NAR I Network Aging Research
Aging as a consequence of the normal aging process is open to interventions. Age not. Since aging affects the human being in its entirety, we have founded the Network Aging Research (NAR), in order to research the different aspects of aging on an interdisciplinary concept.
News
04 March 2022
Identifying Alzheimer's risks - as early as 17 years before diagnosis
PRESS RELEASE DKFZ Nr.12/2022
In order to develop approaches for the prevention and treatment of Alzheimer's dementia in clinical trials, it would be helpful to be able to identify people with a particularly high risk of developing the disease. But which biomarkers can indicate an increased likelihood of disease early on in symptom-free people who actually develop Alzheimer's later? This was investigated by scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg University and Ruhr University Bochum, as well as the Saarland Cancer Registry. The team now identified the protein GFAP, whose blood concentration is already elevated up to 17 years before the clinical diagnosis of dementia, as a potentially promising early biomarker... 
article
Contact I Dr. Hannah Stocker I E-Mail: stocker@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
19 November 2021
Feelings about Ageing amidst Increased Quality of Life and Societal Perceptions
NEWSROOM HEIDELBERG UNIVERSITY
Empirical studies have proven that the quality of life of older people has improved over the last several decades. Yet this has no effect on their subjective experience of ageing. Older people do not view their own ageing experience any more positively than their same-aged peers about twenty years ago. This conclusion is reached in a study led by ageing researchers and psychologists of Heidelberg University and Humboldt University of Berlin using data on views of ageing in Germany and the USA. The reasons may include...
DOI: 10.1037/pag0000649
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
22 February 2021
Applying Social Cognition Models to Explain Walking Duration in Older Adults: The Role of Intrinsic Motivation
This study examined the applicability of the health action process approach (HAPA) to walking duration in older adults and the added value of extending the HAPA by intrinsic motivation. Self-reports from older adults (N = 309; Mage = 78.7, 70–95 years) regarding activity-related intrinsic motivation and HAPA variables were collected at the baseline of a fall prevention intervention study. Walking duration...
Contact I Sarah Labudek I Tel. +49 6221 54 8140 I E-Mail: labudek@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
28 January 2021
Carl Zeiss Foundation funds interdisciplinary practice study at Heidelberg University with the sum of approximately 4.5 million euros
PRESS RELEASE No 7/2021
Can interconnected digital assistance systems enhance the quality of life of people in older age? Scientists in an interdisciplinary research project at Heidelberg University are exploring this question in a representative practice study. The participating researchers want to investigate how well these technical aids can be used and what benefit they achieve. The Carl Zeiss Foundation has made approximately 4.5 million euros available for the SMART-AGE project in the context of its “Breakthroughs” programme. The project is scheduled to run for five years.
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
15 January 2021
The ApoE Locus and COVID-19: Are We Going Where We Have Been?
THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY
Four decades ago in 1985, alleles of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) ε2/ε3/ε4 became famous for explaining 16% of genetic variance in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the benchmark study of Sing and Davignon (1): total blood cholesterol, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B were elevated by ApoE ε4 (ApoE4) allele and lowered by ApoE ε2 (ApoE2). The adverse associations of ApoE4 with atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease (CVD) (1) were extended to shortened longevity in 1987 (2) and then to risk of Alzheimer disease (AD) in 1993 (3). The next year,...
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
24 July 2020
Intelligent Alliances. Robot Assistants for Better Quality of Life in Old Age
RUPERTO CAROLA 16/2020
One of the great challenges of ageing societies is ensuring that older adults can enjoy a good quality of life as long as possible. For many older people, autonomous motor behaviour is a major aspect of such quality of life. However, compensatory aids that are able to help with impaired motor behaviour – sit-to-stand and walking in particular – are mostly “analogue” devices, many of them quite inflexible and unable to meet the highly heterogeneous needs of older users.
https://heiup.uni-heidelberg.de/journals/index.php/rupertocarola/article/view/24190/17905
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
16 June 2020
THE RICHARD KALISH INNOVATIVE PUBLICATION ARTICLE AWARD 2020
The NAR Director Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl has been selected as the recipient of the 2020 Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Article Award for his recent publication “A conceptual framework for studying COntext Dynamics in Aging (CODA)”. The Richard Kalish Innovative Publication Award recognizes insightful and innovative publications on aging and life course development in the behavioral and social sciences. The award ceremony will take place at the Annual Scientific Meeting of the Gerontological Society of America (GSA) in November 2020 in Philadelphia (USA).
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
04 May 2020
Aging in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Avoiding Ageism and Fostering Intergenerational Solidarity
THE JOURNAL OF GERONTOLOGY I PSYCHOLOGICAL SCIENCES
The editorial of the upcoming issue of „The Journal of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences“ is devoted to the ageism problem in times of COVID-19 pandemic.
Contact I Prof. Dr. Hans-Werner Wahl I Tel. +49 6221 54 8127 I E-Mail: wahl@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
27 February 2020
The "Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie" special edition: People with Dementia in Acute Care Hospital
ZEITSCHRIFT FÜR GERONTOLOGIE+GERIATRIE
For more than 16 years, the Robert Bosch Foundation’s funding has been aimed at providing most suitable approaches for dealing with dementia as well as supporting those affected and their relatives in living with dementia. In 2012, the Robert Bosch Foundation launched the program “People with Dementia in Acute Care Hospital” which aims to make the hospital stay of patients with dementia as a secondary diagnosis as relaxing as possible. The Graduate Program “People with Dementia in Acute Care Hospital” was established at the Network Aging Research of the Heidelberg University in 2016.
The research program is managed jointly by Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Andreas Kruse, Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Konrad Beyreuther, Prof. Dr. Jürgen Bauer and Dr. Birgit Teichmann. The goal of this program is to examine innovative approaches to patient care delivery for people with dementia in acute care hospitals. New findings obtained in interdisciplinary studies shall be used subsequently to enhance quality of life for people with dementia during and after their hospital stay.
The "Zeitschrift für Gerontologie und Geriatrie" special edition, which is funded by the Robert Bosch Foundation, provides an ideal platform for making both research findings and related translational research projects available to the public, including scientists and practitioners.
Issuing Editor I Birgit Teichmann, Jürgen M. Bauer, Konrad Beyreuther and Andreas Kruse
Contact I Dr. Birgit Teichmann I Tel. +49 6221 54 8124 I E-Mail: teichmann@nar.uni-heidelberg.de
