Research
Olga the amazing
CBC Sunday Edition recently aired a documentary on Olga Kotelko, a 92 year old athlete who has the attention of some scientists:
Olga Kotelko is an athlete who excels in a number of track and field events, winning medals and beating the competition in contests all over the world.
She can also bench press weights that would challenge any man.
She’s been a runner for many years.
One other thing: Olga Kotelko is 92 years old.
She has the physique, the strength and the stamina of someone 20 or more years younger.
She is so extraordinary that scientists who study the mysteries of aging are trying to unlock the secret of her longevity.
In our First Hour, a documentary portrait of Olga the Magnificent by John Chipman and a conversation about the secrets of aging or not.
Click here to listen to the broadcast.
New blog from Geriatric Medicine Research
Geriatric Medicine Research at Dalhousie University/Capital Health, has a new blog launched earlier this month, that brings you up to date news from the world of research in aging. GMR has been leading the way in patient and carer centrered research into frailty and dementia for two decades: 
Founded in 1991 by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, Geriatric Medicine Research (GMR) has pioneered an interdisciplinary approach to the study of aging, frailty and dementia that has allowed us to work with artists, philosophers, linguists, sociologists, applied mathematicians and data miners, just to name a few.
Innovative work being done by the GMR team here at Dalhousie University/Capital Health includes tools and services to allow for a more responsive system of care for aging patients, as well as work into the effects of social vulnerability on health and mortality. We have also initiated a specialized clinic to help elderly patients understand the benefits and risks of treatments available to them.Recent work has also begun to help better understand and provide for the needs of those who care for our expanding population of dementia patients, and we currently head up a cross-Canada network for knowledge translation in the field of dementia research.
GMR has a long history of research collaborations with groups as close as Ontario and as far flung as China. We hope you will take a minute to look explore our site, the varied work we do, and the many groups who work with us.
Check out their blog here.
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NS Centre on Aging seeking research particpants
The Nova Scotia Centre on Aging is seeking assistance with a research study that involves caregiver assessment of older spouses living at home with their partner who has some level of cognitive impairment. They are seeking individuals in Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island who are:
- 65 years or older;
- married or in a common-law relationship;
- living at home with their spouse/partner;
- caring for/ supporting their spouse/partner due to spouse’s/partner’s memory problems, cognitive impairment or a diagnosed dementia (we are looking for individuals who are caring for those at all stages of impairment, from the early signs to very severe dementia).
They encourage anyone who is aware of someone in this situation, and who might be interested in participating in such a study to make them aware of the project website and contact information below. Additionally, anyone interested in receiving more information should not hesitate to contact them:
Timing of the C.A.R.E. Tool Project
Mary Leslie, Project Manager
Nova Scotia Centre on Aging, Mount Saint Vincent University
Tel: (902) 457-6573 or Toll free: 1-877-302-4440
Email: caretool@msvu.ca
Website: www.msvu.ca/nsca/caregiverassessment (and click Timing of the CARE Tool in left bar).
New sleep and dementia evidence resource available.
A team of researchers from the University of Alberta has completed a structured review of the evidence for non-pharmacological sleep interventions for persons with dementia.
The full report is available on the website . The website contains a collection of evidence-based sleep resources for healthcare providers and caregivers of persons with dementia.
Downloadable patient education brochures about evidence-based sleep interventions are also provided. A PowerPoint presentation on the findings of this project and on sleep problems in persons with dementia can be accessed in the archives of the Canadian Dementia Resource and Knowledge Exchange website.
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Understanding the impacts of caregiver assessment
Researchers at Mount Saint Vincent University are seeking people aged 65 and over who are supporting their spouse/partner living at home with memory problems, cognitive impairment or dementia.
“Family and friend caregivers supporting an adult with health limitations in the community are an integral part of our health care system. However, caregivers need support, both to ensure their own well being, and that of the people they care for. Assessing the needs of caregivers, apart from the care recipient, is an important way to identify their strengths and unique challenges and to support their health and welfare.”
If you are interested in participating, or would like more info you can visit their website at www.msvu.ca/nsca/caregiverassessment or contact the project office at
Is there value in preventative measures for Alzheimer’s disease?
A recent report by a panel of experts from the US National Institutes of Health has cast some doubt on the usefulness of a healthy diet, crossword puzzles and regular exercise in terms of delaying or reducing the severity of Alzheimer’s disease. 
As the CBC reported, the panel expressed their doubt thus:
“We wish we could tell people that taking a pill or doing a puzzle every day would prevent this terrible disease, but current evidence doesn’t support this,” said Dr. Martha Daviglus, conference panel chair and professor of preventive medicine and medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago. The panel, however, said the public needs to understand such strategies are at best only loosely associated with an improved outcome. The cause-and-effect relationship, if any, is unclear, Daviglus said.
CAKEns contacted Dr. Kenneth Rockwood, a leading researcher into dementia who currently holds the Kathryn Allen Weldon Chair in Alzheimer’s research at Dalhousie University here in Nova Scotia, for comment on this. His response:
There is a problem with these sorts of recommendations, which rely on “the evidence”. The evidence is biased towards pharmacological interventions, which outnumber non-pharmacological interventions by hundreds to one. So if the experts want to wait until there are multi-hundred person randomized controlled trials before daring to recommend exercise as a useful strategy in AD, we will wait a long time. More valuable, it seems to me, are data from cohort studies, in which people who exercise and have AD can be compared against those who do not exercise, and have AD. Although the design of a study like this means that we can never know for sure if exercise would work in people who take it up because they have AD, the data do allow some insight. (There are also elaborate reasons why we cannot know for sure from a randomized trial if the patient in front of us will benefit either, but that is another matter.)
