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Since the recognition of zinc as an essential trace element in man and animals there has been a remarkable progress in our knowledge of the role of zinc in nutritional physiology, biology and medicine during the last few decades. Highlights in zinc research, mechanisms and homeostatic regulation of zinc absorption, sources of zinc intake, dietary factors and mineral interactions affecting zinc bioavailability are reviewed in the present paper. This is followed by an overview of the biochemical functions of zinc in enzymes, gene expression, endocrinology, immunology and oxidative stress. General signs and metabolic consequences of zinc deficiency as well as excessive intake and toxicity of zinc are summarized. Furthermore, national and international dietary zinc recommendations and different methods to determine the zinc status are discussed.

With this paper we attempt to present a possible way of making quantitative estimates of the quantities of selected, preventively important food stuff groups consumed using a food frequency questionnaire together with a 3-day dietary protocol. The 3-day dietary protocol used in the 1984/85 MONICA survey of the former GDR is used as the standard. For large nutritional/epidemiological studies (e.g., cancer or cardiovascular cohort studies) this combination of methods is suggested as a means of arriving at quantitative estimates for nutritional habits in relation to the product groups presented here. Further investigations regarding correction factors are necessary where the food frequency is either very low or very high to detect potential inaccuracy.

Menu planning in hospitals is a complex decision problem. Patients expect the menu plan to be healthful and in accordance with their nutritional habits. Furthermore, the menu plan must conform to capacity limits of the kitchen. In this paper we present an approach to computerized food selection and menu composition. The model is based on nutritional knowledge, which is represented in the computer and used for problem solving.

While in a previous work the ESR spectroscopic detection of irradiated dried fruits was reported, in this paper liquid chromatographic determination of the carbohydrate fraction of these fruits is introduced and connected with the ESR results. After irradiation of dried fruits three different types of ESR spectra are observed. In most cases the dried fruits can be attached to these various types by means of their sugar composition. It was also found that the ESR spectra observed for sucrose-rich fruits are very similar to that of pure sucrose. The structure of the ESR spectra can change with storage. Probably, radical rearrangement reactions in the samples are responsible for these changes.

In the year 1987, 218 centenarians lived in Hungary. First the main demographic data were reported by the surveyors of the Central Statistics Office. The basis of the experience was gained on a limited population (123 subjects). The physicians' team was organized by the Gerontology Center of the Semmelweis University of Medicine. They carried out the detailed medical and environmental check-up. The medical and environmental experiences of the gerontologists were published (1). In our present paper we would like to show the different familial and other relationships of the oldest people. The 123 centenarians were scattered over the whole country, altogether in 67 larger or smaller settlements. More of them lived with a daughter (42%), with a son (14%), with a grandchild (7%), with other relatives (5%) and 3 persons lived together with their wives. We found that the subjects who lived with relatives had a better chance to live an active and meaningful life. The co-existence of several generations, the multilateral contacts of centenarians have a beneficial effect on the quality of life.

This article discusses some aspects in Environmental Gerontology concerning the living conditions of elderly foreigners (migrants) who have been living and working in Germany for 20 to 30 years. First, deficits of the present research situation of elderly migrants are described. Second, with regard to the differentiation of "normal aging" and "aging with significant competence losses" two environment-relevant issues are analyzed: Living arrangement (home, residential unit, residential quarter) and the utilization of social services and institutions for the aged. The paper closes with some ideas on "ethnic aging and gerontological research".

