Effect of fish-oil supplementation on mental well-being in older subjects: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: It is suggested that a low intake of fish and/or n-3 PUFA is associated with depressed mood. However, results from epidemiologic studies are mixed, and randomized trials have mainly been performed in depressed patients, yielding conflicting results.

Objective: We investigated the effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) on mental well-being in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

No effect of one-year treatment with indomethacin on Alzheimer's disease progression: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: The objective of this study was to determine whether treatment with the nonselective nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) indomethacin slows cognitive decline in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Methodology/principal Findings: This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial was conducted between May 2000 and September 2005 in two hospitals in the Netherlands. 51 patients with mild to moderate AD were enrolled into the study.

Community occupational therapy for older patients with dementia and their care givers: cost effectiveness study.

Objective: To assess the cost effectiveness of community based occupational therapy compared with usual care in older patients with dementia and their care givers from a societal viewpoint.

Design: Cost effectiveness study alongside a single blind randomised controlled trial.

Setting: Memory clinic, day clinic of a geriatrics department, and participants' homes.

Effects of community occupational therapy on quality of life, mood, and health status in dementia patients and their caregivers: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Cure of dementia is not possible, but quality of life of patients and caregivers can be improved. Our aim is to investigate effects of community occupational therapy on dementia patients' and caregivers' quality of life, mood, and health status and caregivers' sense of control over life.

Methods: Community-dwelling patients aged 65 years or older, with mild-to-moderate dementia, and their informal caregivers (n = 135 couples of patients with their caregivers) were randomly assigned to 10 sessions of occupational therapy over 5 weeks or no intervention.

The association of betaine, homocysteine and related metabolites with cognitive function in Dutch elderly people.

The importance of the one-carbon metabolites, choline and homocysteine, to brain function is well known. However, the associations between the one-carbon metabolites choline, betaine, methionine and dimethylglycine with cognition in elderly are unclear. We therefore examined the associations of these metabolites with cognition in a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial.

Community based occupational therapy for patients with dementia and their care givers: randomised controlled trial.

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of community based occupational therapy on daily functioning of patients with dementia and the sense of competence of their care givers.

Design: Single blind randomised controlled trial. Assessors were blinded for treatment allocation.

Effect of oral vitamin B-12 with or without folic acid on cognitive function in older people with mild vitamin B-12 deficiency: a randomized, placebo-controlled trial.

Background: Vitamin B-12 deficiency is associated with cognitive impairment in older people. However, evidence from randomized trials of the effects of vitamin B-12 supplementation on cognitive function is limited and inconclusive.

Objective: The objective was to investigate whether daily supplementation with high doses of oral vitamin B-12 alone or in combination with folic acid has any beneficial effects on cognitive function in persons aged >/=70 y with mild vitamin B-12 deficiency.

Oral cyanocobalamin supplementation in older people with vitamin B12 deficiency: a dose-finding trial.

Background: Supplementation with high doses of oral cobalamin is as effective as cobalamin administered by intramuscular injection to correct plasma markers of vitamin B(12) deficiency, but the effects of lower oral doses of cobalamin on such markers are uncertain.

Methods: We conducted a randomized, parallel-group, double-blind, dose-finding trial to determine the lowest oral dose of cyanocobalamin required to normalize biochemical markers of vitamin B(12) deficiency in older people with mild vitamin B(12) deficiency, defined as a serum vitamin B(12) level of 100 to 300 pmol/L (135-406 pg/mL) and a methylmalonic acid level of 0.26 mumol/L or greater.

Effectiveness of nutritional supplements on cognitive functioning in elderly persons: a systematic review.

Background: The effectiveness of nutritional supplementation in improving cognitive functioning is evaluated in elderly people.

Methods: The authors systematically reviewed randomized controlled trials that compared nutritional supplementation with a placebo treatment. Trials were identified from a MEDLINE search and from reference lists of identified studies and review articles.

Recruitment and coaching of healthy elderly subjects for invasive cardiovascular research with right-sided catheterisation.

