Tag: ageing

Categories : AgeingTags :

Timely Interventions Could Counteract Sarcopenia

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A new study from Karolinska Institutet in Sweden suggests that the early stages of sarcopenia, where muscles weaken with age faster than expected, could be counteracted with timely interventions designed to preserve physical and cognitive function and manage chronic conditions. The study’s findings are published in the Journal of Cachexia, Sarcopenia and Muscle.

Muscle mass and function is lost with ageing. When this decline is more extensive or rapid than expected, it is categorised as sarcopenia, a common condition in the elderly that often lowers quality of life and increases fall and fracture risks.

Researchers examined how different factors such as sex, age, educational level, living arrangement, lifestyle and chronic conditions affected the development of sarcopenia in people aged 60 and above across a 12-year period.

When the study began, almost 10% of the nearly 3200 participants had sarcopenia, 27% had probable sarcopenia and just over 63% no sarcopenia. Measurements such as grip strength, walking speed, speed of rising from a chair five times and calf circumference were used to assess muscle strength and mass and physical performance.

“Perhaps the most interesting result was that after five years, a roughly equal proportion (just over 10 percent) of the individuals with probable sarcopenia had either improved or deteriorated. This suggests that sarcopenia is a dynamic condition that is modifiable especially in the initial stages, which is a hopeful message,” said corresponding author Caterina Trevisan, affiliated researcher at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet.

Physical activity and higher results on cognitive tests improved odds of improvement and lowered mortality risk, while a higher number of chronic conditions, male sex and older age had the opposite correlation. For individuals initially diagnosed with severe sarcopenia, there was little chance of improvement, and many of them (almost 71%) died during the follow-up period.

“Our results support the need of early interventions to preserve physical and cognitive functions and manage chronic conditions in older individuals,” says the study’s last author Anna-Karin Welmer, senior lecturer at the Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet. “With these tools, we could probably counteract muscle deterioration and the impairment in quality of life this entails. We now need intervention studies to find ways to use these tools to counteract sarcopenia.”

Source: Karolinska Institutet

Categories : Ageing GenderTags :

Older Women Struggle More with Daily Activities

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Older women are more likely to struggle with both regular daily tasks and mobility activities, according to new analysis of longitudinal cohort studies.

However, the researchers say disparities in ability to perform daily tasks have been steadily decreasing as the socioeconomic gap between the sexes has decreased.  

The international study, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, uses data from more than 27 000 men and 34 000 women aged 50 to 100, born between 1895 and 1960, to examine sex differences in daily activity and mobility limitations. Researchers at UCL and the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in France drew on four large longitudinal studies, covering 14 countries*.

Women were more found to be more likely than men to be limited in their ‘functional capacity’ (both tasks and mobility) as they get older. From age 75, women were also more likely to have three or more mobility issues (such as going up a flight of stairs) or limitations with more complex daily tasks (eg managing money) compared to men who were more likely to have just one or two. At age 85 years, the prevalence of three or more mobility limitations was 10% higher in women than in men.

Lead author, Mikaela Bloomberg, UCL PhD candidate, explained: “Our study of over 60,000 participants born between 1895 and 1960 provides new insights on functional limitations and sex differences.

“We found that women are more likely to be limited than men in carrying out daily tasks from age 70, while we observed women were more likely to be limited in mobility activities from age 50 onward.

“This is an important observation because mobility limitations can precede other more severe limitations and targeting these gaps at middle age could be one way to reduce sex differences in limitations at older ages.”

Historical socioeconomic differences between men and women in areas such as education and entrance to the labour force may partly explain these differences, as women are disproportionately exposed to associated health risks that can lead to disability.

“It appears that gender inequalities in the ability to carry out daily tasks at older age are decreasing over time and this could be explained by the fact that women have better access to education and are more likely to enter the paid labour force in recent generations,” said Bloomberg.

“And although reductions in socioeconomic inequalities may be associated with smaller disparities in simple daily tasks, we did not see the same reductions in sex disparities for mobility after accounting for socioeconomic factors. This might be partly due to sex differences in body composition such as body mass and skeletal muscle index but more research is needed to identify other factors.”

Co-author Dr Séverine Sabia added: “Developing targeted prevention policies to preserve independent living and quality of life for older adults requires an understanding of drivers of sex differences in functional limitations.

“Our study indicates improvements in socioeconomic conditions for women could play an important role in reducing these sex differences. Findings also highlight the importance of early prevention to tackle sex differences in mobility that may trigger sex differences in disability at older age.”

Source: University College London

Categories : Ageing Neurodegenerative DiseasesTags :

In Dementia, De-cluttering is of Little Value

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A new study has shown that a clutter-free environment may not help people living with dementia carry out daily tasks.