The majority of old people live in private households and they want to remain there. Starting from this insight, the study is focused on the interaction between older people and their home environment. Some theoretical assumptions on the role of housing are presented, namely the competence theory perspective, the continuity theory perspective, the perspective of research on leisure time and everyday life activities, the environmental adaptation perspective, and the environmental gerontology perspective. Previous research has shown that there is a strong correlation between environmental-relevant competence loss (e.g., mobility impairment) and objective living arrangements. Little attention has been paid, however, to the subjective meaning of home in old age (e.g., processes like familiarity or stimulation), either with or without competence loss. This paper presents preliminary results of an investigation into that "Aging in Place" issue, based on semi-structured interviews with 84 participants between the age of 62-92 (M = 77 years). Forty-two subjects were in good health status, 42 suffered from severe mobility impairments. The participants were visited at home and all interviews were tape-recorded. On one hand, the general meaning of home, on the other, specific sections of the home environment were analyzed (most favorite place within the home, favorite meaningful things). The results revealed that the two groups of participants are similar as far as the general meaning of home is concerned. In the experience of the most favorite place at home, subjects suffering from mobility impairments are tending more to an environmental "centralization" than healthy subjects do. With respect to personal objects, the most often mentioned meaning was "reminiscence". By and large, the results of this work support the view that knowledge about the meaning of home can be of help to better understand how old people create their meaningful everyday life at home and why they want to "stay put"; in addition, the results can be used in planning living arrangements for people of all ages.

The present paper formulates "laws" which govern the aging of human beings. The definition of aging is based on the vitality concept. These laws are divided into two classes: collective laws, and individual laws. They attempt to answer the questions: "How do organisms age?", and "Why do organisms age?" Up to now there are only preliminary answers.

This paper discusses different situations of family caregiving. It points to special tasks and stresses in the following situations: Help to stroke patients during rehabilitation at home, caregiving to patients who are suffering from a physical or a mental disease, and support of family members who have to cope with impending death. As the analysis makes clear, different situations of caregiving cause different tasks and stresses which should be regarded in discussing the psychic and social situation of caregivers.

The aim of this pilot study is to investigate the importance of chronological age, sex, functional and extra-functional qualifications and job experience in the advertisements for positions in daily journals. For that purpose a content analysis was carried out with 450 advertisements in national and 150 advertisements in regional papers. The general result is, that persons in the second half of their lives are rarely searched and that there are distinct differences in the job requirements in the advertisements of national and regional journals.

In this paper some trends of gerontology during the last 45 years in Germany are described. A survey of the development of gerontology in the former GDR is followed by an analysis of the "Zeitschrift für Alternsforschung" from 1980-1990. The main result is the predominance of publications on the care system since the middle of the 1980s. With regard to the development of gerontology in the western part of Germany, an analysis of publications in the "Zeitsschrift für Gerontologie" from 1968-1991 shows changes in the main topics during this period. Until the middle of the 1970s there was a predominance of publications in the field of: intelligence, learning, memory and perception. The emphasis of publications from 1977-1985 was on stress and coping. In the middle of the 1980s there was an increasing interest in the analysis of social network and competence in the elderly. The paper discusses these trends of gerontological research in the eastern and western parts of Germany.

Prejudices against the aged are called ageism. A case demonstrates its obscure effects. Ageism is seen as antipathy or hate, too. But a common societal reality of ageism is not being able to take different perspectives. Seeing the challenge of a concrete clinical situation means varying the ethical perspectives both care and fairness. According to that, "multidimensional" assessment characterizes geriatrics. Examples for not being able to take varying perspectives are given when adults are confronted with suicide, sexuality/tenderness, convictions, depression, religiosity, reduced memory capacity, quality of life, incontinence, dying etc. of the aged. The paper shows three ways of controlling cognitive and affective dimensions of prejudices in general.

Members of private households have different nutrient requirements. In general, they eat the same dishes in different quantities. The menu plan is admissible if it corresponds to the recommended dietary allowances. It is acceptable if it meets the eating habits. It is optimal if it meets the constraints mentioned and best reaches an objective. It is the aim of this paper to describe models for the determination of optimal nutrition and to evaluate them with respect to their suitability for solving decision problems in private, multi-person-households. The fewer the model-intern restrictions in the variability of quantities of food stuffs, kind and/or quantities of dishes, the better are the "optimal" solutions that are found with the model. A simultaneous determination of kind and quantity of dishes reaches the model purpose better than a stepwise determination. This is shown in an example problem.

