Climate gerontology

The global population is ageing at a time when climate variability is increasing. It is argued that if we are to minimize the negative impact of environmental change on older people, interdisciplinary study of the convergence of the two trends, “climate gerontology”, is needed. Climate gerontology can examine the unique challenges and needs of older people in coping with extreme weather events. It can contribute to our understanding of the everyday challenges of growing old in a changing climate and how we can achieve the “longevity dividend”. In particular, it can lead the way to the development of effective policies to reduce the carbon footprint of people during their life course, protect older people from climate-related threats and mobilize their wealth of knowledge and experience to address these. This article is published in English.     

Molecular gerontology

Evolutionary theory and empirical evidence from many lines of research suggest that ageing is a process of gradual accumulation of damage in cells and tissues of the body, leading eventually to frailty and increased risk from a spectrum of age-associated diseases. There are multiple kinds of damage that affect cells, ranging from mutations in DNA to oxidative attack on proteins by chemical by-products of normal cellular metabolism. In some ways the surprising thing is not that we age, but that we live as long as we do. The key to understanding longevity lies in the network of cell maintenance systems that cooperate to slow the accumulation of damage. Research has shown that long-lived species carry out cellular maintenance better than short-lived species, suggesting that enhancement of the body's natural maintenance systems may postpone aspects of ageing. Recognition that ageing results from accumulation of damage also points to a role for lifestyle interventions (e.g. nutrition and exercise) to help prevent damage or promote repair.     

Professionalizing gerontology: why AGHE must accredit gerontology programs

The aging of society requires more trained aging specialists. Are higher education institutions prepared? Results of a comparison of gerontology programs in 2000 and 2010 indicate that the number of programs has declined and that higher education is not prepared. To address this challenge, the authors propose that gerontology be professionalized. To do so will require the accreditation of gerontology programs, the credentialing of gerontology graduates, and the employment of professional gerontologists. The authors offer a model that describes these relationships. The authors make the case, using a symbolic interactionist approach, that the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education must accredit gerontology programs.     

Autogenic training in gerontology

Autogenic Training (AT) is the most common method of psychotherapy in use today. It is however rarely used with older people who are generally considered less responsive to this method. In this analysis we consider whether or not this scepticism is justified. Our control group consisted of 58 subjects who learnt AT in 7 one-and-a-half-hour sessions. The age of the subjects of two groups was between 18 and 54 years ("younger group") and that of the other two groups between 58 and 80 years ("older group"). 77% of all the subjects were able to get a sufficient grasp of AT over this period. There were no statistically significant differences between young and old in the level of success attained in the individual exercises. It can be proved that the more elderly are more strongly motivated to learn AT and to integrate it into their daily lives. The group situation also meets the greater need of the elderly for contact and mutual support. The results of this small random test should show the way ahead for future investigations necessary in this area.     

Social factors in gerontology

As an inter-branch research and working field of modern medicine, gerontology has to satisfy health-political requirements to a growing extent. Related to the specific subject of the investigation of aging and its biosocial character, this requires a view of human aging and being old that exceeds the limits of the medico-naturalscintific conceptions. Any analysis of phenomena of aging in later periods of life has to deal with the individual and his/her social environment-two interacting and dynamically changing parts of a global system. Associated therewith is the previously insufficiently solved problem of the clear determination of the "social", of the "social factors". Following already existing approaches, a possible systematization of the conglomerate of social factors is introduced and consequences concerning research and practice are pointed out.     

Proteomics in experimental gerontology

The first gerontological studies using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DGE) were frustrating since it was very difficult, when not impossible, to identify the proteins for which an age-related change in expression level was suspected. Reproducibility was also a main pitfall. Accumulated progress in 2DGE and especially the development of mass spectrometry of proteins and peptides gave accessibility to the routine identification of differentially expressed proteins. A new paradigm was born: proteomics. In addition to expression changes, post-translational modifications are included in proteomics, and will be more and more studied using mass spectrometry. After a review of the current developments of 2DGE and mass spectrometry, we shall discuss how the technologies currently available in proteomics could give fresh impetus to experimental gerontology, complementary to more recent approaches based on wide expression analysis tools such as DNA and protein arrays.