Category Archives: Aging

Playing Sports In Midlife Increases Chance of An Active Old Age

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Daniel Aggio, PhD UCL Department of Primary Care and Population Health UCL Medical School University College London PA Research Group London, UK

Dr. Aggio

Dr. Daniel Aggio, PhD
UCL Department of Primary Care and Population Health
UCL Medical School
University College London PA Research Group
London, UK

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Maintaining a physically active lifestyle into old age is associated with optimal health benefits. While we know that levels of physical activity in youth predict physical activity levels in adulthood, how physical activity in midlife predicts physical activity in old age is not as well understood. It is also unclear how different types of physical activity predict physical activity in later life.

Using data from the British Regional Heart Study, an ongoing prospective cohort study involving men recruited between 1978 and 1980, we assessed how physical activity tracks over 20 years from midlife to old age. The study of over 3400 men showed that being active in midlife more than doubled the odds of being active 20 years later. Interestingly, sport participation in midlife predicted physical activity in old age more strongly than other types of physical activity, such as walking and recreational activity. The odds of being active in old age were even stronger for those men who took up sport from a younger age prior to midlife.

Sport was the most stable activity across the follow up, with just under half of men reporting playing sport at least occasionally at each survey. However, walking was the least stable; the proportion of men who reported high levels of walking rose from just under 27% at the start of the study to 62% at the 20 year survey, possibly because retirement might free up more time.

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Organic Compounds In Bowel Responsible For Longer Healthier Lives in Variety of Species

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Daniel Kalman, Ph.D. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Emory University

Dr. Kalman

Daniel Kalman, Ph.D.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Emory University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

  1. We think a lot about living longer, but that means we will also have a longer period of frailty and infirmity, which isn’t optimal. Moreover, with geriatric populations projected to expand by 350 fold over the next 40 years, healthcare costs will be unsustainable.
  2. We were interested in understanding how health span of animals is regulated, and whether the microbiota plays a role. The microbiota, which is composed of bacteria inside and on us, when dysregulated (called dysbiosis) contributes to disease; the question we asked was whether it could also contribute to healthy aging, and how.
  3. We showed that animals of widely divergent phyla and separated by hundreds of millions of years of evolutionary time, all utilize indoles to regulate how well they age; in short indoles  make older animals look younger by various metrics, including motility, and fecundity.

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How To Evaluate Cognitive Function in the Aging Physician?

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

E. Patchen Dellinger, M.D. Professor, Department of Surgery University of Washington, Box 356410 Seattle, Washington 98195-6410

Dr. Dellinger

E. Patchen Dellinger, M.D.
Professor, Department of Surgery
University of Washington, Box 356410
Seattle, Washington 98195-6410 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: As I passed the age of 70 myself and began considering when to slow down and/or retire I decided to examine the literature about age and physician competence.  I have had a wonderful, rewarding time in surgery but have always wanted to provide the best possible care for my patients.  On my review of an extensive literature on this topic I found examples of physicians who had become dangerous to their patients with age but persisted because of their eminence and also of physicians who continued to deliver high quality care well into old age.

In medicine, unlike most other safety conscious industries, we have not really taken a systematic approach to the issue of policies related to the aging physician.

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Daily Crossword Puzzles May Help Sustain Brain Function As We Age

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Professor Keith A. Wesnes BSc PhD FSS CPsychol FBPsS Head Honcho, Wesnes Cognition Ltd Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Exeter, UK Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology, Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK Adjunct Professor, Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia Visiting Professor, Medicinal Plant Research Group, Newcastle University, UK Wesnes Cognition Ltd, Little Paddock, Streatley Hill, Streatley on Thames UK

Prof. Wesnes

Professor Keith A. Wesnes
BSc PhD FSS CPsychol FBPsS
Head Honcho, Wesnes Cognition Ltd
Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience, Medical School, University of Exeter, UK
Visiting Professor, Department of Psychology
Northumbria University, Newcastle, UK
Adjunct Professor, Centre for Human Psychopharmacology, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia
Visiting Professor, Medicinal Plant Research Group
Newcastle University, UK
Wesnes Cognition Ltd, Little Paddock, Streatley Hill, Streatley on Thames UK 

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: This data we reported were taken from the PROTECT study, a 10-year research programme being conducted jointly by Kings College London and the University of Exeter Medical School. It started in November 2015 and over 20,000 individuals aged 50 to 96 years have enrolled.