The present paper reports on an adult female patient whose hereditary fructose intolerance (HFI) was at first not diagnosed and who, within the space of 2 years after repeated elective surgery and the perioperative administration of fructose and sorbitol, developed "hepatic and renal failure of unclear origin." At a later stage we were able to establish the diagnosis of HFI by means of a fructose tolerance test in both she and her brother, for whom intolerance to fruit and desserts had been known since early childhood. In addition, literature references to fatalities following the parenteral application of fructose and sorbitol were analyzed. During the course of fructose infusion in both the patient and her brother with HFI, the following metabolic changes were noted: hypoglycemia, elevated rise in the blood fructose concentration, hyperlactacidemia, elevated rise in the blood fructose concentration, hyperlactacidemia, and hyperammonemia. These metabolic changes proved to be reversible after discontinuing the fructose infusion. Analysis of the literature on the fatalities following parenteral fructose administration established that fruit and dessert intolerance was known for all collated patients with HFI, and that, clearly, no regular metabolic tests had been conducted.

Aphasia is common in elderly patients with stroke. This paper presents some results of aphasia therapy within the activation phase (acute aphasia) and the syndrome-specific learning phase (until the 24th week of treatment). A phase-specific therapeutic concept was developed to connect stimulation and cirumvention method and compensatory techniques. The results attest to the success early after stroke regarding development of speech pathology logopedic diagnosis and therapy.

During the past few years the number of psychological investigations concerning the religiosity of the elderly has increased. The paper summarizes empirical studies which deal with three main topics in gerontology (health, coping, search for meaning) and their relationship to religiosity (A). Further on, a few problems regarding the measurement of religiousness in old people are discussed (B). Finally, the conclusion proposes some tasks of future investigations (C).

Changes in the distribution patterns of chondrocytes in the permanent hyaline cartilage were studied in order to analyze a process of differentiation quantitatively. Sections of 29 specimens of arytenoid cartilage and 42 specimens of Carina tracheae from newborn up to the age of 91 years were used. The chondrocytes were transferred via a mirror to paper, and the resulting patterns were analyzed. Various distribution functions were calculated. The most important one is the pair correlation function. The behavior of the differentiation is resembling in both organs. Especially in arytenoid cartilage there were found the following results: The clearest process of differentiation took place up to the 3rd decade of life. Initial hard core distribution is followed by soft core distribution up to the final of puberty. After the 2nd decade of life clustering was found. The grade of differentiation decreases in the 5th decade of life and later.

More than 50 years after Maillard's original paper describing the reaction of amino acids with glucose it was found that this reaction also occurs under physiological conditions in the human body. Initially, it was discovered that human hemoglobin contains protein-bound Amadori-products that are increased in diabetic patients with elevated blood glucose levels. Measurements of fructosylated hemoglobin are now widely used as an index of glycemia in diabetes. It was soon recognized that this postribosomal modification is common to other proteins in vivo like albumin, lens crystallins, proteins of the clotting cascade, collagens, lipoproteins, proteins of the cell membrane, and others. This may lead to alterations in structure and function of the respective protein. Later, the realization that long-lived proteins become browned, fluorescent, and insoluble with age, and at an accelerated rate in diabetes, suggested that later stages of the Maillard reaction might proceed in vivo and contribute to some of the pathophysiology associated with both aging and diabetes. Although the contribution of the Maillard products to the development of diabetic late complications is not fully understood, attempts are being made to prevent formation of late Maillard product with aminoguanidine, a drug currently under clinical testing.

Based on the irreversibility of physiological development during the aging process, a concept of permanent personality development throughout life is presented, which is at no time completed. Based on clinical experience, questions are induced for future research in the field of gerontopsychosomatics, which take into consideration the possibility of a revival of previously existing neurotic conflicts as well as possible new functional and psychosomatic symptoms understandable because of the actuating situation in old age. The question is raised whether such newly acquired psychosomatic symptoms must be considered as a multimorbidity aspect in older people and thus not accessible to adequate therapy. Finally, the concept "personality plasticity" and "life-long personality development" are related to one another. Gerontological research has emphasized time and again that in older and aged persons competences persist. It is the objective of the present paper to present a perspective, supported by empirical studies, to those who may be unduly impaired for a time in their potential by symptoms or conflicts.

