Stereotypes Can Harm Performance Of Older Adults On Cognitive And Physical Tasks

Georgia State University:  When older adults are viewed as cognitively or physically impaired, they perform below their abilities on tasks, according to a recent review article by Sarah Barber, a psychology and gerontology researcher at Georgia State University. Groups who are stigmatized—whether due to race, socioeconomic status or age—perform more poorly when they are faced with negative stereotypes, Barber said. She found expectations of others can play a powerful role in how well older adults perform on cognitive tasks and motor skills such as driving.

How eating less can slow the aging process

Brigham Young: There’s a multi-billion-dollar industry devoted to products that fight signs of aging, but moisturizers only go skin deep. Aging occurs deeper — at a cellular level — and scientists have found that eating less can slow this cellular process. Recent research published in Molecular & Cellular Proteomics offers one glimpse into how cutting calories impacts aging inside a cell. The researchers found that when ribosomes — the cell’s protein makers — slow down, the aging process slows too. The decreased speed lowers production but gives ribosomes extra time to repair themselves.

What if meditation allowed us to age better?

INSERM: And what if meditation enhanced the aging process? This is suggested by the results of a pilot study, conducted by Inserm researchers based in Caen and Lyon. 73 individuals, with an average age of 65 years, underwent brain imaging tests. Among these individuals, “meditation experts” (with 15,000 to 30,000 hours of meditation to their name) showed significant differences in certain regions of the brain. By reducing stress, anxiety, negative emotions and sleep problems, which tend to become more pronounced with age, meditation could reduce the harmful effects arising from these factors and have a positive effect on brain aging. These results have been published in the journal Scientific Reports.

Offbeat brain rhythms during sleep make older adults forget

Berkeley: Like swinging a tennis racket during a ball toss to serve an ace, slow and speedy brainwaves during deep sleep must sync up at exactly the right moment to hit the save button on new memories, according to new UC Berkeley research. While these brain rhythms, occurring hundreds of times a night, move in perfect lockstep in young adults, findings published today in the journal Neuron show that, in old age, slow waves during non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep fail to make timely contact with speedy electrical bursts known as “spindles.”

Hitting the Genetic Jackpot. Exceptional aging is a rarity.

Oregon State University: Your environment — including food choices, exercise habits and sun exposure — contributes the most when it comes to living to an average age. But it is your genes that determine how likely you are to live to an exceptional age. “We define exceptional age as the top 1 percent survival rate in a particular birth year cohort,” says Assistant Professor Harold Bae, who investigated the role of genes on longevity in a recent study published in the Journals of Gerontology: Biological Sciences. “For example, in the New England Centenarian Study, the birth year cohort is 1900. That means that males age 96 and older and females age 100 and older have reached exceptional age.”

Scientifically designed fasting diet lowers risks for major diseases

USC: What if you could lose weight and reduce your risk of life-threatening disease without any changes in what you eat — other than a five-day special diet once every few months? That’s what happened for 71 adults placed on three cycles of a low-calorie, “fasting-mimicking” diet. The phase II trial, conducted by researchers at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, demonstrated a host of benefits from the regimen. The diet reduced cardiovascular risk factors, including blood pressure and signs of inflammation (measured by C-reactive protein levels), as well as fasting glucose and reduced levels of IGF-1, a hormone that affects metabolism. It also shrank waistlines and resulted in weight loss, both in total body fat and trunk fat, but not in muscle mass.

Five common myths about the ageing brain and body

TheConversation: The world’s population, and Australia’s, is ageing. The number of adults aged 65 and over is increasing, as is the proportion of the population they represent. However, there are a number of myths associated with what happens to our brain and bodies as we age.

Researchers discover link between aging, devastating lung disease

Mayo Clinic: A Mayo Clinic study has shown evidence linking the biology of aging with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a disease that impairs lung function and causes shortness of breath, fatigue, declining quality of life, and, ultimately, death. Researchers believe that these findings, which appear today in Nature Communications, are the next step toward a possible therapy for individuals suffering from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. “Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a poorly understood disease, and its effects are devastating,” says Nathan LeBrasseur, Ph.D., director, Healthy Aging and Independent Living program, Mayo Clinic Robert and Arlene Kogod Center on Aging and senior author of this study.

Virtual-reality system for the elderly wins health care prize

MIT: Virtual reality is quickly gaining steam in the gaming industry. But an MIT startup is now aiming the technology at a different demographic, putting it to use as a health care tool for the elderly. At last night’s MIT Sloan Healthcare Innovations Prize pitch competition, Rendever earned the $25,000 grand prize for creating a virtual-reality platform that gives residents in assisted-living facilities the chance to explore the world virtually. The platform also provides cognitive therapy and tracks movement data to aid in early diagnosis of dementia.

“Late-life” genes activated by biological clock to help protect against stress, aging

Oregon: Researchers at Oregon State University have discovered that a subset of genes involved in daily circadian rhythms, or the “biological clock,” only become active late in life or during periods of intense stress when they are most needed to help protect critical life functions. The findings, made in research done with fruit flies and published today in Nature Communications, are part of a unique stress response mechanism that was previously unknown.

