Fluid Intake Status and its Relationship with Cognitive Impairment among Elderlies of Naein City, Iran

Introduction: Water, as one of the most essential nutrients, is involved in almost all biochemical processes of the human body. Although different degrees of dehydration have various symptoms such as physical and mental decline, severe dehydration is associated with decreased survival capacity in the physiological environment of the body that can put individuals, especially the elderly, at the risk of death. The present study aimed to determine the status of fluid intake and its association with cognitive impairments in the elderly people of Naein City in 2018. Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted among 225 randomly selected elderlies in Naein City. Data collection tools included demographic questionnaire, Mini–Mental State Examination, and 24-hour food recall questionnaire. The obtained data were analyzed using ANOVA, t-test and chi-square via SPSS software. Results: The mean of total fluid intake was 2637.05 ± 772.35 ml / day. Among 225 participants, 36.4%, 37.3%, and 26.2% had normal, mild, and moderate cognitive impairment, respectively. Cognitive impairment had a significant relationship with gender, occupational status, level of education, marital status, and place of residence (p < 0.05). No significant relationship was observed between the mean of water consumption and cognitive impairment (p = 0.6). Conclusion: The amount of fluid intake in elderly people living in Naein City was at a satisfactory level. Since no significant relationship was observed between the amount of fluid intake and cognitive impairments and more than half of the participants had cognitive impairments, we hypothesize that other factors are involved in prevalent of cognitive impairment.

Quality of Life among Older Adults Covered by Various Pension Funds, Tabriz, Iran

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is known to be one of the main challenges of the present century in the growing heterogeneous elder population. Therefore, determining the affecting factors of QoL among older people could be imperative. The present study aims at the comparative investigation of the QoL the old people covered by the various pension funds in the city of Tabriz, Iran. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 212 older people in Tabriz, Iran. All of the participants were selected based on a stratified sampling considering the study population’s preliminary distribution in three kinds of funds (the State, Armed forces, and Social security). A reliable Iranian LEIPAD questionnaire was used in a comparative investigation of the older adult’s QoL. Data were analyzed with SPSS 21 using t-test, ANOVA, person corellation tests and multiple linear regression. Results: The majority of the participants were male (84.4%) and married (94.8%). One-third of older people possessed academic qualifications. The average age of pensioners in the State fund was 8 years older than other funds. Social security pensioners received the lowest wages (i.e. 0.76 of State and 0.71 of Armed forces pensioners). The total mean score of QoL was 65.63 ± 12.27 (range: 0-93). The relationship between QoL and education level (β = 0.30) and marital status (β = 0.22) was positive and significant. Moreover, a significant difference was observed between scores of QoL and type of pension funds, marital status, education level (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Pension funds can improve the QoL among older people by increasing the pension amount, quality of services and payment benefits of those covered retirees.

The Role of Digital Communication Technologies in Middle-Aged Health and Relationships

The article's abstract is not available.

Effects of Chlorogenic Acid on Epileptic Behavior and mRNA Expressions of Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor in the Brain of Aged Rats

Introduction: The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of chlorogenic acid (CA) and Diazepam (DZP) on epileptic complication that induced by repetitive intra-peritoneal injections of pentylenetetrazle (PTZ) in aged rats. Methods: Twenty-four month-old male Wistar rats (age > 12 months, 300-350 g) were divided in 4 experimental groups. Animal in control group (PTZ + Vehicle) received only PTZ. Animal in treated groups (PTZ + DZP, PTZ + CA10 and PTZ + 25) received diazepam 2 mg/kg, CA 10 mg/kg, or CA 25 mg/kg. All drugs injection were performed 30 min prior to each PTZ injection. Epilepsy was induced by injection of subconvulsive dose of PTZ every other day until the rats were completely kindled or epileptic. After each PTZ injection, animal was monitored for 40 min and epileptic behaviors were scored. At the end of the study, rats were sacrificed and the brains removed for evaluation of histological changes and Brain Derived Neurothrophic Factor (BDNF) gene expression. Results: CA at dose of 25 mg/kg reduced percent of generalized tonic-clonic seizure (GTCS) in aged rats (24%) in compared to control group (50%) (p < 0.05). The latencies to the start of GTCS were decreased in both dose of CA (p < 0.05). Also, the percent of survived neurons in rats treated with CA (154%) were significantly higher relative to that of control animals (100%) (p < 0.05). The mRNA levels of BDNF significantly increased in CA treated rats (p < 0.05). Conclusion: Hence, these findings revealed that CA have antiepileptic, neuroprotective and trophic effects in aged rats. CA can protect aged brain from deteriorative processes and save neurons during epilepsy in rats.

Religious Coping and COVID 19 in Aging

The article's abstract is not available.

Vascular Aging and Diseases: Molecular Mechanisms and Influences

Vascular aging plays an important role in the mortality of the elderly, but vascular aging can be dependent on other factors such as diseases. Various diseases such as Alzheimer, diabetes, thalassemia, and other diseases affect the mechanisms of vascular aging. It will harm the recovery process of these patients. There are methods for measuring vascular aging such as instrumental measurements and molecular methods. The best way to measure vascular aging is a combination of methods to determine the mechanism and cause of vascular aging. In this review article, we first summarize the various mechanisms of vascular aging and then discuss the effect of different disease on vascular aging.

