Falls, often due to trips or slips, are a big worry, especially for older folks. When people feel unsteady, they might avoid certain activities, thinking they're too risky. But how do people judge how bad a stumble is? Does it matter if you're falling forward or backward? And does age change this judgment? A study looked at how young and older adults feel about losi...
The lumbosacral plexus is a crucial network of nerves that controls movement and sensation in the lower body. It can get damaged due to various reasons like injuries, diabetes, or infections. When this happens, people might feel constant pain, tingling, or even weakness. Doctors usually figure out what's wrong by talking to the patient, doing a physical check-up, an...
Dick Van Dyke, the beloved actor and comedian, is just weeks away from turning 100. As he approaches this milestone, he's been open about the challenges and joys of aging. In a recent essay, he shared that he's had to slow down, turning down gigs in Chicago and New York because travel has become too tough. He joked about his physical changes, saying he's now a "stoop...
Medical imaging has seen huge changes in the last 25 years. It's not just about looking inside the body. It's about understanding what's happening in there. This tech has changed how doctors work. In the past, doctors had to guess a lot. They used their hands and simple tools. Now, they can see inside without cutting. This is a big change. It means quicker answers a...
Aging is not just about wearing out like an old machine. It's more like a computer losing its software, not the hardware. Dr. David Sinclair, a Harvard geneticist, says that as we get older, the instructions that tell our cells what to do get mixed up. This is called the "information theory of aging. " It's like the cell's operating system getting corrupted, even tho...
Older adults and their caregivers often face tough choices when it comes to staying healthy. A recent study looked into how helpful different decision aids (DAs) can be for them. These aids are tools designed to make it easier to pick the best options for a healthy lifestyle. The study focused on seven specific DAs. Researchers wanted to see how well these tools wor...
The idea of feeling younger than your age is not just a dream. It's something that can be achieved through simple, everyday choices. The key is to focus on your biological age, which is a measure of how well your body is functioning, rather than just your chronological age, which is simply the number of years you've been alive. One of the most effective ways to slow...
Music isn't just for entertainment. It might also be a powerful tool for keeping your brain sharp as you age. A recent study from Australia found that older adults who listened to music regularly had a lower chance of developing dementia. This study followed over 10, 000 adults aged 70 and older for about ten years. It looked at different lifestyle factors that could...
Knee osteoarthritis (KOA) is a common issue that many people face as they age. It can be tough to spot in its early stages, but a new tech approach is changing the game. This method uses something called deep contrastive learning to look at X-ray images and find signs of KOA more accurately. The goal here is to create a system that can grade the severity of KOA usin...
Breast cancer's journey through the body is complex, and doctors are always looking for better ways to understand it. One key tool in this fight is ¹⁸F-FDG PET/CT scans. These scans are usually used to spot cancer that has spread far from the original tumor. But what if they could also reveal clues about how the cancer might spread locally? A recent study took a clo...