Elderly care is a topic that is never far from the headlines, but while hot topics such as budget cuts, neglect and lack of staff training in the health care sector are debated in the news pages, quietly capturing the imagination on the science pages are some interesting articles related to ageing and the latest scientific research.
A few clicks on the Guardian’s science web pages revealed a report on eastern relaxation techniques and how they may protect chromosomes from regenerating, collagen drinks that “promise” to fight the ageing process and, back in December 2010, Kazakhstan’s president was urging scientists to search for the elixir of life.
Whether you know it as the elixir of life or the key to eternal youth, it’s something that often has a place in the fantasy world, portrayed in blockbuster movies on the big screen. Just ask your grandchildren about Harry Potter or Starlight! An element of fantasy hasn’t stopped elderly care patients wishing there was a time when they weren’t confronted with the conditions and physical signs associated with ageing.
Cataracts, wasting muscle tissue and wrinkles are all key signs of ageing our patients would rather do without and, while it’s unlikely scientific research will wave a magic wand over these things anytime soon, an interesting study conducted in America does suggest some progress has been made in delaying and even halting these conditions.
The study focuses on “senescent” or ageing cells, which slow down and fail to regenerate as we age. These “retired cells” create our body’s equivalent of a scrap heap. The problem is that, when we get to an age at which we are considering elderly care, our bodies become very inefficient at disposing of them and replacing them. The researchers simulated the ageing process in mice and treated the animals with a drug they had devised. Reports published on the BBC website showed that the key signs of ageing were “dramatically delayed” after the animals had received the drug treatment.
Could this research one day lead to slowing down the ageing process in humans? The scientists behind the study admit that you can’t “flush out” ageing cells in the same way in humans, but one of the researchers, Dr van Deursen, remains positive about the potential this research has to revolutionise the elderly care industry. He said to the BBC, “I’m very optimistic that this could really have an impact. If you can prime the immune system, boost it a little bit, to make sure senescent cells are removed, that might be all it needs.”
Sceptics have greeted the results of this study with caution, and in the BBC article the General Medical Council reminds people that this was merely a “preliminary study”.
While the idea of killing off old cells to improve the physical traits of ageing is a fascinating one, eternal youth still remains a product of fantasy movies. So, while we welcome progress such as this in the medical field, as we are offering help, support and comfort to our elderly care patients, we might just encourage them to keep skateboards off their Christmas lists this year!