'Anti-ageing' hormone could unlock new treatments for kidney and heart disease

London: A new study by researchers at King’s College London has found that patients with diabetes suffering from the early stages of kidney disease have a deficiency of the protective ‘anti-ageing’ hormone, Klotho. The study, published today in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes [EASD]), suggests that Klotho may play a significant role in the development of kidney disease, which is often prevalent in patients with diabetes. This could mean that Klotho levels have the potential to be used as a risk marker to predict kidney disease, as well as being a target for developing new treatments to prevent kidney disease in patients with type 1 diabetes.

'Working memory' decline in normal aging linked to loss of specific receptor

University of Florida researchers have identified a subtype of a specific receptor in the brain that is critical for “working memory,” or the ability to hold information in mind for a short time — an ability that often diminishes with normal aging. In a new study published this week in The Journal of Neuroscience, the UF team details how the loss of that specific receptor predicts the severity of working-memory impairment due to aging. The researchers further found they could use a drug to positively affect those receptors to enhance working memory in aged rats with cognitive decline. The findings suggest a potential future pathway for drug treatment to target those receptors and improve working memory in humans.

Older adults with arthritis need just 45 minutes of activity per week

Northwestern: Older adults who suffer from arthritis need to keep moving to be functionally independent. But in an examination of a goal that is daunting for most of this aging population, a new Northwestern Medicine study found that performing even a third of the recommended activity is beneficial. Federal guidelines suggest achieving 150 minutes of moderate activity per week to prevent premature death and serious illness, however only one in 10 older American adults with arthritis in their knees meet these guidelines. Northwestern Medicine researchers wanted to determine a less overwhelming activity goal to get this population up and moving, and 45 minutes per week was that magic number. Approximately one third of participants improved or had high function after two years. But those participants who achieved this minimum of 45 minutes of moderate activity, such as brisk walking, per week were 80 percent more likely to improve or sustain high future function over two years compared with those doing less. This finding was true for both men and women.

Dementia is developing in a smaller proportion of older Americans over time

Ann Arbor: In a hopeful sign for the health of the nation’s brains, the percentage of American seniors with dementia is dropping, a new study finds: “A Comparison of the Prevalence of Dementia in the United States in 2000 and 2012” in JAMA Internal Medicine. The downward trend has emerged despite something else the study shows: a rising tide of three factors that are thought to raise dementia risk by interfering with brain blood flow, namely diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity. Those with the most years of education had the lowest chances of developing dementia, according to the findings. This may help explain the larger trend, because today’s seniors are more likely to have at least a high school diploma than those in the same age range a decade ago.

Study links nutrition to brain health and intelligence in older adults

Illinois: A study of older adults links consumption of a pigment found in leafy greens to the preservation of “crystallized intelligence,” the ability to use the skills and knowledge one has acquired over a lifetime.
The study is reported in the journal Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience. Lutein (LOO-teen) is one of several plant pigments that humans acquire through the diet, primarily by eating leafy green vegetables, cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, or egg yolks, said University of Illinois graduate student Marta Zamroziewicz, who led the study with Illinois psychology professor Aron Barbey. Lutein accumulates in the brain, embedding in cell membranes, where it likely plays “a neuroprotective role,” she said.

Genes that make mice youthful

Nature: Four genes that reprogram adult cells into embryonic-like stem cells can also reverse some signs of ageing. The four genes encode Yamanaka factors, which are essential for embryonic development, but usually cause tumours when expressed long-term in animals. Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, and his colleagues switched the genes on for two days per week over several weeks in mice that had an ageing disorder called progeria. The animals lived about 30% longer, and showed improvements in tissue healing and other signs of ageing, such as organ failure. In normal aged mice, switching on the genes led to improved recovery from muscle injury and to other signs of youthfulness. The mice did not develop cancer.
The authors link the rejuvenation to epigenetic remodelling — changes in the chemical marks on DNA that do not alter its sequence but influence gene expression.

Why sex gets better in older age

TheConversation: Aging is generally associated with improvements in our quality of life: We become more proficient in our work, learn how to manage our finances better and our bonds with loved ones deepen. With time and practice, most of the core domains of our lives improve as we develop skills and strategies to manage our lives with more mastery. An exception to this pattern is the quality of our sex lives, which has consistently been reported to deteriorate with age.

Being merry in your old age could help you live longer

Scimex: Sustained enjoyment of life over several years in older age is associated with lower mortality, finds a study in the Christmas issue of The BMJ. The longer an individual reports enjoying life, the lower their risk of death, the findings show. Previous studies have shown that subjective wellbeing (feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction with life) is associated with greater longevity, but they measured wellbeing on a single occasion, and the importance of sustained wellbeing is not known.

Does vitamin D cut lung infection risk in older adults?

NHS: "Why you should take vitamin D as you get older: High doses reduce the risk of respiratory illnesses by 40%," the Mail Online reports. Researchers in Colorado investigated whether a high dose of vitamin D in older adults living in long term care facilities could reduce their risk of acute respiratory (lung) infections, such as pneumonia.

Biological vs chronological age: how old are you really?

TheConversation: Researchers are developing tests to calculate your true biological age. They claim that such tests can measure how well your body is coping with the rigours of life. But how accurate are these tests and could they somehow be used to predict your future health? Ageing has long been considered an inevitable consequence of life. However, recent scientific advances have revealed that the physical decline associated with growing old is caused by an underlying biological process, influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. And if ageing is governed by biology then it is amenable to manipulation.