Research has shown that many factors affect cognitive functioning. In this study cognitive functioning was analyzed using proxy reports concerning 17,135 decedents included in the 1993 National Followback Mortality Study conducted for the National Center for Health Statistics. These responses form a representative sample of all U.S. residents over age 15 who died in 1993 (except for those in South Dakota, which did not participate). Decedents had more difficulty understanding where they were than remembering what year it was or in recognizing family members. Logistic regression models found that age, gender, and race were the most important predictors of these basic cognitive functions. Although increasing age was associated with more cognitive difficulties, men had fewer deficits than women and Black Americans tended to have fewer deficits than White Americans. Possible reasons for these findings are discussed as well as some general implications for health service provision.

Black or African American↗

PubMedDate not supplied

[Changes and diseases of mouth mucosa in the aged].

Natural changes in oral mucosa are influenced by disturbances of metabolism and many local injuries with the result of various appearances in the surface of the oral cavity in the elderly. There are less acute inflammations but more diseases with chronic inflammation and more degenerative and tumorous alterations. A special problem comes from psychosomatic diseases with their difficulties in diagnoses and therapeutic management.

Aged↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Effect of hyposensitization for tree pollinosis on associated apple allergy.

Twenty patients suffering from birch pollen allergy received two or three courses of immunotherapy in successive years. In 9 patients, the fruit allergy improved; 4 patients reported no improvement. In 3 patients, the fruit allergy developed after beginning the immunotherapy. At the end of the 3 years, 16 of these patients were allergic to fruit, 13 of them to apple. After each preseasonal course of immunotherapy with tree pollen extract, a temporal and parallel increase in the titers of IgE antibodies to birch pollen allergens and apple allergens were observed. In contrast, only the titers of birch pollen allergen specific IgG and IgG4 increased, whereas apple allergen specific IgG and IgG4 did not, or only very slightly. In Western blot studies, IgG4 antibodies bound to more components of apple extract than birch pollen extract. On the average, IgG4 antibodies recognize more components of apple and birch pollen extracts than do IgE antibodies. In histamine release studies, the sensitivity of washed leukocytes to birch pollen extract decreased significantly during the observation time. However, the difference between apple extract-induced histamine release before and after immunotherapy was not significant. None of the immunological parameters investigated here correlate well with severity or prognosis of the fruit (apple) allergy. The clinical improvement of pollinosis was associated with a rise in birch pollen specific IgG4 antibody titers and a decrease of allergen-induced histamine liberation. Beside improvement of the fruit allergy in 56% of the cases, the courses of apple specific IgE and IgG4 antibody titers seem to indicate a slight sensitization against apple allergens.

Adult↗