Feature Channels: Seniors

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What special considerations must physicians make when managing epilepsy in older adults? Who is considered an “older adult,” anyway? Dr. Anca Arbune interviews two authors of a recent critical review by an ILAE task force.

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A community study involving 101 participants aged between 38 to 91 years old has found that weekly 10-min exposure to very low levels of pulsed electromagnetic field using the BIXEPS device developed by researchers from the National University of Singapore significantly improves mobility, especially in the elderly. This painless therapy produces comparable results to exercise, and also improves body composition and reduces pain

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Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer in the United States, with over 5 million cases diagnosed annually. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that melanoma alone accounts for more than 8,000 deaths each year. Thankfully, skin cancer is highly preventable, making it crucial to prioritize protection. Below are some of the latest headlines in the Dermatology channel.

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When it comes to older adults, depression affects more than 7 million of the 35 million Americans aged 65 years or older, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Getting a family member or a close friend who is an older adult to seek and use mental health help can be a challenging task, especially when it comes to dealing with depression. If an older adult you know is exhibiting signs of depression, the tips below can help you better communicate with the individual and guide them in seeking the professional help they need.

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Title 42, the United States pandemic rule that had been used to immediately deport hundreds of thousands of migrants who crossed the border illegally over the last three years, has expired. Those migrants will have the opportunity to apply for asylum. President Biden's new rules to replace Title 42 are facing legal challenges. Border crossings have already risen sharply, as many migrants attempt to cross before the measure expires on Thursday night. Some have said they worry about tighter controls and uncertainty ahead. Immigration is once again a major focus of the media as we examine the humanitarian, political, and public health issues migrants must go through.

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The Division of Geriatric Medicine at Hackensack University Medical Center is proud to announce it is the first and currently only hospital in the state of New Jersey to offer a formal program aimed at preventing falls in older adults.

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May is Mental Health Awareness Month. Get your mental health news here.

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For millions of Americans that suffer from seasonal allergies (pollen and mold), climate change is exacerbating an earlier, longer, and overall worse allergy season.

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A national pilot program designed to improve outcomes for elderly surgical patients is scalable and can be implemented in a wide range of hospital types—from community hospitals to urban academic medical centers, according to a study published this week in the Journal of the American College of Surgeons (JACS).

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Johns Hopkins University researchers have found that traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) were the second most common injury among adults treated in U.S. emergency rooms for injuries related to walking a leashed dog from 2001 to 2020.

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People who first experience problems with alcohol after the age of 60 may have better mental health functioning than those whose drinking problems start sooner, and the benefits of alcohol treatment are not conditional on when hazardous drinking began, a new study suggests.

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As the movement toward “deprescribing” medications among older adults grows, a new poll shows strong interest in this idea, with 80% of adults aged 50 to 80 open to stopping one or more of the prescription medicines they’ve been taking for more than a year, if a health care provider said it was possible. Already, 26% said they have done so in the past two years - though some had done it without talking to a health provider.

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Researcher will discuss the study which involved a sleeping aid known as suvorexant that is already approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for insomnia, hints at the potential of sleep medications to slow or stop the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

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A new study from a team led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health found that signs of common infections in a sample of middle-aged and older adults were associated with poorer performance on a test of global cognitive function.

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People who have an irregular heartbeat called atrial fibrillation that is treated with a procedure called catheter ablation may have a reduced risk of dementia compared to those who are treated with medication alone. The preliminary study released April 18, 2023, will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology’s 75th Annual Meeting being held in person in Boston and live online from April 22-27, 2023.

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Having a four-year college degree and a low level of stress are strongly linked to psychological resilience in American women aged 80 and older, a new study suggests.

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A prescrição de opioides tem um efeito negativo na função cognitiva em adultos idosos, de acordo com um estudo recente da Mayo Clinic, publicado na revista Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

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El uso de la prescripción de opioides puede tener un efecto negativo en la función cognitiva de los adultos mayores de acuerdo con un estudio reciente de Mayo Clinic publicado en la revista de la Sociedad Estadounidense de Geriatría.

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For patients with advanced bladder cancer who are medically unfit for standard treatment, a new intravesical (inside the bladder) chemotherapy delivery system called TAR-200 is safe and shows initial evidence of effectiveness, reports a study in the May issue of The Journal of Urology®, an Official Journal of the American Urological Association (AUA). The journal is published in the Lippincott portfolio by Wolters Kluwer.

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Following a Mediterranean-based ketogenic diet may decrease the risk of Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study from scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.

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Hackensack University Medical Center’s Emergency Department (ED) has earned recertification of its Level 1 Geriatric Emergency Department Accreditation (GEDA) — the highest-level designation available through the program — from the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP). The department earned its first certification in 2019.

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Once adults reach age 65, the threshold age for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, the extent of their genetic risk may outweigh age as a predictor of whether they will develop the fatal brain disorder, a new study suggests.

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Overdose mortality among people age 65 and older quadrupled over 20 years, suggesting the need for greater mental health and substance use disorder policies addressed at curbing the trend.

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With a new three-year, $2.56 million grant from The John A. Hartford Foundation, the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University will evaluate improvements in care, economic impact and equity in outcomes of 1.2 million older adults receiving “age-friendly” care at MinuteClinics nationally.

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A primary care program promoting the health of older adults was well received by family medical practices but lacked clinical benefits, says a study led by McMaster University researchers, published in the Annals of Family Medicine.

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The Penn Medicine Princeton Cancer Center received a $2.5 million grant from the Bristol Myers Squibb Foundation to help fund an innovative program to ensure holistic, patient-centered care for older adults with cancer.

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Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridioides difficile, Candida auris, Drug-resistant Shigella. These bacteria not only have difficult names to pronounce, but they are also difficult to fight off. These bacteria may infect humans and animals, and the infections they cause are harder to treat than those caused by non-resistant bacteria. Antimicrobial resistance is an urgent global public health threat.

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It's sleep awareness week, according to the National Sleep Foundation. It’s important to understand how sleep deprivation can impact your health. Most people recognize that if they don’t get enough sleep, their mood and memory will suffer the next day.

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The Chiropractic Medicare Coverage Modernization Act (H.R. 1610 / S. 799), introduced March 14, would bring Medicare’s coverage of chiropractic into alignment with most other federal programs and private health plans, giving seniors improved coverage of non-drug treatments to alleviate pain and improve function.

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A new way to identify more specific, higher-risk groups of older surgical patients can help in clinical decision-making and accurately comparing the performance of one hospital to another.