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Local brain age (LBA) is a spatially resolved biomarker of brain aging that captures regional deviations from chronological age, yet its genetic architecture in the subcortex remains unexplored. Here, we present the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of subcortical LBA, estimated using a deep neural network applied to T1-weighted MRI scans from 41,957 cognitively normal participants in the UK Biobank. We computed LBA across 14 subcortical structures and identified 14 significant...

Amyloid-β (Aβ) accumulation begins many years before the onset of clinical symptoms in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Studies in humans suggest that unimpaired individuals with elevated Aβ exhibit subtle changes in cognitive trajectories over time, particularly in memory. Identifying animal models that recapitulate these early changes is critical for translational research on preclinical AD. Here, we hypothesized that aging dogs, which naturally accumulate Aβ, show similar patterns to those observed...

As a major contributor to cardiac diseases, thrombosis, a pathological process in which the formation of a blood clot restricts blood flow, is a leading cause of mortality worldwide. A central event in thrombosis involves thrombin-mediated cleavage of soluble fibrinogen into fibrin monomers, which polymerize into an insoluble fibrin mesh that forms the thrombus. While the risk of thrombosis increases markedly with age, the underlying cellular mechanisms linking aging and thrombus formation...

Blood cancers that eventually worsen may carry detectable genetic warning signs years before patients develop serious symptoms. The findings could lead to earlier intervention while also helping doctors distinguish true cancer from harmless age-related blood changes.

A new report suggests that blood pressure may be controlled more effectively by increasing potassium while also cutting sodium. Potassium-rich foods can help balance sodium’s effects, but most people consume far less potassium than recommended.

A gene involved in the brain’s overnight cleaning system may change how strongly poor sleep affects Alzheimer’s-related brain changes. The findings point toward more personalized prevention strategies based on both genetics and sleep habits.

New science may explain mysterious gap before oxygen flooded our planet billions of years ago

New research challenges the decades-old idea that children experience an “adiposity rebound” when their BMI begins rising around age 6. Although BMI returns to earlier levels, a more reliable measure showed that body fat does not rebound at all. The increase appears to come from growing muscle and lean tissue as children prepare for later growth. Researchers say this normal process has been mistakenly treated as an obesity warning sign for 42 years.

Never-before-seen ability may allow the insects to home in on their favorite plants

Mitochondrial quality control is essential for cellular homeostasis, particularly in neurons, where mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases. Mitophagy, the selective degradation of damaged or superfluous mitochondria, plays a central role in maintaining mitochondrial integrity and metabolic balance. This review provides a comprehensive overview of the best-characterized PINK1-PRKN/parkin-dependent mitophagy pathway and the expanding repertoire of...

Individual midbrain dopamine (mDA) neurons exhibit complex morphologies, a feature that may underlie their different functions and disease vulnerability. However, the developmental programs and wiring principles underlying this morphological complexity, particularly in terms of axonal and dendritic architecture, remain largely unknown. To address this, we developed and employed a unique intersectional genetic strategy in mice (Gucy2c-iCre:Pitx3-FlpE:Ai65D [GPA]) that enables specific sparse...

Social engagement is thought to support reserve and resilience in aging, yet prior findings suggest it may relate differently, potentially even in opposite directions, in males and females. To further understand these differences, we investigated psychological and biological correlates of social network within each sex, and tested whether its association with cognition differs by sex. Social network was assessed in 104 older adults (age 73.77 ± 3.58, 60 females) using the Social Network Index...

Cellular senescence plays a dual role in physiology and pathology. While it contributes to tumour suppression and tissue repair, its persistence promotes chronic inflammation, tissue dysfunction, and age-related diseases. Oxidative stress is a major driver of this process, and the RNA-binding protein HuR serves as a regulator by stabilizing transcripts encoding antioxidant and stress-response proteins. In this study, we established an in vitro model of replicative senescence using human...

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a major global cause of morbidity and mortality, and population ageing is reshaping its clinical phenotype, disease trajectory, and therapeutic complexity. Chronological age alone cannot explain the heterogeneity of CAD outcomes in older individuals, highlighting the need to integrate biological ageing into cardiovascular disease research and management. Cellular senescence, characterised by stable cell-cycle arrest, metabolic reprogramming, and acquisition of a...

Cellular senescence is traditionally described through durable cell-cycle arrest, DNA-damage signaling, metabolic remodeling, mitochondrial and lysosomal dysfunction, and acquisition of a senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP). However, senescent cells also undergo prominent structural and biomechanical changes, including enlarged and flattened cell shape, altered stiffness and force transmission, cytoskeletal reorganization, defective nucleo-cytoskeletal coupling, impaired organelle...

Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) is a fundus oculi disease that progressively impairs the central vision of patients. To date, its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated, and therapeutic options for dry AMD remain limited. Recently, chronic low-grade inflammation has been recognized as an important pathogenic factor in various neurodegenerative diseases, including AMD. The NLRP3 inflammasome, a key component of the innate immune system, has emerged as a critical integrator of retinal...

CONCLUSION: Different exercise modalities exhibit domain-specific cognitive benefits in individuals with MCI. Multicomponent exercise appears most effective for improving global cognitive function, mind-body exercise may preferentially benefit memory-related outcomes, and resistance exercise may provide greater benefits for executive-function-related outcomes. These findings support individualized selection of exercise modalities for individuals with MCI.

Biological age describes how a person is aging on molecular, cellular, and physiological levels. At the present time, biological age is not something that can be fully quantified and aging itself is far too complicated to be captured by a single layer of information. As such, it is relegated to being an abstract and somewhat vague idea. In this sense, biological age is remarkably similar to health. Health, like biological age, is not well defined and too multifarious to be summarized with a...

Although lifespan has long been the focus of ageing research, preventing functional decline late in life is a more pressing societal need. Here, we investigate the basis of senescence and declining fitness during replicative ageing in budding yeast, and describe a metabolic perturbation that preserves late-life fitness even on an unrestricted glucose diet. We show that senescence can be prevented by constitutive activation of AMPK, though only for approximately half the ageing population, and...

Aging is associated with the deterioration of various biological processes including disrupted proteostasis and impaired macroautophagy/autophagy. Biomolecules can undergo liquid-liquid phase separation (LLPS) to form biomolecular condensates that exert specific biological functions. Trr1 (thioredoxin reductase 1) is a pivotal enzyme in the thioredoxin antioxidant system. Deletion of TRR1 results in impaired autophagy; however, the underlying mechanism is largely unexplored. In this study, we...