View clinical trials related to Aging.
Filter by:This study is designed to evaluate specific factors in mitochondria that may precipitate premature aging and physical weakness in HIV patients. Angiotensin receptors 1 and 2 (AT1R and AT2R) are found in virtually every cell type. This study will evaluate how the relationships among these receptors in immune and skeletal muscle cells change with HIV, and how these changes might trigger mitochondrial dysfunction, declines in muscle strength, and cellular decline in people living with HIV.
Sleep apnea is a common disease in the general population and more particularly in elderly subjects in whom prevalence can reach 30 % after 70 years old. In adults (<55 years old) cardiovascular consequences are well known and make sleep apnea treatment necessary. However elderly (>70 years old) apneic subjects are less symptomatic in terms of sleepiness, they usually present a lower index of respiratory events and cardiovascular consequences in this population are still discussed, driving some authors to consider sleep apnea in the elderly as a specific disease and making the need for a treatment questionable. In this study the investigators will focus on the comparison between adult and elderly apneic subjects in terms of cognitive and cardiovascular consequences. Adult apneic patients suffer from a decrease of cognitive performance as well as grey matter local atrophy, particularly in the hippocampus and in the frontal lobes. According to fewer studies, white matter can also be affected by a demyelinisation process. These structural modifications are sometimes associated with disorders of executive and memory functions. In the elderly, no clear association can be drawn between cognitive decline and sleep apnea. Moreover, to our knowledge, the cerebral state of elderly symptomatic apneic subjects has mostly not be investigated.
The proposed study will determine whether Tai Chi is an effective and practical intervention to improve overall function and lower health care utilization in an expensive, vulnerable population of seniors that is more representative of many US communities than those previously studied. If the results are favorable, our study will also provide the necessary training and protocol manuals to replicate Tai Chi programs in senior housing facilities across the nation to help prevent, better manage, and overcome frailty among seniors.
Older women have an exaggerated increase in blood pressure during exercise. However, the reasons for this are unclear. It is important to investigate this phenomenon because a greater blood pressure response to exercise has been associated with an increased risk of stroke and mortality in otherwise healthy individuals. A unique aspect of aging in women is the profound change in hormone levels (i.e. estrogen and progesterone) associated with menopause. The influence of changes in estrogen and progesterone levels on the cardiovascular responses to exercise is poorly understood. However, it has been suggested that these hormones might change the responsiveness of the cardiovascular system. Possible mechanisms that could account for these changes are the arterial baroreflex and feedback from the exercising muscle (known as the exercise pressor reflex), both of which are known to powerfully modulate blood pressure during exercise. However, to date, few human studies have thoroughly examined the influence of changes in hormone levels on baroreflex function during exercise or the exercise pressor reflex in older women. As such, the purpose of this research project is to assess baroreflex function and the exercise pressor reflex in older women after transdermal estrogen alone, transdermal estrogen plus progesterone, progesterone alone and placebo.
Background: - In individuals as they age, changes in muscle tissue can significantly affect their muscle strength and exercise endurance. This process, known as sarcopenia, may lead to decreased mobility and physical weakness, which is what we in general refer to as frailty. The causes of sarcopenia and why it affects some individuals more than others are not known, but many factors influence muscle physiology and function, including metabolic, hormonal, environmental, and lifestyle factors. Researchers interested in identifying factors involved in the start and progression of sarcopenia need of samples of human muscle tissue and cells for laboratory investigations. Objectives: - To train researchers in the appropriate procedures for performing muscle biopsies and collecting, labeling, and storing the samples. - Develop a data base of specific scientific studies evaluating the physiological and metabolic function of muscle that can be used in future studies. Eligibility: - Healthy volunteers at least 18 years of age. Design: - Participants will be screened with a full medical history and physical examination, as well as blood and urine tests, and will schedule a date for the muscle biopsy. - Participants will have a muscle biopsy, with tissue and cells taken from the upper part of the thigh. A local anesthetic will be given for the procedure. Participants will also provide a blood sample and have an electrocardiogram to evaluate heart function. - Participants will have a followup visit 1 week after the biopsy visit to evaluate the healing process and provide any further treatment for the affected area, after which they may fully resume normal activities.
The purpose of the study is to evaluate the effect of a naturally occurring hormone, called Growth Hormone Releasing Hormone (GHRH) on the muscle, bone, and fat tissues of the body. GHRH stimulates the production of growth hormone (GH), which regulates the build up of many tissues in the body, including muscles and bones. Many elderly people have low levels of GH. The overall goal of this research is to determine the efficacy of GHRH to raise levels of GH and improve these body tissues. Healthy men and women age 65 and older will receive GHRH in four doses nightly for 12 weeks and assessed for changes in muscle strength, body mass, physical performance, and how the body uses sugar.
The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between aging and morphological changes in the lung. 120 consecutive healthy volunteers over 60 years will be enrolled for this trial.
