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Chicago, IL (AHN) - A new University of Chicago study linked happiness with age, with older people apparently happier than the youth. The findings are based on a study by Yang Yang, a researcher of the university's General Social Survey, in which 50,000 Americans have been interviewed since 1972 repeatedly to check trends, make comparisons and trace changes in responses over time. Tom Smith, director of the General Social Survey, reportedly said the findings had results that were contrary to popular expectations.Despite the health problems of older people, the study found that they have lesser financial, interpersonal and crime problems...

BERKELEY – Old muscle got a shot of youthful vigor in a stem cell experiment by bioengineers at the University of California, Berkeley, setting the path for research on new treatments for age-related degenerative conditions such as muscle atrophy or Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. Old muscles renewedIrina Conboy and Morgan Carlson have learned how to trigger the rejuvenation of old, damaged muscles. View full-size videoIn a new study published June 15 in an advanced online issue of the journal Nature, researchers identified two key regulatory pathways that control how well adult stem cells repair and replace damaged tissue. They then...

Aging 2008 registration is appreciated but not required. You can check in at the door at 4pm. Leading aging scientists and public policy experts will gather at UCLA tomorrow. This is the first time that an event like this has taken place anywhere. We hope to see you there! Applying the new technologies of regenerative and genetic medicine, the engineering approach to aging promises to dramatically extend healthy human life within the next few decades. How do you and your loved ones stand to benefit from the coming biomedical revolution? Are you prepared? Is society prepared? At Aging 2008 you...

Nutritional supplement as effective as red wine in preventing amyloid beta plaque build upA compound found in grape seed extract reduces plaque formation and resulting cognitive impairment in an animal model of Alzheimer's disease, new research shows. The study appears in the June 18 issue of The Journal of Neuroscience. Lead study author Giulio Pasinetti, MD, PhD, of Mount Sinai School of Medicine and colleagues found that the grape seed extract prevents amyloid beta accumulation in cells, suggesting that it may block the formation of plaques. In Alzheimer's disease, amyloid beta accumulates to form toxic plaques that disrupt normal brain...

Scientists: 115-year-old's brain worked perfectly By ANRICA DEB , Associated Press WriterJune 13, 2008 Hendrikje van Andel-Schipper, who died at age 115 in 2005, is seen in this May 26, 2004 photo at de Westerkim, home for the elderly, in Hoogeveen, Netherlands. Scientists say that Henrikje van Andel-Schipper's mind was probably as good as it seemed: a post-mortem analysis of her brain revealed few signs of Alzheimer's or other diseases commonly associated with a decline in mental ability in old age. "This is the first (extremely old) brain that did not have these problems," Professor Gert Holstege of Groningen University...

Red wine may be much more potent than was thought in extending human lifespan, researchers say in a new report that is likely to give impetus to the rapidly growing search for longevity drugs. The study is based on dosing mice with resveratrol, an ingredient of some red wines. Some scientists are already taking resveratrol in capsule form, but others believe it is far too early to take the drug, especially using wine as its source, until there is better data on its safety and effectiveness. The report is part of a new wave of interest in drugs that may...

Children of older fathers have greater risk of early death Men, listen up. No longer can you comfort yourselves with the notion that you can father a child at any time...Children of older fathers more 'likely to die early': LONDON: When it comes to fertility and the prospect of having babies, it has always been assumed that men have no biological clock — unlike women, they can father a child late in their life. But a study has dispelled this myth. Researchers in Europe have found that children are almost twice as likely to die before adulthood if they have...

It's the basement apartment like no other. Life has been found 1.6 kilometres beneath the sea floor, at temperatures reaching 100 °C. The discovery marks the deepest living cells ever to be found beneath the sea floor. Bacteria have been found deeper underneath the continents, but there they are rare. In comparison, the rocks beneath the sea appear to be teeming with life. John Parkes, a geobiologist at the University of Cardiff, UK, hopes his team's discovery might one day help find life on other planets. He says it might even redefine what we understand as life, and, bizarrely, what...

When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong. Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit. The studies are analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.” Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults,...

With Age Comes A Sense Of Peace And Calm, Study Shows ScienceDaily (May 19, 2008) — Aging brings a sense of peace and calm, according to a new study from the Population Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. Starting at about age 60, participants reported more feelings of ease and contentment than their younger counterparts. Catherine Ross and John Mirowsky, professors of sociology, have published the findings in "Age and the Balance of Emotions" in the May 19 issue of Social Science and Medicine. The findings reveal aging is associated with more positive than negative emotions, and...

