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Two new studies provide unprecedented insight into one of the ancient world’s most famous cataclysms

Rise of farmers spraying glyphosate correlated with drop in birthweight in large study

Cerebrolysin (CBL) is a combination of neurotrophic peptides and amino acids derived from pig brains. CBL can cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and its biological effect is similar to the effect of endogenous neurotrophic effects. The mechanism of action of CBL is related to the induction of neurogenesis, neuroplasticity, neuroprotection, and neurotrophicity. Therefore, CBL may be effective against the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer disease (AD) and...

Psychiatric disorders are multifactorial and effective treatments are lacking. Probable contributing factors to the challenges in therapeutic development include the complexity of the human brain and the high polygenicity of psychiatric disorders. Combining well-powered genome-wide and brain-wide genetics and transcriptomics analyses can deepen our understanding of the etiology of psychiatric disorders. Here, we leverage two landmark resources to infer the cell types involved in the etiology of...

Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) are increasingly being used to treat diabetes and obesity. However, their effectiveness and risks have not yet been systematically evaluated in a comprehensive set of possible health outcomes. Here, we used the US Department of Veterans Affairs databases to build a cohort of people with diabetes who initiated GLP-1RA (n = 215,970) and compared them to those who initiated sulfonylureas (n = 159,465), dipeptidyl peptidase 4 (DPP4) inhibitors (n...

Evidence suggests that anthropogenic climate change is accelerating and is affecting human health globally. Despite urgent calls to address health effects in the context of the additional challenges of environmental degradation, biodiversity loss and ageing populations, the effects of climate change on specific health conditions are still poorly understood. Neurological diseases contribute substantially to the global burden of disease, and the possible direct and indirect consequences of climate...

Advances in imaging diagnostics, surgical techniques and transcatheter interventions for paediatric patients with severe congenital heart disease (CHD) have substantially reduced mortality, thereby extending the lifespan of these individuals and increasing the number of adults with complex CHD. Transcatheter interventions have emerged as an alternative to traditional open-heart surgery to mitigate congenital defects. The evolution of techniques, the introduction of new devices and the growing...

Aging phenotype is characterized by musculoskeletal impairment that leads to diminished mobility and physical function. This study investigated whether circulating miRNAs and metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers may reflect the walking performance of the elderly. Elderly hospitalized for an acute condition and recruited from the ReportAge Biobank were grouped, based on their walking performance, in active subjects (n = 23, age: 83.0 ± 4.3), able to walk ≥ 1 km and who performed more than 1 h...

CONCLUSIONS: This scoping review summarises the evidence landscape for rehabilitation, reablement, and restorative care approaches in the context of aged care. Despite their role in enhancing independence and quality of life for older people, policy, funding, and terminology variation means the evidence lacks clarity. This fragmented evidence makes it challenging to argue the effectiveness of one approach over another for older people in receipt of aged care services.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study sheds light on an alternative mode of TE silencing associated with H3K27me3 instead of DNA methylation in flowering plants. It also suggests dynamic switching between the two epigenetic marks at the species level, a new paradigm that might extend to other multicellular eukaryotes.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a prevalent neurodegenerative disorder affecting the elderly. The imbalance of protein production and degradation processes leads to the accumulation of misfolded and abnormally aggregated amyloid-beta (Aβ) in the extracellular space and forms senile plaques, which constitute one of the most critical pathological hallmarks of AD. KIF9, a member of the kinesin protein superfamily, mediates the anterograde transport of intracellular cargo along microtubules. However,...

Sarcopenia is an age-related muscle disorder that increases risks of adverse clinical outcomes, but its treatments are still limited. Gut microbiota is potentially associated with sarcopenia, and its role is still unclear. To investigate the role of gut microbiota in sarcopenia, we first compared gut microbiota and metabolites composition in old participants with or without sarcopenia. Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) from human donors to antibiotic-treated recipient mice was then...

Metabolomics and epigenomics have been used to develop 'ageing clocks' that assess biological age and identify 'accelerated ageing'. While metabolites are subject to short-term variation, DNA methylation (DNAm) may capture longer-term metabolic changes. We aimed to develop a hybrid DNAm-metabolic clock using DNAm as metabolite surrogates ('DNAm-metabolites') for age prediction. Within the UK Airwave cohort (n = 820), we developed DNAm metabolites by regressing 594 metabolites on DNAm and...

The growing prevalence of age-related cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) poses significant health challenges, necessitating the formulation of novel treatment approaches. GATA4, a vital transcription factor identified for modulating cardiovascular biology and cellular senescence, is recognized for its critical involvement in CVD pathogenesis. This review collected relevant studies from PubMed, Google Scholar, and Science Direct using search terms like 'GATA4,' 'cellular senescence,' 'coronary artery...

The American Heart Association's (AHA) Life's Essential 8 (LE8) metrics provide a framework for assessing cardiovascular health (CVH). This study evaluates the relationship between CVH levels from LE8 and mortality risk, considering biological aging's role. Using data from the NHANES non-CVD adult population, CVH scores were categorized as low (< 50), moderate (50-79), and high (≥ 80) per AHA guidelines. Cox regression model assessed the impact of CVH levels on all-cause and cardiovascular...

Spermatogenesis is finely regulated by histone methylation, which is crucial for regulating gene expression and chromatin remodeling. Functional studies have demonstrated that the histone lysine methyltransferases (KMTs) SETD1B, CFP1, SETDB1, G9A, and SETD2 play pivotal roles in spermatogenesis through establishing the key histone methylation marks, H3K4me3, H3K9me2, H3K9me3, and H3K36me3, respectively. This study aimed to evaluate the spatiotemporal expression of these KMTs and methylation...

Aging women experience a significant decline of ovarian hormones, particularly estrogen, following menopause, and become susceptible to cognitive and psychomotor deficits. Although the effects of estrogen depletion had been documented in the prefrontal and somatosensory cortices, its impact on somatomotor cortex, a region crucial for motor and cognitive functions, remains unclear. To explore this, we ovariectomized young adult female rats and fed subsequently with phytoestrogen-free diet and...

The collective detrimental impact of aged naive lymphocytes and thymus atrophy on the aging of the immune system can be mitigated by exercise. Hence, this research aims to explore the effects of three methods of water-based exercises on immune system aging and thymus atrophy in elderly rats. Thirty-two 24-month-old rats, with an average weight of 320 ± 5 g, were randomly allocated into four groups of endurance training (n = 8), resistance training (n = 8), combined training (n = 8), and control...

Aging is associated with a marked increase in cardiovascular diseases, such as myocardial infarction (MI). Cellular senescence is also a crucial factor in the development of age-related MI. Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) interaction with cellular senescence is a critical determinant of MI development and outcomes, most notably in the aged heart. After experiencing a heart attack, senescent cells exhibit a Senescence-Associated Secretory Phenotype (SASP) and are involved in tissue regeneration...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) and osteoporosis (OP) pose distinct but interconnected health challenges, both significantly impacting the aging population. AD, a neurodegenerative disorder characterized by memory impairment and cognitive decline, is primarily associated with the accumulation of abnormally folded amyloid beta (Aβ) peptides and neurofibrillary tangles in the brain. OP, a skeletal disorder marked by low bone mineral density, involves dysregulation of bone remodeling and is associated...