Aging News and Research

RSS

Financial viability of Social Security is in jeopardy because of outdated forecasting methods

The Social Security Trust Fund is off on its prediction by $730 billion for needed benefits in 2030. That is because its forecasting methods have hardly been updated since 1935 when the program first started, according to a study in the August issue of Demography.

2 Aug 2012

Only 19% of seniors with lung disease quit smoking within two years

A recent study of adults age 50 to 85 found that only 19 percent of those diagnosed with lung disease quit smoking within two years.

1 Aug 2012

Head impacts, concussions may speed up brain's natural aging process

Concussions and even lesser head impacts may speed up the brain's natural aging process by causing signaling pathways in the brain to break down more quickly than they would in someone who has never suffered a brain injury or concussion.

1 Aug 2012

Smoking poses less risk for dyslipidemia in very elderly

Smoking does not have a detrimental effect on lipid profiles in individuals aged 90 years or more, report Chinese researchers.

31 Jul 2012

Advanced understanding of neurodegenerative diseases achieved by Trophos

Trophos SA, a clinical stage pharmaceutical company developing innovative therapeutics from discovery to clinical validation for indications with under-served needs in neurology and cardiology, announces today the conclusion of the pan-European MitoTarget Project, the EU funded orphan disease project, with submission of the final report to the EC.

31 Jul 2012

Concierge medicine buys patients more of doctors' time and attention

The Los Angeles Times reports that a growing number of California physicians are turning toward this type of practice.

30 Jul 2012

Roper enters into definitive agreement to acquire Sunquest Information Systems

Roper Industries, Inc. today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Sunquest Information Systems, Inc., the leading provider of diagnostic and laboratory software solutions to healthcare providers, in an all cash transaction valued at $1.415 billion, including $25 million in cash tax benefits.

30 Jul 2012

First Edition: June 30, 2012

Today's headlines include recent reports about both the policies and politics related to the health law's implementation.

30 Jul 2012

Health systems must prepare for aging population living with HIV

"Many health systems are not ready to cope with the relatively new phenomenon" of people living with HIV (PLHIV) growing older, PlusNews reports. "Data on aging with HIV is largely restricted to the developed world and very little is known about older Africans living with virus, despite the high caseload in this region," the news service writes, adding, "A July 2012 supplement of the medical journal, AIDS, notes that an estimated three million people in sub-Saharan Africa aged 50 and older are HIV-positive -- 14 percent of all infected adults.

30 Jul 2012

Vitamin D link to lung function in smokers

Vitamin D levels seem to determine the rate of lung function decline among smokers, the results of an American study show.

27 Jul 2012

AIDS roundup: Researchers examine whether the disease causes premature aging; Funding and treatment gaps; Bone marrow transplant treatments

News outlets report on scientific and political issues coming up at the International AIDS Conference being held in Washington.

27 Jul 2012

Study highlights advantages of Baxano's iO-Flex system in performing lumbar spinal decompression

Baxano, Inc., the manufacturer of the innovative and cost-effective iO-Flex System, announced today the publication of a peer-reviewed study highlighting the advantages of the flagship iO-Flex technology in performing lumbar spinal decompression, a procedure that can be done with and without spinal fusion.

26 Jul 2012

Walking speeds the way to understanding elderly blood pressure

The first study to examine walking speed, mortality, and blood pressure has shown that frail, elderly adults who have high blood pressure may actually be at a decreased risk for mortality, write researchers in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

26 Jul 2012

Rapamycin improves function and extends survival in mice with DCM and rare muscular dystrophies

Rapamycin, an immunosuppressant drug used in a variety of disease indications and under study in aging research labs around the world, improved function and extended survival in mice suffering from a genetic mutation which leads to dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and rare muscular dystrophies in humans.

26 Jul 2012

Study identifies 329 instances of potentially inappropriate prescribing in Irish older patients

Research published in the journal Age and Ageing, which studied nursing homes in the Munster region of Ireland, has found that a significant proportion of older patients have either been prescribed a potentially inappropriate medicine or they are not prescribed a medicine that would normally be beneficial.

26 Jul 2012

Census Bureau releases report on disability status in the U.S.

About 56.7 million people ─ 19 percent of the population ─ had a disability in 2010, according to a broad definition of disability, with more than half of them reporting the disability was severe, according to a comprehensive report on this population released today by the U.S. Census Bureau.

26 Jul 2012

Greatbatch second quarter 2012 sales increase 14% to $166.5 million

Greatbatch, Inc., today announced results for its second quarter ended June 29, 2012.

26 Jul 2012

Single event of brain trauma can lead to Alzheimer’s

A study, performed in mice and utilizing post-mortem samples of brains from patients with Alzheimer’s disease, found that a single event of a moderate-to-severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) can disrupt proteins that regulate an enzyme associated with Alzheimer’s. The paper, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, identifies the complex mechanisms that result in a rapid and robust post-injury elevation of the enzyme, BACE1, in the brain. These results may lead to the development of a drug treatment that targets this mechanism to slow the progression of Alzheimer’s disease.

25 Jul 2012

Self-neglect predicts hospice use among elderly

Both the presence and severity of self-neglect in the elderly independently predict hospice use, and are not mediated by the presence of health-related factors, show results published in the Archives of Gerontology and Geriatrics.

25 Jul 2012

Scientists use inactive, fat rats to study juvenile obesity

Childhood obesity has nearly tripled in the past three decades, and by 2009, 17 percent of those 2-19 years of age were classified as obese. If actions against childhood obesity do not take place it is likely that today's children could be the first generation in over a century to experience a decline in life expectancy due to the epidemic of childhood obesity which leads to complications in later life.

25 Jul 2012