SAN FRANCISCO — When David Bunnell, a magazine publisher who lives in Berkeley, Calif., went to a FedEx store to send a package a few years ago, he suddenly drew a blank as he was filling out the forms. “I couldn’t remember my address,” said Mr. Bunnell, 60, with a measure of horror in his voice. “I knew where I lived, and I knew how to get there, but I didn’t know what the address was.” Mr. Bunnell is among tens of millions of baby boomers who are encountering the signs, by turns amusing and disconcerting, that accompany the decline...

Getting Forgetful? Then Blueberries May Hold The Key ScienceDaily (Apr. 12, 2008) — If you are getting forgetful as you get older, then a research team from the University of Reading and the Peninsula Medical School in the Southwest of England may have good news for you They have found that phytochemical-rich foods, such as blueberries, are effective at reversing age-related deficits in memory, according to a study soon to be published in the science journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine. The researchers working at the Schools of Food Biosciences and Psychology in Reading and the Institute of Biomedical and...

Broccoli May Help Boost Aging Immune SystemBroccoli. (Credit: Image courtesy of University of California - Los Angeles)ScienceDaily (Mar. 10, 2008) — Eat your broccoli! That's the advice from UCLA researchers who have found that a chemical in broccoli and other cruciferous vegetables may hold a key to restoring the body's immunity, which declines as we age. Published in the online edition of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, the study findings show that sulforaphane, a chemical in broccoli, switches on a set of antioxidant genes and enzymes in specific immune cells, which then combat the injurious effects of molecules...

On Turning 50Okay, so I'm 50 years old today, and the only reason I bring it up is because, well, actually there are two reasons. The first is because for a person to have lived half a century is really an accomplishment, especially if you lived as dangerously as I chose to in my youth. I no longer do many of the things I was doing way back then, such as drinking beer and chasing women all night long, drag racing my Dad's Pontiac, and smoking enough wacky weed to deforest half of Colombia. So: thank you, dear Lord for...

Read today that Hall Of Fame coach John Wooden is hospitalized after a fall at his home . Did a Youtube check and immediately found this , and thought I ought to share it with fellow Freepers . They definitely don't make em like John W any more . http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-FyRMpo824

Does Hillary do botox?. ..... . Did that yellow jacket with the black detail that she wore in South Carolina suit her? Yes, with a woman in the running for the White House, the claws are out and looks and fashion are prime topics of conversation - not just for the usual observers of frocks and 'tox, but also for television presenters and erudite analysts. A photo showing all the wrinkles on an exhausted Hillary Clinton, 60, and a video in which she loses her voice have been the subjects of long, studied commentaries in the media. The unflattering images...

Middle age is truly miserable, according to a study using data from 80 countries showing that depression is most common among men and women in their forties. The British and U.S. researchers found that happiness for people ranging from Albania to Zimbabwe follows a U-shaped curve where life begins cheerful before turning tough during middle age and then returning to the joys of youth in the golden years. Previous studies have shown that psychological well-being remained flat throughout life but the new findings to be published in the journal Social Science & Medicine suggest we are in for a topsy-turvy...

Yahoo! News Lead linked to aging in older brains By MALCOLM RITTER, AP Science WriterSun Jan 27, 3:28 PM ET Could it be that the "natural" mental decline that afflicts many older people is related to how much lead they absorbed decades before? That's the provocative idea emerging from some recent studies, part of a broader area of new research that suggests some pollutants can cause harm that shows up only years after someone is exposed. The new work suggests long-ago lead exposure can make an aging person's brain work as if it's five years older than it really is....

Could it be that the "natural" mental decline that afflicts many older people is related to how much lead they absorbed decades before? That's the provocative idea emerging from some recent studies, part of a broader area of new research that suggests some pollutants can cause harm that shows up only years after someone is exposed. The new work suggests long-ago lead exposure can make an aging person's brain work as if it's five years older than it really is. If that's verified by more research, it means that sharp cuts in environmental lead levels more than 20 years ago...

Testosterone levels start to drop for most men in middle age. For those wanting to start their testosterone decline sooner than that, getting married may help. Married men have lower testosterone levels than single guys. A recent study among the Ariaal people in Kenya showed that unmarried men had higher testosterone levels than men with a single wife. And men with two or more wives had even lower testosterone than those with one. It's estimated that two million to four million American men have a significant testosterone deficiency and that less than 5% of them are getting treatment. Low testosterone...

