Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/80127
8A Daily News – Saturday, August 25, 2012 Glory Days & maturity CHICAGO (MCT) — Barb Shaeffer would love to meet with you this afternoon, but not until 2. The 85-year-old has a noon meeting to plan a Christmas party, and there's no telling how long that might take. Shaeffer knows the holi- day is four months away, but if you don't book your event space early, she says, the good spots fill up. could lead to a break- through in treating and preventing memory loss, Rogalski said. "A lot of studies are figuring out what's going wrong with the brain," Rogalski said. "We hope by identifying what's going right with the brain that we can … develop strategies for avoiding disease and disability." woman, what scientists call a superager — someone who continues to function at a high cognitive level even as most people her age see their memories recede. Northwestern Univer- sity researchers exam- ined 12 such superagers from the Chicago area, ages 80 to 90, and found that the cortex of their brains — a region important for cognition — looked more like a middle-aged person's than an average octoge- narian's. Shaeffer is a busy obvious when someone develops a condition like Alzheimer's dis- ease, but less drastic forms of memory loss are part of the normal aging process, said Emily Rogalski, a Northwestern professor on the research team. Understanding why some elderly people avoid that degeneration Dementia is most lifestyles Researchers tracking some particularly sharp seniors The study partici- pants aren't all former child prodigies and retired doctors. Only four of the 12 have a college degree, and Rogalski said there was no evidence that the superagers had excep- tional memories at other stages of life. cognitive decline later in life, the superagers continued to thrive. 83-year-old superager from Highland Park, Ill., teaches a class about baseball history to other seniors. He keeps up with the White Sox, travels to see his family and is looking forward to playing golf and ten- nis again after he recov- ers from a back ailment. Shaeffer, who lives in Don Goldsmith, an a downtown high-rise with a view of Lake Michigan, does two crossword puzzles every morning over a cup of black coffee. She often completes an entire But as their peers saw abilities MCT photo Barb Shaeffer, 85, works on one of the two crossword puzzles she does every morning in her kitchen in Chicago, Ill. book on her Kindle in a day (she's on a mystery kick right now). Shaef- fer also is redecorating her condo and preparing for her three fall classes, one of which she co- teaches, through a Northwestern program for retirees. Twelve superagers, including Shaeffer, underwent brain scans and had their minds compared with those of a group of their peers aging normally and with a control group of peo- ple ages 50 to 65. Gold- smith met all the criteria for the study, Rogalski said, but was not includ- ed because he was recruited after the paper was written. He is part of a broader Northwest- ern project following about 30 superagers. The study of the dozen superagers, per- formed at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer's Disease Center at Northwest- ern's Feinberg School of Medicine, found two brain features that could help explain their sharp memories. On average, the superager's cerebral cortex was as thick as those in the middle-aged control group. Researchers believe shrinking cerebral cor- tex contributes to an age-related decline in memory. a tions," Rogalski said, "one of which is atten- tion. It's possible that the superagers have particu- larly keen attentional abilities and that those attentional abilities could then support memory." It's too early to know where this study will lead, but Rogalski and her team believe it could one day provide insight into the causes of Alzheimer's. The findings, pub- lished in the Journal of the International Neu- ropsychological Society, are part of a wider examination of why some elderly people avoid dementia. North- western's superagers are asked to will their brains to the university, some- thing Goldsmith and Shaeffer said they would do, for continued study after death. That possibility of a long-term benefit encouraged Goldsmith and Shaeffer, whose mother had Alzheimer's, to take part in the pro- ject. But more surprising, Rogalski said, is that the superagers had one brain region, the left anterior cingulate cortex, that was significantly thicker than both their peers and the middle-aged control group. "(The anterior cingu- late) is important for a lot of cognitive func- As for why her own mind remains bright, Shaeffer mentions genetics but also cites another factor. "It's attitude," she said. "I don't care what you do, it's attitude. "I'm interested in what's going on. I'm still interested enough to get up and go find out about stuff." Is doing it again Everything Sat., Aug. 25th thru Sat., Sept. 1st Savings on all furniture, pictures, books, kids toys, household items even in our bargain corner That's right, one whole week! 632 MAIN STREET 527-3073 *Sign up here for the PATH walk being held Sept. 15th