Researchers studied whether people with dementia were better able to carry out tasks, such as making a cup of tea, at home amidst their normal clutter or in a clutter-free environment. Surprisingly, participants with moderate dementia performed better when surrounded by their usual clutter. But the different environments made no difference to people with mild and severe dementia, who were able to perform at the same level in both settings. The findings were published in Alzheimer Disease & Associated Disorders.

Prof Eneida Mioshi, from the University of East Anglia. said: “As dementia progresses, people gradually lose their ability to carry out daily tasks due to changes in their cognitive, perceptual and physical abilities. Participation in daily tasks could then be improved by adapting the person’s environment.

“To this end, we wanted to investigate the role of clutter in activity participation, given the potential to use de-cluttering to support people with dementia to continue to be independent.

“Environmental clutter has been defined as the presence of an excessive number of objects on a surface or the presence of items that are not required for a task. It is generally assumed that a person with dementia will be better-able to carry out daily tasks when their home space is tidy and clutter free. However there has been very little research to really test this hypothesis.

“We wanted to see whether clutter was negatively affecting people with dementia. So we studied how people at different stages of dementia coped with carrying out daily tasks at home, surrounded by their usual clutter, compared to in a clutter-free setting – a specially designed home research lab.”

Occupational therapist and PhD student Julieta Camino carried out the study with 65 participants. They were grouped into those with mild, moderate and severe dementia, and were asked to carry out daily tasks including making a cup of tea and making a simple meal, both at their own home and at UEA’s specially designed NEAT research bungalow, a fully furnished research facility that feels just like a domestic bungalow. 

The researchers evaluated performance of activities in both settings, and also measured the amount of clutter in the participants’ homes. Meanwhile the NEAT home setting was completely clutter free.

Source: University of East Anglia

Categories : AgeingTags :

Elderly with Mild Dementia Benefit from Smartphone Reminder Apps

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Results from a new study show that older adults with mild dementia can learn to use smartphone memory aids to help them remember to complete everyday tasks that are important to their quality of life.

The study, which was published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, recruited 52 older adults with mild cognitive impairment or mild dementia, and were coached on how to use a digital voice recorder app or a reminder app.

After a four-week intervention, participants reported improvements in performing daily intentions. They also performed relatively well when the investigators assigned them with tasks, with performance levels favouring the reminder app in week 1, but by week 4 changing to favour the digital voice recorder app. Greater usage of the digital recorder or reminder apps was associated with better memory and greater improvements in activities of daily living.

The researchers note that smartphone aids are free and widely available, and they should be shared with patients and caregivers to help support quality of life and independent functioning.

“There is this pervasive notion that older adults dislike technology, but we found that participants enjoyed learning to use smartphone memory apps and were able to improve their daily prospective memory performance,” said lead author Michael K. Scullin, PhD, of Baylor University. “Technology companies have an opportunity to improve broad adoption of smartphone memory aids in older adults and persons with mild stages of Alzheimer’s disease by tailoring the interface and user experience of their reminder apps to this demographic and by incorporating age diversity into their marketing campaigns. With the help of smart technology companies, we can make great headway on improving functioning and quality of life for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.”

Source: Wiley

Categories : Ageing COVIDTags :

Previously Infected Older People Have More COVID Antibodies

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In a recent study published in Scientific Reports, researchers found that older people previously infected with COVID, when vaccinated, had higher antibody levels than previously infected individuals. These antibodies were also effective against the Delta variant, which wasn’t present in Canada when the samples were taken  in 2020.

Joelle Pelletier and Jean-François Masson, both professors in Université de Montréal’s Department of Chemistry, wanted to find out whether natural infection or vaccination led to more protective antibodies being generated. The focussed on an understudied group: people who have been infected but not hospitalised by SARS-CoV-2.

Consequently, 32 non-hospitalised COVID positive adults were recruited 14 to 21 days after being diagnosed through PCR testing. This was in 2020, before the Beta, Delta and Gamma variants emerged.

“Everyone who had been infected produced antibodies, but older people produced more than adults under 50 years of age,” said Prof Masson. “In addition, antibodies were still present in their bloodstream 16 weeks after their diagnosis.”

Antibodies produced after an infection by the original, “native” strain of the virus also reacted to SARS-CoV-2 variants that emerged in subsequent waves, namely Beta (South Africa), Delta (India) and Gamma (Brazil), but to a lesser extent: a reduction of 30 to 50%.

“But the result that surprised us the most was that antibodies produced by naturally infected individuals 50 and older provided a greater degree of protection than adults below 50, ” said Prof Pelletier.

