International Journal of Aging Research

Introduction: Aging is increasing in the world population and this phase of life requires special care, but there are a number of elements that interfere in the elderly’s stay with their relatives. With this, these elderly people are inserted in institutions of long stay. And in many moments, far from their family members, the elderly people who live there present pictures of solitude. In this scenario, practices of play activities are an excellent strategy to promote change in the lifestyle of the institutionalized elderly, as they are related to the viability of moments of physical, mental and interpersonal well-being, significantly improving the quality of life of these subjects, in addition to strengthening autonomy and self-esteem. Objective: To report the experience of nursing students in nursing care and to practice playful activities with them. Methodology: This is an experience report that emerged from practical classes held at the Maria Julia Miranda Long-Term Institution, located in the Gruta neighborhood of Maceió, Alagoas, during September 2017, by nursing Faculty Estácio de Alagoas. Results: The care provided was understood based on the individual needs of each elderly woman, divided into two moments. In the first one, the nursing history was performed, which enabled us to identify diseases and risks of injuries. the construction of the care plan. The second moment was composed of playful moments where the old women sang, danced, told their stories, besides solving puzzles, hunting words and painting booklets. Studies show that these activities can contribute in a promising way to an effective work with institutionalized elders, play, simply for the pleasure of play, without commitment or formal rules, gives the elderly a new look about their moment, awakening spontaneity and creativity, improving their quality of life. life. It was also noticed a greater interaction between the elderly residents and their…

There are significant issues related to the implementation of Mandatory Compliance Training in Not For Profit Aged Care provision in Australia. This paper provides an overview of those issues through an autoethnographic approach based on my 4 decades as an educator. It critiques the application of Mandatory Compliance Training using contemporary understandings of adult learning.

Neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease are underpinned by neuronal damage corollary to the cascade of events pitched in by neuron inflammatory processes. Increase in cases of neurodegenerative diseases and ageing population indicates the need for developing new strategies to prevent or treat brain dysfunction and associated cognitive decline. Flavonoids have been documented for various health promoting effects. They exert multiple neuroprotective actions within the brain, such as protection of neurons from neurotoxins, suppression of neuron-inflammation and thus improve memory, learning and cognitive function. Two processes appear to be the basis of these effects. Firstly, they promote neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity by inhibition of apopotosis triggered by neurotoxic species due to interaction with critical protein and lipid kinase signaling cascades. Secondly they induce beneficial effects on the vascular system leading to changes in cerebrovascular blood flow capable of causing angiogenesis, neurogenesis and neuronal morphology. Limiting neurodegeneration and prevention or reversal of age-dependent loss in cognitive performance is possible by consumption of flavonoids-rich food throughout life. Thus flavonoids are strong candidates of being an important precursor molecule in the development of new generation of brain enhancing drugs. The present review accentuates current information on neuroprotective effects of flavonoids.

Circadian rhythms of the organism functions cause its adaptation to changes in environmental lighting. The pineal gland is a key regulator of the circadian rhythms of the immune system. The thymus, its central organ, is the source of some hormones, in particular, the highly active thymic serum factor / thymulin. Therefore, the issues of age-related changes in the circadian intra-immune relationships with thymus involvement and the possibility of melatonin influence not only on the above links but also on the glucocorticoids hormones with adaptive effect require an in-depth analysis. Discussed are the literature data and our own findings how age-related changes in the circadian rhythms of thymus endocrine and adrenal gland glucocorticoid functions are linked with the melatonin-forming function of the pineal gland in healthy animals of different species (mice, rats, rabbits) and humans. The similar manifestations of the above interactions in healthy animals and humans demonstrate the biological significance of the pineal gland for the supporting circadian rhythms of the thymus and adrenal gland functions in the adult organism. The correlation of age-related changes in circadian rhythmicity of pineal gland in healthy animals and human, on the one hand, with the thymus and adrenal glands, on the other hand, has been demonstrated. In addition, the decrease of age-related disorders in the thymulin and glucocorticoid blood levels under the influence of pineal gland factors (melatonin and peptides) was shown. Thus, (a) the thymus endocrine function does not completely disappear in the old organisms and it responds to the effects of melatonin and peptide factors of the pineal gland and (b) age-related pineal gland desynchronosis has pathogenic significance for the formation of circadian disturbances in the thymus hormones and glucocorticoids.

