Elevated heels and adaptation to new shoes in frail elderly women.

Footwear is supposed to have influence on postural control and is a potential aspect to address in the prevention of falls in the elderly. This study aimed to show whether measurements of static balance and gait are different with habitual shoes compared to new special senior shoes with different heel height and whether these results change after adaptation. In a randomized controlled intervention study, 26 subjects (median age 87 years) were recruited from two nursing homes and one facility of assisted living.

[Epidemiology of accidental falls in the elderly].

Introduction: There is a lack of epidemiological data on falls and fall-related injuries for the aged population in Germany. The purpose of the article is to present the available data focusing on the incidence of the fracture types that carry the highest risk for mortality, hospitalization and persisting disabilities.

Methods: The paper reports on a 10% representative sample that was drawn by the Federal Bureau of Statistics.

[Disabilities and handicaps due to hip fractures in the elderly].

Objective: to examine mortality, mobility, pain, institutionalization rates six month after hip fractures.

Design: observational study, non-selected consecutive patients, time-set protocol.

Setting: urban area (population n = 116,5000), five hospitals.

[Accidental falls and fall-related injuries in the elderly. Diagnosis and intervention].

Falls in the elderly should be seen as treatable symptoms of impending or already present loss of mobility and therefore often loss of independence. The most important European and American epidemiological data are presented, and the diagnostic strategies and appropriate interventions discussed. The latter represent the most effective measures for minimizing functional impairment in the elderly that are currently available.

Secreted ADP plays a central role in thrombin-induced phospholipase D activation in human platelets.

Thrombin and other agonists that induce secretion and aggregation in human platelets also activate phospholipase D (PLD), but the signaling cascade leading to activation of PLD in human platelets is not yet clear. We have determined that apyrase, which scavenges ADP secreted during platelet activation, is able to block or reduce the PLD activation stimulated by low (0.1 U/ml or less) or high (0.

Platelet phospholipase D is activated by protein kinase C via an integrin alpha IIb beta 3-independent mechanism.

Blood platelets contain phospholipase D (PLD) that is rapidly activated following platelet stimulation. It is currently unclear, however, where PLD fits into the signalling cascade that leads to aggregation and secretion. Therefore we investigated the mechanism of activation of PLD in human platelets, using the formation of the PLD-specific product phosphatidylethanol as a measure of PLD activity.

Inhibition of phospholipase D of human platelets by protein tyrosine kinase inhibitors.

Protein tyrosine kinases (PTKs) of the src family are thought to play an important role in platelet signal transduction, but little is known about the targets of these enzymes in platelets. We determined that exposure of human platelets to pervanadate, an inhibitor of protein tyrosine phosphatases, caused an increase in the activity of phospholipase D (PLD), an enzyme that might be involved in signaling events leading to aggregation or secretion. To further investigate whether tyrosine phosphorylation is a step in the pathway of activation of PLD in response to thrombin, we tested the effects of a series of PTK inhibitors on the activity of platelet PLD.