The ability to anticipate future events allows us to plan and exert control over our lives, but it may also contribute to stress-related increased risk for the diseases of aging, according to a new study.
Every cell in the body has chromosomes with so-called telomeres, which are shortened over time and also through lifestyle choices such as smoking and obesity. Researchers have long speculated that the shortening of telomeres increases the risk of heart attack and early death. Now a large-scale population study in Denmark involving nearly 20,000 people shows that there is in fact a direct link, and has also given physicians a future way to test the actual cellular health of a person.
Simple tests such as walking speed and hand grip strength may help doctors determine how likely it is a middle-aged person will develop dementia or stroke.
Cognitive stimulation therapies have beneficial effects on memory and thinking in people with dementia, according to a systematic review. Despite concerns that cognitive improvements may not be matched by improvements in quality of life, the review also found positive effects for well-being.
The amount and quality of sleep you get at night may affect your memory later in life, according to new research.
Curcumin, a substance extracted from turmeric, prolongs life and enhances activity of fruit flies with a nervous disorder similar to Alzheimer's disease, according to new research. The study indicates that it is the initial stages of fibril formation and fragments of the amyloid fibrils that are most toxic to neurons.
Though an estimated 26.7 million Americans age 50 and older have hearing loss, only about one in seven uses a hearing aid, according to a new study.
Summary of the first prospective study to provide strong evidence of increased breast and pancreatic cancer risk in individuals with Lynch syndrome, who carry certain inherited genetic mutations in DNA repair genes. The study is also the first to show that relatives of people with Lynch syndrome who do not carry these mutations have no increased risk of cancer.
Scientists have used a brain imaging tool that effectively tracked and predicted cognitive decline over a two-year period. The team had previously developed this tool that can assess the neurological changes associated with mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
A large, prospective study indicates that chronic exposure to particulate air pollution may accelerate cognitive decline in older adults.
Healthy older adults reported less negative thinking compared to other age groups, leading to greater life satisfaction in seniors. The study examined the complex relationship between aging and factors leading to depression. Research suggests differences in the way age groups think can influence the onset of depression. Sufferers of negative thinking, or brooding, tend to fixate on their problems and feelings without taking action, which can intensify depressive moods and lead to the onset of depression.
Aerobic fitness has a favorable effect on cognitive functions. For example, physically active elderly people are less prone to aging-related cognitive decline than those who lead a sedentary lifestyle. An increase in physical activity raises both aerobic capacity and learning ability in both humans and animals. However, it is not known whether it is the aerobic capacity or the pleasure and enrichment of physical activity that promotes cognitive functions.
New research suggests that consuming between 2,100 and 6,000 calories per day may double the risk of memory loss, or mild cognitive impairment (MCI), among people age 70 and older. MCI is the stage between normal memory loss that comes with aging and early Alzheimer’s disease.
A new study shows that Kineret (anakinra), a medication approved for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis, is effective in stopping the progression of organ damage in people with neonatal-onset multisystem inflammatory disease. This rare and debilitating genetic disorder causes persistent inflammation and ongoing tissue damage.
In low- and middle-income countries, mild cognitive impairment -- an intermediate state between normal signs of cognitive aging, such as becoming increasingly forgetful, and dementia, which may or may not progress -- is consistently associated with higher disability and with neuropsychiatric symptoms but not with most socio-demographic factors, according to a large study.
As we age, our skin undergoes a number of changes affecting its texture, volume and appearance. Fortunately, dermatologists can use fillers or lasers to correct the most notable signs of aging and can recommend skin care products with added ingredients that can further repair damaged skin.
It’s a scenario played out all too frequently: Adult children, worried about the safety of their aging parents, foist devices on them to monitor their safety. And their parents, resentful of having their privacy invaded and losing their independence, resist fiercely. A tiny new devise should overcome these problems.
The chances to reach extreme old age are much lower than previously thought, new research shows. THis new research contradicts a long-held belief that the mortality rate of Americans flattens out above age 80.
Scientists have developed a novel technique to enhance bone growth by using a molecule which, when injected into the bloodstream, directs the body's stem cells to travel to the surface of bones.
A researcher believes studying people's ability to find their way around may help explain why loss of mental capacity occurs with age.
One of the big mysteries in biology is why cells age. Now scientists report that they have discovered a weakness in a component of brain cells that may explain how the aging process occurs in the brain.
