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Ageing has profound effects on the human brain across the lifespan. Cognitive testing and brain imaging are currently used to monitor healthy and pathological brain ageing. However, peripheral markers of cognitive function, cognitive ageing and neurological disease could provide a valuable, minimally invasive approach to tracking these processes longitudinally. In this Review, we introduce the concept of DNA methylation-based biomarkers and present current evidence of their potential to address...

The nervous system is primarily composed of neurons and glia, and the communication between them has profound roles in regulating the development and function of the brain. Neuron-glia signal transduction is known to be mediated by secreted signals through ligand-receptor interactions on the cell membrane. Here we show a new mechanism for neuron-glia signal transduction, wherein neurons transmit proteins to glia through extracellular vesicles, activating glial signaling pathways. We find that in...

Aging biomarkers that predict age given methylomic data are referred to as epigenetic aging clocks. While the earliest, first-generation clocks were exclusively trained to predict chronological age, more recent next-generation models have been explicitly trained to associate with health, lifestyle, and/or age-related outcomes. Although these next-generation models have been trained using distinct approaches and techniques, existing evidence indicates that they associate with a greater number of...

Mitochondria are essential for ATP production, calcium buffering, and apoptotic signaling, with mitophagy playing a critical role in removing dysfunctional mitochondria. This study demonstrates that PINK1-dependent mitophagy occurs more rapidly and is less spatially restricted in astrocytes compared to neurons. We identified hexokinase 2 (HK2) as a key regulator of mitophagy in astrocytes, forming a glucose-dependent complex with PINK1 in response to mitochondrial damage. Additionally, exposure...

The presence of α-synuclein (α-syn) aggregates, such as Lewy bodies in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD), contributes to dopaminergic cell death. Injection of PD patient-derived α-syn in nonhuman primates has illustrated the exquisite vulnerability of primate dopaminergic neurons. Here, we aimed to elucidate the temporal and spatial pathological changes induced by two distinct α-syn pathogenic structures, having large or small sizes. To unravel the underlying molecular pathways, we...

ObjectiveTo identify subgroups of midlife and older adults from the United States (US), defined by specific combinations of factors, who are more or less likely to meet age-specific sleep duration recommendations.MethodsParticipants (n = 3,124) aged ≥ 40 years were drawn from the 2011-2018 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey cycles. The primary outcome was meeting age-specific sleep duration recommendations (7 to 9 hours per night) to promote optimal health. Signal detection...

CONCLUSIONS: Older adults with both VI and poor mobility are at an additive increased risk of mortality. Future interventions may want to target older adults with both VI and poor mobility to improve survival.

The varying incidence of aging-related diseases and the gender gap in life expectancy suggest differences in the aging process between the sexes. Yet, little is known about sex-specific differences in genomic instability, a key factor in aging. Here, we analyzed DNA damage responses (DDRs) in cycling peripheral blood lymphocytes (PBL) and hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells (HSPC) from female and male donors of different age, focusing on replication stress. Transcriptomics revealed striking...

The relationship between in vitro senescence cell induction and intracellular biomolecular dysregulation is still poorly understood. In this study, we have found that a range of metabolic subphenotypes exists and is dependent on the induction method that is used. To develop understanding of these subphenotypes, we developed and employed a novel bioanalytical pipeline integrating untargeted metabolomics, label-free proteomics, and stable isotope tracing alongside cellular deformability...

Cellular senescence, an irreversible cell cycle arrest, plays a pivotal role in development, aging, and tumor suppression. However, the fundamental pathway coordinating senescence and neoplastic transformation remains unclear. Here, we describe the tumorigenic involvement of ubiquitin protein ligase E3 component n-recognin 4 (UBR4), an E3 ubiquitin ligase of the N-degron pathway, in lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD). Public genome databases revealed high UBR4 expression in LUAD patients, associated...

The cellular networks that maintain genome stability encompass numerous pathways involved in all aspects of nucleic acid metabolism. Through bioinformatic analysis, we identified the Zinc Finger CCCH-Type Containing 4 protein (ZC3H4), a suppressor of noncoding RNA (ncRNA) production, as a pivotal player in this system. Experimentally, ZC3H4 deficiency led to increased DNA damage, abnormal mitosis, and cellular senescence. Biochemical analysis and super-resolution microscopy revealed that the...

A Science analysis of canceled and curtailed federal grants reveals hits to research, collections, and training