Aging

Biologists working with fruit flies activated a gene called PGC-1, which increases the activity of mitochondria, the tiny power generators in cells that control cell growth and tell cells when to live and die.  Result: it slowed the aging process of the flies' intestines and extended their lives by as much as 50 percent.   Fruit flies, Drosophila melanogaster, have a life span of about two months. They start showing signs of aging after about one month - they slow down, become less active and die. They are a good model for studying aging  because scientists know every one of…

Higher levels of testosterone have been associated with reduced lean muscle mass loss in older men, especially in those who were losing weight. In thoese men, higher testosterone levels were also associated with less loss of lower body strength. Loss of muscle mass and strength contribute to frailty and are associated with falls, mobility limitations and fractures. Men also lose more muscle mass and strength than women as they age, suggesting that sex steroids, and testosterone in particular, may contribute to body composition and physical function changes. A new study it the Journal of…

Women often gain weight as they age and a new study in Cell Metabolism says the sex hormone estrogen, and estrogen receptor-α (ERα) has an important yet under-appreciated role in those bigger waistlines.  Estrogen acts on receptors found throughout the body, in fat, on ovaries and in muscle. But when it comes to the hormone's influence on metabolism, the researchers suspected receptors in the brain. Others had traced the effects of estrogen on energy balance specifically to estrogen receptor-α (ERα) but when the team deleted those receptors from the entire brains of mice, "we got…

A study out tomorrow in Nature by researchers from the Institute of Healthy Ageing at the University College of London and colleagues is questioning the anti-aging effects of sirtuin – which is “just”the most important anti-aging gene of the decade - claiming that its capacity to increase longevity was nothing more than an experimental error, and showing that,once the flaws are corrected, sirtuin has no effect on lifespan. The work by Filipe Cabreiro, Camilla Burnett, Sara Valentini, David Gems and colleagues in Hungary and the US will shake the anti-aging research world, as well as the…

Does playing music lead to less age-related hearing problems or do people without hearing problems continue to play music? Hearing studies have shown that trained musicians have highly developed auditory abilities compared to non-musicians but a new study concludes hearing abilities in musicians and non-musicians differs, across the age spectrum from 18 to 91 years of age, and that musicians retain a keener ability to  detect and discriminate acoustic information from the environment. The investigators set out to determine if lifelong musicianship protects against normal hearing decline…

Around 27 million Americans have arthritis, three million of which began with a joint injury that provokes slow and steady cartilage deterioration. A new study from MIT suggests that glucocorticoid dexamethasone, a steroid drug currently used to treat inflammatory diseases, could also prevent osteoarthritis from ever developing in those people if given soon after the injury. Severe joint injuries are more common in younger people, who are likelier to participate in sports such as basketball or skiing in which they are at a higher risk of tearing ligaments such as the anterior cruciate…

Successful aging and positive quality of life indicators correlate with sexual satisfaction in older women, according to a report in the Journal of the American Geriatric Society which also shows that self-rated 'successful' aging, quality of life and sexual satisfaction appear to be stable even in the face of declines in physical health of women between the ages of 60 and 89. The study used 1,235 women enrolled at the San Diego site of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) study, an ongoing program funded by the National Institutes of Health which has addressed causes of death, disability and…

Weakened immunity is a serious issue for older people. Because our immune systems become less effective as we age we suffer from more infections and these are often more severe. This is an important process that has probably evolved to prevent certain cancers, but as the proportion of inactive cells builds up over time our defenses become weakened. This takes a serious toll on health and quality of life.  Research in the Journal of Immunology outlines a new mechanism controlling aging in white blood cells. The research opens up the possibility of temporarily reversing the effects of…

There was a time when I could hide my gray hairs with some strategic combing. Now, I have succumbed and describe my new hair color as “executive blond.” Of course, that also means that the important stuff under my scalp is getting older too. Brains start to “go gray” about the same time the hair does, which is why exercise for older adults has become the new anti-aging fix for our senior cerebellums. Several new studies provide more evidence that a brain in motion tends to remain... young. The older population (which does not include me yet!), persons 65 years or older, totaled 39.6 million…

A new study in Cell shows that Wnt signaling, already known to control many biological processes, between hair follicles and melanocyte stem cells can dictate hair pigmentation. Using genetic mouse models, researchers were able to examine how Wnt signaling pathways enabled both hair follicle stem cells and melanocyte stem cells to work together to generate hair growth and produce hair color. Research also showed the depletion (or inhibition or abnormal) Wnt signaling in hair follicle stem cells not only inhibits hair re-growth but also prevents melanocytes stem cell activation required for…