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Women may be especially sensitive to the effects of common dementia risk factors, according to a new UC San Diego study of over 17,000 adults. Researchers say tailoring prevention strategies specifically for women could be key to reducing Alzheimer’s risk.

A newly identified enzyme called IDOL could become a major new target in the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers found that removing it from neurons sharply reduced amyloid plaques and improved key brain processes linked to resilience and communication between cells. The discovery may lead to future treatments that go beyond slowing Alzheimer’s — potentially helping protect the brain from further decline.

By restoring some functions to intact brains from deceased donors, the startup Bexorg hopes to create a better drug development test bed for neurodegenerative diseases

Researchers have developed a light-driven method for creating tiny, high-energy “housane” molecules that are valuable for drug development and materials science. These compact ring-shaped structures are difficult to produce because of the intense internal strain they contain. By using photocatalysis and carefully tuning the starting molecules, the team managed to guide the reaction into a clean and efficient pathway.

CONCLUSIONS: Observational analyses link diabetes and prediabetes to poorer balance performance, and genetic evidence supports an association between diabetes liability and increased fall risk.

Host-associated microbiomes are compositionally stable across most of the life span, yet undergo consistent and marked deterioration during aging, a phenomenon linked to metabolic dysfunction and disease. What drives this late-life collapse remains poorly understood, in part because the mechanisms by which hosts actively construct and maintain the microbial niche during adulthood remain incompletely characterized. This Unsolved Mystery integrates evidence from immunology and ecosystem ecology to...

The menstrual cycle is a rich yet underused source of physiological information. To address this, we developed an open-source tool called WAVES (women's health assessment through variability in endocrine-related signals) that leverages physiological signals to extract menstrual cycle metrics and facilitate biomarker discovery. We tested it on basal body temperature data from 5674 nonconceptive cycles from 753 participants aged 18 to 42 years. We identified multiple associations between aging and...

Age-related cataract (ARC) is a severe vision-impairing disorder primarily caused by oxidative stress-induced senescence and apoptosis of lens epithelial cells (LECs). In this study, a sodium selenite-induced oxidative stress cataract model in neonatal rats was established to simulate the pathological progression of ARC. We found that retinoic acid receptor-related orphan receptor α (RORA) exacerbates cellular senescence and oxidative damage by targeting prion protein (PRNP), and its...

Methionine restriction (MR) extends the lifespan and healthspan of numerous eukaryotic organisms, but the molecular mechanisms at play are unclear. Here we find that the ability of MR to extend the budding yeast chronological and replicative lifespans is the consequence of reduced methionine conversion to the methyl donor S-adenosylmethionine (SAM). Mechanistically, the key antiaging event downregulated by MR is the methylation of protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A). In chronological aging cells under...

Multimorbidity presents challenges for research and health care. We investigated how immune-proteins influence multiple diseases to identify shared mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities. Using eight large plasma proteome GWAS, we identified cis-acting variants for 151 immune-proteins and applied cis-Mendelian randomization to assess associations with 64 diseases and biomarkers. Protein-disease communities were derived using a knowledge graph integrating multiplicity-corrected associations,...

Transcranial ultrasound stimulation (TUS) is a promising noninvasive technique for modulating deep brain targets and circuits with high spatial precision. For its successful clinical translation, confirmation of target engagement, together with a deeper understanding of the effects of TUS, is essential. To advance these goals, we obtained direct measures of neural activity using electrodes implanted in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) during TUS of deep and...

Non-neuronal brain cells and systemic immunity play a central role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and other brain disorders. The immune system, initially protective, becomes dysfunctional as the disease progresses. Here, we discuss next-generation therapeutic approaches aimed at treating the immune system rather than the brain to combat AD and other neurodegenerative diseases.

The assembly of tau into amyloid filaments is associated with more than 20 neurodegenerative diseases, collectively termed tauopathies. Electron cryo-microscopy (cryo-EM) structures of brain-derived tau filaments revealed that specific structures define different diseases, triggering a quest for the development of experimental model systems that replicate the structures of disease. Here, we describe 12 phosphomimetic serine/threonine-to-aspartate mutations in tau, which we term PAD12, that...

CONCLUSION: It was found that nursing interventions in the observational group, compared to the control group, significantly improved satisfaction rates and alleviate complication rates. These findings suggest that various nursing intervention programs can effectively enhance rehabilitation outcomes in older patients following fractures.

CONCLUSIONS: The total IC score and components of each domain were associated with the risk of falls and functional decline after 5 years.

CONCLUSION: Community based intergenerational project offer a promising approach to address social isolation and promote well-being in elderly individuals while also enhancing intergenerational connections and community resilience.

Intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a neurological disorder characterized by a high mortality rate for which there is currently no definitive cure. Research has demonstrated that adipose-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) exhibit considerable potential in treating ICH. However, the advanced age of ICH patients and the necessary cell expansion before transplantation therapy could result in the senescence of ASCs, thereby compromising their viability and therapeutic efficacy. This study aims to...

CONCLUSION: This study identifies SP1 and SEPHS2 as key genes linking selenium to brain aging, providing new insights into the role of selenium in brain aging and suggesting that these genes may represent potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for brain aging and aging-related brain disorders.