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During the past few decades, the dramatic social changes with regard to our aging population and changes in the family unit have made both demographic and socioeconomic consequences, as well as an effect on matters of social policy. The prestigious editors, George L. Maddox and M. Powell Lawton, have assembled an impressive group of expert contributors whose chapters address topics from the latest theory and research findings to the changing balance of work and families, as well as patterns of kinship.

This volume addresses the extraordinary need to educate personnel at all levels in gerontology and geriatric medicine and in the design and delivery of health and social services. The historical development of gerontology and geriatric medicine and education issues are carefully considered with recommendations for curriculum design. The authors offer state of the art discussions on both gerontology and geriatrics, with implications for future research. The chapters, written by seminal figures in the field, address the critical need for well trained faculty and other professionals to: educate new and existing faculty and other professionals, educate researches to accelerate scientific knowledge, provide courses for all students that address life-span/life/cycle development and related materials, provide discipline specific courses on aging, and much more.

Proper nutrition, weight, and exercise have all been strongly linked to improved health and longevity among the elderly. This timely volume presents the latest medical research on nutrition and its impact on healthy aging in a variety of older populations and in a range of care settings. Topics include the diagnosis and management of protein undernutrition; psychological and social factors in weight loss; the effects of vitamins and exercise on aging; and more. This volume will appeal to geriatricians, geriatric researchers and academics, as well as to other health professionals concerned with nutrition and the elderly.

Increasingly there will be a demand from clinicians for a better understanding of how to translate research from basic science and clinical trials into meaningful treatment recommendations for late life metal disorders. In this volume the editors have compiled the most cutting-edge research findings on common mental disorders in the elderly. Section 1 addresses methodological issues and raises critical concerns for researchers in the field, such as how best to design and implement large clinical studies as well as how to translate their finding into practice for mental health providers. Section II focuses on treatment for specific diseases such as late life depression, substance abuse, and psychosis. Of particular note are chapters behavioral treatments for persons with Alzheimerís Disease. For clinicians and researchers in the field of gerontology and geriatrics.

Though exceptional human longevity has captured the imagination for millennia, it has been only in the past fifteen years or so that some of the secrets to very long lives are finally giving way to scientific inquiry. Written by an international group of experts, this year's review first considers the methodological and design dilemmas faced in conducting centenarian research. It then offers guidance in locating literature and data sources for primary and secondary information on centenarians and the oldest old. This section includes a list of the world's oldest persons and discusses the difficulties in compiling such a list. The remainder of the review is divided in three sections-the biology and genetics of longevity, the behavioral and social predictors of longevity, and methodological issues in qualitative and anthropologic approaches and the study of the very oldest old, supercentenarians, or those who live to 110 years or more. Data is drawn from studies undertaken among populations in diverse parts of the world.