Newsbriefs: Aging; Prostate Radiation; Addictive Cravings

Negative Attitudes Toward Aging Affect Both Physical and Cognitive Functions

A long-term study of 4,135 adults age 50+ from the Irish Longitudinal Study on Aging (TILDA) suggests that negative perceptions about getting older may change both physical and mental health later in life. The reverse, a positive attitude, improves the experience of aging, according to the study. Researchers at Trinity College Dublin examined data collected from cognitive and frailty tests based on interviews and assessments by nurses. They reported that older adults with negative attitudes towards aging had slower walking speed and worse cognitive abilities two years later, compared to older adults with more positive attitudes towards aging. This was true even after participants’ medications, mood, their life circumstances and other health changes that had occurred over the same two-year period were accounted for. Furthermore, negative attitudes towards aging seemed to affect how different health conditions interacted. Frail older adults are at risk of multiple health problems, including worse cognition. In the TILDA sample, frail participants with negative attitudes towards aging had worse cognition compared to participants who were not frail. However, frail participants with positive attitudes towards aging had the same level of cognitive ability as their non-frail peers.

Functional Anatomy Approach for Prostate Radiation Spares Critical Structures

In a recent paper published in Lancet Oncology, researchers reported on the capacity of vessel-sparing radiotherapy to preserve sexual function in 90 percent of patients with prostate cancer at a five-year follow-up while also maintaining excellent cure rates. Researchers looked at how MRI, and a clear understanding of functional anatomy (and its variations from patient to patient), can allow radiation oncologists to plan a course of treatment that spares critical structures. “In the past cure came at a steep price in lost quality of life, but with modern refinements it is increasingly possible to meet the new standard of successful prostate cancer treatment,” says Patrick W. McLaughlin, MD, lead author and professor of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School. The benefit of the functional anatomy approach goes beyond improving sexual function as it has improved urinary and rectal function as well. MRI was deemed a critical tool for accurately outlining the prostate anatomy and planning radiation therapy. “If you define the functional structures and limit dose to them, you can achieve cure and excellent quality of life,” says co-author Daniel E. Spratt, MD, chief of the genitourinary radiation oncology program at the University of Michigan. MRI may also confirm if a cancer is non-aggressive, making surveillance rather than treatment a viable option.

Exercise Increases Reward Centers in Brain and May Reduce Addictive Cravings

In a small UCLA study, researchers found that exercise combined with psychotherapy helped people addicted to methamphetamine to regain dopamine (pleasure/reward) receptors in their brain. Methamphetamine, a highly addictive drug, causes the brain to overproduce dopamine (a neurotransmitter), which creates intense euphoria. With continued abuse, the drug damages dopamine receptors. More of the drug is needed to feel pleasure, further damaging receptors. With treatment, the receptors can recover but it can take a long time. The study, published in Neuropsychopharmacology, randomized two groups of people. Positron emission tomography, or PET scans, showed that there was no significant difference in dopamine receptors at the beginning of the study. After eight weeks, a second PET showed that those who exercised on a treadmill three times a week for an hour and also added some resistance training had a 15 percent increase in the number of dopamine receptors compared to the nonexercisers, who showed an increase of only four percent. According to lead author Edythe London, professor of psychiatry in the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, understanding the molecular mechanisms by which exercise affects dopamine signaling in people who are trying to overcome addictions could lead to new clinical approaches to improve treatment not only for people with addictions but also for people with neuropsychiatric disorders. Funding for the study came from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

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