Andrea B. Maier

Grey Power 2.0: A matter of balance

The fascinating power of older adults. During 4 lectures in November 2015 prominent topics will be discussed: sex, robots, death. Next to the psychosocial stability being discussed during the evenings, the physical stability will be tested.

Impaired standing balance is highly prevalent in elderly people, leading to increased risk of falling. These falls can result in fractures and mortality, and therefore have a major socio-economic impact… Show more

Grey Power 2.0: A matter of balance

The fascinating power of older adults. During 4 lectures in November 2015 prominent topics will be discussed: sex, robots, death. Next to the psychosocial stability being discussed during the evenings, the physical stability will be tested.

Impaired standing balance is highly prevalent in elderly people, leading to increased risk of falling. These falls can result in fractures and mortality, and therefore have a major socio-economic impact. Maintaining balance requires a concerted action of the sensory, nervous and motor systems, whereby cause and effect mutually affect each other within a closed loop.

In clinical practice, the underlying mechanisms are hard to disentangle. A variety of balance measures are available including clinical and instrumented balance assessment. Their interrelation is yet unknown as well as validity with respect to experienced balance impairments and falls, which will be tested in 'A matter of balance'.
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Life expectancy is increasing dramatically, but the period of good health (healthspan) enjoyed by most is not keeping pace, with implications for health, social care, and pensions resulting in estimated costs more than doubling by 2050. Thus, understanding the many factors that contribute to healthy ageing versus frailty, and validating interventions and influencing policy to promote healthy ageing is a cross-cutting research priority in Europe. Given the considerable impact of lifestyle… Show more

Life expectancy is increasing dramatically, but the period of good health (healthspan) enjoyed by most is not keeping pace, with implications for health, social care, and pensions resulting in estimated costs more than doubling by 2050. Thus, understanding the many factors that contribute to healthy ageing versus frailty, and validating interventions and influencing policy to promote healthy ageing is a cross-cutting research priority in Europe. Given the considerable impact of lifestyle factors on healthy ageing and disease, there is a surprising lack of innovative multi-disciplinary training and research examining the influence of physical activity and nutrition on age-related changes at gene to societal level. PANINI will address this gap by coordinating research laboratories across Europe to focus on cutting-edge ageing and health research through training 11 ESRs across scientific disciplines to create a holistic approach to the challenge of ageing in the 21st
Century. PANINI is a European Training Network with 8 world-leading beneficiaries working on Healthy Ageing and 10 non-academic partners carefully selected for quality and range of sectors. These vary in size including 1 large nutrition company, 5 SMEs, 2 charities, 1 healthcare partnership and 1 EU Joint Research Centre. PANINI’s vision is to implement multidisciplinary cross-sectoral research and training of a new cohort of researchers taking a radically innovative approach to
overcome the challenge of unhealthy ageing. The main goals of PANINI are to: integrate expertise from basic biomedical science and technology to applied clinical practice; standardise measurements across the network to create a toolkit and shared dataset; provide multidisciplinary training secondments to expose ESRs to healthcare and industry research settings and other laboratories; disseminate widely the shared and individual project findings; and use these to develop a policy document to promote healthy ageing in Europe.

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Lifestyle, disease and biology put older people at risk of functional decline, leading to falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, and negative consequences for quality of life. PreventIT will develop and test an ICT based mHealth System (iPAS) for the consumer market that 1) enables early identification of risk of age-related functional decline, and 2) engenders behavioural change in younger older adults in order to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. We will use an integrated system of a… Show more

Lifestyle, disease and biology put older people at risk of functional decline, leading to falls, cognitive impairment, frailty, and negative consequences for quality of life. PreventIT will develop and test an ICT based mHealth System (iPAS) for the consumer market that 1) enables early identification of risk of age-related functional decline, and 2) engenders behavioural change in younger older adults in order to adopt a healthy, active lifestyle. We will use an integrated system of a smartphone/watch as frontend technology and a protected cloud-based solution for handling of personal data as backend technology. We will develop online instruments for risk-screening, complexity metrics, motivation for behavioural change, and a method for personalise exercise by phenotype, based on currently available big data sets. The ICT based intervention we develop is unique, delivered on a smartphone/watch with exercise integrated in daily life and a behaviour change programme. We will evaluate the role of technology and behavioural change theories in risk prevention by performing a
multinational feasibility RCT to compare with the same intervention without use of technology and with practice as usual. Usability and feasibility will be in focus, and ageing people will be included in all phases of the project. At the end of the project all assessment and intervention components will be integrated into a personalised self-administered activity system, designed to empower ageing people to control their own health and function. A microsimulation health economics model will
be developed to predict effects of our risk prevention intervention on carers and the health care system. PreventIT will be performed by a strong interdisciplinary team with previous impact in the field of ageing and ICT, and commercial partners who are strong on technology development and exploitation are included to increase the chances for iPAS to become a first choice mHealth system for the ageing generation. Show less

EMPOWER is a observational, longitudional, multidisciplinary study of patients admitted to the hospital to understand the detrimental effects of inactivity during hospital stay.

