Archive for the 'Arthritis / Joint Pain' Category
September 30th, 2008 -- Posted in Arthritis / Joint Pain, Physical Health |
In a new study, researchers found that today’s 70-year-olds are having more sex and enjoying more satisfying sex — than ever before .The study, from Gothenburg University in Sweden, showed that self-reported levels of sexual satisfaction among 70-year-olds in Gothenburg has been on the rise, from 58 percent of 70-year-old men reporting satisfaction in 1976-77 to 71 percent reporting sexual satisfaction in 2000-01. Among women, the increase was from 41 percent to 62 percent during the same period.
“There is no question that people in their 70s today are like people in their 60s from the last decade,” said Judith Kuriansky, a clinical psychologist, sex therapist and faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College.
Because the study was based on interviews, it is subject to the honesty of the septuagenarians who were interviewed, but even if this is merely a rise in talking about sex rather than actual sex that is on the rise, Kuriansky sees that alone as a positive. “If they’re more comfortable talking about it, they’re more comfortable doing it,” she said.
The longer life spans of women can prevent many from having partners late in life, but Kuriansky said she has a suggestion for women facing that problem. “Sex therapists like myself encourage people to be self-pleasuring,” she said. “If you have no partner, you can continue to be pleasured by yourself.” Kuriansky said that the sexual climaxes have the added benefit of easing the pains associated with arthritis. The article, “Study Shows Sexual Satisfaction at 70 Improving” appeared at July 10th on the website “ABC News”
Source: Teacher’s College, Columbia University (http://www.tc.columbia.edu/news/article.htm?id=6686)
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August 15th, 2008 -- Posted in Arthritis / Joint Pain, Life Extension, Osteoporosis / Bone Health, Physical Health |
Jogging regularly into old age may have more benefits than a simple runner’s high — the healthy habit may slow the effects of aging, according to a Stanford study two decades in the making.
In 1984, Emeritus Prof. of Medicine James Fries came up with a hypothesis called Compression of Morbidity, which holds that healthy lifestyles will not only prolong survival, but will also decrease the number of years with disability. He gathered a team of researchers and began his experiment.
The study started with around 1,000 people over the age of 50. Half of the participants were members of a runner’s club, and the other half were otherwise healthy people from Stanford, but not members of the running club. For 21 years up until 2005, the participants rated their disability status on a scale of 0 (no severe health problems at all) to 3 (pretty much unable to do most things).
“Everybody reported increasing disability as they get older, especially since we’re talking about people who were around 60 when they started,” said Prof. of Medicine Eliza Chakravarty. “However, we found that over time, the runners group had very low levels of disability that increased very slowly. The controls, on the other hand, had disability that increased much more quickly. At the end of the study, the difference between the disability levels was very dramatic.”
Participants who were part of a runner’s club also enjoyed lower mortality rates — about half that of the non-participants.
“So not only were they less disabled, but they lived longer as well,” Chakravarty said of the running participants.
One difficulty in this study was getting rid of self-selection bias — the possibility that factors other than running contributed to the experimental results. According to Fries, it was a highly plausible explanation that a positive, healthy attitude — rather than running — produced better outcomes. The research team tried to minimize the self-selection bias in several ways.
“We statistically adjusted for many factors such as obesity and age,” Chakravarty said. “We also chose pretty healthy people in our control group. They were not obese, had normal body weight, had the same education levels as the runners and didn’t drink or smoke much. We tried to restrict it so that the main difference between the two groups was running.”
The basic message of the study, however, is simple: Exercising, at any age, is very important.
“People shouldn’t be discouraged from exercising because they’re older,” Chakravarty said. “Adopting an exercising program — even in the 50s or 60s will be beneficial down the road. We’re just really excited that we’re able to show benefits of exercise, not only in living longer, but living healthier up into the 80s.”
Of course, swimmers, bikers and other exercise fiends need not fret over the study’s emphasis on running; other forms of cardiovascular exercise serve a similar purpose.
