MATURE MARKET HEADLINES POSTED 10/06/97
Experts Monkey With Life Extension
Previous research on other species that have short lives such as rats has demonstrated that a 30 percent reduction in calories can lead to 30 percent longer life in addition to better health. Now, two recent animal studies on monkeys offer a possible explanation for how caloric restriction might possibly enhance human health and help extend life as well.
One of the new studies from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) and Dr. Roy Verdery at the Arizona Center on Aging shows that a 30 percent reduction in calories in a monkey's diet leads to elevation in good cholesterol levels with a subsequent reduction in risk for cardiovascular disease. One interesting aspect of this particular study is that neither the control monkeys nor the calorically restricted monkeys eat much fat or cholesterol as part of their diets.
Therefore, the study demonstrates that even in non-obese monkeys, a reduction in calorie intake can benefit cholesterol and blood pressure. The second study showed that a 30 percent reduction in caloric intake resulted in higher levels of DHEA in the research monkeys. DHEA is a hormone that some people believe slows the aging process.
Medical science has yet to prove that in human populations. However, the lack of evidence hasn't stopped health food stores from making monkeys out of their customers by promoting the so-called "life-extending qualities" of DHEA.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Television Academy Exhibits Best of Boomer TV
As part of its on-going 50th anniversary celebration, the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences (ATAS) in association with the Los Angeles Public Library present "Art of Television". Legendary contemporary designs by ATAS production designers, art directors, set decorators, costume designers and supervisors are on display at the Central Library until October 16.
Exhibits feature sections of full sets used in television series, scale models of other sets, photos and costumes. Items will depict a range of programs from the past fifty years, including "Star Trek", "The Lucy Show", "Wonder Woman", "Moonlighting", "Designing Women", and "Murphy Brown".
Those who grew up with these generational shows are hoping that someone will capture these moments in television history into a coffee-table book, just in time for the holiday gift season. Any how, if you get the chance, be sure to stop by for some of the western favorites "Gun Smoke", "Wyatt Earp", "Bonanza", "Rawhide", "Wagon Train", "Wild Wild West", and "Maverick". Yep, they sure don't make'em like they used to.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Job Discrimination More Costly to Women
Midlife and older women who have filed job discrimination suits generally receive just three-fourths the amount awarded to men. In other kinds of complaints, notably complaints of age discrimination, women receive less than half the amount that men receive, according to a new study released by AARP.
The study, "Employment Discrimination Against Midlife and Older Women" was a joint undertaking between AARP and the Fair Employment Council of Greater Washington. Here are just a few of the key findings from the study.
There is evidence that women experience age discrimination at earlier ages than men. Midlife and older women were only half as likely as men to complain about discrimination in hiring and other job-entry practices.
Women were most often successful in their complaints of discrimination in the provision of employee benefits and in the operation of early retirement programs. The average monetary award won by women was $12,934, while men averaged $17,135.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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New Brain Scan May Predict Dementia
Brain scans may soon be used to predict dementia by detecting changes in the structure of the brain, before there are any noticeable signs of memory loss.
Once the scan becomes proven for brain testing on a large scale, drug manufacturers will no doubt begin working on new medications that might stop, or at least slow down, further degeneration of the brain before significant damage to the brain occurs.
The study, conducted under the sponsorship of the National Institute on Aging, researched patients with Down's syndrome because most of those patients exhibit neuropathology that is similar to that found in Alzheimer's Disease (AD).
AD is believed to occur after middle age and gradually erodes cognitive function throughout later life. AD affects 4 million Americans and that number is expected to increase 200-300% as more adults enter the ranks of the aged.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Pea-size Disk Stores Entire Medical History
The complete medical records of patients having surgery may soon be as easy to check as their hospital identification bracelet. Researchers at the Medical University of South Carolina have developed a portable computer system that allows anesthesiologists and other hospital staff to access and update patient information anywhere in the hospital the patient may be.
Such technology allows not only instant access to information, but a reliable method to collect more data and to analyze that data with greater ease, anesthesiologist Gary R. Haynes, M.D., PhD, reported at the annual meeting of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.
The system stores information on a portable memory disk, the size of a watch battery, that attaches to the patient;s wrist identification band. A hardware interface links the disk to a lightweight hand-held computer that anesthesiologists can carry in their pockets.
The interface lets doctors upload new data or download existing data within seconds. The portable network could eventually replace handwritten, paper-based patient charts, which can be hard to find, difficult to read, time-consuming to wade through and inconvenient to access.
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Dr. David Demko, Editor
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