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Background Minor and major neurocognitive disorders, depression, and anxiety are common in older adults. The brain and specifically the aging brain, relies heavily on oxygen and is highly sensitive to reductions in oxygen availability. Hypoxia occurs during both acute and prolonged exposure to altitude. While the negative effects of very low oxygen levels at high altitudes (above 3500 m) on cognition and symptoms of depression as well as anxiety are well-documented, we propose that moderate...

Germline genetic architecture of Alzheimer's disease (AD) indicates microglial mechanisms of disease susceptibility and outcomes. However, the mechanisms enabling protective microglial responses remain elusive. Here, we investigate the role of microglial ADGRG1, an adhesion G-protein-coupled receptor (aGPCR) specifically expressed in yolk-sac-derived microglia, in AD pathology using the 5xFAD mouse model. Transcriptomic analyses reveal that ADGRG1 activates the transcription factor MYC, leading...

This study explores the potential of adeno-associated virus serotype 9 (AAV9) to deliver therapeutic genes directly into the memory circuit throughout the olfactory bulb (OB), a critical memory and sensory processing region. Using convection-enhanced delivery (CED) of AAV9 encoding green fluorescent protein (GFP), we mapped the extensive neural connectivity from the OB to key memory-related brain regions, including the entorhinal cortex (EC) and hippocampus. Our findings reveal significant...

Deficits in the autophagy-lysosomal pathway facilitate intracellular microtubule associated protein tau (MAPT) accumulation in Alzheimer disease (AD). Aerobic exercise (AE) has been recommended as a way to delay and treat AD, but the exact effects and mechanisms have not been fully elucidated. Here, we found that AE (8-week treadmill running, 40 min/day, 5 days/week) alleviated autophagy-lysosomal defects and MAPT pathology through the activation of β2-adrenergic receptors (β2-AR) in MAPT P301L...

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Polygenic risk scores (PRSs) predict an individual's genetic risk for complex diseases, yet their utility in elucidating disease biology remains limited. We introduce scPRS, a graph neural network-based framework that computes single-cell-resolved PRSs by integrating reference single-cell chromatin accessibility profiles. scPRS outperforms traditional PRS approaches in genetic risk prediction, as demonstrated across multiple diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy,...

Proteins are the cornerstone of life. However, the proteomic blueprint of aging across human tissues remains uncharted. Here, we present a comprehensive proteomic and histological analysis of 516 samples from 13 human tissues spanning five decades. This dynamic atlas reveals widespread transcriptome-proteome decoupling and proteostasis decline, characterized by amyloid accumulation. Based on aging-associated protein changes, we developed tissue-specific proteomic age clocks and characterized...

Adult neurogenesis is defined as the process by which new neurons are produced from neural stem cells in the adult brain. A comprehensive understanding of the mechanisms that regulate this process is essential for the development of effective interventions aimed at decelerating the decline of adult neurogenesis associated with ageing. Mathematical models provide a valuable tool for studying the dynamics of neural stem cells and their lineage, and have revealed alterations in these processes...

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CONCLUSIONS: Higher sleep quality was significantly associated with a reduced risk of osteoporosis among older adults. These findings suggest that sleep quality may be a potentially modifiable behavioral factor related to osteoporosis risk, warranting further investigation in future longitudinal and interventional studies.

There is a need to study dementia risk factors more equitably across high-income countries (HICs) and low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Cohort Studies of Memory in an International Consortium (COSMIC) is doing this by bringing together cohort studies of cognitive ageing from around the world to study dementia risk factors in a truly international way. COSMIC researchers have investigated a wide range of dementia risk factors across the diverse member studies and shown that some factors...

CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that while lower levels of dementia-related fear may be linked to increased motivation for engaging in risk reduction behaviors, elevated levels of fear do not appear to support such engagement. Rather than emphasizing the negative impacts of dementia, public health strategies should empower individuals with actionable messages to engage in dementia risk reduction behaviors.

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Three spending panels say a 15% cap isn’t the right answer to nagging concerns about how universities are reimbursed

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is increasingly recognized as a condition shaped not only by central nervous system pathology but also by complex, bidirectional interactions between the gut, brain, and immune system. This review synthesizes emerging evidence on gut-brain-immune dysregulation in AD, with particular attention to how chronic stress, microbial imbalance, and neuroimmune signaling converge to influence disease risk and progression. We move beyond traditional microbiome-focused perspectives...

White matter hyperintensities (WMH) are associated with cortical thinning in distant brain regions. However, it is currently unclear how WMH affect neurodegeneration in early Alzheimer's disease (AD). Here, we investigated associations between WMH and cortical thickness in temporal regions involved in early AD (AD cortical signature), while correcting for regional amyloid and tau accumulation assessed by PET. We performed cross-sectional (n = 551), and longitudinal (n = 125) analyses in older...

Alterations in mitochondrial ultrastructure and reduced levels of the crista-shaping protein Opa1 are key features of mitochondrial myopathies and aging. We identify and characterize a biological therapy that improves mitochondrial and disuse myopathy models by boosting Opa1 levels. In silico analysis identifies microRNAs (miRNAs) 128-3p and 148/152-3p family as conserved modulators of OPA1 transcription and elevated in various muscle disorders. These miRNAs target the 3' UTR of murine and human...

Gerascophobia-the excessive fear of aging-is linked to health anxiety and negative body perceptions. While health anxiety may heighten aging-related fears, body image satisfaction may buffer this effect. However, their interplay remains underexplored, particularly among community-dwelling middle-aged and older adults not receiving psychological care. This study aims to examine the predictive role of health anxiety on gerascophobia and assess whether body image satisfaction moderates this...

Education is related to a wide variety of beneficial health, behavioral, and societal outcomes. However, whether education causes long-term structural changes in the brain remains unclear. A pressing challenge is that individuals self-select into continued education, thereby introducing a wide variety of environmental and genetic confounders. Fortunately, natural experiments allow us to isolate the causal impact of increased education from individual (and societal) characteristics. Here, we...