“We think it’s probably vigorous exercise in general [that produce these results],” Chakravarty said. “Even though we chose the groups for running and non-running, we don’t necessarily think that there is anything specific to running — that running is better than cycling or swimming or any other form of regular aerobic exercise.”
Source:The Stanford Daily, Melanie Kim (http://daily.stanford.edu/article/2008/8/14/studyFindsExerciseKeyToAgingWellLivingLong)
August 13th, 2008 -- Posted in Arthritis / Joint Pain, Life Extension, Mental Health, Osteoporosis / Bone Health |
The University of Illinois at Chicago will receive $4.25 million over the next five years for research on aging individuals with disabilities, and the award will be partially matched by Special Olympics International.
UIC’s Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on Aging with Developmental Disabilities (RRTC) will start receiving its money on October 1 from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), which is part of the U.S. Department of Education.
“This new funding that starts in October is going to build on [our previous research] but it has more of a lifespan focus,” said professor and head of RRTC, Tamar Heller, Ph.D. She added that not much research has been done on adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
The UIC center received a similar grant in 2003, according to a spokesman from the Department of Education.
The RRTC received the grants in 2003 and in 2008 due to its well-received proposals in peer review and the progress it made in its activities, he said.
One out of the seven studies that will make use of the grant money will also use health screening data collected from athletes participating in the Special Olympics, a project partner with RRTC.
“The Special Olympics does screenings for thousands of people around the world and we’re going to be working with them to look at some of that screening data,” Heller said.
Heller and her research team will use this data to determine, over time, what risks or secondary conditions people with disabilities have that may be related to their disability. For example, Heller explains that individuals with Down’s syndrome have a higher propensity for osteoporosis.
“The Special Olympics population is very much a convenience sample for UIC,” said Special Olympics’ senior vice president for constituent services and support, Stephen Corbin. He agrees with Heller that more research needs to be done on adults with disabilities, especially in terms of what risk factors and environmental variables affect overall health.
So for the next several years, RRTC will use Special Olympic athletes’ health screening data to track long-term health trends.
“It’s one thing to show something in a lab or a clinic, but we will want to show how to improve lives in the real world,” Heller said.
Source: MedIll NorthWestern University, Elyse Russo (”http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=97197“)
July 31st, 2008 -- Posted in Arthritis / Joint Pain, Brain Food, Life Extension, Mental Health, Physical Health |
If Bruce Lipshutz has his way, you may soon be buying bottles of water brimming with the life-sustaining coenzyme CoQ10 at your local Costco.
Lipshutz, a professor of chemistry at UC Santa Barbara, is the principal author of an upcoming review, “Transition Metal Catalyzed Cross-Couplings Going Green: in Water at Room Temperature,” which will be published in Aldrichimica Acta in September. In it, Lipshutz and post-doctoral researcher Subir Ghorai discuss how recent advances in chemistry can be used to solubilize otherwise naturally insoluble compounds like CoQ10 into water.
Never heard of CoQ10? Lipshutz says you’re not alone. “If you don’t know anything about it,” Lipshutz said during a recent interview, “that’s not surprising to me. Much of the public hasn’t heard of it.” But he’s on a mission to correct what he views as a major oversight. “In a sense, I’m just a messenger. People need to not only know about CoQ10, they need to take it.”
Like vitamin C, CoQ10 is a compound that’s vital to our survival. It’s a coenzyme that our cells synthesize, albeit in 21 steps, and it’s in every cell. This contrasts with a vitamin, such as vitamin C, which is not made by the body. Both CoQ10 and vitamin C are “compounds of evolution,” Lipshutz said. “Everybody accepts the importance of vitamin C. The reason the public does not fully appreciate it is that there’s no Linus Pauling for CoQ10. There is no champion.”
Pauling, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist, was also an advocate for greater consumption of vitamin C. “CoQ is not really in that category of public awareness yet,” Lipshutz said.
