Normal aging

There are no significant health hazards arising from exposure to poly(vinyl chloride) at ambient temperature (154—158). However, a British study has found a small decrease in breathing capacity for workers who smoked and were exposed to vinyl resin dust (159). This decrease was about one-seventh of that caused by normal aging and about equal to that expected with a one-pack-a-day cigarette smoker. 

Generation of Oxygen Radicals 4.5 Free Radicals and Normal Ageing 79... 

Older individuals have decreased host defense mechanisms such as slowed gastric emptying and decreased saliva production. They may present with atypical symptoms such as chest pain, asthma, hoarseness, coughing, wheezing, or poor dentition. These patients often do not seek medical attention because they believe their symptoms are part of the normal aging process. 

In general, normally aging erythrocytes and slightly damaged cells are sequestered in the spleen, whereas those heavily damaged or modified are removed from circulation by the liver [101]. This along with a short... 

Bitwise D. L. (2005). Sleep in normal aging and dementia. Sleep 16, 40-81. 

Almkvist O (2000). Functional brain imaging as a looking-glass into the degraded brain Reviewing evidence from Alzheimer disease in relation to normal aging. Acta Psychologica, 105, 255-277. 

Mindus P, Cronholm B, Levander SE and Schalling D (1976). Piracetam-induced improvement of mental performance A controlled study on normally aging individuals. Acta Psychi-atrica Scandinavica, 54, 150-160. 

Figure 5.4 GALDI mass spectra of ursonic acid (7, m/z 477) fresh (a), photoaged with (b) and without (a) glass filter. Spectrum (b) depicts the normal ageing pattern (cf. Figure 5.3), but ageing without glass filter and therefore with much more UV light results in a mass shift of (M+2) in spectrum (c) relative to (b), which is explained by Norrish reactions...

Thus, it is possible that recurrent mood disorders, as in the case of bipolar disorder, may lower the threshold for cell death and/or atrophy in response to a variety of other physiological (e.g. normal aging) and pathological (e.g. ischemic) events, and thereby contribute to a variety of deleterious health-related effects. 

Sullivan, E. V. and Pfefferbaum, A. diffusion tensor imaging in normal aging and neuropsychiatric disorders. Eur. J. Radiol. 45 244-255, 2003. 

Pfefferbaum, A., Adalsteinsson, E., Spielman, D. et al. In vivo spectroscopic quantification of the N-acetyl moiety, creatine, and choline from large volumes of brain gray and white matter effects of normal aging. Magn. Reson. Med. 41 276-284,1999. 

Asymptomatic sinus bradyarrhythmias (heart rate less than 60 beats/min) are common especially in young, athletically active individuals. However, some patients have sinus node dysfunction (sick sinus syndrome) because of underlying organic heart disease and the normal aging process, which... 

O Flaherty, E.J., Modeling normal aging bone loss, with consideration of bone loss in osteoporosis, Toxicol. Sci., 55, 171, 2000. 

The production of both anabolic sex hormones and growth hormone decreases in aging and the result is muscle loss. Also the loss of neural motor cells gives rise to atrophy of the muscles. In the aging process an increased inflammatory activity can be seen and it causes degeneration of muscle tissue through insuline resistance and activation of protein breakdown enzymes. The increased inflammatory activity is due to both normal aging as well as the presence of multiple chronic diseases (Dutta 1997. 

Norris, W. P., Poole, C.M., Frye, R.J. and Kretz, N.D. (1968). A Study of Thermoregulatory Capabilities of Normal, Aged and Irradiated Beagles. Argonne National Laboratory, IL, pp. 166-169. 

Quigley s group in Cork, Ireland, have concluded that normal aging is associated with changes in motility but the pattern is varied and no clear clinical consequence can be identified (67). More important in their view are the pathophysiological influences, including depression (and treatment with anti-cholinergics and opiates), hypothyroidism, and chronic renal failure. 

Two neurodegenerative diseases will be considered in greater detail here, Alzheimer s disease and Parkinson s disease, due to the pertinence of herbal medications to their treatment. Also discussed in some detail are vascular dementia and normal aging. Other degenerative conditions may benefit from herbal medications, but have not received the amount of attention in research that the above conditions have. Of particular interest to many degenerative conditions are herbal medications with demonstrated antioxidant and neuroprotective effects. 

Joyce CA, Paller KA, Mclsaac HK, Kutas M. (1998). Memory changes with normal aging behavioral and electrophysiological measures. Psychophysiology. 35(6) 669-78. 

Stevens A, Kircher T. (1998). Cognitive decline unlike normal aging is associated with alterations of EEG temporo-spatial characteristics. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci. 248(5) 259-66. 

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