Aging & Longevity

CONCLUSIONS: This study revealed that nutritional status is independently associated with quality of life in older adults, independent of strong psychosocial determinants. Although depression, frailty, and loneliness were dominant predictors, the independent contribution of nutritional status suggests that nutritional assessment and interventions could be considered as an integral part of geriatric care. The findings highlight the potential role of comprehensive care models that combine...

CONCLUSIONS: Mutual aid among older residents was neither uniform across districts nor fixed over time. Rather, it was shaped by district-specific relational infrastructures and reconfigured through age-related changes in health, mobility, and everyday routines. Community interventions should therefore be tailored to the relational infrastructure already present in each district and should support modest, repeatable opportunities for reciprocal contact and gentle monitoring.

CONCLUSION: The present study highlights the substantial burden of malnutrition among older individuals. Two-thirds of the individuals were either at risk of developing malnutrition or had already developed malnutrition. As none of the sociodemographic factors were found to be associated, qualitative studies are needed to explore the various other reasons for developing malnutrition.

ObjectivesSocial security benefits are associated with better psychological health among older adults in resource-limited settings, yet the mechanisms underlying this association remain underexplored. We examined the role of healthcare accessibility in the relation between social security benefits and psychological health among older adults in Tanzania.MethodsWe analyzed cross-sectional data from a 2024 survey of Tanzanian adults aged 60 and above (n = 2,012) in four geographic zones. We...

All animals age. However, aging is a heterogeneous process, and individual organisms age differently. Moreover, within the same organism, cells or organs do not age at the same speed. For instance, neurodegeneration, a hallmark of aging, generally manifests later than other peripheral aging signs. The genetic determinants of aging are not completely understood. Gain-of-function (GoF) mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2^(GoF)) are major genetic risk factors for Parkinson's disease...

The RAD18 (E3) ubiquitin ligase, a key DNA damage tolerance regulator that also functions in DNA double-strand break repair, is overexpressed in the brain cancer glioblastoma. Here, we show that RAD18 promotes glioblastoma cell proliferation in the absence of exogenous damage, independently of its catalytic activity. RAD18 downregulation arrests glioblastoma cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, leading to senescence onset, with no apparent increase in DNA damage. We also show that RAD18...

Innate immune memory (trained immunity) is mediated by epigenetic and metabolic reprogramming of innate immune cells and hematopoietic progenitors, enabling altered responses to subsequent challenges. Mechanistically conserved across eukaryotes, trained immunity in mammals operates as a dynamically regulated, life-phase-specific system. The demands and constraints on innate immune memory shift across the life span: from tolerogenic programming and maternal immune transfer in fetal and neonatal...

Postovulatory oocyte aging (POA) is a key factor contributing to the decline in female fertility and the success rate of assisted reproductive technology. Currently, most studies on POA have focused on downstream phenotypes such as mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress, while little is known about its key upstream regulatory factors. Here, we show that the downregulation of transcription factor Early Growth Response 1 (EGR1) is a key upstream event driving porcine oocyte aging....

CONCLUSIONS: Our study offers a new understanding of how the community environment may influence older people's support behaviors. Findings suggest that social cohesion and social belonging play distinct roles in relation to support provision among older people. Practices aimed at facilitating mutual support and well-being may need to take specific roles of different dimensions of community environment into account.

The intestine is one of the first organs to show signs of aging, including cellular changes, microbiota shifts, and reduced regenerative capacity. The different components of the gut-such as the epithelium (which is directly exposed to a diverse array of host-microbe interactions), the microbiota itself, and the underlying enteric nervous system-likely contribute to aging in distinct ways. Understanding their individual and interactive roles is key to elucidating the mechanisms of intestinal...

CONCLUSIONS: Heterogeneity among the homebound older adult population shapes care needs that in turn influence utilization patterns. Understanding these dynamics is crucial to targeting interventions like home-based primary care to the highest risk groups while tailoring care to individual needs.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1476909.].

Sexuality in older age remains a taboo subject. Little is known about the perceptions and experiences of healthcare professionals when addressing this topic with older adults. This systematic review, registered in PROSPERO, aims to understand the perceptions, practices, and recommendations of healthcare professionals in primary and hospital care regarding the approach to sexuality and sexual health in older people. The 17 selected studies, conducted in six countries, show that physicians and...

A paradoxical inverse correlation between cancer and Alzheimer’s disease has been repeatedly observed in epidemiological studies. While cancer and Alzheimer’s disease share common risk factors, most notably aging, the risk of Alzheimer’s disease in patients with cancer is significantly reduced, and the risk of cancer in patients with Alzheimer’s disease is halved. The convergence of two distinct disciplines, cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, offers an exciting and untapped opportunity to generate...

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Although HCBS availability varies across sites and regions, veterans' access also depends on VA staff time to conduct outreach, foster collaborations, and coordinate HCBS with internal and external partners. Understanding and disseminating effective strategies to strengthen veterans' HCBS access is vital as the need for HCBS continues to grow nationally.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Clinical complexity, disability, and social vulnerabilities were associated with greater volumes of skilled home health provision from nurses and therapists from 2011 to 2015. Our results highlight care needs that may be underaddressed and inequities that may be exacerbated under current home health provisions.

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: This study demonstrates that even a single fall can signal a significant shift in the health and functional trajectories of community-dwelling older people, reinforcing the need for proactive and coordinated prevention strategies.

There is great interest in characterizing the activities or lifestyle factors that are important for successful aging; nevertheless, rigorous investigations using multimodal neuroimaging measures in conjunction with validated measures of activities are underrepresented in the literature. To address this gap, we assessed whether engagement in complex mental activities across early, middle, and late life, is associated with metrics of brain health in a sample of cognitively unimpaired older adults...

Neural plasticity and memory mechanisms progressively change during pathological aging. This study aimed to identify patterns of structural covariance across Alzheimer's disease (AD) stages and their relationship with episodic memory performance. Fifty-nine AD patients, 59 patients with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (a-MCI), 46 individuals with Subjective Cognitive Decline (SCD), and 49 Healthy Controls (HC) underwent neuropsychological assessment, including verbal episodic memory tests...

Hematopoietic stem cells integrate local and systemic cues to sustain blood homeostasis. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Tian et al.¹ uncover a stress-responsive brain-gut-bone marrow axis that drives aging-like dysfunction of hematopoietic stem cells.