Since we face considerable practical problems in the assessment of elderly subjects with self-rating instruments (paper-pencil tests) measuring anxiety and, since we lack norms for the age of 65 and above, we developed a structured inventory (SAIS) for the assessment of anxiety in the elderly. The instrument comprises three components, anxiety normally is expressed in; all have been verified by empirical personality research: the cognitive, the physiological and the behavioural component. In a pilot study, we determined themes of anxiety relevant to elderly people. When the items were developed, we took into account aspects of the typical environment of the elderly and their comprehensive ability. In a reliability study 54 subjects (mean age: 72 years) were investigated. Item analyses showed low to average item difficulties and average selectivity. The split-half-reliability coefficient was rtt = .95; the internal consistency-coefficient was rtt = .91 (Kuder-Richardson). In a factor analysis five factors were extracted. They were interpreted as 'general' anxiety ("allgemeine Angstlichkeit"), as nervousness ("Neigung zu Nervosität"), fear of physical disability ("Furcht vor motorischer Behinderung"), personal insecurity ("persönliche Unsicherheit") and fear of helplessness ("Furcht vor Hilflosigkeit"). Finally, aspects of internal validity are discussed.

Elderly motorists lose a significant amount of their mental(-somatic) and sensomotor capabilities. No data is available on the percentage of elderly motorists involved in car accidents. Their accident risk, however, is not above average because that decrease is outweighed by increased experience and a more thoughtful manner of driving. The percentage of elderly, especially female pedestrians killed by autos is very high. This is mainly due to age-specific mortality and to the high proportion of aged people, especially women, within the population. Our jurisdiction concerning responsibilities requires elderly people to become aware of any deficiencies and to take them into account. The administrative courts are very reserved in withdrawing driving licenses because of age-caused deficiencies. The mere fact that a driver is very old does not suffice; it even does not justify seeking a psychomedical opinion. In this paper it is argued that actions provided for by the law and regulations asking for a periodical check-up of sensomotor and mental capabilities of the elderly driver are disproportionate. Introducing an "eye-certificate" for all motorists as suggested by the German Ophthalmological Society, however, is considered useful and appropriate since deficiencies of vision have been discovered for all age groups.

The present paper deals with the nutritional value of some natural sweeteners, like concentrated fruit juices, special syrups and honey. The following aspects are discussed: concentration of sweet-tasting carbohydrates, average composition of essential nutrients like minerals and vitamins, and occurrence of other substances like organic acids etc. The nutritional value of natural sweeteners is not significantly different from "sugar" (saccharose): Natural sweeteners do not contribute to fulfill the need for minerals, trace elements or vitamins in an important manner. The sensoric properties are different and the intensity of sweet-taste is usually higher in sucrose than in syrups. Descriptions of such products as "naturally", "healthy", "without sugar" are not justified.

This paper reports on the organizational structure of public and non-public welfare institutions for the aid to the aged. The latter ("charitable non-profit associations") constitute the most important social institutions based on voluntary rather statutory provision of social services in the Federal Republic of Germany. The first section is devoted to a description of the legel provisions regarding goals, institutions, type and means of service provision of different institutions aiding the aged in relation to each other. In conclusion, the hierarchical structure of the institutions is discussed in relation to the observance of the principle of subsidiarity. In the framework of a critical discussion of the concept of neocorporationalism, it is pointed out that in any analysis of the institutional structure of the aid to the aged it is necessary to take into consideration the behavior of those concerned.

This paper proceeds from the premise that adequate help for the aged has to take into account the internal as well as the external conditions of the household. In order to determine the extent to which help is required in a specific situation, the private household is analyzed as a system of elements and their interdependence. Next, the preconditions for maintaining independence in the tasks of household management are pointed out. There are personal characteristics (ability, attitudes, skills) in relation to the means economic and social environment. Finally, the approach and methodology applied in carrying out several case studies aimed at determining the limitations of the aged in managing their situation and the extent to which they need help in specific cases are presented.

In this paper we introduce a new perioperative infusion regime. We will discuss problems associated with the water and electrolyte metabolism and show the influence of pre- and postoperative beginning of an intravenous nutrition support on metabolic and hormonal changes after trauma. We also will show the influence of hypercaloric and trauma-adapted nutritional support on hormonal, metabolic and liver-specific enzyme changes after trauma.

