Body shape affects memory in older women

A woman's body shape may play a role in how good her memory is, according to a new study.
The more an older woman weighs, the worse her memory, according to research released this week from Northwestern Medicine at Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois.
The effect is more pronounced in women who carry excess weight around their hips, known as pear shapes, than women who carry it around their waists, called apple shapes.
The reason pear-shaped women experienced more memory and brain function deterioration than apple-shaped women is likely related to the type of fat deposited around the hips versus the waist.
Scientists know that different kinds of fat release different cytokines -- the hormones that can cause inflammation and affect cognition.
"We need to find out if one kind of fat is more detrimental than the other, and how it affects brain function," said Dr. Diana Kerwin, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of medicine and a physician at Northwestern Medicine. "The fat may contribute to the formation of plaques associated with Alzheimer's disease or a restricted blood flow to the brain."
The study published in Wednesday's Journal of the American Geriatric Society said, on average, there is a one-point drop in the memory score for every one-point increase in body-mass index -- a ratio of a person's height and weight. The study included 8,745 cognitively normal, post-menopausal women ages 65 to 79.
"Obesity is bad, but its effects are worse depending on where the fat is located," Kerwin said.

"The study tells us if we have a woman in our office, and we know from her waist-to-hip ratio that she's carrying excess fat on her hips, we might be more aggressive with weight loss," Kerwin said. "We can't change where your fat is located, but having less of it is better."

MEET DAPHNE SELFE, 83, THE WORLD’S OLDEST SUPERMODEL

Daphne Selfe likes sugar in her tea, cake with it, biscuits, Downton 
Abbey and raising money for her local church. She has a son, two 
daughters and four grandchildren. Daphne Selfe doesn’t like 
playing 
bridge, or sitting around. She also wears a black leather jacket 

without looking ridiculous, and has been working as a model for 63 
years. In the past two years she has been on assignments in Paris, 
Prague, Berlin, Beijing, Ibiza, South Africa and more. She is, to be 
fair, a little bemused: “What’s going on? Perhaps this is my swan 
song.” It seems unlikely, although she does have “certain 
limitations”, such as being unable to wear high heels now, unlike, as 
she acknowledges, the Queen.

“She’s amazing,” says Daphne Selfe. “She looks even better than 
when she was younger.” Which might also be said of Daphne 
Selfe, 
who got her big break when she was working at a Reading 
department store in 1950 after her ambition to work with horses 
had suffered a setback, and “Mummy said <<you just can’t sit 
around>>.”First it was a local magazine cover, and then she was 
off to London: “Mummy thought that was a lot better than 
horses…less dangerous, to some extent, or perhaps dangerous in 
a 
different way.”

Daphne Selfe has a twinkle and an accent of a type – somewhere 

between Fenella Fielding and Joanna Lumley – heard less often 

now than then (her father was a schoolmaster who read Greek in 

bed for fun). London and modelling in the early Fifties, 

though, “wasn’t anything special. There were no supermodels, it 

wasn’t talked about much at all…I wasn’t nearly as successful in 

my 20s, I didn’t get anything really exciting.”

Daphne Selfe married Jim, a television stage manager, produced 

three children, and returned to modelling in the Sixties.

“But they didn’t like me. I wasn’t the right type: Twiggy and Jean 

Shrimpton had the blonde fringe, I was dark with wavy hair, much 

more classic, really. I didn’t fit in at all. But I did do a lot of what 

they call store modelling, wearing somebody’s clothes and 

walking   round the restaurant.”

And so her career continued, supplemented by any number of appearances as a television and film extra, and arriving, in a stately 

way, in the early Nineties, at an advertisement for Stannah Stairlifts 

– “first floor, please, Stan!” Work became more difficult, as she 

was caring for Jim after he’d had a stroke. Then, in 1998, the year 

after Jim’s death, came her great rediscovery, at the age of 70, when she was hired by Red or Dead for a London Fashion Week show.

Suddenly, Daphne Selfe was in Vogue, “which I’d given up dreaming about years ago…I was very surprised, extraordinarily surprised…70 was very unusual for a model…I’ve been very lucky, the camera likes me.”

She was 5ft 7 and 10 stone (“a big strapping horsey girl!”) when she started; she is 5ft 6 and 8 stone now. She exercises “most days”. She has always had energy, doesn’t get jetlag and loves doing new things, a trait she clearly shares with her son, who has been, inter alia, a banker and an explorer, and now teaches yoga in India. One of her daughters sculpts; the other has been a ferociously keen sky-diver.

Daphne Selfe has modelled for Mario Testino, Mary McCartney and Rankin, who told her that the difference between her and younger models was that they had nothing behind their eyes because they had no experience. Or, as Daphne puts it, “The reason why I’ve lasted so long is because I’m not quite as thick as some…you have to bring an element of intelligence to any job, that’s what sustains you and the people you work with.”