While the body produces its own CoQ10, that production decreases with age. “Nature gave us, through 2.5 billion years of evolution, a number of fundamental anti-aging, free-radical scavengers that helped us to survive, on average, only to about 40 years of age, until modern medicine came along,” Lipshutz said.
A large percentage of the body is made up of water, “but there are also the lipophilic portions of our cells that make up the non-aqueous part,” Lipshutz explained. At some point in our evolution, the water-soluble antioxidant vitamin C was produced in vivo, or what would technically be “coenzyme C.” Eventually, “a mutation took place that now prevents humans from making it,” he said. “However, evolution chose not to mutate out CoQ10.”
If one doesn’t get vitamin C, the consequences can be dire. “It’s essential for several cellular processes. For example, everyone knows about scurvy,” Lipshutz said. “You can last 30 days, maybe 60 days, as your cells deteriorate.”
On the other hand, CoQ10 – much of which is in the mitochondria of our cells – is essential for cellular respiration and ATP (adenosine triphosphate) production. “You wouldn’t last 30 minutes without CoQ10,” he said. “Thus, evolution teaches us that CoQ10 is as important as vitamin C. But who’s teaching this to our aging population? Nobody.”
Lipshutz has a history of CoQ10 research at UCSB. Initially, he retooled the chemistry that would produce the supplement via synthesis instead of fermentation, which is what Japan used to become the world leader in CoQ10 production. But China’s entry into the CoQ10 market only a few years ago changed everything.
“The price of CoQ for over 30 years was about $1,600 per kilo as produced by the Japanese,” Lipshutz said. “The Chinese came along and, for the time being, have dramatically altered the market by deciding at the government level that they were going to own this important area of dietary supplements. CoQ10 can now be purchased for as little as $400 a kilo, which in principle is great news for consumers.”
When the supply of CoQ10 grew faster than demand, Lipshutz went into the lab to study what else could be done with this life-enriching compound. After all, CoQ is now readily available. At Costco or drug stores, you can buy CoQ10 formulated into softgels that deliver the nutrient in various strengths. It’s marketed as helping to provide a boost in energy as well as a healthy heart. But, Lipshutz notes, you absorb only10-15 percent of CoQ10 in the softgel form. How, he asked, could this become more available and bioefficient?
“The future is not about access to CoQ10 anymore,” he said. “It’s not about, ‘Do we have the best synthesis?’ or ‘Can we compete with the Chinese?’ It’s about getting it into water, so that we can get it into our mitochondria.”
Quite a challenge since CoQ10 is water insoluble. The answer? Go nano.
“We do it with nano-micelle-forming technology,” Lipshutz said. He starts by putting a known, inexpensive molecule called PTS into water, which spontaneously forms a nanosphere about 25 nanometers (one nanometer is equal to one billionth of a meter) in diameter. This sphere has a lipophilic portion tied to a hydrophilic portion through a linker. The lipophilic portion, which is actually vitamin E, goes to the center. “The vitamin E portion associates in the middle with itself because it doesn’t have any solubility, any energy-lowering interactions, with the water around it,” Lipshutz said. “But the external or hydrophilic portion associates with water.
“So, on the outside is the water-loving portion, while the lipophilic, or grease-loving portion, is on the inside. When you add the CoQ, it says, ‘Where would I rather be?’ Since like dissolves like, the CoQ10 goes inside the micelle. It’s 25 nanometers and it’s crystal clear. And, it’s stable at room temperature.”
That’s nanotechnology. It delivers twice the amount of the compound into the bloodstream, and the concentration in water can be adjusted, he said. This approach can be applied to a broad range of nutraceuticals, including omega-3s, carotenoids like lutein and beta-carotene, and resveratrol. “We can also take pharmaceuticals, like Taxol, an anti-tumor agent, and put them into just water or saline using this PTS,” he said.