Sarcopenia, low muscle mass, is one of the undesirable factors leading to physical disability, poor quality of life, loss of independence, and death in older persons. We aim to understand the interrelations between muscle related parameters (muscle mass, muscle strength, physical performance), energy expenditure (actual physical activity and basal metabolic rate), and nutritional status (energy and protein intake vs. needs) in geriatric outpatients and healthy aged matched controls.

Ageing is one of the most challenging issues of our society. Next generation researchers should be guided to tap into the potential offered by the demographic change and the accompanying economic and social developments in the future. Understanding of ageing mechanisms is of utmost importance and should tightly be connected to the clinical needs. Next generation researchers in the field of ageing should be equipped with state of the art knowledge about the biology of ageing, insights into the… Show more

Ageing is one of the most challenging issues of our society. Next generation researchers should be guided to tap into the potential offered by the demographic change and the accompanying economic and social developments in the future. Understanding of ageing mechanisms is of utmost importance and should tightly be connected to the clinical needs. Next generation researchers in the field of ageing should be equipped with state of the art knowledge about the biology of ageing, insights into the clinical ageing phenotype and leadership expertise. By bringing together experts of these fields, Europe invests in the next generation leaders in biology of ageing, building the base to extend healthy lifespan.

http://bioageing.unibo.it/ Show less

Toxicity of the treatment leading to discontinuation of therapy with an inferior outcome as a consequence remains a concern in elderly patients with MM. This study aims to assess the feasibility of a dose-adjusted MPV scheme in patients ≥75 years of age and to assess the value of
geriatric assessments to predict both feasibility and efficacy. Writing Committee.

After the age of thirty a gradual decline in skeletal muscle mass appears to play a significnat pathological rol in the onset of a variety of disorders associated with aging. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth exrpessed in skeletal muscle. Administration of myosatin antagonists has been reported to improve metabolic parameters and body composition.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center study of the safety and efficacy of 3-month subcutaneous REGN1033… Show more

After the age of thirty a gradual decline in skeletal muscle mass appears to play a significnat pathological rol in the onset of a variety of disorders associated with aging. Myostatin is a negative regulator of muscle growth exrpessed in skeletal muscle. Administration of myosatin antagonists has been reported to improve metabolic parameters and body composition.
A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, multi-center study of the safety and efficacy of 3-month subcutaneous REGN1033 Treatment in patients with sarcopenia. National Coordinator. Show less

Kenmerkt de ouderdom zich door gebreken of komt de wijsheid met de jaren? We blijven graag jong van lijf en leden. Mentaal is dat beeld minder eenduidig. We willen een goed werkend brein, maar verlangen niet terug naar de onzekerheid van de pubertijd. Prettig oud worden is dus niet zomaar hetzelfde als jong blijven.
In Grey Power, een serie debatten en optredens, bespreken artsen, wetenschappers en andere deskundigen wat een goede oude dag… Show more

Kenmerkt de ouderdom zich door gebreken of komt de wijsheid met de jaren? We blijven graag jong van lijf en leden. Mentaal is dat beeld minder eenduidig. We willen een goed werkend brein, maar verlangen niet terug naar de onzekerheid van de pubertijd. Prettig oud worden is dus niet zomaar hetzelfde als jong blijven.
In Grey Power, een serie debatten en optredens, bespreken artsen, wetenschappers en andere deskundigen wat een goede oude dag is.

http://www.vumc.nl/afdelingen/greypower/

Programma:
Woensdag 5 november - De eeuwige jeugd!
Dinsdag 11 november - Jong blijven, doe je zelf!
Dinsdag 25 november - Oud worden is aangeboren!
Dinsdag 2 december - De ouderdom prijzen!

Toegang is gratis. Alle debatten vinden plaats in de Amstelzaal van VUmc. Vanaf 17.00 uur voorontvangst met maaltijd. Aanvang debat 18.00 uur. Show less

De Westhof is een voormalige scheepswerf in Zoeterwoude. De Westhof werd in februari 2012 door ons verworven en wordt volledig gerenoveerd en verbouwd tot woonhuis, gastenverblijf en (academische) werkplaats bedoeld om interactie van jong en oud te stimuleren.
http://www.dewesthof.nl/