The law protein nutrition of the nursing rat inhibits the growth of the new born rats. A percentage reduction of the dry substances by decrease of N2-free substances takes place. In relation to g dry substance the body protein content, collagen also, rises. Absolutely, these parts rest unaltered, just so the relation of the parenchymatous protein to collagen. The often support of view that starving provokes a collagen formation of the body, that means an exceed of the framework, can not be confirmed. Though in this paper we can give an explanation for the occurrence of this conclusion. Long interuptions of lactation periods remarkably have no effect on the growth and on the amin compartments of the body of new born rats. Only tryptophane is reduced in favour of the serine-fraction in the body of those animals. We discuss this finding as a change of the metabolisme of tryptophane depending of stress.

The paper discusses the contributions of American theoretical and empirical approaches in life span developmental psychology to the understand of aging in a life-span frame of reference. The main part of the paper consists of a report on longitudinal as well as biographical studies on psychological and social development in adolescence, middle, and late adulthood which started at the Psychology Department of the University of Bonn in 1952 and are continued into the 80's. These studies point to close relationships between the social and psychological conditions in earlier and later periods of life and stress the relevance of promoting not only mental, but also social and effective-emotional competence for the coping with crisis situation in old age.

This paper presents the Nuremberg-Geriatric Inventory (NAI), a test and questionnaire battery for geronto-psychological and pharmacological problems. This inventory consists of three modified subtests of the Wechsler-Adult-Intelligence-Scale (WAIS), a maze-pathway, a modified Trail Making test (ZVT), a psychological rating scale, a rating scale for activities-of-daily-living, a self-rating and a questionnaire, containing problems of growing old. The objectivity, reliability and validity of all tests and scales are described, as well as some norms for different groups of patients. First experiences and results using this inventory in longitudinal studies and pharmacological investigations are reported.

This paper is going to investigate 108 gero-psychiatric patients with average-age of 69 +/- 10 years with overwhelming of 70- to 79-year-old persons during one annual. Data of biographic, social and disease factors and diagnostic and therapeutic methods are presented. Diagnostic main-groups are dementias and affective syndromes. At the same time existing internal disorders have a particular importance. The therapeutic concept is composed of group-methods by the side of medical and physical measures. Geropsychiatry is not dependent on "pressure of success". Nevertheless late transfer, previous history for a long time, and old age diminish possibility to improve the mental disorders.

Loss of appetite, strongly reduced feed intake, and stop in weight gain are characteristic signs of alimentary zinc deficiency. The present paper investigates some parameters of the energy metabolism of Zn-deficient rats in order to obtain information on possible disturbances. The blood of Zn-deficient rats showed an increased activity of adenosine triphosphatase (ATPase) in comparison to ad-libitum- and pair-fed control animals. Therefore the concentration of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) was reduced and the concentration of adenosine diphosphate (ADP) increased in deficient animals. As a consequence, the ratio ATP/ADP was strongly reduced in Zn-deficient rats compared with both control groups. The concentration of adenosine monophosphate (AMP) was reduced in the blood of Zn-deficient rats. The levels of c-AMP in serum and urine were markedly increased in Zn-deficient rats in comparison with both control groups. Key enzymes of energetic utilization of carbohydrates such as fructose-1.6-biphosphatase and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase were reduced in their activities in livers and kidneys of Zn-deficient animals. The results show that alimentary Zn deficiency impairs some parameters of the energy metabolism. The problems of reduced feed intake in Zn deficiency still remain unsolved.

