Feature Channels: Seniors

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If you suspect your parent or upstairs neighbor would get more out of life if they’d turn off their TVs, you might be on to something, according to new research. .

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We usually scold our children and teenagers for watching too much TV. It turns out that their grandmas and grandpas spend even more of their time watching TV, and it is not good for them either, according to researchers at the Stein Institute for Research on Aging and Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine.

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Resveratrol — found in red wine, grapes, blueberries, peanuts and other plants — stops out-of-control blood vessel growth in the eye, according to vision researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

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For patients with painful swelling of the legs caused by chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), a combination treatment approach called "complete decongestive physiotherapy" improves symptoms, walking ability, and quality of life, reports a study in Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.

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While most theories on aging to date emphasize the effects of stress, radiation, oxidation or caloric intake as major factors that control human lifespan by damaging DNA, a new theory states that within the DNA itself, are archaic retroviruses, much like HIV, which can damage DNA, and therefore possibly control the lifespan of humans.

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For individuals 65 years of age and older, obesity, excess body fat around the waist and gaining weight after the age of 50 are associated with an increased risk of diabetes, according to a study in the June 23/30 issue of JAMA.

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Computer models using fuzzy logic might help to predict how aging progresses in cells and organisms, according to a study from Drexel University and Children's Hospital Boston.

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In a review appearing in Cell Metabolism, Buck Institute faculty Pankaj Kapahi , PhD, discusses activities related to TOR one of the key molecular players involved in increasing the healthy years of life via the process of dietary restriction.

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Remaining physically fit and sticking to a regular exercise routine could lower your risk of taking a tumble at any age.

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Family members can help reduce an aging relative’s risk of cancer by encouraging healthy lifestyle changes. Experts at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center offer suggestions for improving seniors' health.

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A gene shown to play a role in the aging process appears to play a role in the regulation of the differentiation of embryonic stem cells, according to researchers from the Center for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University.

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that certain types of specializations on nerve cells called “spines” are depleted as a person ages, causing cognitive decline in the part of the brain that mediates the highest levels of learning.

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that certain types of specializations on nerve cells called “spines” are depleted as a person ages, causing cognitive decline in the part of the brain that mediates the highest levels of learning.

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Middle-aged Canadians are much less worried about the future than their American counterparts, some of whom are close to panic, says an Alberta researcher who has just finished a survey in both countries. And she says the differing attitudes today may foreshadow growing differences between the two countries as that cohort move into old age.

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Having fewer children, they will be counting on an extended family and non-traditional networks.

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One major aspect missing from recent health care reform conversations is housing, especially with regard to the aging population of the United States, according to three University of Arkansas researchers who have collaborated on a new book.

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High insurance costs keep many arthritis sufferers from using expensive - but highly effective - biotech drugs.

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Arthur Stone, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Vice Chairman of Psychiatry & Behavioral Science at Stony Brook University and colleagues have produced an analysis of how Americans perceive well-being at various ages.

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The world is aging through shifts in the age structure, leading to more people reaching older ages than before, and through successes in extending life. UH offers experts for Older Americans Month in May.

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Research by a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) professor shows an association between hearing loss and the use of the erectile dysfunction drug Viagra. Findings published May 18 in Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery indicate a potential for long-term hearing loss following use of Viagra, and possibly following use of other phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors (PDE-5i) drugs such as Cialis and Levitra, although results on those drugs are inconclusive.

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A new study shows that altered blood flow in the brain due to high blood pressure and other conditions may lead to falls in elderly people. The research will be published in the May 18, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology. Each year, unintentional falls in the United States account for more than 16,000 deaths and 1.8 million emergency room visits.

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Research on fruit flies provides new clues on the process - and open the door for future treatments for metabolic and eating disorders.

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A simple, 10-minute “frailty” test administered to older patients before they undergo surgery can predict with great certainty their risk for complications, how long they will stay in the hospital and — most strikingly — whether they are likely to end up in a nursing home afterward, new research from Johns Hopkins suggests.

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Women age 70 years or older who received a single annual high dose of vitamin D had a higher rate of falls and fractures compared to women who received placebo, according to a study in the May 12 issue of JAMA.

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Researchers in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Thomas Jefferson University have found that the level of a single protein in the tiny roundworm C. elegans determines how long it lives.

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In 2009, Dilip V. Jeste, MD, and Thomas W. Meeks, MD, both professors in the department of psychiatry at the University of California, San Diego and researchers at the Sam and Rose Stein Institute for Research on Aging, published a paper proposing that sagacity might have a neurobiological basis. In the June issue of The Gerontologist and currently online, Jeste and Meeks go further, attempting to identify the central, unifying elements that define wisdom.

