Copyright 2009 Medical News Today Latest Seniors / Aging News From Medical News Today. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/sections/seniors/ admin@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Admin) editors@medicalnewstoday.com (MNT Editors) en-us Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171755.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171755.php Andrew Harrop‚ Head of Public Policy for Age Concern and Help the Aged‚ said: 'We welcome the Conservatives' announcement today that they would not remove Attendance Allowance and Disability Living Allowance in the future. 'These benefits can improve older people's quality of life and provide extra help which may prevent, or delay the need for more formal care. Seniors / Aging Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171757.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171757.php Older adults who have alcohol dependence problems drink significantly more than do younger adults who have similar problems, a new study has found. The findings suggest that older problem drinkers may have developed a tolerance for alcohol and need to drink even more than younger abusers to achieve the effects they seek. Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171621.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171621.php The California Medical Association (CMA) and AARP are calling on the U.S. House of Representatives to pass H.R. 3961, which would ease the difficulty seniors now face in finding a physician who accepts Medicare. The legislation would repeal Medicare's flawed payment structure, known as the Sustainable Growth Rate (SGR), and replace it with a stable foundation that would encourage physician participation. Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171547.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171547.php IOS Press announces the November 2009 publication of a special issue of NeuroRehabilitation: An International Journal devoted to residential design for persons with neurodisability. Neurology / Neuroscience Fri, 20 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171548.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171548.php In a step toward using human saliva to tell whether those stiff joints, memory lapses, and other telltale signs of aging are normal or red flags for disease, scientists are describing how the protein content of women's saliva change with advancing age. The discovery could lead to a simple, noninvasive test for better diagnosing and treating certain age-related diseases in women, they suggest in a report in ACS' Journal of Proteome Research, a monthly publication. Women's Health / Gynecology Thu, 19 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171493.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171493.php Minnesota Public Radio reports: "Since 2006, senior citizens have been able to choose plans for Medicare prescription drug coverage, but that coverage contains a gap known as the 'doughnut hole,' a gap that health care reform plans being debated in Congress would address." "Under the House health care bill, Medicare would eliminate the gap within a decade. Seniors / Aging Thu, 19 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171532.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171532.php Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have found that exaggerated responses of the immune system explain why the elderly succumb to viral infections more readily than younger people. Published in the November 19 Cell Host & Microbe, the study bucks the general belief that declining immune responses are to blame for susceptibility to viral infections. Seniors / Aging Thu, 19 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171455.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171455.php Epiphany Biosciences announced results from its Phase 2b dose-ranging study of EPB-348 (valomaciclovir) in patients with shingles (herpes zoster) infection. The study's primary endpoint was non-inferiority of once-daily valomaciclovir compared to thrice-daily valacyclovir in terms of time to complete crusting of the shingles rash. Seniors / Aging Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171436.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171436.php Researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine set out to address a question that has been challenging scientists for years: How do dietary restriction-and the reverse, overconsumption-produce protective effects against aging and disease? An answer lies in a two-part study led by Charles Nutrition / Diet Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171408.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171408.php Every two years, 2,000 senior Group Health patients check in with the Adult Changes in Thought (ACT) study. The joint project between Group Health Research Institute and the University of Washington (UW) focuses on finding ways to delay or prevent dementia, including Alzheimer's disease, and declines in memory and thinking. It aims to deepen understanding of how the body - especially the brain - ages. Alzheimer's / Dementia Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171416.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171416.php The routine prescription of extended-release niacin, a B vitamin (1,500 milligrams daily), in combination with traditional cholesterol-lowering therapy offers no extra benefit in correcting arterial narrowing and diminishing plaque buildup in seniors who already have coronary artery disease, a new vascular imaging study from Johns Hopkins experts shows. Statins Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171424.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171424.php Alzheimer's Society has today welcomed the recognition of people with dementia in the Queen's speech and called for dementia to be a priority for all political parties. Responding to proposals to give people with the highest needs free personal care, Alzheimer's Society called for more detail and warned that both money and improved quality of home care was needed to make proposals a success. Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171446.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171446.php The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced yesterday that it has approved Qutenza (capsaicin) 8% patch for the treatment of post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN), an often excruciating pain that can persist for weeks, months and even years in 10 to 15 per cent of people who get shingles. The medicated skin patch, which is made by Lohmann Therapie-Systems AD of Andernach, Germany and distributed in the US by NeurogesX Inc. Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171320.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171320.php In a collaboration between Kaiser Health News and IT / Internet / E-mail Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171330.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171330.php NPR reports on a town in Wisconsin with the highest rates of living wills in the country. "[N]early all adults who die in La Crosse, 96 percent of them, die with a completed advance directive. … But it's expensive to spend time with patients filling out living wills. Medicare doesn't reimburse for the time the hospital's nurses, chaplains and social workers do this. Seniors / Aging Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171333.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171333.php Technology advances are making life better for the elderly and those with Alzheimer's disease by allowing the older to stay in their homes and giving the ill a way to interact with society again. Kaiser Health News, in collaboration with Alzheimer's / Dementia Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171341.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171341.php Aine Brady, T.D., Minister for Older People and Health Promotion, yesterday (17 November 2009) officially opened the Bealtaine Festival 2010 Network Day organised by Age and Opportunity. The purpose of the event was to review and plan next years Festival, by giving organisers a chance to network and to learn from each other. The Bealtaine Festival is an Irish success story. Seniors / Aging Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171209.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171209.php Healthy, older adults free of heart disease need not fear that bouts of rapid, irregular heartbeats brought on by vigorous exercise might increase short- or long-term risk of dying or having a heart attack, according to a report by heart experts at Johns Hopkins and the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA). Cardiovascular / Cardiology Tue, 17 Nov 2009 06:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171222.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171222.php Two new studies of pedestrian safety found that using a cell phone while hoofing it can endanger one's health. Older pedestrians, in particular, are impaired when crossing a busy (simulated) street while speaking on a mobile phone, the researchers found. The studies, in which participants crossed a virtual street while talking on the phone or listening to music, found that the music-listeners were able to navigate traffic as well as the average unencumbered pedestrian. IT / Internet / E-mail Tue, 17 Nov 2009 04:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171142.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171142.php In his latest Kaiser Health News column, Howard Gleckman writes about long-term care: "The CLASS Act - the far-reaching proposal to create a national long-term care insurance program - is in the House health reform bill, and is still in the mix as Senate leaders struggle to design their own version of reform. Seniors / Aging Tue, 17 Nov 2009 03:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171148.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171148.php A new report from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services finds that the health overhaul bill passed by the House will raise health costs by approximately $289 billion in the next ten years. The report was requested by House Republicans and compiled by CMS' chief actuary, Richard Foster. The Medicare / Medicaid / SCHIP Tue, 17 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171075.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/171075.php The elderly are more vulnerable to problems after a major surgical procedure than younger patients, but a team of investigators using data from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) suggest that one way to improve surgical results in this age group is to have hospitals expand their quality control guidelines to include more types of surgery-related complications. Seniors / Aging Mon, 16 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170995.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170995.php Two publications looked at the problem of rising health costs and ways to try to "bend the curve." In a cover story, BusinessWeek reports: "None of the health-care reform bills on the table in Washington do anything meaningful to address that wasted $700 billion. Health Insurance / Medical Insurance Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170924.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170924.php The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health, has awarded nearly $9.7 million over five years to the Radiation Effects Research Foundation (RERF), Japan, to study the effects of atomic bomb radiation and aging on the human immune system. Radiology / Nuclear Medicine Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:00:00 PST http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170925.php http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/170925.php Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center (LA BioMed) has announced that it will participate in a large national study of the effectiveness of testosterone as a treatment for anemia, cardiovascular disease, decreased vitality, impaired memory and sexual function, loss of muscle mass and other health conditions that affect older men. Men's health