View clinical trials related to Ageing.
Filter by:The main goal of this study is to determine the difference in amino acid digestibility of milk, sorghum and black beans between older (65-80 years) and younger (20-35 years) adults using the dual tracer method.
Ageing is accompanied by a high risk of developing physical or cognitive impairments, as well as a decrease in abilities to perform two tasks simultaneously, contributing to loss of autonomy. Interventions based on the performance of cognitive-motor dual tasks show positive effects on cognitive, physical and emotional development on dual-tasking capabilities. Exergames, interactive serious games combining physical activity and technology, are a certain type of cognitive-motor dual task training. These exergames appear to be cognitively effective, discussed on a physical level, not studied on dual task functions. It is likely that a dual task cognitive-motor with the support of a exercise leads to the same benefits as training without the need for special support. In addition, the exergames benefit from specific features such as a good immersion and a playful aspect that increase the participant's adhesion. Moreover, the level of security of this type of programme has been little studied. It is likely that cognitive-motor dual tasks training supported by an exercise programme leads to few undesirable events and good adherence. Many of the recommendations specific needs gaming state that it is important to develop systems that respond to the needs specific to the population concerned in order to be effective. Within the laboratory HAVAE has been developed a tool, the "virtual carpet": association between a video-projected scene and a monitoring system of position of the participants. This system makes it possible to use as a grid of play the cartography and iconography of the City of Limoges. The investigators suppose that this emphasis on local heritage will encourage the participants leaving their homes, thereby increasing their level of physical activity and their quality of life.
The purpose of this study will be to examine the feasibility of a Physical Activity Intervention for Loneliness (PAIL) in community-dwelling older adults. The research is a feasibility study designed as a two-arm randomised controlled trial (RCT) with a wait-list control group (intervention will be offered at 12 weeks to control group).
The EMMY Project is an interdisciplinary and mixed methods comparative study on impact of welfare systems on mental wellbeing among the oldest old in Finland, Italy, Norway and Spain, including aspects such as equity, social inclusion, empowerment and participation. The project will delineate the concept of mental wellbeing at old age by qualitative methods, and will dissect the links between welfare systems and mental wellbeing by quantitative methods. It will support exchange of good policies between EU Member States by performing case studies of existing welfare policies and systems in the four participating countries, and it will develop a new research-based tool for assessing the mental wellbeing impact of welfare policies in old people. The overarching aim of this interdisciplinary, comparative research project is to improve our knowledge and understanding of how different welfare models and related policies, as well as health and social care service approaches, can benefit from adaptation in order to target mental wellbeing in the oldest-old. The project will support development of social welfare models in order to incorporate a change of focus from mental disorders to mental wellbeing among old people. This is important, not only because of the ageing of the European population, but also because of increasing pressures on public finances, within and beyond Europe.
Skeletal muscle is the largest organ in the human body and has many important roles in determining our physical abilities and overall wellbeing. One major function of skeletal muscle is to carry out many daily tasks, such as rising from a chair or getting on a bus, tasks often referred to as functional abilities. During healthy ageing muscle size is reduced by approximately 0.5-2% a year (known as sarcopenia), with concurrent reductions in functional abilities. This can result in a reduction in quality of life and loss of independence, both of which are clearly not desirable. The incidence of sarcopenia is around 20% between 50-70 years and around 50% in those over 80 years, with the absolute numbers and the average age of the population rising. One method through which muscle function can be enhanced and retard the progression of sarcopenia, across all age groups, is through exercise. The effectiveness of exercise will depend on a number of genetic and environmental factors, with nutritional intake being one of the most important and easily altered. Recent research has suggested that altering the type of fatty acids consumed may have a positive effect on muscle function. Little research is yet to be carried out in elderly humans. This is important as that findings from animal models are not definitively transferrable to humans. The main aim of the current proposal, therefore, is to investigate the effect the consumption of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids found in oily fish, on the response to a resistance training programme in the elderly. A further aim is to determine the mechanisms which result in these adaptive responses. The project will be centred round a large 18 week resistance training/nutritional (EPA/DHA) intervention with both males and females over the age of 65 years. There are three main research questions and experiments stemming from this intervention. 1) Does the consumption of EPA and DHA result in a greater increase in strength, power and functional abilities in response to resistance training? To answer this question a series of measures of muscular performance and functional abilities will be assessed. 2) Does the consumption of EPA and DHA increase the size and quality of muscles, reduce the amount of fat found within the muscle and decrease inflammation? To address this question the participants will have MRI images of their muscles and blood samples taken before and after the intervention. This will allow the calculation of muscle mass/fat content and circulating levels of inflammatory markers. 3) Does the consumption of EPA and DHA enhance the activity of the molecules involved in controlling muscle mass after a single bout of resistance exercise? For this question muscle samples will be obtained before and after a single training session and measure changes in molecules previously identified as important in the changes in muscle mass in response to exercise. A fourth aim running throughout the proposal is 4) Do males and females respond differently to the combination of EPA/DHA and resistance exercise? Differences in protein metabolism have previously been noted between genders and yet the investigation of these differences is often overlooked. The investigators will investigate this by studying responses in groups of males and females. In summary, the aim of the proposed project is to test the hypothesis that the consumption of fatty acids found in oily fish will improve the response of an elderly population to a resistance training intervention. The major outcome of the proposal would be in establishing a beneficial effect of fish oil on muscular adaptation in the elderly, opening up a widely available therapeutic strategy for an improvement in the quality of life in the elderly population. Such strategies are of particular importance due to the increasing age of the UK population.