Reversal Of Alzheimer's Symptoms Within Minutes In Human StudyPET Scan of Alzheimer's Disease Brain. (Credit: NIH/National Institute On Aging) ScienceDaily (Jan. 9, 2008) — An extraordinary new scientific study, which for the first time documents marked improvement in Alzheimer’s disease within minutes of administration of a therapeutic molecule, has just been published in the Journal of Neuroinflammation. This new study highlights the importance of certain soluble proteins, called cytokines, in Alzheimer’s disease. The study focuses on one of these cytokines, tumor necrosis factor-alpha(TNF), a critical component of the brain’s immune system. Normally, TNF finely regulates the transmission of neural impulses...

Let's get real. For women, looks count. Always have, always will. Human nature made men and women from different molds. If you doubt that, just ask yourself this question. When is the last time you heard a woman comment on some guy's cute buns? Or on his rippling pecs? Men are more visual than women. That is reality. Many men are more likely to appreciate a woman based on her bra size than her IQ size. This is the way God made

Take a good look at a recent photograph of Hillary Clinton. Notice the bags under her bloated eyes, the turkey giblet developing below her neck, the heavy wrinkles and deep lines all across her forehead and face. The junior senator from New York has that exhausted look common to people who have stopped celebrating (and counting!) birthdays when the count reaches 60, as it did for Hillary in October. Right in front of God, C-Span, and the American people, Hillary Clinton is passing from an annoying young hippie-beach to an annoying old spent hag. Hillary Clinton’s better days are clearly...

Even seniors fortunate enough to avoid the horrors of Alzheimer's disease typically experience some declines in memory and other cognitive abilities. Little is known about why this happens, but a new study suggests that cognitive declines in healthy older adults may result when brain regions that normally work together become out of sync, perhaps because the connections between them break down. A team led by Harvard neuroscientists Jessica Andrews-Hanna and Randy Buckner used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to monitor brain activity in 38 young adults, mostly 20-somethings, and 55 older adults, age 60 or above. The researchers focused on...

Lance Armstrong's strength and endurance sometimes seem too extraordinary to be believed. Armstrong, a six-time winner of the Tour de France bicycle race who next month will try for his seventh straight victory, can cover 32 miles in one hour of riding. In contrast, the average cyclist covers 16 miles; a top marathon runner can cover 21 miles on a bike. Armstrong can ride up the mountains in France generating about 500 watts of power for 20 minutes, something a typical 25-year-old could do for only 30 seconds. A professional hockey player might last three minutes - and then throw...

A Party brought together the family. I have not seen my sister in two year's and I was shocked. My sister is 67 yrs old but was very busy and vibrant, travels the world with her husband.

NEW YORK - Scientists at Sirtris Pharmaceuticals Inc. say they have created a drug that mimics the ingredient in red wine linked to longevity and the cell structures that power endurance athletes like cycling champion Lance Armstrong. more stories like this The new molecule is 1,000 times more potent than the wine derivative, resveratrol, and could lead to solutions for diseases of aging, including cancer and diabetes, according to authors of a study in today's issue of the journal Nature. Researchers tested about 500,000 molecules for abilities to activate the immune-system booster SIRT1, the enzyme credited with resveratrol's ability to...

<p>CAMDEN, Ala. — Hundreds of hospice providers across the country are facing the catastrophic financial consequence of what would otherwise seem a positive development: their patients are living longer than expected.</p> <p>Over the last eight years, the refusal of patients to die according to actuarial schedules has led the federal government to demand that hospices exceeding reimbursement limits repay hundreds of millions of dollars to Medicare.</p>

Aubrey de Grey may be wrong but, evidence suggests, he's not nuts. This is a no small assertion. De Grey argues that some people alive today will live in a robust and youthful fashion for 1,000 years.

Ming the clam is 'oldest animal' Shakespeare was writing plays when the clam was a juvenile A clam dredged up off the coast of Iceland is thought to have been the longest-lived creature discovered. Scientists said the mollusc, an ocean quahog clam, was aged between 405 and 410 years and could offer insights into the secrets of longevity. Researchers from Bangor University in Wales said they calculated the clam's age by counting rings on its shell. According to the Guinness Book of Records, the longest-lived animal was an Arctica clam found in 1982 aged 220. They are like tiny tape-recorders......

Insulin, it turns out, may be as important for the mind as it is for the body. Research in the last few years has raised the possibility that Alzheimer’s memory loss could be due to a novel third form of diabetes. Now scientists at Northwestern University have discovered why brain insulin signaling -- crucial for memory formation -- would stop working in Alzheimer’s disease. They have shown that a toxic protein found in the brains of individuals with Alzheimer’s removes insulin receptors from nerve cells, rendering those neurons insulin resistant. (The protein, known to attack memory-forming synapses, is called an...