A highly novel feature of the study is that it is run entirely remotely, the participants logging on via the internet at home and providing demographic and life style information, and also performing online cognitive tasks of key aspects of cognitive function. The tasks are from two well-validated systems, CogTrack and the PROTECT test system, and assess major aspects of cognitive function including focused and sustained attention, information processing, reasoning and a range of aspects of memory.

One of the lifestyle questions was ‘How frequently do you engage in word puzzles, e.g. crosswords?’ and the 6 possible answers were: never; occasionally; monthly; weekly; daily; more than once per day. We analysed the cognitive data from 17,677 individuals who had answered the question, and found that the more often the participants reported engaging in such puzzles, the better their cognitive function on each of the 9 cognitive tasks they performed. The group who never performed such puzzles were poorest on all measures, and the improvements were mostly incremental as the frequency of use increased. The findings were highly statistically reliable, and we controlled for factors including age, gender and education. To evaluate the magnitudes of these benefits, we calculated the average decline over the age-range on the various tasks in the study population. The average difference between those who ‘never’ did puzzles to those who did so ‘more than once a day’ was equivalent to 11 years of ageing; and between those who never did puzzles and all those who did was 8 years.

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Midlife Weight Gain Raises Risks of Chronic Disease and Premature Death

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Yan Zheng Research Fellow, Department of Nutrition Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public HealthYan Zheng
Research Fellow, Department of Nutrition
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Most people gain weight cumulatively during young and middle adulthood. Because the amount of weight gain per year may be relatively small, it may go unnoticed by individuals and their doctors—but the cumulative weight gain during adulthood may eventually lead to obesity over time. Compared to studies of attained body weight or BMI, the investigation of weight change may better capture the effect of excess body fat because it factors in individual differences in frame size and lean mass.

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Is Human Lifespan Really Limited to 100 Years?

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Pr. Siegfried Hekimi PhD McGill University

Prof. Hekimi

Pr. Siegfried Hekimi PhD
McGill University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: We analyzed data about the longest living individuals over the period of time during which the record can be trusted.

We found that there was no detectable plateauing of the maximum possible lifespan. This is consistent with not clearly observed plateau in the currently increasing average lifespan as well.

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Frequent Sex In Older Adults Linked To Better Cognitive Function

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr Hayley Wright BSc(Hons) MSc PhD C.Psychol Research Associate Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement, Coventry University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Last year, we published a study that showed a significant association between sexual activity and cognitive function (Wright & Jenks, 2016). This study showed that sex is linked to cognition, even after we account for other factors such as age, education, and physical and mental wellbeing. One important question that emerged from this study was centred around the role of frequency with which we engage in sexual activity. In the current study (Wright, Jenks & Demeyere, 2017), we found that engaging in sexual activity on a weekly basis is associated with better scores on specific cognitive tasks. MedicalResearch.com: What should clinicians and patients take away from your report? Response: We have demonstrated that sexual activity in later life may have measurable benefits that stretch beyond pleasure-seeking. We - society at large, and individual researchers - should challenge notions of embarrassment around sexuality that may prevent older people from accessing help and support for sexual or relationship issues. MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study? Response: It may be advisable to take relationship factors into account when conducting studies around cognitive ageing. Researchers often make statistical adjustments for factors that are known to influence cognition and health (such as age, education and health problems), but actually, more personal factors may also have an effect on how our brain works. MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Response: The research so far has been cross-sectional (or correlational), and so we cannot say at this time whether sexual activity is causing better scores on cognitive tests. This issue of causality is something that we will address in future research as more data becomes available. We are currently researching whether all types of sexual activities are associated with cognitive function to the same extent. We are also working with support services to address barriers to relationship and sex therapy for older people and marginalised groups. MedicalResearch.com: Thank you for your contribution to the MedicalResearch.com community. Citation: Hayley Wright, Rebecca A. Jenks, Nele Demeyere. Frequent Sexual Activity Predicts Specific Cognitive Abilities in Older Adults. The Journals of Gerontology: Series B, 2017; DOI: 10.1093/geronb/gbx065 Note: Content is Not intended as medical advice. Please consult your health care provider regarding your specific medical condition and questions.

