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Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) has been increasingly implicated as a contributor to cognitive decline, yet the structural neural mechanisms underlying this association remain unclear. This study investigates the relationship between hearing function, measured by pure-tone thresholds (PTT) and words-in-noise (WIN) recognition, and gray matter (GM) volume in auditory and non-auditory brain regions in the left and right cerebral hemispheres. We also examine whether GM volume mediates the...

Mitophagy is crucial for the selective autophagic degradation of damaged mitochondria, helping to maintain both mitochondrial and cellular homeostasis. Here, we report a fluoroalkylated polypyridinium that specifically targets mitochondria and exhibits high activity in mitophagy induction. The polymer effectively restores mitochondrial function and alleviates the inflammatory response in foam cells by activating mitophagy, and displays inherent red fluorescence under physiological conditions,...

Motoric cognitive risk (MCR) syndrome is defined by slow gait speed and cognitive complaints. This study aimed to identify objective gait, cognitive, and psychosocial markers that characterize MCR beyond its traditional criteria. 104 older adults were classified into four groups: healthy aging (n = 50), slow gait speed only (n = 31), cognitive complaints only (n = 13), and MCR (n = 10). Participants completed single- and dual-task gait assessments while wearing wearable gait sensors. The...

The disposable soma theory posits that there is a trade-off between reproduction and somatic maintenance. In support of this theory, we previously identified that pharmacological inhibition of the germline has widespread protective cell non-autonomous effects on cellular protein homeostasis in the model organism Caenorhabditis elegans. However, the cell non-autonomous effects of the germline on mitochondrial protein homeostasis are not well defined. Here, we use pharmacological or genetic...

CONCLUSION: This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the multifactorial determinants of old-age disability in Botswana. The findings underscore the need for integrated, multisectoral strategies that go beyond healthcare access to include educational equity, age-friendly infrastructure, digital inclusion, and gender-sensitive social protection. Policies must address not only individual risk but also household and community conditions that jointly shape disability outcomes. These insights...

CONCLUSIONS: The PFMS intervention is feasible and shows preliminary efficacy in certain aspects during the hospital-to-home transition for older adults with chronic disease. Future research should refine the intervention to better enhance patient participation in medication safety behaviours and self-efficacy.

BACKGROUND: This research was conducted to investigate the association between cognitive function and smartphone ownership among very old adults, a rapidly growing age group. Additionally, we conducted a longitudinal investigation as a sub-analysis to determine whether owning a smartphone affects the level of long-term care certification as a proxy outcome for cognitive decline.

Fucosylation, a major glycan modification, has been shown to influence neuronal and microglial mechanisms, but whether unconjugated free l-fucose can affect brain function is unknown. l-Fucose can be transported into cells and metabolized by fucokinase (FCSK) via the poorly understood salvage pathway. Using mouse hippocampal slices, we showed that l-fucose enhanced excitatory neurotransmission and long-term potentiation (LTP) through regulation of presynaptic release. Such effects required...

Impaired clearance of amyloid-β (Aβ) contributes to Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, but its upstream modulators remain poorly defined. We report secreted Dickkopf (DKK) proteins-DKK1 through DKK4-as previously unrecognized ligands of low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1), a principal Aβ clearance receptor. Analyses of cells derived from a patient with AD, postmortem tissue, and 5×FAD mice reveal that DKK1 and DKK3 are elevated in AD and reduce Aβ uptake and degradation...

Motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease (PD) are associated with dopaminergic neuronal loss. Widespread synaptic reorganization and neural activity changes, including exaggerated beta oscillations and bursting, follow dopamine depletion (DD) of the basal ganglia (BG). Our computational model examines DD-induced neural activity changes and synaptic reorganization in the BG subcircuit comprising the subthalamic nucleus and globus pallidus externus. Calcium-dependent synaptic and structural...

Dysfunctional alternative splicing events (ASEs) in RNA are markers of aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). As a key neuronal resilience metabolite, the oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD^(+)) slows down AD progression in preclinical studies with several clinical trials ongoing. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms around how NAD^(+) enhances neuronal resilience, especially whether it has any effect on ASEs, have remained elusive. This study shows that NAD^(+) augmentation...

Evolutionary theory of aging predicts that women with increased reproductive effort live shorter lives, but evidence is inconsistent. These inconsistencies could be because environmental conditions influence how much a mother's life span is reduced when having more children, i.e., their life-span cost of reproduction. Using a structural equation measurement model, we compare how reproductive effort affects the life span of 4684 women exposed across different life stages, or not at all, to the...

Dysfunctional alternative splicing events (ASEs) in RNA are markers of aging and Alzheimer's disease (AD). As a key neuronal resilience metabolite, the oxidized nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD^(+)) slows down AD progression in preclinical studies with several clinical trials ongoing. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms around how NAD^(+) enhances neuronal resilience, especially whether it has any effect on ASEs, have remained elusive. This study shows that NAD^(+) augmentation...

Endocytic recycling of transmembrane proteins is essential to cellular function. The intracellular domains of transmembrane proteins are frequently ubiquitylated, a modification that is recognized by adaptor proteins during clathrin-mediated endocytosis. Recent work suggests that transmembrane proteins compete for space within highly crowded endocytic structures, suggesting that enhanced internalization of one group of transmembrane proteins may come at the expense of others. Here, we show that...

Advancing age is accompanied by an accumulation of senescent T cells that secrete pro-inflammatory senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) molecules. Gut-microbiota-derived signals are increasingly recognised as immunomodulators. In the current study, we demonstrated that ageing and the accumulation of senescent T cells are accompanied by a reduction in microbial-derived short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). Culturing aged T cells in the presence of butyrate suppresses the induction of a...

Renin-angiotensin system (RAS) activation in heart failure (HF) increases circulating angiotensin II (AII). This increases blood pressure (BP) and promotes adverse ventricular remodeling that makes HF worse. Although human HF increases with age and differs between the sexes, preclinical studies have used young, mostly male animals. We investigated sex differences in AII-induced cardiac remodeling in aging C57BL/6 mice. Mice (≈16 months) were infused with AII (3 mg/kg/day; 6 weeks; osmotic...

Muscle mass and strength influence various age-related health outcomes, however their individual and joint associations with biological aging remain understudied. This study investigated the associations of muscle health with epigenetic aging based on DNA methylation in blood samples, among middle-aged and older adults. We analyzed data from 1,121 individuals from the 1999-2002 cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Muscle mass was assessed using the appendicular...

Stressful events can lead to transient impairments in learning and memory, a phenomenon more pronounced in the elderly. As global life expectancy rises, the shift toward an aging society underscores the urgent need for effective preventive strategies against stress-induced cognitive dysfunction. Elucidating its pathogenesis is essential for developing neuroprotective interventions and mitigating medical and societal impacts. In this study, male C57BL/6 mice aged 2 and 18 months were subjected to...