Feeling Useful Boosts Older Adults' Physical Ability
Feeling useful appears to improve older adults' physical functioning, according to a U.S. study to be presented Friday at the annual scientific meeting of the American Geriatrics Society.
Researchers analyzed data on more than 900 people, ages 70 to 79. They found that feeling useful led to improvements in "performance-based" physical functioning, which includes coordination, balance, gait, and upper and lower limb strength.
The participants underwent physical performance tests and were asked about their feelings of usefulness at the start of the study and again three years later. The study was conducted by researchers at Kirksville College of Osteopathic Medicine in Missouri and the University of California, Los Angeles Medical School.
"Compared to older adults who frequently felt useful to others (at the start of the study), those who never or rarely did had greater declines in physical performance ability," the study authors wrote. "However, increases in feelings of usefulness were also associated with an improvement in physical performance."
Previous research found that older adults with low feelings of usefulness are more likely to suffer declines in physical ability and to die over a seven-year-period.
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High-Dose Radiotherapy Benefits Prostate Cancer Patients
Compared with standard-dose radiotherapy, high-dose radiotherapy lowers the risk of cancer recurrence and reduces the need for additional hormone treatment in prostate cancer patients, says a U.K. study published online in The Lancet medical journal.
"However, the higher radiation dose did slightly increase bowel side effects," chief investigator David Dearnaley of the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospitals in Sutton, said in a prepared statement.
The study included 843 prostate cancer patients who received either a standard dose of radiotherapy (64 Gy) or a higher dose (74 Gy).
Dearnaley said "the dose increase was made possible by using a new more precise radiation treatment method called conformal radiotherapy."
He noted that the "trial is important in emphasizing the advantage of higher dose radiotherapy but also the need to continue to improve radiation techniques."
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Blood Test Predicts Bone Marrow Transplant Complications
A simple blood test that may allow doctors to detect and treat bone marrow transplant complications up to two weeks sooner than is currently possible has been developed by Australian researchers.
This new test is designed to help doctors predict which patients will get graft versus host disease (GVHD), a complication that occurs when transplanted marrow attacks the patient's body, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.
GVHD is a problem in 85 percent of bone marrow transplants. The earlier it's detected, the easier it is to manage and cure.
The new test checks for levels of active cells in the blood called dendritic cells. The more dendritic cells, the greater the risk of developing GVHD.
"This is the very first time that we've been able to, in bone marrow transplantation, predict, before it happens, which patients will get acute graft versus host disease," researcher Prof. Derek Hart, director of the Mater Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, told the ABC.
The research appears in the journal Transplantation. The new blood test will now be tested in a two-year international study.
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U.N. Climate Change Report Approved
A report on worldwide measures needed to cut rising rates of greenhouse gas emissions was approved Friday by international delegates at a conference in Bangkok, Thailand, the Associated Press reported.
The document is a summary of a massive study by a U.N. network of 2,000 scientists. It states that countries around the world must develop biofuels, improve fuel efficiency, use renewable energy, and take other actions to make major reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.
The world has the technology and money needed to take decisive action in time to prevent a disastrous increase in global temperatures, the report said. Scientists say such a temperature spike could wipe out many species, raise ocean levels, cause floods in some places and droughts in others, and result in serious economic damage, the AP reported.
In order to prevent global temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit over preindustrial levels, nations must stabilize the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by 2015, the document said.
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Seizure Drug Increases Risk of Mental Deficits in Offspring
Pregnant women with epilepsy who take the commonly prescribed drug Depakote to control seizures are at increased risk of having children with mental deficits, concludes a U.S. study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Neurology in Boston.
The study found that toddlers exposed in the womb to Depakote scored seven to eight points lower on I.Q. tests at age two and were twice as likely to score in the range associated with mental retardation than infants whose mothers took other epilepsy drugs while they were pregnant, The New York Times reported.
These findings should be considered preliminary because I.Q. measures in two-year-old children are less reliable than scores in older children, other experts noted. This study will continue tracking the children through age 6.
Previous studies have found that the use of Depakote during pregnancy increases the risk of giving birth to children with mental deficits and other birth defects, The Times reported.
"Depakote look worse than the other drugs in all of these recent studies. In all, it is compelling evidence that this drug should not be used as a first-line choice for treatment in pregnant women," said Dr. Kimford J. Meador, lead author of the new study and a professor of neurology at the University of Florida.
Depakote is made by Abbott Laboratories. A spokeswoman for the company said that for many women, the drug "may be the only effective seizure control medication, and that decision should be made thoughtfully between physician and patient to fully evaluate the risk vs. benefit of treatment."
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