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Tackling Ghana’s dementia underdiagnosis needs investment in workforce, diagnostics, education and insurance
Clarity or accuracy — what makes a good scientific image?
States now have a legal duty to prevent climate harm — justice is in reach
Do social-media bans benefit young people? These data could offer clues
The grant lottery: award rates at UK national funding agency fall below 20%
‘The wolf is not the bad guy’: working with farmers to protect a reintroduced species
Who is afraid of quantum mechanics? Books in brief
Inflamm-aging as a diverse and context-dependent process: from species and population differences to individual trajectories
Inflamm-aging is widely considered a hallmark of aging, yet emerging evidence challenges its universality. Here, we re-examine inflamm-aging through an eco-evolutionary lens, underlining its context dependence across biological scales. Combining mechanistic, evolutionary, comparative, anthropological, genetic, and environmental evidence, we show how fundamental inflammatory mechanisms are integrated and regulated in diverse biological contexts, representing a suite of flexible stress responses....
Neighborhood Social Cohesion, Physical Disorder, and Multiple Chronic Conditions in Older Adults: An Examination of Racial/Ethnic Differences
This study examines how neighborhood social cohesion and physical disorder, measured at baseline and as change over time, are associated with multiple chronic conditions (MCCs) among older adults and whether these associations vary by race/ethnicity. Using 6 years of data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (2015-2021), mixed-effects Poisson regression models were applied to a sample of 3,389 community-dwelling older adults. Higher social cohesion at baseline and increases in...
How does intergenerational support from adult children shape the intrinsic capacity of older adults? Empirical evidence from the CHARLS
CONCLUSION: intergenerational support from adult children significantly enhances the intrinsic capacity of older adults by promoting social engagement and maintaining functional ability. To advance healthy and active aging, policy efforts should adopt a function-oriented approach that strengthens both family-based support systems and community care infrastructure, while fostering cross-generational resource sharing and coordinated support.
Amyloid-beta-driven Alzheimer's disease reshapes the colonic immune system in mice
The "gut-brain axis" is an emerging target in Alzheimer's disease (AD), although its immunological features remain poorly understood. Using single-cell RNA sequencing, coupled to extensive spectral-tuning flow cytometry validation of the colon immune compartment in the 5XFAD amyloid-β mouse model, we found several AD-associated changes including in B/plasma cell activity. Notably, levels of CXCR4^(+) antibody-secreting cells are reduced in 5XFAD colons. This change corresponds with accumulating...
Unravelling Neuronal Death Mechanisms: The Role of Cytokines and Chemokines in Immune Imbalance in Alzheimer's Disease Progression
Alzheimer's disease (AD) is marked by neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration and cognitive decline, with emerging evidence highlighting the critical roles of cytokines and chemokines in its pathogenesis. Regulated cell death is a highly structured and meticulously coordinated series of molecular and signalling processes involving gene expression and protein activity. This mechanism is essential for normal developmental processes and the preservation of tissue homeostasis. Abnormal regulation of...
Age-related hearing loss and dementia risk across the lifespan: mechanisms, equity, and prevention
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) has emerged as a significant and potentially modifiable risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. A growing body of evidence links ARHL to structural and functional changes in the brain, with implications for cognitive decline and dementia onset. However, both ARHL and dementia are multifactorial conditions shaped not only by biological mechanisms but also by broader social determinants of health. Inequities in access to hearing...
Targeting phagocytosis for amyloid-β clearance: implications of morphology remodeling and microglia activation probed by bifunctional chimaeras
Amyloid-β (Aβ), a key driver of Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathogenesis, possesses diverse harmful and clearance-resistant structures that present substantial challenges to therapeutic development. Here, we demonstrate that modulating Aβ morphology, rather than Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2)-dependent microglia activation, is essential for effective phagocytosis of Aβ species by microglia. By developing a bifunctional mechanistic probe (P2CSKn) designed to remodel Aβ and activate TLR2, we show it...
Relationship between inner hair cell synaptopathy and outer hair cell loss in two mouse models of accelerated age-related hearing loss
Hallmarks of sensorineural hearing loss are elevated hearing thresholds and defects in temporal auditory processing, the former being often caused by outer hair cell (OHC) damage, and the latter by the loss of synapses between inner hair cells (IHCs) and spiral ganglion neurons. In the well-studied CBA/CaJ mouse strain, these impairments are disconnected, IHC synaptopathy preceding OHC loss. We have investigated the relationship between IHC synaptopathy and OHC loss in the C57BL/6J (B6) and ICR...
Independent Functioning Among the Oldest-Old in 27 European Countries: A Cross-Sectional Analysis of the SHARE Study
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Northern and Western Europe show greater functional independence in late life than Eastern and Southern Europe. Several factors were significantly associated with independent functioning, including physical activity, polypharmacy, absence of multimorbidity, absence of depressive symptoms, absence of loneliness, unimpaired cognition, lower age, and male gender. Our results should be considered to target interventions aiming at healthy aging in these individuals.
Age-related hearing loss and dementia risk across the lifespan: mechanisms, equity, and prevention
Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) has emerged as a significant and potentially modifiable risk factor for neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. A growing body of evidence links ARHL to structural and functional changes in the brain, with implications for cognitive decline and dementia onset. However, both ARHL and dementia are multifactorial conditions shaped not only by biological mechanisms but also by broader social determinants of health. Inequities in access to hearing...
Epidemiological and demographic trends and projections in global health from 1970 to 2050: a descriptive analysis from the third Lancet Commission on Investing in Health, Global Health 2050
BACKGROUND: Systematic analyses of global health trends can provide an accurate narrative of progress and challenges. We analysed the impact of changing age-specific mortality (epidemiology) and age structure (demography) on crude death rates (CDRs) and causes of death with large or rising mortality to inform the third Lancet Commission on Investing in Health.
Combined lifestyle habits, subjective well-being, and all-cause mortality among older adults in China
CONCLUSIONS: A stronger risk of total mortality was found when worse SWB and unhealthy lifestyle occurred together, suggesting that a comprehensive approach to healthy lifestyle and SWB might be a potential strategy to improve longevity.
High matrix stiffness triggers testosterone decline in aging males by disrupting stem Leydig cell pool homeostasis
Aging is closely related to the decline of male reproductive endocrine function, which is manifested as insufficient testosterone production. It is well known that stem cell pool stability is crucial for maintaining tissue function. However, the relationship between aging and the stem Leydig cell (SLC) pool homeostasis remains unclear. Here, we demonstrate that extracellular matrix (ECM) stiffness increases in aging testes, and SLC pool homeostasis is imbalanced. Mechanistically, high ECM...