Higher rates of volunteering might be expected of elders in the period immediately after retirement because they tend to be in relatively good health and have fewer competing obligations. Data from the Commonwealth Productive Aging Survey, a telephone survey of a representative national sample of 2,999 people 55 years of age and older, confirmed findings of previous research that retirement is not associated with higher rates of volunteering. However, in the first and second years following termination of employment, nonvolunteers show a heightened receptivity to volunteering; that is, they indicate more willingness to take on volunteer assignments and an ability to do so than do elders who are employed or who have been out of the workforce for longer periods. The findings suggest that volunteer coordinators should focus volunteer recruiting efforts on elders who are about to leave jobs or who have recently left jobs.Leaders of a variety of nonprofit organizations have become increasingly interested in enlisting older people as volunteers to help meet their urgent human resource needs (Fischer & Schaffer, 1993). The attractiveness of having older people as volunteers stems in part from the growth in numbers of older people who are not working and who are in good health. For most older people, employment is no longer an obstacle to making major time commitments as volunteers because only a minority are employed. In 1994, among those 60 to 64 years of age, 44.5% were employed; among those 65 to 69 years of age, 21.4% were employed; and among those 70 to 74 years of age, 11.3% were employed (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 1994). On a variety of measures, the health of those younger than 75 years of age is generally good. Only about 11 % of those 65 to 74 years of age, for example, report that chronic illness prevents them from carrying out their usual responsibilities (Taeuber, 1990).

Japan's Silver Human Resource Center (SHRC) program provides part-time, paid employment to retirement-aged men and women. We studied 393 new program participants and examined whether part-time work influenced their well-being or "ikigai." The participants were divided into those who had worked in SHRC-provided jobs in the preceding year, and those who had not. Gender-stratified regression models were fitted to determine whether SHRC employment was associated with increased well-being. For men, actively working at a SHRC job was associated with greater well-being, compared to inactive members. And men with SHRC jobs and previous volunteering experience had the greatest increase in well-being. Women SHRC job holders did not experience increased well-being at the year's end. The study concludes that there is justification for exploring the usefulness of a similar program for American retirees who desire post-retirement part-time work.

No abstract

An examination of the state of gerontology as observed from the office of the provost prepared for the 2012 GSA Kent Award Lecture. Strengths and weaknesses of the field are identified in the context of the changing environment of higher education. This article identifies specific recommendations for strengthening the field, particularly in the arena of theory development, with the implications for long-range financial support within research universities. The conclusion focuses on GSA leveraging a multidisciplinary team of scholars to sharpen gerontology's underlying theoretical concepts.

Abstract.The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently released a draft guidance for industry titled BDrug Products, Including Biological Products, that Contain Nanomaterials.^The FDA's attention to the unique safety and efficacy aspects of drugs containing nanomaterials is commendable. This Draft Guidance succeeds in acknowledging the complexity of these products, as well as the challenges associated with approving safe and therapeutically equivalent complex generic versions. However, the challenge posed by the manufacturing process for drugs containing nanomaterials is insufficiently addressed. The critical quality attributes of such products cannot be properly defined, and therefore it is not possible to design informative comparative physicochemical assessments for equivalence. As a consequence, the 505(j) Abbreviated New Drug Application (ANDA) pathway, currently advised as the standard from the FDA, is not suitable for the approval of complex generic products. Drawing from the successful story of biologics, we propose instead a stepwise totality-of-evidence approach, demonstrating similarity and including clinical studies when deemed necessary, as an appropriate alternative to the 505(j) ANDA pathway.

No abstract

Work to retirement in Japan is a sequential transition for the most part, and Japan permits mandatory retirement by firms at age 60. But many older people work beyond the age of 60, many more than in other industrialized countries. A number of hypotheses are examined, having to do with pensions, health, opportunity, interest in working, cultural attitudes (including the concept of ikigai), and public policy initiatives (such as employment policy and the Silver Human Resource Centers). Japan's cultural attitudes and existing policies appear to have set Japan on a unique course in considering the aging of its population. To what extent should other nations emulate Japan?

Involvement of older people is a key ingredient in an instructional program conducted at the University of Massachusetts Boston. A gerontology certificate program offered at the university is designed to strengthen older people's ability to make productive contributions to aging services. Students take a course in applied social research that involves them in conducting an actual applied research project on an issue affecting the elderly. The instructor plays the lead role, but students contribute in significant ways. Subsequently, older students often become vocal advocates for legislative proposals that are based on study recommendations. The involvement of older people both enhances the research and demonstrates to older people that they can employ action-research effectively to further policy advocacy efforts.Like most gerontological research centers, in the past decade the Gerontology Institute and Center at the University of Massachusetts Boston has been actively involved with many of the pressing policy research issues affecting the elderly. Subjects ranging from persistent poverty to home care services have demanded considerable attention from Institute researchers. However, somewhat unique to the research approach at the Gerontology Institute is the active involvement of older people themselves in research projects. Much more prevalent is research conducted for the aged by professionals in organizations or institutions.In this article, we present evidence that the involvement of older people in applied research is a key ingredient in the impact of the policy recommendations developed at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In a number of instances, the Massachusetts legislature has passed bills incorporating recommendations that were first put forth in Institute reports. Older people who participated in the research projects were often vocal advocates for the bills. The University of Massachusetts Boston experience has demonstrated that older people can play a significant role in shaping public policy when they are