http://www.cdc.gov/swineflu/swineflu_you.htm

As you are all aware, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has reported recent outbreaks of the Swine Flu virus in California, and throughout the United States.

The California Department of Social Services is working with the California Department of Public Health regarding universal health precautions that you can take to prevent everyone in your facility or school from catching or spreading the virus. As partners with the Community Care Licensing Division in protecting clients in care, the following general swine flu information will assist you in ensuring that the risk to clients in licensed residential facilities is diminished. We encourage you to visit the website links provided for additional information. Read more >>

It was believed that seniors couldn't increase muscle mass or strength if they wanted to. Studies at Harvard and elsewhere have now firmly put that myth to rest.

In generations past, exercise was believed to be mostly for the younger set. It was even believed that seniors couldn't increase muscle mass or strength if they wanted to. Studies at Harvard and elsewhere have now firmly put that myth to rest.

Exercise for us 50+ folks is decidedly healthy. As people age, several changes occur that exercise can help slow or reverse. Metabolism slows, leading to increased fat accumulation. Artery passageways often narrow, leading to higher blood pressure and lowered flow. Bones become thinner and more porous, a condition known as osteoporosis. Muscles and skin lose tone. Read more >>

A study conducted by researchers at Duke University Medical Center recently found that exercise is safe for patients of heart failure and that it increased clinical benefits in patients who were already receiving adequate medical care.

The study followed 2,331 heart failure patients across the United States who were of the average age of 59. The patients were randomly assigned to either an exercise program that was detailed and “aimed at increasing workout intensity” or a program that encouraged patients to exercise, but offered no specific program. The study followed participants for approximately 2.5 years and found that the exercising participants had an 11 to 15 percent reduction in cardiovascular mortality and heart failure hospitalizations compared to those who were not given specifics on exercising. Read more >>

Researchers at the University of Michigan have managed to show that four genes that have previously come under scientific scrutiny as they are believed to help control cancer, also play key roles in the process of aging for humans and in human adult stem cell regulation.

Currently, the biological basis of ageing is not well-understood. There are many theories, each with some evidence supporting it, but no one universally accepted theory of why and how ageing occurs. Diseases which are a product of ageing can also contribute to it, and many of these can be treated with stem cells - for example, there is stem cell therapy for stroke, stem cell therapy for diabetes, and stem cell therapy for Parkinson 's disease.

While the role of stem cells in ageing is seen, but not understood, there also exist several other theories. The telemore theory, where telemores at the end of chromosomes shorten with each successive division and then prevent further multiplication, is one. The free radical theory is another popular one, which states that ageing is a result of the effects of free radicals damaging our cells. Read more >>