Aging & Longevity

This study aimed to assess whether dietary nitrate supplementation with resistance training (RT) augments gait performance and functional mobility in inactive middle-aged and older adults. We hypothesized that combining nitrate-rich beetroot juice (BRJ) with RT would yield improvements in gait and functional mobility compared to RT with nitrate-depleted beetroot juice placebo (PLA) supplementation. In this 12-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot trial, 28 healthy, inactive...

Multimorbidity of cardiometabolic disease (CMD) and cancer is a growing but understudied global challenge in an aging world. Here, we perform multistate analysis in 429,555 UK Biobank participants to investigate transition patterns, identify multiomics signatures, and construct prediction models from baseline to single and multiple morbidities. During a median follow-up of 15 years, 105,903 participants develop single morbidity and 15,088 develop multimorbidity of CMD and cancer. Participants...

CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that targeted interventions are needed to promote physical activity and rural-urban disparities in healthy lifestyles should be addressed among the oldest-old Chinese.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia and cognitive impairment (CI) are major contributors to disability in older people, significantly reducing quality of life and imposing a substantial burden on healthcare systems. Sarcopenia accelerates cognitive decline through mechanisms such as chronic inflammation, mitochondrial dysfunction, and disruption of the muscle-brain axis. Conversely, CI impairs motor planning and daily functioning, further exacerbating muscle loss and physical deterioration. Previous studies...

Oxidative stress is a major driver of cardiovascular disease; however, the fast changes in cellular metabolism caused by short-lived reactive oxygen species (ROS) remain ill-defined. Here, we characterized changes in the endothelial cell metabolome in response to acute oxidative challenges and identified novel redox-sensitive metabolic enzymes. H(2)O(2) selectively increased the amount of α-ketoglutaramate (αKGM), a largely uncharacterized metabolite produced by glutamine transamination and an...

CONCLUSIONS: DS are common in later life and are frequently persistent. Minor DS often persist or worsen, underscoring their role as a key risk factor. Major DS frequently remits only partly. Early, targeted interventions could be informed by modifiable determinants that may also help to allocate scarce mental health resources effectively.

The growing epidemiological burden of multimorbidity among older adults underscores an urgent need to develop interventions that can address multiple age-related diseases (ARDs) at once. Yet, the biological mechanisms driving their co-occurrence remain poorly understood. In this study, we conducted a multivariate genome-wide association analysis to dissect the shared genetic architecture of five common ARDs: heart attack, high cholesterol, hypertension, stroke, and type 2 diabetes. We defined...

Aging is a complex biological process characterized by molecular changes across multiple biological scales. While these alterations have been extensively studied in humans and rodents, the molecular changes associated with aging in dogs remain underexplored despite their relevance as a model for human aging. In this study, we profiled gene expression (n = 16,273 genes) and protein abundance (n = 2041 proteins) in whole blood and blood plasma from 40 laboratory beagles across young (3-5 years...

Olfactory impairment is common in older age and is a known early feature of several dementia diseases. Blood-based biomarkers of Alzheimer's disease (AD) now offer a scalable method for detecting pathophysiological mechanisms related to olfactory decline in the general population. However, few studies have examined how these biomarkers relate to long-term olfactory trajectories. Most existing work has been limited to cross-sectional settings. In this population-based study, we used biomarker...

Decreased resting cerebral blood flow and cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) are important age-related factors associated with an increased risk of stroke or dementia. However, these declines may be exaggerated by a sedentary lifestyle or blunted by engaging in more aerobic-based physical activity. The objective of the present project was to explore differences in resting middle cerebral artery velocity (MCAv), CVR, moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA), light-intensity physical...

Aging significantly impacts motor performance, especially in multi-joint movement tasks where the nervous system needs to adequately coordinate mechanical interactions between joints. Effective coordination of multiple joints relies on intact feedforward control to predict movement dynamics in the initial phase of the movement, and on feedback control to fine-tune the execution in the final phase. The effect of aging on these specific control mechanisms remains controversial. Here, we...

CONCLUSIONS: Pair 2 Care may provide an innovative strategy to improve family caregiver health outcomes such as quality of life among Black caregivers of Black people living with dementia to promote health equity. As a next step, a fully powered trial is needed to determine Pair 2 Care intervention efficacy.

The global aging of the population, coupled with an increasing prevalence of sedentary lifestyle and overnutrition, is fueling an alarming rise in the worldwide obesity rates. Besides its well-known bodily consequences, obesity is increasingly recognized as a risk factor for cognitive impairment, dementia, mood disorders, and emotional distress, suggesting a possible role of adiposity in the pathogenesis of both neurodegeneration and neuropsychiatric diseases. Despite the growing research...

The etiopathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease (PD) remain poorly understood, particularly the roles of aging and the gut-brain axis. This study investigated the impact of aging on the development of PD hallmarks, including neurodegeneration and inflammation, in both the central (CNS) and enteric (ENS) nervous system of mice following exposure to 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP). Young (2-4 months) and adult (7-12 months) mice were treated with either saline or MPTP (four...

China’s rapidly aging population and evolving socio-economic landscape, particularly shifting gender roles, are reshaping traditional caregiving dynamics. However, limited research has examined the associations between caregiver gender and the functional and psychological health of older parents, particularly in the context of gender matching between caregivers and care recipients. This study addresses this gap by utilizing four waves of CLHLS data, employing a Logit model for estimation, and...

The significance of DNA hydroxymethylation in replicative senescence of mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) and aging-related osteoporosis remains unknown. Here, we reveal 5hmC levels positively regulate MSC self-renewal and osteoblast differentiation. Mechanistically, PARP1 recruits TET1 to hydrolyze methylated nucleotides on DNMT1 exons, aiding CTCF in preventing DNMT1 alternative splicing in early MSCs. Additionally, ATM phosphorylates TRIM37 at Th203, promoting its nuclear entry and the...

Epigenetic Clocks have been trained to predict chronological age, healthspan and lifespan. Such clocks are often analysed in relation to disease outcomes - typically using small datasets and a limited number of clocks. Here, we present a large-scale (n = 18,859), unbiased comparison of 14 widely used clocks as predictors of 174 incident disease outcomes and all-cause mortality over 10-years of follow up. Second- and third-generation clocks significantly outperform first-generation clocks, which...

The central nervous system, comprised of the brain, spinal cord, and nerves, includes the autonomic nervous system (ANS) that regulates involuntary functions. Within the ANS, the sympathetic and the parasympathetic nervous systems (SNS and PNS, respectively) control the same bodily functions, but in opposing directions. For example, the sympathetic nervous system elicits our "fight or flight" response, while the parasympathetic system supports "rest and repair" mechanisms in the broadest...

N6-methyladenosine (m⁶A) is the most prevalent RNA modification and plays diverse roles in mammalian cells. However, its significance in human trophoblast lineage commitment and placenta development remains poorly understood. Here we show that METTL3, the primary enzyme responsible for m⁶A depositions, specifically marks cytotrophoblasts in human placenta, and exhibits defective expression in cytotrophoblasts from preeclampsia patients. Through in-depth in vitro investigation, we identify...

Battery health often evolves from an initial regime of slow capacity decay to a fast decay regime, due to catastrophic electrochemical reactions to cause the battery failure. The signals of such failure, however, often emerge much earlier during cycling, an early detection of which may help prevent the failure through real-time adjustment of cycling procedures. Here we demonstrate the integration of machine learning module directly into electrochemical battery test stations to constantly detect...