“This was determined by measuring the antibodies’ capacity to inhibit the interaction of the Delta variant’s spike protein with the ACE-2 receptor in human cells, which is how we become infected,” he added. “We didn’t observe the same phenomenon with the other variants.”

When someone who has had a mild case of COVID is vaccinated, the antibody level in their blood doubles compared to an unvaccinated person who has been infected by the virus. Their antibodies are also better able to prevent spike-ACE-2 interaction.

“But what’s even more interesting,” said Prof Masson, “is that we have samples from an individual younger than 49 whose infection didn’t produce antibodies inhibiting spike-ACE-2 interaction, unlike vaccination. This suggests that vaccination increases protection against the Delta variant among people previously infected by the native strain.”

Both scientists believe more research should be conducted to determine the best combination for maintaining the most effective level of antibodies reactive to all variants of the virus.

Source: University of Montreal

Categories : AgeingTags :

Inflammatory Markers Found in Socially Isolated Older Adults

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New research from the US has found that older adults who experienced social isolation had higher blood levels of interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein, two markers of inflammation that can have long-term negative impacts for the health of individuals as they age.

Social isolation is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality comparable to well-established risk factors including smoking, hypertension, and a sedentary lifestyle. The specific biological mechanisms that connect social isolation to morbidity and mortality remain unclear. 

The study, published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, used data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), which included a nationally representative sample of 4648 Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older. The researchers defined social isolation with a multi-domained typology that considers living arrangement, core discussion network, religious attendance, and social participation
The authors noted that clinical and social interventions that address social isolation among older adults may influence biological processes such as inflammation, as well as their potentially negative effects.

Credit: JAGS

“Our findings demonstrate an important association between social isolation and biological processes. This work is a step in the journey to disentangle the mechanisms by which social isolation leads to higher levels of morbidity and mortality,” said lead author Thomas K.M. Cudjoe, MD, MPH, of Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. “My hope is that investigators incorporate objective measures of social isolation and biological markers in future longitudinal studies so that we might continue to advance our understanding of these complex biopsychosocial interactions.”

Source: Wiley

Categories : Mental HealthTags :

Simple Talking Therapy Relieves Loneliness in Elderly

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A simple form of talking therapy, delivered telephonically by trained support workers, successfully reduced loneliness in older people left isolated during the pandemic, according to initial results from a new study.

The intervention lasted for eight weeks and was designed in partnership with older people. People were contacted weekly and were encouraged to maintain their social contacts and to stick to a daily schedule, which included both routine and enjoyable activities.

The intervention developed in the BASIL-C19 (Behavioural Activation in Social Isolation) study lasted for eight weeks and was designed in partnership with older people who had direct experience of social isolation, loneliness and depression during the pandemic.  

The importance of social connection was highlighted by the COVID pandemic and its restrictions. Pre-pandemic research identified 1.4 million older adults in England as experiencing significant loneliness with impacts on their mental health.  Research since the pandemic shows that rates of loneliness and depression have increased, particularly for those who were self-isolating.

A team of leading researchers and clinicians anticipated the impacts of the pandemic on mental health and re-focussed their research expertise to examine the psychological impact of enforced isolation, disruption to daily routines, loss of social contact and loneliness.

They designed a very brief telephone delivered intervention to combat depression and loneliness.  Older people appreciated the offer of telephone contact and they found the intervention to be helpful in maintaining daily routines and social contact.

In the preliminary results, published in PLOS Medicine, the research team found evidence of improved mental health, and a strong indication that loneliness rates were substantially reduced in the first three months. A much larger trial follow-on trial is now currently recruiting over 600 older people and is the largest study ever undertaken to tackle loneliness and depression in this way.  

Source: University of York

Categories : Ageing CancerTags :

Older Patients with Advanced Lung Cancer Suffer Reduced Mobility

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New research found that older patients with non-small cell lung cancer often have low life-space mobility prior to starting lung cancer treatment. Life-space mobility is the ability to move within one’s environment from the home to the wider community. The findings were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The study recruited 93 patients aged 65 to 94 with advanced NSCLC starting palliative chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and/or targeted therapy from a Comprehensive Cancer Center, Veterans Affairs, and safety-net clinic. Patients completed geriatric assessments including Life-Space Assessment (LSA) pretreatment and at 1, 2, 4, and 6 months after treatment initiation. 

The Life-Space Assessment scores had a range of 0 to 120, with a score under 60 being considered restricted. The researchers found that the average pretreatment score was 67. On average, the score fell by 10 points from pretreatment to one month after treatment started and remained low at six months.  

The decline at one month was greater among patients with high anxiety. On the other hand, a lower body mass index prior to starting treatment was associated with an improvement in the score during treatment.  

