MATURE MARKET HEADLINES 3/1/2001
How To Make Your Website Senior Friendly
Plain text, plain type, and plain terms are plainly effective ways to broaden the reach of a Web site to an older audience. Growing numbers of people 60 and older are computer users and information seekers on the World Wide Web, according to the National Institute on Aging and the National Library of Medicine. These two components of the National Institutes of Health are providing a free booklet, “Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly: A Checklist,” to help web designers tailor all Web sites—old and new—for use by older people.
The Checklist is based on results of scholarly research showing that age is no hindrance to computer or Internet use. While normal, gradual, age-associated declines in vision and cognitive abilities may be impediments to the use of electronic technology, the Checklist ticks off ways to design readable text and navigational features that can shape up a Web site for older people.
This new resource covers suggestions for style and for incorporating popular features like photos, videos, and audio. It wraps up with an extensive list of research references and suggested reading to address in-depth web design issues.
“By implementing this Checklist, web designers can help open the Internet to great numbers of people over 60 who want to know more about their health and aging,” says NIA director, Dr. Richard J. Hodes. “We have found that people age 60 and over now constitute the fastest growing group of computer users,” notes NLM director, Dr. Donald A.B. Lindberg.
Single copies of “Making Your Web Site Senior Friendly: A Checklist,” are available on the Web at http://www.nlm.nih.gov/pubs/checklist.pdf or toll-free at 1-800-222-2225.
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FDA Tests Wireless Electronic Heart-Helper
"Arrow LionHeart", the first heart assist device powered by a wireless electric transmission has been approved by the FDA for clinical trials in the U.S. The Arrow LionHeart is the result of a seven-year collaboration among researchers affiliated with Penn State’s Artificial Organs program and Arrow International Inc of Reading, Pennsylvania.
The Arrow LionHeart is not an artificial heart. It is a “heart helper” or left ventricle assist system for patients suffering from severe heart failure who are not eligible for a natural heart transplant.
The patient’s natural failing heart is left in place and the assist device is connected to it to boost circulation. Once the system is implanted in a patient, no wires, tubes or other connections protrude through the skin.
Under the direction of Walter E. Pae, Jr., M.D., Penn State professor of surgery and Arrow, clinical trials have been proceeding in Europe since October 1999. The LionHeart has been implanted in 10 patients. The longest survivor has had the assist device for nearly a year. There have been no device failures.
The new heart assist device is based on an approach originated by Dr. William S. Pierce, who founded the Penn State artificial organs program, coupled with the latest in electronics and biomaterials technology.
Penn State members of the design team include Dr. Gerson Rosenberg, professor of bioengineering, Dr. Alan Snyder, associate professor of surgery, and Dr. W. J. Weiss, assistant professor of surgery, at the College of Medicine in Hershey as well as materials, energy and
fluid flow researchers at Penn State’s University Park campus.
Pumping is achieved in the heart assist device when a metal plate presses on a plastic blood sac, forcing the blood out of the sac. In the Arrow LionHeart, the metal plate is driven by a new miniature electric motor and controller that responds to a patients’ changing needs during exercise and resting, for example.
The Arrow LionHeart has both internal rechargeable batteries, which remain in the body, and an external battery pack fitted with a unique power delivery coupling. The external source, two battery packs worn on a belt, powers the motor via a transformer coil worn on the outside of the chest. When the external transformer coil is positioned over an internal transformer coil connected to the motor, it induces a current.
Dr. Pae notes that about 4 million patients in the U.S. are victims of heart failure and nearly 400,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Of these patients, only about 2,800 receive heart transplants. “The LionHeart is intended to help this much larger population that is ineligible for transplant and for whom medical therapy has failed,” he adds.
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White Water Wilderness Rafting for Seniors
"Over the river and through the woods ... to grandmother's house we go." That old song sure congers up images of a grandma who must have been one tough cookie, traveling back and forth in such rugged terrain. If you're wondering how grandma kept in shape for such a demanding life, you might be interested in learning about one example of challenging outdoor adventures for senior citizens.