The purpose of this paper was to show whether the activity of the zinc-dependent enzyme alkaline ribonuclease in zinc-sensitive tissues allows conclusions to be drawn on the Zn supply status. For this 27 weaned male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into three groups of 9 animals each. A Zn deficiency group, which was given a diet with a Zn content of 3 ppm ad libitum, was compared to a pair-fed and an ad libitum control group with a Zn content in the diet of 60 ppm each. After 22 trial days the animals were killed, and the zinc and protein contents as well as the activity of the alkaline ribonuclease in the serum, testicles, femur, urine, liver, and kidneys were determined. Although the Zn concentration in the serum, testicles, femur, and kidneys of the deficiency animals were significantly reduced, the alkaline ribonuclease showed an increased activity only in the kidneys, in the testicles the activity was reduced, and in the serum, femur, urine and liver it remained unchanged. The protein concentration in serum and femur was reduced because of Zn deficiency, whereas the decrease in testicles, liver and kidneys must be attributed to the reduced feed intake. The influence of the dietary Zn deficiency on the activity of the alkaline ribonuclease was therefore more the result of an altered feed intake and growth rate than a direct effect of zinc on the enzymatic system. Therefore the determination of the activity of the alkaline ribonuclease can be excluded as a parameter for the diagnosis of Zn supply and Zn deficiency.

In recent studies the variable knowledge about a changing world has shown up as a relevant determinant of cognitive development in old age. In this paper the measurement criteria of the inventory are established, and an evaluation of the reliability and validity of the inventory is achieved. At the same time we present evidence that the knowledge about the more constant aspects of the world and the knowledge about the changing aspects of the world develop differently. Epochal influences on the validity of the inventory are discussed.

The paper outlines some determinants of the formation and present situation of the several kinds of services for the aged with regard to a broad concept of intervention. There are some obstacles for the idea of intervention: -the nearly uncontrolled growth of the number of places in homes for the aged, -the present situation of the medical system, -lack of trained staff, -lack of tools for assessment and evaluation. Nevertheless the disproof of the deficit theory of aging made a lot of people wait for practical suggestions in respect of intervention.

The paper examines the hypothesis that the elderly single male, as a result of his exceptional situation and few resources, is less able to cope and will therefore be less content than widowed or married elderly men. The results from a representative study of the older population of a Swiss canton show that both single and widowed elderly men are less disadvantaged than was supposed. Marital status alone will therefore not account for problems in old age.

This paper presents the development of a therapy program for in-patients with cerebral dysfunctions living in a nursing home of the Arbeiterwohlfahrt, Frankfurt. The "starting-point" for the development of this therapy was the conscious decision against the segregation of patients with cerebral dysfunctions and for their "integrated housing" with other in-patients. First experiences and results with this therapy system, which is related to the findings of the intervention programs in gerontology, are presented, as well as the first survey in the evaluation of this psychosocial therapy program.

This paper deals basically with the question: Should residents adapt unconditionally to homes or should homes be structured such as to be able to adapt to needs and abilities of the residents? Depending on the image officials, planners und the staff have of elderly people, one can arrive at different answers to this question. In particular, based on different images, the paper discusses consequences and design requirements in respect to a) the planning und the management of homes, b) the behavior of the staff and c) the preservation and deterioration respectively of abilities of the residents.

The review paper summarizes our knowledge on the influence of the intake of mycotoxin containing foodstuffs on human health. The greatest attention is given to the aflatoxins. The results of epidemiological studies on the occurrence of primary liver cancer in Thailand and different regions of middle and southern Africa are described.

There is an increasing number of investigations in multi-generational-families. However, the research focussed on three-generation-family, not on four- or five-generation-family. The paper deals with the description of our investigation in five-generation-families. Moreover some issues of current generational analysis are discussed. The special emphasis is on a description of the relationship between the great-great-grandparents and the great-grandparents.

Percutaneous measurements by Doppler sonography over the carotid and vertebral arteries of the neck may detect the presence of stenosis in arteries with a high precisions especially for the carotid arteries. This paper shall give a survey of the methods of directional Dopplersonography, its principle and techniques.

The purpose of this paper is to construct dimensionless parameters of the human organism from physical variables. To do this one has to combine clinical data and to study their age-dependence. In addition the relationship between these dimensionless parameters and vitality is analysed.

Within the research of intellectual functioning in aged people the hypothesis of terminal decline is quite common. This paper is stressing the question of the global validity of terminal decline. It will be shown that terminal decline has to be discussed within the frame work of changes in the processes of aging.

