摘要:

Asthma remains an important cause of morbidity and mortality for patients of all ages, but it may be of particular concern in geriatric patients as the aging population increases. Asthma may vary in severity from mild to such severity that ventilatory support is required. However, with proper medical management, asthma of most patients can be adequately controlled. Although there are similarities in managing younger patients with asthma, special problems occur in the geriatric population.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213791

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The immunogenicity of influenza vaccination in elderly institutionalized patients, with a variety of clinical disorders, was tested in an open multicenter study involving 495 people (mean age 80 years). Vaccination with an inactivated split influenza vaccine (FluarixTM) was clinically well tolerated. For all age ranges and all strains of virus, the vaccine elicited a humoral response which surpassed the European Community requirements for influenza vaccines in adults over 60 years. The geometric mean titers for all vaccine strains were significantly increased 28 days after vaccination, and remained higher than prevaccination levels after 6 months. These immunological parameters were unaffected by the clinical status of the patients.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213792

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

A 1-year prospective study was conducted in an intermediate care institution to determine whether a combined assessment of physiological and clinical measures discriminates between elderly fallers and elderly nonfallers. Seventy persons aged between 72 and 96 years (mean 85.6), who were generally independent in activities of daily living, took part in the study, and 66 were available to follow-up. In the follow-up year, 24 subjects experienced no falls, 20 subjects fell one time only and 22 residents fell on two or more occasions. Discriminant analysis identified reaction time, body sway, quadriceps strength, tactile sensitivity, gait impairment, cognitive impairment, psychoactive drug use and age as the variables that significantly discriminated between subjects who experienced falls and those who did not. This procedure correctly classified 86% of subjects into faller and nonfaller groups. These findings suggest that an assessment that combines physiological and clinical factors provides excellent discrimination between elderly fallers and nonfallers.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213793

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The purpose of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a generalized water-based exercise program (WBE) compared to a land-based exercise program (LBE) on improving cardio-respiratory fitness, body composition, forward trunk flexion and strength measurements of elderly women aged 70 ± 3.2 years (mean ± SD). Forty-one healthy, sedentary women were selected to participate in the study and were randomly assigned to the LBE or WBE. The 2 groups exercised for 12 weeks, 3 times/week for 45 min. Fitness testing was done before, during and after training, and included measurements of peak aerobic power (VO2 peak), forward trunk flexion, sum of skinfolds, grip strength, curl-ups and push-ups. Between the tests performed before and after training, there were significant improvements in VO2 peak in both groups (p 0.05). The LBE group also showed a significant improvement in the total number of curl-ups performed (p 0.05). The results show that general exercise interventions resulted in improvements in cardiovascular fitness (for both groups) and abdominal endurance (in the LBE only), but the two exercise programs used were not specific enough or long enough to cause improvements in muscular strength, flexibility or body composition. Furthermore, except for changes in abdominal endurance, the type of exercise venue (land vs. water) did not have a significant effect on the results obtaine

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213794

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The effects of age on the human heart elastic fibers were studied by light and electron microscopy. Studies were done on 15 hearts from male subjects 42 days to 87 years of age. Using specific staining procedures, the length of elastic fibers was determined by morphometry in the parenchyma of right and left ventricles. These studies suggest that the length of elastic fibers per unit heart volume is present early in life, possibly at birth, and thereafter remains constant until adulthood. Average fiber length increases significantly beyond the third decade of life which can be interpreted as a continuous formation of new fibers and a continuous apposition of elastic-type material to these fibers. Electron microscopy confirmed the presence of mature elastic fibers at birth, since they contained amorphous substance (elastin) surrounded by numerous microfibrils. In the adult hearts, the amount of amorphous substance has increased and the number of microfibrils has decreased. With advancing age the amorphous substance forms areas of rarefaction and the microfibrils have disappeared. Whether or not such morphometric modifications could influence the elastic properties of the ventricular myocardium requires further study.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213795

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Age-related changes of muscle fiber and collagen content of the diaphragm (DIA) and rectus abdominis (RA) muscles were examined in rats aged 1, 4, 8 and 18 months. The cross-sectional areas of all muscle fiber types (I, IIa, IIb) and the amount of collagen in both DIA and RA increased up to the age of 8 months after which a decrease in growth following a parabolic curve was found. The older DIA showed an increase in the percentage of type I fibers while in RA there was a high percentage of type IIb fibers. The aged DIA became more resistant to fatigue but at the expense of slow contraction while older RA is faster and stronger. Aged DIA and RA muscles showed a low amount of collagen with great concentration of cross-linkings leading to a tissue with low viscoelastic properties and reduced compliance.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213796

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

Age-related changes in plasma aldosterone and corticosterone concentrations as well as in plasma renin activity in response to 10 days of sodium deprivation were studied in old as compared to adult male Long-Evans rats. Chronic sodium deprivation greatly increased plasma concentrations of aldosterone both in old and in adult animals. However, this effect was significantly higher (+85.2%) in old (+3,574 pmol/l) as compared to adult (+1,820 pmol/l) rats. Concomitantly, adrenal weights were statistically increased in sodium-deprived old rats (+25%) whereas they were unchanged in adult animals; plasma corticosterone concentration was unchanged by sodium restriction in the two age groups. Because a putative modest decline with age of the metabolic clearance rate of aldosterone could not account totally for such an important increase in plasma concentration, it is assumed that it is, in its most part, due to an increased production. Furthermore, although plasma renin activity of senescent rats, fed either a normal or a sodium-deprived diet, was lower as compared to adult rats, the absolute and percent increases of this activity in response to sodium deprivation were, respectively, similar and higher in old as compared to adult rats and so could partially contribute to the higher aldosterone response.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213797

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger

摘要:

The proboscis extension response threshold to sucrose has been measured in young, middle-aged and old male Drosophila melanogaster flies living at a gravity level of 1 3.02 or 5.02 g until the experiment. The threshold increased with age and no effect of gravity level was observed at any age. These data are at variance with those of previously studied behavioral traits which showed that flies living in hypergravity seemed to age faster than 1-g ones.

ISSN:0304-324X    

DOI:10.1159/000213798

出版商:S. Karger AG    

年代:1996

数据来源: Karger