Herpesvirus Antibodies Are Correlated With Greater Expression of p16 in the T Cells of Humans.

Background: There is an increasing awareness that aging of the immune system, or immunosenescence, is a key biological process underlying many of the hallmark diseases of aging and age-related decline broadly. While immunosenescence can be in part due to normal age-related changes in the immune system, emerging evidence posits that viral infections may be biological stressors of the immune system that accelerate the pace of immunosenescence.

Methods: We used a convenience sample of 42 individuals aged 65 years and older to examine correlations between antiviral immunoglobulin G (IgG) levels for 4 human herpesviruses (cytomegalovirus [CMV], herpes simplex virus [types 1 and 2], and Epstein-Barr virus) and multiple indicators of T-cell immunosenescence.

Wrist-worn voice recorders capture the circumstances and context of losses of balance among community-dwelling older adults.

Background: Most falls among community-dwelling older adults are due to a loss of balance (LOB) after tripping or slipping. Unfortunately, limited insight is available on the detailed circumstances and context of these LOBs. Moreover, commonly used methods to collect this information is susceptible to limitations of memory recall.

Engaging diverse populations in aging research during the COVID-19 pandemic: Lessons learned from four National Institutes of Health funded-Centers.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on our personal and professional lives required a rapid adaptation to the evolving health crisis and accumulating social stresses. Established measures to reduce the spread of infection and potential death had a direct effect on ongoing research that involved older adults and underrepresented racial/ethnic groups. Although important to preserve public health, these measures risk further isolation of vulnerable research participant populations and threatened established community partnerships.

Behaviours of older adults and caregivers preparing for elective surgery: a virtually conducted mixed-methods research protocol to improve surgical outcomes.

Introduction: Older adults (age ≥65 years) are pursuing increasingly complex, elective surgeries; and, are at higher risk for intraoperative and postoperative complications. Patients and their caregivers frequently struggle with the postoperative recovery process at home, which may contribute to complications. We aim to identify opportunities to intervene during the preoperative period to improve postoperative outcomes by understanding the preparatory behaviours of older adults and their caregivers before a complex, elective surgery.

Automated Loss-of-Balance Event Identification in Older Adults at Risk of Falls during Real-World Walking Using Wearable Inertial Measurement Units.

Loss-of-balance (LOB) events, such as trips and slips, are frequent among community-dwelling older adults and are an indicator of increased fall risk. In a preliminary study, eight community-dwelling older adults with a history of falls were asked to perform everyday tasks in the real world while donning a set of three inertial measurement sensors (IMUs) and report LOB events via a voice-recording device. Over 290 h of real-world kinematic data were collected and used to build and evaluate classification models to detect the occurrence of LOB events.