Relative Trajectories of Gait and Cognitive Decline in Aging

Background Gait and cognition decline with advancing age, and presage the onset of dementia. Yet, the relative trajectories of gait and cognitive decline in aging are poorly understood – particularly among those with the Motoric Cognitive Risk (MCR) syndrome. This study compared changes in simple and complex gait performance and cognition, as a function of age and MCR. Methods We examined gait and cognitive functions of 1,095 LonGenity study participants (mean age = 75.4±6.7 years) with up to 12 years of annual follow-up. Participants were of Ashkenazi Jewish descent, free of dementia, ambulatory, and had a 12.2 % MCR prevalence at baseline. Gait speed was measured at usual pace walking (single-task walking, STW-speed) and walking while talking (WWT-speed). Eleven neuropsychological test scores were examined separately, and as a global cognition composite. Linear mixed-effects models adjusted for baseline sex, education, parental longevity, cognitive impairment and global health were used to estimate changes in gait and cognition, as a function of age and MCR. Results STW-speed, WWT-speed, and cognitive tests performance declined in a non-linear (accelerating) fashion with age. STW-speed declined faster than WWT-speed and cognitive test scores. People with MCR showed faster rates of decline on figure copy and phonemic fluency. Conclusions Gait declines at a faster rate than cognition in aging. People with MCR are susceptible to faster decline in visuospatial, executive, and language functions. This study adds important knowledge of trajectories of gait and cognitive decline in aging, and identifies MCR as a risk factor for accelerated cognitive decline.

A Review of the Effects of Collagen Treatment in Clinical Studies

Collagen, an abundant extracellular matrix protein, has been found to have a lot of pharmaceuticals, medicine, food, and cosmetics applications. Increased knowledge of collagen sources, extraction techniques, structure, and properties in the last decades has helped develop more collagen-based products and tissue engineering biomaterials. Collagen products have been playing an important role in benefiting the health of the human body, especially for aging people. In this paper, the effects of collagen treatment in different clinical studies including skin regeneration, bone defects, sarcopenia, wound healing, dental therapy, gastroesophageal reflux, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis have been reviewed. The collagen treatments were significant in these clinical studies. In addition, the associations between these diseases were discussed. The comorbidity of these diseases might be closely related to collagen deficiency, and collagen treatment might be a good choice when a patient has more than one of these diseases, including the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It concludes that collagen-based medication is useful in treating comorbid diseases and preventing complications.

User authenticated smart home automation system with healthcare

Traditional home automation is inconvenient for aging people. Biometric based personalized smart phone secures smart home automation. Internet of Things (IoT) is envisioned as a promising solution in the thrusting arenas of healthcare, industries, home automation and other domains due to its significant contribution towards connectivity, security, sleek design, low power, low cost and low workforce. This has come a long way industrially and is making an impact in the domestic market after Covid-19 pandemic. Social distancing and contact less solution is the need of the hour. Life style of people has changed from home to workplace such as remote monitoring, collaborative online work-place and online classes. This has increased the economic status of the home automation products manufacturing industry. User Authenticated Smart Home Automation with Healthcare Architecture considers security along with healthcare. This takes into account IoT reusable design concept that uses in-built user specific biometrics in smart phone for secured authentication. IoT based electronics and electrical devices are remotely monitored. The user activity is monitored and archived for future retrieval. An ambient temperature is maintained to make sure that the devices are operated in near ideal circumstances to avoid thermal throttling and this extends the lifetime of the devices. Thermal throttling causes serious threats to the devices and to the human being. In the proposed User Authenticated Smart Home Automation System with Healthcare, smart home is secured using user specific biometric authentication; sanitizer is provided and temperature is measured on entry; thermal throttling due to devices is prevented by maintaining the room temperature thereby providing healthcare.

Spatial Accessibility Assessment of Prehospital EMS with a Focus on the Elderly Population: A Case Study in Ningbo, China

