Unpleasant situations elicit different emotional responses in younger and older adults.

Older adults report less distress in response to interpersonal conflicts than do younger adults, yet few researchers have examined factors that may contribute to these age differences. Emotion regulation is partially determined by the initial cognitive and emotional reactions that events elicit. The authors examined reported thoughts and emotions of younger and older adults (N = 195) while they listened to 3 different audiotaped conversations in which people were ostensibly making disparaging remarks about them. At 4 points during each scenario, the tape paused and participants engaged in a talk-aloud procedure and rated their level of anger and sadness. Findings reveal that older adults reported less anger but equal levels of sadness compared to younger adults, and their comments were judged by coders as less negative. Older adults made fewer appraisals about the people speaking on the tape and expressed less interest in learning more about their motives. Together, findings are consistent with age-related increases in processes that promote disengagement from offending situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Physiological and biomechanical responses during treadmill walking with graded loads

Eleven healthy men [mean (SD) for age, height, body mass and maximum oxygen consumption: 25.1 (3.0) years, 1.79 (0.06) m, 78.2 (10.5) kg and 56.9 (7.1) ml x kg(-1) x min(-1), respectively) completed two treadmill walking tests at their self-selected velocity while bilaterally carrying 15-kg and 20-kg loads (in a boxed container) for 4 min in front of the body. Each handle of the boxed container was fitted with a load cell so as to allow quantification of the load supported by each hand during load carriage. During the tests, oxygen uptake (VO2), heart rate (HR), and blood pressure (BP) were monitored using standardized procedures, and cardiac output (Qc) was measured using the carbon dioxide rebreathing method. Stroke volume (SV), arterio-venous oxygen difference (C(a-v)O2), rate pressure product (RPP) and total peripheral resistance (TPR) were calculated from the above measurements. The results showed that the two extremities sustained approximately 60% to 70% of the total load, with the balance being supported by the body. Significant increases (P < 0.05) in VO2, HR, Qc, and mean BP were observed during both of the load carriage walks compared to unloaded walking. However, SV, C(a-v)O2, RPP and TPR were unchanged (P > 0.05) during load carriage. Although VO2 was significantly higher during the 20-kg load carriage walk, no significant differences were observed between the two loads for any of the cardiovascular responses monitored. Contrary to our hypothesis, these results suggest that increasing the load from 15 kg to 20 kg during treadmill walking does not significantly increase the cardiovascular stress that occurs in healthy subjects.     

Teaching resourcefulness skills to older adults

With rapidly increasing numbers of elders in the United States, there is a growing need for interventions to promote independence and productive, healthy lifestyles among the elderly. Highly resourceful persons have been found to function better in their daily activities than those who lack resourcefulness skills. These skills, including self-controlling techniques and problem-solving, are believed to be learned and therefore can be taught. This pilot study examined the effects of teaching resourcefulness skills to healthy elders on measures of learned resourcefulness, anxiety, depression, adaptive functioning, and life satisfaction using a quasi-experimental pre-test-post-test design. The intervention group consisted of 20 elders and the placebo group had 17 elders. Those elders who received the 6-week small group intervention that taught the skills constituting resourcefulness scored significantly higher on post-test measures of learned resourcefulness, adaptive functioning, and life satisfaction. Although significant negative correlations were found between resourcefulness scores and scores on measures of anxiety and depression, there were no significant differences in anxiety and depression between the intervention and placebo groups on the post-test measures. The findings suggest that learned resourcefulness training (LRT) is an important nursing intervention for promoting healthy, independent, and productive lifestyles among older adults.     

Effect of resistance training on strength, postural control, and gait velocity among older adults

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a 14-week resistance training program on the ankle strength, training intensity, postural control, and gait velocity of older adults. Forty-two older adults (mean age = 72), 21 in the resistance and control groups, completed the 14-week project. The resistance training group participated in 14 weeks of resistance training three times per week using elastic bands (Theraband) for resistance. Isokinetic ankle strength, training intensity, postural stability, and gait velocity were measured prior to and following the 14-week intervention. Following the training, the resistance group exhibited improved ankle dorsiflexion, training resistances, and gait velocity, but showed no change in plantar flexion or postural control. The control group also exhibited improvements in dorsiflexion, but these gains were approximately one-half of the gains observed in the resistance training group. Finally, when adjusted for baseline differences, subjects in the resistance training group demonstrated no changes in the dependent measures over the control group.     

