Dr. Augustine DiGiovanna Presented at Association for Gerontology in Higher Education

SALISBURY, MD-- Dr. Augustine G. DiGiovanna, professor of biology in the Richard A. Henson School of Science and Technology at Salisbury University, recently provided two presentations on aging at the annual meeting of the Association for Gerontology in Higher Education (AGHE), which was held in Pittsburgh.

First, DiGiovanna participated in the formal debate, "Extending Life Span: Pros and Cons." In the debate, two proponents argued that using procedures that increase human life span would result in a higher quality of human life for most of the world's population. Two opponents argued that the price of increasing human life span would be the universal erosion of the quality of all life on Earth. DiGiovanna presented the second of the two opponents' arguments.

In a second symposium, "Diseases of Old Age," DiGiovanna explained the most recent hypotheses, research information, and clinical therapies for osteoarthritis and for rheumatoid arthritis. Using illustrations, he outlined factors that contribute to these diseases plus the effects from and treatments for these diseases.

Both symposia are being supplemented by Web pages prepared by DiGiovanna with input from his colleagues. The

Web pages will remain as aids to students, faculty and others interested in these topics. The Web pages are part of DiGiovanna's Web site for his book on aging, Human Aging: Biological Perspectives. The Web addresses are http://www.biologyofhumanaging.com/Pitt/Longevity and http://www.biologyofhumanaging.com/Pitt/Diseases. For more information about aging of the body, go to http://www.biologyofhumanaging.com/.

DiGiovanna's trip was funded by the Biology Department, the SU Faculty Development Committee and the SU Foundation, Inc.