Research Seeks to Understand Memory Loss in Older People
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Today, one out of very 12 people aged 65 and older will experience a decline in their ability to remember, think clearly, reason and make daily decisions. The decline in memory and mental abilities may be subtle, but it limits quality of life and oftentimes leads to depression.
Misericordia University researchers are leading a team of students and faculty from two regional institutions of higher education in a six-month study to better understand how to treat people with memory problems and who have a decreased ability to think clearly.
James Siberski, M.S., assistant professor, Geriatric-Care Manager Certificate Program director and coordinator of the Gerontology Education Center for Professional Development at Misericordia University; and his colleague, Margie Eckroth-Bucher, R.N., associate professor of nursing at Bloomsburg University; are spearheading the research with Misericordia students Jamie Donahue, Mehoopany, Pa.; Grant Greenberg, Douglaston, N.Y.; Pam Roberts, Shavertown, Pa.; Cheryl Wilson, Shohola, Pa.; and Emily Getz, Kunkletown, Pa., at the Maria Joseph Manor’s Continuing Care Community in Danville.
Transitioning patients with pediatric disease to adulthood
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Growing pains can mean one thing for a typical adolescent and quite another to an older teen with cerebral palsy attempting independence in an adult world. A unique program, the Indiana University School of Medicine Center for Youth and Adults with Conditions of Childhood (CYACC) is helping these youths spread their wings and live more independently.
IU pediatricians at Riley Hospital for Children have been at the forefront of innovative care for patients, including advances that over the past three decades have created new challenges for patients with special needs and their caregivers. Now, Riley physicians are leading the way to providing a solution.
CYACC provides interdisciplinary consultation in a health-care setting to specifically address transition and adult life issues regardless of the youth or adult’s diagnosis.
Insulin Resistance and Atherosclerosis: The “Missing Link”
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New research will highlight the “missing link” between the insulin resistance (metabolic) syndrome and cardiovascular disease at the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) 17th Annual Meeting & Clinical Congress, on Thursday, May 15, 2008, at the Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort in Orlando.
“Insulin resistant patients face a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors without diabetes ever being present,” AACE Member and the session’s speaker Ralph A. DeFronzo, MD said. “These must be seriously considered during treatment.”
Job characteristics may be linked to dementia risk
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High-complexity jobs that primarily involve work with people or things are associated with a reduced risk of developing dementia, a Canadian study suggests.
Dr. Edeltraut Kroger and colleagues found the risk of dementia may be 34 percent lower in occupations like teaching that require highly complex interactions with people, as opposed to jobs requiring lower levels of people interaction.
The investigators also observed about a 28 percent reduced risk for dementia among people with jobs that involve high levels of complex interactions with things, such as farming. However, this association was “less reliable, and the result we observed has not been confirmed by other studies,” Kroger told Reuters Health.
Early-onset osteoporosis linked to cancer risk
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Early onset of the bone-thinning disease osteoporosis seems to be related to an increased risk of certain cancers, while later onset of osteoporosis may be related to a decreased risk of other cancers, researchers report.
They note in the International Journal of Cancer that the risk of breast, endometrial and other cancers has been reported to be lower among women with pre-existing osteoporosis. This is most likely because of lower estrogen levels, which increase the likelihood of osteoporosis but reduce the odds of certain cancers.
“Other osteoporosis risk factors, such as smoking and alcohol consumption, however, may increase risk,” Dr. Katherine A. McGlynn, of the National Cancer Institute, Rockville, Maryland, and colleagues suggest.
Otitis in infancy may affect hearing for years
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Infection of the middle ear compartment, called otitis media, in babies can affect the way their brains process sounds years after the initial infection, according to a recent report from India.
Infancy is a time when the brain rapidly develops the ability to sort out and respond to input from the five senses. If these external stimuli are blunted or absent, however, the appropriate brain development can be impaired.
Even otitis media of a short duration “in the first year of life can cause long-standing auditory processing deficits,” Sandeep Maruthy from the All India Institute of Speech and Hearing in Mysore told Reuters Health.
‘Low glycemic’ diet helpful in diabetic youth
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In children and adolescents with type 1, or insulin-dependent, diabetes, consumption of a low glycemic index diet may improve blood sugar control, according to results of a National Institutes of Health-sponsored study.
Glycemic index, or GI, refers to how rapidly a food causes blood sugar to rise. High-GI foods, like white bread and potatoes, tend to spur a quick surge in blood sugar, while low-GI foods, such as lentils, soybeans, yogurt and many high-fiber grains, create a more gradual increase in blood sugar.
Dr. Tonja R. Nansel of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and colleagues tested the effects of high GI and low GI meals on blood sugar levels using continuous blood sugar monitoring in 20 type 1 diabetics who were between the ages of 7 and 16 years.
