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CONCLUSIONS: Living arrangement, social activity and residence were the most significant factors associated with the types of LTC utilization by older adults in China. Overall, enabling and predisposing factors had a greater influence than the need factors. These findings not only demonstrate the potential value of ML for LTC policy development, but also provide empirical support for the Chinese government to adopt targeted interventions that enhance LTC service accessibility and affordability.

Transcription factor (TF) modules interact to regulate key biological processes and cell-state transitions in normal physiology and disease. Understanding these modules and how they evolve over time can be accomplished by constructing gene regulatory networks (GRNs). To identify context-specific TF subnetworks, we developed ChEA-KG, which generates enriched TF regulatory subnetworks for input gene sets. ChEA-KG is based on a GRN connecting 1559 human TFs via 131 181 signed and directed edges...

Researchers discovered that leucine, a nutrient found in protein-rich foods, can supercharge mitochondria by protecting crucial energy-producing proteins inside cells. The breakthrough uncovers a powerful new link between diet and cellular energy — with possible implications for cancer and metabolic disease treatments.

MIT scientists have identified cysteine — an amino acid found in foods like meat, dairy, beans, and nuts — as a potent trigger for intestinal repair. In mice, a cysteine-rich diet activated immune cells that released healing signals, helping stem cells rebuild damaged intestinal tissue after radiation exposure. Researchers say the discovery could eventually lead to new dietary therapies for cancer patients suffering from treatment-related gut damage.

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.

Chronic neuroinflammation, primarily driven by microglia, is a hallmark and key contributor to Alzheimer's disease (AD) progression. O-GlcNAcylation, a nutrient-sensitive post-translational modification, has emerged as a key regulator of cellular stress and inflammation, yet its role in microglial activation in AD remains unclear. We observed that hippocampal tissue from AD patients exhibits a marked reduction in O-GlcNAcylation, accompanied by enhanced pro-inflammatory M1 microglial...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by cognitive decline and synaptic dysfunction. Among the earliest regions affected is the retrosplenial cortex (RSC), where parvalbumin-expressing (PV + ) interneurons are particularly susceptible to AD-related pathology. To understand the molecular alterations within these vulnerable neurons we employed a dual-platform spatial transcriptomics approach, integrating GeoMx Digital Spatial Profiler (DSP) and Xenium...

Once tau aggregates are formed, their neurotoxicity significantly contributes to neuronal death and cognitive decline in tauopathies, with Alzheimer's disease being the most well-known example. Despite its central pathogenic role, however, effective therapeutic strategies targeting the neurotoxicity of tau remain poor. Here we demonstrate the pathogenic role of neuronal cell death in tau-related neurodegeneration (PS19 mouse model). Tau-expressing neurons undergo cell death through Z-DNA-binding...

Cellular senescence induced by internal and external stimuli features stable cell cycle arrest and SASP, closely linked to aging and various age-related diseases. It is accompanied by lipid metabolism disorders and epigenetic abnormalities, which interact closely to modulate senescence. This review summarizes their crosstalk in senescence and relevant diseases, aiming to offer new insights and therapeutic targets for alleviating cellular senescence and treating age-related diseases.

Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) continuously renew the gut epithelium by producing specialised cell types, yet the mechanisms that couple ISC renewal with lineage commitment remain poorly characterised. Here, we identify a self-limiting transcriptional program, mediated by the zinc-finger transcription factor Chronophage (Cph), that promotes both ISC maintenance and differentiation into enteroendocrine (EE) cells in the Drosophila midgut. Cph expression is transiently induced by the proneural...

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Telomere capping largely depends on telomere length. Abnormally short telomeres are prone to activate DNA damage checkpoint, undergo unscheduled chromosomal fusions through nonhomologous end-joining (NHEJ) and be resected. All these processes are mediated by the Mre11-Rad50-Xrs2^(NBS1) (MRX^(MRN)) complex. The response to telomere length is thought to correlate with the number of DNA-bound telomeric proteins but the mechanisms translating this number into functional protection remain unclear....

Recent work leveraging omics and imaging data now enables the estimation of aging at the level of individual organs. Emerging findings suggest that organs age at different rates, which may be linked to environmental exposures and genetic factors. However, premature aging in one organ may also drive aging in connected organs within multi-organ aging networks. Here, we outline methods for measuring organ-specific biological age and discuss insights derived from recent progress in multi-organ aging...

Biological age may provide a more informative metric of individual physiological function and life expectancy, compared to chronological age. Proteomic aging clocks are predictive models trained using high-dimensional proteomic data to quantify biological age. Owing to the central biological role of proteins and their established clinical utility as druggable targets and prognostic biomarkers, proteomics is particularly promising for the assessment of aging. In this Review, we provide an...

Aging impairs coordinated organelle dynamics essential for lipid metabolism, causing a decline in intracellular metabolic flexibility. However, the drivers of organelle collapse and their temporal order remain unclear. Here we identify peroxisomal function as a critical regulator of metabolic flexibility during youth and low-energy states. Using Caenorhabditis elegans, we show that fasting robustly induces peroxisomal function in youth, whereas this response is blunted during aging. Loss of...