Our analysis of data from the Canadian Study of Health and Aging suggests that there are cognitive benefits to exercise, even in people with dementia. The open access reference for this work is: Middleton LE, Mitnitski A, Fallah N, Kirkland SA, Rockwood K.Changes in cognition and mortality in relation to exercise in late life: a population based study. PLoS One. 2008 Sep 1;3(9):e3124.
You can read the full report form the National Institutes of Health panel here.
China-Canada Research Collaboration travels to Beijing.
An innovative collaboration between research groups in Beijing, China and Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada is leading to a better understanding of the state of the aging population in China.
Left to right: Xiaowei Song, Pulin Yu, Kenneth Rockwood, Chinese Community Doctors (3), Xianghua Fang
Led in Canada by Dr. Kenneth Rockwood of the Geriatric Medicine Research Unit (GMRU) and in China by Dr. Xianghua Fang at the Beijing Institute of Geriatrics, a team of researchers are spending three years working together on issues that arise due to an aging population
The increasing proportion of elderly people presents multiple challenges for health care, and this is particularly dramatic in China where between 2000 and 2050, the proportion of people aged 65 and older will rise from 7% to 23%, numbering more than 332 million.
There is a great amount of health data on this population accumulated in China, but the research capacity to process and explore these data is still limited. This collaboration makes use of resources and skills of those at the GMRU to help advance understanding of this problem in China.
Representing the Chinese team in Canada is Shi Jing, an epidemiologist who is not only acquiring the skills to analyze the Chinese datasets, but will take these skills back with her to China at the end of her one year stay here, and pass these on to other researchers there.
The Canadian team is currently preparing for a trip to China in May, where they will make several presentations at the 3rd National Conference of the Prevention of Common Diseases in the Elderly in Yichang Hubei, May 7-9. The China-Canada Collaboration is funded jointly by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (Institute of Aging) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China.
Brain Imaging Study Seeks Volunteers!
Drs Kenneth Rockwood and Xioawei Song are currently seeking volunteers for a brain imaging study for perfusion in Alzheimer’s disease. The study is seeking to recruit both cognitively normal volunteers, as well as those who have been diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s. The study uses a non-invasive brain imaging method called Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Brain images of the participants will be obtained while they perform memory tasks and at rest. 
The study appointment will take approximately two and a half hours. Participants will receive a contribution toward expenses they may incur due to participation in this study and can receive an image of their brain from the MRI!
Participants are encouraged to have a family member accompany them. Volunteers must:
1) be older adults (ages 60 – 90)
2) be fluent in English
3) have normal vision OR if you are uncertain about your vision without glasses, there is a sample diagram you can try.
4) meet all MRI safety criteria (no metal in your body except for fillings)
5) be either cognitively healthy OR have mild Alzheimer’s Disease with no other cognitive impairments
6) be a healthy adult meeting the criteria outlined in (1 – 4 above)
Who to Contact: Janet Marshall, Administrator (473 1850), or Dr. Xiaowei Song, Investigator (473 1876)
Where:
National Research Council – Institute for Biodiagnostics (Atlantic)
Neuroimaging Research Laboratory
Suite 3900, QEII Health Sciences Centre – Halifax Infirmary
January, 2009 | Version #2 | CDHA-RS/2009-287 | OREB2009-02
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Stress raises the risk of cognitive decline in older adults with diabetes.
New research from the University of Edinburgh has shown that stress raises the risk of memory loss and cognitive decline among older people with diabetes. 
The researchers studied more than 900 men and women aged between 60 and 75 with type-2 diabetes and evaluated their mental abilities with a range of tests, including memory function and speed of information processing. This was compared with general intelligence levels to gauge brain function over time.
Their findings showed that brain function slowed in participants who had higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol.
Dr Rebecca Reynolds, of Edinburgh University’s Centre for Cardiovascular Science, said: “We know that type 2 diabetes is linked to problems with memory, but the reason behind this is unclear.”
This work is part of the Edinburgh Type 2 Diabetes Study. You can read more about these results here.
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Social factors impact excessive drinking in older adults.
New research, due to be published in the April edition of Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research, reports that older adults who “have more money, engage in more social activities, and whose friends approve more of drinking are more likely to engage in excessive or high-risk drinking.”
Rudolf H. Moos, senior research career scientist for the Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care System in Palo Alto, California says “Our findings show that, one, certain social factors may enhance the chances of an individual engaging in high-risk drinking and, two, once high-risk drinking has developed, social choices may be made to facilitate continuing this behavior.”
One of these choices, Moos reports, includes surrounding oneself with friends who also drink: “Older adults who engage in high-risk alcohol consumption tend to select friends who are more likely to drink and to approve of drinking. They may also experience a decline in the quality of relationships with extended family members, that is, high-risk drinking may impair some family relationships. ”
Moos also notes a gender difference: “Compared to older women, older men may be more vulnerable or susceptible to some social influences on drinking. Specifically, having more money, and friends who approve more of drinking, seem to be more closely related to high-risk drinking among older men than among older women.”
Read the full article here.
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