The relationship of sexuality and mental illness is not through investigated. There are few experiences. Psychiatric publications are limited and describe the deviate sexuality of demented disorders, psychosis, and neurosis. In the place of foreground of psychiatric publications are the abnormal sexuality and its criminal procedure. The paper describes the most important articles in German and English. Some references to observations in out-patient and in-patient care are following.

In this paper we give a summarizing review of the pathology of apoplexy. Apoplexy is the clinical term for sudden loss of consciousness, followed by paralysis resulting from a cerebral haemorrhage, occlusion of a cerebral artery, thrombosis, or embolism, with loss of cerebral function of the affected brain region. Apoplexy is a very important disease in gerontology and geriatric practice and clinics, since atherosclerosis with cerebral sclerosis, hypertension, and hypertensive angiopathy occur very frequently in the elderly. Besides these main causes of apoplexy aneurysm and other causes of apoplexy are also discussed (i.e. angiomas, primary and secondary "apoplectiform" brain tumors). In this paper only the most important morphological and clinical findings in apoplexy are discussed for general and clinical physicians, giving an introduction to the following contributions in this journal.

In therapeutic treatment of emotionally ill old persons it is imperative to consider the effect that social environment, diseases, disabilities and increasing dependency have on the individual. It is the purpose of this paper to present a psychoanalytically orientated concept, that integrates both the exploration and analysis of intrapsychic conflicts and supporting interventions by way of social therapy. This is shown for individual as well as for group settings. There is also a discussion of the possibilities to have this treatment carried out by specially trained social workers.

The Federal Ministry for Youth, Family, Women and Health in the Federal Republic of Germany supported a research project on counselling processes with the elderly. The overruling aim is to enable them to live at home as long as possible. A model of preventative intervention was developed and tested by a group of gerontologists and social workers in Kassel. Every fifth inhabitant aged 60 and over in a working class district of Kassel was interviewed (n = 106) with respect to his/her living conditions and need for care. As a second step, all aged persons at risk (i.e. with low income, in social isolation, with health handicaps - as well as those of a very old age) were selected (n = 53). Two social workers contacted them at home and attempted to build up a relation of confidence with a view to active counselling measures. This paper reports some important statistical results and specifies the concepts of counselling procedures developed. They are basically biographically and help oriented, encompassing intervention in acute situations of need as well as counselling in the more restricted, traditional sense of the term.

This contribution deals with the significance of sports for competence in old people. It presents evidence for positive effects of sporting activities on the solution of self-development tasks, like maintaining social participation in old age, pursuing one's own interests, or on keeping active in general, as well as on indices of life-satisfaction like the feeling of well-being, emotional adjustment, or a sense of self-control. In its second part, the paper develops a series of recommendations concerning the motivation of aging persons to sports and the realization of sporting activities for them.

The paper reports on studies related to consistency and change of morale (mood) in old age. In a longitudinal sample observed from 1965 to 1978 of two cohorts (born 1890-96 resp. 1900-05) we observed consistent average and increasing morale in 46.6% of the cases whereas there was a slight drop in morale in 53.4%. Whereas there was no difference in the cohorts compared, women always showed a lower moral. Decrease in morale correlated in a significant way with decrease of activity and feeling of security. Whereas the objective degree of life stress did not correlate with morale, this was true for the subjective representation of stress as well as the selection of responses to stress (the "coping-styles"). The multifactorial causes of poorer morale (mood) are demonstrated in an interactional model.

This paper examines the widespread notions on the effect of children's departure from home. Several studies describe this situation as one of major role loss for the mother who reacts with feelings of depression and loneliness: the so-called "empty nest syndrome". Thirty studies were analyzed. There are no data which allow a generalization of such assumptions: The experience of facing the empty nest is individualistic for each woman due to her own biographical and actual factors of life context. Feelings range from loss and sadness to relief and freedom. Further empty nest research should define the term "empty nest" more thoroughly, including numerous variables about mothers' and children's life situations. Developmental counseling for middle-aged women cannot exist in standard programs with same aims for all participants, but has to begin with individual and situational determinants of each woman.