"The Third Age": Aspects Of Understanding

Nowadays social problems of elderly people or so-called people of "the third age", their social status and their place in modern society, issues of well-being and satisfaction with life are particularly relevant in Russia. In this article the authors propose the approach to the study of elderly people wellbeing issues and to the determination of social status of elderly people in various societies from the perspective of social gerontology. In this article the authors present the study of intangible factors, accompanying an elderly person during this period of life. The authors propose the insight into the ways of overcoming the negative characteristics of ageing period, through the creation of conditions for new social relations formation. In modern world, old age is being understood by humanity as the age, which hides large reserves and great potential. The authors highlight the need to learn how to recognize new value orientations in surrounding society as well as in one's personality. In this regard the support rendered by family and the people of the same age group, surrounding an elderly person, is the most significant aspect in making this period of life happier and more meaningful. Thus, old age is the phenomenon of more social than physical nature as the psychological development continues up to old age

Conventional Anti-glioblastoma Chemotherapy Affects Proteoglycan Composition of Brain Extracellular Matrix in Rat Experimental Model in vivo

Temozolomide (TMZ) is a conventional chemotherapy drug for adjuvant treatment of glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), often accompanied by dexamethasone (DXM) to prevent brain oedema and alleviate clinical side effects. Here, we aimed to investigate an ability of the drugs to affect normal brain tissue in terms of proteoglycan (PG) composition/content in experimental rat model in vivo. Age- and brain zone-specific transcriptional patterns of PGs were demonstrated for 8, 60, and 120 days old rats, and syndecan-1, glypican-1, decorin, biglycan, and lumican were identified as the most expressed PGs. DXM treatment affected both PG core proteins expression (mainly syndecan-1, glypican-1, decorin, biglycan, lumican, versican, brevican, and NG2) and heparan sulphate (HS)/chondroitin sulphate (CS) content in organotypic brain slice culture ex vivo and experimental animals in vivo in a dose-dependent manner. TMZ treatment did not result in the significant changes in PG core proteins expression both in normal rat brain hippocampus and cortex in vivo (although generics did), but demonstrated significant effects onto polysaccharide HS/CS content in the brain tissue. The effects were age- and brain zone-specific and similar with the age-related PGs expression changes in rat brain. Combination of TMZ with DXM resulted in the most profound deterioration in PGs composition and content in the brain tissue both at core protein and glycosaminoglycan levels. Taken together, the obtained results demonstrate that conventional anti-glioblastoma therapy affects proteoglycan structure and composition in normal brain tissue, potentially resulting in deterioration of brain extracellular matrix and formation of the favourable tumorigenic niche for the expansion of the residual glioma cells. During the TMZ chemotherapy, dose and regimen of DXM treatment matter, and repetitive low DXM doses seem to be more sparing treatment compared with high DXM dose(s), which should be avoided where possible, especially in combination with TMZ