Ageing is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. More people are reaching older age today than ever before and the incidence of dementia is thus expected to rise. It is important to investigate the possible prevention of dementia and cognitive decline. This new book gathers the latest research from around the globe in this field of study and related topics such as cardiovascular disease and cognitive function, physical exercise and cognitive function in the elderly, the dementia diagnosis, the role of MRI in Alzheimer's disease, oestrogen decline effects on the mental health of ageing women and the relationship between dementia and depression.

The word longevity is sometimes used as a synonym for "life expectancy" in demography. Aging is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Aging in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of aging grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Aging is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. Age is usually measured in full years -- and months for young children. At present, the biological basis of aging is unknown. This book presents the latest research in this dynamic field.

Ageing or aging is the accumulation of changes in an organism or object over time. Ageing in humans refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions. This book examines several important issues in the field.

Ageing is any change in an organism over time. Ageing refers to a multidimensional process of physical, psychological, and social change. Some dimensions of ageing grow and expand over time, while others decline. Reaction time, for example, may slow with age, while knowledge of world events and wisdom may expand. Research shows that even late in life potential exists for physical, mental, and social growth and development. Ageing is an important part of all human societies reflecting the biological changes that occur, but also reflecting cultural and societal conventions.

The ageing process changes body composition and thus nutritional status changes as one gets older. At the same time the body becomes more susceptible to diseases and diet becomes an even more significant or at least visibly significant than in earlier years. Moreover, there is frequently socio-economic downward drifting in this age group making nutritious foods more difficult to afford. This book presents the latest research in this vital field.

Book & CD. One of the most striking demographic changes over the last century in Western countries has been the rapid growth, both absolute and relative, of the oldest-old population, to such an extent that living beyond the age of 80 years constitutes a new stage of life. But what is life like after 80? Rather than scrutinizing the pathologies of very old age, this book enquires into the normal aging of the oldest old, their health trajectories, their socio-demographic inequalities; it analyses their daily life, including their social relationships, social support, and activities, and observes how the oldest old adapt to the multiple stresses and challenges of very old age. The book reports major results obtained from Swilsoo, a long-term longitudinal study based on two cohorts of octogenarians. The two cohorts were assessed on an approximately yearly basis, the first for 9 waves from 1994 to 2004, with 340 participants at inception, and the second for 5 waves from 19v9 to 2004, initially with 377 participants. The book demonstrates that many common stereotypes concerning the oldest old are false. For examples, their main shared characteristic is not sickness, but frailty, which affects them in different ways. A long life does not necessarily culminate in dependence. Dependence is a risk -- especially among persons of lower socio-economic status -- but not an ineluctable outcome. It also helps to bring out the importance of social and psychological resources in the lives of the oldest old. Although multiple stresses such as negative health-related changes or self-reported bereavements of a loved one often occur in the life of the elderly and affect their health and well-being, the very old can take advantage of various resources or adjustment mechanisms to help preserve their well-being and robustness. The book shows for instance that the preservation by the elderly of a positive and active role within the family is a boon to their health and that the continuation of leisure activities or the effective use of psychological resources counters the negative effects of frailty on well-being.

The world often falls short of how we'd like it to be, and our ability to make even just a little difference can seem limited. Sometimes it feels like you need to be a super-hero to achieve anything meaningful. But what if by re-conceiving what you do, you could change the world for the better? In THE REGENERATIVE LIFE, Carol Sanford shows you how to fundamentally change the roles you play in society, enabling you to do more than you ever believed possible; grow yourself and others, provide astounding innovations for your clients, children and students, generate extraordinary social returns, become more creative, and bring new life and opportunity to everything around you. THE REGENERATIVE LIFE teaches you to see your roles differently: stripping away all preconceptions of how it should be done, understanding what your role is at its core, and building yourself back up to become something new; something so grounded, inspiring, and resilient, it can change the world.

Dementia is a brain disorder that seriously affects a person's ability to carry out daily activities. The most common form of dementia among older people is Alzheimer's Disease (AD), which involves the parts of the brain that control memory, thought and language. Age is the most important known risk factor for AD. The number of people with the disease doubles every 5 years beyond age 65. AD is a slow disease, starting with mild memory loss and ending with severe brain damage. The course the disease takes and how fast changes occur vary from person to person. On average, AD patients live from 8 to 10 years after they are diagnosed, though the disease can last for as many as 20 years. Current research is aimed at understanding why AD occurs and who is at greatest risk for developing it, improving the accuracy of diagnosis and ability to identify who is at risk, developing, discovering and testing new treatments for behavioural problems in patients with AD. This book gathers state-of-the-art research from leading scientists throughout the world which offers important information on understanding the underlying causes and discovering the most effective treatments for Alzheimer's Disease.

