Aging & Longevity

CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Most factors associated with fall-related head impact were nonmodifiable (eg, sex). Training the use of protective fall movements, environmental design (including protective equipment), and education hold promise in reducing the risk of head impact. Future research should prioritize testing modifiable approaches in real-world settings for reducing fall-related head impact and, ultimately, preventing head injuries in the aging population.

Veterans experience mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) at significantly higher rates than civilians, alongside high rates of comorbid conditions such as PTSD, mood disorders, and alcohol abuse. These conditions have documented impacts on brain health that compound with age. Prior work has demonstrated reduced white matter (WM) integrity and greater age-related trends in WM deterioration in Veterans with mTBI compared to Veterans without mTBI. These studies provide important insights, yet were...

CONCLUSIONS: In this exploratory, partially randomized comparison, TUG-derived dual-task gait cost decreased more in the NMES group, but the marked baseline imbalance limits causal interpretation. DTC appears feasible and potentially responsive as an outcome for future fully randomized sham-controlled rehabilitation trials.

Reduction in brain weight is a hallmark feature of human aging, which is exacerbated in pathologies, such as Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. However, it remains unclear whether a decrease in brain weight with age reflects a vulnerability unique to the human lineage or represents a consequence of an extension of aging processes shared with other primates. To address this question, we examined age-related changes in brain weight across our closest living relatives, the great apes...

Transcription factor-based direct conversion of somatic cells represents an interesting avenue for generating induced neural stem cells (iNSCs) from peripheral blood without transit through a pluripotent stage. While this paradigm has been shown to be associated with epigenetic de-aging, the dynamics of this process have remained unclear. Here, we used overexpression of the two reprogramming factors SOX2 and cMYC to generate iNSCs from erythroid progenitors of donors ranging from neonatal to 101...

CONCLUSION: Repeated plantar electrical stimulation was associated with shortened early SEP latencies elicited by lower-limb nerve stimulation. No comparable latency shortening was observed in median nerve SEPs, suggesting that the observed changes were more prominent in lower-limb than in upper-limb somatosensory processing. These findings suggest that repeated plantar electrical stimulation may be associated with changes in the temporal characteristics of lower-limb somatosensory processing in...

Vulnerability to fraud and financial exploitation among older adults is an increasing public health concern. Growing evidence supports that cognitive and socioemotional changes with age contribute to greater exploitation risk among older adults, while the neural mechanisms of heightened susceptibility to deception in aging are not well understood. Of note, white matter tracts are particularly impacted in aging and are likely implicated in deception detection. This study, for the first time,...

The diaphragm is the primary respiratory muscle. Like other skeletal muscles, it is subject to age-related changes, but it may be more resistant to sarcopenia due to compensatory mechanisms operating at the neuromuscular junction (NMJ). Here, we examined key parameters of neuromuscular transmission in the diaphragm of 24- and 3-month-old mice. In aged NMJs, a decrease in the amplitude of evoked postsynaptic responses in combination with a much greater reduction in miniature end-plate amplitude...

In addition to cell cycle arrest, cellular senescence is characterized by disrupted mitochondrial homeostasis, development of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP), and alterations in the immune microenvironment. Mitochondrial membrane damage, disrupted mitochondrial dynamics, and impaired mitochondrial quality control (MQC) can occur during cellular senescence. These changes may cause mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) to leak abnormally into the cytosol. Cytosolic mtDNA can then activate...

Aging represents a major contributor to the deterioration of female fertility, with oocyte quality being the central determinant of ovarian aging, a key factor underlying infertility. Although several natural compounds with anti-aging activity have been documented, highly effective strategies to reverse ovarian aging remain elusive. Here, we report that the peptide elamipretide preserves ovarian function and sustains female fertility during maternal aging. We found that elamipretide...

Cellular senescence has undergone a remarkable conceptual evolution since its discovery in 1961. Initially described by Hayflick and Moorhead as the finite proliferative lifespan of cultured human cells, senescence was first viewed as a consequence of cellular aging. The identification of telomere shortening, senescence biomarkers, and oncogene- and damage-induced senescence subsequently established its molecular basis and role as a tumor-suppressive stress response. The discovery of the...

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Sleep and circadian disturbances are associated with cognitive decline and dementia. Narcolepsy type 1 (NT1), characterized by severe sleep-wake disruption and loss of hypocretin, would therefore be expected to predispose individuals to premature brain aging. Yet available biomarker and neuroimaging findings do not consistently support this possibility, raising questions about the role of hypocretin in mechanisms linking sleep to neurodegeneration. Beyond maintaining wakefulness, hypocretin...

The increasing burden of dementia highlights the need for sensitive and ecologically relevant tools for early detection and intervention. Dual-task (DT) paradigms have emerged as promising approaches for assessing cognitive-motor alterations. This study aimed to map the 22-year evolution of DT research in cognitive aging using bibliometric analysis. We retrieved 1347 articles from the Web of Science Core Collection (January 2003-February 15, 2025) and analyzed them using CiteSpace. Co-citation,...

Lipids dynamically reside in multiple intracellular locations, and their organellar distribution is important for function. During brain aging, lysosomal lipid changes have been noted, but lipid identity, interactions, and functional relevance have not been characterized. We used mass spectrometry to assess longitudinal changes in the lipidome and proteome of lysosomal fractions from the murine cortex, from 3 to 24 months, followed by multi-omics factor analysis (MOFA) to identify factors...

Cryptovivipary and vivipary, referred to as (crypto)vivipary, occur across multiple angiosperm lineages and enable embryos to continue developing before dispersal. Yet, this trait raises a fundamental question: how are seed-specific abscisic acid (ABA) responses modulated to support continuous embryonic growth without compromising ABA-dependent vegetative stress tolerance? Here, integrating phylogenomic analyses of independently evolved (crypto)viviparous lineages with spatiotemporal...

Precise three-dimensional (3D) genome organization is crucial for regulating gene expression during development, yet its role in age-related transcriptional changes and physiological decline remains elusive. Here, we show that aging reshapes chromatin architecture and gene regulation in murine naive CD4^(+) T cells, a quiescent T cell population essential for adaptive immunity. Aged naive CD4^(+) T cells exhibit intrinsic transcriptional reprogramming marked by increased expression of...

INTRODUCTION: Aging is associated with alterations in white matter structure and decline in bimanual performance. These parallel changes may be interrelated, as previous studies have linked cerebral white matter properties to both motor and cognitive function. The cerebellum plays a central role in complex motor coordination and higher-order processes, yet age-related differences in cortico-cerebellar pathways remain insufficiently understood. This study therefore examined two major...

CONCLUSIONS: This study contributes to ageing research by examining sustained robustness, rather than frailty progression alone, as a longitudinal outcome in a large multinational cohort. By identifying behavioral, psychosocial, and functional characteristics associated with sustained robustness, the study frames robustness as a measurable longitudinal outcome in ageing research and practice. These findings support a more balanced and positive conceptualization of ageing - one that emphasizes...

CONCLUSIONS: Frailty is an important risk factor for limitations in the ability to live independently, with a particularly high burden observed in the Baltic countries. Despite weaker associations with new limitations compared with the Nordic countries, the higher prevalence of frailty, poorer health profiles, and lower levels of physical activity in the Baltic countries highlight a substantial need for early identification and targeted prevention.