Warren River Expeditions specializes in 6-day Whitewater, wilderness rafting trips for seniors only and trips for Grandparents/Grandkids. Yes, it's rugged recreation, but these senior rafters are able to spend each night inside warm lodging with showers and beds, a true wilderness luxury. It's all part of lodge-stay rafting trips on Idaho's "River of No Return".
White water rafting during daylight hours, and comfort camping each night. Outdoor adventure at it's best. But not for long. As you may have heard a judge in Montana recently ruled that the
three lodges on Forest Service land inside the Main Salmon River corridor, Stub Creek, Smith Gulch, and Arctic Creek were not legal under the present laws governing the Wilderness and the Wild and Scenic act. As a result, 2001 will be the last year for these lodges.
This is the last season to do complete lodge stay trips on the Main River as we know them. The
lodges will be removed and may possibly be replaced with wall tents or other temporary structures, making this year's 2001 rafting a once in a lifetime experience.
Those interested in hearing and seeing more about these wonderful lodge stay trips may contact Warren River Expeditions at 1-800-765-0421, or check out their web page at www.RaftIdaho.com
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Gene Might Trigger Premature Menopause
When does the process of aging begin? Before you are born. In fact, at the very moment of conception processes are set in motion that determine how we age much later in life, suggests a new study by the National Institute on Aging (NIA). While the study focused on menopause, the findings hold promise for understanding the very nature of the aging process.
A genetic mutation appears to trigger early onset of premature menopause. Typically, menopause occurs in a woman's late 40s or early 50s. However, premature menopause occurs in up to one percent of women before age 40.
The finding could help researchers decipher how genetic processes can lead to certain age-associated changes in later life. "Aging, like other biological processes, has genetic determinants that are initiated in utero", says Dr. David Schlessinger, chief of the NIA's Laboratory of Genetics.
The newly identified gene, called FOXL2, is required in women to form a full complement of eggs in ovaries before birth. If the gene is mutated, certain women may experience premature menopause. The discovery is the first to pinpoint a gene responsible for early onset of menopause, says Dr. Schlessinger.
FOXL2 was isolated from a region of chromosome 3 that had been implicated in families with a history of premature menopause. The gene was cloned by Italian scientists led by Giuseppe Pilia of the University of Cagliari. The discovery may also shed light on certain aspects of human aging, which may be triggered by genetic processes that begin at conception.
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Family Eldercare Better Than Home Alone
When it comes to eldercare, there's still ... no place like home. Elders, especially those who are frail or disabled, appear to be better off when living in the company of their adult children. Why? The answer is simple. Elders who reside in the homes of their adult children get nearly twice as much care than those elders who live alone.
A new study by the University of Michigan finds that unmarried people age 70 and older who lived with their adult children received about 40 hours a week of paid home care compared with 26 hours received by unmarried elders who were equally disabled and lived alone.
"Having an adult child on hand to 'navigate' the Medicare system seems to have a major impact on the amount of home care the elderly receive," says Kenneth M. Langa, an assistant professor of internal medicine at the U-M Medical School and first author of the study.
The study findings, showing that the bulk of the skyrocketing increase in paid home care during the mid-90s did not go to older Americans with lower levels of social support, provide new insights for the public policy debate on how to meet the needs of an aging population while also limiting steep cost increases.
All of those studied were at least 70 years old, lived in the community rather than a nursing home or assisted living facility, and needed help with one or more daily activities, such as eating, dressing, bathing, walking across a room, preparing meals, taking medications, or managing money.
They controlled for a number of variables that might affect the amount of paid home services needed and received, including age, gender, race, chronic medical conditions, number of daily activity limitations, recent hospitalizations and nursing home stays, economic status, and the amount of unpaid care received from family members.
During the period studied, public expenditures for home health care services exploded, the authors note, growing about 20 percent a year, from $5 billion to $18 billion between 1990 and 1997. In comparison, private spending on home health care grew by only about 9 percent per year.
"Whether you think that this distribution of services is good or bad depends on your view of the goals of home care," says Langa. "If the purpose of paid home care is to help adult children care for their parents, then getting paid help may allow them to do this while staying in the work force. If you believe that the purpose is to target the vulnerable elderly who are socially isolated, in the hope that providing paid home care will reduce the likelihood they'll need to move into nursing homes, then the result of the study is not as reassuring."
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