Newly divorced middle aged women are more vulnerable to contract HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases, according to new research, because they tend to let their guard down with new sexual partners and avoid using protection since they are not afraid of getting pregnant.
It can be difficult to distinguish between people with normal age-associated memory loss and those with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI). However people with aMCI are at a greater risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and identification of these people would mean that they could begin treatment as early as possible. New research shows that specific questions, included as part of a questionnaire designed to help diagnose AD, are also able to discriminate between normal memory loss and aMCI.
Researchers have found new evidence that confirms the significance of a protein that neuroscientists call tau to the development of Alzheimer's disease. While earlier studies have focused on tau's aggregation into twisted structures known as "neurofibrillary tangles," the new work emphasizes intermediary steps between single protein units and the much larger tangles – small assemblages of two, three, four or more proteins, which the investigators believe are the most toxic entities in Alzheimer's.
The same gene mutations linked to inherited, early-onset Alzheimer’s disease have been found in people with the more common late-onset form of the illness. The discovery may lead doctors and researchers to change the way Alzheimer’s disease is classified.
For decades, researchers have debated whether Alzheimer's disease starts independently in vulnerable brain regions at different times, or if it begins in one region and then spreads to neuroanatomically connected areas. A new study strongly supports the latter, demonstrating that abnormal tau protein, a key feature of the neurofibrillary tangles seen in the brains of those with Alzheimer's, propagates along linked brain circuits, "jumping" from neuron to neuron.
New findings reveal a novel mechanism through which the brain may become more reluctant to function as we grow older.
Severe, rapid memory loss may be linked to -- and could predict -- a future deadly stroke, according to new research.
In an animal study, researchers found that decaffeinated coffee may improve glucose utilization in the brain, reducing the risk for Type 2 diabetes and the brain dysfunction associated with some neurological disorders.
Age-related delays in neural timing are not inevitable and can be avoided or offset with musical training, according to the first study to provide biological evidence that lifelong musical experience impacts the aging process. Measuring automatic brain responses of younger and older musicians and non-musicians to speech sounds, researchers found older musicians not only outperformed older non-musicians, they also encoded sound stimuli as quickly and accurately as younger non-musicians.
Bedwetting isn’t always due to problems with the bladder. Constipation is often the culprit; and if it isn’t diagnosed, children and their parents must endure an unnecessarily long, costly and difficult quest to cure nighttime wetting.
The driving bass rhythm of rap music can be harnessed to power a new type of miniature medical sensor designed to be implanted in the body.
A new study reports that while an individual's risk of heart disease may be low in the next five or 10 years, the lifetime risk could still be very high, findings that could have implications for both clinical practice and public health policy.
Researchers report that more than 6 percent of Americans age 70 to 89 develop mild cognitive impairment (MCI) every year. Also, the condition appears to affect men and those who only have a high school education more than women and those who have completed some higher education. People with MCI are at the stage between suffering the normal forgetfulness associated with aging and developing dementia, such as that caused by Alzheimer's disease.
Men may be at higher risk of experiencing mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or the stage of mild memory loss that occurs between normal aging and dementia, than women, according to a new study.
A pilot study suggests infrared analysis of white blood cells is a promising strategy for diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.
The life expectancy of a person born in Japan is among the highest in the world (82.9 years) yet tobacco smoking and high blood pressure are still the major risk factors for death among adults in Japan, emphasizing the need to reduce tobacco smoking and to improve ongoing programs designed to help people manage multiple cardiovascular risk factors, including high blood pressure, according to a new study.
People who have made mental engagement a lifelong habit have lower levels of a key protein linked to Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study by neuroscientists. The findings could provide support for cognitive therapies to help prevent the onset of a debilitating disease.
Individuals who keep their brains active throughout life with cognitively stimulating activities such as reading, writing and playing games appear to have reduced levels of the beta-amyloid protein, which is the major part of the amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's disease, according to a new study.
Nurturing mothers have garnered accolades for rescuing skinned knees on the playground and coaxing their children to sleep with lullabies. Now they're gaining merit for their offspring's physical health in middle age. While children raised in families with low socioeconomic status frequently go on to have high rates of chronic illness in adulthood, a sizable minority remain healthy across the life course, new research shows.