“Life-space mobility is a well-studied patient-centered outcome in general aging research but is only now being examined for older adults with cancer,” said lead author Melisa L. Wong, MD, MAS, of the University of California, San Francisco. “Our study’s novel design provided a unique lens into how quantitative changes in life-space mobility are experienced qualitatively by older adults with lung cancer.”

Source: Wiley

Categories : AgeingTags :

Human Cells Resist Mutations Without Ageing Impacts

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Researchers have found that human cells and tissues cells tolerate many more mutations than previously thought, without impacting their function or showing the features associated with ageing.

To understand the impact of defective DNA replication on cancer risk and features associated with ageing, researchers compared DNA taken from individuals with inherited mutations in genes involved in DNA replication with DNA from individuals with normal versions of these genes. The results, published in Nature Genetics,  suggest that build-up of mutations in normal cells is unlikely to be the only factor in the development of age-related disease, adding to the ongoing debate about the causes of ageing.

One model of ageing suggests that accumulation of mutations in the DNA of healthy cells results in the changes that we see as the body grows older. This model is based on the observation that mutations accumulate in normal cells throughout life, theorising that the older people having more mutations compared to younger people results in impaired function of genes and disturbs cell function, ultimately leading to diseases of old age and the visible features typically associated with ageing.

However, this new research shows that human cells and tissues can function apparently normally with many more mutations than are usually present, suggesting that ageing may not solely be due to buildup of such mutations.

DNA replication is required to duplicate the DNA in a cell ready for cell division. It involves creating an entire error-free copy of the human genome from the existing strand, and is undertaken with very high accuracy in normal healthy cells by proteins called DNA polymerases. When the DNA polymerases have a mutation, causing them to be faulty, it leads to more DNA errors, or small mutations, accumulating with each and every cell replication.

In this study, researchers applied new techniques to sequence the DNA of normal cells and tissues from patients who have inherited mutated versions of the DNA polymerase genes, POLE and POLD1.

By comparing tissue samples with unaffected individuals, they found that normal tissues from those who had a faulty DNA polymerase had elevated mutation rates. These study participants did not, however, show features of early onset ageing or age-related diseases despite having accumulated numbers of mutations that would have made them hundreds of years old in terms of their ‘mutational age’. Therefore, other than an increased risk of certain cancers, the research shows that cells can accumulate many mutations and not show features associated with ageing, challenging the current model.

Further research is therefore needed to understand the biological processes underlying ageing.

Source: Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Categories : Ageing Skeletal SystemTags :

A ‘Fountain of Youth’ for Bone Marrow Stem Cells

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Scientists have shown that reduced bone marrow stem cell function with ageing is due to changes in their epigenome, and they were able to reverse these changes in isolated stem cells by adding acetate. This ‘fountain of youth’ for the epigenome could become important for the treatment of diseases such as osteoporosis.

One responsible mechanism for age-related osteoporosis and fracture risk involves the impaired function of the bone-marrow stem cells, which are required for the maintenance of bone integrity. 

For a long time, researchers have looked at epigenetics as a cause of ageing. Epigenetics looks at changes that affect the activity of genes. One of these is changes in proteins called histones, which package and thus control access to DNA. In this study, the researchers investigated the epigenome of mesenchymal stem cells, which are found in bone marrow and can give rise to different types of cells such as cartilage, bone and fat cells.

“We wanted to know why these stem cells produce less material for the development and maintenance of bones as we age, causing more and more fat to accumulate in the bone marrow. To do this, we compared the epigenome of stem cells from young and old mice,” explained Andromachi Pouikli, first author of the study. “We could see that the epigenome changes significantly with age. Genes that are important for bone production are particularly affected.”

The researchers then sought to find out if it was possible to rejuvenate the epigenome of stem cells. To do this, they treated isolated stem cells from mouse bone marrow with a nutrient solution which contained sodium acetate. The cell converts the acetate into a building block that enzymes can attach to histones to increase access to genes, thereby boosting their activity. “This treatment impressively caused the epigenome to rejuvenate, improving stem cell activity and leading to higher production of bone cells,” Pouikli said.

To see if this change could also be responsible for increased fracture risk and osteoporosis with age, the researchers studied human mesenchymal stem cells from hip surgery patients. In elderly patients with osteoporosis, the same epigenetic changes seen with mice were also seen in these human cells.

“Sodium acetate is also available as a food additive, however, it is not advisable to use it in this form against osteoporosis, as our observed effect is very specific to certain cells,” cautioned study leader Peter Tessarz. “However, there are already first experiences with stem cell therapies for osteoporosis. Such a treatment with acetate could also work in such a case. However, we still need to investigate in more detail the effects on the whole organism in order to exclude possible risks and side effects.”

The results were published in the journal Nature Aging.

Source: Max Planck Society