The 118-year-old cylinder that is the international prototype for the metric mass, kept tightly under lock and key outside Paris, is mysteriously losing weight — if ever so slightly. Physicist Richard Davis of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sevres, southwest of Paris, says the reference kilo appears to have lost 50 micrograms compared with the average of dozens of copies. "The mystery is that they were all made of the same material, and many were made at the same time and kept under the same conditions, and yet the masses among them are slowly drifting apart," he...

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2007 – Iraq’s aging infrastructure, which suffered decades of neglect under Saddam Hussein’s rule, is being upgraded sporadically in “fits and starts,” a Joint Staff official said today. Coalition efforts to improve Iraq’s power grid, water and oil systems are hampered by the infrastructure’s deteriorating 1960s technology, Army Maj. Gen. Richard Sherlock, an operations specialist on the Joint Staff, said during a conference call. “If Iraq was a used car, Saddam got rid of it at the right time,” Sherlock said. “It was ready to fall apart.” During Saddam’s rule, the amount of electrical output was capped...

China's One-Child Policy Burdens Younger Generation Within next few decades, China will be taking care of 400 million elderly people By Elizabeth O'Brien BEIJING, August 274, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - China's one child policy, which has heavily skewed the ratio of young people to retirees, is placing an increasingly heavy burden on the next generation of workers, the BBC reports. In the State's "ideal" family, the only son will have to support six people in his adult years: his own parents, his mother's parents and his father's parents. As the traditional family structure begins to suffer, the number of people in...

I turned 42 years old yesterday. There are a few ways of looking at this age. A pessimist, of course, would say that I'm already halfway to 84. On the other hand, there is some significance attached to this age. For example: I'm twice as much fun as a 21-year-old; I'm young enough to be naughty and old enough to appreciate it. My age also happens to be the Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything. It isn't so bad. Except maybe when I try to get into/out of my car, chair, bed, etc. and make...

Preparing for the grey-haired legions "Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I'm 64?" asked the Beatles. Sorry about this, but we're not quite sure. Have you noticed how old we are getting? Down at the shopping mall grandparents leaning on sticks and walkers bid fair to outnumber babies in prams. Perhaps that is because, mid-morning, most of the babies are in daycare and their mothers at work, clearing the decks for the older generations. Even so, the world definitely is getting older, not younger. Sometime in the next decade, for the first time in history,...

For many Cowboys on 1977 team, gridiron glory yielded years of pain Almost 30 years after limping through Super Bowl XII – his final NFL game – Mel Renfro walks with an artificial left hip. His right knee needs to be replaced. Arthritis has settled in his shoulders and ankles. Damaged vertebrae have robbed his neck of movement. Sunlight often triggers headaches. He writes everything down to make sure he doesn't forget. On occasion, depression sets in, forcing him to retreat from the world. Like his physical ailments, the failing memory and periodic despondency are the result of a lifetime...

Health and Public Policy: Older Auto Drivers Safer Than You Think By John E. Carey July 19, 2007Let’s talk about older automobile drivers. Maybe it’s your Mom or Dad or Uncle Sam that shows signs of driving too slowly, running into things or having other difficulties handling a car.What do you do and what are your responsibilities?I’ve faced this dilemma three or four times already and here’s what experts say.Researchers at the Rand Institute for Social Justice found during a recent study a few interesting facts.–Young drivers between 15 and 24 years old are three times as likely to cause car...

The Day the Music Died By STEPHANIE ROSENBLOOM Published: July 12, 2007 MICHAEL BELLUSCI’S quotation in his high school yearbook was, “It ain’t rock if it ain’t loud.” Growing up in Flushing, Queens, he played guitar and drums, idolized Jimi Hendrix and performed in cover bands. Later, he went on the road as Ringo in the musical “Beatlemania.” These days, if his left ear happens to be covered by a pillow, Mr. Bellusci, 47, hears the alarm clock as a faint tick, tick, tick, not a blaring BEEP, BEEP, BEEP. In cacophonous restaurants, he watches people’s mouths so he can...

ST. LOUIS -- It's no laughing matter: a new study suggests older adults have a harder time getting jokes as they age. The research indicates that because older adults may have greater difficulty with cognitive flexibility, abstract reasoning and short-term memory, they also have greater difficulty with tests of humor comprehension. Researchers at Washington University tested about 40 healthy adults over age 65 and 40 undergraduate students with exercises in which they had to complete jokes and stories. Participants also had to choose the correct punch line for verbal jokes and select the funny ending to series of cartoon panels....

