2
Most Americans ill-ihformed about aging
(Continued from page 1)
development averaged only 80 per cent
correct.
"Older persons do not tend to become
mote religious as they age/' Palmore
wrote in The Gerontologist, a professional
journal that recently published his quiz.
"While it is true that the present
generation of older person tend to be
more religious than the younger
generations, this appears to be a
generational difference, rather than an
aging effect, due to the older persons'
more religious upbringing."
He said Masters and Johr«on, pioneers
in sexual research, found more than a
decade ago that the capacity for
satisfying sexual relations continues into
the decades of the 70s and 80s for healthy
couples. Studies here indicate that sex
continues to play an important role in the
lives of most men and the majority of
women through the seventh decade of
life.
"Drivers over age 65 do have fewer
accidents per person than drivers under
age 65," he said pointing to National
Safety Council statistics. "Older drivers
have about the same accident rate per
person as middle-aged drivers, but a
much lower rate than drivers under age
30."
Palmore said studies at Duke and
elsewhere have shown that the majority
of old people are seldom irritated or
angry. Over one half of the aged said they
are never or hardly ever irritated, and
this proportion increases to two-thirds at
age 80 or over.
Eighty-six per cent of the Duke
undergraduates who took the quiz
incorrectly believed that more than 15 of
every 100 Americans are now 65 or older.
The actual figure is about 10 p>er 100.
Among faculty members in human
development tested at Duke and
Pennsylvania State University more than
half erroneously thought the majority of
old people are frequently bored.
Three quarters of the students and
almost half of the faculty members
marked true the statement, "The majority
of older people have income below the
poverty level as defined by the Federal
Government." Actually, only about 15
per cent of the aged are below the official
poverty level.
Palmore said a few of the "negative
stereotypes" about the aged are
unfortunately true. All five senses, lung'
capacity, reaction time and strength, for
example, do tend to decline in old age.
The majority of older f>eople are not
senile, bored, isolated or lonely,
however, and less than five per cent of
those over age 65 and 10 per cent of those
over 75 live in institutions.
Studies also have shown that the
majority of workers over age 65 perform
as well as or better than young workers at
most tasks, the sociologist said.
"When speed of reaction is important,
older workers sometimes produce at
lower rates," he said, "but they are at
least as accurate and steady in their work.
"Consistency of output tends to
increase by age, as older workers perform
at steadier rates from week to week," he
said. "In addition, older workers have
less job turnover, less accidents and less
absenteeism than younger workers."
Palmore said he created his quiz
because earlier such tests have contained
mixtures of facts and opinions. They also
have been too long, and their answers
have not been documented.
"Older uwrkers have less job turnover, less accidents and less absenteeism than
■ younger workers."
"While it is true that... older persons tend to be more religious than the younger
generations, this appears tobe... due to the older persons' more religious upbringing."
Professional news
Dr. Samuel L. Katz, professor and chairman
of the Department of Pediatrics, and Dr.
Catherine Wilfert, associate professor of
pediatrics and microbiology, attended the
Congress of Pediatrics in Rio de Janeiro,
Brazil, July 23-30. Katz spoke on "Neonatal
Hepatitis," "Opportunistic Infections,"
"Rubella ViPus" and "Viral Respiratory
Infections." Wilfert spoke on "Childhood
Bactermia" and "Neonatal Sepsis."
Dr. Jeffrey J.
Collins, an assistant
professor of surgery
and a member of the
Comprehensive
Cancer Center, de
livered a paper on "Im-
munotherapy of
Murine Leukemia" at
the Third International
Congress of Im
munology in Sydney,
Australia in July.
COLLINS
Dr. Ceoige ). Ellis, assistant professor of
medicine, worked at the N.C. Camp for
Children with EMabetes, in Pisgah Forest,
Aug. 7-19.
Intercom
is published weekly by the Office of
Public Relations, Duke University
Medical Center, dox 3354, Durham, N.C.
27710.
Joe Sigler
Director
John Becton
Editor
Primary contributon: William Erwin,
Comprehensive Cancer Center media
relations officer; ina Fried, staff writer;
Edith Roberts, staff writer;' David
V>^lliamson, medical writer.
Qioilation: Ann Kittrell.
Several faculty members in the Division of
Immunology attended the Third International
Congress of Immunology, July 3-9, in Sydney,
Australia.
