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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Scientists in Germany have discovered a gene that links the gum disease periodontitis and increased risk of coronorary heart disease (CHD) and although they don’t yet fully understand the underlying mechanism of the link, they urged dentists to make sure they diagnose and treat cases of periodontitis as early as possible to mimimize the risk of heart disease.

The discovery, was the work of Dr Arne Schaefer, of the Institute for Clinical Molecular Biology at the University of Kiel, and colleagues. Schaefer presented their findings to the annual conference of the European Society of Human Genetics in Vienna on Monday 25 May.

CHD is the leading cause of human deaths worldwide, and periodontitis, a type of gum disease that results in loss of connective tissue and the bone that supports the teeth, is the major cause of tooth loss in adults over 40 years old.

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The advantages of volunteering reported by adults aged 55 and older are largely dependent upon the characteristics of the activities in which they participate, according to a recent article appearing in The Gerontologist (Vol. 49, No. 1). The lead author is Nancy Morrow-Howell, PhD, of Washington University in St. Louis.

She and her colleagues document the benefits of volunteering as identified by older adults - a departure from many previous studies, which have focused on the benefits observed by researchers. They also compare reported benefits with information about the volunteer program, such as volunteer training, support, and stipends.

“These findings suggest that characteristics of volunteer programs can be strengthened to maximize the benefits of volunteering to older adults,” the authors state.

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The majority of parents and adult children experience some tension and aggravation with one another, a new study says.

But parents generally are more bothered by the tensions - and the older the child, the greater the bother.

“The parent-child relationship is one of the longest lasting social ties human beings establish,” said Kira Birditt, lead author of the study and a researcher at the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research (ISR). “This tie is often highly positive and supportive but it also commonly includes feelings of irritation, tension and ambivalence.”

The study will be featured in an upcoming issue of the journal Psychology and Aging.

For the study, supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health, Birditt and colleagues at Purdue and Pennsylvania State universities analyzed data on 474 parents and adult children who were at least 22 years old. The adult children lived within 50 miles of their parents. African Americans made up one-third of the sample and the rest were European Americans.

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“A growing body of sex-specific studies shows a trend among men, especially white middle-class men, of delaying seeking help when they become ill,” writes June K. Robinson, M.D., of Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, and editor of Archives of Dermatology, and colleagues in an accompanying editorial. “By delaying seeking care, men present at a later stage of melanoma when it is no longer treatable.”

“The tasks associated with seeking help from physicians, such as relying on others, admitting a need for help or appearing vulnerable, may be in conflict with some individuals’ societal and normative beliefs that men are self-reliant, physically tough, invincible and in control of their destiny. For example, some men may be thought of as the ’strong, silent type’; thus, they are reluctant to make a fuss over a little mole or to admit their fear that something could be wrong, even to themselves.”

“This latter issue leads to the question of how physicians can interact with their patients in a manner that overcomes some of these interpersonal and psychological barriers to improve treatment outcomes,” the authors write. Building strong, trusting physician-patient relationships, using appropriate patient education materials, asking patients about their concerns and demonstrating empathy may improve the care of all patients with melanoma.

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