Harvard Medical School- Day One- Friday 11/5/10

Hello from Harvard, or as the locals say, Hahvahd. The program today included seven of the most prolific thinkers and contributors to aging and aging research. I am just bubbling over with new information on the latest aging research!

1. Sumer Verma, MD. A Clinical and Personal Perspective

The aging brain is not a defective brain and the picture is not grim. Cellular aging begins in utero. When a person with schizophrenia is autopsied, the DNA has too many cells and that happens in utero. The cells in the brain were unable to sculpt properly by not hooking up as they should have. He also spoke about healthcare in old age. Lifespan has not changed but life expectancy has. Society is not prepared for this increase. We have to confront it anyway. The most compelling contributor to the increase in lifespan is reduced infant mortality followed by antibiotics and cardiac surgery. The Five I's of late life care are Incompetence, Incontinence, Immobility, Instability, Iatrogenesis, and Invisibility. Longterm care requires a different mindset, as people do not get well. Healthcare in old age is moving from the hospital to the community. Longterm care model is the asylum model revisited.

2. Ted Schletter, MD, MPH- Environmental Threats to Health Aging

Early life experiences influence later-life health and disease risk. A NIH Review demonstrated a link to diet and Alzheimer's but please read the report, as there were no clinical trials and so has a low validity. Early life exposure to lead creates an apogenetic phenomenon with more prevalence of plaques and tangles. Pollution influences cognitive functioning. Mexico City has one of the highest rates of pollution. There, autopsied children have plaques and tangles as in Alzheimer's; those children with the APOE-E gene have more. The environment drives cognitive disease. The Western Disease Cluster is a group of habits that are common to the U.S. and contribute to cognitive decline. They include reduced physical activity, hypertension, inflammation [causing arterial stiffness], obesity/overweight, pre-diabetes, cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome. Contributors are refined carbs, white bread, saturated fats, trans fats, Omega 6 fatty acids, no fruit, no grains, no vegetables. There is a link to cumulative lead exposure and bisphenala A and chronic disease.

3. Janice L. Funk, PhD Why We Age: How Our Genes Influence The Aging Process

The passage of time does not cause aging. All animals are programmed to die; known as senescence. This is the programming of cellular collapse. Apoptosis is the sculpting force that molds the body and the brain; therefore, the cells carry the "recipe for death." This recipe is developed in utero.

4. Donald A. Davidoff, PhD- A Cognitive Perspective of Normal -vs- Successful Aging
The research from Depp & Jesse (2006) indicates the predictors of successful aging are not smoking, absence of disability, absence of arthritis, absence of diabetes, fewer medical conditions, greater physical activity, more social contacts, absence of cognitive impairment and depression, and better self-rated health. Cognitive slowing is normal. To age well, people must be physically active, mentally active, and have social networks. In a study of physiologic factors and neurogenesis, the mice who were "put to work" lived longer than the mice with lots of leisure time. The "couch potato" mice not working died sooner than those mice with a purpose. The physically active mice had increased neurogenesis!

That is enough for today. I am looking forward to tomorrow and sharing the highlights with my bloggers. AgeDoc.