By taking advantage of this micellar technology, synthetic chemistry can also be done inside the nano-containers. That translates into doing chemistry in pure water, and at room temperature. “That’s green chemistry,” Lipshutz said.
The amount of heat usually needed in reactions, and the waste created by organic solvents, are dramatically reduced. Lipshutz hopes that when his processes are looked at on a much larger scale, a savings of metric tons of solvent, currently released into the environment, will be realized.
“We aim to get organic solvents out of organic reactions,” he said. “And we’re already looking into next-generation possibilities. All of our green chemistry has come out of being able to put CoQ10 and other dietary supplements into water.”
Lipshutz sees this as his most significant contribution to an already illustrious career as an organic chemist.
“It’s an opportunity to affect every person on the planet,” he says proudly.
July 23rd, 2008 -- Posted in Arthritis / Joint Pain, Osteoporosis / Bone Health, Physical Health |
Patients suffering from severe arthritis now have an option for total ankle replacement that offers increased mobility and pain relief without permanent metal implants. Pioneered by Daniel K. Lee, D.P.M., F.A.C.F.A.S., at UC San Diego Medical Center, this technique is the first in the U.S to offer arthritis sufferers a non-metal, biological ankle replacement.
“Up until now, patients have had two options for replacing their ankle joints: metal implants or fusion of the joints,” said Lee, director of foot and ankle surgery at UCSD Medical Center. “Now there is an option that actually restores the ankle with an FDA-approved biologic material that is similar to the collagen found in cartilage.”
During a two hour minimally-invasive surgical procedure, Lee, a podiatric foot and ankle surgeon, removes the damaged cartilage around the ankle joint through a four centimeter incision. The collagen material is then molded into the joint where it adapts to the contour of the patient’s ankle.
“Unlike a metal device, the advantage to this material is that the implant can be customized in size and contour for every patient’s individual need,” said Lee. “No matter how the patient’s ankle is shaped, the collagen is a perfect fit.”
The biologic material, processed from either human or animal collagen sources, has been used for more than 10 years in plastic and abdominal surgery and heart valve replacement. Since it is non-allergenic and sterile in nature, there is no risk of rejection or need for the patient to take immunosupressors.
To allow the material to integrate fully with the ankle joint, a temporary external device is used to stabilize the joint area while keeping it “distracted” or open for a period of 4-6 weeks. Attached by small pins, the cylinder-shaped device serves as a shock system to keep the joint free from friction and movement until healing is complete. The device is then removed entirely, which keeps the patient’s ankle free from any metal parts.
“Within 3 weeks after surgery, we see an incorporation of tissue onto the damaged cartilage,” said Lee. “The idea here is to avoid fusion of the ankle and to add longevity to the joint. We want to give patients as much mobility as possible so they can get back to the activities they love the most.”
Lee’s patient’s range in age from 30-85. Robert Adams, 82, a retired professor, received the ankle replacement after repeated attempts at physical therapy.
“My ankle collapsed on me,” said Adams. “I didn’t like the idea of a fusion with no motion or opening up my ankle for a metal device. Following this surgery, I no longer have sharp or stabbing pains. I am continuing to improve and can get around better.”
For years, patients have had the option of total joint replacement in the hips, knees, and ankle with titanium and other metal devices. While the implants are well suited for hips and knees, metal replacements for the ankle show a high level of failure and unwanted complications such as metal collapse and breakage. Once an ankle is replaced with metal, options for revision surgery are little to none.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, an estimated 46 million U.S. adults, approximately 1 in 5, report doctor-diagnosed arthritis. As the U.S. population ages, these numbers are likely to increase sharply. The number of adults with arthritis is projected to increase to 67 million by 2030, and a good proportion of U.S. adults will have limited activity as a result. Nearly two-thirds of people with arthritis are younger than 65.
This novel technique for ankle replacement and results of a study will be described in late 2008 in the Journal of Foot & Ankle Surgery.
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