Ritalin may help seniors stay steady on their feet
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Taking methylphenidate—familiar as the drug Ritalin used to treat attention-deficit disorder—could help older people reduce their risk of falling by sharpening their mental function, Israeli researchers report.
After taking one dose of methylphenidate, seniors walked with a more even gait and did better on a standard screening test for fall risk, Dr. Jeffrey M. Hausdorff and colleagues found.
“Our study suggests that it may be possible to reduce the risk of falls in older adults by treating cognitive deficits associated with aging (and/or disease),” Hausdorff, of Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center in Israel, told Reuters Health by email.
Fibromyalgia Affects Women More Often than Men
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Are you exhausted? Do you have pain all over but can’t figure out what’s wrong? If so, you may be suffering from fibromyalgia, a chronic condition that causes exhaustion, sleep disturbances and diffuse pain in your muscles, tendons, and ligaments.
Fibromyalgia patients experience a range of symptoms of varying intensities that increase and decrease over time and often resemble other conditions. For years, because of their complex nature and a lack of research on the condition, many doctors misdiagnosed fibromyalgia symptoms or dismissed them as being in the patient’s head. Even today, it is estimated to take an average of five years for a fibromyalgia patient to get an accurate diagnosis.
There is no laboratory test available to diagnose fibromyalgia. Doctors must rely on patient histories, self-reported symptoms, a physical examination and an accurate manual tender point examination.
Higher wealth linked to lower stroke risk from age 50 to 64
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Higher wealth is linked with a lower risk of stroke in Americans between the ages of 50 and 64, but does not predict strokes in those over age 65, researchers reported in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“We confirmed that lower wealth, education and income are associated with increased stroke up to age 65, and wealth is the strongest predictor of stroke among the factors we looked at,” said Mauricio Avendano, Ph.D., co-author of the study. “After age 65, the association of education, income and wealth with stroke are very weak, and wealth did not clearly predict stroke.”
This is the first study assessing the age patterns of wealth, income and education disparities in stroke incidence in a national sample of older Americans. It’s also the first study reporting that wealth status predicts stroke incidence independently of income and education, said Avendano, a research fellow in public health at the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
Viruses may play a role in lung cancer development
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Papers presented at the 1st European Lung Cancer Conference, jointly organized by the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) in Geneva, Switzerland highlight emerging evidence that common viruses may contribute to the development of lung cancer.
Experts agree that smoking is by far the most important factor that contributes to lung cancer development. But other factors can play a role in some cases.
In one report at the conference (Abstract No. 124PD; Friday 25th April, 09:50) Dr. Arash Rezazadeh and colleagues from the University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA, describe the results of a study on 23 lung cancer samples from patients in Kentucky.
When one antidepressant doesn’t work, another may
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For people suffering from depression that doesn’t respond to treatment with one type of antidepressant, switching to a different type may be the best treatment, according to a new report.
Relatively new antidepressants such as Prozac and Zoloft, for example, are called selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors or SSRIs. In recent clinical trials, only about a third of depressed patients achieved remission with SSRI treatment, the authors explain, but there is little consensus among psychiatrists about the best treatment for patients when an SSRI doesn’t work.
To look into this, Dr. George I. Papakostas from Harvard Medical School, Boston, and his associates conducted an analysis of four clinical trials that compared a switch to a second SSRI versus a non-SSRI antidepressant for SSRI-resistant major depression.
Beijing says full smoking ban “impossible”
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Banning smoking completely in Beijing is “impossible” but the city will do its best to ensure a smoke-free environment for the Olympics through new regulations to come into force on May 1, officials said on Thursday.
The new regulations ban smoking in sports venues, parks, on public transport and in schools but restaurants and hotels are exempted.
The Olympic host city had pledged to restrict smoking in most public places before the August 8-24 Games and is committed to achieve a “thorough indoor smoke-free” environment required by the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control by 2011.
Obesity, low birthweight mar health of U.S. kids
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Rising obesity rates and a large percentage of children born with low birthweight are dragging down the overall health of American children in their first decade of life, according to a report tracking the health and well-being of young children in the United States.
While U.S. children overall have seen improvements in their well-being in recent years, American children aged 6 to 11 are four times more likely to be obese than similarly aged children in the 1960s, the report found.
The report, led by researchers at Duke University in North Carolina and the Foundation for Child Development, a private advocacy group, looked at the well-being of children in early childhood, those from birth to age five, and middle childhood, or those aged 6 to 11, from 1994 to 2006.
Fish oil has heart-rhythm stabilizing effects: study
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In a prospective clinical study, the consumption of fish oil supplements had the effect of reducing the electrical irritability of the heart in people with heart rhythm disturbances.
“This stabilizing effect may be one way in which fish oil reduces mortality in patients with coronary artery disease,” Dr. Glenn D. Young from Royal Adelaide Hospital, Australia told Reuters Health.
“This study supports the more wide spread use of fish oil and/or fish consumption in coronary artery disease patients,” Young said.
