Ovary Removal Surgery Elevates Risk for Dementia - Mayo Clinic :
"Mayo Clinic researchers have found that ovariectomy, surgical removal of a woman's ovaries, raises her risk of developing dementia or cognitive impairment. Risk is especially increased if a woman has her ovaries removed at a young age....."

VIDEO: "Baby Boomers Stay Active, and So Do Their Doctors" - New York Times [Free registration]
"For America's baby boomers, a generation weaned on Jack LaLanne, shaped by Jane Fonda videos and sculpted in the modern-day gym, too much of a good thing has consequences.

Encouraged by doctors to continue to exercise three to five times a week for their health, a legion of running, swimming and biking boomers are flouting the conventional limits of the middle-aged body's abilities, and filling the nation's operating rooms and orthopedists' offices in the process.They need knee and hip replacements, surgery for cartilage and ligament damage, and treatment for tendinitis, arthritis, bursitis and stress fractures. The phenomenon even has a name in medical circles: boomeritis. 'Boomers are the first generation that grew up exercising, and the first that expects, indeed demands, that they be able to exercise into their 70's,' said Dr. Nicholas A. DiNubile, a Philadelphia-area orthopedic surgeon, who coined and trademarked the term boomeritis. 'But evolution doesn't work that quick...."

Study shows how painkillers raise heart risk

Eye ailment tied to cognitive decline
: " Worsening of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a degenerative eye disorder that is the leading cause of blindness in the elderly, appears to be associated with some cognitive impairment, according to a report by the Age-Related Eye Disease Study Research Group (AREDS).Several small studies have identified a link between AMD and cognitive impairment, Dr. Traci E. Clemons, at the EMMES Corporation in Rockville, Maryland, and the AREDS group members comment in their paper, published in the Archives of Ophthalmology for April. Their goal was to investigate this association within a large sample of patients, many of whom had advanced AMD....."

Blunted heart rate rise during exercise a bad sign : "In healthy middle-aged men, a blunted increase in heart rate while exercising at 40 percent to 100 percent of maximal workload is a strong predictor of early heart disease and death, Finnish heart doctors report.
'The magnitude of the association was comparable with that of other major cardiovascular risk factors,' warn Dr. Kai P. Savonen from Kuopio Research Institute of Exercise Medicine and colleagues in the European Heart Journal...." [Reuters]

Acetaminophen, Aspirin Plus Caffeine Superior to Ibuprofen for Migraine
: "A head-to-head clinical trial has found that a combination of acetaminophen, aspirin and caffeine (AAC) is more effective than ibuprofen for treating acute migraine.
The combination, which is sold over-the-counter as Excedrin Migraine, relieved pain more effectively and more quickly than ibuprofen, Dr. Jerome Goldstein of the San Francisco Headache Clinic and colleagues report in the March issue of Headache. Both drugs were more effective than place"

Estrogen therapy may up blood clots: "Estrogen therapy may increase the risk of blood clots in the veins of post-menopausal U.S. women who have had their uterus removed...."

- Heart valves not diseased by wear and tear
"Heart valve disease is not caused by wear and tear, but by an inflammatory process likely triggered by high cholesterol, found a U.S. study.

Principal investigator Dr. Nalini Rajamannan, head of the Center for Heart Valve Disease in the Bluhm Cardiovascular Institute of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, found the cholesterol stimulates certain cells to reprogram into bone cells in the aortic valve and cartilage cells in the mitral valve.

"Common wisdom in the medical community has always been that thickening of the mitral valves was part of the aging process as deposits of calcium, a mineral found in the blood, built up on the valves. Therefore, research has never focused on preventing the problem," said Rajamannan.

"Currently the only option is to surgically repair or replace the damaged valves. Our findings open the door to the idea that medical therapies such as statins may be able to play a role in preventing or slowing the process and curtailing the need for surgery....."

Early obesity raises risk of hip replacement later:
"Young adults who are overweight or obese may be particularly likely to need a hip replacement later in life, a large study suggests.Using national data on 1.2 million adults....Men and women who were heavy before the age of 25 were especially at risk.The findings underscore the importance of heading off excessive weight gain in childhood and adolescence, conclude the researchers...."

Girl's heart restarted after donor organ removed: "A British girl is thought to have become the first heart transplant patient in the UK and possibly the world to have had her donor organ removed and her own heart re-started, a London hospital said on Thursday."

Q&A: How to Age Gracefully and Smartly
In her new book, Harvard professor Dr. Muriel Gillick urges readers to stop denying the aging process and focus instead on making the most of it

Dean Ornish: Why Health Care Is All About the Benjamins
: "The world's most deadly diseases, and the most expensive to treat, are almost completely preventable just by changing diet and lifestyle. So why don't more insurers cover preventive measures?"

Estrogen ups blood clot risk for some women
: "Estrogen therapy is associated with an elevated risk of developing a blood clot in a vein (venous thrombosis) in postmenopausal women who have undergone hysterectomy, according to a new report."

Blood Pressure Medication May Benefit Older Brains
For each year an individual took medication to lower blood pressure, the risk of dementia decreased by about 3%, found Rita Peila, Ph.D., an epidemiologist at the National Institute on Aging here and a scientist at the Pacific Health Research Institute in Honolulu.

Previous studies on this topic have yielded conflicting results, she and colleagues noted online in Stroke, Journal of the American Heart Association. Therefore, the study may be welcome news for physicians concerned that lowering blood pressure in patients 80 and older with anti-hypertensives could impair cognitive functioning, they added.

"Hypertension treatment in the very old -- those ages 80 and older -- protects against stroke, heart disease and heart failure, and now we see that there is no harm -- and perhaps a benefit -- on cognitive function," Dr. Peila and colleagues said.:
Action Points: "Advise patients 80 or older that this study suggests treating hypertension reduces the risk for dementia and slows cognitive decline..."