Gambling and Aging: An Overview of a Risky Behavior

Gambling is a field of study that has grown since the 2000s. Much research has focused on adolescents and youth as a vulnerable population. The rate of aging gamblers is increasing; however, evidence-based knowledge of this population is still too sparse. After introducing the issue (1), this article provides a narrative review of older adults’ gambling through three sections: (2) older adult gamblers (age, characteristics, and motivations), (3) gambling as a risky decision-making situation, and (4) gambling disorder related to older adults. By drawing on the existing literature from a problematization perspective, this type of review can highlight complex and original research topics and provoke thought and controversy to generate avenues for future research. This narrative review provides an overview of the existing literature on gambling among older adults and offers perspectives on how aging can affect decision-making and thus gambling for this population. Older adults are a specific population, not only in terms of the consequences of gambling disorders but also in terms of the motivations and cognitions underlying gambling behaviors. Studies on behavioral science focusing on decision-making in older adults could help in the development of public policy in terms of targeted prevention

Older Adult Gamblers

Gambling is a widespread leisure activity with an international prevalence from 26.6 to 85.6 percent. Health, social and economic impacts of a such phenomenon need to be studied. The aging of the population remains a major societal challenge. Scientific research has therefore to provide insights regarding how to age healthy in all areas. Gambling is not immune, given that the prevalence of gambling disorder is increasing among older adults. This entry provides an overview of older gamblers: from the age, characteristics and motivations of older gamblers

Cytotoxicity screening of Bangladeshi medicinal plant extracts on pancreatic cancer cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There has been a long standing interest in the identification of medicinal plants and derived natural products for developing cancer therapeutics. Our study focuses upon pancreatic cancer, due to its high mortality rate, that is attributed in part to the lack of an effective chemotherapeutic agent. Previous reports on the use of medicinal plant extracts either alone or alongside conventional anticancer agents in the treatment of this cancer have shown promising results. This work aims to investigate the therapeutic properties of a library of medicinal plants from Bangladesh.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>56 extracts of 44 unique medicinal plants were studied. The extracts were screened for cytotoxicity against the pancreatic adenocarcinoma cell line Panc-1, using a label-free biosensor assay. The top cytotoxic extracts identified in this screen were tested on two additional pancreatic cancer cell lines (Mia-Paca2 and Capan-1) and a fibroblast cell line (Hs68) using an MTT proliferation assay. Finally, one of the most promising extracts was studied using a caspase-3 colorimetric assay to identify induction of apoptosis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Crude extracts of <it>Petunia punctata, Alternanthera sessilis</it>, and <it>Amoora chittagonga </it>showed cytotoxicity to three cancer cell lines with IC₅₀values ranging between 20.3 - 31.4 μg/mL, 13.08 - 34.9 μg/mL, and 42.8 - 49.8 μg/mL, respectively. Furthermore, treatment of Panc-1 cells with <it>Petunia punctata </it>was shown to increase caspase-3 activity, indicating that the observed cytotoxicity was mediated via apoptosis. Only <it>Amoora chittagonga </it>showed low cytotoxicity to fibroblast cells with an IC₅₀value > 100 μg/mL.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Based upon the initial screening work reported here, further studies aimed at the identification of active components of these three extracts and the elucidation of their mechanisms as cancer therapeutics are warranted.</p