It can be argued that ATP is the most important molecule in cells. Not only is ATP the key energy source for cells, but it is also the source of phosphate groups that are transferred to a variety of substrate proteins via the action of elaborate families of protein kinases. An equally elaborate array of protein phosphatases can remove phosphate groups from proteins. It is now well established that protein phosphorylation is a widely used mechanism for cells to selectively modulate the function of a variety of proteins including enzymes, ion channels and pumps and structural proteins. In this volume of ACAG leading experts describe the evidence that protein phosphorylation is altered in aging and age-related disease. Protein phosphorylation controls fundamental processes such as transcription and translation, regulation of the cell cycle, signalling within and between cells, cell motility, synaptic function and so on. Recent findings are revealing how phosphorylation dependent signalling cascades may control lifespan with a prime example being the insulin-signalling pathway first described in c-elegans and now emerging as an important regulator of lifespan of mammals also. Many of the functional changes that occur during aging such as impaired learning and memory and altered energy metabolism are controlled by protein phosphorylation and it is, therefore, important to understand how mechanisms of protein phosphorylation may either mediate aging or provide adaptive responses that allow successful disease-free aging. The authors in addition to considering the roles of protein phosphorylation in aging describe the evidence that abnormalities in protein phosphorylation contribute to the pathogenesis of major age-related diseases including diabetes, atherosclerosis and neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

The second edition of "Growth, Maturation, and Physical Activity" has been expanded with almost 300 new pages of material, making it the most comprehensive text on the biological growth, maturation, physical performance, and physical activity of children and adolescents. The new edition retains all the best features of the original text, including the helpful outlines at the beginning of each chapter that allow students to review major concepts.

This edition features updates on basic content, expanded and modified chapters, and the latest research findings to meet the needs of upper undergraduate and graduate students as well as researchers and professionals working with children and young adults. The second edition also includes these new features:

-10 lab activities that encourage students to investigate subject matter outside of class and save teachers time

-A complete reference list at the end of each chapter

-Chapter-ending summaries to make the review process easy for students

-New chapters that contain updates on thermoregulation, methods for the assessment of physical activity, undernutrition, obesity, children with clinical conditions, and trends in growth and performance

-Discussions that span current problems in public health, such as the quantification of physical activity and energy expenditure, persistent undernutrition in developing countries, and the obesity epidemic in developed countriesThe authors are three of the world's foremost authorities on children's growth and development. In 29 chapters, they address introductory concepts and prenatal growth, postnatal growth, functional development, biological maturation, influencing factors in growth, maturation and development, and specific applications to public health and sport. In addition, secular trends in growth, maturation, and performance over the past 150 years are considered. You'll be able to recognize risk factors that may affect young athletes; you'll also be able to make informed decisions about appropriate physical activities, program delivery, and performance expectations.

"Growth, Maturation, and Physical Activity, Second Edition, " covers many additional topics, including new techniques for the assessment of body composition, the latest advances in the study of skeletal muscle, the human genome, the hormonal regulation of growth and maturation, clarification of dietary reference intakes, and the study of risk factors for several adult diseases.

This is the only text to focus on the biological growth and maturation process of children and adolescents as it relates to physical activity and performance. With over 300 new pages of material, this text expertly builds on the successful first edition.

In Male Mid-Life Crisis, Justin K. Lim investigates this phase of human life through the perspectives of analytical psychology and through existential theology. Research suggests 80 percent of men suffer from this crisis, and that it is not limited to any culture or period of history. He applies his findings to pastoral/spiritual interventions, seeking deeper and broader psychological and theological insights.

Providing a comprehensive overview of issues of ageing from a global perspective this ambitious text introduces the reader to a wide range of issues and policies on ageing. Topics examined include: theoretical perspectives on ageing in society; demographic trends; roles played by older people as political actors; migration; health; pensions; family and institutional care; and elder abuse.

This will be an essential text for students of social gerontology, as well as an invaluable resource for students of nursing, social work, social policy and development studies.

