The amount of liver polyploidy in a group of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) was compared with that of an age-matched control group. There was great variability in the percentage of cells in each ploidy class from one individual to the next in both control and AD subjects. AD patients had a lower percentage of 2N cells, and a higher percentage of 4N cells than the controls. There was no difference in the percentage of 8N or 16N cells in AD, indicating that there was no shift to higher ploidy classes in AD. The most stringent statistical analysis failed to reveal statistically significant differences between the AD and control groups.

In this study, the system of care for 4907 irreversible dementia (ID) sufferers in Metropolitan Toronto and the Region of Peel was investigated. Mail survey data were compiled from senior administrative personnel (data include observation ratings by clinical and direct service staff) within 41 long-term care facilities, 15 acute care hospitals, and 30 community services. Consistent with the results of other descriptive studies, the findings reveal that: 1) long-term care facilities had the highest average proportion of ID sufferers; 2) the majority of ID sufferers were 75 years and older and predominantly female; and 3) ID sufferers on community service caseloads were less impaired than those in long-term care facilities. The study findings also indicate that the following factors may be important in assessing the care and management of ID sufferers within long-term care facilities and acute care hospitals: type of facility, admission criteria, arrangements for accommodation, number and nature of special programs, extent of inservice training, levels of staffing, and number and nature of family support services. In addition to these variables, the location and size of the catchment area and eligibility criteria may be important factors in similar community service assessments. The findings pertaining to the frequently used inpatient and community resources, additional resources required, and unmet needs of ID sufferers and family are discussed with respect to health care and senior support service planning and implementation within the outlined regions.

To study the effects of occupational activity on age-related changes in fitness, 36 full time dairy farmers, aged 50–68years, were studied. Stature, weight, four skinfold thicknesses and hand grip strength were measured. Maximal oxygen consumption was estimated from the CAFT, a submaximal bench stepping test. Twenty-one of the subjects had been tested two years earlier as well. Approached cross-sectionally, the farmers show greater fat-free mass, higher grip strength values, and higher O2 max values than age-matched reference groups (STF and Nutrition Canada). Changes over two years in the sample subset include a marked decline in grip strength, anda decline in O2 which is consistent with that seen in other longitudinal studies. Hence, while initial fitness may be higher in this occupationally active group, the decline in function with age is comparable in magnitude to that seen in less active men.

With an increasing number of persons entering old age and having longer life expectancies, there has been a consequent alteration of family dynamics, such that middle aged individuals frequently provide support to their older parents. At the same time, the middle aged person is often in the midst of raising his or her own children, attending to personal aspirations, and enacting the role of spouse.

This study investigated support from middle aged offspring to elderly parents in a rural Mennonite community. Information on the expectation for and consequences of support to parents was gathered from pastors and middle aged family members in two Mennonite conferences, as well as from a Lutheran sample with a similar historical background.

Pastoral interviews showed no differences in doctrinal beliefs regarding familial care of parents, although the institutional church responses varied. Middle aged offspring in the Lutheran congregation reported less involvement in religious practice than did members of either Mennonite congregation. Burden of caring for elderly parents felt by middle aged people showed no statistically significant differences between congregations; however, greater reported religiosity was associated with lesser burden.

What characterizes senior citizens clubs is the fact that they are independently run: this raises the question of leadership within these groupings. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to determine the relationship between two styles of leadership in club presidents and the mother tongue, the number of hours/week spent on the club's business, the size of the board and club membership. Over 160 presidents completed the “Leader Behavior Description Questionnaire”. A canonical analysis revealed that styles of leadership are related to maternal language, size of board and club membership, and hours/week spent on club's business.

This study investigated the use by 450 recently retired men and women, of four financial strategies which might enhance financial resources. These strategies were change in expenditures, change in home production, change in assets, or post-retirement employment. Expenditure reduction was the most frequently used of these strategies. As with other research, subjective assessment of economic adequacy was more influential than actual income in affecting expenditure behaviours. The other strategies appeared to be less related to economic factors. Post-retirement employment was most influenced by work saliency. Education, used as a proxy for knowledge and skills, was found to positively correlate with changes in expenditure, home production, and assets. Perhaps the retired consider themselves powerless to improve their economic condition or do not perceive these as useful financial strategies.

An assumed fixed maximum life span was involved in a much publicized prediction of a compression of morbidity in late life. The maximum life span has major weaknesses as a measure. The “usual life span“, or age to which 1.0% of a birth cohort survives, is suggested as a more useful measure.

Statistics were derived from recent United States and Canadian censuses on the age above which 1.0% of the population is contained, from recent United States and Canadian mortality data on the age above which 1.0% of the deaths were reported, and from recent Canadian life tables on the age to which 1.0% of a cohort would survive. These statistics suggest that the usual life span increased at least 2 years in the 1960–1980 period in North America.

This case study is an analysis of a mandated municipal senior's group. Earlier work has suggested that variability in effectiveness is related to organizational structures, external forces and the level of institutional change sought.

In this study information was obtained on the political, economic and social context within which the group operated; its organizational composition and structure; its objectives and strategies employed to achieve these; and resources available to the group. Outcome was assessed in terms of impact on programs, resource allocation, policy statements, changes in the definition of issues, and influence on decision makers. Data collection methods included non-participant observation; taped interviews with group members and leaders; key informants in the community; and content analysis of written committee documents.

This paper substantiates many limits to the general thesis which Louise Dulude has popularized under the title: “Old Age: a Women's World”. Using old age sex ratio as an indicator, the author shows that Canada's senior population has been mostly male until recently and still keeps that majority in rural areas and agricultural milieus; one country out of six in the world today and half of 18 main ethnic groups in Ontario in 1971 were mostly male at that age.

It is concluded that one sex prevailing on the other in old age is influenced by many factors: biology, history, migrations, ethnicity, milieu (rural urban) and types of activities.

This paper reports the findings of a qualitative examination of sibling relationships in old age. Interviews with sixty people over the age of sixty-five revealed that interactions with sisters and brothers took on new meaning in late life. A shared history of lifetime experiences made the sibling relationship unique in social networks in old age. Those who had positive relationships with siblings found that interactions decreased feelings of loneliness, provided emotional support and validation of earlier life experiences, and built feelings of closeness and sibling solidarity. Even those who had negative sibling relationships indicated a shift in feelings. The intensity of feeling about siblings in old age suggests that further study of the later-life sibling bond might increase understanding of ways in which the social and emotional needs of older people can be met. Interviews provided an effective method for gathering rich data about these complex social and emotional interactions.