Aging & Longevity

Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), prevalently in aging men, is characterized by aberrant cell death of prostate cells. Anoikis, a specific subtype of apoptosis, is triggered when cells detach from the extracellular matrix (ECM), in contrast, cells with anoikis resistance contribute to pathological processes such as unregulated cell proliferation and impaired cell death. However, the role of anoikis resistance in BPH pathogenesis remains poorly understood. In this study, an elevated anoikis...

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Anxiety disorders are prevalent and can greatly impact well-being. The biological mechanisms behind anxiety are not fully understood, but growing evidence suggests a role for DNA methylation. Here, we conduct a large-scale methylome-wide association study of lifetime anxiety in 14,443 participants (1817 cases and 12,626 controls) in whole blood, and, through epigenomic deconvolution, 12 different blood cell types. We detect four CpG associations at methylome-wide significance in whole blood, and...

In Italy, evergreen holm oaks (Quercus ilex) and deciduous sessile oaks (Quercus petraea) experienced a synchronized establishment pulse starting at the beginning of 1400s CE, consistent with a release from anthropogenic pressure following demographic collapse associated with the Black Death outbreak (1347 CE) and its following waves until the 17th century. Radiocarbon dating of the oldest-looking individuals of each species revealed similar tree-age distributions across sites located at the...

Bilingualism has been associated with enhanced executive functions (EFs), particularly attentional control, and may confer protection against cognitive decline in older age. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as a factor negatively affecting EF in older adults. Bilingualism might offer resilience against these COVID-related cognitive declines, especially in late adulthood, by bolstering cognitive reserve. The present study collected data from 312 community-dwelling individuals...

Cohesin is a DNA tethering complex essential for chromosome structure and function. In fission yeast, defects in the cohesin loader Mis4 result in chromosome segregation defects and dysregulated expression of genes near chromosome ends. A genetic screen for suppressors of the thermosensitive growth defect of mis4-G1487D identified several hypomorphic mutants of the Target of Rapamycin Complex 1 (TORC1), a conserved kinase that integrates cellular signals to regulate growth and metabolism through...

Multimorbidity, the presence of two or more conditions, is associated with a higher risk of death as individuals age. However, modeling multimorbidity in laboratory animals is difficult, if not impossible, because specific conditions are seldom individually diagnosed and treated in these settings. Because of their shared environment, physiology, and genetic diversity, and because they are medically managed as individuals, companion dogs have potential to serve as a translational multimorbidity...

Biological aging is a key determinant of liver disease and mortality, but there is little evidence on noninvasive index for assessment of liver biological aging. We developed the Liver Aging Index (LAI) in the China Kadoorie Biobank (CKB, N = 21,629) using Cox-Gompertz proportional hazards model. The LAI incorporated three clinical factors (body mass index, systolic and diastolic blood pressure), eight plasma biomarkers (glucose, total cholesterol, triglycerides, high- and low-density...

Long Interspersed Element-1 (L1) causes DNA damage and inflammation, which are hallmarks of cellular senescence. To understand the role of endogenous L1 in senescence, accurate detection and measurement of L1 messenger RNA (mRNA) expression changes during this process is crucial, as L1 transcription is the prerequisite step of L1-related downstream effects. We developed an automated bioinformatics pipeline to quantify locus-level L1 mRNA expression in ex vivo and in vitro models of normal and...

This study tests the moderating role of essentialist beliefs about aging (i.e., perceptions of aging as a fixed versus malleable process) in the relationship between physical functioning and subjective well-being distinguishing between a) overall quality of life and b) health satisfaction among older adults in clinical care. We propose that essentialist beliefs serve as adaptive, palliative cognitions that help maintain high subjective well-being despite health challenges. In a sample of...

Early-life experiences can exert lasting impacts on brain function. While previous research has largely focused on early-life adversity, the long-term consequences of early-life enrichment on the aging brain remain poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the behavioral and molecular effects of communal nesting (CN, a model of early social enrichment, during postnatal day 2-9) in aged male mice. Behaviorally, CN-exposed mice preserved hippocampus-dependent recognition memory but...

Brain arteriolosclerosis, a primary pathology of cerebral small vessel disease, is common in older adults and is associated with lower cognitive and motor function and higher odds of dementia. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that arteriolosclerosis is associated with lower diffusion anisotropy and higher trace of the diffusion tensor in white matter, independently of other age-related neuropathologies and visible white matter hyperintensities (WMH). In-vivo diffusion MRI and...

CONCLUSION: The findings of this study suggest that resistance training adaptations exhibit high task specificity in older adults, and significant improvements in functional outcomes can be achieved with elastic bands.

Aging is associated with a persistent, sterile inflammatory state called inflammaging, which contributes to endothelial dysfunction, immune dysregulation, and a gradual shift toward a procoagulant phenotype known as coagul-aging. Inflammation and coagulation are now understood as interconnected processes, linked by innate immune activation and thrombin production. Recent evidence highlights the vital role of endogenous nucleic acids, especially cytosolic and extracellular DNA, RNA, and RNA:DNA...

N6-methyladenosine (m6A) represents the most abundant internal RNA modification, and a key regulator of gene expression, yet its role in determining cell fate decisions such as senescence remains largely unexplored. Here, we identify the nuclear m6A reader YTHDC1 as a critical regulator of telomere homeostasis and senescence evasion in ovarian cancer. YTHDC1 expression was markedly elevated in advanced-stage tumors and correlated with poor patient survival. Functional investigation demonstrated...

Primary mitochondrial diseases (PMDs) affect approximately 1 in 4300 individuals and cause early-onset neuromuscular and multisystem dysfunction with reduced lifespan. They result from pathogenic variants in mitochondrial or nuclear DNA that impair oxidative phosphorylation. Cytochrome c oxidase (COX; complex IV) deficiency is a well-established cause of PMD, leading to a broad spectrum of phenotypes. COXFA4 (cytochrome c oxidase subunit FA4), formerly NDUFA4, is a nuclear-encoded COX subunit,...

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CONCLUSION: Psychosocial factors, particularly autonomy and control, significantly associated with sexual satisfaction in older adults with multimorbidity. These findings highlight the necessity of integrating mental health and subjective well-being into geriatric clinical care to support a holistic and humanized approach to healthy aging.

Ambient temperature is a primordial determinant of longevity across the animal kingdom, yet the molecular transducers that couple thermal cues to aging rates remain elusive. Here, we interrogate the transcriptomic and metabolomic landscapes of Drosophila melanogaster to decode the mechanisms of temperature-dependent lifespan extension. We find that thermal stress drives a profound remodeling of the transcriptome that surprisingly outpaces metabolic adaptation. Through this multi-omics...