The first study of my PhD showed that acute supplementation of berry extracts can modulate cognitive behaviour in healthy adults. There is a growing body of evidence supporting an improvement in memory and learning performance in animal models following the ingestion of flavonoid rich fruits (Shukitt-Hale et al 2008;Spencer 2008; Spencer et al., 2008). However, study 2, showed no effect on any aspects of memory in healthy young adults after supplementation of the berry extracts. It is hypothesised that the lack of behavioural effects on memory of the berry juice in study 2 was because of the cohort used. These healthy adult participants were already performing near to their peak (Salthouse et al., 2009), and unlike study one, participants were not mentally fatigued enough to reveal subtle cognitive benefits. The aims of the study are to examine if acute supplementation of two berry extracts in an older population can augment memory, attention and executive function. Secondly, the time course of these behavioural effects will be measured by multiple cognitive assessments throughout the day after consumption of the extracts.
Neuroplasticity-based approaches seem very promising to maintain cognitive health in older adults and postpone the onset of cognitive-decline and dementia symptoms. The aims of this project are threefold: 1. the evaluation of the effects of a neuroplasticity-based-cognitive randomized computer-based intervention consisting in training with non-action video games on brain and cognitive functions that decline with ageing, including attention and spatial working memory (WM), in older adults using behavioral measures and electrophysiological recordings (event-related potentials -ERPs- and event-related spectral perturbations -ERSPs); 2. the study of the effects of age and 3 months maintenance on the cognitive and neural signatures of transfer effects to attentional and spatial WM tasks; and 3. to investigate the neuroinflammatory mechanisms assessed by non-invasive methods in saliva from participants underlying cognitive training-induced effects. A better understanding of these mechanisms elucidates pathways that may be targeted in the future, either by behavioral or neuropsychological interventions. To achieve these aims, the investigators will recruit between 60-80 older adults volunteers to participate in the randomized, controlled, single-blind study. After screening, participants will be randomly distributed in one of these two groups: experimental and active control. Participants in the experimental group will receive 16 1 hour computerized training with non-action video games. The active control group will receive 16 1 hour training sessions with a social video game. The design is a mixed factorial design with type of intervention (experimental, active control) and assessment session (pre, post, maintenance). The results from the proposed research project will clarify the existence of transfer-of-benefit and neural mechanisms underlying cognitive improvement. The hypothesis is that mental stimulation through non-action video games will improve attention and memory, promoting brain and mental health, and extending independence among elderly people by avoiding the negative personal and economic consequences of long-term care.
Canadians are living longer than ever before. However, many in our society age with long term chronic medical conditions which have a major impact on their need for healthcare, their quality of life and well-being. Encouragement of lifestyle practices which promote healthy aging and self-management techniques to deal with chronic disease is important in improving peoples' well-being The purpose of this study is to study the impact of peer delivered education and support for seniors living in the community to see if training given to other seniors improves healthy ageing behaviours and their health literacy.
The research on ageing during the last couple of decades has increasingly focused on questions regarding the quality of life and life satisfaction of the old people. Yet the research indicates that when it comes to the final stage of life, the end includes unnecessary suffering and the quality of life drops. Palliative care has traditionally been provided successfully to younger persons dying from incurable illnesses while older people dying of multiple morbidities or "old age" has received far less of this type of care. However, sixty percent of all people who died in Sweden in 2010 were at least 80 years old and it is well known that dying among older people often is a prolonged period of suffering. One reason might be that it is more difficult to identify when the final stages of life begins for older persons. The purpose of this project is to implement and evaluate how a knowledge-based model for palliative care in nursing homes affects the quality of life and the participation in the care process for older persons in nursing homes and their next of kin. A second aim is to explore the staff's implementation process of palliative care and the role of the leadership. The final aim is to investigate which factors (barriers and facilitators) that affect the implementation process of this model.
The proportion of older acute care physicians (ACPs) has been increasing. Ageing is associated with physiological changes and research investigating how such age-related physiological changes affect clinical performance is lacking. Specifically, Crisis Resource Management (CRM) consists of essential clinical skills in acute care specialties which when absent, can significantly impact patient safety. As such, the goals of this study are to investigate whether ageing has a correlation with baseline CRM skills of ACPs and whether ageing influences learning from high fidelity simulation.