Why the older generation don't get jokes By Ben Quinn Last Updated: 2:47pm BST 12/07/2007 It's no laughing matter, but the reason why grumpy old men behave in just such a way may finally have been pinpointed. Older adults have a harder time getting jokes as they age because of memory and reasoning problems, according to a new study. The researchers tested 40 healthy adults aged over 65 against 40 undergraduate students with exercises in which they had to correctly complete jokes and funny stories. When asked to choose the correct punchline for verbal jokes, younger participants performed six per...

A new psychology study at Washington University was no laughing matter: It found that older adults may have a harder time getting jokes because of an age-related decline in certain memory and reasoning abilities.

The oldest and greatest rock band in the world - Lead singer Alf is 90 - it's quite something when he sings "I hope I die before I get old". And he's not the oldest - there are 99 and 100-year-olds in the band! The Zimmers will feature in a BBC TV documentary being aired in May 2007. Documentary-maker Tim Samuels has been all over Britain recruiting isolated and lonely old people - those who can't leave their flats or who are stuck in rubbish care homes. The finale of the show is this group of lonely old people coming...

He is 88 now, bent by age and ailments, spending his days sitting with his beloved bedridden wife, Ruth, at their home in the mountains of North Carolina. Yet the stature of Billy Graham, whose global ministry got its start in Minnesota, continues to grow. In December, the Gallup Poll named him among the 10 most admired men in the world - a 50th time for him on that list. Few living Christians have been stronger unifying forces, commanded such respect or influenced more people. Among high-profile evangelists, he stands out for personal integrity, openness to cultural change and a...

WASHINGTON -- At a time the nation is at war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the U.S. Air Force is battling another enemy: age. The average age of military aircraft during the Vietnam War in 1973 was nine years. Today, the average age is 24 years, and venerable planes such as the KC-135 Stratotanker and the B-52H Stratofortress are well into their 40s, nearly twice as old as some of their pilots.

OK, www.Livingto100.com says I’ll make it to 92. That means several more decades - I’m already too afraid to tell you my age - of trying to keep up with the Joneses - or, more accurately, with Mrs. Jones, who might steal my job. Let’s see. Botox: $450, three times a year; face-lift, $5,000 and up; eye-lift, $2,500 and up; Restylane for creases, twice a year, $550 to $1,000 a syringe; collagen for lip-plumping, $400 to $850 a syringe; liposuction of the jaw line. What? Whatever it is, it’s at least $2,000. Then there are fat injections, chemical peels, lasers,...

Vitamin supplements taken by millions of people every day for their health could be increasing their risk of death a new Danish-led study suggests. The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The international research team reviewed the published evidence on beta carotene, vitamin A, vitamin E, Vitamin C and selenium. The team was led by Dr Goran Bjelakovic, from Copenhagen University Hospital, Denmark. These dietary supplements are marketed as antioxidants and people take them in the hope they will improve health and guard against diseases like cancer and heart disease by eliminating the free radicals...

SAN FRANCISCO - An aging U.S. population faces a looming crisis in hearing loss, researchers said Saturday. Some research holds promise, but much is in the early stages. By 2050, there could be as many as 50 million people in the United States with impaired hearing, Steven Greenberg of Silicon Speech in Santa Venetia, Calif., told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Hearing loss results in social and psychological isolation, "which makes their life hell," Greenberg said. Thanks to loud music and a generally noisy environment, young people have a rate of impaired hearing...

Coming to a Bad End: Lost chromosome tips linked to heart problems Nathan Seppa The prime risk factors for heart disease are well known—obesity, smoking, elevated cholesterol, and high blood pressure. Yet many people with these warning signs develop heart problems, while others don't. This observation indicates that yet-unrecognized factors must also influence risk. A new study finds that the sequence-repeating sections of DNA called telomeres, which protect the ends of chromosomes, might play a role. Middle-aged men with long telomeres are only half as likely to develop heart disease as are men of the same age with short telomeres,...

All those baby boomers with aging parents should pay close attention to a recent court decision in California. An appeals court ruling in a nasty divorce in Placer County highlights the little known but significant legal obligation of adult children who, to the extent they are able, should support their indigent parents. In the case before the appeals court, a divorcing wife disputed her husband's right to deduct from the proceeds of her share of community property the $12,000 he had spent to support his elderly, infirm mother. The wife called the support payments "an unauthorized gift of community funds."...