The spatial accessibility of prehospital EMS is particularly important for the elderly population’s physiological functions. Due to the recent expansion of aging populations all over the globe, elderly people’s spatial accessibility to prehospital EMS presents a serious challenge. An efficient strategy to address this issue involves using geographic information systems (GIS)-based tools to evaluate the spatial accessibility in conjunction with the spatial distribution of aging people, available road networks, and prehospital EMS facilities. This study employed gravity model and empirical Bayesian Kriging (EBK) interpolation analysis to evaluate the elderly’s spatial access to prehospital EMS in Ningbo, China. In our study, we aimed to solve the following specific research questions: In the study area, “what are the characteristics of the prehospital EMS demand of the elderly?” “Do the elderly have equal and convenient spatial access to prehospital EMS?” and “How can we satisfy the prehospital EMS demand of an aging population, improve their spatial access to prehospital EMS, and then ensure their quality of life?” The results showed that 37.44% of patients admitted to prehospital EMS in 2020 were 65 years and older. The rate of utilization of ambulance services by the elderly was 27.39 per 1000 elderly residents. Ambulance use by the elderly was the highest in the winter months and the lowest in the spring months (25.90% vs. 22.38%). As for the disease spectrum, the main disease was found to be trauma and intoxication (23.70%). The mean accessibility score was only 1.43 and nearly 70% of demand points had scored lower than 1. The elderly’s spatial accessibility to prehospital EMS had a central-outward gradient decreasing trend from the central region to the southeast and southwest of the study area. Our proposed methodology and its spatial equilibrium results could be taken as a benchmark of prehospital care capacity and help inform authorities’ efforts to develop efficient, aging-focused spatial accessibility plans.

Conceptualizing of Aging Literature: A Global Perspective

Aging is generally represented by two stereotypes that present distinctly opposite views: the first views it as a stage of celebration relating it to experience and wisdom. The second is associated with a lamentation on the loss of physical and emotional vigor. There are organized bodies of literature about and for a specific group of the population that includes children literature, young-adult literature. But, there is no such organized body of literature that describes the unique life experiences, physical and psychological conditions, needs, and personal and social relationships of aging people. Though these issues have sporadically appeared in different literary texts, there is still a need to theorize aging literature from academic and other disciplinary perspectives. In this context, this paper serves three-fold objectives: first, it surveys various endeavors to understand aging from both eastern and western perspectives; secondly, it attempts to conceptualize literature on aging by referring to few representations of aging in literary texts; finally, it presents the prospect of literature of aging as a new field of creativity and scholarship.

A Struggle for Survival: Meaning of Late Life in a Rural District in Uganda: A Qualitative Study

Background: Between 2015 and 2050, the aging population of Uganda (aged 50 years and older) will be nearly doubled. Therefore, later-life problems have become an area of increasing research and policy interest. This study aimed at exploring how aging people living in extreme poverty in a low-income country experience their everyday life and what kind of meaning systems employed by them to understand and cope with their living conditions.Methods: We conducted a qualitative interview with 14 participants in the Buikwe district. In this interview, 11 women and 3 men were included, and a thematic analysis was employed for data processing and analysis.Results: Unanimously, all participants reported their condition as extreme poverty. The key informants (KIs) emphasized respect from descendants and the community as a foundation for a meaningful later life. In contrast, this aspect has been ever mentioned by no caregivers but by only one care-receiver. The willingness/ability of children to support the elderly who are in need of support formed a major part of the reflections of care-receivers, which would be decisive for their position in the society and the respect they would receive. In addition, both Christianity and traditional beliefs as well as beliefs in witchcraft and ancestral spirits were employed as a basis for actions and reflections.Discussion: The question arises whether life in extreme poverty conditions can be perceived as meaningful. Respect was mentioned as fundamental by the KIs, thereby giving priority to social relations as the most meaningful factor for living a meaningful life. The ability and willingness of the possible descendants for support as the focus of care-receivers might be a more down-to-earth description of this aspect but without using the same level of abstraction. For the majority, due to their belief system did not serve as a source of consolation their main focus was on social relationships for support. To improve the wellbeing of the old people, their sense of meaning must be restored through a system, guaranteeing the coverage of basic needs and measures to restore dignity through a reintegration in both community and congregations. Social service agencies who are targeting the elderly people need to work toward this objective.

Acer Truncatum Seed Oil Alleviates Learning and Memory Impairments of Aging Mice

Aging, characterized by a time-dependent functional decline of physiological integrity, is the major independent risk factor for many neurodegeneration diseases. Therefore, it’s necessary to look for natural food supplements to extend the healthy lifespan of aging people. We here treated normal aging mice with acer truncatum seed oil, and found that the seed oil significantly improved the learning and memory ability. Proteomics revealed that the seed oil administration changed many proteins expression involving in biological processes, including complement and coagulation cascades, inflammatory response pathway and innate immune response. BDNF/TrkB signaling pathway was also activated by acer truncatum seed oil treatment. And the seed oil administration increased the expression of postsynaptic related proteins including PSD95, GluA1, and NMDAR1, and decreased the mRNA level of inflammatory factors containing IL-1β, TNF-α, and IL-6. These findings suggest that acer truncatum seed oil holds a promise as a therapeutic food supplement for delaying aging with multiple mechanisms.