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Water droplets set off a chemical cascade that tells a plant it’s time to blossom, new study finds

Synaptic Plasticity pertains to the synapse's tendency to adapt fresh information and is a crucial step in the establishment of brain circuits that aid in memory formation. It has become one of the most intensively researched topics in all of neuroscience. Pieces of evidence are accumulating that synaptopathy (altered synaptic plasticity) mechanisms contribute to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Parkinson's disease (PD). Toxins responsible for synaptopathy and aberrant neurotransmitter (NT) release...

This review synthesizes three decades of evidence regarding the role of cytochrome P450 enzymes (CYPs) in Parkinson's disease (PD), revealing their multifaceted roles beyond traditional pesticide metabolism. While CYP2D6 remains the most studied enzyme due to its association with PD risk in poor metabolizer phenotypes and its dual role in dopamine (DA) synthesis (directly via tyramine hydroxylation and indirectly through precursor demethylation), recent research has highlighted less-studied CYPs...

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Age-related obesity is a growing public health concern linked to various metabolic disorders, yet its underlying mechanisms remain incompletely understood. Here we report that S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR), a pivotal denitrosation enzyme, increases in adipose tissue of both male mice and humans from middle-age. GSNOR knockout protects against age-related weight gain and enhances metabolism, whereas adipose-specific GSNOR knock-in mice promotes obesity and metabolic decline. Further...

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Aging impairs immune function and reduces vaccine efficacy, but whether dendritic cells (DCs), which play a central role in initiating immune responses via antigen presentation, contribute to this decline remains unclear. Through single-cell RNA sequencing analysis of lymph node changes upon vaccination in young versus aged mice, here we identify defects in DC migration during aging, alongside a dysfunction-associated gene signature in migratory DCs, and implicate these defects in the diminished...

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CONCLUSIONS: We classified the motion patterns of older adults during diaper wearing. Our results provide fundamental insights into appropriate care and rehabilitation interventions. Furthermore, these findings inform further hypothesis-driven research on diaper-wearing kinematics and support the development of effective strategies to enhance independence diaper use in older adults.

The aging process is predominantly influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Environmental factors that accelerate biological aging, known as gerontogens, increase organismal vulnerability and susceptibility to disease, thereby elevating the risks of multiple aging-related disease onset and mortality. However, there is a notable deficiency in effective biomarkers for predicting aging-related phenotypes accelerated by gerontogens. Melatonin and cortisol serve as markers of the circadian...

The growing ageing population presents significant challenges for healthcare systems, particularly in monitoring age-related physiological decline. Ageing is a complex, multifactorial process that manifests without specific symptoms and is shaped by lifestyle, environmental exposures, diet, and underlying health conditions. Identifying reliable biomarkers of ageing could enable early interventions, improve prognostic accuracy, and reduce healthcare burdens. One promising avenue is exhaled breath...

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Although interest in biomarkers of biological aging is growing, consensus on reliable, non-invasive indicators remains limited. Endotrophin, a bioactive fragment released during collagen type VI formation, reflects fibroblast activation and extracellular matrix remodeling and has been linked to chronic diseases, metabolic dysfunction, and inflammation. Whether circulating endotrophin also captures aging-related phenotypes and mortality risk in older adults remains unclear. We quantified serum...

Parkinson's disease (PD) shows substantial variability in presentation and progression. Frailty, a multidimensional construct reflecting biological aging, is a determinant of clinical outcomes in several neurodegenerative disorders. While cross-sectional studies suggest that frailty modulates the clinical phenotype of PD, affecting motor and non-motor symptoms, its longitudinal prognostic relevance remains unclear. In this 3-year, single-center cohort study, we investigated whether frailty,...

CONCLUSION: ALI may provide a quantitative measure of cumulative physiological stress burden and appears to be independently associated with cognitive impairment in populations at high risk for stroke. The waist-to-height ratio was identified as a particularly informative component of ALI. These findings suggest the potential utility of integrating ALI into risk assessment frameworks for early identification and prevention of stroke-related cognitive impairment.

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Normative models are increasingly used to characterize individual-level brain deviations in neuroimaging studies, but their performance depends heavily on the reference sample used for training or adaptation. In this study, we systematically investigated how sample size and covariate composition of the reference cohort influence model fit, deviation estimates, and clinical readouts in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using a discovery dataset (OASIS-3, n = 1032), we trained models on healthy control...

Normative models are increasingly used to characterize individual-level brain deviations in neuroimaging studies, but their performance depends heavily on the reference sample used for training or adaptation. In this study, we systematically investigated how sample size and covariate composition of the reference cohort influence model fit, deviation estimates, and clinical readouts in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Using a discovery dataset (OASIS-3, n = 1032), we trained models on healthy control...

Women and children were executed in an elaborate prehistoric ritual

New anatomical research reveals the one trick all ponies know