research is diverse in terms of both instrumentation and scientific goals. This SRM was designed to apply broadly to the field, not toward specific applications. Therefore, concentrations of approximately 100 analytes, including amino acids, fatty acids, trace elements, vitamins, hormones, selenoproteins, clinical markers, and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs), were determined. Value assignment measurements were performed by NIST and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). SRM 1950 is the first reference material developed specifically for metabolomics research.

Little information is available on temporal trends in sodium intake in the U.S. population using urine sodium excretion as a biomarker. Our aim was to assess 1988–2010 trends in estimated 24-h urine sodium (24hUNa) excretion among U.S. adults (20–59 y) participating in the cross-sectional National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES). We used subsamples from a 1988–1994 convenience sample, a 2003–2006 1/3 random sample, and a 2010 1/3 random sample to comply with resource constraints. We estimated 24hUNa excretion from measured sodium concentrations in spot urine samples by use of calibration equations (for men and women) derived from the INTERSALT study. Estimated 24hUNa excretion increased over the 20-y period (1988–1994, 2003–2006, and 2010) [mean ± SEM (n)]: 3160 ± 38.4 mg/d (1249), 3290 ± 29.4 mg/d (1235), and 3290 ± 44.4 mg/d (525), respectively (Ptrend = 0.022). We observed significantly higher mean estimated 24hUNa excretion in each survey period (P <0.001) for men compared to women (31–33%) and for persons with higher body mass index (BMI) (32–35% for obese vs. normal weight) or blood pressure (–26% for hypertensive vs. normal blood pressure). After adjusting for age, sex, and race-ethnicity, temporal trends in mean estimated 24hUNa excretion remained statistically significant (Ptrend = 0.004). We observed no temporal trends in mean estimated 24hUNa excretion among BMI subgroups, nor after adjusting for BMI. While several limitations apply to this analysis (the use of a convenience sample in 1988–1994 and using estimated 24hUNa excretion as a biomarker of sodium intake), these first NHANES data suggest that mean estimated 24hUNa excretion increased slightly in U.S. adults over the last 2 decades and this increase may be explained by a shift in the distribution of BMI.