This monograph provides a comprehensive basis for understanding the complex interactions that take place between synaptic input, cellular properties, and the oscillatory output of a neural network, especially in the maturing or developing nervous system. Emphasis is placed on drawing a parallel betw

The University of Florida has an ambitious goal: to harness the power of its faculty, staff, students, and alumni to solve some of society's most pressing problems and to become a resource for the state of Florida, the nation, and the world. In the upcoming decades, an unprecedented demographic shift will take place; the eighty-five and over population is projected to climb far higher than any other age group. To keep the current elderly population healthy and help prevent future generations from experiencing poor health outcomes, researchers are studying crucial connections between skeletal muscles and whole-body health. The University of Florida is at the forefront of this research, utilizing its nationally recognized excellence in the fields of muscle biology and exercise physiology to discover unique ways to preserve muscle health in the aging and those with diseases. Find out how the proteins within muscle can be manipulated to reduce recovery times for individuals who are bedridden. Learn how older, elite athletes have resisted the inevitable degeneration that comes with aging, and how intermittent fasting may help you live longer and healthier. Step inside the lab where a researcher is uncovering the origins of cancer cachexia a wasting syndrome responsible for 20 percent of cancer deaths worldwide to improve the lives of patients. The loss of skeletal muscle through disease, disuse, or aging is associated with a host of poor health outcomes, but promising new avenues of research are being studied every day at the University of Florida to make for a healthier tomorrow.

In Slavic studies, aging and old age have thus far been only marginal concerns. This volume brings together the scattered research that has been done up to now on aging as represented and narrated in Slavic literatures. The essays investigate Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Polish, Russian, Slovak, Slovene and Ukrainian representations of age/aging in various literary genres and epochs and analyze age as a powerful marker of difference and as constitutive of social relations and personal identity.

Recent research findings on the impact of nutrition on telomere length is unlocking the potential to combat premature aging at the cellular level. We have learned that while aging is a natural cellular process, premature aging is not and it can be positively impacted by an Evidence-Based Proactive Nutrition to Slow Cellular Aging diet plan. This book examines key elements of the biology of cell aging and focuses on enhancing mitochondrial function and preventing abnormal cell turnover thus preserving telomere length. It details the cellular damage caused by free radicals and ROS, explains the salutary effects of antioxidants, and the body's need for adequate nitrates and other nutrient substrates from which the body derives nitric oxide (NO) to support cardiovascular health. This book is the first to feature a simple do-it-yourself test of the effects of the diet on the availability of NO for - heart health. The book guides the reader through the rationale for a modified Mediterranean style diet that supplies the body with an adequate daily intake of essential nutrients, simple high antioxidants, and other functional foods. It includes simple, easy to prepare appealing recipes promoting a seamless transition to a healthy, age-defying lifestyle.

A closer look at your patient's family situation can help you develop a more effective treatment plan Family Behavioral Issues in Health and Illness is a basic but thorough introduction to the impact family dynamics can have on a person's health. Ideal as a supplemental training text for healthcare professionals, this unique book examines the connections between family and health, presenting a concise summary of family systems theory, basic family assessment, and the family life cycle. The book provides an understanding of how the patterns and systems found in a diverse range of family styles can create special health issues, and how the ability to assess and anticipate those issues can ensure the most comprehensive patient care and cost-effective management of time and resources. As long as families continue to be the primary environment where patients learn and develop their beliefs and overall attitudes about life, it remains essential that any primary healthcare model includes a strong background in family dynamics and the critical, pivotal points of family life. Family Behavioral Issues in Health and Illness addresses the most important aspects of family to consider when providing care, presenting practical, real-life case studies that examine the resilience, strengths, and possibilities of families, as well as the problems and dysfunctions. The book looks at how significant events, such as marriage, divorce, birth, and death affect families, and how a knowledge of special family issues, including parenting, abuse, disability, and chronic illness prepares the healthcare professional to provide effective care for traditional, single-parent, multiracial, blended, adoptive, and same-gender families. Family Behavioral Issues in Health and Illness examines: boundaries, roles, and rules triangulation subsystems scapegoating parentification healthy families the family genogram spiritual crises of family members infertility families without children intergenerational families the family in later life coping with alcoholism, dementia, bereavement, and/or mental illness and much more Family Behavioral Issues in Health and Illness is an essential reference for healthcare professionals, educators, parents, and family members. The book provides a practical understanding of family relationships that helps healthcare providers guide patients toward a more complete well-being.

