Using an AI algorithm researchers can use electrocardiograms to tell us our gender and age. Have they found a Magic 8-ball of health?
aging
Crickets have just one short season to reproduce. Can they shed light on a theory of aging, which holds: We use so much energy to reproduce, that we have little left over to stop our decline?
If aging is a disease, then what are the signs? And more importantly how do we treat the problem? Surely it must be more than exercise and moderation, right?. The simple process of defining a disease is not as simple as it may seem.
The recent self-death by 104-year old scientist David Goodall brings to the fore a key question: Whether to deem deterioration from advanced aging – beyond having an incurable disease – as another reasonable consideration for euthanasia.
Naked mole rats, which are neither moles nor rats, have unusually long lifespans compared to other rodents, and also seem to not develop cancer. Researchers are diligently searching for the key(s) to their success, and recent work sheds some light on how these critters manage to avoid both.
One type of malady that most people really hope to avoid is Alzheimer's Disease. As the population ages, this disorder and similar ills will likely become more common. While much research has been devoted to figuring out how to forestall these problems, recent studies indicate we still have a long way to go to get there.
The recent wildfires in northern California caused dozens of deaths, with most being those over age 65. Diminution of mobility and hearing acuity, for example, make older folks more vulnerable during natural disasters such as fast-moving fires, floods and earthquakes.
New research published in the journal Nature Biomedical Engineering shows that molecular and physical changes in skin cells can be used to calculate a "cellular age" that may be used as a proxy for healthspan.
Death rates for Alzheimer's Disease have risen 55% between 1999 and 2014. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s latest Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Here are the reasons why this is occurring, and the trend's implications.
The prevalence of dementia in the United States significantly declined from 11.6 percent in 2000 to 8.8 percent in 2012. The consequence of this impacts retirement, families, the health care system, life expectancy, morbidity and mortality, pensions, housing, transportation and countless societal realms.
Dehydration can be dangerous for the elderly, since their thirst mechanisms and kidneys may not be as well tuned in to the body's status as compared to those of younger people. But the current urine tests don't accurately reflect what's happening in the body, according to a recent study.
While we often pooh-pooh the claims of marketers for the efficacy of dietary supplements, we're not blind to the possibilities. One supplement that has been studied in transgenic growth hormone (or TGM) mice may hold promise for treating or staving off neuro-degenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's. More work is needed, of course.