Hormone Therapy: Aging-Related Hormone Replacement Therapy and Supplementation.

Given their association with aging, growth hormone (GH), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), and melatonin (N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine) have been evaluated as potential antiaging treatments. It has been hypothesized that declining endocrine function, specifically the decreases in hormone production and secretion seen with aging, plays a role in development of frailty. This physiologic decrease in hormone levels differs from a pathologic decrease due to a condition or disease. However, the signs and symptoms can be similar. Hormone replacement therapy is a well-established treatment for many conditions, but its role in the healthy aging process remains unclear. Off-label use of these hormones has shown some short-term benefits, such as improved body composition, mood, neurocognition, and sexual function and decreased oxidative stress. However, there are no recommendations for routine measurement of these hormone levels or for hormone replacement therapy because of a lack of high-quality evidence. Long-term studies are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of GH, DHEA, and melatonin if they are to be used as antiaging therapies.

Separation of Church and Trait: Trait Death Anxiety is Universal, Distressing, and Unbuffered by Worldview in Emerging Adults.

We begin with a review of death anxiety in emerging adults and then report on a descriptive survey study using the Revised Livingston-Zimet Death Anxiety Scale (RLZDAS). Research questions dealt with the RLZDAS' factor structure, demographic patterns, and hypothesized correlations with distress and religiosity/spirituality. We surveyed university-enrolled emerging adults (n = 706). Findings included a 3-factor solution on the RLZDAS (cognitive, repressive, and affective) and no appreciable relationships with demographic factors. Clinical symptomatology was correlated with death anxiety (r = .40), particularly cognitive death anxiety (r = .45), especially in non-believers (r = .58). Religiosity/spirituality did not buffer death anxiety, and some components were actually positively correlated. We argue that death anxiety in emerging adults is multidimensional, clinically relevant, and relatively universal and that broad notions of worldview/belief are not necessarily protective factors.