When confronted with a neurological or psychiatric disorder in an elderly individual, a clinician or researcher is likely to ask how the processes of ageing have influenced the aetiology and presentation of the disorder, and will impact on its efficient management. There are many urban myths about ageing, and some of these apply to the brain. The reviews included in this book are an attempt to flush out some of these myths, and arm the clinician and general researcher with the empirical facts that can be mustered to substantiate claims about ageing. There are many salient questions: is cognitive change to be expected in an elderly individual? Is this change progressive, relentless and unselective, or is it focal and constrained? Would every person who lived long enough develop Alzheimer s disease? Do our neurones die as we get old? What happens to the size of the brain and its metabolic activity? How do our hormones change with age? Can anti-oxidants slow or even stop the process of ageing? Are genes important in the ageing brain or is it all in the environment? How much of what we are is due to what we eat? The contributors to this book, each an expert in their field, have addressed some of these questions in a language simple enough for a general reader to understand.

The book also deals with some of the most prominent brain disorders of old age - Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, vascular dementia, and depression. The focus is on the impact of ageing on these disorders. The discussions lay out a broad map for the clinician dealing with neuropsychiatric disorders, and the future researcher of brain ageing. In a field in which the developments are too numerous for any one individual to keep pace with, this book presents up-to-date summaries that can be a useful starting point. The field of brain ageing abounds in tabloid science. This book counters this by providing a strong empirical grounding and considered synthesis of the research."

A window on the insular world of autism, this book offers a rare close look at the mysterious condition that afflicts approximately 350,000 Americans and affects millions more. As they make sense of the many features of autism at every level of intellectual functioning across the life span, Marian Sigman and Lisa Capps weave together clinical vignettes, research findings, methodological considerations, and historical accounts. The result is a compelling, comprehensive view of the disorder, as true to human experience as it is to scientific observation. Children with Autism is unique in that it views autism through the lens of developmental psychopathology, a discipline grounded in the belief that studies of normal and abnormal development can inform and enhance one another. Sigman and Capps conduct readers through the course of development from infancy to adulthood, outlining the differences between normal and autistic individuals at each stage and highlighting the links between growth in cognitive, social, and emotional domains. In particular, Sigman and Capps suggest that deficits in social understanding emerge in the early infancy of autistic children, and they explore how these deficits organize the development of autistic individuals through the course of their lives. They also examine the effects certain characteristics can have on an autistic person's adjustment over time. Their book concludes with an overview of existing interventions and promising avenues for further research.

Dyslexia and Development presents the latest findings of neurobiological research, which suggest a link between seemingly minor brain abnormalities and epilepsy, learning disorders, and autism. The authors focus on the plasticity of the developing nervous system and the possible role of subtle early brain injury in the emergence of these disorders, particularly dyslexia. The distinguished contributors to this volume examine epidemiological and clinical issues that may make the developing brain more vulnerable to environmental and genetic influences, which can in turn lead to abnormal brain plasticity and behavior. Although major forms of brain malformation have been clearly associated with functional deficits, mild forms have historically been ignored or trivialized; this book supports the hypothesis that several types of such malformation reflect brain injury during critical stages of development, and also the premise that more and more disturbances of thought and behavior stem from abnormalities of brain organization. Neurologists and neurobiologists, psychologists, psycholinguists, psychiatrists, and special educators will find here a guide to more enlightened understanding and more effective treatment of dyslexia. In fact, the book emphasizes the positive aspect of the neurobiological deviation that dyslexic brains seem to show, along with the observation that people with such brains are often quite creative and extraordinary, rather than handicapped. In turn, the revised consideration of dyslexia should lead to more serious attention to other disturbances of childhood behavior as problems in developmental neurology, as well as to a deeper analysis of possible neurological bases for individual differences in normal behavior and personality.

Adolescents embody the best hopes of American society. Their vital role in shaping our future lends particular significance to their success in negotiating the passage from childhood to adulthood, while their intensity and visibility often make them barometers of social change. It is all the more remarkable, then, that this critical period has only recently captured the full attention of researchers.

"At the Threshold" presents the long-awaited findings of the Carnegie Foundation study on adolescence. It offers a comprehensive overview of what investigators are learning about normal development and provides an interdisciplinary synthesis of research into the biological, social, and psychological changes occurring during this key stage in the life span. While focusing on the contexts of adolescent life - social and ethnic, family and school, leisure and work-it also addresses how researchers are doing in the effort to understand the intersection of processes that initiate and sustain adolescent development and to characterize the extraordinary changes that occur during these years.

Contrary to popular belief, large numbers of young people continue to mature into productive members of society. "At the Threshold" seeks to allow professionals and nonprofessionals alike important access to the reality of normal adolescent experience. The authors recognize that only if we begin to understand and clearly articulate the parameters of successful adolescent development can we hope to intervene with those individuals whose lives seem aimed toward unsatisfactory futures.