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PBRC NEWS |
Genes reveal how much we will benefit from regular exercise
Thursday, February 04, 2010
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Medical therapy delivered by primary care doctors is successful in severe obesity
Monday, January 25, 2010
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Can exercise keep a spring in our step longer?
Wednesday, November 04, 2009
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A decade later, lifestyle changes continue to lower type 2 diabetes risk
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
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Scientists launch statewide dementia research program
Public invited to “Meet the Experts”
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
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Experts grade children’s health;
Louisiana gets a “D” – again
Monday, September 14, 2009
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FEATURED STUDIES |
EAT:
A study determining how your body weight today impacts your health in the future.
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DAPA:
A study looking at the impact of an investigational medication on how your body uses sugar and insulin. |
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For more information, contact: Glen Duncan,
(225) 763-2599 or send an e-mail with
your questions or comments.
Can exercise keep a spring in our step longer?
11/4/2009
Researchers try to prevent walking disabilities in the elderly
BATON ROUGE - Researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center want to keep a spring in our step well into our senior years, and wonder if exercise can prevent disabilities that impair walking. The National Institute on Aging (NIA), part of the National Institutes of Health, today announced the award of $29.5 million to several institutions during the next two years to determine whether a specific physical activity program can stave off disability in older people and the Center will receive about $6 million of that grant.
The funding will begin the Lifestyle Interventions and Independence for Elders—LIFE— trial, the largest ever undertaken to prevent mobility disability among older people who are at risk of losing their ability to walk and to live independently in the community. The grant is being awarded to the University of Florida’s Institute on Aging in Gainesville, with whom the Center is a partner in this research.
“It is no longer about how long you live, but how long you will live well,” said Tim Church, M.D., Ph.D., the lead researcher at the Center, “This study will examine the role of exercise in preventing disability in older adults.”
At eight sites around the country, LIFE will involve 1,600 people aged 70 to 89, who at the start of the study meet its criteria for risk of walking disability, defined as the inability to walk a quarter of a mile or four blocks. About 200 participants will be enrolled at each of the study sites, which include the University of Florida; the University of Pittsburgh; Northwestern University School of Medicine in Chicago; Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif.; Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, La.; Yale University in New Haven, Conn.; Tufts University in Boston and Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, N.C. Wake Forest will also coordinate the data management and analysis.
Study participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group will follow a structured intervention consisting of walking at moderate intensity, stretching, balance and lower extremity strength training; the other will be a healthy aging education group. The participants will be followed for about three years. Researchers will evaluate whether, compared to health education, the physical activity intervention reduces the risk of major walking disability, serious fall injuries and disability in activities of daily living, and whether it improves cognitive function. They will also assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention.
According to the investigators, the LIFE trial will be the largest randomized, controlled trial to prevent major mobility disability ever conducted in older persons who are at high risk of losing their physical independence.
“We know that many older people have health conditions that affect their ability to walk such arthritis, muscle weakness and balance problems,” Church said, “In the LIFE study we will examine the effectiveness and feasibility of an exercise program in this population.”
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