Researchers have quantified the effect of protein aggregation on the cell aging processes using as models the Escherichia coli bacteria and the molecule which is thought to trigger Alzheimer's disease. Scientists have demonstrated that the effect can be predicted before it occurs. Protein aggregation is related to several diseases, including neurodegenerative diseases. The research provides a reliable system with which to model and quantify the effect of protein aggregation on the viability, division and aging of cells. It also aids in the further understanding of proteins.
Clarification of the role of a specific protein fragment that forms toxic clumps and damages the brain could lead to therapeutics for Alzheimer's disease.
A diet supplemented with a specific probiotic bacterial strain increases the lifespan of mice. The mammalian gut is home to hundreds of bacterial species that contribute to food digestion and, in some cases, inflammatory gut diseases. Probiotics, beneficial bacterial species, can enhance gut health by keeping the resident bacteria in check.
Minuscule amounts of ethanol can at least double the life span of a tiny worm used as a model for aging studies, biochemists report. "This finding floored us; it's shocking" said the senior author of the study.
Researchers have analyzed changes in participation and performance of runners aged 20 to 80 in the New York marathon over the last 30 years. The results are largely unexpected: the best male marathon runners over 65 and the best female marathon runners over 45 have consistently improved their performance over the last 30 years.
Scientists have cracked the genetic code and predicted some high priority drug targets for the blood parasite Schistosoma haematobium, which is linked to bladder cancer and HIV/ AIDS and causes the insidious urogenital disease schistosomiasis haematobia in more than 112 million people in Africa.
Researchers have found that vitamin D reduces the effects of aging in mouse eyes and improves the vision of older mice significantly. The researchers hope that this might mean that vitamin D supplements could provide a simple and effective way to combat age-related eye diseases, such as macular degeneration, in people.
Researchers have found that the likelihood of becoming disabled with age increases with the following factors: having a chronic condition or cognitive impairment; low physical activity; slower gross motor coordination; having poor lower-extremity function; and being hospitalized. Women are also more likely than men to become disabled in their later years.
Experts question the concept of the ‘overactive bladder syndrome’. According to researchers, the definition of this syndrome is mostly beneficial to those with commercial interests, while from the patient perspective and for the development of treatments, it may be detrimental.
Various molecules have been synthesized that inhibit self-assembly of the amyloid beta peptide in vitro. This peptide is strongly linked to Alzheimer's disease. Based on computer simulations, biochemists have recently shown how the active compounds and fragments of this disease-causing peptide interact with each other: it is the disordered structure of the peptide that determines the interactions with active compounds.
Thousands more American senior citizens with kidney disease are good candidates for transplants and could get them if physicians would get past outdated medical biases and put them on transplant waiting lists, according to a new study by Johns Hopkins researchers.
Researchers have found that a lack of iron in the diet during the teenage years can have a negative impact on the brain years later, making the brain more susceptible to such disorders as Alzheimer's. Further, the researchers have identified a common set of genes that influence both iron and brain structure.
Exposure to light appears to have therapeutic effects on Alzheimer's disease patients, a researcher has found.
Scientists are reporting development and initial laboratory tests of an imaging agent that shows promise for detecting the tell-tale signs of Alzheimer's disease in the brain -- signs that now can't confirm a diagnosis until after patients have died.
New research provides evidence for the first time that disruption of circadian rhythms -- the biological "clocks" found in many animals -- can clearly cause accelerated neurodegeneration, loss of motor function and premature death.
Researchers have identified chemical changes taking place in the brains of persons destined to develop Alzheimer's disease at least 10 years before symptoms or diagnosis occur. This knowledge will provide potential new targets for drug interventions, and possibly tailor treatments to individuals, depending on the "type" of Alzheimer's they have.
Using a nicotine patch may help improve mild memory loss in older adults, according to a new study.
Researchers have now used advanced 3-D microscopic imaging technology to identify and monitor the proteins involved in the artery stiffening process. These findings could eventually help researchers and physicians understand and treat complications associated with cardiovascular disease.
There's new evidence that annual prostate cancer screening does not reduce deaths from the disease, even among men in their 50s and 60s and those with underlying health conditions, according to new research.
Scientists find that a method of positron emission tomography safely and accurately detects dementia, including the most common and devastating form among the elderly, Alzheimer's disease.