And, “You’ve got to take rejection. I go to lots of auditions, and you only get one out of several, that’s how it is. It’s not necessarily your fault, it’s what they’re looking for, and if you don’t fit the bill, it’s nothing to do with how good or bad you are. That’s quite difficult for young girls to get used to. But I’m old and sensible – or insensible now – so I don’t worry about it, and on to the next one.” With that, she was off home to watch Sir David 

Attenborough, 85.

PHILLIPINES HELP MY FAMILY TO JOIN THROUGH FACEBOOK

On November 8, Typhoon Yolanda internationally known as Haiyan, ripped through the central Visayas region of the Philippines. A smaller island in Cebu Province known as Bantayan Island was nearly completely devastated. The island holds special significance in the hearts of my family, so we quickly pulled together to organize relief efforts by creating a Facebook Page: Bangon Bantayanons. (Ba-Ngoon Bun-ty-ya-noons), which translates to “rise up Bantayan people” in the dialect of Cebuano.
My cousin Gail Roska had an idea of creating a Facebook Page dedicated to help the island of Bantayan, which is where our grandparents spent their childhood. Immediately after the storm’s landfall, she got on her computer and started adding cousins, as well as our parents, to manage the page. There are at least 15 of us consistently checking on the Page in order to provide the latest news and information about Bantayan, to coordinate volunteers and donations and even post photos and videos our “ground team” has taken of the devastation.
There’s Gail, her husband Terence, along with her sister Kate, cousins Jaja, Ian, Noelle, Merryl, JP, Carla and their parents based in Cebu City. Our cousin Julie is in Manila. My sister Tyra, our mother and I, along with cousins Erika, Cathy and Anne spread throughout California. Marcia and Mark live in New Jersey. We take shifts so one side of the globe can sleep, while others who are awake frequently check the Page to address any concerns or updates. Our other relatives may not be behind the computer screen, but are working on the front lines with other tasks.

We are from Cebu. To this day the Roska family continues the tradition of visiting Bantayan throughout the year. We have many relatives and friends still living on the island until now. In fact, in the town of Santa Fe, there is a street named after our great-grandfather Francisco Mansueto Roska. He and his wife Apolonia Causing Roska raised their children — our grandparents — for a period of time in Bantayan. My grandpa Cesar, his father and brothers fought in WWII, and miraculously all but Francis survived.
Our beloved nanny Meriam also lives on Bantayan Island. Her father was the overseer of Francisco and Apolonia’s properties. Thankfully, through Facebook posts, we learned that our family and friends are all right, but their homes were significantly, or completely, damaged.
Our main priority now is to provide immediate relief to Bantayan by collecting, repacking and delivering donations of food, water, medical supplies and hygiene items. Over a week has passed and people are still without basic necessities. Evacuation centers are overcrowding. Buildings, homes and structures are completely flattened or severely destroyed. Fishing boats have all been destroyed completely, or have had significant damage, as has the Sante Fe port, making it difficult to get there with relief goods. One local resident who has worked with our family for most of her life tells us that money is useless because there is nothing left in the stores. There are no materials to fix roofs, or repair and build boats. They have been sleeping under a tarp for the past week. As a result, they developed skin conditions because they are unable to change into a dry set of clothes. More than anything, these people need food and water.
My family has been raising funds and awareness so that the Cebu-based team can quickly buy more supplies for distribution. Our “command center” where donations can be dropped off is actually the home of my late grandparents Col. Cesar and Julita Roska. We’ve collaborated our efforts with the local government units, agencies and have raised over $4,500 in less than one week and gotten more than 4,400 likes on our Page. Just this weekend we distributed nearly 2,000 packs of food and other necessities to people on the island.

There is still an overwhelming need in Bantayan and we know the recovery process will be a long one. Local government estimates it will take three to six months until electricity is fully back to normal, and there is much to rebuild and repair. But the generosity and spirit we have seen from donors, volunteers and strangers around the globe gives us hope.
During such a tragic time for the Filipino people, we are overwhelmingly thankful to have a platform like Facebook to reach others around the world to help us. It keeps us feeling like we are together even though we are thousands of miles apart. I have not seen my cousins in the Philippines in the last five years. It is an amazing feeling that we have reunited and worked so closely as a team. We hold our “meetings” to discuss relevant matters and divide up tasks through Facebook group messages. Believe me, that chat thread is a long one!
My family continues to carry on the tradition of our great-grandparents, grandparents and parents by being there for the Bantayan people, as they have been for us. We are proud to be Filipino. We are proud to be American. Our own families were spared and are proud to have been given the privilege of touching the Bantayan people. That is why the Page is called "Bangon Bantayanons" because we are going to stand together and help the people of Bantayan, the island our grandparents once called home.