Background And Aims: Heart failure is primarily a disorder of the elderly. To investigate a non-invasive method to diagnose heart failure in the elderly, right-sided catheterisation was needed in healthy elderly subjects. We studied the feasibility of recruitment of healthy elderly subjects for this invasive investigation and aimed to identify the factors important for recruitment and for successful participation.

Cerebral oxygenation responses to standing in elderly patients with predominantly diastolic dysfunction.

Patients with left ventricular dysfunction may have different orthostatic responses of blood pressure (BP) and cerebral oxygenation than healthy elderly subjects. We investigated orthostatic changes in systemic haemodynamic variables and cerebral oxygenation in 21 elderly patients with heart failure New York Heart Association class I-III in stable condition (age 70-83 years) after withdrawal of furosemide and captopril for 2 weeks, and in 18 healthy elderly subjects (age 70-84 years). Frontal cortical concentration changes of oxyhaemoglobin ([O2Hb]) and deoxyhaemoglobin ([HHb]) were continuously measured by near-infrared spectrophotometry and BP changes by Finapres before and during 10 min of standing.

Neurohormonal effects of furosemide withdrawal in elderly heart failure patients with normal systolic function.

Background: In heart failure patients, diuretics cause renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAS) activation, which may lead to increased morbidity and mortality despite short-term symptomatic improvement.

Aim: To determine changes in RAS activation and clinical correlates following furosemide withdrawal in elderly heart failure patients without left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Methods And Results: We performed clinical assessments and laboratory determinations of aldosterone, plasma renin activity (PRA), atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), norepinephrine, and endothelin in 29 heart failure patients [aged 75.

Cobalamin-binding proteins in normal and cobalamin-deficient older subjects.

Background: The causes of cobalamin (vitamin B(12)) deficiency in older people are only partly understood. We investigated the role of the cobalamin-binding proteins and tested the hypothesis that low saturated transcobalamin concentration is an early marker of cobalamin deficiency.

Methods: We measured saturated (holo) and unsaturated (apo) transcobalamin and haptocorrin concentrations in healthy middle-aged volunteers, healthy older volunteers, cobalamin-deficient older volunteers and cobalamin-deficient older patients.

Effects of furosemide versus captopril on postprandial and orthostatic blood pressure and on cerebral oxygenation in patients > or = 70 years of age with heart failure.

Elderly patients with heart failure are at risk of postprandial hypotension (PPH), orthostatic hypotension (OH), and concomitant cerebral oxygenation changes because of altered cardiovascular balance and the use of cardiovascular medications, such as furosemide and captopril. In 24 patients with heart failure (New York Heart Association class II to III, in stable condition, and receiving cardiovascular medication [aged 70 to 83 years]), blood pressure (BP) was measured by Finapres, and cortical concentrations of oxyhemoglobin and deoxyhemoglobin were measured using near-infrared spectroscopy during standing and after a 292-kcal carbohydrate meal. Tests were performed before and during therapy with furosemide 40 mg once daily (n = 11) or captopril 6.

Evaluation of skills and knowledge on orthostatic blood pressure measurements in elderly patients.

Objectives: orthostatic hypotension is a common and potentially dangerous condition in elderly patients, often accompanied by dizziness and falls. To diagnose orthostatic hypotension, many physicians rely on blood pressure measurements performed by nurses.

Design: observational and descriptive study.

Simultaneous measurements of cerebral oxygenation changes during brain activation by near-infrared spectroscopy and functional magnetic resonance imaging in healthy young and elderly subjects.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) both allow non-invasive monitoring of cerebral cortical oxygenation responses to various stimuli. To compare these methods in elderly subjects and to determine the effect of age on cortical oxygenation responses, we determined motor-task-related changes in deoxyhemoglobin concentration ([HHb]) over the left motor cortex in six healthy young subjects (age 35 +/- 9 years, mean +/- SD) and five healthy elderly subjects (age 73 +/- 3 years) by NIRS and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) fMRI simultaneously. The motor-task consisted of seven cycles of 20-sec periods of contralateral finger-tapping at a rate as fast as possible alternated with 40-sec periods of rest.