One of the many symptoms of aging is that wounds and injuries take longer to heal. There are a number of reasons for this, and most people just accept is as a fact.

Blood Platelets

However, a medical breakthrough in the healing process may offer hope to the elderly that surgery won’t put them out of action for any longer than necessary or leave them open to infections.

A gel made from patients’ own blood cells is said to dramatically speed up the healing process after surgery. It’s claimed that the “DIY gel” could lower the risk of life-threatening hospital infections by dramatically shortening the recovery period.

The gel was tested on a small group of patients with startling results. Those who were treated with the gel had almost completely healed just two weeks after surgery in 80 percent of the cases. Only 50 percent of identical wounds treated with antibiotics had healed.

It’s known that deep surgical wounds are one of the main routes into the body for drug-resistant bacteria like MRSA, which usually lives harmlessly on the skin until the immune system weakens through illness or gets access to an open wound after an operation.

Researchers at the University of Cincinnati tested the gel on a group of volunteers who had each been given two puncture wounds, one on each thigh. One wound was given two applications of the gel, the other a standard antibiotic ointment. After two weeks the rate of healing was much faster in those wounds treated with the gel.

In today’s cult of youth, would an 81-year old ever be voted as their country’s greatest living person, followed by a woman of 70-ish and another of 80? Not to mention a 50-ish woman voted as best in films?

Of course, the winner is a very special person.

The Queen at her Coronation in 1953

The British public has selected the Queen as “the Greatest Living Briton 2007″. The ITV show was broadcast live and viewers asked to vote for their choice. The awards ceremony was to celebrate British achievement.

The Queen finished top of a list of other famous — but perhaps less worthy — Britons, including Paul McCartney (60-ish), Julie Andrews (70-ish), Margaret Thatcher (80-ish) and pop singer Robbie Williams (just ish).

Her Majesty wasn’t present to receive her accolade, but her son Prince Edward paid tribute via a video transmission.

Coincidentally, Helen Mirren (50-ish), who claimed an Oscar earlier this year for her portrayal of the Queen in the film of the same name, took the top prize for The Greatest Briton in Film.

The Monarch, who has been on the Throne for 55 years showed a clean pair of heels to the celebrity striplings who might have thought they stood a chance. It was a very good night for golden agers.

As our skin ages, it gets thinner and laxer. It is more prone to wrinkles and fine lines than younger skin but also more susceptible to injury and ulcers. Now a study at the University of Michigan Health System says that lotions containing retinol have been shown to reduce wrinkles and also increase collagen production, making skin stronger and less prone to injury.

The U-M study used a lotion specifically designed for the experiment that contained retinol, an ingredient found in many commercially prepared skin lotions. In a double blind study, they applied the lotion with retinol to the skin on one arm and regular skin lotion on the other. The results were dramatic. The skin that was treated with the retinol lotion improved in appearance, looking younger, firmer and less wrinkled.

“With the population aging so rapidly, it is important that we find ways of treating skin conditions of elderly people – not just for purposes of vanity, but also for the healing of wounds and the reduction of ulcers,” says senior author Sewon Kang, M.D., professor of dermatology at the U-M Medical School.

This research serves as an important step forward in the understanding of how aging skin can be improved, researchers say.

Retinol lotion reduces the fine wrinkles from natural aging of skin, University of Michigan study finds

Wireless technology enables people to keep in touch wherever they are by transmitting text, pictures and voice. Often a cellphone is a lifesaver for someone stranded in a car that has broken down, or found themselves in some other emergency in which the cellphone is their only way to communicate their condition to those who can help.

Now at a medical center in Newark, NJ, wireless technology is being used to save lives of patients suffering a heart attack. A new system allows on-call cardiologists to receive ECGs on “smart phones” and be in touch directly with the paramedic on the scene. Before the patient has even arrived at the hospital, the cardiologist has seen the ECG and can instruct the paramedic on life-saving treatment. The ECG can even be sent to the hospital’s cath lab, and patients can be transported directly there, cutting down the door-to-balloon time, the time between arrival at the hospital and the initial inflation of an angioplasty balloon to open a blocked coronary artery.

“We have found a way to receive electrocardiograms from home, from another hospital, from our cars — anywhere we are,” said Vivek N. Dhruva, D.O., academic chief fellow in the Division of Cardiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ)-New Jersey Medical School, who presented the paper. “In only 4 months, we went from being in the bottom 10 percent of hospitals in the time to treatment of heart attack to being in the top 10 percent of hospitals.”

The current guideline for door-to-balloon time is 90 minutes. Using the wireless system, the UMDNJ is now averaging 73 minutes.

Transmitting ECGs to Cardiologists by Smart Phone Cuts Treatment Time in Half