Osteoarthritis in older adults

Perivascular glial cells are thought to be involved in physiologic vascularization and also in pathologic angiogenesis in the central nervous system. We have previously shown that astrocytes are a source of transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta) and another inhibiting factor, which block endothelial cell growth and induce their apoptosis. Astroglia are also known to express vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), which is up-regulated during hypoxia. Here we demonstrate the effects of hypoxia on the expression of both TGF-beta and VEGF by retinal glial cells. Muller cells isolated from rat retina were incubated under hypoxia or normoxia and the resulting conditioned media (H-MCM and N-MCM) were assayed for their effects on growth of bovine retinal capillary endothelial (BRE) and the TGF-beta-sensitive mink lung epithelial CCL cells. The expression and quantities of VEGF and TGF-beta (active vs. latent form) were determined by immuno-adsorption, Western or Northern blotting, and ELISA. N-MCM stimulated BRE cell growth by twofold but inhibited CCL cells under similar assay conditions, whereas H-MCM had a weak stimulating effect on BRE and substantial inhibitory activity on CCL cells. Adsorption of MCM by specific antibodies as well as Western and Northern blot analysis indicated that stimulating and inhibitory activities of MCM are due to the presence of VEGF and TGF-beta, respectively. ELISA revealed that the hypoxia condition converts latent TGF-beta into its active form. In N-MCM, TGF-beta is found predominantly in the latent form, but in hypoxia MCM it is mainly active. Furthermore, it was found that treatment of Muller cells with exogenous TGF-beta under either hypoxia or normoxia increases VEGF expression in a time- and dose-dependent fashion. TGF-beta activation may, therefore, be prerequisite for hypoxia-induced up-regulation of VEGF and stimulation of angiogenesis in vivo.     

Hemispheric asymmetry in the visual contribution to postural control in healthy adults

This study was carried out in order to test the hypothesis of a right hemisphere dominance in the visual control of body balance. Eight healthy adults were subjected to a self-regulated lateral balance task, performed while sitting on a rocking platform. Four visual conditions were tested: open eyes with normal vision, closed eyes in the dark, left visual field-right hemisphere and right visual field-left hemisphere. Head and support displacements in the roll plane were recorded by means of an optoelectronic system. Two main results emerged from this study: (1) head stabilization in space was much more efficient in the left visual field-right hemisphere condition than in the three other visual conditions, and (2) although vision played an important role in the body stability whatever the anatomical level, there was no right hemisphere dominance at the pelvic level. A clear right hemisphere dominance was thus demonstrated as regards the visual contribution to head stabilization in space.     

Eye movements of young and older adults during reading.

The eye movements of young and older adults were tracked as they read sentences varying in syntactic complexity. In Experiment 1, cleft object and object relative clause sentences were more difficult to process than cleft subject and subject relative clause sentences; however, older adults made many more regressions, resulting in increased regression path fixation times and total fixation times, than young adults while processing cleft object and object relative clause sentences. In Experiment 2, older adults experienced more difficulty than young adults while reading cleft and relative clause sentences with temporary syntactic ambiguities created by deleting the that complementizers. Regression analyses indicated that readers with smaller working memories need more regressions and longer fixation times to process cleft object and object relative clause sentences. These results suggest that age-associated declines in working memory do affect syntactic processing. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Factors predicting fractures during falling impacts among home-dwelling older adults

