The European Congress on Anti-Aging & Aesthetic Medicine (ECAAAM) is proud to welcome the support of the University of Mainz for its 2nd annual event (15th - 17th October, Mainz, Mainz Congress Centre). ECAAAM is a cutting edge congress that provides medical professionals, scientists and industry personnel with the training and education they need to treat age-related dysfunctions, disorders and diseases.

The support from the University demonstrates that ECAAAM is a valuable event in the European medical calendar, and illustrates the importance of this medical speciality to treat the effects of aging via non invasive and safe invasive techniques.

The University of Mainz Medical Center and the Faculty of Medicine of The Johannes Gutenberg University warmly welcomes the speakers, participants and experts in the field that convene in Mainz for ECAAAM. As the world’s population is progressively aging, anti-aging medicine is an area of increasing medical need. Aesthetic medicine is one of the fastest growing areas of medicine and accommodates substantial demand by the public in the developed world. Being highly innovative, a large body of new research results and subsequent therapeutic procedures is published every year. Professor Dr Grabbe, Director, Dermatological Clinic of the University Hospital commented “This conference will contribute to the exchange of ideas, new research results, innovative therapeutic procedures and medical information on this exciting field”.

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Congress is turning its’ attention to long-term care insurance producing information about how such insurance may help consumers make informed decisions for their long-term care needs.

U.S. News & World Report reports on LTCI, which “is not health insurance but protection against progressive deterioration that renders people incapable of caring for themselves physically or mentally.” The magazine notes that “the cost of dealing with these conditions can be staggering, depleting life savings and forcing people into poverty” and describes this type of insurance as “an expensive and complicated product… sold by a shrinking number of financially challenged insurers and subject to differing state rules that aren’t always effectively enforced.”

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Possessing a greater purpose in life is associated with lower mortality rates among older adults according to a new study by researchers at Rush University Medical Center.

Patricia A. Boyle, PhD, and her colleagues from the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center, studied 1,238 community-dwelling elderly participants from two ongoing research studies, the Rush Memory and Aging Project and the Minority Aging Research Study. None had dementia. Data from baseline evaluations of purpose in life and up to five years of follow-up were used to test the hypothesis that greater purpose in life is associated with a reduced risk of mortality among community-dwelling older persons.

Purpose in life reflects the tendency to derive meaning from life’s experiences and be focused and intentional, according to Boyle.

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In today’s image-obsessed society where millions of photos are uploaded daily through digital networks such as Facebook and Flickr, how much of an impact can a common skin condition like acne have on the life of teens? Based on first impressions, teens with acne are perceived to have different personality and social traits than if they had clear skin, according to results of a new online perception survey sponsored by the American Acne & Rosacea Society (AARS), and co-authored by Dr. Eva Ritvo, psychiatrist and co-author of The Beauty Prescription.(1) The survey asked thousands of teens and adults to offer their impressions of a group of teens based solely on photos of their faces - with clear skin or digitally enhanced to simulate acne. The results, which are being released to mark the first-ever National Acne Awareness Month, also expose the significant lengths that teens with acne would go to if it meant they could get rid of their acne forever.(1a)

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Researchers at The Wistar Institute have defined a key target of an evolutionarily conserved protein that regulates the process of aging. The study, published June 11 in Nature, provides fundamental knowledge about key mechanisms of aging that could point toward new anti-aging strategies and cancer therapies.

Scientists have long known that a class of proteins called sirtuins promotes fitness and longevity in most organisms ranging from single-celled yeast to mammals. At the cellular level, sirtuins protect genome integrity, enhance resistance to adverse stresses, and antagonize senescence. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms have remained poorly understood. The team, led by senior author Shelley Berger, Ph.D., Hilary Koprowski Professor at The Wistar Institute, demonstrated for the first time a molecular target for a member of this class, Sir2, in regulation of aging in yeast cells. Sir2 removes an acetyl group attached to a specific site (lysine at position 16 or K16) on histone H4 histones are proteins that package and organize the long strands of DNA within the nucleus and also are central regulators in turning genes on and off. The study reveals that removal of this acetyl group by Sir2 near the chromosome ends the telomeres is important for yeast cells to maintain the ability to replicate. Researchers found that Sir2 levels decline as cells age, and there is a concomitant accumulation of the acetylation mark along with disrupted histone organization at telomeres.

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