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Human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) possess remarkable properties of self-renewal and pluripotency, the ability to become almost any kind of cell within the body. And yet they share the same genome or set of genes with lineage-committed cells, cells fated to be or do one thing.

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Husbands or wives who care for spouses with dementia are six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than those whose spouses don’t have it, according to results of a 12-year study led by Johns Hopkins, Utah State University, and Duke University. The increased risk that the researchers saw among caregivers was on par with the power of a gene variant known to increase susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease, they report in the May Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

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Leading physician policy experts are calling for changes in medical education policy at multiple levels to ensure that physicians are ready to treat the country’s growing older adult population.

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Presence of “silent strokes” and shorter sleep patterns in these patients suggest heightened stroke risk.

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Research finds that more than a third of drinkers 60 years old and older consume amounts of alcohol that are excessive or that are potentially harmful in combination with certain diseases they may have or medications they may be taking.

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A new theory that muscle and bone diseases affect each other could have an impact on science and the cost of getting sick.

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As researchers learn more about how we age, they’re finding that genetics are only half of the story when it comes to developing Alzheimer’s disease.

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Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found a potential new treatment for osteonecrosis, or the death of bone tissue, in people who are treated with steroids for several common medical conditions. There are currently no treatment options for people with this debilitating disease. The research is published in the April 27 issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

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Using a new mouse model of Alzheimer's disease, researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found that Alzheimer’s pathology originates in Amyloid-Beta (Abeta) oligomers in the brain, rather than the amyloid plaques previously thought by many researchers to cause the disease.

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A clinical trial of 406 elderly subjects hospitalized with pneumonia showed reductions in length of stay, duration of IV antibiotics and respiratory failure or death in patients who received osteopathic manipulative treatment and conventional medical care when compared to patients who received only conventional medical care.

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Total joint replacement has evolved into a reliable and effective way to relieve pain and restore function to joints that have been damaged or destroyed by arthritis or injury.

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Forget sun, sand, and surf—it was biomarker pools and a sea change in neurocognitive testing that rejuvenated attendees at the 8th Annual Symposium on Early Alzheimer's, held 12-13 March 2010, in Miami Beach, Florida. Our intrepid reporter Pat McCaffrey brings you a full meeting summary, complete with a slide deck that covers the majority of presentations.

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One of every 10 adult Medicaid patients who were hospitalized in 2007 for a medical condition other than childbirth had to be readmitted at least once within 30 days of their initial hospital stay that year.

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New research shows a gene variant may help protect the memory and thinking skills of older people. The research will be published in the April 20, 2010, issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

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An analysis of hospitalization records for adults age 65 and over found that seasonal flu tends to move in traveling waves, peaking earliest in western states and moving east. New England states tend to have the latest peak in seasonal flu. The public health research team detected patterns between peak timing and intensity of seasonal flu. The findings may help healthcare providers prepare for flu outbreaks in this vulnerable population.

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Organisms from yeast to rodents to humans all benefit from cutting calories. In less complex organisms, restricting calories can double or even triple lifespan. But researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and two other centers report in the journal Science that they are less interested in calorie restriction for longer life than for its ability to promote good health throughout life.

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K-State engineers found most car accidents involving older drivers occur during the daytime and are more severe, often ending in injury or fatality, than those for younger populations.

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Researchers have identified a gene that appears to increase a person’s risk of developing late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of Alzheimer’s disease. The research will be presented as part of the late-breaking science program at the American Academy of Neurology’s 62nd Annual Meeting in Toronto, April 10 – 17, 2010. The gene, abbreviated MTHFD1L, is located on chromosome six.

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DRJ Group commits to donate a portion of Stopain proceeds to fight the nation’s most common cause of disability.

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Almost 40 percent of chronically ill older adults in the U.S. live alone, and a majority of those who are married have spouses with at least one chronic illness that can affect their ability to provide support, according to a U-M study.

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The dog days of summer are fast approaching, and while we cannot control the rising temperatures on the streets, we can control the heat index of our bodies.

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Researchers at Tufts Medical Center and collaborators discovered a new biological pathway for advanced age-related macular degeneration (AMD) that implicates a role of the hepatic lipase gene, LIPC. This discovery will improve understanding of the disease by providing researchers another developmental pathway to explore for prevention and treatment.

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The American Academy of Neurology has issued a new guideline to help determine when people with Alzheimer’s disease or another type of dementia should stop driving. The guideline is published in the April 12, 2010, online issue of Neurology®, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology, and will be presented April 12, 2010, at the American Academy of Neurology’s Annual Meeting in Toronto.

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Lean mass—the weight of an individual’s bones, muscles and organs without body fat—appears to decline among patients with Alzheimer’s disease, according to a report in the April issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. These decreases may be associated with declines in brain volume and function.