Health Literacy and Aging

The article's abstract is not available.

Predictors of Delay in Seeking Post-Exposure Prophylaxis in Older Adults with Animal Bite Injuries: A Population-Based Study

Introduction: Animal bites are of the major health threats. Delayed post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), especially in frail older people, may lead to mortal risks in this age group. The aim of this study was to investigate the pattern of delayed PEP in animal-bites injuries and to identify its contributing factors in older people of Tabriz city, Iran. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, the census method was used to obtain data from health records of older adults who were referred to Tabriz's Rabies Treatment Center between March 2013 and March 2018. The delay was defined as starting PEP longer than 24 hours after a suspected rabies virus exposure. The relations between delayed PEP and each of the predictors were investigated using the chi-square test in univariate analysis. The decision tree model was applied to predict the delay time of PEP. Results: A total of 322 older people with a mean age of 67.62 ± 7.18 were studied. In all, 31.7 % of the older persons victims who were bitten by an animal had a delayed PEP. Urban victims (34.1%) compared to rural (16.3 %), stray animal victims (42.0 %) compared to an owned animal-bite victim 24.6 %, all other animal bite-related victims (39.9 %) compared to dog-bite injuries (23.8%) experienced a higher frequency of delayed PEP. The decision tree revealed that animal ownership status, animal status, and animal species were the most important factors for predicting delayed PEP (p < 0.001). Conclusion: The possibility of delayed PEP in older adults bites victims, increased if the animal was ownerless and escaped. A reasonable approach to tackle this issue might be to conduct larger population studies in the future.

The Effect of Eight Weeks of Continuous and Interval Training with Citrus Aurantium Consumption on Autophagy Markers and MyoD Activation in the Muscle Tissue of Elderly Rats

Introduction: Although exercise training and herbs consumption have protective effects on many diseases, the mechanism of action of exercise training with different intensities and citrus aurantium (CA) extract consumption on the autophagy-dependent MyoD activation pathway is not yet known. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of eight weeks of moderate intensity continuous training (MICT) and high intensity interval training (HIIT) with CA consumption on the expression of LC3-II, Beclin-1 and MyoD as autophagy related markers in the muscle tissue of elderly rats. Methods: In this experimental study, 42 elderly female rats were randomly assigned to (1) control (C) (2) MICT, (3) HIIT, (4) MICT + CA, (5) HIIT + CA, (6) CA and (7) sham (normal saline) groups. HIIT was performed at 85-110% VO2max intensity and 15-25 m / min speed and MICT at 65% VO2max intensity and 20-25 m / min speed; 300 mg / kg / day CA was received peritoneally. One-way analysis of variance with Tukey's post hoc test was used to analyze the findings. Findings were analyzed using Graph Pad Prism 8.3.0 software (p ≤ 0.05). Results: MICT and HIIT increased LC3II, Bclin1 and MyoD gene expression (p ≤ 0.05); The effect of HIIT on MyoD increase was greater than MICT (p ≤ 0.05). CA increased the expression of LC3II and Bclin1 (p ≤ 0.05). MICT + CA and HIIT + CA increased the expression of LC3II, Bclin1 and MyoD in the muscle tissue of elderly rats (p ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: It seems that exercise training and CA consumption with different mechanism of action activate autophagy in the soleus muscle tissue, however the simultaneous use of HIIT, MICT and CA also has favorable effects on the autophagy-dependent MyoD activation pathway.

Impact Analysis of Coronavirus on Elderly Population in Worldwide and Kazakhstan

Covid-19 pandemics has affected the lives of all level population but brought an unprecedented threat to the health and daily life of the elderly population. Starting from Huanan Seafood Market in Wuhan, China, the virus spread to the world fleetingly, from 44 cases in January 2019 to 171,615,923 cases all around the world as of June 01, 2021, including Kazakhstan. SARS-CoV-2 positive patients had shown asymptomatic, mild, severe, and critical symptoms which brought to respiratory failure, shock, or multiorgan dysfunction in 5% of cases. The severity of the disease correlated with the older age and existing medical conditions, making the geriatric population more at hazard. A remarkable superiority of cases and deaths of Covid-19 was found within the elderly group, and particularly in those with pre-existing conditions and comorbidities, additionally to the immunosenescence and inflamm-aging. Studies done in the USA, Europe, and Asian countries showed a similar prevalence of the disease among adults and older people, but the mortality was extremely higher than in other age groups. Despite the similar prevalence, Kazakhstani researchers revealed a higher mortality rate (83.3%) than those countries. Therefore, the world, especially developing countries, needs additional advanced policies in vaccination policy, immediate testing, easy access to healthcare and information without ageist biases, income security, and more researches should be done that can address the issues, improve the lives and diminish the mortality of the geriatric population.