It is well known that aging is the process of becoming older. It is also associated normally with a progressive loss of biological functions – both physical and mental –, underlied by naturally-occurring changes at the molecular level that may lead to the development of so-called aging-related health problems – e.g., Parkinson’s Disease, dementia, memory loss, cerebrovascular problems and Alzheimer’s Disease. Along this idea, a fundamental question remains – are self-consciousness and mindfulness also affected by these physiological or pathophysiological changes? This short article summarizes briefly some of the key sementic, conceptual, methodological and physiological issues that shall be addressed prior to tentatively providing answers to comparable questions.

Propanediol (1,3-propanediol) is an ingredient increasingly used by the industry for electronic cigarettes, personal care creams and anti-aging serums among many other products. For some skin care purposes, it is used to enhance the transdermal absorption of other ingredients (e.g., the actives) enabling moisturizing effects and skin smoothness to be improved. Propanediol may be derived from corn although synthetic forms also exist. It is a chemical similar to other glycols such as propylene glycol (1,2-propanediol) but generally believed to be safer. This short communication reveals in fact that only limited scientific evidence of safety is available. Preliminary signs of toxicity have been found following administration of propanediol in humans although its dose-dependent toxicity and long-term side effects on health have not been significantly explored. Consequently, as of today, skin care and anti-aging products for elderly, a vulnerable population, should not automatically be considered as safe. Those comprising 1,3-propanediol should probably be used with caution until scientifically-proven safety data for the intended purposes are obtained by independent scientists.

This work discusses the relationship of the biological aging between mole-rats and rats through a unified approach from the perspective of thermodynamics. Taking calorimetric data from some published studies of the metabolism on mole-rats and rats, it is calculated the entropy production rate. It is observed that the entropy production rate in rats decays with chronological age, and develops a kind of first order phase transition. However, the mole-rats, showed that entropy production rate did not change significantly with age and exhibits a slightly higher value as an average compared to the rats analyzed. This result can be interpreted in terms of a mole-rats exhibit a more robustness, i.e. greater plasticity than rats. Furthermore, it is shown that the entropy production rate could be consider as a physical marker of biological age and a predictor of Lifespan.

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is characterized by the slow decline of cognition and functional abilities over time. The diagnosis for probable and possible AD relies principally on clinical criteria. The confirmation of the disease is made post-mortem by identifying extracellular senile plaques and intraneuronal fibrillary tangles in the brains of subjects with clinically defined dementia. However, the field critically lacks validated AD specific peripheral biomarkers to support the diagnosis in living patients or for early detection of patients at risk before symptoms appear. BACE1 (Beta site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme 1) cleaves Amyloid Precursor Protein (APP) at two beta sites and represents a key target enzyme in the monitoring and possible treatment of AD. In our preliminary study, we evaluated the usefulness of salivary BACE1 to determine risk to develop AD in clinically normal patients. A preliminary in house laboratory grading system for BACE1 content in saliva was established with high levels of salivary BACE1 present in older patients and putatively at risk to develop AD. BACE1 seems to be a useful biomarker to help diagnose AD and to monitor disease progression, and remarkably regression, when treated with stem cell secretome.

The objective of the GER-e-TEC project is to provide recorded personalized medical monitoring of residents in nursing homes using an intelligent telemedicine platform. It will assist healthcare staff by automatically processing the information from sensors and questionnaires to provide early detection and escalate alerts to enable health professionals, operating in retirement homes, to optimize patient care.

Telemedicine is now in vogue, allowing thanks to the computer and communication tools to be deployed in the field of health, such as Dermatology, areas in which it has shown interest. As the population is aging, Geriatrics is more and more concerned by this innovative practice and nursing homes are more and more concerned. We take a look at telemedicine projects in France deployed in the field of dermatology in the elderly.