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Social Ties Delay
Memory Loss
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Some elderly men in a park in Tehran.
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Staying connected with family and friends may delay memory decline among the elderly, new research confirms.
“Our results suggest that increasing social integration may be an important component of efforts to protect older Americans from memory decline,“ Dr. Lisa F. Berkman from the Department of Society, Human Development, and Health at Harvard School of Public Health, Boston and colleagues conclude in a report in the American Journal of Public Health, Reuters reported.
They looked at the impact of social integration on changes in memory over 6 years in 16,638 Americans aged 50 and older enrolled in the Health and Retirement Study. Memory was gauged by immediate and delayed recall of a 10-word list, and social integration was assessed by marital status, volunteer activity, frequency of contact with children, parents, and neighbors.
The average memory score declined from 11.0 in 1998 to 10.0 in 2004, the investigators found.
Changing Patterns
People with high social integration and low social integration had similar memory scores in 1998 but that changed over the subsequent 6 years. People who were highly socially integrated in 1998 suffered slower rates of memory decline over time than their less social peers. Memory among the least socially integrated declined at twice the rate as among the most socially integrated.
“Being in the highest level of social integration ameliorated more than half of the age-related decline in memory,“ Berkman and colleagues state.
These findings are consistent with several prior studies, all of which found that being socially engaged was associated with a lower rate of cognitive decline and a lower risk of dementia, the team notes.
Meanwhile according to Reuters Health, an older person’s likelihood of entering a nursing home or other long-term care facility is particularly high immediately after the death of a spouse, new research indicates.
There could be various reasons for this, Elina Nihtila, of the department of sociology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, who led the research.
Loss of Social Support
“It may be related to the loss of social and instrumental support, in the form of care and help with daily activities such as help in cooking, cleaning, and shopping formerly shared with the deceased spouse,“ Nihtila said.
“Second, grief and spousal loss may cause various symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, loss of appetite, sleep disturbances, fatigue and loss of concentration that could increase the need for institutional care.“ She added. “Furthermore, grief may cause increased susceptibility to physical diseases.“
The research team analyzed how the death of a spouse affects the likelihood of entering institutionalized care among nearly 141,000 Finnish adults aged 65 and older. All of them were living with a spouse at the beginning of the study and were followed for five years. Results showed that the risk of entering long-term institutional care was higher among older adults who had lost their spouse than among those living with their spouse.
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Tobacco Industry in Firing Line
Tobacco companies are targeting the half billion young people in the Asia Pacific region by linking smoking to glamorous and attractive lifestyles, the UN World Health Organization said.
In a statement marking World No Tobacco Day on Saturday, WHO said the tobacco industry is taking advantage of young people’s vulnerability to advertising and influence, AP reported.
“The bombardment of messages through billboards, newspapers, magazines, radio and television ads, as well as sports and fashion sponsorships and other ploys, are meant to deceive young people into trying their first stick,“ Shigeru Omi, WHO regional director for the Western Pacific, said in the statement.
Widespread tobacco advertising makes smoking appear normal and makes it hard for young people to understand that it can kill, the statement said.
WHO called on policy-makers to support a total ban on tobacco advertising, sponsorship and promotion as stipulated in the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, a global tobacco control agreement. It said research has shown that only total bans can be successful because partial bans allow companies to shift their resources to other promotional methods.
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1m Warned
Chinese authorities evacuated nearly 200,000 people by early Saturday and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam.
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Indonesian Businessman to Shower Money
An Indonesian businessman will throw 100 million rupiah ($10,740) from an airplane on Sunday as part of a marketing ploy for his second book, organizers said.
Tung Desem Waringin, author and motivational speaker whose first book was a bestseller, is known for his unorthodox marketing methods, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the organizers, Diki Sidik, said Jakarta police had refused to issue a permit for the event but Tung would go ahead with the plan outside the capital.
“Rather than spend a lot of money for unsuccessful marketing, better give the money to the people,“ Sidik said.
Millions of Indonesians live on less than 2 dollars a day and the event comes at a time when the poor are still smarting from rising food and fuel prices.
In 2005 Tung rode a horse along Jakarta’s main streets, dressed as one of the country’s most celebrated war heroes, to launch his first book.
Food Crisis Could Set Back Children’s Health
The global rise in food prices threatens to reverse gains made in children’s health in Africa, where mortality rates have been falling even in the poorest countries, UNICEF warned.
“Africa has a large proportion of children who are undernourished, which could be exacerbated by the global increase in food prices,“ UNICEF chief Ann Veneman told reporters at an African development summit in Yokohama, Japan, AFP reported.
The food crisis has “increased the risk of malnutrition and has the potential of reversing important health gains,“ she said.
UNICEF, or the United Nations Children’s Fund, released a report saying that four of the world’s poorest nations--Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi and Mozambique--saw mortality rates for children under five fall by 40 percent or more since 1990.
Deaths from measles in sub-Saharan Africa fell 91 percent in 2000-2006 while access to antiretroviral treatment for HIV-positive mothers and children increased and at lower costs, the study said.
“The report shows that rapid reduction in child mortality is possible through sound strategies, adequate resources, political commitment and broad collaboration,“ Veneman said.
US Soldier Suicides Up
Army soldiers committed suicide in 2007 at the highest rate on record, and the toll is climbing ever higher this year as long war deployments stretch on.
At least 115 soldiers killed themselves last year, up from 102 the previous year, the Army said, AP reported.
Some common factors among those who took their own lives were trouble with relationships, work problems and legal and financial difficulties, officials said.
The 115 confirmed suicides among active-duty soldiers and National Guard and Reserve troops who had been activated amounted to a rate of 18.8 per 100,000 troops -- the highest since the Army began keeping records in 1980.
The rate of suicide continues to rise despite a host of efforts the Army has made to improve the mental health of a force under unprecedented stress from the longer-than-expected war in Iraq and the long and repeated tours of duty it has prompted.
Japanese Woman Caught Living in Closet
A homeless woman who sneaked into a man’s house and lived undetected in his closet for a year was arrested in Japan after he became suspicious when food mysteriously began disappearing.
Police found the 58-year-old woman Thursday hiding in the top compartment of the man’s closet and arrested her for trespassing, police spokesman Hiroki Itakura from southern Kasuya town said, the Guardian reported.
The resident of the home installed security cameras that transmitted images to his mobile phone after becoming puzzled by food disappearing from his kitchen over the past several months.
One of the cameras captured someone moving inside his home Thursday after he had left, and he called police believing it was a burglar. However, when they arrived they found the door locked and all windows closed. “We searched the house ... checking everywhere someone could possibly hide,“ Itakura said. “When we slid open the shelf closet, there she was, nervously curled up on her side.“
The woman told police she had no place to live and first sneaked into the man’s house about a year ago when he left it unlocked. She had moved a mattress into the small closet space and even took showers, Itakura said, calling the woman “neat and clean.“
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