Copyright 2010 Medical News TodayLatest Health News and Medical News posted throughout the day, every day.http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/seniors/admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin)editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors)en-us Tue, 09 Feb 2010 05:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xpnhttp://mnt.to/f/3xpnNews outlets across the country report on state health policy developments. The Los Angeles Times: "At a time when nearly 7 million Californians are uninsured, state regulators are trying to rein in discount health and dental plans that officials say frequently overstate benefits, offer little if any savings and promise access to doctors who aren't part of the system...Primary Care / General Practice Tue, 09 Feb 2010 04:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xpLhttp://mnt.to/f/3xpLScientists have announced that they have identified for the first time definitive variants associated with biological ageing in humans. The team analyzed more than 500,000 genetic variations across the entire human genome to identify the variants which are located near a gene called TERC...Seniors / Aging Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xp6http://mnt.to/f/3xp6 In his latest Kaiser Health News column, done in partnership with The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn writes: ''[F]or much of the last year, Republicans have been scaring the bejeezus out of seniors by telling them that Democrats were out to destroy Medicare. But the Roadmap makes clear that it's not Democrats who seek massive, disruptive changes to the program. It's the Republicans...Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xpChttp://mnt.to/f/3xpC Poor or declining handgrip strength in the oldest old is associated with poor survival and may be used as a tool to assess mortality, found an article in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) The fastest growing segment of the elderly population is the group older than 85 years, classified as the oldest old...Seniors / Aging Tue, 09 Feb 2010 03:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xpKhttp://mnt.to/f/3xpKDeafness is the most common disorder of the senses. Tragically, it commonly strikes in early childhood, severely damaging an affected child's ability to learn speech and language...Hearing / Deafness Tue, 09 Feb 2010 01:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xnrhttp://mnt.to/f/3xnrHigh blood pressure appears to predict the progression to dementia in older adults with impaired executive functions (ability to organize thoughts and make decisions) but not in those with memory dysfunction, according to a report in the February issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals...Alzheimer's / Dementia Mon, 08 Feb 2010 11:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xnhhttp://mnt.to/f/3xnh Scientists from the UK and The Netherlands have identified for the first time a variant of a gene that is linked to biological ageing in humans and suggest the discovery will help us better understand cancer and diseases of ageing...Seniors / Aging Mon, 08 Feb 2010 02:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xkRhttp://mnt.to/f/3xkR Pfizer's Bad Political Bet The Wall Street Journal The sight of ObamaCare on life support has many Democrats disappointed. It could be worse. They could be Pfizer CEO Jeffrey Kindler (Kimberley Strassel, 2/4). The Verizon Wireless Cure The Christian Science Monitor Are health insurance company employees just meaner and more greedy than those who provide cellphone service ...Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xhChttp://mnt.to/f/3xhCA novel finding, described Feb. 4 on the Science Express Web site by teams from the National Cancer Institute, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and the University of Toronto, offers a clue as to how genes can have what you might call multiple personalities...Genetics Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xgLhttp://mnt.to/f/3xgLA new report by federal actuaries shows government programs will pay for more than half of all U.S. health care spending by 2012, and that total spending on health grew as a share of the economy by 1.1 percent last year to 17.3 percent, the largest leap ever, the Los Angeles Times reports. "The almost $2...Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Fri, 05 Feb 2010 05:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xhVhttp://mnt.to/f/3xhVA new report, Adult Immunization: Shots to Save Lives, released by the Trust for America's Health (TFAH), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) found that more than 30 percent of adults ages 65 and older had not been immunized against pneumonia in 36 states as of 2008. The U.S...Seniors / Aging Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xdHhttp://mnt.to/f/3xdHAs cancer survivors live longer, questions arise about what kind of care long-term survivors require. A recently published study from Case Western Reserve University's Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences found 245 older married women who survived cancer had more health problems as compared to a sample of 245 married women without cancer...Cancer / Oncology Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xfbhttp://mnt.to/f/3xfbAs the U.S. population ages, manufacturers of consumer goods are realizing that many customers may not be as nimble-fingered or sharp-sighted as they once were...Arthritis / Rheumatology Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xbdhttp://mnt.to/f/3xbdWomen age 65 or older assigned to an exercise program for 18 months appeared to have denser bones and a reduced risk of falls, but not a reduced cardiovascular disease risk, compared with women in a control group. Wolfgang Kemmler, Ph.D., and colleagues at Freidrich-Alexander University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany, studied a total of 246 older women...Bones / Orthopaedics Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xbchttp://mnt.to/f/3xbcModerate or high physical activity appears to be associated with a lower the risk of developing cognitive impairment in older adults after a two-year period. Thorleif Etgen, M.D...Sports Medicine / Fitness Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xb9http://mnt.to/f/3xb9One year of once- or twice-weekly resistance training appears to improve attention and conflict resolution skills among older women. Teresa Liu-Ambrose, Ph.D., P.T., of Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute and University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, and colleagues studied 155 women age 65 to 75...Women's Health / Gynecology Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xb8http://mnt.to/f/3xb8Among women who survive to age 70 or older, those who regularly participated in physical activity during middle age appear more likely to be in better overall health. Qi Sun, M.D., Sc.D., of the Harvard School of Public Health, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, and colleagues analyzed data from 13,535 participants in the Nurses' Health Study...Sports Medicine / Fitness Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3xb7http://mnt.to/f/3xb7 Physical activity appears to be associated with a reduced risk or slower progression of several age-related conditions as well as improvements in overall health in older age, according to a commentary and four articles published in the January 25 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals...Sports Medicine / Fitness Wed, 03 Feb 2010 13:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x9Whttp://mnt.to/f/3x9WAMA President, Dr Andrew Pesce, said today that urgent planning and investment is needed to meet the health and care needs of an ageing and growing Australian population. "Access to medical care for older Australians in residential aged care today is limited," Dr Pesce said...Seniors / Aging Wed, 03 Feb 2010 05:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x98http://mnt.to/f/3x98 The Seattle Times investigates Washington's practice of relocating some Medicaid patients from nursing homes to adult family homes. "Jeri Ringseth had no business being in an adult family home. Her physical and mental disabilities are so significant that she's spent most of her adult life in nursing homes or state hospitals. ...Seniors / Aging Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x8Khttp://mnt.to/f/3x8KSociologists at Case Western Reserve University found that when passive cancer patients become survivors, they have plenty of bold advice to offer other cancer patients, according to a study in JAGS, the Journal of American Geriatric Society...Seniors / Aging Wed, 03 Feb 2010 03:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x8Shttp://mnt.to/f/3x8SAn Iowa Senate committee will soon debate a proposal to provide no-cost family planning services to low-income women ages 45 through 54 whose private insurance does not cover the care, the Des Moines Register reports. The proposal would include coverage of comprehensive annual exams, pap tests, cervical cancer screening, birth control and other services...Sexual Health / STDs Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x7chttp://mnt.to/f/3x7c Decreased muscle strength is associated with difficulty in performing functional activities such as stooping, crouching, or kneeling (SCK) in older adults, according to an observational study published in the January issue of Physical Therapy, (PTJ) the scientific journal of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)...Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy Tue, 02 Feb 2010 04:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x68http://mnt.to/f/3x68 This month's Ophthalmology, the journal of the American Academy of Ophthalmology, includes results from a large Kaiser Permanente study of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) treatments, the first global report on retinal vein occlusion, and new recommendations to help elders with vision loss avoid falls...Eye Health / Blindness Tue, 02 Feb 2010 03:00:00 PSThttp://mnt.to/f/3x5Nhttp://mnt.to/f/3x5NDecreased muscle strength is associated with difficulty in performing functional activities such as stooping, crouching, or kneeling (SCK) in older adults, according to an observational study published in the January issue of Physical Therapy , (PTJ) the scientific journal of the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA)...Rehabilitation / Physical Therapy