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Fit elderly score higher on tests of fluid intelligence than aged‐matched sedentary controls. Elderly patients who have taken part in exercise programs have shown improvement in mental function. We compared the effects of 45 minutes of exercise on memory, mood, and cognitive function in elderly subjects to a control intervention using a randomized control study design. Neuropsychological tests employed where the color slide test, digit symbol test, digit span test, logical memory test, word fluency test, and the Mini‐Mental State Examination. We measured mood using a mood test and geriatric depression scale. Each subject was tested before, and immediately after, control and exercise sessions. Fifteen elderly subjects [ten men and five women; mean age, 66 years, (range, 60 to 85 years)] completed the study. There was a greater improvement in six of the eight scores of cognitive function following exercise, compared to control. These differences were significantly greater following exercise for the logical memory test score (P ≤ 0.02) and Mini‐Mental State Examination (P ≤ 0.025) compared with the control intervention.

1. We have examined the relation between the rate of cortical bone loss and other measured variables in 108 women, untreated and on various therapies, observed for nearly 300 patient years. The majority of the subjects were post-menopausal women with various degrees of simple osteoporosis, but a few cases of hyperparathyroidism and other calcium disorders were included. 2. Calcium balance, bone resorption rate, urinary hydroxyproline and plasma alkaline phosphatase were shown to be related to the rate of bone loss; patients with the more negative balance or the higher values of the other variables had significantly higher rates of loss. The rate of bone loss was independent of the rate of bone formation.

Summary: The relationships between current bone mass and changes in body weight were studied in 45 male veterans whose weights and heights at the time of enlistment into the Armed Forces over 40 years ago were obtained, and who were, or had been, chronic alcohol abusers. Those who lost and those who gained weight did not appear to differ in severity of alcoholism but differed in femoral neck cortical thickness, iliac crest trabecular bone volume, and lumbar bone mineral density, the former being significantly lower. Subjects with a hip fracture and those with spinal fractures are significantly lighter now, but were initially of similar weight to those without fractures. We conclude that maintenance of body weight protects against bone loss and fracture even in the presence of chronic alcoholism.

SummaryStudies on post-menopausal osteoporotic patients indicate that 1,25-(OH)2D3concentrations are no different from those in age-matched normal subjects and the data suggest that the malabsorption of calcium found in many osteoporotic patients cannot generally be attributed to low plasma 1,25-(OH)2D3levels. The effects are discussed of three different therapies - sex hormones alone, vitamin D metabolites alone and a combination of both - on calcium balance and peripheral bone loss in treated compared with untreated osteoporotic patients. The results indicate that combined therapy with a vitamin D metabolite and an oestrogen is more effective in inhibiting the rate of bone resorption in post-menopausal osteoporosis than treatment with either agent used alone, and should be regarded as the treatment of choice at the present time. It is suggested that, using this regimen which is suitable for patients up to about 65 years of age, calcium supplementation is not required, provided daily calcium intake is reasonably adequate, and may even be undesirable by increasing the risk of hypercalcaemia.

Summary: Five patients suffering from osteoporosis were subjected to from three to eight cycles of a form of Coherence Therapy for Osteoporosis (1) used at this center. Assessment of the patients' trabecular bone remodeling activity as measured by histomorphometric analyses of trans-iliac crest bone biopsies showed a marked improvement.

1. Plasma alkaline phosphatase activity and urine hydroxyproline excretion were measured in age-matched premenopausal and postmenopausal women. 2. Both measurements were found to be significantly higher in postmenopausal women. 3. It is proposed that the rise in the plasma alkaline phosphatase, like that in the hydroxyproline excretion, may reflect the onset of bone loss that occurs after the menopause.

This randomized controlled trial examined the effect of a 3-month exercise programme on neuropsychological function in a population of very elderly institutionalized women. Baseline neuropsychological testing was performed, and following 3 months of exercise or control intervention, subjects were retested 3ndash;7 days after the completion of the study period. Apart from the Word Fluency Test, there was no significant improvement in any of the neuropsychological test scores. This study may not have shown any significant improvement in neuropsychological function because our exercise programme was too light to improve aerobic fitness, or because neuropsychological tests were repeated 3–7 days after exercise was completed and any acute effects of exercise may have disappeared by that time.