Ertapenem is a new once-a-day parenteral carbapenem antimicrobial agent. The pharmacokinetics of unbound and total concentrations of ertapenem in plasma were investigated in elderly subjects and compared with historical data from young adults. In a single- and multiple-dose study, healthy elderly males and females (n = 14) 65 years old or older were given a 1-g intravenous (i.v.) dose once dail...

BACKGROUND The skeletal muscle echo intensity (EI) during ultrasound imaging has been investigated to evaluate the muscle quality. However, EI fluctuates according to the scanning conditions. METHODS The motor functions and ultrasound images of 19 elderly (73 ± 3.2 years) and 19 young (22 ± 1.5 years) individuals were investigated and an EI frequency component was assessed for more reliable e...

BACKGROUND The nature of cognitive performance in subjects with Parkinson disease (PD) without dementia is controversial, perhaps because of failure to exclude subjects with unrecognized very mild dementia. OBJECTIVE To compare cognitive and motor functioning in well-characterized subjects with PD without overt dementia with healthy elderly control subjects. DESIGN Subjects' conditions were...

Increased postural sway in the elderly has been viewed as a degradation of the postural control system that may be related to an increased risk of falls in the elderly [1]. This study demonstrated the degradation of postural control with aging by quantifying the changes seen in the temporal structure as well as the magnitude of movement of the center of pressure during quiet stance. The analysi...

Test scores from a comprehensive neuropsychological battery administered to 1602 subjects consisting of 1347 subjects with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD), 100 subjects with questionable dementia (QD) and 155 non-demented elderly control subjects were cross-sectionally analyzed. Subjects with probable AD were categorized as mild (n = 244), moderate (n = 480), severe (n = 376), and very severe...

BACKGROUND The synthesis of albumin after oral ingestion of nutrients provides a means of storing amino acids, which can be made available during periods of fasting. OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to see whether the response of albumin synthesis to the oral intake of nutrients is compromised in elderly subjects. DESIGN Albumin synthesis was determined from the incorporation of 43 mg l-...

Small intestine mucosa is often affected with malabsorptive, autoimmune and inflammatory pathological processes. However, morphometric data on the healthy human small intestine mucosa, especially ileum, are scarce. We aimed to obtain histoquantitative data on the healthy jejunal and ileal mucosa and assess the effects of gender and ageing on these parameters. Computer-aided morphometric analysi...

We recently demonstrated that muscle protein synthesis was stimulated to a similar extent in young and elderly subjects during a 3-h amino acid infusion. We sought to determine if a more practical bolus oral ingestion would also produce a similar response in young (34 +/- 4 yr) and elderly (67 +/- 2 yr) individuals. Arteriovenous blood samples and muscle biopsies were obtained during a primed (...