Aging clinical and experimental research
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Fresh information on various low-trauma fractures of elderly adults is sparse. ⋯ The rise in the incidence of low-trauma knee fractures in Finnish older women from early 1970s until late 1990s has been followed by a continuous decline in the fracture rate. Reasons for the decline are unknown, but a cohort effect toward a healthier aging female population with improved functionality and decreased risk of injurious slips, trips, and falls could partly explain the observation.
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Acidosis is able to induce negative changes of different organs that increase progressively with aging. At present it is not known whether the levels of lactate may differently influence the prognosis of younger and older patients. Thus, the aim of this study is to evaluate the prognostic value of lactate levels after admission of younger and older patients to an acute intensive care unit. ⋯ Lactate concentration increase is associated with increased mortality in younger patients but, even more so, in older patients admitted to an acute intensive care unit. These results confirm the experimental evidence showing acidosis has a greater effect of leading to organ failure and higher mortality with increasing age.
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Comparative Study
Association of walking speed with sagittal spinal alignment, muscle thickness, and echo intensity of lumbar back muscles in middle-aged and elderly women.
Age-related change of spinal alignment in the standing position is known to be associated with decreases in walking speed, and alteration in muscle quantity (i.e., muscle mass) and muscle quality (i.e., increases in the amount of intramuscular non-contractile tissue) of lumbar back muscles. Additionally, the lumbar lordosis angle in the standing position is associated with walking speed, independent of lower-extremity muscle strength, in elderly individuals. However, it is unclear whether spinal alignment in the standing position is associated with walking speed in the elderly, independent of trunk muscle quantity and quality. The present study investigated the association of usual and maximum walking speed with age, sagittal spinal alignment in the standing position, muscle quantity measured as thickness, and quality measured as echo intensity of lumbar muscles in 35 middle-aged and elderly women. ⋯ The results of this study suggest that a decrease in maximal walking speed is associated with the decrease in lumbar erector spinae muscles thickness rather than spinal alignment in the standing position in middle-aged and elderly women.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Implications of palonosetron in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy with respect to its anti-shivering effect.
The elderly are vulnerable to hypothermia and have a higher risk of cardiovascular events induced by marked increases in oxygen consumption due to shivering. Five-hydroxytryptamine-3 (5-HT3) receptor antagonists have been previously reported to reduce post-anesthesia shivering. ⋯ Pre-operative administration of palonosetron 0.075 mg did not influence perioperative hypothermia or post-anesthesia shivering in elderly patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. However, palonosetron might be beneficial for reducing early postoperative pain in elderly patients with opioid-based patient-controlled analgesia.
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Unlike Alzheimer's, vascular dementia can, in part, be prevented. The preventive approach foresees treatment for high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation, diabetes, high cholesterol, low HDL cholesterol, sedentary lifestyle, smoking, alcohol abuse, obesity, and sleep apnea. Moreover, also a well-balanced diet and physical activity are cornerstones of prevention, with beneficial effects on the brain and cognition.