Dr. Nelson L. Levy, associate professor,
spoke at three sessions on 'Tumor Specific
Antigens on the Surface of Human Brain
Cells," "Current Status of Studies with a
Diagnostic Test for Multiple Sclerosis" and
"Presence of Immune Complexes in Spinal
Fluid of Multiple Sclerosis Patients and
Possible Clues that the Antigenic Component
of These Immune Complexes May Give to the
Etiology of Multiple Sderosis."
Dr. Hillel S. Koien, assistant professor,
discussed "In Vitro Generation of Cytotoxic
T-Lymphocytes and the Role of Accessory
Cells in Primary In Vitro Immune Response"
at a poster session.
Koren was co-author of a paper on
"Selective Cellular Natural Killing Against
Human Leukemic T Cells and Thymus,"
published in Nature, Vol. 266. Co-authors
were Dr. D. Bernard Amos, jjrofessor and
chief of the Division of Immuiujlogy, and Dr.
Akiia One, a former postdoctoral fellow.
Also at the Congress of Inununology in
Australia were Dr. David Scott, associate
professor who is on sabbatical in Australia,
and Dr. Peter Cresswell, assistant professor.
Dr. Linda Ceoige, assistant professor of
medical psydtology, spoke at the aimual
North Carolina Family Living Seminar at N.C.
State University, June 9. The seminar's theme
was "Goverrunent in Family Life."
BENNETT
JACKSON
James L. Bennett, executive assistant to the
vice president for health affairs, has been
elected president of the Duke Management
Qub for 1977-78. He succeeds Richard L.
Jackson, assistant vice president and director
of personnel.
Warren P. Howard has resigned as medical
center architect vyrith the Plaiming Office to
take a new position as director of facilities
planning at North Carolina Memorial
Hospital. He will be concerned with the
planning and development of physical
facilities, aimed at meeting the growing
programs and patient care needs at the
hospital.
Elizabeth Faucette, head nurse in the
Medical Specialties Clinic, received a
scholarship from the Research Triangle Lung
Association at the annual Institute on
Tuberculosis and Other Respiratory [>iseases
at the Blue Ridge Assembly, Hack Mountain.
Gentry to edit unique journal
Dr. William D. Gentry, professor of
medical psychology, has been named
editor-in-chief of a new professional
journal entitled The Journal of Behavioral
Medicine.
Gentry said the journal will publish
reports of behavioral science research of
interest to physicians, psychologists,
sociologists, epidemiologists, public
health specialists and anthropologists.
"The journal will have a
multidisciplinary focus," he said. "It is
the first professional publication-of its
kind to link traditional medicine with the
behavioral sciences."
Alcoholism, obesity, smoking, stress
and stress management, health
maintenance behavior, placebo effects
and the development and use of
behavioral diagnostic techniques are
examples of topics to be discussed.
Gentry added.
The first issue of the quarterly journal.
is scheduled to appear in March next
year. It will be published by the Plenum
Publishing Corporation of New York.
An equal number of physicians and
behavioral scientists wiU comprise the
journal's editorial board. Gentry said.
Participants at the XIV International
Congress of Rheumatology, June 26-July 1, in
San Francisco, Calif., included Dr. Ralph
Snyderman, chief of the Division of
Rheumatic and Genetic Diseases; Dr. Edward
W. Holmes, assistant professor; Dr. Nicholas
Kredich, associate professor of rheumatic and
genetii^ diseases and assistant professor of
biochemistry; and Dr. Gale McCarty, fellow in
rheumatology.
Snyderman participated in a workshop on
Levamisole, an investigational drug currently
under study at Duke for the treatment of
rheumatoid arthritis.
Holmes presented a congress symposium
paper on renal factors involved in the
pathogenesis of hyperuremia.
McCarty presented an abstract on "Serum
Complement and Anti DNA in the Rheumatic
Diseases," a study co-authored with
Snyderman and Kredich.
Dr. T.C. Vanaman, associate professor of
microbiology, was an invited speaker and
session chairman at
the Gordon Con
ference on Cyclic
Nucleotides at Tilton
School, Tilton, N.H.,
July 4-8. He began a
one-year sabbatical in
September with Dr..
S.V. Perry, Department j
of Biochemistry,!
University of Birm
ingham, England. VANAMAN
Dr. Page A.W. Anderson, assistant
professor of pediatrics, is one ot seven North
Carolina physicians elected fellows of the
American Academy of Pediatrics, the
pan-American association of physicians
certified in the care of in&mts, children and
adolescents.
Sunday mass
The Rev. C. Ralph Monk, Roman
Catholic hospital chaplain, has
announced that he will say mass in the
hospital's Allen Memorial Chapel each
Sunday at 4 p.m. beginning this Sunday.