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<DIV><FONT size=3>In a message dated 6/18/2013 11:05:36 P.M. Pacific Daylight
Time, scoles@grg.org writes:</FONT></DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
style="PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: blue 2px solid"><FONT
style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=3>Everyone older than
70 should be checked for frailty, a condition that is both easily treated and
potentially deadly, according to an article by representatives from six major
international and U.S. medical organizations (see also
Gerontology). </FONT></BLOCKQUOTE>
<DIV><FONT size=3>They've got to be kidding when they write that, "frailty...is
both easily treated and potentially deadly"! Really?! </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Frailty is a clinical sign of impending end stage
multi-system failure. As such, it is virtually impossible to treat, let
alone<EM> </EM>to<EM> easily</EM> treat.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>As the authors note, the typical elderly frail person presents
with at least the following pathologies in an advanced state and flagrantly
evident:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>* sarcopenia: as evidenced by dramatically reduced muscle
mass, weakness and difficulty moving loads - most cannot push a chair across a
room!</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>* grave compromise of the CNS: as evidenced by difficulty
maintaining balance, altered gait (the old man or old woman shuffle),
apathy, lack of motivation/interest (with or without clinically
evident depression), and loss of fluid movements in bending, reaching for
objects or rising from a sitting or recumbent position. These signs almost
invariably signal some degree of cognitive comprise, the extent of which can be
difficult to determine absent spending some meaningful amount of time
interviewing the patient and asking the right questions. There is almost
invariably marked cerebral atrophy and/or the presence of disseminated
cerebrovascular disease,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>* inappetance and malnutrition which often signal loss of
olfactory receptors and their associated sensory neurons,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>* major loss of bone mass due to both organic osteoporosis and
additional loss of bone mass from decreased mobility and load
bearing.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>The classically frail elderly individual is a person
<U>drained of organic reserves</U> in virtually every major organ system. They
are not just "unfit" or "malnourished" - indeed, if you use any
reasonably rigorous objective laboratory measurements, there will be ample
evidence of low or negligible cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, cerebral, renal
and immune reserves. Thus, frailty might be fairly described as
the "penultimate one hoss shay of human aging," with super
centenartians being the <EM>ultimate </EM>one hoss shay. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>While I understand why gerontologists are interested in super
centenarians and the longevity genes and lifestyle(s) which permit them to reach
such an advanced age, the bottom line is that the end product is uniformly
nightmarish and only preferable when compared to death itself:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><IMG id=irc_mi style="MARGIN-TOP: 35px"
src="http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2012/news/120910/besse-cooper-2-300.jpg"
width=300 height=400></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><IMG id=irc_mi style="MARGIN-TOP: 92px"
src="https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTQ3i-kO6OvfDfxBNapvVkVCpt_4WuoxBsNOU5yajoAmhEoLJlNKQ"
width=320 height=210></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3><IMG id=irc_mi style="MARGIN-TOP: 81px"
src="http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRRAAo9O5ur7-Lf-SBFzpYWDQDZ1BLbIlRLe_kGZVj-4qF-eIhk"
width=462 height=308></FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>
<P class=MsoNormal style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 10pt"><FONT size=3>These individuals
represent the near perfect definition of "frailty absent discrete disease." The
only difference between these poor souls and the more common (and much younger)
frail elderly individual is that the typical frail old person is usually
afflicted with multiple, discrete pathologies. While the frailty of super
centenarians does indeed translate into more "well and productive years," it is
critically important to understand that the end product is nothing more or
less than distilled senescence - i.e., biological aging divorced from any
particular, diagnosable disease. <EM>As such, these individuals represent
not some extraordinary key to avoiding aging, but rather, the pathway to dying
of just aging - and nothing else.</EM> This may be justifiably called
"longevity." But what it is not, and should not be mistaken for, is <EM>extended
youth</EM>. These people lost their youth many decades before they lost their
lives; and that is a great tragedy which, it
seems, is largely unappreciated by gerontologists the world
over.</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=3>Mike Darwin</FONT></DIV></FONT></BODY></HTML>