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the predictors of fractures during falling impacts among home-dwelling older adults. DESIGN: A case-control study within a prospective, population-based survey. SETTING: Five rural municipalities in northern Finland. PARTICIPANTS: The study population consisted of all home-dwelling persons aged 70 or older living in these five municipalities (n = 790 (85%)). The cases for this study were those with fracture, using the first fracture (n = 82) in the analyses, during a follow-up period of 4 years. Controls (n = 82) were selected from among the persons who suffered soft tissue injuries; matching was by age, sex, and location of the first injury during the period. MEASUREMENTS: During a 4-year follow-up period, all falls in the population were recorded using fall diaries, telephone interviews, and information from medical records. Risk factors for fractures during the 4-year follow-up were determined according to the number and severity of previous falls, circumstances and place of falls, disease history, use of medicines, symptoms, clinical examinations and tests, nutritional status, functional abilities and social and health behavior. Cross-tabulations for categorial variables, paired t tests for the means of continuous variables, and conditional logistic regression analysis were performed. RESULTS: According to the bivariate analyses, the risk factors for falls resulting in a fracture were frequent fear of falling, abnormal heel-shin test, reduced knee extension strength, reduced grip strength, poor distance visual acuity, low supine pulse rate, inability to carry a 5-kg load 100 meters, not doing heavy outdoor work, and no habitual exercise. A limited amount of social participation was associated negatively with fracturing. Conditional logistic regression analysis showed that the risk factors for fracture-causing falls were frequent fear of falling (OR 2.50; CI 1.11-5.65), reduced knee extension strength (OR 3.38; CI 1.00-11.4), and poor distance visual acuity (OR 3.45; CI 1.13-10.6), whereas limited social participation (OR 0.29; CI 0.11-0.79) protected against the occurrence of fractures. CONCLUSION: Impaired perception, muscle strength, and psychological and social functioning may influence fracture risk during injurious fall impacts. Studies with larger sample sizes are needed to confirm this and to examine the circumstances and mechanisms contributing to the fracture risk during falls via these risk factors.     

Discourse behaviors in older adults

An overview of the changes in older adults' comprehension of language and discourse is provided before changes in production are discussed in some detail. Age-related changes in discourse production have been studied in terms of semantic skills, syntactic complexity, verbal fragmentation, information load, cohesion, macrostructural elements, and conversation. In spite of the heterogeneity in older adults' discourse behaviors, they have a tendency to use shorter, less complex sentences and more indefinite, ambiguous references. Nevertheless, the basic conversational skills of the normally aging elderly are usually well preserved.     

Genitourinary cancers in older adults

Prostate and bladder carcinoma are, in large part, diseases of older adults, and they are discussed in this context. Pathology, diagnosis, and staging are reviewed. Surgical and medical approaches to these malignancies, and the limitations of these approaches, are highlighted. Renal cell carcinoma, while a relatively rare neoplasm, remains a formidable challenge: approximately 50% of patients die within 5 years of diagnosis. Advances in molecular genetics and histopathologic classification, as well as surgical management and investigational therapies, are emphasized.     

Threatened by the unexpected: Physiological responses during social interactions with expectancy-violating partners.

Individuals who violate expectations increase uncertainty during social interactions. Three experiments explored whether expectancy-violating partners engender "threat" responses in perceivers. Participants interacted with confederates who violated or confirmed expectations while multiple measures were assessed, including cardiovascular reactivity, task performance, appraisals, and behavior. In Experiments 1 and 2, participants interacted with White or Latino confederates who described their family backgrounds as either high or low socioeconomic status. In Experiment 3, participants interacted with Asian or White confederates who spoke with expected accents or southern accents. Participants interacting with expectancy-violating partners (e.g., Asians with southern accents) exhibited cardiovascular responses consistent with threat, poorer task performance, and manifested negative and defeat-related behavior. Implications for decreasing prejudicial responses via uncertainty reduction are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Semantic priming during sentence processing by young and older adults.

Examined semantic processing of sentences by 30 younger (mean age 25.1 yrs) and 30 older (mean age 68.5 yrs) adults, using a priming technique. Ss read a sentence and then made a lexical decision about a target presented immediately after the sentence. For both age groups, word targets that were instruments implied by the action of the sentence had faster latencies than unrelated word targets. There was no evidence of inhibition of unrelated targets, suggesting that the facilitation of instrument targets involved automatic processes. Results provide no evidence for age-related changes in semantic processing of sentences, including access to implied information. Older Ss did, however, have poorer memory for the sentences on a recognition test. It is suggested that previous findings by G. Cohen (see PA, Vols 63:747 and 67:958) of age deficits in comprehension may depend on techniques that measure what is remembered rather than what is understood. (35 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Adaptation to visuomotor rotations in younger and older adults.