The purpose of this study is to understand why and how oxidative stress negatively impacts mobility in the elderly, and to determine whether antioxidant supplements can increase vascular health and mobility.
In the elderly a chronic basal systemic inflammation prevails - which is evident by enhanced CRP or IL-6 plasma concentrations - and by compromised defense mechanisms against invading microbes. These alterations belong to the physiological ageing process of the immune system (immunosenescence) and are regarded as an inflammatory response towards lifelong antigen stress ("inflammatory/pathogen burden"). This lifelong antigen stress evokes an age-dependent basal inflammatory activation of innate immunity as well as a wasting of specific immunity: it is supposed that in the course of life-time due to a multitude of infectious/inflammatory events ("multiple hits") an inflammatory stress prevails or "inflammatory/pathogen burden" accumulates, which substantially contributes to an enhancement of the inflammatory parameters of natural immune response. Such enhanced inflammatory parameters characterize persons at increased risk of degenerative diseases like atherosclerosis or coronary heart disease. The risk is the higher, the higher the "pathogen burden". An impact of the inflammatory load on cardiac ageing has not yet been described. "CARDIAC AGEING", REFLECTED BY A NARROWING OF HEART RATE VARIABILITY: The physiological ageing process of the heart goes along with a narrowing of heart rate variability as shown by various groups, including our own. Arguments in favour of a causal relationship between inflammation and cardiac ageing come from an experimental study with healthy human volunteers who had received a low dose of endotoxin: such a proinflammatory stimulus leads to a reversible narrowing of heart rate variability (7). Also in senescence heart rate variability steadily declines, paralleled by a steady increase of basal inflammatory activity. The reduction of heart rate variability also is regarded as a sensitive parameter of autonomic dysfunction, which contributes to the compromise of cardiac reserve in old age. Apart from typical morphological features and functional deterioration, e.g. diastolic dysfunction, the senescent heart is typically characterized by a narrowed heart rate variability. Efforts have been made to estimate the cardiac age of an individual by this compromised heart rate variability, which may be divergent to the biological age. In recent years diverse approaches were proposed to measure cardiac age on the basis of heart rate variability. The published mathematical formulae were mostly validated with small patient groups and have presently not entered clinical practice. Still heart rate variability is an accepted surrogate parameter of cardiac ageing and is amenable by therapeutic measures, e.g. beta-blockade. The interaction between autonomic nervous system and inflammation is bilateral: thus vagal stimulation can improve heart rate variability and at the same time evoke anti-inflammatory action: this "cholinergic anti-inflammatory" reflex could make the basis for pharmacological interventions to confine overwhelming inflammatory response syndromes. The afferent vagal nerve, on the other hand, can be stimulated by inflammatory mediators and toxins (endotoxin, Interleukin-1), thus activating the efferent vagus to release acetylcholine, which can bind to a nicotinergic acetylcholine receptor on macrophages and thus interrupt cytokine release and limit the rise in the blood levels of proinflammatory cytokines (TNF, IL-6). The biological meaning of this reflex is to localise inflammatory reactions in the organism and prevent a spill of cytokines to the circulation. A functioning autonomic nervous system is thus mandatory to prevent overshooting of inflammatory response to infection and non-infectious stimuli. The link between cardiac ageing and autonomic dysfunction gives another argument in favour of the notion that autonomic dysfunction and pathogen/inflammatory load could be factors promoting cardiac ageing. This, on the other hand, implies the chance of slowing down the cardiac ageing process by successfully modulating the extent of autonomic dysfunction and the scope of "pathogen/inflammatory burden". THE NEED FOR A TRIAL: A possible causal relationship between basal inflammatory activation and cardiac ageing has not been established. This is the issue of the project proposal. In this trial the investigators strive to lower the "pathogen/ inflammatory load" by simple and safe measures. The investigators therefore chose treatment with statins, standardised physical training (both parameters of heart function and heart rate variability could thus be improved) and vaccinations against influenza and pneumococci to prevent a further enhanced "pathogen/ inflammatory burden".
Aging and psychosis are major priority areas for VA. This project is a continuation of a Merit Review Program, in which we developed, manualized and conducted randomized controlled trials of a novel psychosocial rehabilitation intervention for older people with schizophrenia, called cognitive-behavioral social skills training (CBSST). We found that CBSST improved community functioning in these patients. CBSST, however, is an intensive program that would burden VA mental health clinics with demands for additional staff and financial resources and burdens older veterans with travel and time demands. To reduce these burdens and barriers to implementation of CBSST, we are developing a computer-assisted CBSST intervention that takes advantage of available handheld computer technology. Therapist contact is cut 50% and replaced by handheld computer-assisted CBSST intervention tools. The project will examine whether computer-assisted CBSST is as effective as the full CBSST program, while improving client satisfaction and reducing burden and cost.