Gerontology is the study of the social, psychological and biological aspects of aging.
Adults who eat the daily recommended allowance of folates - B-vitamin nutrients found in oranges, legumes, leafy green vegetables and folic acid supplements - significantly reduce their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, according to results from a long-term National Institute on Aging study of diet and brain aging.
Even with the U.S. population rapidly aging, a smaller proportion of elderly and disabled people live in nursing homes today compared to 1990. Instead, far more depend on assisted living residences or receive care in their homes, according to a study published in the August 2005 issue of the Journal of Applied Gerontology.
New research suggests why some older adults who exercise have better physical function than others. Surprisingly, researchers found that an enzyme involved in blood pressure regulation may also influence how the body responds to exercise.
By combing through dozens of Alzheimer's disease (AD) studies, psychologists have gained a clear picture of cognitive problems in people who will develop the degenerative brain disease.
New research shows that obese adults who reach the age of 70 are at no greater risk of dying than their non-obese counterparts, but they do have a much greater probability of spending their remaining years disabled. The data supporting this is reported in the August 2005 issue of The Gerontologist (Vol. 45, No. 4).
Psychologists say that after examining dozens of Alzheimer's studies, they now have a clear picture of the cognitive problems which will develop in people with the degenerative brain disease.
By combing through dozens of Alzheimer's disease (AD) studies, psychologists have gained a clear picture of cognitive problems in people who will develop the degenerative brain disease.
Ray Moseley sees the trouble with advance health-care directives every time he speaks to a group of senior citizens: Several in the crowd always know someone who had a living will but whose end-of-life decisions were not honored anyway.
Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School have discovered the biological equivalent of a grocery store bar code on the surface of primitive, blood-forming stem cells in mice. Called hematopoietic stem cells, they give rise to all the different types of specialized cells found in blood.
Older women with chronic cytomegalovirus (CMV), a lifelong viral infection, were found to have more than triple the risk of being frail than those who did not have the infection, as reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. This is the first demonstration to show an association between CMV and frailty syndrome.
Older people are less likely than younger people to react aggressively when problems come up in their relationships, University of Michigan research shows.
Fear of falling, once believed to be mostly a senior citizen problem, is striking African-American middle-aged adults with negative consequences to their health, new Saint Louis University research finds.
In nursing homes across the country, elderly people with insomnia often go untreated, because of the perception that sleeping pills increase the risk of falls and injuries that are a bane of old age.
A UCLA AIDS Institute study has discovered that two chemical compounds may help the immune systems of HIV-infected persons fight the disease without invasive gene therapy.
University of Michigan researchers are part of a team that has developed a new tool to assess the quality of home health care, with the goal of improving care and providing meaningful feedback about the care.
Myriad Genetics announced today that it has initiated enrollment in a Phase 3 human clinical trial of its lead therapeutic candidate, Flurizan (MPC-7869), in patients with Alzheimer's disease.
A dietary staple of India, where Alzheimer's disease rates are reportedly among the world's lowest, holds potential as a weapon in the fight against the disease.
A new research method that quantifies people's quality of life -- beyond how much money they make -- could lead to a national index of well-being, similar to key measures of economic health.
Researchers at Northwestern University have discovered a molecular mechanism -- a tiny protein attacking nerve cells -- that could explain why the brain damage in early Alzheimer's disease results in memory loss and not other symptoms such as loss of balance or tremors.
New hormone therapy studies demonstrate estrogen's ability to directly stimulate neurons, repair damaged neurons, and stimulate support cells—most of which can alleviate some of the cognitive decline associated with menopause.