Gerontology
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It has been suggested that regular moderate physical activity (PA) promotes resistance to upper respiratory tract infections (URTI). In an older population, this relationship should be examined in a wider concept of multiple factors potentially able to influence infection rate and reported symptomatology. Especially, the impact of depression should be taken into consideration. ⋯ These results indicate that in elderly subjects the symptomatology of URTI is interrelated with their habitual PA and depressive symptomatology. Less active and more depressed subjects develop more URTI symptoms during 1-year follow-up. This URTI symptomatology, together with the baseline PA and the depressive status, contributes to the follow-up PA and depression scores.
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Comparative Study
What maintains energy supply at peak aerobic exercise in trained and untrained older men?
Aging-related changes occur mainly in the cardiopulmonary system and skeletal muscles, bringing about a reduction in physical performance. Consequently, maximal oxygen uptake (VO(2)max) decreases. ⋯ The present study suggests that the differences between trained and untrained elderly in absolute oxygen uptake of the working muscles and peak power output at maximal exercise test are due to physical activity status. The higher aerobic capacity in the trained elderly is related to increased cardiovascular function and to a lesser extent to increased muscle mitochondria concentration and capillarity. Although untrained elderly have reduced maximal oxygen uptake at peak aerobic exercise, intrinsic regulation of mitochondrial function does not seem to be significantly altered because of aging associated physical inactivity. Therefore, untrained elderly can partially compensate for their lower cardiac output by increasing oxygen extraction to levels comparable with those of trained elderly.
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Percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) is generally used for long-term enteral nutrition. Patients who require PEG placement are often very sick, and postoperative complications, especially aspiration pneumonia, can be fatal. ⋯ S-SPT is particularly useful in PEG patients. The scores provided by S-SPT and endoscopic examination can be very useful for aspiration pneumonia after PEG. The patients with scores < or =2 appear to be at very low risk for aspiration pneumonia, and patients with the scores > or =3 should be carefully followed up.
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Long-term care (LTC) residents, especially the orally fed with dysphagia, are prone to dehydration. The clinical consequences of dehydration are critical. The validity of the common laboratory parameters of hydration status is far from being absolute, especially so in the elderly. However, combinations of these indices are more reliable. ⋯ Dehydration was found to be common among orally fed FOSS-2 LTC patients. Surprisingly, probable dehydration, although of a mild degree, was not a rarity among NGT-fed patients either. The combination of 4 parameters, BUN, BUN/S(Cr ), U/S(Osm) and U(Osm), offers reasonable reliability to be used as an indication of dehydration status in daily clinical practice.
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Explanations for associations found between sensory and cognitive function remain unclear. ⋯ We have documented an age-related correlation between sensory and cognitive function in a normal ageing sample. The association between sensory impairment and likely cognitive impairment remained significant after excluding vision-related MMSE items and adjusting for confounding factors. Our data suggest that age-related decline and the effect of visual impairment on the measurement of cognition only partly explain the association between sensory and cognitive impairments in older persons.