Dr. Wright

Dr Hayley Wright BSc(Hons) MSc PhD C.Psychol
Research Associate
Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Coventry University
Centre for Research in Psychology, Behaviour and Achievement,
Coventry University

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Last year, we published a study that showed a significant association between sexual activity and cognitive function (Wright & Jenks, 2016). This study showed that sex is linked to cognition, even after we account for other factors such as age, education, and physical and mental wellbeing. One important question that emerged from this study was centred around the role of frequency with which we engage in sexual activity. In the current study (Wright, Jenks & Demeyere, 2017), we found that engaging in sexual activity on a weekly basis is associated with better scores on specific cognitive tasks.

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People Who Live To 100 Do So With Fewer Chronic Illnesses

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Raya Elfadel Kheirbek, MD, MPH Geriatrician and Palliative Care Physician  Washington DC VA Medical Center  Associate Professor of Medicine  George Washington University  School of Medicine and Health Sciences

Dr. Raya Elfadel Kheirbek

Raya Elfadel Kheirbek, MD, MPH
Geriatrician and Palliative Care Physician
Washington DC VA Medical Center
Associate Professor of Medicine
George Washington University
School of Medicine and Health Sciences

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: In the past decade, there has been a shift in the concept of successful aging from a focus on life span to health span. We all want to age gracefully “expecting” optimal health, quality of life and independence.

Centenarians are living examples to the progress we have made in health care. They are the best example of successful aging since they have escaped, delayed or survived the major age-related diseases and have reached the extreme limit of human life. However, little is known about Veterans Centenarians’ incidence of chronic illness and its impact on survival.

Utilizing the VA Corporate Data Warehouse (CDW), I worked with my colleagues’ researchers and identified 3,351 centenarians who were born between 1910 and 1915. The majority were white men who served in World War II and had no service related disability. The study found that 85 % of all the centenarians had no incidence of major chronic conditions between the ages of 80 and 99 years of age. The data demonstrate that Veteran centenarians tend to have a better health profile and their incidence of having one or more chronic illness is lower than in the general population.

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Microvascular Disease Linked To Late-Life Depression

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Miranda T. Schram PhD Associate professor Department of Medicine Maastrich

Dr. Schram

Miranda T. Schram PhD
Associate professor
Department of Medicine
Maastrich

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: Late-life depression, also called vascular depression, is highly prevalent, recurrent and difficult to treat. Anti-depressants only relieve symptoms in about 50% of the patients. So we urgently need new treatment targets for this disease.

In this study we found that microvascular dysfunction, irrespective if you measure this by biomarkers in the blood or in the brain, is associated with an increased risk for depression. Moreover, we found evidence from longitudinal studies that microvascular dysfunction, at least of the brain, may actually be a cause of depression. To investigate this, we undertook a meta-analyses of data from over 40,000 individuals of whom over 9,000 had a depression.

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Methylene Blue Has Potential As Anti-Aging Agent in Skin Care Products

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MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Kan Cao PhD Associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics University of Maryland

Dr. Kan Cao

Kan Cao PhD
Associate professor of cell biology and molecular genetics
University of Maryland

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: In 2015, our group demonstrated a surprising positive effect of methylene blue in treating fibroblast cells from progeria patients, a severe premature aging disease. Interestingly, we also noticed a beneficial effect of methylene blue in protecting normal skin cells.

In this study, we followed the initial observation, compared methylene blue with other popular antioxidants, and conducted further analysis of the effects of methylene blue in 3d reconstructed skin.

The take home message is that we believe methylene blue has a great anti-aging potential. As it is also super safe, we suggest it a potent ingredient for skin care products.

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