Adaptation to a visuomotor rotation is known to be impaired at older adult age. The authors examined whether the impairment is present already at preretirement age and whether it depends on the difficulty of the adaptation task. Moreover, the authors tested predictions of the hypothesis that the age-related impairment pertains primarily to strategic corrections and the explicit knowledge on which they are based but not to the acquisition of an (implicit) internal model of the novel visuomotor transformation. The authors found an age-related impairment of adaptation and explicit knowledge already at preretirement age but no age-related change of aftereffects. With an incremental simplification of the adaptation task, age-related changes were able to be eliminated. Individual differences of the quality of explicit knowledge were associated with differences of adaptation, but not of aftereffects. When age groups were matched by explicit knowledge, age-related impairments of adaptation largely disappeared. However, a reliable difference remained in one of the experiments, suggesting that other processes of adjustment to a visuomotor rotation might be affected by aging as well. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Interference effects from divided attention during retrieval in younger and older adults.

The authors examined how retrieval, under divided attention (DA) conditions, is affected by the type of material in a concurrent task, and whether aging produces larger interference effects on memory. Young and old adults studied a list of unrelated words under full attention, and recalled them while performing either an animacy decision task to words or an odd-digit identification task to numbers. The animacy-distracting task interfered substantially with retrieval, and the size of the effect was not amplified in older compared with younger adults. DA using the odd-digit task did not produce as large an interference effect. These findings support the component-process model of memory, and pose problems for resource models of interference from DA at retrieval. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Management of osteoarthritis in older adults

Management of osteoarthritis (OA) is directed primarily towards relief of pain and functional limitation. This article discusses a range of nonpharmacologic modalities, including education, social support, weight reduction, and exercise. Drug treatment should begin with adequate doses of acetaminophen. Guidelines for appropriate use of NSAIDs also are suggested in this article. Intraarticular steroids help a proportion of patients, particularly those with OA of the knee or thumb base; the role of intraarticular therapies remains uncertain. Surgery (total joint replacement) remains an excellent treatment for patients in whom medical treatment has failed to provide adequate symptom relief. Future developments are likely to include earlier intervention using drugs with the potential to modify the course of the disease.     

Normal communication changes in older adults

A case of arterial hypertension following an adder bite (Vipera Berus) in a six year-old boy is presented. Initially he had gross local symptoms and mild systemic symptoms, but was not treated with viper venom antiserum. Ten days after the initial admittance he developed symptoms of high blood pressure. Microscopic haematuria was found, and renal function was mildly impaired. It was concluded that the adder bite had caused the temporary rise in arterial blood pressure and renal dysfunction. Treatment with viper venom antiserum is recommended if local symptoms progress to involve the trunk or if systemic symptoms evolve.     

Flashbulb memories in older adults.

In this study of age differences in flashbulb memory, groups of young and older adults gave detailed accounts of how they heard the news of the resignation of the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. They were tested within 14 days after the event and again 11 mo later. They also gave ratings for the encoding variables (surprise, emotion, importance, knowledge, and interest) and for frequency of rehearsal. Memories that met a strict criterion of consistency between the original and delayed responses were classified as flashbulb memories. Although 90% of young Ss had flashbulb memories, only 42% of the elderly met the criterion. The age groups also differed in the type of details remembered and in the relationship between the encoding and rehearsal variables and the occurrence of flashbulb memory. The age-related deficit in flashbulb memory is related to source amnesia and to a deficit in memory for context. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Renal stone disease in older adults

The pathophysiology of stone disorder in older adults, as compared to their younger counterparts, has not been thoroughly investigated. This article examines the differences in serum and urine chemistries between groups that are younger and older than 60 years of age. The principal finding is that stone formation occurs at lower urinary supersaturations in older patients, suggesting that other unexplored factors are significant contributors. The authors then review the possible effect of age on the morbidity of stone disease and the implications of stone disease for the development and management of osteoporosis.     

Does priming specific syllables during tip-of-the-tongue states facilitate word retrieval in older adults?

This experiment investigated whether phonological priming of syllables helps resolve tip-of-the-tongue (TOT) states in young and older adults. Young, young-old, and old-old adults read general knowledge questions and responded "know," "TOT," or "don't know" accordingly. Participants then read a list of 10 words that included 3 phonological primes corresponding solely to the first, middle, or last syllable of the target word. Young and young-old adults resolved more TOTs after first-syllable primes, but old-old adults showed no increase in TOT resolution following any primes. These results indicate that presentation of the first syllable of a missing word strengthens the weakened phonological connections that cause TOTs and increases word retrieval, but not for old-old adults who experience greater deficits in the transmission of priming across these connections. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)