Impact of daily strawberry consumption on blood pressure and arterial stiffness in pre- and stage 1-hypertensive postmenopausal women: a randomized controlled trial.

Growing evidence indicates that strawberries are cardioprotective. We conducted an eight-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel arm clinical trial to investigate the effects of daily consumption of freeze-dried strawberry powder (FDSP) on blood pressure (BP) and arterial stiffness in pre- and stage 1-hypertensive postmenopausal women. Sixty postmenopausal women were randomly assigned to one of three groups: (1) control, (2) 25 g FDSP and (3) 50 g FDSP (n = 20 per group).

Fourth-Year Medical Student Charting of Older Persons' Cognitive and Functional Status.

Background And Objectives: Functional and cognitive impairment correlates with medical outcomes in older persons, yet documentation in the medical record is often inadequate. The purpose of this pilot study was to evaluate fourth year (M4) medical students' charting performance of cognition and functional status in older persons during non-geriatric clerkships using an audit tool.

Methods: The research assistants used a chart abstracting tool to retrospectively review patients' charts.

Biocompatibility and microstructural analysis of osteopromotive property of allogenic demineralized dentin matrix.

Purpose: Bone grafting materials and methods have been used to compensate anatomical limitations and improve ridge and sinus structure for implant placement. The objective of this study was to evaluate the osteopromotive property of allogenic demineralized dentin matrix (DDM) as a bone grafting material using micro-computed tomography and blood biomarkers.

Materials And Methods: Two surgical bone defects were created on the skull of 30 female New Zealand White rabbits.

Daily apple versus dried plum: impact on cardiovascular disease risk factors in postmenopausal women.

Background: Evidence suggests that consumption of apple or its bioactive components modulate lipid metabolism and reduce the production of proinflammatory molecules. However, there is a paucity of such research in human beings.

Objective: Women experience a lower rate of cardiovascular disease before menopause compared with men.

Comparative effects of dried plum and dried apple on bone in postmenopausal women.

Aside from existing drug therapies, certain lifestyle and nutritional factors are known to reduce the risk of osteoporosis. Among the nutritional factors, dried plum or prunes (Prunus domestica L.) is the most effective fruit in both preventing and reversing bone loss.

Aerobic exercise and whole-body vibration in offsetting bone loss in older adults.

Osteoporosis and its associated fractures are common complications of aging and most strategies to prevent and/or treat bone loss focused on antiresorptive medications. However, aerobic exercise (AEX) and/or whole-body vibration (WBV) might have beneficial effect on bone mass and provide an alternative approach to increase or maintain bone mineral density (BMD) and reduce the risk of fractures. The purpose of this paper was to investigate the potential benefits of AEX and WBV on BMD in older population and discuss the possible mechanisms of action.

Strength and influence of geriatrics departments in academic health centers.

The United States is establishing new medical schools and increasing class size by 30% in response to the predicted increased needs of the baby boom generation, which will retire soon and live longer than prior generations. Society in general and the medical profession in particular are ill equipped to care for the special needs of the elderly. Since the early 1980s, departments of geriatric medicine have been developed in the United States.

Commentary: Aging America: meeting the needs of older Americans and the crisis in geriatrics.

The aging of the United States population will offer unprecedented challenges and opportunities for the health care system at large, and particularly medical education. In this issue of Academic Medicine, three articles provide opportunities for medical educators and others to ponder anew how we can address this so-called "age wave" as the baby boomers become senior boomers. Leipzig and colleagues describe their process for identifying 26 recommended geriatrics competencies for medical students, Reuben and colleagues examine the results of the first cohort of Reynolds Foundation geriatrics education grants, and Bernard and colleagues discuss the benefits of committing to developing departments of geriatrics at academic health centers.

Assistive technologies in the home.

Assistive technologies are critical to elders maintaining independence in the home. Adequate assessment of the patient's needs, the appropriateness of the device to that need, and the patient's motivation to use of a device is required for successful outcomes. A team approach is needed to ensure that devices are correctly prescribed, and the patient is taught how to use it effectively.

Guidelines abstracted from the Department of Veterans Affairs/Department of Defense clinical practice guideline for the management of stroke rehabilitation.

Objectives: To assist facilities in identifying those evidence-based processes of poststroke care that enhance measurable patient outcomes. The guideline(s) should be used by facilities (hospitals, subacute-care units and providers of long-term care) to implement a structured approach to improve rehabilitative practices and by clinicians to determine best interventions to achieve improved patient outcomes.

Options: The guideline considers five elements of poststroke rehabilitation care: interdisciplinary teams; use of standardized assessments; intensity, timing, and duration of therapy; involvement of patients' families and caregivers in decision-making; and educational interventions for patients, families, and caregivers.

Use of the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment program in Oregon nursing facilities: beyond resuscitation status.

Objectives: Program was designed to communicate resident/surrogate treatment preferences in the form of medical orders. To assess statewide nursing facility use of the Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) and to identify the patterns of orders documented on residents' POLST forms.

Design: Telephone survey; on-site POLST form review.

Outcomes of pain in frail older adults with dementia.

Objectives: To describe the outcomes of pain in cognitively impaired older adults in a Program of All-inclusive Care for older people (PACE) setting and to determine whether pain and psychotropic drug use, behavioral disturbances, hospital, nursing facility, and emergency department use, or mortality increases with the level of pain reported.

Design: Retrospective review of an observational cohort of patients with dementia.

Setting: A first-generation PACE program located in Portland, Oregon.